As much as he disliked it, he should give credit where credit was due. Uriel's idea was great, he should consider taking Kim Dokja out more. To nice places where no one else would have taken him before.
While Yoo Joonghyuk started making a list of places he wanted to take Kim Dokja to in his head, the food that Kim Dokja had ordered arrived.
They had shared a meal countless times now and Yoo Joonghyuk found himself more comfortable with Kim Dokja than he was with Uriel, someone he had known for much, much longer than he'd known Kim Dokja.
It seemed to be a similar case for Kim Dokja too.
Kim Dokja wasn't like this when they first met. Nor was Yoo Joonghyuk. Their walls had lowered over the past two years.
When Kim Dokja asked him why he liked the dumplings so much with the curiosity of a child, the truth fell out of Yoo Joonghyuk's mouth easily.
"I remember having these as a child. There was someone who would make it for us, me and my younger cousin, that friend of yours. I'm not sure if he remembers, he was too young, maybe six? Seven?"
It was so long ago that he only vaguely remembered parts of his childhood.
"She left the estate when I was twelve, so I think he must have been seven. It's a pleasant memory and it's delicious."
"Are you talking about Namgung Minyoung?" Kim Dokja said.
"You know her?"
"I've met her a few times," Kim Dokja answered and Yoo Joonghyuk joined the dots before Kim Dokja told him about it. Of course, it would be him.
"Yoo Joonghyuk—My friend, Yoo Joonghyuk, she was the one who took care of him when he left home."
Before he could stop himself his jaw had clenched and he had put effort into not showing his displeasure to Kim Dokja.
Kim Dokja didn't have to know about useless things like that.
"Was she your caretaker?" Kim Dokja asked.
"Not exactly, but she did fill in that role," Yoo Joonghyuk said. He supposed he could call her that, in a way. "She was closer to us than our parents were."
While everyone else clamoured around Yoo Joonghyuk because he was the eldest and the successor, Namgung Minyoung was the one who was there for his younger cousin. Out of all the people that he remembered surrounding him during his childhood, she was the only one who didn't have any ulterior motives and looked after them out of pity.
But she liked the younger one better. Maybe because he didn't have anyone around.
"And she did have a soft spot for the younger one."
He hoped he hadn't come off as too bitter, but Kim Dokja's face told him he had failed in that task.
"Do you want to know about her?" Kim Dokja asked softly. "She doesn't stay in Seoul anymore. She moved to the seaside a long while ago. I've been there and I still remember the address. I don't think she'd mind if you visited her."
Kim Dokja was a bit too kind.
But Namgung Minyoung probably didn't care about him. She had left the estate as soon as her contract with the head of the house at that time, his late father had ended.
He knew she was alive and well, and Yoo Joonghyuk felt that much was enough.
"I know where she lives. I used to keep tabs on them before and I can find them just as easily anytime I wanted," he told Kim Dokja. "But I appreciate the thought, thank you."
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't often share his food. He didn't have anyone to share his food with, to be honest. It was unfamiliar, but not unpleasant as he picked the largest dumpling from his plate and put it in front of Kim Dokja.
"If you know, why don't you go give her a visit?" Kim Dokja was saying "Yoo Joonghyuk goes there for vacation with Mia. And since she took care of you—"
"She's always liked him better. And I was a little...hard-headed as a child," Yoo Joonghyuk said.
This topic seemed to be bringing Kim Dokja's mood down and forcing him to mention his younger cousins. Both of them would end up feeling displeased by the end of it. They should drop it and talk about something better.
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at the dumpling Kim Dokja had given him.
Was he trying to return the favour? He did know that Kim Dokja got competitive about the weirdest things, but wasn't this a little extreme? It was just a dumpling.
"I didn't mean for you to try to get even," Yoo Joonghyuk said, trying to stop himself from smiling.
"I wasn't doing that," Kim Dokja grumbled. "I was trying to comfort you."
He failed at holding back his smile. It was hard not to smile when he saw Kim Dokja like that, shovelling food into his mouth in either frustration or embarrassment. Either way, it was cute.
It was nearing half past two in the afternoon when the dishes on their table had cleared.
"When do you have to head back?" Yoo Joonghyuk asked.
It took Kim Dokja a few seconds to figure out what he was talking about.
"I don't have to get there until seven in the evening," Kim Dokja picked up his phone from the table and clicked on it to check the time just in case. "I've got a lot of time. . .That reminds me, we didn't get a cake yet."
"Does it matter?" said Yoo Joonghyuk.
"If it matters to you," Kim Dokja told him.
