The Ugly Duckling [Jinkook, Minjoon, Taegiseok]

20: Yoongi

Ages at the moment:

Jin: 21

Yoongi: 20

Hoseok and Namjoon: 19

Jimin and Taehyung: 18

Jungkook: 16

~~~~~

Yet another extravagant ball thrown for a coming of age birthday.

Of course this one was a big deal because Taehyung was the only prince from the Daegu Kingdom.

Nothing special really happened and Taehyung was showered in gifts like the spoiled only child he was.

After the party when they went back to his room he found Yoongi's present waiting for him.

It was the dog from the pet store that Taehyung had loved so much.

"Yeontan!" Taehyung ran over to the dog and picked him up, cuddling and laughing. "Thank you Yoongi!"

"It's nothing. I just remembered how you loved this dog went we went out in the town."

"But it's been a year! How could he still be there?"

"I paid them to keep the dog there last year," Yoongi admitted.

Taehyung put the dog down and went to Yoongi to give him a thank you hug, but Yoongi shied away.

Everyone gave Yoongi a weird look, but he didn't show any signs of noticing.

"Yoongi? Are you okay?" Taehyung asked in concern, wanting a hug. He thought they had passed the hugging stage months ago.

"I'm fine," Yoongi shook him off. He couldn't look Taehyung in the eyes. He looked like he was acting cold, but he was really just guilty. He didn't think he deserved Taehyung.

But Taehyung didn't know that. He didn't know about anything that had happened the previous week.

So everyone else gave Taehyung their gifts and there was plenty of hugs to go around, but Taehyung couldn't help but to be disappointed that Yoongi never gave him a hug. He had thought that since he was 18 now he might finally get a kiss, but he knew that was a stretch since Yoongi had been going slow. However he hadn't thought a simple hug would be too much to ask.

The party came to a close and they all went home.

~~~~~

Jin and Jungkook were chilling on Jin's bed, relaxing, when the door burst open. 

Jin scrambled to pick up his mask until he noticed it was just Yoongi.

"Oh hey, Yoongi. What's up?"

"Jungkook get out," Yoongi ordered.

"Hey," Jungkook whined. "You can't just kick me out!"

"I need to talk to Jin. Alone."

"Why can't I--"

"Kookie," Jin sighed. "Could you please step out for a moment? I'll come get you when we are done."

"This isn't fair!" Jungkook protested as he stood up and made his way to the door. "I'm not five anymore! I should be able to be a part of important conversations!"

"I'm sorry Kookie but it's very personal to me and I just want to talk to my best friend," Yoongi smiled sadly.

"Fine."

Jungkook closed the door on his way out and Yoongi turned to face Jin.

"Are you okay? You've been acting weird lately," Jin carefully questioned, not wanting to hit any nerves.

Yoongi quietly sat next to Jin on the bed and buried his head in Jin's shoulder, starting to cry.

"I'm such a bad person, Jin."

"No you're not."

"I--" Yoongi covered his face with his hands, not knowing how to bring up his problem. He decided to just rip off the band aid. "I cheated on Taehyung!"

"You what?" Jin blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I was scared and emotional about how I'm not ready to get married yet. I love Taehyung, but my emotions were just everywhere, and I--"

"Calm down," Jin rubbed Yoongi's back. "You're rambling and it's getting hard to understand you."

"What I'm saying is... I'm not a virgin anymore. I had sex with someone else," Yoongi admitted, ashamed. "Oh god, I feel so horrible about this!"

"Maybe you can find a loop hole to take away some of the guilt. Maybe you didn't really cheat."

"We've been engaged since we were children!"

"Well, you guys aren't really dating yet, right?"

"We took each other on dates for our birthdays."

"Yikes, then I guess there's really no way around logic, is there?" Jin sighed.

"Are you trying to tell me cheating is okay?" Yoongi frowned. "There's no loopholes in cheating."

"No, no, I don't mean it like that. I'm not trying to justify your actions. I'm trying to find a way for you to feel better so that you can move on. You still have to marry Taehyung, after all."

"I don't deserve him," Yoongi sniffled, wiping his eyes. "I always thought that he was the childish one, but a moment of panic was all it took for me to act out."

"Who did you have sex with? If you don't mind me asking."

"Hoseok."

"Your personal guard?!" Jin gasped.

"He's so much more than just my personal guard!" Yoongi argued. "He's my other best friend. He's always been there for me when I needed him. He's my first love."

"Your first love?" Jin hummed in thought. "Do you actually love Taehyung? I'm sure this wouldn't have happened if you had moved on from Hoseok."

"I love them both! With Taehyung's birthday coming up, I was trying to get over Hoseok so I could finally move on. He suggested that confessing could help me move on so I confessed to him. But then he confessed to me too and things got out of hand really fast."

"I see," Jin nodded. "Then you shouldn't feel so bad about yourself."

"What?" Yoongi frowned. "But I cheated--"

"Yes, you did. But it's not your fault that you were put into an arranged marriage. You would be forced to marry Taehyung whether you wanted to or not. You were just desperate to move on and make things right. There are plenty of royals who would cheat on their spouses time and time again without any guilt, and that's just not who you are," Jin smiled comfortingly. "You made a mistake, but there's nothing you can do to go back and change the past. Hopefully you can finally move on from Hoseok now and put this all behind you."

"Why are you trying to make me feel better? Shouldn't you be scolding me?"

"It looks to me like you did that yourself. Why would I beat a dead horse? But I will say, I think you should come clean to Taehyung and apologize."

Yoongi shook his head rapidly. "I can't! I can't tell Taehyung! He will hate me!"

"Look Yoongi. You're young and stupid right now. We all are. I don't think he could ever hate you for making a mistake. He will probably be sad for a while, but he's tough. He will get over it. But you need to tell him."

"I'm too scared," Yoongi whined, cowering over in anxiety. "What if he calls off the engagement? What if he never wants to speak to me again? What if he marries me and then cheats to get back at me? I don't think I could handle that."

"Trust me. If you tell him it will take the weight off your chest. Taehyung is too nice and loves you too much to be petty and cheat back. Everything will be fine."