Dark Rum Chocolate

DARK RUM CHOCOLATE

Novel made by author: MonkeyBoi (Aka RandomIsh)

Lee Jae-Joo had been living his dream life in the Philippines.

Never did much and never needed to. Ever since he was born, his life was flowing nicely. Jae had good grades in school, had many friends, was in the military for a while nd was a model for a year in the meantime, until his uncle, great guy by the way, found a great job for Jae in the company he was working for.

That's how his life was.

Nothing stressed Jae too much.

People call him lucky, and normally he would call himself that too.

But he couldn't,

Because that's not what Jae wanted,

Jae felt ungrateful because of that, because he wanted a change, he wanted something to break the flowing cycle,

he yearned for something he didn't even have a name for.

And always decided to ignore his feelings, because he couldn't have what he wanted, he was so buried in his own comfort that he couldn't get out of it even if he wanted to.

   He was sitting on his porch, gazing at the ocean that was far away in front of him. He was peacefully reading boring paper work for the business he was working for while eating chocolate cubes to soothe his sweet tooth.

!ring¡ring!

Jae flinched, startled by the unexpected call, clumsily grabbing his phone that was on the table next to him. "Uncle Bayan?" he thought, curiously accepting the call.

Bayan was clearly excited.

His uncle was indeed working at the same company– but the difference between them was that Jae was working from home, Bayan was a senior strategist, he was working inside the company building, in a faraway cold country.

Bayan: "This is serious business Lee Jae-Joo! such promotions are rare!"

Jae smirked nervously, yeah, exactly.

Bayan: "Come. Treat it as a vacation while you're at it, you can't say no since I already bought you a ticket." he insisted "Oh! and buy a coat on your way here, it's a little cold"

Jae: "A- uncle wait-"

His uncle ended the call, basically leaving Jae without a choice.

He stared at his phone, his intuition telling him it's a bad idea and he should keep his ass home where he belonged,

but after all–

Isn't this what he wanted?

What he was chasing?

Isn't this a chance for a change??

he sighed overwhelmed.

"A little cold huh?" he mumbled with a scoff after all.

Throwing the last cube of chocolate in his mouth and getting off his chair.

Maybe a promotion and a change don't sound too bad after all.

His intuition was right.

he SHOULD have stayed home.

Why did Jae expect “cold” meant his type of cold. Not a Bayan type of cold.

Jae got out of the plane, the freezing wind punching him in the face.

The country was way different than what he expected.

Because of that, all mighty Jae-Joo was wearing a thin coat and a suit that's even thinner.

"Fuck! FUCK!" he yelled, taking a few steps in hell. Looking around– he couldn't even see much because of the overwhelming fog that was taking over the city!!!

"Do these people live with penguins?" he thought with a whine.

Jae had his phone in his right hand and files in his left, bag around his shoulder. Trying not to slip or embarrass himself too much.

  He had to leave those files and meet with his uncle in the business building, but that wasn't gonna be easy to find.

“you wanted change???? here you go you little shit” Jae heard a voice in his head that he wanted to slap but couldn't, since he was too focused on his phone.

As he was stumbling around the street, Jae slowly noticed people were staring at him weirdly-

Either because Jae looked out of place around them,

or because he was quite literally just slipping and bumping into them, apologizing from 5 to 5 minutes.

as if it wasn't enough- "Ngh!" Jae groaned, an ice flake attacked his left eye, making him rub it aggressively. Cars honked at him as he was stupidly stumbling around like a confused bunny.

Just a minute ago, Jae noticed a huge guy speaking on the phone just some feet away from him.

And he clearly didn't wanna bump into him, but unluckily enough, while Jae was half blind and still stubbornly walking through the frozen street,

the man all of a sudden stomped into Jae's direction unpredictably, Jae couldn't avoid him so suddenly so the inevitable happened–

  ¡! THUD !¡

Jae bumped into the man's broad figure,

his face getting slammed into his fur coat, a sharp smell of smoke and rum invading his nose

Jae:" ## shit-! fuck-!” he yelled with an accent

for a split second he saw the man's reaction, he was stunned too from the contact ,

like he couldn't believe somebody just bumped into him.

