The truth untold

-eight-

BigHit Entertainment (Seoul) - March 2016

Sitting three feet across from Taehyung, Jimin carefully observed the boy, who was mindlessly doodling on his notepad. The members had gathered with their managers, the creativity team and Bang PD himself to begin preparations for their upcoming album, 'The Most Beautiful Moment In Life; Young Forever'. To Jimin's surprise, Taehyung was not paying attention to most of the things being said and he was afraid someone would call out his best friend on it. It wasn't just today; he would occasionally get these mood swings, ever since Chou Tzuyu's flag scandal. He knew something was up; Taehyung didn't tell him what it was, but Jimin was determined to find out today, since this was coming between Taehyung's work as well.

The meeting ended after a few minutes and, while the others busied themselves chatting or socialising, Jimin took the opportunity to sit beside Taehyung, who looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Taehyung-ah, let's go get something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," was the mono-toned reply.

"But I am, come on," Jimin insisted and pulled Taehyung up, and then continued to walk with him through the BigHit hallways to reach the vending machine.

"You've been weird these days," said Jimin.

Taehyung only shrugged, hands in his pockets. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, drop the crappy denials," the older boy chastised. "Ever since the incident with Tzuyu, you've been unpredictable. You'll be all smiling and yourself most times, but then you suddenly get these mood swings." He stopped Taehyung's walk by placing a hand on his shoulder. "You can count on me, you know right?" Taehyung only stared at his shoes. "Did Ji-Hyo say something that day? Is that why you're grumpy?"

Taehyung let out a defeated sigh. "She told me that I'm not good for Tzuyu's future." Before Jimin could retort, Taehyung quickly added, "Which I actually agree with. She's a minor and she's already damaged because of the whole flag incident. Any connection with me will just make her fall into another complication, and that's the last thing I want for her."

"But you guys aren't even dating," Jimin pointed out. "You are just friends."

"People automatically make assumptions, right. I can just look at someone and they'll make a story about me and that person," Taehyung muttered.

Jimin nodded in agreement. "How did Tzuyu handle the news?"

Taehyung bit his lip. "She doesn't know."

"What?!" Jimin exclaimed, eyes widening with disbelief. "So Tzuyu is under the assumption that you're probably ignoring her, right?" When Taehyung replied with a nod, Jimin couldn't believe this situation. "How could she do that? She should have informed Tzuyu as well. Now, it looks like you used her company until her scandal, and because of the scandal you don't want to hang out with her anymore. That's exactly what Tzuyu is going to think."

"Ji-Hyo told me she couldn't tell this to Tzuyu because Tzuyu wouldn't have listened to her," Taehyung mumbled.

"Bullshit," Jimin grunted. "Taehyung-ah, be honest with me, were you both in a relationship?"

The other boy shook his head.

"Did you like her, romantically?"

"I don't know," Taehyung answered with a shrug. "I just know that I connected with her. I never got the chance to understand what we could've become. She became important to me, just by first glance." He looked up at Jimin. "I don't know how to explain to you about what I feel for her."