aurora: in full bloom | hongjoong - ateez [hiatus]

⇢ ch. 6

A couple weeks into working on the project with Hongjoong, he has you stay later than usual one night. Time differences make it difficult to work properly, so tonight is the night where you need to do overtime.

"I'm sorry to keep you late [Y/N]. I'll just order dinner here. What do you like?" Hongjoong's voice is soothing.

You become flustered, where your heart starts pounding a little faster than normal. You wonder what this feeling is.

Perhaps it's the thought of being alone in a whole building with your boss. The possibilities of what could happen are endless.

"Um, chicken sounds good," you quietly state, snapping out of your trance.

Hongjoong only took your brief moment of silence as you thinking about what you wanted to eat.

"I love chicken!"

You blink in shock at his enthusiasm towards your suggestion. You can't help but smile at his response though.

As you wait for the food, the two of you take a break from working.

Hongjoong removes his jacket, loosens his tie, and rolls up his sleeves of his button down. Your heart starts pounding, as you his actions to be attractive for some reasons.

You then mentally chastise yourself for thinking such thoughts. You're dating someone.

But you're not used to seeing Hongjoong become comfortable enough to do such things. Not like they're bad. It's a normal thing to do after work, to let loose, even if it's letting your clothes become looser.

Your mind then starts to wander to why Hongjoong wears suits to work everyday. You don't work at a conventional office.

But you wear fairly nice work attaire, but your job is a tad different than Hongjoong's. You would think that for someone who works with music all day would want to be more comfortable.

However, you don't know his true intentions. Perhaps he has to be ready for some unplanned business meeting at all times. Maybe he just likes to wear suits. Or it's because it helps him feel like it brings authority over everyone else since he's the CEO of the company.

All of those are plausible options. But you then wonder why you're so caught up in such a minuscule thought of why your boss wears suits to work everyday.

You can't help but smile to yourself because of your thought process.

"So, tell me about yourself [Y/N]. What do you like to do in your free time?"

You're startled by his forwardness, that he wants to get to know you on a personal level.

"Oh, I don't really do much in my free time to be honest. I like to listen to music. I try to read a little bit, but that never gets very far," you nervously laugh.

"What kind of music do you like to listen to?"

You secretly like to listen to the music Hongjoong has written for the artists under his company, but you are too flustered to admit that. As a CEO of a music company, he has worked on music for all of his artists.

"Whatever is in the radio. Pop music mainly. The songs that catch my attention are the more upbeat, fast paced ones. I'm not the hugest fan of ballads to be honest. But I can warm up to them. I pretty much can be fluid with music, like a little bit of rap and Latin styled music, but I don't listen to those styles nearly as much as pop music."

Hongjoong nods, slightly disappointed that you didn't mention music he has worked on. But he doesn't want to seem conceited by asking if you've listened to his music.