Red

Serendipity

The smallest hand on the clock on the wall walked and the drinker dripped, the volume was loud as a jackhammer in his ears. Jungkook clicked the mouse a few times and closed the lid of the notebook, he took a deep breath and glanced at the clock on the wall, he could hardly believe it was so late already, the day could have twice as many hours and even then it wouldn't be enough to do all the necessary work. But he decided to end that day right there.

after four very stressful meetings, only two of the customers had enough brains to notice that he was doing his best and offering the best opportunity of all companies. He picked up his coat from the leather chair, put it on and messed up his hair a little to release the stress of the long day.

Then he felt something in his pocket vibrating, it was his cell phone. He picked it up and saw that there was a new message. It was an invitation to a happy hour, Jungkook was not in his peak of mood, besides being somewhat tired, so he decided to reject the invitation, even though he had so little time to spend with his friends.

Jungkook got in his car, started the engine and stepped on the pedal. Around him the city was alive with life, lights, car horns and tall buildings that wanted to touch the sky. There were a million possibilities, after all he was the owner of many businesses, including restaurants, hotels and clubs around the city.

the traffic was horrible at any time in that city, so even if it was late, he was stuck in traffic and spent several moments with his arm resting on the window glass. the only thing that made it a little more bearable was the music that played inside the car at the last volume and prevented him from being alone in his own mind.

he arrived at the building and soon a chauffeur approached and opened the door for him, Jungkook thanked him and entered the elevator. stepping on the floor where he lived, he loosened his tie and sighed. sometimes it felt more like a leash that everyone pulled from side to side as they pleased depending on their wishes.

which was true at one point, since business was not always as clean as he would have liked. sometimes it was necessary to play under the table, at first, he really wanted to clean it all up, but to clean it was necessary to get dirty too. and when he least noticed he was covered up to the neck in all of it.

he threw himself into the chair. it was a very old one, although his father preferred the term “classic”, made of Italian brown leather and well maintained. his father's favorite, it still smelled like the english cigarette he smoked. Jungkook didn't know why he still kept that thing, he didn't like it, but the chair was still there, firm and strong, a constant reminder of his father.

Perhaps that was why Jungkook was not very fond of the furniture, the memory of his father was not one of the sweetest in his past. he too did not have many memories; his father spent more time with work than with his family. Something that Jungkook was willing not to follow, he told himself that when he had a family, he would spend a lot of time with them.

The experience with an absent father had been enough to convince him of this. His father had made a reign of goods during his life, working hard, investing and when he died everything was left to Jungkook and his older brother. His father was successful at work, but he did not do so in his private life and it was all his own fault.

 His mother wanted nothing material from his father, they did not marry for love, it was one of those arranged marriages, his father was smart and profiteer when he joined a wealthy family and increased his wealth, but that only dragged his mother back to a life she was trying to escape from.

 his brother took care of stuff far from the city, so Jungkook had to take care of everything there, business, family, everything.

He grew up watching his mother fall into sadness in an unhappy marriage, he and his brother being raised by nannies and if there was one thing he was sure of in his life it was that he didn't want something like that for himself, but in his position, it was difficult to even make real friends, love was not a tangible option. he was used to people approaching him with ulterior motives, for which Jungkook had no patience and quickly cut them off at the root.

He would have preferred to follow his mother's footsteps. After his father's death, his mother moved from the large, useless mansion to a cozier house facing the sea, where she could watch the sun rise every day. In fact, his mother was a simple person and his father never really saw the beauty of a simple love.

Jungkook also left the mansion behind, he didn't know what to do with that being the only resident there. in his opinion there was a lot of trinkets there, a lot of sculptures, tapestries, pictures and chandeliers. Jungkook took a few that he liked best and donated the rest to museums and auctions. he thought it would be more useful somewhere else.

He had his eyes closed, his body relaxing, breath deepening, sleep coming. Jungkook was on the edge of the sleep cliff when the device in his pocket started to vibrate again. with some annoyance he answered the call.

"Good evening sir, sorry to bother you, but it is urgent" said the aide

"What is it, Namjoon?" he asked

“We had a problem at one of the clubs in Itaewon” said Namjoon

Jungkook sat up and pressed the temple, already feeling a headache coming on horseback. Problems were bad, he didn't like them and tried to avoid them.

"Okay, what happened?" Jungkook said closing his eyes and trying to focus

“Look, I really didn't want to bother you at this hour and I was trying to solve it myself, but I thought it was important that you knew” said Namjoon “at the club, one of the girls got sick and passed out and now the media is accusing us of exploiting employees "

"What do you mean she felt sick?" said Jungkook a little too loudly "and how did the media know this before me?"

"I don't know, what matters is that she got sick" said Namjoon "And you know how things work, the media has ears everywhere"

Jungkook grunted in frustration, his hand on his forehead.

