from august to december

chapter two

it was warm. the sun was shining into the office building, blinding shino as he tried to focus on the large amount of papers on his desk.

park shino used to always keep his office clean, the dark wooden desk would always be almost empty, the huge, black bookshelf behind him would be sorted and clean.
just like how the owner loved to look all neat and organized.

he sighed and decided to finally call for his assistant.

normally, he'd try to figure out everything on his own, because he would feel weak and stupid once he asked for help.
but today he didn't even know where to start, he just tapped his black pen nervously on the desk.

he still couldn't focus properly after yesterday's talk with eden. he had tried to text him, but the younger wouldn't respond to anything he said.

shortly after, a tall man entered the room, his slightly longer hair was slicked back, but throughout the day some strands of his dark brown hair had started to fall free, making his usually clean hairstyle look messy. it looked like he had ruffled his hair several times.

nonetheless, he was beautiful. his sharp cheekbones and thick eyebrows made him look intimidating and shino couldn't ever recall once seeing him slip or not keeping his cool.

"matio, can you help me? i can't concentrate today," the man whined and sunk into the large black leather chair, throwing his head back.

at work he tried to be the best version of his cold self, but with matio as his assistant, he felt like he could finally take off the mask.

"of course, sir," matio answered dryly and took fast steps forward to look over shino's shoulder.

the blond could smell his cologne, it was strong and a manly smell. he sniffled dramatically and his assistant looked at him confused.

"it's a strong perfume, matty," he laughed but immediately stopped, knowing that the other hadn't really got a proper sense of humor nor did he know how to actually care for people.

at least shino believed he couldn't.
maybe that's why he was still single.

or maybe he was just projecting his own inner shadow onto him.

"i see," he whispered and swept the first paper that he laid his eyes upon off the desk.
inspecting it carefully, he squeezed his eyes.

with the silence, shino's thoughts began to drift away again, remembering the eden-incident yesterday, how vulnerable and hurt the younger looked, tears staining his soft face.

suddenly, the blond haired man remembered something.

"matio," he said carefully, patiently waiting for the response of his assistant, who just cooly nodded his head after a few seconds.

their eyes locked and shino felt himself growing nervous.
he swallowed thickly and tried to return the intense stare.

"remember when you told me about your brother who never really believed your mother had died?"
the blond's voice was trembling, he tried to hide it but after so many years working with him, matio noticed.

he noticed how scared he was of his response, because he knew that it was a very sensitive topic.

"yeah?" he responded with no change in his dark eyes, he still looked at his boss the same way, not breaking eye contact once when even shino did.
but the assistant would also never look at the blond coldly or annoyedly, just incredibly blankly.

"uh..how did you guys cure him?"

matio finally looked away, outside the window, scratching his nose.
he sighed and placed the paper back on the desk, sitting down at the other side of shino, but still not looking back into his eyes.

there were minutes of silence and shino started to regret what he was saying.
he was just about to reassure the assistant, wanting to tell him that it was okay if he didn't want to speak about it, when the dark brown haired man cleared his throat and breathed out heavily through his mouth.

"well, we didn't," he muffled under his breath and looked at his feet, hiding his face.

he didn't look like the strong tough guy that everyone knew anymore, he looked like he was just about to shatter into a million pieces while trying to hold himself together with a weak band aid.

park shino didn't say anything, not wanting to pressure him, he just folded his hands in his lap and waited for the younger to continue.

it was quiet. both could hear the sound of the large clock on wall above the metal door ticking.

"he eventually ran away."

immediately the older regretted even bringing up the subject, inevitable guilt started to form in his chest and a wave of sorrow washed over him.

a tear dropped out of matio's eye and shino could feel the immense pain it held.

"i'm sorry."

"no, it's okay. i think you can't cure something like that if the person doesn't want to be cured," the assistant looked at his boss again, a hint of sadness hid in his eyes, disappearing as soon as the blond noticed it.

he was back to his usual state, wiping the tear off his cheek and breathing calmly, tucking the loose hair strands behind his ears.

his earrings reflected the light of the sun shining into the large office, it drew gentle shapes on his golden skin and illuminated his dark eyes to look like an almost chocolate brown.

shino nodded understandingly, softly smiling at his assistant before getting up.

"you want some water, matty?" he asked while walking through the office, already preparing the two blue plastic cups and filling them up with sparkling water from the water filling machine.

he always called his assistant 'matty'.

shino thought about the words of matty.

...if he doesn't want to be cured.

it was clear that eden didn't want help. because he believed that he didn't need it.

"here you go," park placed the two cups on the desk again, smoothing out his black suit and sitting down on his leather chair.

he shut down his computer and moved the pile of papers to the side.

"is this about eden?" matio asked, taking a tiny sip from the cup, and his gaze softened a bit.

matio had always liked eden, not the way that anybody liked him, but he had really got a soft spot for him.

shino nodded sadly.

"i think i have an idea to help him, maybe it's not too late like it was with my brother."

because the truth was, matio wasn't made out of ice and stone, he liked shino and he wanted to help him to see him happy again.