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After his picnic with Hobi, Jungkook had quietly resolved himself with the idea of Jin and Mimie. Well... mostly. Sometimes his imagination crept up on him and planted visuals in his mind that left him sick to his stomach. However, when it did he would just refocus his energy on Mara and that usually was enough of a distraction. Especially the times when Mara was around to thrive on the extra attention, leeching the offered crumb of affection and seeking into a full course meal. It was clearer than ever to the other members that Jungkook was keeping Mara around for convenience; he'd even insisted on her accompanying them to Japan for a week.
Tensions were already running high on the trip. Japan had been scheduled for months when JK requested for Mara to join them with less than a week's notice. And to top it all off, Jungkook insisted Mara stayed in his room after Hybe had paid more than the usual amount to book a last-minute room for her to stay in. At this point, the members (namely Namjoon, who was dealing with the backlash from Sejin and their management) had enough and yet again, the seven found themselves in an argument over Jungkook's attitude. Even when Jimin attempted to mediate and defend the youngest, he became the focus of the aggression from both sides.
Eventually, Jungkook stormed out and the remaining six members were left in exasperated silence. Each unintentionally displaying the five stages of grief. Jin and Tae were the ones trying to make a brave face, they were the first to resume the meeting, acting as if the outburst hadn't happened.
Namjoon was pacing the room, angry- plain and simple. He was angry at Jungkook for his behaviour. He was angry at himself for the way he had handled it. He was angry that there had been witnesses... He was just angry- so Jimin was attempting to mediate again. The younger man was attempting to reason than offer other ways to approach the situation.
"Hyung, if you just let me speak to him alone-,"
"Hobi-hyung already tried that when he was like this before," Yoongi interjected, appearing to be the only one at peace with the situation.
Then again, that was just Yoongi. He had an ability to understand human behaviour on a fundamental level that meant pretty much nothing phased him about the members anymore. He could see the causality behind the maknae's behaviour and he knew Jungkook well enough to know the best response is to step back and allow JK to work his way through it by himself. When he was ready for their help he would as for it.
"Nothing changed. Just give him time, you dropped a lot of truth bombs on him recently that I'm not convinced he was ready for."
Meanwhile, Yoongi's main concern was Hoseok, who was sat quietly in the corner of the room. Knees pulled to his chest with eyes wide and observant of the room. He was a shadow of his earlier self, the excitement from earlier having died away whilst watching the members ripping into each other.
Unable to sleep after his argument with Namjoon, Jungkook lay beside Mara, who was fast asleep in his hotel room staring at the ceiling. There were things Namjoon had said that Jungkook just couldn't shake from his mind and they were keeping him wide awake.
