Fake || a kth and jjk ff

|| fourteen ||

Taehyung knew he was in deep shit. In more ways than he could count.

For one thing, he'd spent the entire day pretending not to know anything about engineering at Jeon Seongjin's firm—quite a feat given the fact that it was the field to which he'd devoted his entire adult life—and he was walking away with nothing. Sure, everyone in the firm was excited over the recently granted patent—his patent—but whenever he asked questions about it, they treated him like a kindergartener who couldn't possibly understand anything beyond 1+1=2. Taehyung would have found it insulting even if he were a financial director. Jin might have been able to sneak around or seduce the info out of the cute twenty-something receptionist or some other 007 scheme, but Tae was out of his league. He'd wasted the day.

And to top it off, Jin had texted Taehyung to tell him that Jungkook was pissed about finding him on his mother's sofa. Jin knew how important it was for Taehyung to remain in Jeon Seongjin's good graces. It was their best and only chance to get the information they needed to save their relationship with their investor. Thankfully, Jin had stuck to the plan, telling Jungkook that Taehyung had no idea he was coming, but apparently, Jin hadn't gotten the chance to pull the younger aside and tell him why he was there. When Taehyung got no response to the three texts he sent asking Jin what he'd planned to tell Jungkook, he knew he was on his own. But Jungkook had to wonder why Jin would show up unannounced on his doorstep. What possible explanation could there be that wasn't incredibly sketchy?

He had a lot of smoothing over to do.

The patent celebration had caused them to leave the office late and Seongjin still needed to pick up the food for the family dinner. Using his brother's arrival as an excuse, Taehyung talked Seongjin into dropping him off at the house before making his restaurant run.

Taehyung watched Seongjin drive off, wondering if he should have stuck to the plan and arrived later. Then he wouldn't need to face Jungkook yet. But avoiding conflict had never been Taehyung's style. He met it head on. That's why this whole situation was so atypical for him. But then again, he'd never had so much to lose. The thought momentarily floored him. Losing his business or losing Jungkook—which bothered him the most?

Before he could reason it out, the front door swung open and Knickers greeted him in the doorway. "Taehyung! I'm so thrilled your brother could join us."

At least someone was happy about it. "Yes! I was shocked when he texted to say he was not only here in Busan, but at your house. I hope he hasn't been an imposition."

"Of course not! He's your brother. You should have family here."

He walked through Jungkook's parents' front door, preparing himself to face Jungkook's wrath, but he wasn't in the living room and he didn't see him in the kitchen either. Jin, on the other hand, was sitting at the island drinking what looked like lemonade while talking to Jungkook's grandmother, who—thankfully—was fully clothed.

Gran glanced up at Taehyung and shot him a grin. "You're off the hook, Taehyung. Jin here has agreed to pose as my nude model."

Jungkook's mother walked through the back door, rolling her eyes. "No one's posing nude."

Jin winked at Gran and gave her a knowing nod.

"How was your day, Taehyung?" Ae-ri asked, giving him a sweet smile. Taehyung was sure that wasn't an adjective normally associated with Mrs. Jeon, but he planned to use her temporary approval to his advantage.

"It was great, but I'm eager to see Jungkook."

"He's upstairs with Yoongi, getting ready for the dinner."

"I'll run up and check on him."

Jin shot him a glance that conveyed good luck.

Tae bounded up the stairs, but his steps slowed as he neared the top. He'd spent most of the day frustrated by his lack of progress, and the only thing getting him through his utter failure was the knowledge he'd see Jungkook at the end of the day. Granted, they were supposed to break up tonight, but maybe Tae could talk Jungkook out of it. The fact that the younger seemed to like him improved his chances. Of course, the wedding was in less than forty-eight hours, so any kind of breakup would have to happen soon, but he'd felt pretty confident he could convince him to wait until tomorrow. But now he was nervous. Any points he'd gained, he'd lost now that his brother had made an uninvited entrance.