But Jae was preoccupied with rubbing his watery and itchy eye. His papers all on the icy ground

Jae: "sorry— wait. no YOU say sorry. Can't you see I was heading this direction? " he asked, irritated, barely seeing....

but the man's reaction fastly changed.

…

???: "My apology." A thick accent caught Jae off guard, the man's tone was formal and calm

The guy leaned down, collecting the work files, Jae stared at him then snapped them back, mumbling under his breath, not even looking up as he was rearranging them "thanks.".

He wanted to leave without saying much, already incited by the whole situation,

but the man stubbornly blocked him so he couldn't walk away.

???: “not even a tourist is ignorant enough to walk around here without a thick coat" he said with a cocky tone

Jae scoffed while placing the work papers into his bag

Jae: “I am not a tourist. I'm here for a..” the words stuck in his mouth, Jae just wanted to get into the damn building already, and this man was NOT moving! “-stupid fucking.. job promotion!"

He squinted his frozen eyes looking up at the guy who had an arrogant, mocking almost, pout on his face, placing his hands in his pockets and looking around the city.

He looked like he was holding his laugh up in his ass.

Jae thought, now even more annoyed.

???: "Are you not going to buy a coat?" he asked stupidly, clearly making fun of Jae, "you are gonna die soon if you'll just sit here."

Jae: "No fucking way sherlock Holmes. really?. Where's a coat store? If you're so eager to help" Jae muttered madly

his jaw trembling as he got more annoyed at the situation, sitting in the cold. The man having a joint of a smug smirk, he shrugged while Jae was Freezing

???: "well. It would be bad manners if I'd leave you here… Wouldn't it?" he wasn't even talking to Jae anymore, he was talking to himself like he was debating if he should leave Jae there or not

“fuck this.” Jae thought, as he realised the situation can be easily ignored, he made a step away from the man but in a split second, a huge wave of weight dropped on Jae,

with it,

a nice thick warmness also lingered in with the scent of expensive cologne, smoke and rum.

The man dropped his big fur coat onto Jae,

“took you long enough to make up your mind.” Jae thought,

he didn't get to arrange it on his shoulders that the man was already leaving. Probably thinking Jae was already following him

Jae: "Wait!" he muffled loudly enough to be heard

Then, trying to move after him, but the weight of the coat and the weather were both slowing him down absurdly.

The man in front was now only wearing some.. suit? Jae guessed through the fog,

he didn't budge to slow down either,

not even looking behind him

"-- he's nicer than he looks.." Jae thought as a small smile grew on his face, holding the fur coat tightly on his shoulders so it wouldn't fall, and dragging it after him like he was carrying a body on his back. “finally, someone who decided to help me”

But his positive opinion about the man quickly disappeared as soon as he sassily said,

while slowly walking on the street

???: "Pick up the peace already, I won't be waiting for you."

Jae: "yeah?? guess what,I'm trying! But this weighs a ton and the weather isn't helping too much either!" he complained as he stumbled again, cursing,

In front of him hearing a clear sigh.  

   While walking on the street, Jae observed the fact that, when people saw the man that was helping him, they fastly bypassed the other street.

Jae was confused, but his attention was fastly grabbed by a warm light coming out of a rather smaller store window.

It was like witnessing heaven, Jae thought, smiling brightly, feeling a tear roll down his cheek,

right then hearing the clincket of the door opening, and the man entering inside, Jae entering after him.

  Both men sighed in relief at the same time at the warmth of the store, which was filled with coats, hats, gloves and more.

Shortly taking the big coat off, and turning around giving it back to the nice gentleman. See? He wasn't so bad after all.

Now seeing him better for a second,

Jae realized he is kind of a sight for sore eyes.. really,

rather tall.. slightly taller than Jae, he analyzed, pale skin, masculine traits with narrow scary eyes,

overall intimidating,

which made Jae a little nervous.

He had to be some sort of.. celebrity maybe,

since he was wearing an expensive looking black suit that embraced his broad figure, all together with the warm coat and the fur hat that were definitely expensive by the look.

Jae: "thank you for the coat and showing me the store. You saved my life" Jae said with his casual warm smile now that he defrosted a bit, straightening his back unintentionally trying to look taller than the man

The man slowly grabbed his coat, but he was awkwardly looking away,

He just fastly shrugged it off,

looking too much at the guy's intimidating face made Jae nervous anyway.

