mourir seul • nammin/minjoon •

• trente •

Namjoon waited long for Jungkook to arrive, playing a lot more rounds of chess with his friend. Somewhere in between, the youngest of the four, Taehyung, just decided to bring in the cake he was promised. It was then when the doorbell rang.

"Ugh, finally.", Namjoon complained, standing up from the table the game was on. His mood worsened during the last games."Hey!", Yoongi gasped, "We're not finished here, you sucker!"

"Let's finish when I'm finished with the little fucker among us.", he muttered, stepping out the living room. Yoongi didn't answer. Something was telling him his friend was too irritated to be talked back to, all of a sudden. But that might've been caused by Jungkook's arrival.

Namjoon strolled down the stairs of the mansion, already recognising the silhouette in front of the main door. But what was he going to do with him? He was furious, to say the least. Not only did his trusted friend and talented apprentice keep the truth from him for so long, but it was also because of someone Namjoon was incredibly wrathful with. On the contrary, he made a promise. But what did the little promise of a random cute person mean to a man like him? If only it wasn't for Christopher, he thought to himself, because he catched the conversation, then Namjoon wouldn't have to keep it.

He opened the door to a nervous young man. His face showed no twitch when Jungkook started to apologise. "Sorry I'm late,", the boy breathed, Namjoon supposed he was running, "won't.. won't happen again.."

"Yeah, right, come in. I've been waiting longer than I wanted to.", Namjoon responded, stepping to the side to let Jungkook in. The latter was quick to follow the request, quickly taking off his shoes and jacket. "The others are upstairs in the living room. So you'll come with me to the kitchen. Let's go.", Namjoon commanded, not giving any time to the intimidated boy, going straight to said room.

The kitchen was not exactly right next to the entry, letting Jungkook observe the mansion a little. He was here before, it's just that he's never quite seen all of it. The hall was filled with paintings and photographs. Jungkook recognised the picture he painted for Namjoon's last birthday. A little smile crept onto his face, quickly being replaced by a surprised yelp when he ran into his mentor's back. "Oh god I'm sor-"

"Don't!", Namjoon scolded, "Goddamit. You and your boyfriend surely never stop apologising and it's getting on my nerves!", he raged, rather calmly, but enough to let Jungkook know he was annoyed. Very annoyed. It was then when he noticed they arrived in the kitchen already. "Sit down.", Namjoon gestured towards one of the chairs around the counter. Jungkook timidly took a seat while Namjoon walked behind the counter to grab a bottle and two glasses. "You look like you've seen a ghost.", he commented, no recognisable emotion in his voice, pouring some of the dark red liquid into the cups, "Scared I'll rip you in two pieces, huh?"

Jungkook took a second to inhale before he took the cup he was offered a moment later. "I.. just don't know what to say..", he admitted, swirling around the liquid in the glass, "I can't say sorry again, but that's the only thing that's coming to my mind right now. I'm-", Jungkook stopped himself before the last word slipped out of his mouth. Defeated, he looked to the ground. A little 'tch' left Namjoon's lips before he poured some in for himself. "At least you're learning."

He took a seat on the opposite side Jungkook was sitting on. "I shouldn't have lied to you..", he murmured, looking into the glass. "Well, you didn't exactly lie.", Namjoon answered, raising an eyebrow while taking a sip. The stare was persistent, Jungkook noticed, as always. "You just kept a really, really, really important detail from me. For months." Namjoon put down the glass, watching Jungkook as he shifted in his seat. He was uneasy. And regretful. One look into his eyes, Namjoon was relieved the boy was honest. "Why did you do it?"

"Will you..kick me out?"

"I'm asking why did you do it, Jungkook."

A moment of silence followed. Then a frustrated sigh from the younger man. "I hate to explain it that way..", he whined, looking up to Namjoon's face. "I started to like him a while ago. And I absolutely wanted to tell you, but on the exact same day I learned about your contract and that he didn't pay.." Jungkook put his hands up to his face, shielding his helpless expressions. "God I'm such an idiot. I.. I really should've just told you."

"You didn't tell me because you couldn't.", Namjoon said after a long pause, taking a sip. "You would have put him and yourself in danger."

"I could have brought him to paying the money."

"You would have lost your cover."

"I should have-"

Namjoon's fist hit the table before Jungkook could finish. "You could have done everything. You should have done so many things. But are you a time-traveler? Or do I look like one?", he scolded. Jungkook sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not going to forgive you for the 'sorry'.", Namjoon said sternly, earning a surprised, then shocked expression from Jungkook, "But for god's sake, I'm not going to kick you out. It's Kim Seokjin. He owns me a whole lot of money. He pisses me the fuck off. Nothing more. There are worse people for you to date."

"So you.. are fine with it..?", Jungkook carefully asked. Once he heard himself, he knew that was a dumb question to ask, but he was no time-traveler, after all. "I'll need my time to not smack you across the face multiple times. With a chair. And maybe I'm going to give you the worst jobs I can think of. But I guess I'll have to be fine with it. I can't forbid who you love.", Namjoon replied, trying to give his voice a softer tone. It didn't quite succeed, but Jungkook had enough to know. He looked onto the counter. A small 'thank you' left his mouth as a whisper, before he took a sip from the cup he was clenching on the entire time.

A small hum of enjoyment escaped. "What is this?", he asked, not having expected the nice, sour-sweet taste.

"Grape Juice."