Chapter 22

1.6K 119 8
                                    

“Not that I’m not happy about your invitation, but it was a little out of the blue

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

“Not that I’m not happy about your invitation, but it was a little out of the blue.”
Jin slid my chair in behind me, reminding me about the first time we met, and he did the same thing back at the conference room in Telepathy. He took off his coat, draping it over the back of his seat before sitting down.
“I heard through the grapevine that you’ll be awfully busy this week with other engagements. I wanted to make sure I got a little bit of time with you while I could.”
“So, were you really in the area, or did you come all this way just for me?”
His smile was heart stopping. I noticed a few of the women seated around us staring, whispering to their tablemates about him. Not that I could blame them. Jin was an incredibly handsome man. The way he held himself suggested he knew it too. All he had to do was walk in the room to captivate it.
“I was in the area, but I will admit that I missed you.”
I reflected on that. Trying to get my fluttering heart under control while he placed our orders. The second our waiter was gone; his focus was back on me.
“You look better than the last time I saw you. Hopefully whatever you were struggling with has been resolved?”
“Yes. I’m sorry about that night.”
He took a drink of his water waving my apology off.
“Don’t apologize. There’s nothing you need to feel sorry about except maybe trying to jump out in front of my car.”
I laughed apologizing again for that.
“I really appreciated your help and for offering to talk to me about it. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to ask you something.”
“Sure.”
I let our waiter drop off our food, picking up my fork to push it around on my plate as I pondered how to start this conversation. Somehow, out of all of the men I had come to know recently, I trusted Jin to be honest with me.
“The… arrangement that you and the other guys have. Do you truly think its preferable to your own individual relationships?”
I worried that perhaps he would take offense to the question, but the look on his face was nothing but contemplation.
“I’m not sure how much Yoongi explained to you, but I can tell you that we’ve tried before. Most of us couldn’t maintain it though given the hours we’re away from home. I think Jungkook was the first person to suggest it and Yoongi and Taehyung were the first ones to actually have that kind of relationship. We all witnessed it work firsthand. Granted, Yoongi hasn’t ever really been the affectionate type when it came to anyone really, but what she didn’t get from Yoongi, she got from Tae and it was a mutually beneficial arrangement for everyone. Since then, most of us just found it a little bit easier to depend on one another in that aspect of our lives.”
“But there’s no jealousy? Wouldn’t some of you want someone for yourselves sometimes?”
Jin shrugged motioning that I should eat.  “
We’ve known each other almost as long as we’ve been alive, some of us even growing up together. We’re incredibly close. In college, a few of us would be interested in the same girl and the others would know about it. There wasn’t ever any hostility between us because of it. In fact, we were all scarily okay with the idea of dating the same person.” Jin chuckled at that. “Some of us even finding it a turn on. There’s a lot of things you’ll come to discover about us.”
He shot me a wink from across the table. I good-naturedly rolled my eyes at him, taking a bite of my meal for the first time.
“I guess I’m just trying to come to terms with everything. A part of me keeps saying it’s wrong for me to be so attracted and involved with so many men at one time.”
“The difference lies in your perspective of right and wrong. It only feels wrong to you because its not standardized. There’s nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to the way someone makes you feel. People fall in love with many people over their lifetime. Maybe not all at the same time, but they do. It’ll be a challenge. Not only for you just now learning to navigate it, but also us because you’re the first woman all of us have been drawn to.”
“The first?”
He nodded, mouth full of food. The way his cheeks puffed out made me want to coo at him. He was just so cute. He quickly swallowed before answering.
“Most of us may have been in three or even four-way relationships, but all seven of us have never been interested in the same woman. One of us hasn’t been in that type of relationship at all.”
I leaned closer to him. “Only one of you?”
The smirk curling the corner of his lips was alluring.
“Did you think all of us had done it before?”
“Not necessarily. But Yoongi had alluded to the fact that some of you hadn’t been with women like that. I just couldn’t figure out who. My first guess was wrong.”
“Who was your guess?”
“Namjoon.”
Jin’s laugh pierced the quiet restaurant. I might have been embarrassed by the sudden looks being cast our way if it wasn’t so damn infectious. My own smile appeared with a laugh bubbling out of me.
“If you knew that man for who he truly was, you’d understand how amusing that is.”
“Why? He seems very reserved and professional.”
“I’ll give it to him that he keeps it relatively well hidden.”
“Well, if it’s not Namjoon, then who is it?”
Jin seemed to be having fun with my guessing. Instead of answering me, he pushed his plate to the side to lay his chin in his hand that he had propped up on the tabletop.
“Who’s your next guess?”
I scoffed, turning back to my food.
“I would have said you, but somehow I feel like that’s gonna backfire on me too.”
“You’re not wrong. I have done it once or twice with Jungkook.”
I jerked my head up to look at him. The twinkle in his eyes confirming that he had just given away the identity of the man without explicitly saying so.
“Jimin!? No way.”
“Surprised?”
“Well, yeah. The man oozes charisma and sex appeal. He’s the last person I would have guessed to abstain from your group’s proclivities in favor of monogamy.”
“Like I said. You have much to learn.”
“May I ask why though?”
The waiter came by again to check on us. Jin indicated that we didn’t need anything else and that he’d like to pay. He waited until the man left to turn to me again.
“You’d have to ask him. I’m privy to a lot of information when it comes to them, but we all still have our secrets.”
The waiter came back with Jin’s card. We stood up, gathering our coats to walk back out to the cold environment. I followed slightly behind him as he opened the door for me. Little flakes of snow began to drop, the sky dark and grey above our heads. Another incoming storm it looked like. Jin looked otherworldly with the snow clinging to his hair and coat.
“Then what’s one of yours?” I asked stopping beside his car. Jin turned his head to look at me, one eyebrow raised. “A secret.”
He turned his body to face me. Looking down at me from such a short distance between us. He lifted a hand, brushing an errant strand of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail behind my ear.
“That as much as I pretend to be calm when I’m around you, I’m not. You could argue that I tried my best to sell you on the idea of a polygamous relationship back there because I’m hoping you’ll accept. I like you. Probably have since the moment I laid eyes on you. And I’m worried that you don’t feel the same way.”
It was in that second that I realized that I had more control in what happened between the eight of us than I originally thought. Even though they all laid their feelings out in the open in the hope of me accepting them, they were still giving me a choice. A choice as to whether what I had with some of them, I would give to the rest of them. After Jin's confession, I realized that it was a real fear for them. The possibility of being rejected. He was honest in his admission and vulnerable. And I was the only thing that could potentially break him or hold him together.
I cupped his hand that lingered on my cheek. “My secret is that I’m falling into this trap that I don’t want to escape from. It’s scary, but I’ve never wanted anything like I want you. All seven of you.”
“That’s a pretty heavy secret.” He murmured.
“It feels good to share it with someone other than myself.”
He smiled, pulling me bit closer to wrap me in a hug and laid a kiss on the top of my head.
“I’ll gladly take some of that weight off your shoulders when you need it.”

Boyfriend for Hire (BTS Ot7 x Reader)Where stories live. Discover now