SLEEPERS. | ✔️

1-17

Jungkook halted in his steps, turning on his heel to face the other. On his face was the wide smile that he always wore around, especially when with Taehyung. Hoseok couldn't think of how to divulge the information to him.

He was on the edge of exhausting every resource he had, when an idea popped into his mind- a reflective thought on what he'd heard. He needed to find out more about the person who Taehyung addressed as his Father. The only person who could even have a small inkling of what Taehyung's family was like would be his confidant, Jungkook. He was easier to find than Hoseok thought.

"So why did you call me here?" his eyes darted from the ceiling of the office kitchen to the grey fridge, observing his surroundings curiously, wondering. After all, Hoseok had caught him off guard- he was just about to go for lunch.

"I have to ask you something," Hoseok started, his voice hesitant. His colleague was so young, still so innocent, shielded by the idea that Taehyung was the one who would be his best friend, the one he could trust and the one that would protect him. Hoseok feared that because of that exact same trust and "loyalty code", he would have a hard time getting anything out of his colleague. If anything, he had to get straight to the point. Beating around the bush would get him absolutely nowhere.

"Do you know anything about Taehyung's father?"

He watched as Jungkook looked up from fiddling with the hems of his coat, a confused expression scrawled all over his face.

"Why do you ask?" he spoke, after a few seconds of hesitation. The smile stayed on his face, though the edges of his lips turned down a bit.

"Oh, nothing. I just heard him talking about his dad and stuff and wanted...some...context...?" his words formed a question as Hoseok struggled to sound coherent and casual, while he leaned against the kitchen counter in an attempt to act relaxed.

A questioning look crossed Jungkook's face, and for a solid second, the air was so tense that Hoseok thought he'd been exposed, it was the end, he would be seen through, his plot was over-

"Oh, his dad's, like, the owner of this place," Jungkook waved a gesturing hand around, "That's technically all I know about him, Tae doesn't like revealing a lot. But I don't think he's one to get himself into trouble..."

Hoseok resisted the urge to let go of the breath he had been holding before he combusted inwardly. He simply nodded his head slowly and started slinking backwards, giving his colleague a quick wave and a murmured excuse that he needed the bathroom before darting out of the office.

•

Namjoon had told Hoseok to meet him at the cafeteria at 6pm sharp, so he was there by 5:30, just sitting and sipping his cup of coffee, trying to mentally calm himself down. His fingers tapped against his clothed knee, the ticks getting back at it again. The night was so important that he'd forgotten about everything after that.

If Yoongi wasn't lying to him, and the CEO's Son, Kim Taehyung, had really killed four people and accused Yoongi of doing it, in some way, then the case would be so big it'd be impossible to contain inside the small wards of Moraka.

He could get fired. Namjoon could get fired for assisting. The CEO could get involved and the entire case would blow up so publicly that it'd be filed away in the archives of criminology for years, for students to take its files out and blow the dust away and study the case for their exams. It'd go down in history. The hospital, Hoseok had found, was rather well-known for its reliable East Wing (of course nobody talked about the West, but they would if the case went public) and that kind of exposure from its sister wing would be...colossal.

Hoseok was so deep in his thoughts that he never noticed that his mentor was already seated in the chair across him, hands around his own cup of steaming hot liquid.

Namjoon looked as if he was about to say something when Hoseok first snapped his head back up, but his mouth closed immediately.

He was thinking. About what to say.

"Are you...alright?"

Hoseok almost cackled.

"I'm fine."

"Are you...sure about this?"

He was sure. Too sure. So sure he'd lost everything in his mind that told him to doubt himself.

"Yeah. Sure."

___

hi! I'm here with some big news (tm)
This book is ending soon. I literally just finished the last chapter and i have dETACHMENT STRESS because it's been a hell of a ride writing this lmao
Oh and stream daydream and listen to Hope World thanks