Young Money - Jikook

D-3: rehearsal

Jungkook woke up with a bitter taste on his tongue and noticed that he still wore yesterday's outfit, which left his shirt unattractively wrinkled now. Yesterday evening came back to his mind. He had cried into Jimin's shirt until he had fallen asleep. How immature.

Stopping his alarm, he stood up and stumbled into the bathroom to get ready for work.

When he came down the stairs, he met the whole family sitting on the kitchen table. The Parks and the Jeons chatting while eating. Startled he stopped in the doorframe.

"Jungkook," his mother noticed him, "come sit down with us."

"What's going on here?"

"You already forgot about the rehearsal?" Maei asked, upset.

"Oh...," was everything he got out.

"I already cancelled work," his father informed him.

He nodded and went back up to his room. If he could not go to work (something that occurred much too often lately), he at least wanted to check on his stocks and shares. When he started his computer, someone opened the door.

"Why did you leave?" he heard the concerned voice of his father and turned around.

"I thought, I should at least have an eye on my shares," he explained tired.

Appreciating his doing, his father nodded and left again. Jungkook turned back to the screen.

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They sat in the first row and listened to Mr. Bang's instructions. Fortunately, the big man had a license to wed people, so they were spared from finding a registrar, and right now he explained the procedure while a dozen people whirled around the room to decorate. Jungkook spaced out after some minutes. His mind was occupied by other things such as his feelings for Jimin.

"No, my dear," Mr. Bang paused his speech to talk to a girl of the preparation team, "this should be placed in the back, not in the front." Then he continued like nothing had happened.

When he finished his monologue, he asked everyone to take their places to walk through the whole ceremony once. For Jungkook and his mother as well as the Parks this meant to stay seated and just watch.

"Where are the witnesses?" Mr. Bang's voice echoed through the room.

"On their way!" A soft melodious voice answered, and a handsome man entered the place.

"Taemin!" Jimin called out and welcomed the newcomer. "To those of you who don't know him. This is my childhood friend Taemin. He'll be my best man."

Taemin bowed politely. So the graffiti artist would be the best man, Jungkook thought. He was much more attractive than he recalled. Well, time went on.

Maei's bridesmaid was already present, so they could start the rehearsal.

When his sister and father reached the podium, Jungkook snapped back to reality. He watched Mr. Bang explaining the ceremonial act and flinched when they pretended to put on the rings. Nervously, he played with the silver ring on his pinkie. This wedding became kind of a mood killer, and from the looks of the about-to-get-married couple he could tell they did not feel any better.

When the rehearsal was done, Mr. Bang wanted to discuss some trivial things about the decoration. After the ceremony, the podium would be transformed into the stage for the orchestra and so on...

Jungkook was glad when he finally could go home. He would like to go to work, but his father had excused him at his company, and going to work when his father did not would not only let him appear in a bad light but also his father. The brother who was not interested in his sister's wedding... It would only cause trouble.

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Jungkook had spent the day with doing fragments of his usual work from his 'home office' and finishing 'To the Lighthouse'. Now he sat on his bed, pajamas on, and flipped through the pages of his economy dictionary. Jimin had not shown up when he had come home, and Jungkook did not feel like seeing anyone anyway.

Maybe he was torturing himself intentionally. He punished himself for not holding back and giving in so easily. He had known what would happen if he allowed himself to get close to his future brother-in-law, he had known damn well. How could someone be so stupid?

The click of his door set an end to his rotating thoughts.

"Maei?" He glimpsed at his watch. Ten in the evening. What was she doing here - and why was she crying?

"Maei! What's wrong?"

Immediately he sat up straight and pulled her into a hug when she crawled under his blanket. Gently he patted her head. The last time she came to visit him in bed was when they had been kids and she had been scared of the thunderstorm. That also had been the last time he had seen her crying. She must feel really bad if she came to him like this.

Uncontrollable sobs shook her small figure, so he pulled her closer and put the blanket over them. Soothingly his hand drew circles on her small back. So she was not as coldblooded as he had thought. The wedding was eating at her, too. Poor Maei. The silver on his finger caught his attention. This wedding was messed-up. With every passing day it became more of a tragedy.

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