Work Text:
Jas has been working at this design company for coming up on five years now, after having interned at numerous startups and small businesses when she graduated university. With her communication masters. She has been around the block with the other people on her floor, made friends with some and others she keeps as work colleagues; once made a large mistake at her first job where she dated a supervisor and has long since been taught her lesson.
Nearing thirty some would say she doesn’t have much time to waste being picky but Jas disagrees. Much like a gardener she has learned skills to discern which man would strike her fancy and who she would prefer to not meet again.
As an omega and a female at that; it is a constant dance of being in control since alphas and men in general view her as a conquest and a person secondary.; the even careful balance of being fun and open with professional and closed off. As a young woman it was a tipping point in either direction and she had to watch others to gain the leveling tools, ageing as a way to become less of a target.
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t put off by the passing comments of her ticking clock and other such nonsense but she chooses to ignore the muttering assholes because she is the one with the private desk and title to her name, not them.
Maybe she should have given the words more of a thought, as one day her computer absolutely refuses to start up, causing her to fall behind on a large and important document. Smacking the device has no great impact on the black screen nor does cursing it out. Her voice was rising with each precious minute lost. She is bent over her desk palm spread wide to deliver another blow when Mary comes cautiously walking in.
Peeking her head around the corner to see what was causing the noise, the quiet girl lets out a little chuckle at the view, her sensible heels click on the polished floor as the taller woman walks over, Jas flushes in embarrassment and sheepishly lowers her arm.
“What’s wrong?” The newcomer asks.
“The stupid thing isn’t working.” Jas complains.
Mary shakes her head and reaches over for the phone on the desk, punching in the code for the office helpline. The speaker button is then pressed and the pair wait for someone to respond to the call.
“Hello?” A detached voice greets them. One word said sharply.
“Hi, we are unable to get the computer to work.” Mary is trying to say in her sweet voice, the one that gets men to drop everything and help her.
“What part?” The man's voice abruptly interrupts.
Both women share looks and shrug shoulders.
“The computer?” Jas questions.
“The monitor? The desktop? The router? The mouse?” It was like having a chatbot come to life with little inflection or emotions put into the question.
“I don’t know?” Jas hears the huff of breath on the other end of the line.
“What floor are you on?”
Saying the number, she is told he will come over and look at the problem.
“What a rude fellow.” Mary grumbles as she places the receiver back in its place. Jas nods along and the two talk about their weekend. Gossiping over the new hire who is to start on their team, some international guy.
They will enjoy having fresh blood on the team as their last coder went to a different level.
The young man who comes into the room, is dressed in a white button down and black slacks, the two look at each other, no one bothers with the formal wear, one of the perks was having an individualistic style. But this young man goes straight to the desk with no pleasantries or even a hello, checking the device and then goes under the desk.
“What the fuck?” Mary mouths to Jas.
Jas rolls her eyes back and tilts her head up to the ceiling asking for strength. She is taken by surprise when the boss walks into the room about to signal them to leave the room when he pauses at the sight.
“Sangwoo? What are you doing under there?” The older man asks, a look of puzzlement on his matured features, his tongue stumbles over the foreign name.
“I got a call and am fixing the problem.” Sangwoo answers from under the desk.
“I only sent you down to get your access codes.” The oldest man said.
“Yes, that’s correct.” Sangwoo agreed, getting out from under the structure. “You have mice on the floor.”
The two girls scream and Jas gets on to her chair in fear. Terrified to see one under her feet but there are no little scurrying bodies or the telltale sign of pests.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, the cord was chewed.” Sangwoo moves away from the two women and towards the old man.
“We’ll get that sorted if you follow me, please.”
Sangwoo goes after his boss and the two women are left alone.
