On-Way Passage || ᴠᴍɪɴ

Chapter 28

Jimin was seated in his office, a massive pile of data and documents atop his desk, including previous R&D reports and Hyungjin’s most recent market research.

Every now and then, he would think back to the previous night’s conversation with Taehyung and inevitably become sidetracked. Last night, the man remained silent after Jimin had answered his own question, regardless of what else he asked.

Jimin had no intention of putting Taehyung in a difficult position. He had crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back against the chair as he said, “If you still have feelings for him, go ahead and say it outright.”

In the end, Taehyung icily spat out, “I don’t have any feelings for him.”

Later that night, when the driver had parked the car in the parking garage, Taehyung opened the door, climbed out of the car, and walked away without looking back.

Jimin was baffled—his gut told him that Taehyung was angry, but couldn’t figure out what Taehyung had to be angry about.

Mind straying, Jimin snapped back to his senses and made himself focus on the paperwork before him.

Come noon, someone knocked on his office door, but they didn’t wait for him to respond before opening the door and sticking their head in.

“Jimin.” Yoongi grinned, his voice dripping with familiarity.

Jimin looked up at him. “Hi.”

Yoongi entered Jimin’s office, plopped down on the sofa, and asked, “You’re officially back to work?”

Jimin leaned back, his chair swivelling from side to side. “There’s nothing to do at home anyway.”

Yoongi laughed. “Dad still worries about you, he keeps complaining because you won’t come and stay home for a while.”

Jimin had a pen in his hand, at this time, he raised the pen to his lips and bit on the lid, inquiring, “Why does dad want me to go back?”

“Dad loves it when it’s lively,” said Yoongi. “When you guys first got married, he didn’t want you and hyung to move out.”

“Oh,” Jimin also laughed. “Your family seems to really like me.”

“It was you who saved Hyungjin,” Yoongi said, “of course our family likes you.”

Before Hyungjin’s Emotions line hit the market, their sales figures had already plunged to an all-time low. At the time, Kim Seokjin had still been in charge of the company, but Hyungjin had failed to launch a single successful perfume on the heels of their award-winning Summertime Snowfield. Perhaps Kim Seokjin had aged out of time, or perhaps his heart was no longer in it, but at the time, Hyungjin had truly been on the brink of a crisis.

So it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Jimin had saved Hyungjin.

Jimin knew all this. He believed that Yoongi was right—so, shouldn’t the Kim family be grateful to him? Why would someone drug him? Was the culprit really someone from the Kim family?

His gaze landed on Yoongi once more.

At present, Yoongi was in charge of theR&D team at the other lab, and they were also conducting research on pheromone perfumes. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t inaccurate to say that they were competitors. Plus, he and Taehyung were brothers; if Taehyung could take over Hyungjin, so could he. Therefore, if one were to say that Yoongi didn’t like Jimin, it would make perfect sense.

Jimin bit at the lid of his pen.

Yoongi’s skin was so fair that it was practically transparent. His pupils were jet-black, and as his eyes bore into Jimin, he slightly pursed his lips and asked, “Jimin, have you gotten used to living with Hyung?”