The Truth Untold | TaeJin

4. Smells like blood....

The table they sat at was too small for four grown men. Namjoon and Seokjin sat on one side of the table, their chairs a bit apart from each other, as they leaned forward each time to pour themselves a drink. On the other side, Yoongi sat with Hoseok, and surprisingly, the two were huddled close to each other like never before. Seokjin spared them a glance before he focused on his glass of soju. He was not drunk yet, but he could feel the drink already starting to mess with his brain.

The Friday evening had come too soon for Seokjin's liking, and he wasn't excited anymore to join his friends for a drinking night. His issues with his stalker had been getting on his nerves for the past few days, so Namjoon had to force Seokjin to join them at the diner near Hoseok's dance school, while much to their surprise, Hoseok took the responsibility to drag Yoongi out of his studio. As they sat quietly in that noisy diner with bottles of soju scattered on the table and smoke rising from their grill, Seokjin noticed that he actually felt safe among his friends, unlike what he had been feeling for the past few days.

A collective sigh was heard from their table, despite the noise at the bar, and they looked at each other puzzled.

"My mother called me this morning", Namjoon began, when he realized that no one was ready to initiate a conversation, "She wants me back in Seoul", he sighed heavily, "Took her sweet time explaining me for the hundredth time why I am a failure as a teacher and better suited to take care of my father's company"

Hoseok looked at his friend sympathetically, while Yoongi snorted in annoyance. He was not envious of Namjoon's affluent background, but he certainly felt sometimes that Namjoon was discarding something that might have been many people's dreams, or at least that Namjoon could be a bit more grateful for what most people would kill to have. But he made no judgement on Namjoon because Seokjin always spoke so highly of his colleague.

"I made Ha-yoon cry today", Yoongi shrugged, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, but the grimace on his face told a different story, "Well, I didn't mean to snap at her, but she is... she is just not made for music. She is tone-deaf and lacks interest. No matter how hard I try to teach her, she just... tsk... I don't know... maybe I should start looking for another student before I get fired"

Yoongi downed another glass of soju and stared ahead blankly. A few moments passed until he nudged Hoseok's arm.

"I failed another audition", Hoseok kept it short, quickly averting his gaze to the grill in front of him and aggressively flipping the meat on it, while Yoongi rubbed the younger's back comfortingly.

Seokjin looked at each of his friends' faces and pouted sadly. After listening to his friends, his miseries seemed less important to be complaining about. Seokjin had always felt that way because he had a habit of overthinking things and belittling his own feelings in order to provide comfort to others. He worried constantly that his concerns might be a burden to the people around him. So he preferred to keep his thoughts to himself most of the time. It was how he became quick friends with Yoongi, because the latter never tried to invade his privacy unless invited. However, things changed after Namjoon and Hoseok joined them. Hoseok was a loud and expressive person, while Namjoon was all about talking things out. It helped Seokjin and Yoongi in a way, but most of the time it just annoyed Yoongi.

Seokjin could feel Namjoon's gaze on him, which Yoongi noticed soon, and Hoseok also dropped the meat into the grill, paying attention to Seokjin unwillingly.