An August Wedding

Ch. 58 - Deciding Factors

"What do you think that means?"

Jin shrugged from his spot on the couch. "Sounds like you want to rule with an iron fist."

"Jin," Namjoon scolded. The oldest shrugged again.

"I don't know! I didn't learn about the brain in my college courses, Joon."

Namjoon turned back to Yoongi, shifting in his armchair. "It sounds like you're conflicted about something. And for it to happen multiple times means that it's recurring in your life or your emotions. Is there anything like that going on?"

Yoongi frowned as he considered it. He'd gone out to drink and hang out with the other two at Namjoon's place. He hadn't meant to bring up the weird dream, it had just slipped out by accident. But now that the point was out in the open, he was conflicted about things going on in his life.

"I need to talk to that producer. Face my fears of whether I'll be rejected again."

"No offense, but we all knew that," Jin commented. Yoongi glared at him.

"You should be more like me. Quit your job and pursue your passions instead. I mean, look at this food plating I did!"

Jin eagerly showed the others several pictures on his phone of desserts, sandwiches, and fruit plates that he'd helped with in the past few weeks.

"I'll try not to be offended you're so much happier without me," Yoongi replied with a pointed look. Jin slowly put his phone back in his pocket, smiling sheepishly.

"Jin does have a point," Namjoon chimed in. "You should call the producer."

"I do? I mean....yes. Of course I do! You should listen to me more often."

Yoongi ignored Jin's outburst to think for a moment. Were they onto something? It was true that he'd been working to gather more shareholders so that the company could be sold over to Jimin. If he didn't act soon, the company would be sold and he might have blown his chance to meet with the producer.

"You're right," he said finally. "Thanks."

Namjoon smirked. "Got any new songs done while you're here? My equipment isn't as fancy as yours, but it can do the job." 

"No, nothing new. But give me a few days."

"That's the spirit."

Meanwhile, you were taking the opportunity of Yoongi's absence to do some cleaning. If you were going to be selling the house, the place needed to look well taken care of before buyers showed up. That was far down the list of priorities, but doing some of the work now would make it easier later.

You looked the studio for anything that stuck out. You weren't going to clean off the monitors or equipment just in case you bumped something and erased all of Yoongi's hard work. No, not taking that chance.

Instead, you emptied the trash can (mostly full of empty soda cans and water bottles) and moved to leave. As you did, you happened to glance at Yoongi's opened notebook on the desk. Words and sentences were scribbled haphazardly in it, almost like some kind of word cloud. Some were struck through, others underlined. But near the center, a strange phrase was circled a couple of times.

Deciding it was better to respect his privacy, you took the trash out and tried to ignore it.

You'd just left the room when there was a knock at the front door. You walked over to open it, forgetting to check first.

"Jimin?"

"Hey," he said. "Sorry for showing up like this. I wanted to talk to you in person."

"Sure. Come on in."

He looked around slowly. "Nice place you've got here."

You chuckled. "Thanks."

"Just you?"

"Yeah, Yoongi went out. He should be back soon."

"He told you about my offer, right?"

"Yes. I've been meaning to call you about that. We should set up some meetings to work out the logistics."

Jimin smiled. "Funny. That's exactly what Yoongi said." He sat down on the couch. "But I agree, I want it to be a smooth transition."

"What, you won't be available to help me after you sell the company back?" you joked.

"Actually, that's another thing I wanted to talk about. I don't know." He scratched the back of his head. "Your friend Hoseok, he's very persuasive. He made me an offer to help run his dance studio."

"He did?"

"I don't want to drop everything on you and run, but if I work with him, I may not have the time to help run things around the office."

"That's okay," you assured him. "I'll have Yoongi to help out."

Jimin frowned. "Is he going to stay with the company? I thought the point was that you'd be free of each other."

You realized your mistake as soon as he said it. Here you were, planning to sell the company and even sell the house, but you were still counting on Yoongi being there if you needed him.

"Slip of the tongue. I meant Namjoon, he's my assistant."

"And you think he's up to the task of helping with an entire company? It's a lot more work than just one department."

"He's smart and dependable. I'm sure we can figure it out."

Jimin nodded slowly, but he didn't seem convinced. "Well, as long as we're on the topic, do you think you'll want to keep all your employees?"

"Of course."

"I have several departments' worth of employees too. We might have to combine our efforts and let some people go from both sides."

"Right. You're right. We can't keep that many people. I'll have to take a look at performances and see what we can do."

"Are you okay?"

You pursed your lips. "I guess it's really hitting me. How much responsibility I'm going to have when I get the company. I'll get used to it, I'm sure." 

"One thing at a time." He clasped one of your hands in his own. "Hey, I want this to be as smooth as possible for you. There's going to be bumps in the road, but I'll do whatever I can to help. I just wanted to make sure you were thinking about these things before they came up in the meetings. There's going to be a lot of back and forth to hash this out."

"Right."

"Is there any time or day that works better for you?"

"I don't know. I'd have to check my calendar. I don't know off--"

"Hey, look at me," Jimin interrupted. "If this is going to stress you out, we don't have to do it."

"I'm not stressed."

"Your hands are shaking. And all I did was ask about your availability."

You clenched your hands into fists to try and hide the fact he was right. "Let's just have an overview meeting to start. See what information we need to work out so that I can prepare ahead of time."

"Overview meeting," he repeated. "I can do that. You and Yoongi get together and let me know your availability, okay?"

You nodded slowly, still trying to fight the anxiety and stress that was building. Wasn't this what you wanted? 

Jimin stayed a while longer, obviously trying to make sure you'd calmed down before he left you alone. It was only after he left that you realized that was the problem.

You were going to take over like you'd always wanted. But you'd have to do it alone. Your parents didn't know. Once the ink was dry, Yoongi would be on a plane to meet with a producer to start his music career. And now even Jimin might be unavailable to help you.

How were you supposed to do it all alone?