Chapter Text
There was a guy in round glasses in the second row that Seokjin couldn’t stop staring at. A couple of minutes ago, he got the actor off guard with his passive-aggressive question, and the bratty grin on his face was still popping up inside Seokjin’s head.
“Relax,” Yoongi whispered into his ear, away from the microphone.
Seokjin stared at his husband, sitting next to him, and at their director sitting on the other side.
He wanted to stand up and kick the reporter’ ass out of the room. Why? Because he deserved it. Sadly, the two men next to him wouldn’t let him do such a thing.
Bad promo or some shit.
“My question is for Kim Seokjin,” Seokjin huffed but managed to smile at the owner of the voice. It was a girl from Hello Seoul, he remembered her from previous interviews.
“There are rumors that Dispatch will do a scandal reveal about you during the premiere of The Resonance of Water. Are you prepared to hear what they have to say?”
Seokjin pursed his lips. Here they go again, another question about that infamous scandal reveal.
He knew what she was talking about, it was the only topic people talked about him these days. Didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing, vultures were always whispering about it, looking at him as if he committed a crime and deserved to spend the rest of his life in jail repenting his sins.
Yoongi, who also knew what the woman meant, exhaled deeply next to his husband.
He almost pitied Seokjin. Almost.
Probably their director was the only one in that conference room that had no idea what was going on, you could tell by the way he was shifting uncomfortably on his chair.
“I think Dispatch knows better than using my name for a little bit of popularity. Now, with that being said, it’s interesting to see how all of you fall into their trap that easily.” He murmured with a mischievous and incredibly confident grin, Yoongi copied it next to him.
They were good pretenders, but they knew they were fucked.
“Can you remind me again why are we paying you for?” Seokjin asked his PR guy as he stepped inside the van. He sat on the last seat with his blood still boiling after the disastrous press conference.
“Seriously, what’s your damn job? Because as far as I know, you do have a job,” Seokjin insisted, clicking his tongue ironically, “Wait, maybe I’m wrong and you are here only to keep Yoongi fucked and happy. That must be it.”
Oh god, he was going there. Yoongi sighed, tired of this same tantrum happening every time Seokjin felt sad or unhappy and wanted to make the rest as miserable as him.
“I’m sorry Seokjin, I didn’t know they were going to be so persistent about it,” Hoseok replied.
Seokjin narrowed his eyes at him, “You didn’t know? Well, your job is to know. In case you didn’t notice it before, we are paying you to make sure stuff like that doesn’t happen.”
Seokjin could barely look in Hoseok’s direction anymore, so he stretched his hand, silently asking for his phone while his eyes looked outside of the window.
Yoongi could hear his husband breathing out a few curses.
If Yoongi was honest, a small part of him found pleasure in Seokjin’s distress.
“Jeon Jungkook!” Seokjin screamed on his phone, startling the other two men inside the car. “Who do you think you are playing with? Little bastard.”
Everyone knew better than bothering Seokjin. They knew they should never do such a thing if they want to live a peaceful life. The actor was an expert at becoming a pain in the ass if he felt like it.
Especially when he was mad and looking for revenge.
However, Yoongi had been dealing with Seokjin for too many years not to know him well, and yes, the actor was mad, but not any kind of mad, he was flirty-mad.
Yoongi snorted in disbelief.
“It sounds like another victim,” Hoseok whispered in his ear. Yoongi smiled at him and let his cheek be kissed by his boyfriend. “I’m sleepy,” Hoseok said then, Yoongi held his hand and offered his shoulder.
“I’ll beat your ass the next time I see you,” Seokjin's eyes were on Hoseok's nape as he talked on the phone, watching him cuddling Yoongi like they were alone, always so intimate.
It bothered him. Sometimes the actor wondered if they did it on purpose to torture him.
Probably they did.
He put the phone away and pushed himself in their direction, whispering in his manager’s ear. “If you don’t want me to fire you, move away from him, now.”
Hoseok was not in the mood for fighting more so he kept quiet and moved to the other side.
Yoongi bit his lips, turning around. He was aware that neither of them was on good terms with each other. Their main problem was exactly this; the way Seokjin often treated Hoseok like scum, as if he was an insignificant servant.
“Kim,” Yoongi warned, raising his brow.
Seokjin wasn't the type of guy to get intimidated by Yoongi, not when he had the power to read his mind.
Despite everything, they were still very alike and understood each other more frequently than they liked to admit.
Putting the phone away again, Seokjin moved his face forward, closer to his husband’s. “Listen to me,” his nose almost brushed Yoongi’s, but he would never touch him if it was not strictly necessary.
“You can mess around with your boyfriend at home as much as you want. But you know very well we have rules, and you have to respect them whether you like them or not.”
Yoongi was tired of dealing with this guy, so he bit his tongue.
“I won’t let you cuddle in public as the lovebirds your ridiculous ass think you are, and that’s my final word. Maybe if you put that pretty brain of yours to work, I wouldn’t need to tell you this, Min,” Seokjin said, finishing his threat.
Yoongi wanted to refute. He wanted to let him know that he, the smartass, was the one with a scandal pending over his foolish head. That Hoseok and he had been intelligent unlike his fuckboy ass.
He kept quiet though, if he got into a fight with Seokjin, things would only get worse.
“Fine, but I wish you could listen to yourself next time, so journalists wouldn’t be asking you those questions in the first place,” he said, at last. Couldn’t hold it back.
Seokjin huffed at him but let him go away with it, he still had someone on the phone and their conversation was much more interesting than the one with Yoongi.
After the rumors about the Dispatch's scandal reveal came out, paparazzi started camping outside their apartment building like creeps.
The Kim husbands lived in a fancy neighborhood that fortunately had its private parking lot, which gave them a bit of privacy to at least come out of the car without a bunch of cameras on their faces.
