Royal Ace Lounge

⑧This Is So Unfair

 
Taehyung stood in front of the three-story building, viewing it with a persistent twinkle of anxiety in his eyes.

He knew if he walked through those doors, he would be fucked. Because his throat was so hoarse he could barely speak. Every time he swallowed, it felt like stones scraped his throat so hard it bled.

He exercised speaking earlier, and he sounded just as awful as his larynx felt. It was as if his vocal cords had been worn thin, unable to form a word without a scratchy quality enwrapping it. Jungkook told him to stay home if he didn’t feel well. But he felt amazing! It wasn’t like he was sick. His throat just was impossibly gruff.

Jungkook would understand. He wouldn’t send him home for something so trivial. Right? Right.

Taehyung was shaken out of his trance by his best friend’s appearance, who crushed him into his embrace.

“Hey, Tae. Tell me your voice sounds normal now.”

“No, not really.”

Jimin pulled back as a gasp tumbled out of him. “You sound worse than yesterday.”

“I feel great, though. I’m so ready to work.”

“Work? You’ll scare the customers off with that voice,” Jimin joked as he led the way inside. “Not to mention you can’t book a room with someone. You can’t possibly suck them off.”

“I’ll handle it,” Taehyung muttered, his discontent about the matter pressing on his shoulders and causing them to droop.

“Oh, hello!” Jimin chirped at the presence of the boss with the other four men who worked there chatting in the lounge.

Taehyung stuttered to an abrupt halt, not daring to raise his head. Out of all days, Jungkook chose this particular one to chill in the lounge with his friends? Well, fuck.

“Hello,” Namjoon said, and the rest parroted him except for Jungkook, who fastened his attention on Taehyung right away.

If that man loved something was to talk, and he seemed awfully quiet, refusing to even meet anyone’s gaze. Jungkook was shrewd enough to comprehend what his silence meant.

“Taehyung. My office.”

With no other choice, Taehyung trailed behind the boss with his head still ducked. He didn’t lift it even when he stood in front of him, as Jungkook sat on the couch.

“What did I tell you yesterday?”

Taehyung held onto his silence. Too embarrassed to vocalize anything — too terrified to have the boss telling him off about his disobedience again.

“Not answering me is worse.”

Taehyung’s chest dropped with a sonorous, raspy sigh. “Okay. My throat is hoarse. But I feel fine.”

Jungkook’s eyes enlarged for a moment at the gravelly voice that sounded like sandpaper against his ears. The standard disinterest carpeting his traits was distorted by a shred of severity as he nailed him to his spot with his eyes. “You came here sounding like that to do what? You can’t work.”

“I can. They won’t mind my voice. People have voices that sound like that. Some even find them hot. I promise I’m fine.”

Jungkook shook his head in a constant movement as he slipped his phone out of his pocket. He tapped a few things and tossed it beside him. “That’s why you shouldn’t have pressured yourself to take more than you could handle. Your stubbornness did no good to you this time, huh?”

Taehyung could think of nothing to retaliate. Jungkook was right, and he accepted defeat resignedly.

“I must say, I like how quiet you are. That’s a first,” Jungkook spewed with the slightest hints of mockery. “Sit.”