secret(ary) - nct, jaeyong & yuwin

☏ 5 ☏

"god, i already know i'm going to mess everything up completely."

"yuta, stop discouraging yourself." the boy's secretary sighed as he turned around to face his boss.

"i'm just stating what is going to happen."

"this is not going to happen." taeyong replied firmly. "you are going to make your speech the way you learnt it, and everybody will clap and encourage you, and then you'll just walk around the venue and people will come to talk to you and stuff."

yuta hummed, biting on his bottom lip quite harshly as he replayed taeyong's words in his mind. on his side, the secretary was back to looking down at the venue from the balcony they were standing on, studying carefully the dozens of businessmen chatting together while waiting for yuta's speech to begin.

"they're all so old..." taeyong pointed out as his eyes wandered across the crowd.

"yeah. most of them have traditional family businesses. and the heir takes over it whether at the death of the ceo or at his retirement, so they have the time to get old too by then." yuta explained simply as he walked to his secretary's side, leaning on the balcony's ledge in the same way to catch a glimpse of the room. "fuck, i need to speak in front of so many people?!"

"you must admit we live in a perverted world..." taeyong continued, ignoring his boss' remark. "they are all at least sixty years old, and their secretaries all seem like they just finished their studies." he told with a brow raised.

"it's not like you finished them decades ago either, taeyong." yuta pointed out, his hand unconsciously lifting to his mouth so that he could nibble at the skin around his nails.

"yes, but you're my age." the secretary retorted. "not forty years older."

"yeah, whatever." yuta shrugged it out, barely paying attention anymore as he realised the time his speech was supposed to start approached dangerously fast.

yuta had always been stressed. ever since he was a child, the boy couldn't help but become all tensed and nervous before important events. no matter how brilliant at school the boy was, each time a test was announced, yuta transformed into a nervous wreck, unable to keep his focus and to act reasonably. and of course, that came with all sorts of tics, whether it was biting his nails or lips, nibbling at the skin of his fingers, scratching himself, having a lump forming in his throat and swallowing it frequently, and so many more which conveyed his stress and anxiety.

needless to say, his level of stress and anxiety skyrocketed whenever he needed to speak in public or present his work to other people. quite paradoxical you may say for someone who became a public figure and who would need to make hundreds of speeches in his career. but well, this was yuta's little secret, and he was working on it the best he could.

"oh, there's one exception." taeyong's voice pulled yuta out of his dazed state.

"huh?" the ceo asked, checking the time and letting out a strangled noise when he realised he only had three minutes left.

"there's one ceo who seems young enough to be around our age. and he has a male secretary which seems as young as him." taeyong explained. "look, just there." he added, pointing in the direction of the men.

"oh, yeah." yuta nodded. "this is the ceo of jung corporation. his father retired early to leave him the business."

"so, that's our main competitor?" taeyong declared. "how come had i never seen his – handsome – face?"