Secrets

So, you're the other newbie, huh?

Seonghwa sat at his desk anxiously, his pen dancing between his fingers. He'd been so nervous he had gotten there a half hour early.

The last twenty minutes had felt like hours and he was beginning to worry he wouldn't be able to hide his anxiety when the employee actually showed up.

He was a ball of nerves. And he had no reasonable excuse if he were to be asked.

He crossed his legs to try to slow the bouncing of his knee and set his pen in its container. Maybe if he didn't hold onto anything, he wouldn't fidget with it.

It seemed like a valid theory.

As he finally started to relax, he was startled by a voice behind him.

"Hey Hwaseong! Ready for day two?"

It was only San.

Seonghwa released his breath, which he hadn't even noticed he'd been holding.

"Yeah! I guess..."

San started setting up his desk for the day but didn't end the conversation.

"So, what's got you so jumpy today?"

Seonghwa looked up at San in surprise. So he really was that obvious. Great.

"Oh just—a little nervous to have a new desk mate. Lots of new things happening so another one just adds to my stress," he managed, trying to sound reasonable.

"I completely understand. Just think of it this way; if he ends up being mean or annoying or just overall hard to deal with, you and I will still be friends! Plus, we can always ask Yunho and Mingi to reorganize the desk formation if it's really a problem since one of the core values here is teamwork. If the team isn't working as a whole, the designs they make won't be any good."

Seonghwa nodded, feeling a little relieved. As much as he'd anticipated never meeting the man, if he was horrible, they could switch and he'd be able to monitor from afar, as planned.

According to his file, it was hard to think he would be very nice. He'd been through some things, most of them things Seonghwa couldn't even imagine.

He quickly pushed them away, remembering he wasn't supposed to know anything about the spy. If he accidentally let something slip, it would entirely blow his cover.

So he had to stop thinking about it.

Just then a pair of hands grabbed the back of his chair and spun him around. Seonghwa grabbed hold of his arm rests until he stopped, face-to-face with none other than Kim Hongjoong.

This was going to be a long mission.

"So, you're the other newbie, huh?"

Seonghwa gave his brightest smile and bowed lightly.

"That's me. You must be...Hongjoong?"

He pretended to think on the name so as not to draw attention to how quickly he knew it.

"And you're—" the man paused as he peeked around Seonghwa's shoulder at the name plate on his desk.

"—Hwaseong?"

Seonghwa nodded.

"Hwaseong. That means Mars right?"

It took Seonghwa a moment to respond. He hadn't intended to pick something with another meaning. He'd never realized his name was so close to the name of the planet.

"Yeah. My mother always wanted her children to have meaningful names so she was very picky in choosing mine."

It wasn't entirely a lie. She had just chosen Seonghwa, not Hwaseong.