Yoo Joonghyuk gave it a serious thought.
"I wouldn't say it does," he said in the end. "Cakes are for big celebrations, to feed a lot of people, aren't they?"
"Not really. My friend, Han Sooyoung, buys a whole cake and has it all herself. No occasion necessary," Kim Dokja said. "Whenever she feels the need to treat herself, she gets herself a cake, a big party-sized one and eats it all herself."
"Not all in one sitting," Kim Dokja said when Yoo Joonghyuk looked pretty concerned. "She takes reasonable slices and finishes the whole thing gradually. Not gobbling all of it at once."
"Would it ruin your diet and work out and stuff?" Kim Dokja asked when he gave Yoo Joonghyuk a once-over. Yoo Joonghyuk probably had a strict workout routine and diet and stuff. It can't just be all genes that did it, winning the genetic lottery wasn't enough to maintain that impressive physique of his.
"Having a whole cake just by myself would," Yoo Joonghyuk picked up his glass and finished the water in it. "Gobbling all at once or rationed slices over time."
Kim Dokja's eyes fell on his own glass of water that was only half finished. He'd forgotten about that. And Yoo Joonghyuk did refill his own glass a couple of times. He sure was diligent.
Kim Dokja really should drink more water.
"What about a tiny cake then?" Kim Dokja suggested, forcing himself to finish his water. "We still have time, we could go somewhere, maybe a cafe. What do you think?"
"I'm down for whatever you say," Yoo Joonghyuk said simply.
"Joonghyuk-ssi, you can tell me if there's something you want to do," Kim Dokja said, worried he would end up just dragging the man off to do whatever he wanted.
". . .In that case, there is a place I would like to take you," said Yoo Joonghyuk. "Would you like to come along?"
Hell yeah! As long they weren't just going to places that Kim Dokja alone enjoyed it was fine. It was Yoo Joonghyuk's birthday after all.
Kim Dokja insisted on paying, he was the one who had introduced Yoo Joonghyuk to the place and obviously, he ought to pay for the tab the first time. And honestly, Yoo Joonghyuk had spent a lot more on Kim Dokja than Kim Dokja could ever repay. He would end up treating Yoo Joonghyuk as the bank he had taken loans from if he tried paying the man back for everything. He was going to do the little bits that he could.
"I was going to suggest that we take a walk," Yoo Joonghyuk said as they stepped out of the restaurant, tipping his head back and looking up at the bright blue sky. "It doesn't seem a very good idea any more."
"Is the place nearby?" Kim Dokja asked.
"No, I meant a walk to let the food settle. . .Wouldn't want to end up too drowsy," Yoo Joonghyuk turned his eyes away from the sky.
"I hope Mr Kang wasn't too uncomfortable sitting in the car all this time," Kim Dokja muttered as the familiar car turned the corner and drove towards them.
"Is he on the clock all the time?" Kim Dokja asked. "Twenty-four seven?"
"No, he has a prearranged time schedule," Yoo Joonghyuk answered. "And he's given adequate compensation in case of any unforeseen circumstances. He lives nearby, so the travel isn't too time-consuming. He has time off during national holidays and Sundays. Nor does he have to leave the country when I go for my business trips."
"Do you do all the driving when you're abroad?"
Yoo Joonghyuk shook his head at Kim Dokja's question.
"Only occasionally," Yoo Joonghyuk said. "When I feel like it. Uriel arranges for a driver to help us get around when we leave. . .We don't move around a lot. It's just the accommodation, the office where the meeting is taking place or the venue that I have to head to and back"
"Mm, that makes sense, you're not going sightseeing, are you? Are you busy a lot?"
"You could say so. I don't stay for longer than necessary, and get back as soon as I can, so I am usually quite busy."
They got into the car and Yoo Joonghyuk moved the flowers in his seat carefully before sitting down.
"They're not made of gold, you know," Kim Dokja said, a little exasperated. "You don't have to treat them so gently."
"I would have been a bit more relaxed if it were gold," Yoo Joonghyuk let out a puff of air, it sounded a little like a quiet laugh. "But since it's from you, I would have treated it just the same, gold or not."
"You sure are a weirdo," Kim Dokja sighed, leaning back in the car seat that was surprisingly not burning hot. Kim Dokja was ready to get his butt burned when he got into the car. He thought the seats would have gotten hot since the car was outside all this time.
He wasn't complaining though. He liked his backside uncooked, thanks.
"What are your plans for the company's annual celebration?" Yoo Joonghyuk asked. "Has your team planned anything?"
