Worlds Apart - Taekook - Book 2

Chapter 303 - Ignition

"I can't wait for you to speak." Tae says quietly, keeping his voice low again.

He was talking for the sake of talking... he knew he'd done wrong... he knew that Jungkook was angry... maybe not angry... that was a very strong emotion... but the dancer was pissed off... hurt, perhaps? All because Tae couldn't tell him about the business trip.

Taehyung hoped that they'd stay behind on Euphoria and visit what was usually their bedroom on board, especially since the bride and groom definitely weren't staying the night...

... that wasn't looking likely. The conversation they'd started when seated at the rear of the yacht had to be cut short when they'd realised the speeches were starting. Jungkook looked at him and said "To be continued." He wouldn't be wriggling out of it, instead he would have to own it and confess all.

Tae was having trouble focusing on Kyong's speech. He'd been impressed with Jara's, her complete honesty was both surprising and refreshing and it was quite a brave move to publicly reference the unhappiness she'd experienced at the hands of her Mother-in-law.

Every now and then, Kyong would raise his eyebrows or smirk with embarrassment whilst Jara told the guests something that shed him in a comedic, not so positive light. Those facial expressions reminded him of Jungkook, the man standing in front of him, drinking a glass of champagne presumably for Dutch courage. The annoying thing was that Jungkook didn't appear to be annoyed! Tae was the one who was annoyed... irritated with himself for not telling his husband sooner. When the trip first came up it was a fly by situation... flying in, holding disciplinaries, checking that termination of contracts was feasible, fly home, suffer jetlag. That was all that it was meant to be.

The office in New York had been having problems for a while and Taehyung thought he was able to handle it from Purple Aura. He had a trusted member of the team out in New York, (a mole, an insider) and the CEO had deployed some of his legal and security team to go to the States, too. They had to work out where the problems were stemming from, senior managers were working hard and under the cosh, Kim Taehyung took no prisoners when it came to business... HIS business.

The office in New York was losing money but it wasn't a simple investigation so now the CEO was having to fly out to go through the evidence and decide next steps in line with their policies... which could take weeks to complete.

Working hours at Purple Aura were spent in and out of meetings. A conveyor belt of department managers and team leaders. In between meetings he had meetings with Bo-Hyun, it was never ending and if he really wanted to, he could rely on the excuse that by the time he got home, he didn't want to talk about work... there was an element of truth in that but it was a sidestep if ever there was one.

He'd promised Jungkook that he wouldn't internalise things that were significant, so what had he done? Taehyung had convinced himself that a business trip wasn't THAT important... it was... it was important from a business perspective and if it hadn't been a big deal on a personal level, he'd have told his husband... either way he was accountable.

It was only when he'd talked himself into a spin that he'd confided in Hobi and Hobi told him exactly what he knew... talk to Jungkook.

The CEO had practised, started the conversation a hundred different ways in the shower, whilst cleaning his teeth, in the Gemera on his way to work, in the silence when a conference call ended...

'Kookie... there's a business trip...'

'Kookie... there's a problem in New York and I need...'

'Jungkook... I have to go to the US...'

Breaking the news to his husband like it was Jungkook that was going to struggle with it, when it was Taehyung with the problem... vocalising made it real and now it was a big deal, a secret big deal, which it wasn't intended to be.