In the afternoon, when the weather was at its hottest, Jimin lazily sprawled over his laboratory counter. The sunlight streaming in through the glass windows was obscured by the overlapping shadows of trees, so it fell in dappled and ever-swaying rays, not burning as fiercely as it would have.
But this didn't mean that it wasn't hot inside the lab. The old cooling unit could hardly keep up with the heavy load, and with the company's recent preachings about energy savings and emission reduction, the air conditioning couldn't be set to anything lower than 26 degrees. As a result, the temperature inside the lab would not be dropping until after the sun had set.
Being in such an environment put Jimin in no mood for work. The test tubes in front of him had gone untouched for a while, and the liquid inside had already mostly evaporated by now, the scent having long since dissipated.
Propping up his face with one hand, he slightly pulled open the drawer in front of him with the other. Inside was a letter; he reached out, and his fingers were only a few scant centimetres away from the corner of the envelope when the door of the laboratory was opened, forcing him to retract his hand, after which he closed the drawer and sat up straight.
The individual who opened the door and walked in was a male alpha. In thirty-degree weather, he still donned a suit, except he'd thrown on a white lab coat over his suit jacket when he entered the lab, the buttons of which were currently still unfastened.
The overwhelming smell of alpha pheromones followed in his wake. Jimin couldn't really say that they smelled nice, but they were exceedingly assertive.
When Jimin registered the scent of the man's pheromones, he grimaced in reflex. At the same time, he spotted a young omega at the counter next to him similarly grimacing.
With the tone of a gym teacher directing students on a playground, the alpha clasped his hands together and yelled, "Listen up!" He waited for the six employees in the lab to turn their attention towards him before continuing, "Manager Kim has invited the laboratory staff to dinner this evening. Everyone is going."
"Which Manager Kim?" Jimin asked automatically.
The alpha glanced at him but didn't answer his question, instead adding, "Don't rush home after work. Wait for my word."
Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant.
Jimin had only regained his senses at the end of his shift, which was when he realised that the Manager Kim who'd invited the entire laboratory staff to a meal was most likely Kim Seokjin's alpha son, Kim Taehyung.
Last month, Taehyung was officially appointed to the R&D department. As it hadn't been long since Jimin joined the company, he'd only met Taehyung once in the lab. The strongest impression he left Jimin with was how serious and cold an alpha he was-he seemed like someone who was difficult to get along with.
As a result, when Jimin sat down in the quiet private room of the Chinese restaurant, all he felt was awkwardness.
The private room contained a round table that sat ten people. Taehyung sat directly across from him; he wore a neatly buttoned suit, his short hair was slicked back, and his demeanour was dispassionately silent.
The majority of Jimin's colleagues were somewhat fearful of the man. They all fell silent after entering the room and taking their seats, with only Hongyu, the lab's alpha manager, keeping up a continuous stream of chatter.
Anyone with eyes could see that Jo Hongyu was trying to butter Taehyung up, but Taehyung barely responded to him, merely nodding his head every now and then, his gaze not on Hongyu at all.
The awkward atmosphere was partially lifted when their food was served; Taehyung beckoned everyone to eat and spoke a few encouraging words about work. Jimin's colleagues picked up their chopsticks and selected dishes for themselves, gradually beginning to converse while they ate.
Some time later, Hongyu instructed everyone to toast Taehyung.
Jimin, who had been eating with his head down, lifted his gaze to sneak a peek at Taehyung and found that the man was frowning slightly.
His colleagues rose to toast Taehyung, who coldly yet politely raised his glass and toasted them back. This went on for several rounds until he'd nearly drunk five to six glasses of wine. Jimin noticed the way his complexion remained the same throughout, but when he set down his glass, he loosened up the collar of his shirt.
Jimin was the only one who had yet to get up and toast Taehyung.
Hongyu kept darting Jimin's meaningful looks, but Jimin pretended not to notice.. He disliked Hongyu, just as Hongyu also disliked him; they didn't bother concealing this fact from one another.
"Jimin," Hongyu said plainly after a time. "Why don't you give a toast to Manager Kim?"
After giving Hongyu a look, he had no choice but to pick up his wine glass and rise from his seat. As he stepped away from his chair, Jimin accidentally bumped into the person sitting next to him, a young male omega who was small and cute in both personality and appearance. He also had a rather cute name, Yi Daelun .
The collision made Daelun tremble.
"Are you okay?" Jimin asked him.
Daelun nodded and wiped the sweat off his brow.
Jimin circled the table and walked up to Taehyung with his glass of wine. Lowering his head, he caught a glimpse of the prominent jut of Taehyung's Adam's apple and collarbones beneath his loosened collar. From this angle, he also took in Taehyung's high nose bridge, thin lips, and the sombre aloofness to his brows and the corners of his eyes.
Despite having no desire to flatter Taehyung, Jimin subconsciously bowed and politely said, "Manager Kim, allow me to toast you."
Taehyung angled his body to the side and lifted his glass to clink it with Jimin's.
The moment their glasses touched, Jimin's attention was drawn to the sudden burst of omega pheromones in the air. He instinctively turned his head to seek out the source of pheromones, which resulted in his glass missing Taehyung's entirely and hitting Taehyung's arm, half of its contents spilling out onto Taehyung's suit.
"Sorry." Jimin snapped back to his senses and quickly grabbed a clean tissue from the table to wipe away the wine stains.
At this point, however, no one in the private room was paying attention to this small incident. The surge of omega pheromones meant only one thing: an omega was in heat. Inside their private room, Jimin was the lone beta, with everyone else being either alphas or omegas.
The one sitting to Taehyung's left was also an alpha. While getting to his feet somewhat frenetically, the alpha happened to slam into Jimin's side, and Jimin was knocked over till his ass landed squarely on Taehyung's lap.
Jimin froze. A line of curses rose to his lips, but he choked it down immediately. The next thing he knew, he felt a pair of warm palms grabbing his waist, separated by the thin fabric of his T-shirt, and before he could react, his body was pushed away from Taehyung's.
"Sorry." As he stood up, Jimin apologised several times.
Taehyung, on the other hand, didn't even look at him. "What's going on?" he asked as he stood up.
Taehyung's tone remained nonchalant. If it weren't for their close proximity, Jimin might not have been able to hear the hint of a rasp in his voice.
What's going on? An omega has suddenly gone into heat at an inappropriate location, obviously!
Jimin, who had spent a significant amount of time in the lab with his colleagues, could identify that the pheromones belonged to Daelun. Daelun had been talking about marrying an alpha, which was why he didn't take suppressants. It just so happened that tonight's unexpected meal had disrupted his initial plans to spend some alone time with the alpha.
Since everyone was experienced adults, a situation as awkward as this had to end. Daelun was promptly sent away, while Hongyu used his remaining sanity to arrange for the only beta present, Jimin, to send Taehyung home before he himself turned tail and left.
Seeing that Taehyung was still seated, Jimin hesitated for a beat before approaching him and asking, "Manager Kim, do you need me to take you back?" Taehyung might not need to go home, but to his omega partner, he reasoned.
And yet Taehyung nodded, saying in a deep voice, "Thank you.
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On-Way Passage || ᴠᴍɪɴ
Fanfiction[COMPLETED] Park Jimin, a Beta, awoke after a car accident discovering that he couldn't remember anything from the last six years. He didn't remember being the top perfumer in the world, the death of his grandfather and, most importantly, he didn't...
