Chapter Text
Seokjin is on the sofa when Jimin comes in, typing away on his laptop. He turns his head once Jimin opens the door and then does a double-take. "Oh my god, are you all right?" He jumps to his feet, helping Jimin inside.
"Jin," Jimin steps towards the sofa, falling rigidly to sit on it. "Jeongguk dropped me off."
Seokjin takes some time to process that before he screeches, grabbing both sides of his face with his hands and running towards the window. "Now? Just now? Are you sure? Where is he? Didn't you invite him up for tea? That's the polite thing to do, Jimin!"
"No, listen," Jimin turns to him, "he dropped me off and then," he takes in a deep breath, "then he said his company might need a new dancing recruit and invited me to practice with him," his voice gets higher the closer he gets to the end of the sentence.
Seokjin's mouth drops open and he takes minimal steps towards Jimin, grabbing both his hands when he takes a seat beside him. "Ok, listen," he murmurs, "you have to calm down. So," he squeezes Jimin's hands, "what you're trying to tell me is that you have a stellar job and a new stellar job opportunity?"
Jimin makes a face. He wouldn't put it like that, but just mentioning Jeongguk's company in his resume could give it a boost. He doesn't care if he has to wipe down floors. It's still Jeongguk's fucking dance company.
Seokjin sighs, patting Jimin's head and getting up. "Ah, Jiminie, being friends with you is depressing."
Jimin lets his head fall back on the sofa's headrest. "What?"
"Yeah, you're like... super you and I just," he shrugs one shoulder, "cook."
"Oh, Jinnie! You do more than cook, you make wonders come out of your hands."
Seokjin rolls his eyes. "Right. How was Japan?"
"Don't change the subject," Jimin lifts one eyebrow, "look, I'll tell Jeongguk I have this friend that cooks really well, okay? Maybe he'll make you into his official chef or something and we can spend the rest of our days together."
"Ew," Seokjin makes, "I'm not into you like that, you know?"
Jimin laughs and then winces. "Ah, damn, I'm tired. This trip was tiresome," he considers, watching his ceiling and trying not to think back to Taehyung and Bogum and Jeongguk and Kyung and Namjoon. Maybe all the money Jimin has been earning is going to be spent in therapy sessions.
Seokjin hums lightly, going into the kitchen and only coming back some minutes later with what seems to be leftovers heated up. It still smells divine. Jimin salivates at the sight.
"So," Seokjin begins once Jimin is halfway into finishing the food. "What are all those rides and chitchats with Jeongguk? I thought you hated him."
"I don't-" Jimin pauses, mouth full of noodles, "I don't hate him completely. He's still a bastard and honestly, he makes no sense whatsoever. Sometimes I think he's mean just for the hell of it and it scares me that he would derive such pleasure from hurting people that visibly love him?"
Seokjin is watching him carefully. "Wow," he says, "where did all that come from?"
Jimin sighs. Food has always had a way of making him open up. "From deep inside my heart, I think."
"Jinnie," Jimin speaks up later, when Seokjin has gone back to his laptop and Jimin has stuffed all of his clothes back inside his wardrobe. Seokjin hums to show he's listening. "If you had seen someone, someone who is... committed to another person," he squints.
Seokjin lifts one eyebrow. "You're not being very subtle. I know you're talking about Jeongguk and Taehyung."
Jimin sighs, falling face-first on the sofa. He can't help but feel like he should have told Jeongguk about the scene between Taehyung and Bogum. It feels like it'll make a difference. Namjoon hadn't told the singer but that was because Taehyung had asked him not to and Namjoon is whipped for Taehyung. But the model didn't know Jimin had seen it. He feels like he's Taehyung's last chance and it doesn't make sense. Is Jeongguk even aware of Bogum's existence? What if by telling it Jimin made him mad? Made him find out Taehyung had a lover? And if Taehyung had only denied Bogum that one time but still slept with him behind Jeongguk's back Jimin could cause them to divorce.
"What's going on, Jiminie?" Seokjin asks, not pausing his typing on the laptop. "You know I'm not a therapist and this sofa is far from a divan but I can still listen."
Jimin licks his lips, hugging the Pikachu pillow he'd gotten Seokjin. "Jinnie, what do you know about Park Bogum?"