The pest control is called and the excitement fades but for some reason Jade sees Sangwoo far too much for her liking and the man or robot doesn’t understand that she has no desire to be in his airspace. She sees him in meetings, at the lunchroom, in the hallway and even in the parkade. Which had scared the shit out of her, the younger man was dressed in a flannel over shirt and a baseball cap. His eyes were obscured to the point she hadn't even recognized him; his towering height had added to her fear and her first thought of being followed.
The alpha also seemed to work around a certain schedule and he was uncompromisable, when another member of Jas’s team had been unable to pronounce his name the younger refused to have his name shortened or altered, saying the other should practice until they got it right. He was so rude and lacked basic knowledge of human interactions. Getting too close with people or not blinking enough. It all creeped her out.
It was after working with him for a week straight that she started to see a unique pattern, Sangwoo would be hunched over his laptop typing away until another member of the team would stroll by, a different destination in mind, their scents would drift over to Sangwoo’s seat and the alpha would wrinkle his nose in disgust, quietly leaving the shared space.
It was the height of rudeness, the unspoken rule of society was despite finding some people’s natural scents unpleasant, people were to pretend there were no concepts of distasteful odors. It was rumoured that mates found their partner's scent intoxicating, family’s comforting and both had a sense of home.
One will find the common array of body odors distracting, some might twitch a nose but to outright leave a room. That alpha must have never interacted with humans before, otherwise he was just an egotistical asshole.
He ate his lunch alone, refused to come out for drinks after work, and barely read the group chats of their department. Honestly, he was just a brat, an antisocial brat.
Kimberly was the one to reveal a little bit of information on their walking computer.
Kim was originally from South Korea, having immigrated as a child, she was fluent in the language and had tried to make friends with the only other person in their office who spoke her first language but Sangwoo had worked his magic and driven her away.
“He video calls his brother.” Kim had confided over lunch one afternoon. Picking the onions of her burger.
Jas paused while putting a fry into her mouth, Mary stopped midchew. Placing a hand in front of her mouth Kimberly told the other woman to go on.
“I heard him telling his Hyung to get more sleep. Then something about the other’s work project.”
The group blinked at her not understanding what that would convey to them.
“Sorry.” Kim brought her hand up to cover her mouth. “His older brother.”
Jas digests the new information, for some reason she assumed Sangwoo was an only child; he had that type of energy. But it was rather sweet he tried to stay connected with his family despite the time differences.
And the months pass like seasons, in the blink of an eye it is summer and she remembers Sangwoo’s contract is coming to an end, having overheard the higher ups talking about how disappointed they were he wasn’t renewing but had been headhunted by a larger corporation.
She was not sad to see the alpha go, nor would she shed a tear when the door hit his ass on the way out. The younger man was just as rude as when he first arrived, yesterday for example in a meeting in front of everyone, the jerk had looked at her graphics and then spouted off about how they weren’t complimentary and clashed with the lettering.
As if she was some first-year student in her new design class, the nerve.
Face flushing, she was about to dispute the claim when another higher manager had agreed, telling her to change it. The humiliation was edible to the air as she sat back down in her chair. Her friends had told her it would be okay over lunch but it still bothered her. How Sangwoo inserted himself into her life.
He might not be outwardly stalking her but at times it felt like he was. Leaving at the same time as her, leaving food on her desk at random points of the week. Always looking at her. It all made her skin crawl; she thinks he’s trying to court her; not that he talks to her more or tries to touch her.
He keeps his physical distance thankfully and the few words he says are not crude but blunter.
Nonetheless he was not her type, to young and arrogant for her tastes; his refusal to understand social situations had repulsed her.
The one time she had been forced to interact with the tech brat was during the Christmas party. Drinking and merrymaking had filled the booked restaurant and Jas can admit she might have drunk more than she should have but being sat across from Sangwoo made her. He had nursed the same drink for half the night, turning away from them and covering his mouth, the rare occasions he had taken a sip.
It was strange. As if he didn’t want to party with them.
Although she thinks he might have flinched when one older manager had fallen on him. Having tripped by the chair leg. But that could be a misremembrance.