However, despite all the security measurements, some of those reporters and paparazzi had enough contacts to enter the parking area regardless, and spy on them from their cars.
Yoongi came out of the van with his arms crossed, visibly mad and tired of the circus.
Seokjin, on the other hand, couldn’t let him create more trouble, they already had enough stuff going on with the media, so he stepped out with a sweet smile on his face, staring at his husband with hearty eyes.
After all this time, the only reason why this charade kept on working was because of Kim Seokjin. The experienced actor who always knew what to do and how to do it.
Based on his experience, there must be at least three or four paparazzi looking at them, hidden somewhere in the parking lot.
Seokjin knew his ass was currently in danger, and he couldn’t risk Yoongi blowing everything up with that bratty attitude.
He walked closer and wrapped his arms around his husband’s waist. With his chin resting on the younger’s shoulder, he left a small peck on the crook of his neck, making Yoongi snort in disbelief.
“Don’t kiss me,” he whispered, annoyed.
“Oh? I can’t kiss my husband now?” Seokjin teased.
At his words, Yoongi couldn’t avoid turning his face to the side, trying to glare at his taller husband.
“You need a kiss from me? Really? Are you that desperate to clean your shitty reputation now?” Yoongi teased back.
Seokjin rolled his eyes. Fuck appearances.
Yes, he needed Yoongi, but his pride couldn't let the younger one humiliate him.
He tried to step aside but failed. Yoongi held his hands on his waist, not letting him walk away “You want a kiss?”
Seokjin looked down at his mouth, those familiar lips he has been tasting for years.
“I don’t want anything from you.”
Yoongi laughed, couldn’t help it.
He turned around completely, and held Seokjin’s cheeks between his hands. “That petty attitude doesn’t work for you now. Does it?”
Seokjin knew the answer for that and so did Yoongi.
Seokjin needed him, desperately.
“What do you want me to do?” Seokjin asked then.
“Leave Hoseok alone, stop being shitty with him, and I will give you a real kiss, right now,” Yoongi offered in one go.
Seokjin laughed, his eyes stayed on the younger’s lips, he couldn’t look at his eyes and see the mocking shade shining on them.
“You are cheap, Yoongi-yah. Fine, if that's what you want, I’ll keep it cute for a few days.”
Yoongi narrowed his eyes, “You promise?”
Seokjin raised his brow “Does my word mean something to you? Should I promise it?” He asked with irony, finally looking into Yoongi’s eyes again.
The younger man was looking back at him, as disappointed as usual.
“You have a point. Your word means nothing.”
The older smirked and tilted his head to kiss his husband’s lips, the younger didn’t hesitate and let him guide the kiss, tilting his head to the opposite side and pulling Seokjin down by the hold on his cheeks.
It came almost naturally, which was ironic, there was nothing natural or genuine about their relationship.
“That’s how you kiss? I pity Hoseok,” Seokjin whispered with his lips still hovering over Yoongi’s.
“You’re nowhere close to Hoseok, so don’t expect much.”
Seokjin laughed and licked Yoongi’s bottom lip, taking the younger by surprise, “Kiss me good or there’ll be no deal.”
The younger locked his eyes with Seokjin’s and parted his lips, receiving his husband’s lick inside his mouth, finally starting to correspond the kiss as he should’ve from the beginning.
They made out messily next to the van as different camera shots clicked on their ears, encouraging them to put on a show.
They had shared many kiss scenes before, and so far, this didn’t feel that different. The main difference now was the real tongue playing going on inside their mouths.
When they parted ways, their lips were swollen and redder. Their panting was the result of a rushed combination of feelings that were hardly ever shared between them.
Seokjin removed the rest of the saliva in the corner of his husband’s lips and gave him a small peck before grabbing his hand, guiding them inside the building.
“Remember your promise,” Yoongi reminded him when they were inside the elevator.
“Remember you don’t believe in my word.”
“I don’t know what his damn problem is with me,” Hoseok murmured from the bed. It was late already; he had just arrived from the company after a long tiring meeting. “What did I do to him? I barely talk to him and is always regarding work.”
Yoongi sighed from his desk, he was reading some scripts with his usual iced americano on his left hand. “Babe, stop minding him that much.”
“We live together, Yoongi. How do you expect me not to mind him?”
The actor was incredibly tired of this conversation, it was the same discussion all the time. Seokjin this, Seokjin that, it was annoying.
He didn’t want to make Hoseok feel worse or invalid, so he kept quiet and listened to his whine. At the end of the day, it was his fault that his boyfriend was going through that.
Around twenty minutes of pure ranting later, Yoongi finally stopped him and sat next to him on the bed. “Babe, what if we order some take out from your favorite place, and share a glass of wine watching a boring movie so we can kiss through it? Do you want that?” he kissed Hoseok’s neck playfully, knowing that was the best distraction to push Seokjin out of his mind. “I want us to have fun tonight, can we?”
Hoseok was weak for Yoongi, and absolutely in love with him. “Sounds nice, I missed you.”
“I know, I’ve been busy these past days. I want to forget that Seokjin exists tonight. I want to erase him from our minds.”
“Fine, but remember you have a long schedule tomorrow for the movie promotion,” Yoongi nodded, kissing his cheek. Promotion days seemed to be endless. “Wait, talking about the movie. Has Seokjin told you anything about the Dispatch thing?”
Yoongi shook his head, “He knows he’s fucked, though. I’m sure his father is scared of his little Seokjin.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be that bad to show Seokjin’s real face to the world for once,” Yoongi frowned, he didn’t like when his boyfriend talked like that, the tone was just off for him. “I mean, it’s his fault for sleeping with everything that moves. At least you and I are discreet, we have a stable relationship. He, on the other hand, fucks everyone without trying to hide it.”
