An Extra Beat of Love

9. Butterflies?

Jeongguk dropped his daughter and Taehyung back in his parents' house that evening, stayed the night at their house with his daughter, and returned to Seoul the next morning. 

The software crash and its consequent losses had taken four complete days for them to manage and recover from. 

It was only then that he could find enough leisure to think of his daughter. He pulled his phone out and was just about to call his mother when his door opened without a knock. 

He knew who it was going to be. Either Seokjin, Yoongi, or Namjoon. Only those three entered his room without knocking. No one else did that, not that the rest of the employees dared to even think of barging into their CEO's room without knocking. 

He looked up at Yoongi and waited for him to say what he came to say. "Nothing. Finished working. Came to see what you were doing," Yoongi said and sat down on the couch in his room. 

Jeongguk got up from his chair and joined his best friend on the couch. "That was one hell of a week," he said as he flopped onto the couch. "I know, right? Are you done with your work?" Yoongi asked, throwing his head back and resting it against the back of the couch. 

"Yeah, I was just about to call mum," Jeongguk said. "Ohh, go on. I'll greet her too," Yoongi said and gestured to Jeongguk to make the call. Jeongguk called her right away.

"Hello?"
"Hello, Eomma..."
"You sound tired...." Jihyo said with a frown audible in her voice. "Hmm...there was a lot of work. I'm free now, though. How are you all?" Jeongguk asked. 

"Ohh, don't even ask. Today was a disaster," Jihyo said with a sigh. Jeongguk frowned. "Why? What happened?" he asked. 

"Ughh, Taehyung went to Daegu today. Apparently, he had some personal work. Our monkey wanted to go with him as well, but he refused to take her with him. Said it wasn't a place for kids. And Hana threw a really huge fit when he went. And now that he's back, she isn't leaving his side even for a second. He has her wrapped around his finger, I don't know how," Jihyo said and sighed once again. 

"Ohh? Didn't you say he had no one?" Jeongguk asked. "Yupp, I did, but this one sounded more like an important task than a casual meeting with a friend or something. Also, it is none of our business," Jihyo said. 

"True. What about your food, then?" Jeongguk asked. "I cooked, of course. Who do you think cooked last week when you called him to Seoul?" Jihyo asked defensively. "Okay, okay, I'm not saying you can't cook," Jeongguk said with a chuckle. 

Jihyo scoffed at him. "How are the kids?" she asked. "Wait a second," Jeongguk said and turned the speaker on. "Yeah, talk now," he said. "How are the kids?" Jihyo repeated once again. 

"We are fine, Ajeomma," Yoongi said with a chuckle. "Ohh, good, good, come home some time, all of you. It's been long," Jihyo said. "True....I'll check my schedule and come one day," Yoongi said. 

"Nonsense. Just come today for dinner along with Jeonggukie. You can all go back to Seoul together after dinner," she said. 

"Won't Taehyung hyung be too tired to cook, though?" Jeongguk asked. "No, he was completely fine. He didn't look the least bit tired when he returned. He's even playing with Hana right now, so don't worry about that. What say, Yoongi?" Jihyo asked. 

"I don't know, Ajeomma. I have to check with Hobi. And I don't know what Seokjin hyung and Namjoon have planned for tonight," Yoongi said. 

"Why do you need that?" Seokjin asked from behind them, making the two of them jump.

"Woah, hyung, when did you come?!" Jeongguk exclaimed. "Just now," Seokjin said and joined them on the couch. He pointed to the phone and raised an eyebrow at Jeongguk. "Eomma" Jeongguk mouthed back at him. 

"Oh, Ajeomma, hello," Seokjin greeted Jihyo. "Oh, hello, Seokjin-ah. Come home for dinner tonight. Bring your husband too," Jihyo said right away. "Oh, of course, Ajeomma. It's been long," Seokjin said. 

"You see that, Yoongi? You have to listen to elders like that," Jihyo said, making the three of them chuckle. "Okay, Ajeomma, we'll come too," Yoongi said with a grin. "Now that's my Yoongi! I'll go now. Bye, babies," Jihyo said. 

"Oh, Eomma, wait, I didn't talk to Hana! Where's she?" Jeongguk asked. "She's very busy trying to merge herself with Taehyung's leg right now," Jihyo said. 

Somewhere in the distance, they could hear a deep chuckle and a whine that sounded like 'Hanaaa!! Let goooo!!', knocking the wind out of Jeongguk's lungs for a second. 

He didn't realize it the previous four days because of the extreme work stress that he was under, but now that he finally heard that deep voice, it hit him like a truck. 

He missed that voice. He wanted to hear that chuckle once again. He wanted to hear that whine once again. Somehow, he could perfectly picture Taehyung whining at Hana to get her to let his leg go.

The realization left him shocked as well. Wasn't he too old to miss someone's voice like this? 

Even if he wasn't too old, wasn't it too early to feel butterflies in his stomach after hearing someone's voice after five days? Especially someone that he had met only a week ago even though he knew about his existence long before that?

Just a couple of days with him had him missing his voice and now that he thought of it, he not only missed his voice, but he also wanted to see his smile. He wanted to see him playing with his daughter. He just wanted to see him once again. 

He wanted to see the gentle, yet royal way in which he carried himself. He wanted to see him slowly open up around Jeongguk, the shockingly only friend he had ever made in his life other than Hana. 

"Well, I do wanna let you continue daydreaming, but I have to go and inform Hobi about the dinner and then get ready for it, so bye," Yoongi deadpanned, bringing Jeongguk out of his thoughts. 

Seokjin chuckled next to him and called his husband. 

"Huh?" Jeongguk asked, but before Yoongi could explain himself, Seokjin began to talk on his phone, informing Namjoon about the dinner. 

"When did the call end?" he asked, looking at his idle phone on the table. "Ten seconds after you started daydreaming," Yoongi said and stood up. 

"Ohh? I wasn't daydreaming! I gotta talk to Hana," Jeongguk said and grabbed his phone. "Why the hell did she hang up before letting me talk to her?" he mumbled as he dialed his mom up once again. 

"Sure, you weren't daydreaming," Seokjin mumbled with a chuckle and got up as well, not bothering to tell Jeongguk that Jihyo had told them that Hana was in no mood to talk to anyone other than Taehyung at the moment.

"So what's the plan?" Jeongguk asked after hanging up on his mother. "Huh? What plan?" Yoongi asked. "I mean, you wanna go in my car together or you wanna come individually?" Jeongguk asked. 

"Ohh....I'll talk to Hobi and let you know," Yoongi said. "Me too," Seokjin said. "Okay, then. I'll go home now. I'm gonna start at six, so lemme know before that," Jeongguk said. 

"Okay," the other two said and left the room. About ten minutes later, he received two messages from the two of them in their group chat, telling him that all of them would go together in Jeongguk's car and that they would come to Jeongguk's home on their own before six. 

Hoseok texted a 'can't wait to see the baby' in the group chat after Yoongi and Seokjin's texts and received an 'ikr' from Namjoon in return. 

Smiling and shaking his head at his friends, Jeongguk sent a thumbs-up emoji to them and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat before starting his engine. 

'Well, I can't wait to see him either,' he thought.