To Find Something True

※ four

Three times the fist pounded into the brown wooden table, barely a few meters above the silky, black locks. "Wakey, wakey!" Seokjin cooed as he landed his butt on the black leather armchair and placed a small bottle of soda on the table that Hoseok told him to buy.

Hoseok squirmed on the table, his khaki jumper hood covering his head. As a long stretch of his arms formed on the table, he sighed, attempting to rise. The cracks from the boss' stiff bones disturbed the silence in the office.

"What time did you go to bed last night?" questioned the elder.

"I didn't get any sleep."

The statement caused Seokjin's eyes to widen. "How come you didn't?"

"I couldn't," Hoseok said sluggishly, resting his head on the table with his arms dangling.

Seokjin was certain that the latter had been staying up late finishing new designs, or even binge-watching an anime series, for whatever reason he was trying to disguise. The older witnessed his employer neglect to sleep to do some projects before or during a sleepover, and that guy nearly forced him to watch anime or movies with him.

"You should've asked me to buy you coffee," Seokjin said.

The youngster sighed and nodded slowly once more. "I know, right?" When he remembered something, he raised his head. "Do we have coffee?"

"I haven't gotten around to purchasing the refills yet."

"Ugh..." Hoseok slouched his head on the table once more, his cheek flattened against the flat surface.

As he crossed his legs on the chair and took out his phone, Seokjin let out a quiet laugh. "Hey, Amber told me to approach you to arrange a meeting time."

"Oh... Why?"

"She's going to New York next week."

Hoseok sat up straight from his posture, the dark rings beneath his eyes obvious as his eyes grew large. "What?"

"Amber is leaving for New York next week," Seokjin said again.

"Why?"

The group's second-oldest member shrugged. "I don't know."

"B-but -"

"We need to discuss what needs to be discussed."

"O-of course."

"Don't take so long."

Hoseok's tired eyes blinked slowly yet still big in astonishment. "Uhm. Yeah."

Seokjin got up from his seat. "I'm going out with Yoongi to get some items," he said over a quiet, hissing sound from the chair's metal legs sliding on the porcelain surface.

Hoseok nodded as he watched Seokjin escape from the chair by rotating clockwise. He then slid it beneath the table and walked out of the office.

"Amber going to New York?" His lips curved down as he muttered, "why?"

**********

The next day, every Bejiwoo boutique employee was told through a group chat to assemble in the meeting room after working hours ended.

They completed their jobs as usual before heading to the meeting room. Sweeping the floor, calculating earnings and losses, and reorganizing the stocks in case they got mixed up. Their present boss was extremely conscientious about the stock arrangements. Jisoo, Jimin, and Taehyung, who had completed their assignment early, had made their way to the meeting room to join the boss.

Hoseok had been sitting under the air conditioner, waiting inside. The hood on his head, knees crossed, clipboard on his lap, with a pencil in his dominant hand and an eraser in the hand that supported the clipboard.