Yoongi was conscious about that, and part of him disliked the way his husband wasn’t careful with his dates.
However, it was misleading and didn't feel right to expose Seokjin as a cheater b because he was not one. “If the truth is known, it might be bad for me too. Seokjin and I are a team, what affects him affects my image too,” He murmured sharply.
“Wait, are you getting mad at me?” Hoseok pushed Yoongi a bit away to face him better. “You know that if something happens, I wouldn’t let any of his mess affect you. I’m in charge of your public relations and image and I would make you come out clean.”
Yoongi sighed, he was done with this topic. “Clean how? As the victim? Look babe, I know we don’t like Seokjin, he is a piece of crap, I get it,” Hoseok nodded, crossing his arms, “But, we both know very well that he isn’t cheating on me, and that he isn’t my real husband either. I don’t want to come out of this as the victim of a bunch of lies.”
Hoseok huffed, unbuttoning his shirt, “You know what? Let’s stop talking about him, at the end we know he will manage to come out untouched from this mess,” he took off his shirt under Yoongi’s gaze. The older mirrored him, taking off his t-shirt as well.
“Come here,” Hoseok said, finally kissing him, finally getting rid of Seokjin’s presence in that bedroom.
“Did you see that?” Seokjin murmured on the phone, staring up at his bedroom roof with his small Holly curled on his belly, it was warm.
“Your make-out session with your steamy husband? Yes, I think we all saw that already.”
Seokjin laughed on the phone, startling the sleepy dog. He apologized and caressed his fur. “Are the pictures good?”
“They should be rated as adult content.”
“That bad?”
“Well, you are being straddled against the van. It looks good to me, but you know, it would be better if that was my car,” God, that brat was slowly getting comfy with Seokjin, his tongue wasn’t shy anymore.
“First of all Jungkook, you don’t have a car.”
“True, but I have an apartment,” he replied quickly, it was the third time he mentioned his place in these ten minutes.
“Ratty apartment,”
Jungkook hummed “Didn’t hear you complaining about it when you fucked me here last night.”
Seokjin sat on the bed, walked to his bathroom, and checked himself in the mirror, “Talking about your ratty apartment, are you there tonight?”
“Why? Wanna come?”
“Want me to go?” Seokjin opened the last drawer and took a box of condoms.
“I thought you were mad at me.”
Walking back to his bed, he took Holly in his arms and left the bedroom. “Well, I want to make you pay for what you did today, good boys don’t do that.”
“Good boy? Me?” The actor couldn’t avoid the smile on his face at Jungkook's whiny voice. “Only when you are good to me.”
Yoongi closed the entry door with a bag of takeout in his hands. He was surprised when he turned around, catching Seokjin picking up a bottle of whiskey from the bar. Narrowing his eyes, he walked to his side, “Isn’t that mine?”
Seokjin glared to his side, putting the phone away for a moment. “Wait, I’ll call you back in a few minutes,” he put the phone in his pocket and glared at Yoongi again, “What?”
“Isn’t that whiskey mine? Hoseok gifted it to me.”
The older glared at his husband from head to toe, noticing he was only wearing a bathrobe. Entertained, he smirked with the whiskey in hand.
Initially, he wasn’t planning on taking it with him, he just wanted the wine bottle behind it, but now the idea sounded very tempting “Is that so?” He walked closer, “Tell Hoseok that I’ll buy another one.”
“You don’t even drink whiskey, why are you doing this?”
“Right, well, here is the deal,” Yoongi left the bags on the counter and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at Seokjin. “One kiss, and I leave it back where I found it.”
The younger one rolled his eyes. “Another kiss? Aren’t you being too desperate today, Kim?”
Seokjin smiled sweetly, it was almost devil. “Social media, you know, that place on the internet where we brag about how much we love each other, do you remember it?” Yoongi rolled his eyes. “My Instagram needs to be updated.”
Yoongi thought about it, he looked back to the stairs that led to his bedroom, where Hoseok was waiting for him, “Just one kiss and you put it back.”
“Promise.”
Yoongi flinched, “Stop promising things to me.”
The older actor laughed and left the precious bottle of whiskey next to the takeout bags, “That’s a yes?”
Despite the annoyed sigh, Yoongi still nodded. “Just one for social media.”
“Of course.”
Yoongi couldn’t believe that people called that grin on Seokjin’s face his “good boy smile”, for him, it was Satan himself.
They made out with Yoongi pressed against the counter, while Seokjin’s hands squeezed eagerly both sides of the younger’s waist over the bathrobe.
Their kisses were usually like this, messy and fierce, there was no other way to put it.
The angriness and competition between them was too raw to hide it. They constantly battled to see who kissed better, or who was destroyed first, always rushing things between them to the point their bodies demanded more.
It wasn't like they didn't know that already, that was why they usually avoided licking each other's mouths or getting their bodies too close.
It was an unsaid agreement.
But tonight, Seokjin only needed a small bite to make Yoongi melt under him.
Sometimes, when Seokjin felt his husband relax under his lips, he got so carried away that forgot he wasn't supposed to be doing that.
Yoongi never called him out for it, though. He corresponded and touched him just as hard. That's the reason why Seokjin felt like he could go away with that small broken rule a bit longer.
“Babe?” Yoongi pushed Seokjin away from him as soon as he heard his boyfriend coming down from the stairs. “Yoongi?” The younger one cleaned his mouth with the back of his hands while Seokjin rolled his eyes at him.
The taste of Yoongi was still in his mouth, and he liked it, it was filthy in a delicious way.
Something Seokjin accepted a long time ago was that Yoongi was a good kisser. Besides, for not liking Seokjin, he read him well and knew exactly what his body wanted.
“Here!”