  Jae was making the store tour, looking for a casual coat that's gonna keep him alive for the time he was gonna stay there. 

one caught his eye–

grabbing it and rubbing it with his thumb,

soft but thin.

Jae: “Well, this would keep me alive I sup-"

he heard a scoff and fastly turned around only to see him, with the same position, next to the door, intently staring at Jae,

freaking him out and all

Jae narrowed his eyes

He didn't budge, kept staring down at him,

Jae huffed, looking away

Jae:"cut me some slack." he whispered

but fastly enough,

the man spoke in his monotone, slightly judgy voice

???: “That one is overpriced." clearly spoke. Looking like he was forced to stay there.

Jae rolled his eyes, ignoring him and slowly putting the coat on himself in front of a mirror

Jae: "I said it would keep me alive, overpriced or not." In a small second, Jae felt like he should’ve stayed quiet.

The stranger came behind Jae, without a word, Jae didn't even see him move despite his size.

He had an unreadable, calm face but Jae still felt confused and startled, making himself look small by squeezing his shoulders and staring at him through the mirror without a word.

Behind his shoulder was the stranger, steadily placing his hands on Jae's shoulders forcing them to calm down, arranging the soft coat around them–

….

" Fuck? Alright. Maybe he's– interested in fashion? since he's nicely dressed and all.”

Without realising, Jae calmed down, trying to ignore the awkward… weird situation going on

“ Why does he care anyway?.” he asked himself, steadily breathing, focusing through the mirror,

following the guy's hands that were wrapped in gloves which slowly slipped at Jae's waist,

“Ay?!” Jae fastly flinched, raising a brow.

The man raised a brow as well, glancing at Jae and tapping his forearms to raise his arms slightly.

Jae furrowed his brows suspiciously, but slowly did so.

The man sketched no emotion on his face, it was all monotone compared to when he was outside, and acting all smug. Jae subtly smirked and looked away annoyed

He arranged the coat around Jae's waist line, keeping it respectful and barely touching him.

It didn't even feel weird for a reason.

Jae: “I don't intend to… interrupt. but–”

???: “What is your company doing here? You clearly do not live anywhere close" he quietly questioned

checking the tag, Jae wanted to answer harshly since he dislikes interrogation, AND he spoke over him.

But the dude's finger brushed by Jae's back of the neck accidentally, making his words get stuck in his throat at the ticklish sensation.

He swallowed hard, shutting his mouth for a second.

The stranger's voice was sounding friendly, calm, like luring a child in the forest.

Jae: "Business.. What would you expect?"

Jae didn't get fooled though - or he thought he didn't.

The man took a step back, finishing his… weird… thing?.. he was doing

crossing his arms, his friendly tone fading fast

???: "what kind."

it got ridiculous so Jae turned his head to look at him,

Jae: "Let me ask you, what are you? a journalist?"

The man froze,

he seemed really disoriented,

like he didn't know how to react

or what to do.

Then his eyebrows slowly fell down.

uh-oh

Should Jae take his words back?

He raised the side of his mouth in displeasure,

his eyes getting more narrowed and his position looking on edge. Before things could escalate…

Jae: "Relax.. don't you know when people joke and when they don't?-" he tried to excuse himself, chuckling nervously,

but the man stood steady, looking even more mad and confused.

He was expecting something else

Jae: "aha..ahm…” Jae faked a cough in his fist feeling awkward “I work with boring papers and political crap"

he tried to chuckle again, as soon as the man slowly loosened up the intimidating stare and regained his natural position and face.

Jae turned around relieved, taking off the coat, it was eerily quiet for what felt like an hour—

???: "ICB doesn't do anything boring." The guy dropped the bomb, randomly, with a serious unbothered tone.

Jae froze–

ICB ( International Civic Bureau) was the place Jae was working at,

which this stranger should have no idea of.

Jae whipped his gaze toward him, with wide surprised eyes, dumbfounded for a second before whispering and blinking fastly

Jae:"how do you.."

he furrowed his brows, feeling offended by how stupid this man made him look.

