An August Wedding

Ch. 35 - Next Steps

"You good?"

Yoongi opened his eyes to see Namjoon returning to the table after going to the bathroom. 

"Just resting my eyes," he replied. The pair had decided to go out to eat together after work. A nice change of pace from the last couple of days.

"Are you sure? Your bags--"

"Are normal, Joon. I work late, you know that."

Namjoon shrugged and went back to his food. 

In truth, Yoongi had lost a lot of sleep over the past few days between his back and forth flight, the aftermath of the car accident, and making sure everything stayed fine at the office. He'd woken up on more than one occasion in a cold sweat believing that he'd left something unfinished at the office and the building had subsequently burned down.

Was it ridiculous? Yes. 

Was that thought helping him sleep any better? No.

He'd also been trying to work on new music after the fiasco with Lee Hansol but that was only making his sleeping habits worse. He'd already been caught sleeping during one of his meetings that week alone.

The bags under his eyes were darker than normal. But he wasn't going to tell Namjoon that. It would only make him more concerned than he already was. Although his current concern only focused on Lee Hansol's corrupt business.

"I mean, sure, they're not professional-level recordings done in a studio. But they have real heart. And a story. And damn good lyrics," he'd grumbled.

To which Yoongi had chuckled dryly and said at least some of those lyrics were from Namjoon himself. He had ducked his head and changed the subject.

"So what's the plan now? Has Tae told you about any other producers he knows?"

Yoongi sighed. "I haven't heard from him, so he must be on some new project. Maybe it wasn't meant to be."

"I know that guy's an ass, but he did have the right idea. One rejection shouldn't define you. Or your talent for that matter. Did you know that J.K. Rowling--?"

"Yeah, yeah, got rejected a bunch of times before someone took a chance on her books. And now look at her. Making enemies out of her very own fans."

"My point," Namjoon replied, "was that it's possible. You only truly fail when you give up. You've never been one to do that."

"I think you missed your calling. You should have been a motivational coach or something." 

Namjoon rolled his eyes. "I'm serious."

"So am I. I'm going to take some time, come at it from another angle. I'm just in a slump right now."

"Good."

"Speaking of slumps, how is Jin?"

"He seems pretty bored every time I visit. I caught him having a full conversation with that whale in his room the other day."

Yoongi chuckled. "Glad he's entertaining himself."

"But he said they had him doing some exercise to make sure he's fine. He should be leaving soon."

"Good." Yoongi pulled out his card. "It's on me, thanks for helping me out recently."

"You know you don't owe me anything."

"Like hell I don't."

Namjoon and Yoongi had always seemed like an odd pair. They had met in college. Yoongi was studying business but needed an elective as part of his general education. He chose some kind of writing class and found out pretty quickly this was not going to be an easy A as he'd anticipated.

On the first day, another student had engaged the professor in multiple tangents about the works of certain authors they would be studying, their significance to society, the beauty of their prose, and a few other topics that had bored Yoongi to near tears.

And he'd left with the full intention of dropping the class after his lunch break. But Namjoon had been walking in the same direction and easily caught up with him, asking if he was Min Yoongi. Yoongi recognized him as Kim Namjoon...and the talkative student from the class he'd just left.

The two struck up a wary friendship based on their family's acquaintance with each other. Yoongi was cold at the beginning, believing Namjoon to be living the life he himself should have had: following his dreams instead of being forced to pursue business. But he soon found the reason to be Namjoon had little direction in life.

He hadn't known what to study at college, with his parents making no plans to groom him to take over. So he stuck to what he was good at and what he enjoyed learning. He was naturally gifted with a high IQ and with the right guidance, he could still step in and take over the business if needed.

But not long after he graduated, his parents had decided to sell their business and retire early to live out their golden years and travel together. This left Namjoon without a clear plan once again. He spent several months abroad to learn more about other languages, and then came back to work at temp agencies to build his experience. Yoongi had decided to throw him a bone when he made it big to repay him for all the late-night study sessions while they were in school.

And here they were, years later. Still friends, working together. 

"Are you happy?" Yoongi suddenly blurted out.

"Happy?" he repeated.

"Yeah. I'm sure this isn't what you wanted to be doing when I offered--"

"Don't worry about me. I like the company, and the work." He grinned sheepishly. "Even if it was a lot this week."

"Good."

"Speaking of a lot," he added, suddenly becoming serious, "how did you come across this Choi law office again?"

"One of the paralegals went to (Y/N) specifically. Why?"

"The head lawyer is Choi Siwon."

Yoongi raised his eyebrows. "All of his family members are into politics. What made him go for law instead?"

"I don't know, but he's apparently one of the best lawyers around. He doesn't handle a lot of new clients, all of his money comes from repeats."

"Not exactly something you want to hear about a lawyer."

"He seems legit, though. My father actually knows his uncle, says Siwon is a stand up guy and he's good to have in your corner."

"I guess we'll just have to go over there once Jin's out." He sighed quietly. "Speaking of which, Hoseok keeps asking me about a guys' night when he gets released. Are you in?"

"Always. We could use a get together, the last one was technically your bachelor party."

"All right then. Maybe I'll try to get that catering place again--"

"Don't do that," Namjoon interrupted. "Jin will just get mad that you didn't trust him to make food."

"He's coming out of the hospital, Joon."

"That won't make a difference. He has to cook his own food if it's his party, you know that. Then he can complain we did nothing to help him and he sacrifices the most out of all of us."

"You know, that does sound like him. Diva."

Namjoon chuckled. "I don't know, I think Heechul from HR could give him a run for his money."

"No arguments here."

The two kept talking for several more minutes before finally paying their check and leaving.