pomegranate red ❧ n.jm | the golden fruit duology (2/2) ✔

02

"Hey, Y/N, I need you to draft a—"

"I'm going on lunch, Sicheng. I can in sixty minutes."

"Oh. Right."

❧

"Y/N, will you please help me research this—"

"Qian Kun, the clock just struck 5:00 p.m., the work day is over. I'm going home and you should too."

"God, sorry, I didn't even realize. Yes, go home. I still have so much to—"

"I say this with the best intentions and all the platonic, workplace appropriate, and professional love in the world: Don't make me go into your office and turn your computer off without saving your files."

"...5:30?"

"Fine. And you know I can check your billing logs in the system, right? I'll be able to see if you're here even a minute past 5:30."

"I know that now."

"Uh-huh. Goodnight, Kun."

"Goodnight, Y/N."

❧

And so went your days at Kim & Moon, helping to conduct the three-ring circus that was Kun, Sicheng, and Yangyang. Despite the legal assistant initially seeming like a trustworthy and responsible ally on your first day, you soon found that he was an accomplice to the madness, or more often than not, the instigator. He was good at his job, and you could rely on him to make sure things got done by deadlines. But when it came to making the workplace itself run smoothly and ensuring your day-to-day lives were stress-free? Absolutely not. He knew exactly how to make his attorneys tick in the worst ways.

Dong "dumber than a box of rocks" Sicheng was the current victim of Yangyang's boredom today. How he could even get bored with your workload was just a testament to his efficiency, but it irked you that instead of using this free time for good he instead used it to be the menace of the millennium.

"Isn't that right, Y/N?" Yangyang's voice suddenly cut into the recording of Ms. Haseul's voice that was playing into your headphones. His tone clearly begged for you to agree with him.

"Hm?" You took the headphones off and paused the dictation.

Sicheng was standing at Yangyang's desk, a stapler in his hands. You raised an eyebrow to look between them. This seemed somewhat normal so far.

"All the new staplers now have a safety mechanism so that they won't staple fingers because a kid stapled all the way through his finger and his parents sued the stapler company for like millions of dollars," the assistant said with the right amount of casualness, sincerity, and almost disbelief that Sicheng didn't know this 'common piece of knowledge.' "They rolled out the new ones what—ten years ago?"

"You seriously interrupted my transcription for this?" You rolled your eyes. You were about to put your headphones back in when you saw Sicheng tentatively reaching his index finger towards the mouth of the stapler. "No, Sicheng!"

You lurched forward to take the stapler from his hand before he could test the 'safety mechanism' on himself. Yangyang had to bury his face in his arms on his desk to stifle his laughter.

"He was lying, wasn't he?" Sicheng was catching on quicker to when Yangyang was teasing him these days. Not quick enough that you didn't have to intervene every time you saw it happening, but you had to give him credit somewhere at least. Sometimes you didn't have to explain to him afterwards the fact that he was being had.

"How did you even become a lawyer, Sicheng? How did you get through law school?" You waved the stapler at him accusatorily. "And I don't mean grades, I've read some of your briefs, so I don't doubt your 4.0 GPA. I mean how did you not die before you ever got there? How did you not stick a fork in an electrical socket, or eat candy with razorblades in it, or get kidnapped before you met me? I'm convinced you should be dead in a ditch and yet here you are."

"It's because he's pretty," Kun walked up to your desks then, setting down the papers in his hand to pinch Sicheng's cheek, and the other attorney swatted his hand away. "People want to do stuff for him."

Yangyang had sobered up from his laughing fit, teasing glint in his eye now focused on his other attorney, "That why you followed him to Kim & Moon, Kun? To make sure the big bad lawyers here don't be mean to your pretty Sichengie?"

"So all sense of professionalism and decorum is just out the window right now?" Sicheng scoffed.

"That is not how it happened, Yangyang, and you know it," Kun rolled his eyes.

"Did you two know each other before you worked at the firm?" You asked, realizing that you didn't actually know anything about how the two associates had started at Kim & Moon, even after working at the firm for six months now.

Kun took it upon himself to explain, "We were friends in law school. I was a year ahead of Sicheng and after I graduated, I did a short stint at the prosecutor's office. He came here straight out of law school."

The other attorney finished the story, "When Kun figured out being a prosecutor wasn't his thing after a couple years, he came to Kim & Moon as well."

"That's cute. Besties who litigate together, stay together. Right Jeno?" You tossed the last part over your shoulder at your friend who was working at his own desk. Jeno gave a thumbs up back without turning around, and you could see that his headphones were definitely in. Returning to the other three men with you, you looked to your fellow assistant, "And what about you, Yang? When did you start working here?"

"Oh you mean the worst day of my life?" Yangyang sighed melodramatically.

"One of these days I'll record you with my dictaphone when you say that, play it for the senior partners, and you'll be out of here you little demon," Sicheng narrowed his eyes at his assistant.

"Anyway, I actually started out as an intern like..." Yangyang craned his neck around until he spotted a tall, lanky figure carrying probably too many boxes of copier toner into the copy room. "Like Sungchan over there. I got an internship here in undergrad because one of my professors knew Mr. Jeong, and I didn't have anything better to do. Then once I graduated, I had no other plans and was offered a full-time legal assistant position working with Yejin. She was Ms. Haseul's paralegal before you, Y/N. She used to do all of Ms. Haseul and Sicheng's work by herself. They wanted to have Kun start medical malpractice too, so I came on as more support."

"And when was that?"

"I came on full time a little before Jeno started I think?" Yangyang grabbed a pen from his desk, spinning his chair around and throwing the pen at said man. It missed Jeno's head, thankfully, smacking against one of his monitors and clattering onto his keyboard. Your friend whipped around, immediately focusing in on your chaotic coworker as the source.

"What?"

"When was your first day at the firm?"

"I don't know, summer like two years ago now?"

"Sounds about right. Thanks."

"I'm keeping the pen, asshole."

"I have more." Yangyang shrugged, once again turning back to your conversation. "So I started full-time probably May that same year."

"You are a galactic-threat level menace," you shook your head. "You know that, right?"

"Don't compliment him, Y/N," Kun sighed.