An August Wedding

Ch. 21 - Side Steps

You woke up in a cold sweat that night, reeling from a horrible nightmare that Jimin's business proposal was secretly a trap and the moment that you accepted, your parents and lawyers swooped down from the ceiling SWAT team style to declare that you had violated both your contracts and that you and Yoongi would be living in the streets. 

After stumbling your way down the stairs you grabbed a glass of water and tried to even out your breathing. It was just a dream.

Jimin would never try anything like that, even if he knew about the arrangement. He wasn't like that. And your parents weren't watching you 24/7 even if it felt like that sometimes.

You were safe.

You felt a cold hand touch your shoulder and you nearly jumped out of your skin. 

"It's just me," Yoongi said. "Didn't you hear me call you?"

"No. Sorry." 

"You okay?"

You took another sip of your water and nodded. "Have you been working all night?"

It was his turn to nod. 

You both settled down for a few minutes while you finished the glass of water. Neither of you talked, you just sat together mulling over your own thoughts. When you finished, you set the glass in the sink. Yoongi waited for you to head back upstairs. Instead, you surprised him yet again.

"Yoongi?" you said softly. "Would you...come back to bed with me?" 

He stared at you for a moment, seeming to weigh his options.

"Sure."

You slowly made your way back up the stairs, Yoongi following close behind. You settled down slowly, turning over repeatedly to try and get comfortable.

Eventually he got tired of this and pulled you into him, wrapping an arm around you in the process. His grip was stronger than you thought and you were forced to be still.

"If you keep moving like that, you won't go back to sleep," he muttered lowly.

Ever since the first night you had slept in the same bed together, you had kept it as part of your routine. It wasn't sexual or romantic really. Yoongi told himself that it was because sharing a bed with you was warmer than sleeping downstairs. And to his credit, it was. You told yourself that it was just another part of your relationship that you'd gotten used to like going in and leaving work with him everyday. In some ways, it probably was.

But when you muttered a soft "thank you" just before falling asleep, you both knew that you were lying. And you chose to ignore it yet again.

"Hoseok! You're supposed to be teaching me," you laughed.

He had somehow managed to lure you out of the waltz position and grasped both of your hands firmly in his. He was currently shaking your arms vigorously from side to side so your arms looked like noodles.

He beamed. "You're too tense, I'm trying to loosen you up." You eventually wrenched your hands from his grip and crossed your arms, effectively shielding them from his grasp.

"You're stalling."

This lesson had been going on for twenty minutes already and you'd barely gotten through ten steps in the correct position.

"Fine," he conceded. "I'm stalling. Because you're obviously distracted and you're not going to learn anything like that. So tell me what's bothering you."

"I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Because?"

"I've got a lot on my mind."

"And it's bad for your health to hold things in," Hoseok chided as he sat down on the floor and patted your knee. "Come on, let's share. The studio's empty, no one else is going to hear it."

"Fine." You sighed heavily and sat down on the floor. "I'm worried about the company."

"Why?"

"I got an offer to merge with a rival competitor. And I obviously can't agree but if I refuse, it could seem suspicious. Most of the investments that we put money in aren't going well, and some of the marketing campaigns that we greenlit aren't doing nearly as well as they should--"

"Breathe," your friend interrupted, placing his hands on your shoulders. "Every company goes through ups and downs. Yes, maybe they coincided with you and Yoongi coming back from your honeymoon. But that doesn't mean that your company is suffering. Yoongi has a handle on what he's doing, right?"

"For the most part."

"And so do the other employees that were around before he took over, right?" You nodded. "So try not to worry so much. You're going to put yourself in the hospital or something. I'm sure if there was a real issue, you'd know about it already."

"Thanks, Hoseok." You smiled at him. "You always know what to say."

"And yet you still never want to confide in me," he joked.

"Was there something that you wanted to tell me, while we're sharing?"

"Yes, actually. I wanted to tell you that there is no ballroom dancing at the charity event you're going to."

"What?"

He shrugged. "The Mins hate dancing. Usually if there is any, it's at the arts events that I'd be at. But this is a boring business event, so you won't have any there."

"And you were going to let me pay you anyway?"

"I haven't taught you anything, so why would I charge you? As far as I'm concerned, this was a fun hang out. We should do this more often."

You laughed. "You know, I'm starting to see how you and Yoongi became friends."

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you. Is everything okay with you two?"

"Yeah. I mean, it was. I haven't seen him lately. I think he and Taehyung were working on songs for that producer."

Hoseok frowned slightly. "I could have sworn he already submitted those."

"If that's the case, what's he been working on in his studio?"

"Beats me. But don't worry, I'm sure it's fine."

Meanwhile, Yoongi had already thrown his water bottle halfway across the room. He wasn't sure how long he'd been in his secret studio, and frankly he didn't care anymore. 

He went back and changed the mix three times already, nothing was sounding right. 

What was he supposed to do with this feedback?

He glanced at the short email from Lee again. Needs work. But he hadn't elaborated any more than that. So how was he supposed to fix it?

He was dully aware of the sound of his phone chiming nearby.

"Not now, trying to work," he grumbled to himself as he went back through the song again. This must be a test. He was missing something here. Something that needed to be corrected.

And he would stay up all night to fix it if need be.