Hoseok followed his voice, finding the two actors by the bar counter, arms crossed. “What’s going on?”
Seokjin kept quiet, just for the sake of the promise he made to Yoongi earlier. Anything that would've come out of his mouth right now, wasn’t going to be nice. “Nothing, we were chatting a bit. Here, take the food upstairs, I’ll go in a minute.”
Hoseok didn’t mind it, he grabbed the bags from his hands and turned around, ignoring Seokjin’s presence.
Yoongi kept an eye on him until he disappeared upstairs. Seokjin made sure Hoseok was gone before he dared to speak again. “Why did you lie to him? Hoseok knows this is part of the deal. He knows we kiss sometimes; he knows you are mine.”
“Just shut up, did you take the pictures?” Seokjin nodded, lying. His hands had been too busy holding Yoongi’s hips. “Good, now put the whiskey where it was. I’m serious.”
Seokjin nodded “Sure, I promise.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes and walked to the opposite side, following his boyfriend's path. “I don’t care about any of your promises, just mind your damn business and leave us alone.”
Seokjin watched him go, biting his lips, looking like a mischievous kid that was about to do something playfully annoying.
After a few minutes of seriously thinking about it, he finally decided to take the bottle with him.
“Jeon Jungkook,” He murmured, opening the entry door with his car keys and the whiskey bottle in hand.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to get wasted with fancy whiskey?”
There was a minute of silence, “So, are you coming?”
“I’m on my way.”
“Well, I don’t mind the whiskey, as long as you bring condoms, last night we ran out of them.”
Seokjin laughed, stepping out of the elevator, “Settled then.”
People didn’t know this but it bothered Seokjin how everyone pictured him as the bad guy in this marriage.
He would deny it to the end of his days, though. His pride was way too vast to touch it.
However, honestly speaking, it was a very sensitive topic for him, and recently it just kept on getting worse.
Like any other sexually active man, Seokjin hooked up with a varied list of interesting guys that caught his attention.
The key to enjoy sex freely, was to always be careful with the amount of information he shared or the type of person he got involved with.
Regardless of what people thought about him, he was smart when he slept with someone. However, sometimes he committed a few mistakes that ended in rumors being spread. He knew that.
But how could people judge him? Living his life was not easy, there were rules regarding everything and different truths to each person that surrounded him. He had to be alert all the time to never be caught off guard.
It was exhausting.
And although he was an expert, he was still a mortal just trying to live a life, he had feelings too.
Maybe he lied to everyone, but the only way he coped with all that, was being honest with at least one person: himself.
Even if others felt that he had no heart, he did have one, and it also got hurt, especially when it came to baseless judgments against his persona.
Like tonight.
Jungkook’s words ruined his humor as soon as the question rolled off his tongue. For some reason, he expected more from that brat, and it turned out he was the same as everyone else.
“What did you just say?” Seokjin asked again, separating their bodies.
Jungkook’s breathing was still going back to his normal pace after feeling Seokjin pounding into him for minutes. “Hyung,” he breathed out exhausted, “Don’t take it personally.”
“Repeat what you said,” Seokjin demanded again, his voice sharp.
The young boy covered his eyes with the crook of his arm. There were some sensitive buttons in Seokjin's life that sometimes Jungkook pressed accidentally.
Tonight he regretted it right away. “Do you think Yoongi deserves how shitty you are being with him? He loves you a lot,” Jungkook repeated in a monotonous tone.
Seokjin narrowed his eyes, confused, “How exactly can I not take that personally?” he asked, disappointed and incredulous.
Jungkook watched him stand up naked from the couch, putting his clothes on in no time.
“Well, you keep cheating on him with me and it feels weird. Today he seemed like a nice guy,” that made Seokjin snort in disbelief. “I didn’t think it would bother you this much, you always seem so chill about it.”
Seokjin zipped his pants, scowling at Jungkook, “You have no fucking idea about my marriage, about Yoongi or me. You know nothing at all but feel entitled to judge me? No thanks kid, I’m done with this shit.”
Jungkook gasped, sitting straight. “Hyung, are you seriously making this a big deal?” He stared with wide eyes.
At first, he thought this was one of his diva tantrums, but the more he stared, the more serious it seemed to get.
Was Seokjin never going to call him again?
“Come on Jin hyung, don’t go. I’m sorry, okay?” He stood up too and followed Seokjin through the small living room to the main door.
The actor grabbed his keys and put his shoes on, refusing to look back at those Bambi’s eyes.
“Don’t call me again, I have enough shit in my life to add you to the list,” Seokjin said at last.
Maybe he was overreacting. The way a hurt Jungkook stared at him when he closed the door was valid proof that he overreacted.
But Seokjin didn’t care. He had been under a lot of pressure these past days due to the infamous announcement from Dispatch, and he came to Jungkook looking for freedom, to feel good, to have wild sex, and laugh at their idiotic lightweight conversations.
The boy was special, they had been hanging out for weeks, it felt safe to be around him and safety was not something common in Seokjin’s life.
The last person he expected to judge him was Jungkook.
This scandal was ruining his life. At first it didn’t look that bad, but now? God, Seokjin wanted to disappear. Everywhere he went, people were pointing at him. It was unfair, irrational, stupid.
When his dad called him into his office a week ago, he didn’t expect to see Dispatch pictures of him cheating on Yoongi. As soon as he saw them, Seokjin knew he was ruined, but still hoped his father could fix it.
So far, the news wasn't out yet, but the rumor and the promise of proof were at the top of all the articles in Naver. Kim Seokjin: From being the handsome gay icon to the face of infidelity. The downfall of the Kim duo is around the corner.
He had checked Naver news on his phone at least fifty times per day, and those articles hadn’t moved from the top 3. And the comments? Disgusting.
He knew it was partly his fault for not being careful enough. Sometimes, he forgot that whenever he hooked up with someone in the public eye, it looked like he was cheating on his husband.
If only they knew they weren’t real husbands, that they hadn’t dated or had any romantic encounters at all, they wouldn’t be harassing Seokjin that much.
But this was his life, even if sometimes he wanted to act like it wasn’t.
It affected him when people threw all this hate at him after giving up so much. He wished he had someone to rant about all of this, but he didn’t have that luxury.
He left the building almost in tears that night, he wasn’t that sad, he was just frustrated with Jungkook’s words.
As he walked, his phone vibrated inside his pocket but didn't bother to check on it.
Why was he the one to blame? It was unfair. He shared as much responsibility as Yoongi and their company.
He was tired.
Seokjin walked through the night to his car, too distracted to pay attention to the vultures' eyes around him.
Very late at night, Yoongi gave up trying to fall asleep and decided to move downstairs to grab a drink.
He liked to drink alone, surrounded by the silence of his living room.
He narrowed his eyes when noticed the bottle of whiskey that Hoseok gifted him two days ago wasn't there anymore.
“Kim Seokjin, you fucker,” He sighed through his nose. He didn’t care about the whiskey, he could care less about the stock of liquor in this apartment.
The problem here was that Hoseok gifted it to him, it was a rare brand he bought online from Europe for their anniversary. He was going to notice it wasn’t there anymore and was going to be sad because of Seokjin again.
He was conscious that was the elder’s plan all along, the bastard had no other goal but to make Hoseok’s life miserable. Yoongi didn’t remember when that war started, was it from the first day he announced he was dating? Yoongi couldn’t recall anymore.
He poured a glass of his usual whiskey and sat on the fluffy sofa next to a sleeping Holly, Seokjin’s dog. He caressed the caramel fur, watching him rest comfy over the pillows.
There was a book over the table in front of him, it must be Seokjin’s. He started eyeing the familiar cover and wondered if Seokjin finally got the part in the movie. If he did, then it meant he wasn’t going to be in Seoul for a few months.
He wondered if maybe that was why Hoseok tried so hard to get that role for Seokjin.
He read the first pages of the book, finishing his drink, getting absorbed by the words.
Seokjin always wrote small notes at the corner of the pages, and Yoongi found himself reading the quotes, trying to get into Seokjin’s mind.
They might not like each other much, but he couldn’t deny that Seokjin’s brain was very endearing and exquisite. Yoongi always appreciated his witty comments or his smart jokes about the most random subjects.
Seokjin used to be a charming guy, and he missed that sometimes.
Only sometimes.
The apartment phone started ringing, startling him. He scowled at the clock by the wall and confirmed it was 2 AM.
It was weird and disrespectful to receive calls that late. He grabbed the phone frowning at it.
Usually, no one used that phone number because the married couple was hardly ever at their apartment. That detail made the situation a lot weirder.
“Hello?” He thought they might have gotten the wrong number by mistake.
There was a young voice on the other side of the line “Is this Min Yoongi?” The guy’s voice was shaking, he sounded rushed.
“Who is it?” He asked, instead of answering.
“I need to confirm if this is Min Yoongi,” The guy insisted.
Yoongi frowned, he sounded so desperate that maybe he needed something. “Yes, it’s me. Who are you and why are you calling this number?”
“My name is Jeon Jungkook. I’m an intern from Teen Korea magazine.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes, already planning to write a ranting mail to the company to get the guy fired.
How did a journalist get his house’s private number? It was creepy.
“I’m calling because I’m also Seokjin’s friend,” The guy blurted out quickly.
“Well, he is sleeping. If you are his friend, call him on his phone tomorrow. Good night.”
“Wait!” The scream came out desperate, Yoongi huffed. “He is with me.”
That was unexpected, Yoongi didn’t know Seokjin wasn’t at home. When did he go out? They were on a strict schedule because it was promotion week.
He walked to the elder’s bedroom to confirm if it was true. When he opened the door, he saw Seokjin’s bed untouched and the bedroom in complete silence.
Something felt odd, “Why are you calling?” He asked, curiously.
“Seokjin just had an accident outside my building,” Yoongi raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“What kind of accident? Wait, is he okay?”
The guy sniffed, “Not really, he is unconscious. We’re in an ambulance. I thought you would like to know.”
Seokjin had an accident? It felt… strange.
“What happened to him?” The actor asked in a calm voice.
“He was assaulted, they took the car and beat Seokjin. The back of his head is bleeding a lot. We are in the ambulance now,” The guy finally broke into sobs.
Seokjin was bleeding?
Yoongi walked inside the prohibited bedroom and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from Seokjin’s neat desk. “Calm down and tell me which hospital you are going to.”
“Asian Medical Center” He murmured while sniffing.
The actor wrote it down “Okay. Listen to me, when you get there, ask for Doctor Park, he is Seokjin’s step-father. Please be quiet and don’t let any other doctor take him before he sees him.”
“Okay,” The voice of the guy came out strained.
“I’m on my way. Is this your number?”
“It is.”
“Okay, I will call you once I get there,” Yoongi hung up the phone with a big sigh.
He wrote down the number on the paper and walked out of the room, running upstairs to get dressed up and inform Hoseok.
Yoongi and Hoseok arrived at the familiar hospital about thirty minutes later. It was very late so the streets were almost empty.
Ambulance sirens were sounding loudly around them as they walked to the building. The last time Yoongi was there, he got shoulder surgery, but that was almost a year ago. He hated the hospital smell.
He swallowed the displeased taste in his mouth as they walked in.
He called Jungkook, and the boy answered the phone right away, his voice was shaky and paranoid.
Yoongi quickly discovered that Jungkook was the barely legal kid looking terrified in the waiting room. Their eyes met instantly, the actor recognized his face, he was at the press conference earlier today. He was the guy Seokjin wanted to rip the head off.
“Jungkook?” Yoongi asked, offering his hand. The guy nodded, shaking his hand but avoiding looking into his eyes.
“You should ask for him,” Jungkook whispered. “I’m not family so they won’t tell me,” He added. Yoongi nodded.
Hoseok shook the guy’s hand as well, “Do you want a coffee or something? You are kinda green”
Jungkook raised his eyes but moved them away before they could meet Yoongi’s. “No, thank you.”
Yoongi frowned, why was the barely legal kid so weird? He told Hoseok to wait with the boy and walked to the nurse station. The woman behind the counter recognized him quickly and bowed to him.
“I wanted to ask for Dr. Park, my name is Min Yoongi.”
“Can you show me your ID card, please? Just as a confirmation,” She looked embarrassed to ask that, but Yoongi didn’t mind. He grabbed it from his wallet and gave it to her. The nurse smiled at him and wrote something else on the computer.
A couple of minutes later, a very old doctor walked into the hallway looking for Yoongi.
“I’m Doctor Lee,” The man announced, offering his hand to the actor. Yoongi shook it with a cordial smile. “Dr. Park is in the O.R right now, so I’m in charge of your husband.”
Yoongi nodded, he remembered Dr. Lee from family meetings, “How is he? I still don’t know what happened exactly,” He was slightly confused. He knew that Seokjin was beaten outside the kid’s apartment. So far that was all the information he was given.
“He got a very delicate concussion,” Yoongi nodded, “He bled a lot from the back of his head and got stabbed on the lower side of his stomach.”
“Wait, wait. He got stabbed?” Yoongi frowned, quite shocked. “Is he okay?”
The doctor nodded “We stopped the bleeding and there isn’t much internal damage, although, I want him to stay at the hospital for a couple of days, maybe there’s something we haven’t seen yet. The wound in his head needs to be under observation.”
Yoongi relaxed a bit, at least Seokjin was relatively fine. He was going to be okay.
“Can I see him?”
Doctor Lee nodded, “He will be waking up soon, so maybe in a couple of hours.”
Yoongi smiled, “Thank you, Dr. Lee. I’ll be around for any updates.”
“Do you want me to call Kim?”
The actor shook his hand “I’ll inform Mr. Kim; I think it is better if he hears the news from me.”
The old man clapped his hands once, agreeing with him. He bowed to Yoongi and walked back into the restricted area he came from.
Yoongi moved back to the waiting room, he found Hoseok holding two coffees, offering one to the young boy. Jungkook raised his eyebrows, concerned, as soon as he spotted Yoongi.
“He is fine. The doctor wants to keep him under observation for a couple of days, but he is alright.”
Jungkook finally let himself breathe again, tears in his eyes. “God, it was my fault. If I didn’t make him feel bad, he wouldn’t have left.” Yoongi frowned, he didn’t understand what happened between them, but he doubted it was the kid’s fault. “I think I’ll get going now. Can you tell him to call me when he feels better, please? Tell him I’m sorry for what I said and well, for all of this too.”
Yoongi felt bad for him, he did look genuinely scared and regretful. “Are you his friend?” he asked.
Jungkook opened his eyes wide, Bambi's size wide. He blushed and avoided Yoongi’s eyes again. “Sort of.”
Yoongi understood what that sort of meant, he nodded and shook Jungkook’s hand. “Where did you say you worked?”
“Teen Korea.”
“You know you can’t post anything about this, right?” Jungkook nodded right away.
“I won’t do anything to harm Seokjin hyung.”
“Great,” Yoongi shook his hand one last time and watched him walking away.
“He is cute,” Hoseok mumbled, sipping his coffee. Yoongi agreed, he looked cute and small.
“Too young though, I don’t think Seokjin needs to be a babysitter at this point of his life.”
Hoseok laughs “Maybe he is into that, we never know. With Seokjin, we never know,” He rubbed Yoongi’s back, inviting him to sit next to him.
Yoongi didn’t remember Seokjin dating anyone in all these years of fake marriage. The guy was exigent and too in love with himself to share a bit of it with another person.
He knew that Jungkook wasn’t something serious, because if he were, Yoongi would know. Seokjin would’ve had the decency to tell him, right?
The announcement of Seokjin’s state came a little before 5 am, Yoongi and Hoseok stayed out of the room for hours dealing with the policeman in charge and all the updates.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to enter the room where Seokjin was in yet, but they were moved to a private waiting room at least.
“Why didn’t you call me right away?” An old man screamed desperately. Yoongi looked up at him, surprised. Hoseok stood up, and bowed to the man but was quickly dismissed and moved aside. “I’m his father, did you forget that?”
“I’m sorry Mr. Kim,” Yoongi mumbled, teeth clenching. The old man looked at him furiously. He stared around the waiting room impatiently, trying to contain his anger.
“You are useless, that's what you are.”
The thing with Mr. Kim was that he was a very difficult man to deal with and Yoongi was pretty much in a helpless situation. That was the disastrous result of combining personal life with business.
Mr. Kim, his boss, his father-in-law, his owner, or whatever people wanted to address him as, was the one that built Yoongi’s career from the ashes. He took all the talent and innocence in Yoongi, mixed it up with promotion and contacts, and created the person that everyone in South Korea knew today. Kim Yoongi.
It was very pathetic though. He was the first one to make sure Yoongi knew his place, that he had no right in Seokjin’s life and should never consider himself a Kim, despite legally being one.
Yoongi was over that already, after five years, there was not much he could do anymore to fix his life.
The young actor sighed, “Since you are here, do you want me to go?”
The old man stared at him in disbelief, laughing wickedly and tired. “Do you have any idea how much press is outside? Everyone is trying to find out what the hell happened here. So no, you are not leaving this building until the PR team comes up with a decent plan,” Then, he turned around, flicking his gaze to an intimidated Hoseok. “By the way, why wasn’t Seokjin at home last night? Do I have to remind you of your job?”
Hoseok huffed, crossing his arms. Father and son were the same. “With all due respect, Mr. Kim, Seokjin is twenty-five years old. He knows what he is doing.”
“The police said he was in a bad neighborhood, what was he doing there?”
“Can’t you imagine?”
Yoongi gasped at his boyfriend, this was not the time “Hoseok, stop it.”
Hoseok shook his head, “Why? Is Seokjin after all. We all know what he was doing there,” He shrugged, sitting on the stiff couch.
“Who called you then? The hospital?” Mr. Kim asked.
There was no rational reason to lie to his boss, not regarding this matter at least. Hoseok looked up at him with a raised brow, curiosity evident in his eyes because Yoongi wasn’t answering right away as he should.
Yoongi knew he had to answer with the truth, but he just couldn’t, not when Seokjin went out alone, avoiding the company drivers, and on top of that, not telling anyone that he was leaving.
Seokjin was smart, he did everything with a purpose and part of Yoongi smelled it had something to do with Jungkook’s privacy.
What if they did the same they did to Hoseok? Yoongi didn’t have much more information about them, so he could only speculate.
“They called me from the ambulance and we rushed here,” That was true, not the whole truth, but part of it.
Mr. Kim didn’t ask more questions, not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. Dr. Lee entered the private waiting room welcoming the old man, they were from the same friends’ circle.
“Mr. Kim” The doctor murmured looking at Yoongi, the actor walked closer to him. “You can enter to see your husband now.”
Yoongi opened his eyes widely, his first reaction was to look at his side, Mr. Kim’s annoyance was evident. “Can Mr. Kim come with me?”
Dr. Lee smiled apologetically, shaking his head “Not now, only the husband can visit him but starting tomorrow the rest of his family can visit him as well.”
Yoongi sighed, that was bad news. He couldn’t look at his father-in-law anymore.
“Let’s go then” He mumbled, defeated.
The sight of Seokjin's bruised face will probably never be erased from his mind. It was surreal to look at his eyes closed, lying in a hospital bed with purple and red marks contrasting his smooth melanin skin.
The doctor said he was going to be fine, which was the only reason Yoongi tried not to get shocked at such an image in front of him.
He observed his features, from his injured eyelids to his lips, they were slightly parted and a bit dry due to the oxygen mask. He touched his own lips, the ones that kissed Seokjin's a few hours ago.
What if he asked him if he was going out? What if he told him to stay at home? Seokjin wouldn't be there now, would he?
Yoongi detested Seokjin with every fiber of his body, and wanted him out of his life, but not like this. He couldn't stand seeing him hurt.
He stood there by the bed for a few minutes, it had been hours, and was exhausted.
Somehow the constant beep noise from the machine started to doze him off against his will.
He didn't notice when his eyes shut and his head fell next to Seokjin's hand on the bed.
"Yoon?"
He was dreaming.
He was time traveling to the past when a sweet familiar voice called his name tenderly and the Min nickname didn't exist yet.
The voice sounded a bit far, it wasn't easy to reach it.
“Yoon," He heard again, it was getting closer now. “Yoon,” The voice said again, and Yoongi finally touched it.
His hand was being wrapped by the owner of that voice, dragging him to his side.
Yoongi opened his eyes a bit startled, waking up from his small slumber in a jump. His eyes took a while to focus, the room was white, bright, and foreign.
"Yoon," The voice repeated, it was the same voice he heard in his dream. He turned his head around still sleepy, facing the narrowed eyes of the man resting on the bed.
“Seokjin?” His throat was tight and hoarse, he rubbed the sleep off his eyes.
“Yoon," Seokjin said, his voice sounding unusual. It was nice, maybe he forgot he hated him for a few seconds.
Yoongi furrowed his brows, and then his brain connected the dots. Did Seokjin just call him Yoon? He stared blankly. “What happened?” Seokjin asked, looking around the room, trying to sit on the bed.
Yoongi's brain quickly reacted and stopped him, he got stabbed for god’s sake.
“Don’t move Seokjin,” His voice came out harshly, taking Seokjin by surprise. Yoongi looked at him, the older one was pursing his lips, looking suspiciously at him.
“You look weird,” Seokjin whispered.
“I look weird?” Yoongi asked back, shaking his head “Have you seen yourself?” That was not a nice thing to say to someone that just woke up from a disastrous accident. Damn Yoongi, have some empathy.
He sighed and tried to keep his tiredness aside, trying to be a bit gentler, “I think you are a bit confused.”
“I think so too” Seokjin whispered.
“How do you feel?”
“Don’t know, I feel like I got hit by a car or something,” He pouted, it had been a while since Yoongi saw Seokjin pouting.
“Does it hurt?” He asked, sitting on the bed.
“A little bit,” the injured actor sighed, staring around a bit more. “Yoon?” There was the nickname again. Why was he calling him that? Did he get softer after the accident? Could that be possible?
“Can you call my mother please?” Yoongi's thoughts froze, the way Seokjin sounded so incredibly vulnerable took Yoongi by surprise.
However, the most shocking part was what he just said. Seokjin’s mom was dead. She died five years ago.
“What? Call your father?” Yoongi asked, trying to make sense.
Seokjin shook his head with a face, “My mom, I don’t wanna see my father.”
Yoongi opened his mouth but didn't find any words to say. What was going on?
“Do you feel alright? You got hit so hard."
“I’m a bit dizzy, but I think I’m fine.”
