Royal Ace Lounge

㉑Perfect

 
Taehyung traipsed along the street with Jimin, heading towards the Royal Ace Lounge.

They met up two hours earlier to chat about everything that had happened yesterday, and Jimin truly couldn’t believe he missed all this.

“I would have supported you right away if I were there,” Jimin snarled, stewing in a pool of fury by the others’ initial stance. “Of course it’s unfair. I can’t believe no one backed you up.”

“They did in the end.”

“Yeah, too fucking late. They’re cowards.”

A small sigh waved out of Taehyung as he stared at his slow steps. “They’re just not used to speaking their minds in front of the boss. I get it.”

Jimin found a fair amount of logic in his words, and a dreg of his frustration abated. “Maybe... They’ve been working for Jungkook much longer than us. Who knows what they’ve seen and been through?”

“Exactly.”

The last few minutes of their stroll were spent in comfortable silence, and they were soon entering into the warmth of their workplace. They nodded as a greeting to everyone they trod past and walked into the changing room, only to find a cluster of people beside the door.

With everything that had happened, Taehyung had completely forgotten it was Sunday, meaning the list would be updated. The remembrance didn’t affect him in the slightest, and he carried on his way further into the room.

Jimin clutched his forearm just in time to stop him. “You don’t want to check the list?”

“No. I don’t care about it.”

“Oh, Taehyung is here,” Siheon, one of Honsu’s friends, said with a sneer. “Congrats. You took Honsu’s spot, after all.”

“Siheon-ah. Stop,” Honsu said. He shuffled towards Taehyung and stood close to him, with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “What you said yesterday was cool. I don’t care about the list either anymore. I almost lost my job because of it. It made me break the rules. I realized it’s not worth it. I know almost everyone here thinks it’s unfair I kept my job. I want to prove to everyone that I deserve this second chance. That I can do better.”

As Taehyung peered at him with a sense of amazement, various comments from the other employees like, ‘Yeah, right,’ ‘Not a chance,’ ‘I don’t believe that even for a second,’ overflowed the room and stole his attention. “Come on, guys. At least he’s willing to try.”

“You’re too kind for your own good, Taehyung,” Soojin said as she sauntered past him.

Unaffected by everyone, Honsu reached out to Taehyung for a handshake. “Let’s make a fresh start.”

Taehyung locked their hands together with a nod. “Don’t listen to them. I’m glad if what happened truly helped you realize some things.”

Honsu’s mouth flinched, offering him a small, genuine smile for the very first time before he bundled off.

Jimin followed Taehyung further into the room to leave their things. “Do you really believe he changed that quickly?”

“No. But I believe he at least realized how much he values his job, and he won’t do anything to compromise it again. If he’ll stop being an ass is a different story.”

“Yeah,” Jimin sighed. “What about... him?”

Taehyung registered his friend’s vague question right away. “I don’t know. It always gets so complicated, and I’m tired of dealing with complicated things. So I’ll just let it go. For me it’s done.”