Roses You Left For Me

31

"Hoseok!"

Taehyung looks up from his half-empty glass to see a man running in, beelining for Hoseok who seems to know the boy.

"Jimin?" The bartender asks.

"Has Jeongguk come in? Like at all?"

Jeongguk.

Surely not the same Jeongguk that Taehyung knows of.

"No, I said I'd call if I see him, Chim. Have you tried visiting?"

"Of course I have. So's Seokjin. Apparently, he answered Jin-hyung's call yesterday but since then he hasn't answered or read anyone's messages,"

"Maybe he's just busy," Hoseok suggests.

Jimin makes a loud noise of frustration and grips his hair. "You don't get it, Hoseok! I don't know what to do, do I just call an ambulance now or do I wait this shit out?! I'm going insane!"

"Ambulance? What-"

"Just forget it," Jimin spits as he turns on his heel.

"You're talking about my Jeongguk," Taehyung speaks up. Jimin freezes and turns, eyes searching.

"You," Jimin says slowly. "You're Taehyung?"

The dancer just nods.

"Have you heard from Jeongguk?"

"Not since three days ago, no," Taehyung says.

"What happened?" Jimin demands to know.

"We argued. The kid has some sort of fantasy in his head that we're together or something. Or that the feelings are mutual. He got really upset and ran out of here. I haven't heard from him since,"

"What, and you just let him go?!" Jimin screeches.

"What did you expect me to do? Run after the kid? I have my own shit to deal with, I can't be dealing with customers who fall in love with the wrong person. It happens more often than you think, to all the people who work here. It's not the first time and it certainly isn't the last. I warned Jeongguk multiple times not to get attached and he did,"

"I can't fucking believe this! He could be dead because of you!"

"ME ?! Honey, I'm a fucking prostitute. I do sex work, not relationships. Don't go pinning some guy's suicide on me, because I had no part in it. He came here. He paid me and apparently he fell in love with me. I had no fucking part in that,"

Jimin suddenly lunges at Taehyung but is blocked by a large bodyguard who stands in front of Taehyung. The dancer glares at Jimin as he's escorted out of the club, waiting until the guard returns before he leans against the bar, his chin in a hand.

"Do you think he's dead?" Hoseok asks quietly.

Taehyung shrugs. "Not my problem,"

"It is your problem,"

"Says who? Taehyung shoots back.

"I do. It's obvious that you've been way more generous to Jeongguk than you have ever been with anyone since Chul. Maybe you're the one who's delusional,"

"Don't tell me, this is some tragic love story. Hoseok, this isn't Pretty Woman. I haven't got a rich sugar daddy to buy me nice clothes and fuck me on a piano,"

"No, but you have Jeongguk,"

"Jeongguk isn't mine,"

"Do you want him to be?" Hoseok presses.

"I don't know, Hoseok, okay? I don't know. The kid's got a lot of shit going on. He puts his faith in me to make him feel better, but that's all there is. And besides- I promised myself I wouldn't date another customer again. Not after Chul,"

"Chul was an asshole," Hoseok points out.

"Yeah? And Jeongguk's delusional. He has an idea of 'us' in his head and really, it's the heartbreak making him this way. He hasn't got a clear head, so who knows what he'd say if he was well-minded?"