Bond Made in Hell || A TAEJIN STORY || Arranged Marriage

15

I'm not dead (yet)

Jin

For the next ten minutes I hover anxiously about the corridor, itching to press my ear to the other side of the door and eavesdrop but holding back due to my basic sense of professionalism. Still, I can hold back only just barely. I wonder what Taehyung's saying to Jungkook right now: something insulting, I am sure. I feel my face tighten a little at the thought of Taehyung insulting Jungkook and Jungkook accepting everything quietly because he is such a gentleman. My husband really is a jerk.

I finally give up and decide to go to my cubicle. Sorry, not cubicle. I forgot Jungkook's headquarters are much bigger than mine, and everybody has their own private office except the lower-pay-grade-employees. My office is the biggest, Hoseok tells me, almost the same size as Jungkook's. I loved Jungkook's office, but I like mine even more. It's got light blue wallpaper and is furnished simply, the way I like it. Jungkook seems to have put a lot of thought into designing a comfortable room for me.

I bump into Yoongi on my way to the office. He gives out a small whine like a cat and jumps back, rubbing his forehead. 'Who the heck-oh, it's you, Mr Seokjin, Sir.'

'Hallo, Yoongi,' I smile broadly at him. 'Do you work on this floor as well?'

'Oh, no,' he shakes his head. 'I work downstairs with Jimin and Namjoon and the others, and now Hoseok-'

'Jimin?' My ears prick up. 'Say, Yoongi, you wouldn't happen to know where Jimin is right now, would you? I wanted to have a quick word with him.'

Yoongi looks surprised, but doesn't ask any questions. 'I saw him on the second level a while ago, he might be there still. I saw him near the reception.'

'Thank you, Yoongi,' I say, smiling at him, and he blushes. 'I'll see you, then, Sir!' He flashes me an unexpected gummy smile and races back away down the corridor.

I take the elevator to the second floor, and true to Yoongi's word, Jimin stands talking to the receptionist in a low voice. 'Jimin!' I call out, and he spins around, turning slightly pale at the sight of me.

'Jin,' he says, with a rather forced smile as I come walking over. 'How are you?'

'That's it?' I cock an eyebrow at him. 'We meet after days, no weeks, and that's all I get?'

Jimin's face relaxes into a much better, wider smile as he allows me to slip a hand around his shoulders and lead him away from there. 'You shouldn't really flaunt our friendship around here, Jin, people might get jealous.'

'Trust me, they already are,' I assure him. 'I mean, look at you, and look at me. Who would have thought someone like you would have got someone as handsome as me for a best friend?'

Jimin punches me on the arm. 'You're just the same.'

'And you're not,' I frown slightly. 'You've been avoiding me.'

'No, I haven't!' Jimin makes an outraged expression. 'We talked on phone just a few days ago.'

'You didn't even come to show me around on my first day here,' I pout at him, knowing how soft that makes him. 'Jungkook had to do it.'

Jimin's face tenses very slightly at the mention of Jungkook, and I wonder if he's been on the wrong side of his boss lately. 

'What?'

'Nothing, nothing,' Jimin shakes his head. 'I'm sorry I couldn't be the one to show you around, Jin, I...' 

His voice trails off as he becomes completely absorbed in his train of thoughts, which seemed to have started as soon as I mentioned 'Jungkook.' I look at him for a while in amusement, then reach over and poke him in the middle of his forehead. 'Hey, Jimin.'

He doesn't respond, walking along with his head bowed and hands deep in pockets.

I poke him harder. 'Hey, CHIMCHIM!'

Jimin jumps and glares at me. 'Don't do that!' he says, crossly. 'That's a nickname I've tried very hard to hide around here. Yoongi got hold of my phone once and saw one of your messages calling me 'chimchim' and I haven't been able to live it down ever since.'

'Ouch, sorry. Are you angry?' I purse my lips and make kissing noises at him. Jimin stares at me for a second and then bursts into laughter, draping his short stubby arm over my neck. 'Oh god, you really still are the same. Gosh, your shoulders-they've become even wider!'

'Of course they have,' I tell him, proudly. 'Kim Seokjin and wide shoulders belong in one sentence, you can never separate the two. Sorry, three, since I have two shoulders.' I throw my head back and chuckle loudly.

Jimin rubs a hand over his forehead. 'It amazes me how you can say such jokes and then laugh so hard about it.'

'What? My jokes are good,' I say, feeling insulted. 

'No, they're not. Your laughter is. It reminds me of the sound the car wipers make on the windshield when it rains.'

'Hey, you little...' I grab at him but he slips out of my reach and runs away, laughing and looking back every now and then. 

'Seokjin?' A voice calls out. I turn to see Jungkook at the office door, beckoning me over. I walk up to him, trying to guage by the look on his face what Taehyung said to him. I am unsuccessful, however, Jungkook maintains a completely poker face as I look searchingly at him, even though he doesn't drop that illegal bunny smile of his.

As I reach him the door of the office swings open once more and Taehyung walks out. His demeanour is a whole lot different than Jungkook's-everything about it screams anger, anger, anger. The tip of his nose is deadly white and his eyebrows are drawn together as he walks past us, hands in pockets and head up high in the air. He makes eye contact with me a single time as he goes, and the gaze is not unlike anything I have not expected: cold and sharp and uncaring. This time there's a trace of anger in it as well, which surprises me. I didn't know the man was capable of human emotions.

As Taehyung walks straight into the elevator and the doors slide shut in front of him, I turn to Jungkook questioningly. 'What did he say to you?'

'Nothing much.' Of course he's not going to tell me. I guess he doesn't want to embarrass me more than I already am. 'We just made small talk, that's all.'

'Jungkook,' I look at him steadily for a while, making him go red and drop his eyes, 'both you and I know that's not true.'

'The conversation was private, Jin.' He says, with a hint of finality in his tone. I give up. I can't blame Jungkook for wanting to keep things confidential: in his place, I would have done the same. 'It's...okay. I respect your decision. Can we get back to work now?'

'Oh, sure,' Jungkook nods vigorously. 'I'll send for Namjoon, he'll bring up all the necessary files we need to discuss today.'

'That'd be a good start,' I nod my head approvingly, and as Jungkook walks out of the office to summon Namjoon, I quickly slip inside the room. I walk towards the table, my eyes searching for the audio recorder I put into the small brown pen stand in the middle. It's not visible, but I know that's where I put it.

I near the table and rake my fingers through the pen-stand, trying to find it. It's probably slipped into a nook or cranny somewhere.

But when I've been searching for nearly five minutes and nothing comes up on my fingertips but dust and a worn-out eraser that smells like strawberry, I realize something is really wrong.

The audio recorder-it's missing.

It's missing.

Did we just get a reaction from Taejin on their iconic kiss? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh *dies*

I'll update longer chapters when my exams end💜