Seokjin yawns, "You mean the movie star?"
"Yep."
Seokjin scratches his own nose. "The usual. Super hot, super famous," and then he frowns, "why do you ask?"
Jimin grimaces, turning around on the sofa. "For nothing," he lies, stretching out and curling his toes. "I think I'm going to bed," he dismisses, getting up from the sofa.
"Yeah, good night," Seokjin says, "you should set an alarm, you have class tomorrow."
Jimin groans on his way to his room. Classes. He hated classes. He's been dying to finish college and the prospect of Jeongguk's offer looms over his head. Few of his classmates had an opportunity such as his. Finding a job was already difficult as it was but finding a well-paid one at a renowned company was even harder. Whatever. Jimin doesn't want to get ahead of himself. Maybe Jeongguk offered just to be polite. Maybe he doesn't even mean it. Maybe he just wanted to get into Jimin's good graces. Maybe he- Okay, that's enough.
Jimin shuts the door to his bedroom carefully, taking a seat on the edge of his bed and primly toeing off his slippers. He lies down and takes in a good breath once feeling the familiar mattress digging into his back. He misses the five-stars hotel already.
Reaching out for his cell phone, Jimin dims the lights and proceeds to delve into the world wide web for some digging of his own. If he remembers correctly he'd seen Taehyung's name involved somehow with Bogum before, so it mustn't be that hard to find anything on them.
As expected, his search for park bogum and kim taehyung ends with several results. There are high-quality pictures of them together in some kind of romantic spot, which was clearly a photoshoot. The subtitle promises that Kim Taehyung makes out with actor Park Bogum for the September issue of Vogue. See the steamy pics here!.
The pictures' scenery is pretty casual, the interior of an antique house where Taehyung, dressed in a deep red silky robe, exchanges flirty looks with a Bogum that has an unknotted tie and a hand up Taehyung's thigh. The one containing their overestimated 'make out session' details Taehyung with a leg woven provocatively around Bogum's hip, their heads ducked together in a kiss.
Jimin doesn't make much of it other than for the fact that they seem to possess very good chemistry together. Taehyung is a far-famed model so it had probably not been the first time he'd done sensual photoshoots with national heartthrobs either.
Jimin goes back to the initial webpage and clicks on the second link, where Park Bogum denies affair rumors with Kim Taehyung shines in bright blue colors.
Park Bogum found a slot in his busy agenda this Saturday (23) to attend the Presidential's Charity Ball. Asked after his supposed affair with supermodel Kim Taehyung, the actor said ''It was a pleasure to work with Taehyung and we still do keep in contact but we've never been more than good friends. I hope he will find the strength to overcome his issues," the latter in reference to Taehyung's break of contract with Gucci.
It's worth reminding that Park Bogum and Kim Taehyung were allegedly spotted together in Paris after a sexy photoshoot that gained the model a couple hate tweets from Park's fanbase. Asked after his wife's reaction to the rumors, Park Bogum prefered not to comment.
His wife. So that had been it. Gossip regarding Taehyung and a married man. A famous married man at that.
Jimin goes back to the search's results but no matter how deep he prods, the results are never more than tabloids sniffing around the possibility of an extra-marital affair. Apparently, Bogum and his wife, a cute looking actress, had divorced not long after the rumors involving Taehyung broke out, but only a handful of gossip websites link the two events together.
Well, at least one thing is clear: Taehyung and Bogum were indeed lovers at some point. But Jimin didn't need the internet to draw that conclusion. He'd witnessed it in the empty corridor of a hotel in Tokyo. The point here is to know whether or not their affair developed into something more discreet than the media was able to dig into.
And the answer comes in the form of a Jeongguk-centered blog or forum thing. The font is small, so Jimin has to squint to read the comments, not to mention as soon as the page finishes loading a song blasts out of his speakers and he has to hasten and mute it. A gif of Jeongguk laughing is in loop right beside the text and it follows down the page as Jimin scrolls down.
