The Pianist | yoonseok

4. Misfortune

Yoongi was overjoyed for a grand total of thirty seconds.

He was about to take a right when he noticed Neem standing there with an expression of shock on her face. She'd noticed him a split second earlier and her mouth was already forming his name. She called out to him and Yoongi cycled toward her, stopping a few feet away.

"What's wrong Neem?" Yoongi asked because something was definitely wrong. Neem looked like she'd just swallowed something too sour.

"Yoongi do you know who that was?" she hadn't raised her voice or anything but something about the intensity of the way she spoke made Yoongi feel uneasy.

"No Neem I don't," 

"Yoongi you just spoke to the heir," 

"the- what?" Yoongi was having trouble processing what she was trying to say.

"the heir to Jung Hotels, Mr.Jung's eldest son,"

Yoongi felt the pulsing of blood in his ears. He suddenly felt like he was going to be sick, his stomach was plummeting inside him as if in free fall.

Neem had nothing else to say to him besides reprimanding him for his manners. Yoongi heard himself apologize. He heard himself tell her he didn't know. A moment later he was cycling again.

The grand gates of the hotel swept past him in a blur. It was only when Yoongi was at least a few minutes away from the hotel that he truly grasped the magnitude of his mistake.

What the fuck had he done.

He'd laughed with the man who was his highest employer. He'd laughed with him as if an opportunity had not just sought him out. He'd cycled away as if he hadn't just thrown away a golden chance at a better future. That man would've probably concluded he was some lunatic.

He felt tears of frustration sting his eyes.

Somewhere far away, the rational part of him reasoned that he hadn't known the man at all and yet...and yet ... he couldn't forgive himself.

A vast chasm of self-hatred loomed in front of him and Yoongi fell into it headlong, brushing aside his tears, cursing his luck.

By the time Yoongi got home, the few tears that had slipped away from him had long since dried. He'd stopped feeling mournful, now he just felt miserable and withdrawn from reality. He felt awful from a distance within himself. This he could handle, this feeling of constantly losing in life he was familiar with. He closed his eyes, fished his keys out of his pockets, and opened them again.

He inhaled deeply and exhaled after a long moment. Whatever he was suffering as a result of his screwing up, Taehyung shouldn't have to see. Taehyung was all he had left. Taehyung, and music, kept Yoongi sane and tethered to reality. He knew that even if he lost everything but them, he'd still have hope and purpose. 

At the end of the day, that's all Yoongi needed.

He pushed open the door.

Taehyung looked up from the couch and smiled. Yoongi tilted his head slightly, noting the reddish tint on his brother's cheeks.

"Who were you talking to ?" he asked, nodding at the phone in Taehyung's hands.

Taehyung bit his lower lip, his ears had gone a deep pink color and his eyes twinkled dangerously.

"go on what is it," Yoongi urged, curiosity getting the better of him.

"I've got a date tomorrow," Taehyung admitted with dramatic finality. 

Yoongi raised his brows, "with whom I wonder,"

"There was this really nice guy I met today, when I was you know, working at the bakery,"

Taehyung refused to go to university if it meant Yoongi would be the only one slogging to provide for everything. Eventually he managed to convince Yoongi into letting him have one part-time job. It was a decent job and it paid pretty decently too, so Yoongi let Taehyung keep it.

Yoongi nodded now as Taehyung grinned at him.

"so he's a complete stranger," Yoongi pointed out.

"What? No- I mean..not really, he asked me out today at the bakery but he's been texting me a lot since then," Taehyung insisted.

"Okay, what does he do for a living?" Yoongi asked.

Taehyung pouted. "I don't know that but hyung just think of it as a blind date...please?" 

Yoongi relented,  "alright enjoy yourself but be careful,"

Taehyung jumped up to hug Yoongi, who in between getting nearly squished to death managed: "I'll pick you up when it's over,"

Taehyung nodded energetically before sighing.

"what's wrong?" Yoongi asked concern riding his words.

"oh it's nothing," Taehyung waved him off, " I have an assignment due tomorrow and I'm barely halfway through it...I'll mostly be staying up tonight for a bit," then taking one look at Yoongi he added, " You should go to bed though, you look exhausted,"

Yoongi nodded, he needed to sleep and he knew it. He bid Taehyung good night before going to get himself ready for bed, desperate as he was to lose himself in sleep.

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shortest chapter so far but the next one will be a lot longer :))

~Avi <3