True Mates Book One: The Setlist

Chapter Ten: Winning the Lottery

*******Jimin's POV*******

"Hi," I said to the guy behind the counter. "Can I please have a venti cinnamon dolce latte with an extra pump of cinnamon?"

"Of course, sir," the guy said as he tapped in my order. "Anything else?"

"How about..." I looked at the glass display case next to me. I wouldn't normally get sweets this time of day, but one of them looked really good. "I'll take one of those cinnamon coffee cakes. They look good."

The guy nodded his head and told me my total, then I used my phone to scan the card that I already had in the Starbucks app to pay for my order. I turned to walk down to the end of the counter, to wait on my things, and saw the other six members staring at me like I had just grown two extra heads.

"What?" I said, pushing past them. "You guys are weird today."

"Wait, wait, wait," Tae said, grabbing my arm as I tried to squeeze past him. "You, Mr. I'd-rather-go-hungry-than-eat-anything-that-cinnamon-has-even-sat-next-to...you think that we're the ones being weird?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "So? Maybe my tastes have changed."

"Nobody's tastes change that much, that fast," Namjoon said.

"Exactly," Hobi added, cocking his head to the side to look me up and down as he scratched at his chin. "There's something different about you."

I rolled my eyes. "There's nothing different about me," I told him. "I'm the same Jimin that you've always known."

"If that was the case, then you'd still be beating off in the dorm bunk beds, when you think that everybody else is asleep, like you used to," Namjoon said with a laugh.

I leveled my gaze at him. "And you'd still be infecting every computer you even glance at with porn viruses."

He blinked at me, then held up his hands. "I'm out. Somebody else take a turn."

"Look," Yoongi said. "People's tastes don't just change like that. Something is up."

"Nothing is up, Hyung," I told him with a sigh.

"You're lying," he said flatly. "We all know it. We know you, Jimin. You might be our Alpha, but you're also like our little brother at the same time. You can't hide whatever this is from us for long, so just tell us."

I cocked my head to the side a little. "Nah...I don't think that I will." I picked up my drink and took a sip. "That's pretty good. Could maybe use a bit more cinnamon, though. Somebody remind me next time."

They all picked up their own orders and headed for two tables that were pushed together and therefore big enough for us all to sit at. All of them, that is, except for the youngest, who is staring right at me.

"You okay there, Kook?" I asked him, but he just kept staring at me.

He kind of had that wide-eyed 'I've just seen a ghost and I don't know what to do about it' look that everybody says he has when he's zoning out. I knew better, though. When he gets like this, he's observing everything around him. He picks up on stuff better than anybody I know, and right now, his scrutinizing gaze was making me a little uncomfortable.

"Seriously, JK," I said, pushing at his shoulder. "You're freaking me out here."

He didn't answer me, but he did grab my wrist and bring it to his nose, inhaling sharply, his eyes going even wider, which I didn't think was possible.