Struggling Father • Namjoon!Father + BTS!Adults

xxxix.

42:41:27

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Lee blinked several times, looking almost - if Lisa had to say - disappointed. "Now you want to talk?"

Hobi swallowed again, putting his hands up in placation. "I think this whole thing has just been a misunderstanding, okay? I was just, you know, nervous and a little scared earlier but I didn't do anything wrong so it would just be best for me to tell you where I was."

Lee raised an eyebrow and sighed before slowly setting himself down in his chair. "All right, go ahead."

Lisa followed suit, taking a seat and watching Hobi to see what he had to say.

"So, my friend picked me up, and we went out to eat dinner, and then he dropped me off back home," Hobi said.

There was a long moment of silence.

"That's it," Hobi clarified after a moment, leaning forward suddenly.

"And exactly why did you refuse to tell us this extremely brief story several hours ago?" Lee asked, rubbing at his temple. The disdain in his voice told Lisa that he neither appreciated nor believed Hoseok's story.

"Well, like I said, I was kind of nervous and scared." Hoseok gave a sheepish smile. "I've never been arrested before."

"So you went to dinner," Lee said, an eyebrow still raised in subtle disbelief. "Anything strange happen?"

"Nope, all perfectly normal," Hobi replied, smile still stretched across his face.

"And nothing else happened the rest of that night? Nothing that you found odd or out of place?" Lee continued.

"Nope," Hobi said, dimples on full display.

"That's funny," Lee said, tilting his head somewhat and looking almost bored with how easily Hoseok expected them to believe what was at least partially a lie. "Because you called your brother Jin at some point, didn't you?"

Hoseok raised his chin, blinking several times. "Jin...did I call Jin? I suppose I might have. Maybe on accident." He laughed, putting a hand on the back of his neck. "I probably butt-dialed him. Whoops."

"Did you talk to Jin?" Lee asked.

"No," Hoseok said, shrugging. "I don't even remember calling him."

"Really?" Lee asked, resting his head on his right fist with his elbow propped up on the table. "You don't remember calling him, but you managed to leave him a voicemail."

Hoseok opened his mouth before pausing and swiping his bangs off his forehead. "I probably butt-dialed him and when he didn't pick up, the phone automatically went to voicemail. I didn't mean to leave one. It's probably nothing."

"That's not what it sounded like," Lee said, a finger on his lips.

"What?" Hoseok asked, tensing somewhat. "I mean, what...ah...what did it say? I can't recall, I'm not even sure when it was recording...How were you able to get it?"

"We had a warrant for your phones," Lee said casually. "And Jin happened to have a recent voicemail."

Hoseok's face tightened for a moment, and Lee read the confusion and panic in his face.

"Jin may have deleted it from his phone, but we still backed up the data before we gave them back to you guys. But since you asked..." Lee turned to Lisa, nodding for her to get out her phone, and she did so as Lee looked back at Hoseok. "You wanted to hear what's on it? Have a listen."

Lisa exhaled deeply before hitting play, and the sound of Hoseok's voice, somewhat distorted as though amplified, came into the room.

"Jin! Please, you need to pick up...Jin, I'm sorry, I...I screwed up...I screwed up really bad....I'm sorry, please don't- don't be mad at me, just...I need your help, I messed up and I don't know how I'm supposed to fix this, I-"

The clip ended suddenly.

Lisa felt just as shocked as when she'd heard it the first time, and she was waiting to hear what Hobi had to say about it.

"Odd, isn't it?" Lee asked, frowning slightly as he leaned back and crossed his arms. "That nothing strange happened, and then you called your brother and left him that message. For no reason. Because nothing was wrong. A complete accident." He looked over at Lisa. "What's that thing about monkeys and typewriters?" He looked back at Hoseok. "Right, maybe if you spent an eternity fitting together random, spontaneous words, at some point or another, this selection would have eventually been created purely by chance. That's what happened, right?" Lee's eyes narrowed as he stared closely at Hoseok, examining his response. "Or isn't it?"

Hoseok had completely changed from his earlier impression. Where he'd come off as bright and fidgety before, he now appeared dark and skittish, leaning away from them, trying to put space between himself and the phone. "I didn't mean that," he said, staring at the phone instead of at them. "I didn't mean to call him, to say that. It was an accident. I overreacted. That's why I hung up. It was a mistake."

"Then why did Jin delete it off his phone?" Lee asked. He couldn't be certain that the voicemail had been what Jin had deleted, but he was confident enough to make an educated guess and bluff his way through it.

"Because he knew that it would be over-analyzed, which is exactly what you're doing right now!" Hoseok argued, flicking his eyes up to meet theirs. "The voicemail means nothing."

"All right," Lee said, making his face blank. "Then who's the friend?"

"Excuse me?"

"Who was the friend that picked you up?"

Hoseok clenched his jaw and looked away, arms folded together tightly.

"Looks like that's it for now," Lee said to Lisa, nodding toward the door.

In the hallway, Lisa sighed, leaning against the wall. She needed something to hold her up right now. "Wonpil. That's likely the friend he was with."

Lee looked over at her, nodding once. "I'll check with him first." He hesitated. "Thank you, Lisa."

She sighed again, nodding as she looked down at her feet. The voicemail played back in her head, and she found herself wondering yet again: if Hoseok hadn't killed their victim, then why did he sound so guilty?

new covers created by someone who just started learning to use photoshop (me) :')

also, for those of you who are wondering - this murder mystery will comprise nearly all of the sequel. if you don't like it, then you may as well quit now lol because the plot isn't going anywhere