He was just looking down at Jae with conceited eyes and a mischievous grin, raising his chin a little, like an arrogant child who pranked his parents

Jae: "Did you read the fucking files?" he didn't even stutter as he fastly asked

He furrowed his thick brows and tightened his crossed arms

???: "you should be more collected in a country and near people you don't know anything about, you should actually thank me for being generous in this situation” he spoke clearly, and formally, ridiculously proud of his mischief and annoyed by Jae

Jae blinked genuinely feeling stupid, he wanted to get defensive but the man turned his face toward the clerk who twitched in a straight posture

???: "He is buying The NorthernReindeer winter model. S sized. with the fur shawl collar” he said, pointing at Jae,

Jae took a look at the clerk, then stared at the man stuttering

Jae: "w- wait what, man I didn't even approve of th-"

the man having enough of Jae’s bullshit, snapped, talking with a slightly louder and aggressive tone

???: "this is not the beach, you'd be morbidly stupid if you wont buy a decent coat." he stared a bit down at him before scoffing irritatedly, and turning around to leave with raised shoulders.

Jae stared at the coat he was referring to  then back at the man with a stupid smile

Jae: "hey, wait--- how about you pay for it?? It'd make a great gift if you want me to forgive you.” he chuckled a bit

But, the man with the door already wide open, took a look over his shoulder at Jae with disdain, disgust and unimpress, then left.

Jae: “ alright…. fuck you then man." he sighed. actually disappointed

The coat was a bit pricey, but it was indeed very good and warm which made Jae gratefully smile while arranging the fur on his neck before leaving the store. Forgetting how cold it was but-- better with the coat on,

way better.

The bratty shit was nowhere to be found- just as he realised he didn't get his name,

but.. it wouldn't be important, since Jae thought he wasn't gonna see him again anyway. What a way to enter this country

He had no more time to lose as he needed to give his uncle those files.

     He misread directions twice

    nearly slipped on ice while walking uphill

    almost fell nose first into snow

    almost lost his phone

But he healthily, finally got there, at a pretty big building made with mostly glass, with icicles and small layers of frost.

Jae loudly exhaled as he finally got there.

Inside everything was clean, polished,

people seemed very busy and serious, Jae awkwardly smiled looking around the huge reception floor.

Then--

Bayan: " LEE JAEEEE" Bayan's voice exploded through the corridors which startled Jae,

he turned around to see his tall, elegant uncle, with a dark scarf tossed around his neck.

Bayan elegantly stepped closer with his polished shoes, grabbing Jae by the cheeks

Bayan: "Jesus! so many summers and so many winters since I last saw you face to f- your face is cold! you're purple! is it that cold outside?"

Jae embarrassed, removed his uncle's hands from his cheeks.

Gosh. everybody was looking at them.

Bayan was different now, he started having the weird aggressive Veyric accent, softer, but still there. Even his skin tone was getting paler, ever since he moved in!

Jae chuckled looking away

Jae: "you said it would be a little cold, you didnt care to mention its like the fucking artic here"

Bayan: "Bold and colorful as ever I see! that's my nephew, nice coat!" he pinched Jae's nose, Jae squealing a little. " looking good though! still as chubby, but taller now! Gosh, you drank? you smell expensive.. like rum." his tone weirdly got slightly nervous,

Jae chuckled, still awkward and embarrassed by his uncle

Jae: "Good to see you too, Bayan.”

Bayan blinked, his smile returning to his face

Bayan: “aahh, call me uncle..”

His uncle looped his arm around Jae and dragged him toward big elevators

Bayan:"come come come, we have soo much to do"

       In the elevator, Bayan pressed the 9th floor button. The elevator slowly started going up as he did so.

His posture straight as ever, hands behind his back, wearing a dark blue suit and his usual manipulative instinctive smile.

Bayan: "9th floor is where your desk will be, you'll work there for a while" he said, not even looking at Jae, till he did turn his head eventually "oh. But I mean pft- do not worry, I didn't throw you into a huge role, all you have to do is assistance...  reviewing papers... delivering documents... sitting in meetings.. easy basic stuff." he removed his gaze off Jae again

Jae, who was lazily leaning onto the wall of the elevator but felt a little embarrassed at the difference of him and his uncle postures—-

Jae: "basic. thats good, I like basic." he softly spoke, looking away with lazy eyes

Bayan gazed back at Jae his smile awkwardly disappearing

Bayan: "Jae, when I say basic, I don't mean ‘you basic’, I mean ‘me basic’. In here, nothing is ‘you basic'. "

Jae stared at his uncle confused, his brain short circuited.

