An August Wedding

Ch. 53 - Confessions

Jin had been enjoying his temporary work with the catering company. As someone who already liked food, it was interesting to see how the other workers were able to make such a large variety of dishes and provide them to the client with such high quality.

He had learned that there were three sub-teams in the workplace. Seungcheol, Vernon, Wonwoo, and Mingyu all specialized in different food prep (vegetables, bread, desserts, and meat, respectively). They all worked together in the same kitchen to make sure that the meals were going to be as unified as possible.

Soonyoung, Jun, Minghao, and Chan were the mood setters. They served each course with a smile and made problems into solutions when they arose. Speaking several languages between them, they were also popular for international events to interact with different guests.

Joshua, Jihoon, Jeonghan, Seokmin, and Seungkwan focused more on aesthetics and details. Utensils, napkin folding, getting coolers and ice prepared, and did the client need live music or any specific decorations for a themed party? This was the team that Jin was assigned to as he was Jeonghan's replacement.

And although he would have loved to be in the kitchen with the others, learning the more detail-oriented side of the service was something he did enjoy. It didn't take long before Joshua was joking that they'd found a triple threat in Jin, between his knowledge in the kitchen, his dad jokes, and his desire to make things look as nice as possible.

Jin had also taken a special liking to Jihoon, sensing a familiarity to his best friend. And it was this liking that allowed him to guide Taehyung to a back room that Jihoon often used when working on the logistics of client requests.

"Ji, can I use this room for a few minutes?" he whispered. 

Jihoon glanced up at him, looked at Tae, and slowly nodded. "Don't tell Soonyoung," was all he said before disappearing towards the front.

Tae slowly stepped into the room, aware that it was barely much more than a storage closet. But there were coolers and whiteboards laid out in such a way that it seemed like a meeting area.

"Jihoon likes to plan things out in here," Jin said by way of explanation as he sat down on one of the coolers. "But only he and a couple of others use it, so it's the most private area we have. So what did you need to talk about?"

"Right." Tae awkwardly walked closer to Jin. "I wanted to apologize about the accident."

"Which one? That car accident?" Tae nodded. "There's nothing to apologize for."

"Yes, there is. I--I was supposed to be driving that night."

"Driving what?"

"The other car. The...one that hit you." 

Tae had been supposed to be at a gig with a couple of other models from other agencies that night. They were little more than added "A-list" guests, just there to mingle with the others at the event. And since it had been a smaller gig, Taehyung had called out of it the minute Yoongi had told him about the meeting with Lee Hansol.

If he had been at the gig, he would have driven the others back. Instead, they had left with one of their agency staff who'd had a bit too much to drink while no one was looking.

He remembered getting the text from Mark while they were on the plane back home. That they'd been in a wreck. That he was fine...but to find out later who had been in the other car was enough to drown him in guilt.

By the next day, the agency had contacted their lawyer they kept on retainer and asked him to handle it. Sweep it under the rug and make it disappear. And he did. He paid out the parties involved and everyone moved on with their lives.

Mark, Yugyeom, and BamBam had moved past it. It wasn't their fault, after all. They'd done what they could out of kindness, staying until the ambulance showed and making sure the staff member was fine. He walked away with barely a scratch and got a slap on the wrist for it. You and Jin had gotten paid your settlements and were out of the hospital with clean bills of health.

Taehyung was another story. He'd hardly been sleeping, he was so wracked with guilt.

He'd done everything he could to make up for it since that night. He hadn't called out of another gig. In fact, he volunteered to drive the others to and from their own to make sure they were safe. Just to try and ease that taunting voice in his head, reminding him that if he'd just been there, if he'd just done his job like he was supposed to...

"Taehyung," Jin spoke up.

He started at the sound of his voice. He didn't remember kneeling on the cold tile floor. He didn't remember when he started crying. He didn't remember how much he'd confessed to Jin, but the older man crouched down and helped him up.

"It's not your fault. Do you understand me?"

His words were firm, but his eyes held nothing but warmth and sympathy for his friend. Taehyung wiped at his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

"But you quit!" he suddenly exclaimed. "You're scared of driving now and it's--"

"Kim Taehyung. Even if you had been driving that night, we could have gotten in a wreck. It could have been that same night. Or the next week. Or a month later. Maybe even years in the future. The fact that we got in one at all is not your fault. And I'm telling you to stop blaming yourself for it. I'm glad it happened."

"You are?"

Jin nodded. "We were lucky, especially me. That accident gave me a chance to reevaluate my life and decide to change it. Find something I really wanted to do." 

"And this is it?" Taehyung prompted. Jin glanced around with a small smile.

"I think so. If they take me on full-time, obviously. And if not, I can always go work in a restaurant or something." 

He watched as the younger man breathed a sigh of relief. His shoulders relaxed and it looked like he'd been relieved of a big burden. It hadn't been long ago that Jin had been struggling with the guilt of the accident himself. It felt good to ease that pressure off of someone else. He gently patted him on the shoulder and led the way out.

"Next time you have something like that on your mind, you can come to me. I'm still your hyung, okay?"

"I shouldn't have known about it," he admitted. "I had to keep quiet until the settlements were finalized so that the company wouldn't get in trouble. You...won't tell Yoongi, will you?"

"That's hardly my business to tell. But for what it's worth, not telling him is only going to make things worse."

Taehyung nodded slowly as he saw a new notification on his phone. "He knows I'm hiding something already."

"All the more reason to tell him, then," Jin urged.

"Thank you," Tae said after a moment. "I'll have to come back and support your new workplace." 

"You're welcome anytime." 

A few minutes later, Jihoon happened to walk by. "By the way, you don't have to worry about being let go. We'll talk about it when Jeonghan gets back."

Jin stiffened. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"Nope," he replied. "Just making sure that you kicked me out for something important."

"Thanks. It won't happen again."

"I'd hold off on saying that until we tell you about your new position."

"Wha--?" Jin gasped. "You're not even going to tell me?"

He shrugged. "Sorry. That's up to Seungcheol or Mingyu. And you didn't hear it from me."

And with that, he slipped around the corner towards the kitchen. Jin sighed.

"I quit for one Min Yoongi, I start working with another one."