Age is Just a Number (BTS) - 18+

Chapter 28 - I didn't think

"What do you need to fix," Hobi asked, sounding concerned. It was enough that Yoongi hadn't turned up to the meeting they had scheduled with the other members and producers to know something was off. That was highly unusual for Yoongi. Managers didn't normally collect him unlike some of the younger members who sometimes needed to be wrangled out of bed due to being deep sleepers and staying up all night. But Yoongi drove himself there and was never late so the fact Hobi could hear Yoongi scrambling to get dressed while he spoke raised a frantic air that he wasn't used to hearing from his normally fairly calm hyung. "Are you OK?"

"I did something I thought was helpful but it turns out I'm a fuckin' idiot," Yoongi replied, switching the phone to speaker as he raced to brush his teeth and pull his shirt over his head. Glancing in the bathroom mirror, he saw his face was puffy, eyes bloodshot, dark circles under them from his lack of sleep. The perfect image of exhaustion which is what he was feeling, mentally and physically.

"What did you do, maybe I can help?"

"So, Kat was saying her work hours were drying up and that she was going to have to get a new job. I looked into the company because I know she really likes it there and it's actually a really good investment. Great designers, they've won some awards but they don't have a good strategy around advertising for new clients so I put in an offer to buy the company and suggested a few contacts so they can get some social media stuff underway."

"And I take it part of the problem is that you had the offer accepted and you didn't ask Kat about that first," Hobi said as Yoongi grabbed his keys and wiggled into his shoes.

"I didn't think I needed to, she was never going to need to know. If it had come to it and her hours still didn't pick up, I would probably have found a way to help but they implemented some of the social media ideas and secured new clients really quickly. So Kat has more hours and doesn't need to change jobs. She's happy or was happy until she found out yesterday. Now, not so much," he said with a sigh and Hobi hummed down the phone.

"Well hyung, you tried but it was a little misguided. You can see how she would think her hours were increasing because you are paying for it. She's probably second-guessing her merit. Imagine if we were up for an award and then Hybe all of a sudden owned the lion's share of the Korean Pop Industry, it would definitely feel suspicious if we won awards after that."

"Hybe kind of does and we still win on merit but I do get it, I fucked up," Yoongi growled as he started his car and rested his phone on the dash while he peeled away. "How mad is everyone that I'm late," he asked.

"Not mad, more concerned. They know it's not like you."

"I'm not making sensible decisions around work since Kat came into my life," Yoongi said and the moment the words left his mouth, his stomach dropped. Maybe he couldn't manage both? Maybe he was destined to have a personal life or a work life but not both? "I mean, I got nothing done from the time she left after lunch yesterday, I had a deadline and I had to push it back. That's just not like me."

"Now wait a minute Yoongi-ah," Hobi said, trying to be the voice of reason, "this isn't about Kat exactly."

"Of course it is. It's completely about Kat," Yoongi shot back, frowning as he dashed around the traffic, sticking to the speed limit so he didn't make the news for making bad decisions. He'd already made enough of those in the last 24 hours or maybe, going back in time, when he thought buying her workplace was a good idea.

"Well OK hyung and please stop biting my head off," Hobi replied and then softened his voice. "But it's actually more about relationships in general, communication. It's about the things you need to talk about and decide together. And hyung, leaving her out of this decision wasn't the best choice."