Body And Soul

49. Shady Transaction

Wedged under a bench, Yoongi looked towards the fountain that was a fixture at the center of the park. He was trying to not pay attention to the collage of chewed bubblegum that was above his head; his eyes instead focused on Taehyung's mother as she paced back and forth in front of the fountain. It was obvious that she was waiting for someone. He was hoping whoever this person was showed up soon.

As Yoongi continued to stay there and wait for something to happen, a pigeon cooed in the air and flew down to land on the pavement in front of his face.

'Beat it,' Yoongi thought.

The pigeon just cocked its head off to the side before it came closer. Yoongi half wondered if the idiotic bird was going to try to eat some of the cemented gum above him. Whatever the reason for the pigeon's forward progression, Yoongi wasn't having any of it. He reached out a paw and swatted at the pigeon, causing it to coo and fly off into the air.

As the pigeon flew off, it decided to take a dump right in front of him. Wonderful. Yoongi felt like he was going to throw up. He had to control his gag reflex as his eyes caught sight of a darkly dressed man walking towards Taehyung's mother, pausing when he was standing directly in front of her.

"Do you have my payment?" he asked. "You know my services don't come cheap."

"I forwarded it to you electronically," she said.

The man seemed to want to double check that as he dug out his cell phone and checked the screen. Even though the man was half turned from him, Yoongi swore he could see the man smirk.

"This must be really urgent considering the amount," said the man as he re-pocketed his phone.

"It is urgent," insisted Taehyung's mother. "I need to get a very important message across. Scare a certain someone into line."

"I will do as you say," he said, "I take it you want confirmation the same way as usual?"

"Yes, but I'm also sure I'll know."

'What in the world is going on?' thought Yoongi as he watched the darkly dressed man walk off.

Soon Taehyung's mother was left alone at the fountain once more. She was watching after the man as he left before digging out her phone again. She seemed to be looking through some notifications. Before Yoongi even realized it, Jimin rushed into the park out of seemingly nowhere. He looked slightly disheveled; one of his pants legs shoved up to his knee while the other was still pulled down. Yoongi saw that Jimin's gaze was sweeping through the park and that he wasn't really paying attention as Taehyung's mother walked over to him.

"Jimin?"

Jimin turned to face her with surprise painted on his face.

"Oh! Ms. Kim! I wasn't expecting to run into you!"

"I wasn't expecting to run into you either," she replied as she looked at Jimin. "What are you doing here?"

"Just...taking in the fresh air," said Jimin with a smile.

As he stood in front of Taehyung's mother, he looked past her shoulder to see Yoongi curled up under the bench looking at him. Jimin's eyes widened but he quickly played it off so that it wouldn't be noticeable.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go," said Jimin.

Taehyung's mother wasn't bothered by Jimin's odd behavior, merely shrugging her shoulders and walking off on him. Jimin turned to watch her leave, half chuckling when he saw Hobi almost run headlong into her on his mad dash into the park after having managed to park the car. He muttered a quick 'sorry' when she looked up from her phone to glare at him. He was soon standing where Jimin had been as Jimin walked over to the bench Yoongi was still under. Jimin bent down, reaching out his hands to grab him. He was thankful that Yoongi didn't try to hiss and scratch at him as he was picked up.