The Scandal | VSOO

thirty-one | lead role

Third Person POV

Taehyung was summoned yet again by Bang PD. After their meeting, a lot of thoughts have been occupying his mind.

He dropped onto the leather couch outside the conference room, head falling back, eyes closing as if exhaustion alone could drown it out. His fingers moved on instinct, slipping his AirPods in.

To anyone passing by, he looked asleep.

He wasn't.

The faintest sound leaked from his Apple AirPods—a soft, familiar voice he constantly missed in the last three years.

"...pick up your phone, idiot. I know you're ignoring me."

His breath stalled.

Jisoo.

Not the version of her now, the one everyone saw again, cold and distant.

This one was lighter. Warmer. Still his.

Taehyung's fingers curled slightly against his knee.

"Are you seriously not answering? Fine. When you see this, you owe me dinner."

A pause. Then a quiet laugh.

The next voicemail queued.

Taehyung's jaw tightened.

That was the one he never let play all the way through, the important missed calls from three years ago.

Footsteps approached, careless and familiar, and then—

"Yah." A bump to his shoulder.

Taehyung's eyes snapped open as Park Jimin dropped into the seat beside him, squinting.

"What are you listening to?"

Taehyung pulled one earbud out immediately, too quickly. "Nothing."

Jimin raised an eyebrow. "You? Listening to nothing?"

Taehyung didn't answer. He just slipped the earbuds back into their case, shutting it with a quiet click, as if sealing something fragile inside.

Jimin watched him for a moment, expression shifting. "You look like hell."

"Thanks." Just like that the conversation eded.

"Look..." Jimin sighed. "About yesterday, I'm sorry Rosé and I acted on our own. Ever since Jisoo came back, we've been... talking. About you two. Trying to figure out how to help fix what we broke."

Taehyung exhaled slowly. "Don't worry about it. I know you meant well. I wasn't offended." He paused. "But Jisoo might not feel the same."

A beat of silence passed before Taehyung spoke again, quieter this time.

"I was offered a role." Taehyung frowned.

Jimin leaned back. "And you're sulking about it?"

Taehyung hesitated, then said, "It's the drama that Jisoo will be starring in."

Jimin blinked. "...Oh."

Another pause.

Then, cautiously, "That's not a bad thing."

Taehyung let out a dry laugh. "No?"

"You get to work with her again."

"Yeah," Taehyung muttered. "That's exactly the problem."

Jimin studied him. "So what, you're going to turn it down?"

Taehyung hesitated. Then, quieter, honest in a way he rarely was.