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"Should I become a partner in your cafe, or open a rival one, or simply take over yours?"
Seokjin slides his elbow on the island counter, his cheek resting on his clenched fist, his eyes following Taehyung as he prepares the waiting orders.
Taehyung leaves the coffees he prepared in the serving counter and turns to Seokjin with a frown.
"Why would you do any of these?"
"I'm bored," Seokjin shrugs, "And I have money, ring a bell, dear?"
Taehyung grimaces as he rests his palms on the counter, his lips slightly curled, "You hate dealing with people for more than 10 minutes."
Seokjin blinks and glances around briefly, "You're right, plans are canceled."
Taehyung laughs and checks the screen where the orders are transmitted to him from the waiters' devices, and when he sees two new ones arrived, he quickly washes his hands, pulls the cloth he has slung over his shoulder and dries them.
After hanging the cloth back in place, he reaches for the cups, but his gaze immediately turns back when Seokjin calls out Hoseok's name.
Hoseok quickly greets both of them and climbs onto the bar chair next to Seokjin.
"Has anyone seen Jimin or talked, I don't know, texted?" Hoseok asks in a very unnatural way and the gazes turns to him, there's something in his voice.
"I talked to him on the way here this morning, Hyung," Taehyung says as he sends another coffee to the serving counter, "Why do you ask?"
"You didn't talk after that?"
"He has a job interview and we agreed I'd pick him up afterward," Taehyung checks his wrist watch, "I'll go and wait for him in about half an hour"
"Oh, I see."
Taehyung gestures for the first worker he sees to take his position and quickly removes the apron from his waist, folds it back into place.
He picks up his phone before moving to the other side of the counter, "Hyung, you're worrying me," he mutters as he unlocks it. His heart skips a beat as Jimin's name is listed one after the other in his missed calls.
"He had called me," he mumbles as he starts dialing Jimin's number, "I haven't checked my phone because we were going to meet anyway."
Hoseok waits for the answer from the phone without saying anything, but they get nothing.
A clear concern spreads across Taehyung's face as he lowers the phone from his ear, "He's not picking up?"
"Try again." Seokjin says.
And he does, but nothing changes.
Hoseok pauses for a moment, then his eyes flicker between the other two, "I wasn't going to tell you until I talked to him, but I guess I have to now."
"Hoseok, can you tell us what happened before we fucking shit our pants in worry?" Seokjin says impatiently as he leans forward.
Hoseok rolls his eyes at him, then leans back in his chair, his eyes seemingly avoiding Seokjin's and Taehyung's as he stands next to him.
"News spreads very quickly and openly in our industry, as you may know, and I recently heard that other studios were fighting to recruit an incredible dancer who had just returned to the city."
"Wait, is that dancer Jimin?" Seokjin interrupts, his fingers on his lips.
"I didn't know, Jimin never mentioned it and I wasn't interested in what was going on here because I hadn't made up my mind about New York yet," Hoseok raises his gaze, his brows slightly furrowed, "But I heard today that the schools and their sponsors prefer to be cautious because that dancer could return abroad at any time, so this time I was curious and checked it out.."
"And?" Seokjin says, waving his hands exaggeratedly in the air for him to continue, while Taehyung stands like a stone, waiting for the answer, questioning what he has heard.
"The person they're talking about is really Jimin but I have no idea where this abroad crap came from and spread."
Seokjin purses his lips and looks first at Taehyung and then at Hoseok, witnessing how many different ways concern and confusion can appear in two people.
"Doesn't that sound unreasonable? Why would he need to attend job interviews if he's just going to leave? Look, he's been to one even today."
"I want to know about it too, but I can't reach him."
"Have you asked Jungkook?" Taehyung asks in a flat voice. Even the slightest possibility of the rumors being true has frozen his heart, and he doesn't even try to hide it.
"No, I didn't want to worry anyone without knowin- Hey, Tae! Wait!"
Hoseok cuts himself off and jumps out of his chair to run after Taehyung, who's quickly heading for the door, but Seokjin's hand grasping his arm stops him.
"Let him go," Seokjin strokes his arm with his thumb as if to comfort him, "He needs to do now what he couldn't do in the past."
Hoseok swallows, understands immediately and deeply, then nods.
"Do you think what they're talking about could be real?"
Seokjin shrugs, "Even if it's not real, something is definitely wrong."
-
Taehyung didn't use the elevator this time to get to Jungkook and Jimin's apartment. It seemed as if he couldn't bear to see that the two men's reflection in that narrow space's mirror, their tongues clasped together while their hands were all over their bodies, just a few days ago.
After climbing the stairs in pairs and threes, he knocked on the door a few times, and when his fist was in the air again, the door opened wide.
"What the he- Hyung?"
Jungkook's frown disappeared when he saw him, surprise erasing his entire expression.
"Is Jimin home?"
"No, he hasn't come yet."
"Do you know where he is? I went to the place of job interview, he wasn't there, I kept waiting and waiting and no one showed up, Jungkook, where is he, I don't understand, I'm,"
Taehyung involuntarily puts a comma in his words with the hand on his arm, his mind full of questions waiting to be voiced. His eyes have already given in to tears.
"You're freaking out, yes, I've noticed," Jungkook takes him by the arm and leads him into the living room, as soon as they are seated on the sofa at the entrance, his hand slips off his arm and finds his hand, holding it tightly, "Calm down, Tae, what happened?"
"I can't reach him, Jungkook, I need to reach him."
"Please stop acting like crazy, he hasn't gone anywhere."
Taehyung's eyes light up, "Where is he then?"
"Can't you talk to him yourself when he comes back?"
"Jungkook."
"Ah, I hate you two," Jungkook grimaces and groans, then his voice flattens, completely flattens, "I suppose, he's with Jaeyoung."
