hidden hearts » vkook (book 2)

19

Taehyung ignored the call for the hundreth time. 

He sighed and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Yoongi was rubbing small circles into his back. 

Taehyung had called Yoongi immediately after he left the IMG building, and somehow that led to him and Jimin coming over and Hoseok and Jin cancelling their plans. They all sat around Taehyung in their living room, alcohol already supplied on the table, Jin claiming "You never know."

His phone buzzed again. He clenched his fists as he peered at the caller ID. 

Maybe: Jungkook

Before Taehyung could decline it, Yoongi snatched the phone off the table and put it on speaker. "Jungkook, why the fuck do you keep calling?"

"Oh- Yoongi? Hey, how are you?" Jungkook must have realized that Yoongi asked him a question first and quickly added, "I just wanted to talk to Taehyung."

"He's a little busy having a mental breakdown, kid. Try back later."

"He is? Is he okay?" Jungkook's voice was hurried, as if he was actually concerned for Taehyung.

"Of course he's not okay," Yoongi rolled his eyes. Everyone just stared at him as he spoke. "He's being forced to date the ex that broke his heart and walked out on him. You can be a decent person and give him five minutes before you fucking bombard him, dude."

The phone was so silent, Taehyung had to peek through his hands to see if Jungkook had hung up. Finally, a small sigh came from the other end.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Jungkook sniffed and seemed to gather himself. "Tell Taehyung that I'm sorry, please? I didn't mean for this to happen. Yoongi, I-... I was just happy he came to the party. I didn't think it'd end up like this."

"We know," Yoongi looked at Taehyung and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Just give him a little time, okay?"

"Right. Okay," and after a few beats, "I'll talk to you later."

Yoongi said goodbye and hung up. The second he put the phone down, it rang again.

"I'm going to actually murder him," Yoongi lifted the phone but stopped short as he read the caller ID. "Oh, uh... It's Joshua."

Taehyung sat back on the couch and groaned, loud. He sunk deep into the cushion, praying that the fabric would swallow him up.

"Fuck him," Yoongi went to decline the call, but Jimin snatched it out of his hand.

"You may not like Joshua, but he's a good guy," Jimin gave a pointed look to Yoongi. Yoongi shrugged. "He deserves an explanation."

Taehyung sighed and nodded. Him and Joshua were sort of dating. They never had the exclusive talk, but they were dating, weren't they? They fucked occasionally and got breakfast the next morning. That's a relationship, right?

He reached forward and grabbed his phone, swiping the green button over and putting it on speaker. "Hey, Joshua."

"Taehyung," Joshua's voice was light and airy. "I was worried about you. You haven't responded to any of my texts."

"Yeah, it's been a rough morning," Taehyung attempted a laugh, but it just felt weird. "Sorry."

"I can imagine," Joshua cleared his throat. "Speaking of..."

"Listen, Joshua," Taehyung cringed. It was awkward to do this in front of a crowd, but he didn't move to get up and neither did they. "There's a lot you don't know."

"Are you sleeping with him?" 

Taehyung choked. "W-what?"

"Are you sleeping with Jungkook?"

"Of course not," Taehyung looked around at his friends. They all shrugged and looked away. Should he mention that he has slept with Jungkook? "But I do need to talk to you about him."

"What's going on, Tae? Last night was... weird."

Taehyung sighed. "Yeah, it was. Listen, not many people know this, but Jungkook and I used to date back when I was in New York years ago. It wasn't super serious, it was only a couple of months. We both somehow ended up out here in LA and now Hoseok is working with him. It's all very unexpected. But, last night... I got drunk. I was feeling a lot of... stuff, and Jungkook and I's teams decided it would be good publicity for us to fake date."

The other line was silent as Joshua took in his words. Taehyung chewed nervously on the skin around his thumb. Yoongi reached forward and batted his hand away. 

"Okay," Joshua finally said. Then, after another beat, "Do you still have feelings for him?"

"Absolutely not," Taehyung answered quickly. A little too quickly.

 "Okay," Joshua repeated. "I guess we'll figure this out."

"You're... okay with all of this?"

"It's not ideal but I've been in the business long enough to understand," Right. Joshua was an idol. Sometimes he forgot that. "They'll have you two date for a couple of weeks and then it'll be over. We can handle that."

Taehyung took in a deep breath. He looked around his friend group. Yoongi had leaned back in the couch and crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at the blank TV. Jimin was smiling softly at Tae from where he was perched on the arm of the sofa. Jin and Hoseok were just watching him, waiting.

"I'll give you a call later, okay?" Joshua said. They exchanged their goodbyes and Taehyung hung up. He set his phone back on the coffee table and they all stared at it, half expecting it to light up again. When it didn't after a minute, Yoongi finally spoke.

"Good luck, kid."

Taehyung put his head in his hands. 

He was going to need it.