Ice-heart

Ch-27 Reality

Jungkook's pov

On Monday morning, I wake up to my alarm, a window full of sunshine, and a good morning text.

Kim Taehyung: Looking forward to our Monday meeting today. Wear something red?

I smile at the phone. My good mood lasts all the way through my shower, my breakfast, to my conversation with my sad little palm tree. "Cheer up," I tell him. "Life is good."

And when I walk into the office later-in my red shirt and tight black pant and black tie-it's with renewed confidence. I might not know how Taehyung and I will solve our professional problem, but I have a job I enjoy, a purpose, and a man I really like.

I open my laptop and get started on today's work. The coming week is packed, but then again, so are most weeks here. As I sort through Taehyung's calendar, my mind is already racing ahead, thinking about the different firms I could apply for. Only working for Kim & Ryu for a few weeks won't exactly look good, but at least I'll get a good reference.

What can I say as the reason for leaving? Creative differences?

An email lands in my inbox from Terri. The headline makes me pause.

Terri Richards: I think you should check the break room. I'm sorry, Jungkook.

That's all it says.

It's with nerves in my stomach that I walk down the long hallway and into the open landscape. The atmosphere is normally competitive, but today it feels downright tense. Ben from accounting gives me a little smile, but he's the only one.

Terri is sitting in the break room with a stack of papers in front of her.

"It has to be Kang-min," she tells me. "I'm sorry, Jungkook."

With shaking hands, I grab one of the papers, and the world drops out from beneath my feet.

It's a picture of Taehyung and me from the wedding. We're dancing, and he has his lips against my temple. My hands are around his neck. It's clearly been enlarged-we're in the background of someone's photo-but there we are, in all our pixelated glory.

Below is an attached copy of my application letter. My eyes burn as I scan through the familiar drunken words. You're not going to hire me, you old stooge, and let me list the reasons why. And below it all is a single sentence in all caps.

WHY DO YOU THINK HE WAS HIRED?

I sink into the seat opposite Terri and drop my head in my hands. I swallow, and swallow again, to keep tears at bay. Everything we've done this weekend suddenly feels cheap when exposed under these fluorescent office lights. My outfit that I'd so painstakingly picked out in that washed-out picture, his hands resting just slightly too low on my back. It looks bad. The whole thing looks just as bad-no, worse-than I ever feared.

"I'm over," I say.

Terri's eyes are sympathetic, her bob as perfectly cool as always. "I'm not one for kind lies. It is bad. I don't know who he's circulated these to outside the office, but I think it's time for damage control."

"Everyone's seen this?"

She gives a polite nod. "In the office? Yes, I think so." She looks down at her nails, and her voice hardens. "Kang-min hasn't come in today. I bet that if we spoke to HR, we'd find his resignation letter."

"This is so... petty. It's revenge. And all because I took his spot when we pitched?"

"Yes, but it's got to be more than that. He was an asshole every single day in this office, and he never felt he got the recognition he deserved. I think you got caught in the crossfires. And... I think he's mad at Mr. Kim. He idolized the man."