Apparently there seemed to be a post listing all the reasons why Taehyung didn't deserve Jeongguk.
jeon_cookie97:
are we srsly not going to talk abt taehyung and bogum???
jungkupid:
they still weren't together, sarah
remember? kookie and tae started going out in april. the thing with bogum was in january or smth. and it was never confirmed lol
uchihakookk:
she's right, jeon_cookie97
jeonmary:
hate to break it 2 u guys but taehyung and bogum were indeed fuckign
gukkie4ev:
hahahaha it's taehyung of course he was sleeping with the dude
I swear he only ever gets the best, he is such a slut. and bogum was married at the time. who is gonna say he won't cheat on kookie ???
jeon_cookie97:
jeonmary explain!!!
jeonmary:
so my sister works for bogum's publicity agency and she said that at the time they had to do like, extra hours to take down everything there was abt tae and bogm. and she said everyone knew they were fucking but they couldn’t let it slip because bogum is like, the face for a super conservative production studio. and she said his wife knew abt it as well and she fucking hated tae. they broke it off tho before tae met kook
gukkie4ev:
omg!!!!!!!!!!!
sakura123:
r u talking abt tae and bogum? lol they still R fucking. tae has never been loyal to kook
jeon_cookie97:
sakura123 yes we are. We're worried abt kook! Satantae will cheat on him x.x
jeonmary:
u r right sakura123. unfortunately for kook : ((((
uchihakookk:
what do u mean jeonmary???? And do u know why tae and bogum broke up??
jeonmary:
my sister said tae and bogum still see each other : ( like, they met once when tae and kook were dating. but kook found out and tae changed agents. this new guy was supposed to keep tae away from bogum but I don't know if it worked. she said they met when tae was preg too but tae kept pushing him away. I don't know why they 'broke up' before tae met kook but my sister said... (Read more)
Jimin sighs, tapping on the read more tag.
(…) smth happened that bogum's exwife couldn't stand it anymore. she got the divorce and bogum broke it off with tae but he kept like calling all the time and insisting to go back. And then tae disappeared for some time and my sister said bogum asked her to hide a huge debt he'd gotten from a hospital in malaysia
taetae_33:
guys, I'm a tae stan and I can confirm what jeonmary said. A friend of my cousin's saw them together once in tokyo at a starbucks. they were super discreet and such but he recognized them. he said bogum was very physical and kept touching tae and whispering to him. it was last year when kook and tae were dating. maybe tae was even pregnant already. check the time, they were both in tokyo together.
kingtaee:
what is this? csi miami? lol tae never cheated on kook and jeonmary, u need to learn how to use commas. this is all a bunch of senseless gossip. next u will be saying bogum made a plastic surgery in a clinic down in africa and asked this girl's sister to hide it from the press coz now he lives in another body. Like wtf??????? Leave tae alone!!!
jeon_cookie97:
excuse me but this is a jeongguk's forum only. taesatans are not allowed in here
kingtaee:
yeah whatever go suck a dick
Jimin frowns. He never would have thought Jeongguk's forums were that aggressive.
uchihakookk:
omg! Stop stop stop that actually makes sense! I heard talk that tae went through several plastic surgeries, but no one knows when that was. Maybe he disappeared to get it done and bogum paid for it.
taetae_33:
his face looks rlly different from that time around. [image] [image] see? The first is tae when he started his career and the other is of tae when he was with kook! His nose and eyes even his lips r different!
gukkie4ev:
why would bogum pay for it tho? only if he felt responsible. do u think bogum did smth to tae and then felt guilty?
sakura123:
maybe he beat him so bad tae had to go to the hospital hahaha! wasn't tae bothering hiim to go back? And didn't tae end his marriage? bogum knows how to hold grudges
jeonmary:
maybe. my sister says that the good boy image bogum has is all a façade. she said he's a dickhead to everyone mainly with those who work under him. she quit two months ago coz he got in another scandal with a mc and an actress at the same time and he wanted her to clean his name again. kingtaee I know how to use commas just fine, thank u
kingtaee:
yeah? maybe ur sister could tell us when the world will end too if she's so good!
jeon_cookie97:
that's it! I am blocking u!
Jimin rolls his eyes, exiting the forum when the whole conversation dissolves into curses and rumors that Taehyung had gotten an ass prosthesis in Malaysia paid by Bogum. He feels like a teenage girl with nothing better to do, but at least (if random comments from people he'd never seen before were to be trusted) he now had a reason to believe that Taehyung and Bogum had had an affair which may or may not have ended. So, yeah, that was pretty terrible.