Jae: "wh- what does that even mean-"

        ¡! ding !¡

The doors opened to a big room with long hallways, offices behind tinted glass, with people doing things such as printing stuff, drinking coffee... desks behind glass, and all sorts of comfortable couches around.

It looked like the American dream but in Alaska.

Jae thought with a slight disdain sigh…

still.. plain and basic.

but he liked it that way…

Bayan: "Here we are! here you leave papers, review them and so on! " Bayan pointed around as he uniformly walked around the decent spaced room "here you usually get papers delivered, but you can do your job inside your room too" he whispered the last part.

Jae nodded, taking a look at the desks around.

Bayan showed him more around, and explained how it works, then led Jae to the 29th floor, where Bayan's office along with others was.

That floor seemed cold. and it required a keycard to enter..

Then entering Bayan's office room.

Bayan: "this building is safe, safer than the most in this country at least" His uncle mumbled walking around his office like he was telling himself that “ahh.. you need a keycard to enter this floor, but don't worry, I'll send you one as soon as they make it”

His uncle's office was a bit warmer looking, with full yellow and white walls, with a large view of the foggy city, couches, office full of important looking papers looking like it was his room.

  Jae puffed amused, since the room looked a lot like it was a psychiatrist room

Bayan turned around on his chair and clapped his hands on his table

Bayan:"okay! show me the files you brought" he said, sitting on his chair with a diplomatic smile

taking them out of his bag, Jae joo placed them on Bayan's table, all sorted out just like his uncle likes em.

Bayan's eyes almost watery with admiration

Bayan: "you sorted them?"

Jae, proudly ruffling his feathers in his brand new coat,raising his chest

Jae:"Sure, I knew you'd appreciate it so I took my time, though.. somebody bumped into me so-- I think some of them are a bit messy."

Bayan fluttered his hand

Bayan: "aphh- do not worry, You are such a blessing. My one and only nephew, you've always been good at sorting them out"

Bayan watched the files with sparkles in his eyes

Bayan: “sit down sit down and tell me about your trip would you,? serve yourself with anything you want while I check these out"

good idea.

Jae looked around and found a kettle with tea, not waiting for second approval he poured some tea in a clean cup and sat on a chair in front of his uncle, on his desk was a bowl with candies, Jae raised his chin to check if Bayan had any chocolate in the bowl.

Bayan: "so? Did anyone bother you?" His uncle politely asked with the same tone he always had. His eyes not leaving the papers

Jae: "mmnot particulary.” he muttered, scrambling in the sweets bowl, looking for something specific as he spoke “Just cold, I mean a man bumped into me, but he showed me where to buy this coat from so I guess he's kinda nice" Jae spoke with a disappointed face, not finding anything he wanted from the bowl “he also had nice clothes. And was kinda attractive.”

Bayan: "oh that's so nice, you got lucky. People around are usually mean" Bayan muttered while fastly scanning over the papers, laying them in the same order Jae sorted them

Jae: "I suppose, he looked mean, and was arrogant too. But I guess my opinion changed a bit when he gave me his coat for the moment” he shrugged

but, his uncle probably was not paying attention to a single word Jae was saying.

Jae:"ah- and um, uncle?" he noted, dragging his hand over the back of his neck then hanging on his shoulder awkwardly "where will be my room? since you said nothing about where I’ll stay”

Bayan raised his brows, like he couldn't believe he forgot such an important subject

Bayan: "oh god…how could I forget! yes of course. Good job on reviewing those files! come come" he got up his chair, putting the files away.

on his desk were already a huge stack of documents which seemed unfinished..

Maybe Jae could help.

Jae: “a- Bayan?" Jae muttered

Bayan: "yeah?"

Jae:"Do you need help with these?"he looked over his shoulder at the papers on the desk

Bayan nonchalantly fluttered his hand and shook his head

Bayan: "nono! It's okay now, but I'll send some of them to you later. cmon now let me show you your room".