The creep had chosen to take her home that night, he didn’t sleep with her, or try to undress her, he opened her apartment door. Dragged her to her room and left her there. Locking himself out after leaving water and pain medicine beside her bedside.
It was very off putting to remember that when she became sober. She didn’t look him in the eye for like two weeks.
But it is now his last week. And she feels nothing but delight. The office has planned his party; all they need to do is tell him the time and location and it’s home time.
The work day is productive and boring with little time for chatting as there is a deadline to meet.
Before she can really comprehend it’s four in the afternoon. Being called to her door by Mary and Kimberly, the trio depart to see Sangwoo signing off his work desktop. The space is immaculate and not a spec of dust on the surface. Honestly it looks like a staged photo for a commercial.
The young man is getting his bag and slipping his baseball cap on when he spots them. Pausing to say his goodbyes; he appeared startled at the news of his party.
Looking conflicted he agrees to go with them to the bar, after their boss had commented that he would join them in half an hour.
The alpha towers over them, Kimberly attempting to converse with his in Korean, but Sangwoo mostly just nods along.
The man stops by the entrance to their office building. Feet frozen to the floor. And the ladies have to look around him to see another Korean guy, dressed in almost all red. A scarlet red leather jacket, black shirt and a slightly dark shade of red jeans. His ears are pierced and the smirk on his face is a playful expression of teasing.
He looks like a canary who outsmarted the cat.
“Sangwoo!” He calls out warmly and his voice is velvety to Jas’ ears.
Sangwoo all but bounces over, hesitating just long enough to say something in their native tongue, and the stranger opens his arms wide. Sangwoo practically leaps into them.
The trio is shocked to see how tiny he seems compared to the giant of a man. So, none threatening and unalpha like.
“Hyung.” Sangwoo breathed out.
Kimberly’s words ring in their head. It’s his big brother and the geek of the tech department must have missed him.
Sangwoo kissed him passionately on the mouth. And the three’s jaws drop, Kimberly looks like she wants to puke, Mary can’t compute what she is witnessing and Jas feels vindicated she was right about the alpha being abnormal.
The brothers separate and the taller spots them, softly addressing Sangwoo. The younger bows his head and leads his relative over.
“Jaeyoung, these are my colleagues.” Sangwoo names them respectively.
“Why the fuck did you just kiss your big brother?” Mary drops what everyone was thinking.
The pair look confused for a second and Sangwoo turns to Jaeyoung for direction, it takes a second for the very tall alpha to understand what was said but when he does the man starts to laugh.
“Oh, I see where the confusion happened. Just to make it clear; we aren’t blood related. I met Sangwoo in university and he got me held back a year.” Jaeyoung reveals flashing a sharp looking grin to the younger man.
“I don’t understand why they thought we were related; my paperwork has you listed as my mate.” Sangwoo grumbles quietly.
“I know darling, mine does as well.” Jaeyoung holds out his hand, waiting for Sangwoo to put his in.
“Remember Hana, was surprised too when she found out the term can mean a romantic partner as well as a relative.” Jaeyoung supplied and Kimberly no longer looked ill.
“I’ve never met an alpha and alpha male pairing. What’s it like?” She asks shamelessly.
Both look puzzled at her words, Jas thinks there might be a mistranslation happening but Sangwoo answers.
“I’m an omega not an alpha. So, we don’t have enough information to tell you.”
Eyes widen in surprise and Kimberly stutters apologies. Sangwoo doesn’t seem offended or ashamed at being labeled the wrong dynamic.
It was the first time she tries to think if anyone had actually said he was an alpha or if it was just assumed.
Well, that was embarrassing as she watched the night go on, Jaeyoung joining them for drinks and the goodbye celebration.
This was the only time she has ever seen Sangwoo glow in happiness.
With his alpha’s arm over his shoulder and the cap left on the table. They make a cute couple. One loud and bold with the other quiet and observant.
A contrast of colours and personalities.