Soulmate

Twenty Eight: Jungkook

September 8, 2019
Seoul, South Korea

"YOU WHAT?"

I blink my eyes at the CEO's sudden outburst. The fat man is usually very calm and collected, but for some reason my request shocks him beyond belief.

"I want to marry Hope," I say as I did before. "I'm done. I don't care that I speak five year old's English or she speaks toddler's Korean. I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm tired of being apart from her all the time. I'm tired of work getting in the way of me living the life I deserve."

Bang Si-hyuk rubs his stubby fingers over his face. He drifts his eyes to the two managers who sit in the office in stunned silence. Their eyes are wide as they simply stare at me. The room is completely silent.

"Jungkook," my boss says finally. "You know I have to say no."

I thought he might say that.

"It just...it doesn't work out right now. It's not time. You boys are in your prime right now and you know this next comeback with be the biggest in the group's history. It's imperative that your availability is maintained in the public eye."

I simply nod after hearing him. I brush my long hair out of my eyes and sigh. I lift my eyes from the place on his desk and stare into his thin eyes threateningly.

"I can go somewhere else," I say.

Bang Si-hyuk freezes in his expensive black chair and stares hard at me, a strange emotion in his eyes. He almost seems to be afraid of me; that is, until he masks it with a threat of his own.

"I built you, Jungkook," he says, his voice suddenly serious. "I built you up to the success you are at today. Are you sure you want to bite the hand that feeds you, young man?"

I scoff. "My success doesn't come from you or this company," I return. "My success comes from myself. I have been the backbone of this company. BTS and I have carried you on our backs alone for the past seven years. If I were to leave, how many others would go with me? How many fans would support us? How many other companies would beg me to join now when five did before I even had a fanbase?"

I know threatening his success is effective when I see his thin skin pale. The ARMYs would support the seven of us no matter where we were. The ARMYs would support my life. I know it, Bang Si-hyuk know it.

"I've had amazing offers over the past seven years from other companies," I continue. "They offer me amazing contracts that far outshine yours, as good as it is. They would all happily let me join and even have a public relationship. It's in their contracts."

I lean across the desk towards him and lower my voice even more to get my threats through his clogged ears.

"I'm not asking you for your permission anymore," I say. "I'm telling you that I'm proposing to her. If you have a problem with that, there are ten other companies that are totally fine with it. I'm not lying on my back for you anymore when I don't need any company to continue being successful. I'll gladly leave."

I remember for a brief moment what Jin hyung has always said to me in our many conversations about my relationship.

"You don't control me. You don't control any of us. We just allow you to make the decisions at this point."

I stand up from my seat and head towards the door without waiting. The second my hand meets the doorknob, I'm interrupted by hurried shouting.

"Jeon Jungkook!" the CEO shouts, his voice desperate. "Wait..."