The Pilot || MinJoon

Chapter 16

One week after the Palawan trip... 📅✈

Jin was convinced that something was going on with Namjoon. His friend has been strangely calm and quiet in the past few weeks. And it's been a while since he heard the younger express interest over hooking up with one of the flight attendants. That was definitely something new, but for Jin, it was a welcome development.

He has been friends with Namjoon since they were in college, and while he understood the reason why his friend kept fucking random girls for the heck of it, he still wanted to protect him from screwing up his life. 

He had to admit, Namjoon was doing quite well by cutting back on the hook ups. But still, Jin couldn't help but wonder what was the reason behind the sudden change in his friend's behavior. 

Could Namjoon be seeing somebody? No, that was impossible. Ever since he broke up with the woman who he still refers to as The GIrl Who Shall Not Be Named, dating ceased to be in Namjoon's vocabulary. 

Plus, he would know it for sure if that was the case. Maybe he found another hobby? The boy has a tendency to get deeply immersed in something once it sparks his interest

Take for instance his bonsai plants. Jin remembered that the first week Namjoon got into it, his friend practically bullied him into driving all the way to Busan to buy no less than 20 bonsai plants. Then week after week, he'd be on the hunt for new plants, and after shaping them, he'd keep his favorite ones, while the others he would give to elderly patients living in an Ilsan hospice.

Whoever it is, or whatever it is, he was determined to find out what was keeping Namjoon occupied once and for all. 

Jin entered the empty plane, half expecting to hear lewd sounds coming from the bathroom again. But there was none. He even knocked on the bathroom door just to make sure, but no one was there.

"That's weird," he muttered. 

"Hyung," a familiar voice called out. "Is that you? I'm right here in the cockpit."

"Wow, he's early," Jin muttered to himself. Stepping into the cockpit, he found his best friend in his seat, doing pre-flight checks and weather checks.

"Am I dreaming? Is this real life?" Jin exclaimed. "You're already here, doing pre-flight, and look, not a flight attendant in sight!"

Sticking his tongue out at his best friend, Namjoon retorted, "Of course I'm here. I know how to do my job."

Cuffing the younger on the head, Jin replied, "I know that you do, asshole. Bring me up to speed on the pre-flight checks, will you?"

Jin observed his friend's face carefully while Namjoon recited all the info that he gleaned from the weather report. The younger pilot looked relaxed, happy even, and his eyes had a sparkle in them that he hasn't seen in a very long time.

Jin's scrutiny wasn't lost on Namjoon though. Narrowing his eyes at the elder, Namjoon asked, "What hyung? Is there something on my face?"

"No," Jin carefully answered. "You seem...happy."

"Yeah I am," Namjoon replied. "Who wouldn't be happy? We're flying to Paris! I can't wait to drop by the Louvre again, and there's this exhibit in the Paris Museum of Modern Art that I really want to see."

Jin made a clicking sound with his tongue, not buying what his friend was saying.

"Uh-huh," said the elder. "Joon, you've been to the Louvre like, 27 times this year. You know that's not it."

"No, really!" Namjoon hurried on. "And there's this shop that I really want to check out for-"

"Save it Joon," Jin said in a mock-stern voice. "Something's up. Spill it."