Well you are asking for your mom and she is dead; you are not fine at all, Yoongi thought.
“I’ll call the doctor then. Wait for me, okay?”
Seokjin giggled, “I won’t go anywhere.”
Yoongi looked at his eyes, concerned “Right.”
When Doctor Lee visited Seokjin he asked many questions, such as his name, his birthday, if he recognized the person next to him, among other things.
Seokjin seemed to be alright, he answered all the questions correctly. There was no answer to why he was asking for his dead mother.
“Mr. Kim, can you stay with your husband, please? I need to go to the lab,” Yoongi nodded. He had been silently watching him ask questions to Seokjin.
“What did you just call him?” Seokjin asked, staring at both of them with narrowed eyes. “What did you say?”
Yoongi turned his head to look at Seokjin, he was looking back with his brows furrowed in confusion.
“Mr. Kim?” Yoongi said, “He told me to take care of my husband, of you,” Yoongi repeated tonelessly.
“Your what?” Seokjin’s red eyes almost fell off his face.
Doctor Lee glared at Seokjin suspiciously then “You know him, right? You answered his name correctly.”
“Yeah, he is my best friend, Min Yoongi,” Seokjin answered, tripping in his words, feeling his chest tightening. "Aren’t you?”
Best Friend? Yoongi thought, narrowing his eyes.
They used to be best friends, many years ago before they got married.
“Seokjin, I’m your husband,” Yoongi murmured, tilting his head to the side, Seokjin raised his eyebrows in pure shock.
At the sight of Seokjin panicking, Doctor Lee interrupted them, calling the nurse to take care of him.
Yoongi stared at him and tried to hold his hand but Seokjin couldn't hold it, he couldn't move, his eyes were watery and lost.
Dr. Lee took Yoongi to his office instead, calling Mr. Kim on the way there.
As Doctor Lee explained to both Seokjin’s father and husband, the most severe consequence of the harsh impact was amnesia.
Both stared in a complex mixture of disbelief and worry.
This wasn’t common, but it could happen, and it was happening to Seokjin. Mr. Kim almost started crying when he heard it. Yoongi had never seen him like that before.
Seokjin didn't remember anything that happened in the last few years. It might not be permanent, but whether he was going to recover from it was unknown. Still, Dr. Lee advised them not to lose control yet and wait at least a year.
“A year?” Mr. Kim huffed, looking at the brain picture Doctor Lee was showing them to explain where the damage was.
Yoongi still couldn't believe what he was saying. Seokjin lost his memory? It couldn't be real. Those are things that happened in movies and dramas only, it didn’t happen in real life. did it?
“Are you sure he will get his memory back?” Yoongi asked, receiving a threatening look from Mr. Kim.
“There might be some memories that won’t come back. However, he will remember most of them eventually.”
Yoongi nodded, still shocked.
“He didn’t remember I was his husband,” Yoongi commented to Mr. Kim on their way back to Seokjin’s room.
The old man didn’t say anything, he was overwhelmed with all the information about his son.
“Maybe this is the moment to announce our divorce,” Yoongi whispered, almost desperately. This was his chance to be free. He didn’t see this coming, not even in his most crazy dreams, but it was happening.
Besides, it would be better for Seokjin to start a new life with someone else instead of getting involved in this mess.
Mr. Kim turned his head to look at Yoongi and grinned bitterly. “My son has just lost his memory and you are thinking about yourself? You selfish piece of shit. Get out of here.”
Yoongi gasped, maybe it was not the right time to mention it. However, he didn’t know what to do now. Seokjin thought they were married; he didn’t know it was fake.
“Mr. Kim, he thinks we are married. We aren’t, what am I supposed to tell him? I don’t know how he will take something like this. Seriously, how am I supposed to explain this to him? He still doesn't know his mother passed.”
Mr. Kim stared with his familiar threatening look, making Yoongi feel smaller than usual.
“Are you an actor, Yoongi?”
Yoongi froze, taken aback by Mr. Kim’s words. He never called him Yoongi, it was always Min.
“I am, sir.”
The old man hummed, crossing his arms “Then you have to do your damn job,” Yoongi raised his brow, not liking his tone one bit. “If Seokjin thinks he is your husband, then you are going to become his husband. Am I clear?”
“What do you exactly mean by his husband?”
“From now on, you are Seokjin’s real husband–”
“Wait wait, this is not what we agreed on,” He half screamed, seeing himself being cornered. A few people scowled at them, they were in the middle of a hospital corridor and they were supposed to be quiet.
Yoongi couldn’t be quiet.
“The rules have changed, at least until Seokjin remembers everything. For now, he doesn’t know it’s fake, and you won’t tell him. As simple as that. You said it yourself, we can’t explain this to him.”
Yoongi felt the anger going through his veins. The worst part was that he knew he couldn't do anything. One bad move and his career was over, and at this point, not only his career but his life as a whole.
Seokjin’s father had all the power to turn the game against him and ruin his life in a matter of seconds.
“We will talk more about this, but not now, so you can leave. Hoseok will take you back to the apartment, I hope you use your time wisely and take his stuff out of my son’s home.”
The actor was left speechless as Mr. Kim walked in his friend’s direction, Mr. Park. The old doctor hugged him and whispered reassuring phrases.
Yoongi looked at them half blank. He could only think about how he was supposed to explain this to Hoseok, and how much this would affect them in the future.
His only consolation was that Seokjin never loved him, and didn’t love him now, so at the end of the day, there was a possibility of Seokjin asking for a breakup himself.
Yoongi’s hands were sweaty as his mind planned what to do, but he couldn’t come up with anything, he didn’t expect his life to shift so drastically in a matter of hours.
But this was his life at the end of the day, and the new game had just begun. Yoongi must prepare himself to play the right cards.