Boss Complex

3. A sudden change

Chanyeol is still thinking of the insolent employee the next morning when he wakes up. He stares out at his navy blue bedroom walls, the lovely way that faint light tickles the edges of his curtains, the blue splatter of a rogue paintbrush stroke that he'd noticed just after he bought the flat. In the otherwise pristine room, the lone disruption of chaos had initially driven him crazy. Now he used it like a test of endurance. The small chaos was his way of reassuring himself that he wasn't a control freak. It was his way of reassuring himself that he wasn't crazy, or OCD. He used it to test his will power, to test his ability to function in the world without medication to modify his behaviors. Dressed to the nines in his business finest in a Dior 3 piece suit set, Park Chanyeol stepped onto an elevator next to the intern the next morning. His head down, the way his eyes darted to the floor was almost comical in contrast to the defiant way that he looked up at him the day before. Whatever had happened in his office the day before had shaped the way Baekhyun was treating Chanyeol and he wasn't sure if he was on board with that. He wanted to make sure there wasn't something more to the change, something that would resemble a change of heart leading him to a lawsuit. He wanted to talk to him but it didn't mean that he would change his tone.

"No greeting?"

"Good morning sir." Baekhyun says with a formal bow.

He turns himself towards Chanyeol only for a moment, not ever looking up into his eyes. Soft black hair falls into his eyes when he turns his attention over, his face is irritated by the force interaction but he bites it back with tight lips. Wearing a white v-neck boyfriend tee with a navy blue long sleeve cardigan on top, his look took the more casual interpretation of the business casual dress code but the khakis he wore upped the look from fraternity to business with his brown expensive loafers. Still, the things that drew Chanyeol's interest in this exchange was less the greeting or the surly expression. It was the movement of his hair, the way he casually tosses his bangs back into place when he rights himself and keeps his eyes trained straight ahead. It's the way he pointedly ignores Chanyeol's gaze even when he feels it on his profile. The slope of his nose, the slight of his jaw, the length of those dark lashes, thicker and fuller in the darkness with which they framed his eyes like he had permanently tattooed eye liner on.

Chanyeol leaves the elevator first when the doors open, leaving Baekhyun starring straight ahead as he marches off. He waits for the man to clear his line of vision before following somberly behind him. Victoria's long jet-black hair sways as she pads over to where he is like an obedient puppy. She stops just in front of him as if coming to sit as his feet and offers up a piece of paper, holding out her arms to take the briefcase from him. Obedient, doting, kind... Baekhyun assumes immediately that this woman was his type exactly. This must be his dream come true. Having a woman like this falling over herself to do everything that he needs. She certainly was pretty enough to be taken note of.

Baekhyun doesn't usually think girls like this are pretty; he's always been interested in strong women. The kind that look like they might throw you down, not codependent, low maintenance... He's never thought much of pretty girls like Vic. But she had that wide smile, those big round eyes... round eyes like her boss. Scientists have many times stated that humans are attracted to others who have physical similarities to their own appearance. This explains quite a lot actually. They get along well because they've both got big smiles and round eyes. Round, dark eyes that seem to forever be searching for something that could never be resolved in just one glance. Chanyeol's eyes linger on him, never kind, but always dismissive and judgmental. What must it be like to be the one to soften such a terse man into submission? Baekhyun stops himself and looks quickly from Victoria, realizing too late that he was starring at her while thinking about her boss.

Afraid he'd given her the wrong idea, he quickly moves to his desk and logs into his computer.

Victoria looks to Chanyeol with an peak of interest. There was something between them that she didn't know and this simply would not do. She hardly had any kind of desire for her boss but what she did have was a desire to be the best at whatever she did. As knowing what Chanyeol needs before even he does is part of the things she does, she was more than a little interested in his relationship with the pretty boy intern. She unpacks Chanyeol's briefcase and organizes the contents on his desk in order the same way she did each morning as he pulls off his blazer and hangs it on the hook behind his desk chair, reading over the list of scheduled events, deadlines and updates for the day, neatly typed up into a hard copy for him to review.