he paints with lies ❆ kookmin

15 • 열다섯

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(a/n); song works best where I put ❁❁❁ but if you wanna listen on repeat I won't stop you.
it's a slow burn chapter, and it's 3k words 🤪

❁ཻུ۪۪⸙͎.'◦• ⊱›────── February 1st 2020

The bell chimed as Jimin entered the small cafe, in which the smell of cinnamon and coffee was almost strong enough to taste. The warmth had the snowflakes immediately melting in his hair and on his coat, and his rigid muscles slowly loose their tension.

Looking around, Jimin quickly spotted the familiar mop of brown hair and camel coat by the window across the room. His focus seemed to linger on people passing by outside, most of whom were drowning in winter clothes as the snowstorm rocked their bodies.

A fond smile graced his lips as he walked over, passing by the small queuing crowd as he shrugged his coat off. He locked the rolled up newspaper under one arm and draped his winder coat over the other, smiling brighter as he stopped in front of the man.

''Morning," Jimin greeted, making Hoseok jump in his seat.

"Gosh! Jimin-ah," Hoseok exclaimed to the sound of Jimin's chiming laughter, a hand over his heart.

"Did you just arrive? Your cheeks are still slightly frostnipped," Jimin noted as he sat down, paper now on the table and coat over the chair.

"A few minutes ago, but it's really cold outside. No wonder you look like Rudolph," he chuckled, causing a pout to form on the other's lips. He decided not to comment on the slightly dark circles under Jimin's eyes though, waiting for Jimin to address it himself. If he wanted to tell him, he would. "I ordered for you, by the way."

"Chai latte?" Jimin asked as he unfolded the paper, smiling as Hoseok mumbled a "yeah".

Hoseok inspected him for a few minutes, chin resting on his hands. Jimin seemed completely focused on the task at hand─reading the newspaper. Or, perhaps skimming the newspaper was more accurate. It had become a daily task, or rather an obsession, ever since the case was closed.

"Don't you think it would be on the first page of every newspaper if it came out?" Jimin's brows furrowed at the question, and as he looked up at Hoseok, he was anxiously nibbling on his lower lip.

"You never know. It could be a small thing, if they don't have enough evidence?" It sounded more like a question as he said it. At the sight of Hoseok's strained smile, he sighed and looked outside the window. Hoseok said nothing─simply observing him silently.

"You're right," he confessed as he turned his attention back to Hoseok. "I'm just so worried. It can't go public, that he's a mythomaniac. Even though he's getting psychiatric treatment, and even if he were to completely work past it, no one would trust him. Imagine what it would be like whenever he had a deal to close over a meeting. They would probably question every word that that he speaks."

The exasperation was evident in Jimin's tone, and Hoseok tried to reassure him that not everyone would treat him like that. It warmed his heart that Jimin never put up too much of a guard around him, so he would be unable to read him. He wore his heart on his sleeve around those he trusted it with, trusted that they would never break it.

"Still, Hoseok, he wouldn't even be accepted as the successor. Do you know how hard he's worked, especially this week? His appa isn't in the country, so he's taken on his workload, apart from his own. His eomma already has her part of the company to take care of."

Hoseok looked down, away from Jimin's intense gaze, as he nodded. He understood why the boy was worried, but he seemed almost distraught. Was there reason to be, beyond this?