"Annual celebration?" Kim Dokja blinked, wracking his brain to figure out what he was talking about.
"Ah!" he said when he got it. "The gala?"
". . .It's not exactly a gala," Yoo Joonghyuk said quietly. "Why do you keep mistaking work events as leisure activities, Dokja-ssi? First exhibition, then a gala?"
"Hey, I wasn't mistaking anything," Kim Dokja said, miffed. "I just remembered it that way. The email made it sound like a gala, so...But isn't that all the way in October anyway?"
"October isn't that far away any more," Yoo Joonghyuk reminded him.
Right, it was already August. Two more months left. The gala, no, the annual celebration or whatever, was special this time apparently, because it marked twelve years since the company was first founded.
"Twelve years," Kim Dokja calculated the age in his mind. Then his mouth fell open. "You were twenty-three when you started N'gai?!"
"Yes," Yoo Joonghyuk nodded.
"You're a genius, aren't you?" Kim Dokja said with a gasp, regaining his composure. "I don't even remember what I was doing when I was twenty-three. . .You must have been in college then, right?"
Yoo Joonghyuk nodded again.
"Woah!" Kim Dokja couldn't help but chuckle. "You're much more impressive than I thought."
"Thank you," Yoo Joonghyuk said politely. "I was taught to take over the family affairs since I was a child, it made things a lot easier."
Yoo Joonghyuk was a little weak to compliments too, huh? His attempt at deflecting it didn't work very well because Kim Dokja could hear that he was pleased.
"I wonder what you were like when you were twenty-three," Kim Dokja muttered.
". . .I don't think you would have liked to meet me then," Yoo Joonghyuk said sheepishly and Kim Dokja turned to look at him. He looked a little embarrassed.
"I wasn't very pleasant to be around. I was young, reckless and coarse. I've been told that I was the kind that would make people want to hire a hitman to take out because I was too arrogant."
Kim Dokja laughed.
"A lot like my Yoo Joonghyuk then," Kim Dokja said. Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes set into a cold glare again at the mention of his younger cousin. Seriously, why did he hate him so much? It seemed a very sensitive topic and Kim Dokja didn't think it was wise to prod just yet.
Even after all these years, his Yoo Joonghyuk never said anything about his family. After trying for a bit in the beginning, they had dropped asking him about it. If he didn't want to tell them about it, he didn't have to and they didn't have the right to force it out of him either.
"You would have been eighteen then. When I was twenty-three," Yoo Joonghyuk said and Kim Dokja thought he was trying to change the subject.
"Mmhmm, preparing for my CSATs," Kim Dokja nodded, letting it slide. Since Yoo Joonghyuk clearly wanted to talk about something else, he should give him a hand.
"Did you do well in your CSATs, Joonghyuk-ssi?"
"I did."
He sure was confident. But then again, he supposed he'd earned the right to boast.
"Were you good at studying?" Kim Dokja asked.
"Everyone who taught me has said that, so I suppose yes."
Kim Dokja was never a good student. He made it through somehow, getting average scores every time. Oh, well, it wasn't too bad.
The gala...oops, sorry, the annual celebration thing, did he have to go?
"Is attendance mandatory?" Kim Dokja said.
Yoo Joonghyuk shifted in his seat to look at Kim Dokja and even though his mouth was shut and his eyes had widened by just a fraction, Kim Dokja knew that this expression was Yoo Joonghyuk's own version of utter bafflement.
". . .You weren't planning on coming?" Yoo Joonghyuk said quietly. A bit too quietly, Kim Dokja repressed the urge to shudder.
"Ah, no, I'm just not used to going to these," Kim Dokja said quickly. "It was never mandatory for me before, at my previous workplaces, so I was just asking."
Yoo Joonghyuk's expression turned less stormy and Kim Dokja almost let out a sigh of relief.
"It is mandatory, Dokja-ssi," Yoo Joonghyuk said, sitting properly in his seat again. "At least for you."
"You're Planning Team 7's representative," His tone was very stern. "Not to mention you're working for the enterprise's HQ. Were you seriously thinking of skipping? It is only a celebration in name, you should treat it as you would any major work event."
Kim Dokja was getting scolded by Yoo Joonghyuk. He felt himself diminish a little as he listened.
Well, not scolded, exactly. Yoo Joonghyuk didn't sound angry, he sounded exasperated. He was clearly telling him off for slacking off like this.
But Kim Dokja didn't really have any experience with these things. He did get the email that was sent out to him, and to the entire company actually, a few months ago and he just starred it and moved on.