⠀by: nikki
⠀⠀⠀ laurel kim's phone lit up with a ding, indicating that there was a new text on there.
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⠀⠀⠀ the newly appointed ceo of kcorp had just returned from her trip to seattle; the company was building another foothold in that city that would be run by jonathan kim, laurel's cousin.
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⠀⠀⠀ the text was from cecily soo, currently a law student in boston. after the selection, the two of them had parted ways on rather good terms. they were better off as friends, and the both of them had realized it.
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⠀⠀⠀ now, they still kept in contact quite often. a small smile graced laurel's lips as she read the text: 'are we still on for girls night next week?'
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⠀⠀⠀ she shot back a text saying 'of course' before slipping the phone into her white purse. they had made it a tradition for laurel to visit at least once a month, in between both of their busy schedules, and do a girls night together. while she loved noel and v, female company was sometimes preferred.
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⠀⠀⠀ somehow, between her internship and law school, cecily found the time to become a kick ass lawyer /and/ date. she was apparently seeing a new woman that she met at school, which made laurel's heart happy for her. further details would be spilled when they finally met up again.
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⠀⠀⠀ laurel waved at the receptionist on the first floor, greeting her with a warm smile. transitioning to the kcorp's ceo, no matter how much she had been trained by her family, was a lot more difficult and taxing than she could have imagined.
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⠀⠀⠀ but noel and v ensured that she would never be alone — and that was cemented in place after the selection. everyone was, for the first time in a while, happy.
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⠀⠀⠀ instead of clicking the button for the top floor, like usual, she instead pressed the button for the eighth floor. there you would find some little cubicles with desks hidden behind them, and offices littered throughout the entire floor.
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⠀⠀⠀ it was the intern floor. laurel figured that it would be a good idea to pop in and check to see how they all were doing, maybe talk to a a few of them. ever the good leader, laurel had held a dinner for them after their first day of interning, and made the big speech there.
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⠀⠀⠀ normally interns didn't exactly peak her interest — but this round of them was slightly different. especially the one that she had handpicked out from the lot of them.
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⠀⠀⠀ "how has kcorp been treating you?" laurel questioned, which was her way of greeting the intern who's desk she was now standing in front of.
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⠀⠀⠀ elliot kasem's dark hair glinted as his head raised to look at her, that signature grin already plastered on his face.
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⠀⠀⠀ "lovely, laurel kim," elliot mused. "it's been great! how has my favorite capitalist queen been?"
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⠀⠀⠀ the question drew a rich laugh from her lips, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "i think you mean your favorite /well dressed/ capitalist queen — but i'm good. i hope you've been taking care of our doctor."
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⠀⠀⠀ at the mention of noel musa, elliot's grin turned a bit softer. "you don't ever have to worry about him. he is in great hands." which were referring to his, of course. "even if we miss our demon in designer clothes," he stated with a wink.
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⠀⠀⠀ "well, miss me no more, elliot kaseem. i think i should be back for a while now." her smile was crafted out of mischief, mirroring his wink as her hand lifted to wave goodbye. "i'll see you later tonight."
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⠀⠀⠀ laurel caught a wide grin on elliot's face before she turned away, continuing on her way to the top floor office.
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⠀⠀⠀ the top floor mostly remained empty except for their assistant and a few occupied offices — one of them being hers.
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⠀⠀⠀ "welcome back ms. kim," kate, the assistant, greeted with a very puzzling wink. that was weird. what was that for? ⠀⠀⠀⠀
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⠀⠀⠀ it only took a few strides for her to figure out what it was, though. her office was currently shut off from the main hallway, yet there were a few loose red petals littered outside her door. oh my god wait was this —
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⠀⠀⠀ her fingers hooked onto the door handle, pushing it inwards. it /was/.
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⠀⠀⠀ there had been red rose petals littered all over her office floor and chairs, accompanied by one very handsome frenchman sitting in her chair behind the desk.
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⠀⠀⠀ there was a singular rose held in between angelo adamos' lips, and his naked torso peeked out from behind her desk.
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⠀⠀⠀ laurel didn't know whether to burst out laughing, kiss him, or throw herself at him for a hug. at the moment, she was just speechless. her eyes had widened in surprise, lips parted as if she were to say something but couldn't find the words.
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⠀⠀⠀ it was him that broke the silence, "i'm back, mon amour!" the rose was transferred over to his hand as he stood up, revealing that his bottom half was naked except for a pair of dark briefs.
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⠀⠀⠀ his grin seemed to spread to laurel as she quickly went running towards the male, just short of throwing herself onto him.
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⠀⠀⠀ "hi, my angel," she breathed with a wide grin as her arms wrapped around his neck. his easily slid around her waist, absorbing the impact of her run.
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⠀⠀⠀ "you should have told me you were coming today." even though he /never/ did. angelo simply would just show up, at random times or random events to surprise her. laurel always told him when she was going to see him, but maybe the element of surprise wasn't such a bad thing after all.
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⠀⠀⠀ ever since the end of the selection, the two had been commuting back and forth between paris and new york city, with the help of kcorp private jets. both were so attached to their respective cities that they hadn't committed to one just yet.
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⠀⠀⠀ "you know how much i adore surprising you, cherie." pulling away from each other, they could find identical grins on both of their faces, amusement lingering in both of them.
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⠀⠀⠀ laurel laughed, nodding her head. "and you do every time. but i don't think i'm ever going to get tired of this." leaning in, laurel brushed her lips against his in a bare caress. as if in answer, angelo pulled her in closer and deepened the kiss. no matter how many times they did this, it always felt like the first one all over again.
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⠀⠀⠀ pulling away laurel's eyebrows raised up in a silent question.
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⠀⠀⠀ "after all of your hard work lately, i thought you deserved a nice surprise. and what kind of surprise is better than me?" he held the rose up in between them, angling it towards laurel. "for you, my lady."
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⠀⠀⠀ a hand raised to gently take it from his, releasing him to go and set it on top of her desk. "it's a tuesday today," laurel stated with a half-grin.
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⠀⠀⠀ angelo nodded, a mischievous glint sparking in his eye. "i know. it's been a while since i've been to one of the infamous drunken karaoke nights."
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⠀⠀⠀ "we've missed you," laurel started in a sing-song voice. "they'll be happy you're back." because indeed, noel and v actually approved of angelo. they had said they'd never seen her that happy before — which was actually an accurate description.
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⠀⠀⠀ she turned to face him, her fingers gently trailing up and down his toned body. her eyes roved up and down, soaking in the sight of his body. "i've missed you. and this." angelo leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to her neck.
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⠀⠀⠀ "and i you, my dear."
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⠀⠀⠀ "you're gonna have to put some clothes on soon, though, angelo," she warned even as his touch seemed to draw her in.
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⠀⠀⠀ his nose brushed against the skin of her neck, eliciting a light giggle from her.
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⠀⠀⠀ "now why would i want to do that, mon ange?"
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⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀[ end of part two ]
