Book 3: 24/seven | A Jung Hoseok BTS Fan Fiction

Hobi's Choice

As soon as Jimin arrived, everyone tore at the plastic cover and found their spot around the dorm. All except for Hobi who decided to take the book to the room and stared at the cover for a long while. He closed his eyes and wrapped his emotions around this book that suddenly put his well-disciplined life in such a great upheaval. Before the book entered his life and being reconnected with Aiko, his focus was clearly on his craft and the future of the members. He was sure he was not wanting anything and had already made a clear choice that he was not going to open his life for any distractions, especially if they would cause unnecessary heartache for himself and others. Love was all-consuming. It was beautiful and it was all-powerful, but it was a flame he could not fan. He was willing for the right time to come along - when he can tend to it - and he had accepted that it will have to happen down the line.

It was out of the question until the idea of Aiko - through the book in his hand - introduced the idea that she could have been loving him, all this time and he had thrown away the chance. "I don't know that for sure," Hobi muttered to himself. He was proud to have a sound, practical disposition. He wasn't going to make assumptions no matter how thrilling the prospect is. All he can be is honest with himself.

"Ok, Jung Hoseok." He said out loud, "Be honest. Why are you in pieces?" He looked at his reflection in the mirror across the room and stared at himself. "Do you want to be with her or not?"

His reflection challenged him and deep inside his voice responded. I do. Hoseok leaned back on his pillow defeated and hit his head with the book. "I do, I do, I do... Why is this so hard?"

The door of their walk-in closet slid slowly. Hoseok jumped at the movement and found Jimin looking at him. "Omo, have you been there all this time?"

"This is my room too!" Jimin replied defensively. "Can I join the conversation?" Hobi leaned back again and sighed.

"Hyungie," Jimin started, "Now that you know how you feel and that's out of the way, my opinion is that I think it's kind of you to let it pass again this time around. As the saying goes, if it's meant to be then it is. You're not asking yourself the right questions though. The right questions are: One, can you wait for time to pass to prove that? Two, will you not regret the time lost? And three, supposing she does love you back, do you think it's fair to make a decision without her having a say in it?"

Hoseok settled his eyes on the book cover. It wasn't fair. Like Hopi, he didn't want things to be decided for him. If he was going to make mistakes, he would like to be able to own up to them.

"Jiminie, isn't it selfish for me to want to be with her and know I can't be with her? That's the only thing holding me back."

Jimin crawled out of the closet and got up. "Love will find a way for you to be together. All you two can do is try your best. For sure, it will be difficult, but you will love and you will be loved if you will let yourself be loved." Hobi marveled at the wisdom tucked away in Jimin's 173 cm. frame.

"Please, hyung. Take the leap of faith because you're really getting annoyingly stubborn." Jimin insisted. "And stop thinking about my height."

"Whoaa... how did you read my mind?" Hobi asked. Deeply annoyed, Jimin laid on his bed and faced away from Hobi as he opened the pages of the book again.

"You make a face when you're about to talk about my height." He responded curtly.

"Ok Jimin-ah." He said gently, "I'm going to opt in."

Jimin came running out of their bedroom and slid into the living room to make the big announcement. "He's going to opt in!" He did a little dance.

"Too late." Namjun snorted under his breath. Jimin stopped dancing and stared at him. Everyone groaned and threw things at him.

"Aish..." Yoongi gave him a dagger look.

"Joon-ah! No spoilers! Get out of here!" Jin yelled, visibly just as annoyed.

"I'm going! I'm going! Sorry!" Namjun put a hand on his mouth and bowed to everyone.

"Wait, what does he mean by that though?" Taehyung asked.

"Read faster!" Namjun yelled from the hallway. "If anyone's done, I'll be in the studio!"

Yoongi was done next, and he slumped on the couch behind Namjun. Swiveling his chair, Namjun faced Yoongi. "I'm depressed," Yoongi said. Namjun had a bit more time to think about the second volume and he leaned back on his chair.

"I know. Let's just wait for the others before we talk about it. Saves energy. I'm deflated too."

The next to enter was Jeongguk. He sat beside Yoongi and broke his tear-streaked confused expression to look at Yoongi and Namjun's face. "After fate brought them together again, I can't believe he still chose his dream over Emiko." He sniffed.

"I think Emiko also led him to the decision, don't you think so?" Namjun replied.

"Well," Yoongi joined in, "Only because it was obvious that it means the whole world to him. That's love. She was making a sacrifice to clear his path."

Jin came in next. He was rubbing his eyes. Looking at everyone, he cursed under his breath. "This book just destroyed me." He sighed and cleared his throat.

"Hold on, hold on." Jeongguk said, "Hyung, how did you arrive at her making a sacrifice?"

Yoongi crossed his arms over his chest. "It's that part when she was standing from a distance watching people applaud him on stage. I think at that part, she knew he needed someone who could lift him higher, and she thought she was just going to be a lead weight for him."

"Do you all think she led him to ask for a break on purpose?" the youngest asked around the room.

"I'm so emotionally exhausted by this book." Jin said sitting on the floor, "Can someone just explain to me what I should take away from it? This is too hard."

Taehyung bursts in. "Okay, okay!" He said, "So they meet. They fall in love, so destiny is at play." He looked at everyone one by one. They all nodded. "So, were they destined to be together? Or be apart? I'm confused."

Jin groaned.

"I think there was no answer to that," Yoongi said thoughtfully. "I think it's a tragedy because neither of them is letting destiny play out. They've both put a harness on it."

"You said destiny will always prevail." Taehyung blinked. "So why does it end here?"

"Maybe there is a volume three." Namjun's eyes glimmered with a spark of hope.

"Or maybe, to Taehyung's point, this is the end of the story. Their destiny is not to be together. The goblins granted both their wishes in separate timelines. What's in his heart and what's in his mind. Even in this timeline, she gave up her wish for him as she had in Soswaewon, except there's no do-over this time since they both have no memory of being together."

"There's nothing on the back page hinting about a third volume." Namjun pouted sadly.

"Yoongi-yah." Jin called. "I didn't think I could be sadder after reading, but you just managed to make the impossible happen. I'm sorry to ask for an explanation."

"I think the saddest part." Jeongguk wiped his eyes on the back of his arm, "is that in the first book, she tells him to hold on because pain ends, and in the beginning, when they meet and he sees her crying, he gives her the same advice. I didn't expect that in the end, she was the one who going to need the advice the most. That she was going to hold on to her resolve until she no longer feels pain from them walking away from each other."

They were silently commiserating with each other in the studio when Jimin opened the door.

"Are you done?" Namjun asked. Jimin nodded. "Is Hobi done?" Jimin nodded again.

"Well?" Yoongi asked.

"He's mad pissed." Jimin grinned from ear to ear.