🇬🇧 || 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐭 || Yoonmin

4

Yoongi realized how rich Jimin was only when he saw the loft where he would be living - he had only seen such things in interior design magazines, movies, or parquet floor advertisements. Spending three months there wouldn't be bad at all - especially because his work would be almost nonexistent. Maybe he should have really brought a book. Or maybe two.

Jimin showed him where he could put his clothes - a walk-in closet that alone was larger than the bedroom of the apartment where the host lived. As for sleeping, Jimin hadn't said anything yet, but roughly speaking, from what Yoongi could see, there didn't seem to be any other beds besides the one in the boy's room.

"Small and essential," Yoongi commented on the house. Jimin laughed and shook his head.

"With what you cost, you've probably been in similar houses at least a million times." Jimin sat on the large white leather sofa that dominated the living room area. "What kind of clients do you usually have?"

"Professional secret," Yoongi cut him short. Jimin snorted at that answer, but Yoongi thought he would have preferred being on his knees eating chickpeas rather than telling him about his... work experiences.

"And I was the boring one... Since we don't have to have sex, you could at least entertain me by telling me something funny!"

"I never said anything about NOT having sex, so don't say it as if it's my fault," I added immediately. "In fact, I thought I told you that -"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't repeat it, please. It gives me the creeps. You know, I'm straight."

He couldn't hold back. He knew it was rude, disrespectful, maybe even arrogant, but Yoongi burst out laughing in front of Jimin as if he were in front of a comedian.

"What the hell are you laughing at?! Why do you think I'm not, tell me?!"

Yoongi calmed his laughter and sat on the sofa next to him. "First of all, you didn't hire a female host but a male."

"My parents wouldn't have given up. I mean, if I had brought home a woman, it would have been a whole different story..."

"Like how?"

Jimin seemed to think about it, then blushed slightly. Yoongi understood that the boy didn't really have good reasons for hiring a man instead of a woman - maybe he hadn't even thought about it, that it didn't make much difference. If he had introduced a girlfriend or boyfriend, his parents would have had to give up anyway.

"In a lot of ways. Listen, you're not paying me to ask me questions."

"You keep listing the reasons why you don't pay me, but you don't make me do anything to be paid for."

"I can't believe you even have the courage to complain about it," Jimin said annoyed. The two already seemed like cat and dog, and how long had they known each other, an hour and a half? Yet their bickering was pleasant, almost electric. It was as if something already connected them - perhaps empathy, perhaps simple mutual sympathy between two perfect strangers.

Yoongi shrugged as if to say "what can you do!" and then pulled out his phone. He didn't turn it on or anything - he just played with it, passing it between his fingers. "Tonight's evening... Tell me about it."

"It will be held at Jung Sik Dang," Yoongi had heard of that restaurant - it was perhaps the best in the city and also the most expensive. "There will be several people, including, I believe, my future in-laws. When I arrive with you and say that you're my boyfriend, they will surely fantasize about making their daughter marry me."

"Do you have any idea how many ways the plan could backfire?" Yoongi asked. According to his evaluation, that was a dangerous situation, level four out of five.

"No. How could it?"

"For starters, someone might try to kill you by hiding a pearl in one of your oysters." Jimin didn't laugh at Yoongi's joke, nor did he understand that he was making fun of their being rich and using unconventional weapons to exterminate each other. He moved on. "And then your parents would make a bad impression in front of their guests - and not because you're gay, but because you've been so rude as to throw it in their faces in such a formal context."

Jimin hadn't considered this aspect of the matter at all. For the third time, Yoongi was proving wiser than him. "So what would you advise me to do?"

"You're not paying me to give you advice," Yoongi said. He couldn't wait to find the right opportunity to turn that little phrase around on him, with which Jimin, on more than one occasion, had teased him. "Also, I think it's too late. I mean, someone like you doesn't seem like a plan B type..."

Jimin was annoyed to admit it, but that was really the only idea that had come to him for the evening. "If I die, you won't get your 6 million weekly, so try to keep me alive."

"From escort to bodyguard?" Yoongi asked. "Six million won't be enough. And what if your in-laws try to poison me?"

"I would cry desperately. I would try to be convincing while sobbing, saying that you were the love of my life."

Yoongi let out a low laugh and punched Jimin's shoulder. "If I survive this evening, we'll have to celebrate."

"You don't seem like a party type," Jimin said.

"What do you know about what type I am? You barely know me."

He didn't have all the answers. Jimin squinted his eyes and yawned. "Well, you don't intend to tell me anything about yourself, so I'll make do with what I understand."

Yoongi observed the profile of the boy's face. He was really beautiful, a kind of beauty that he rarely encountered in his line of work. The men Yoongi had dealt with until that moment didn't even come close to Jimin. There was something pure and simple about him... No malice, no perversion. He was just a little bird locked in a golden cage, naive enough to ask a crow for help.

Yoongi could have devoured someone like that. The rule for every host was to fleece their clients for every penny, even if it meant selling their face. Jimin would never ask him for anything, but he was so naive that tricking him wouldn't be easy. Yoongi had done it millions of times with guys much more cunning than Jimin would ever be - but for the first time, this wicked side of his character didn't seem to emerge. Yoongi felt no desire to harm him. For the first time, he wished he could truly help a client find what they were looking for.

He would never admit it out loud - those same thoughts, in fact, were starting to annoy him.

He didn't have much time to stay there brooding - Jimin said it was time for them to get ready for the evening. Yoongi, under the shower, truly hoped that things would go

in the right direction. He didn't know what kind of people Jimin's parents were, but he sincerely hoped they weren't anything like his own parents when he had confessed to them that he liked men...