"She was taken to the hospital just now" said the aide

"Right, I'm going too" said Jungkook

He stood up, taking the suit and tie, putting them in mechanized movements. the streets were a little emptier, the people who would be there were sleeping. Jungkook arrived at the hospital, but had to stop a little far away, as there were a lot of people gathered at the entrance of the place.

he could see security guards dressed in black from head to toe, wearing sunglasses and headphones barring people from passing and pushing them back. the reporters were a mass of people screaming and trying to overlap each other, pushing and pointing the microphones and cameras to every little point inside the hospital they could get. The night seemed to be turned into day as so many flashes were fired.

some curious ones were there too, standing a little farther away, but still prowling the area

Jungkook thought he should have changed and dressed in clothes more casual, maybe a mask to hide his face. But he raised his head and marched towards them, as soon as they recognized him, they turned their attention to him. security guards ran to form a protective cordon around him, but it was not very effective, Jungkook was pushed by the mass, advancing slowly for what seemed like a long time.

He took a deep breath when he got into the hospital stumbling, while reporters shouted questions at him and accused him of barbarities.

he stopped at the counter, even though he was who he was, he could not enter as he pleases. He said his name and the bored secretary raised an eyebrow, momentarily looking impressed by him, trying to bite her lower lip in a sexy expression, which came out more like a grimace.

Jungkook pasted the sticker with his name on his chest and went to the elevator. The stripper was on an almost empty floor. The dress shoes he wore were the only noise there.

He went to the bedroom door and turned the handle. The air conditioning inside the room was very strong, in a chair near the entrance there were her clothes, they were very shining ones and they seemed too small for an adult.

Jungkook approached the bed and he got shocked. he had been told that it was a girl who had been hurt and the person really had fine and delicate features. The hair was short, the nose was small, and the lips were full. But he soon realized that it was not a girl, but a boy. He looked very young, as much as Jungkook himself. he thought he might be in the wrong room, but after checking, he saw that he was in the right room.

Jungkook was confused.

the boy was sleeping, there were stitches on his forehead. He wore hospital gown and a blanket was up to his shoulders

Then the door opened, and two people entered, Jungkook quickly put his index finger over his lips and they were both silent in a second. They were his aide and his lawyer. Jungkook went to them and pushed them out, closing the door carefully.

Namjoon was a man three years older than Jungkook, had platinum hair and wore it brushed back, an elegant hairstyle. Jungkook had chosen him because he thought he was very smart, despite his poor motor coordination which resulted in a mountain of broken things. But over the years he got used to it and the two became good friends.

About the lawyer, Jungkook just kept him around for convenience. It wasn't exactly his lawyer; he was the family's lawyer.

The lawyer handed Jungkook a stack of papers.

"What is this?" asked Jungkook

"This is the plan" said Namjoon

the expression on Jungkook's face was pure confusion

"We have a proposal to offer for her" said Namjoon

"He" said Jungkook

"what?"

"it's him. it's a boy”

Namjoon's jaw dropped

"A boy? Oh my god” said Namjoon “Anyway we have the perfect proposal for him and so he will not be able to deny it, it will clean the image of both sides and both will benefit from the agreement "

Namjoon told him about the deal and Jungkook could have sworn he really wanted an aspirin at that moment.

"I think you better talk to him" said Namjoon

Jungkook wanted to deny it, but he knew it would be the best thing to do, so he just nodded.

Jimin opened his eyes and was instantly hit by a flash, he quickly covered his eyes with the back of his hand. After gently rubbing his eyes he tried to look around, a habit internalized strongly after many times he woke up in places he did not remember going to sleep, sometimes suffering from a hangover and sometimes just in his underwear, sometimes even worse than that.

He was either in heaven or heavily in trouble. Did he go home with a client and didn’t remember? well no, otherwise he wouldn't be sleeping there alone. the client would have kicked his ass out of the house after payment, or worse, wouldn’t have paid and kicked him out of the house, not exactly in that order.

"Okay," he thought to himself, slowly getting up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Said someone behind him, making him scream and feel like he was Interpol's wanted number one.

Jimin looked at where the voice came from, he was taller man him, black hair parted charmingly in half. Big, round eyes,. He was wearing dress clothes, a pair of small earrings and was sitting in the armchair by the window.

"I'm leaving" said jimin taking his clothes off the chair

"You should sit down, we have a lot to talk about" said Jungkook "besides you wouldn't go very far, it's full of guards outside"

Jimin didn't care, he started walking towards the door, but something that was on TV caught his attention. It was the morning news, the anchor was talking behind a table, a video window was opened besides him.

 The video showed images that made Jimin's eyes go wide, the video showed images of himself being carried bridal style out of the club where he worked and Jimin felt extremely embarrassed that all viewers were seeing him in the clothes he worked, which were not exactly the most well behaved ones he had in his closet.

“Now we are in front of the club belonging to the Jeon group, where an accident happened resulting in injured people. After the news spread on social media, protesters came to the club to ask for its closure, alleging exploitation of workers, among others. Back to the studio” said the reporter

Jimin had to sit down, the world was spinning around him

“So we can believe that the director of the Jeon group must be very busy now with so many problems that this has caused. it is claimed that the place is poorly ventilated, has no structure for all employees and they suffer mistreatment and abuse, among others” There was a photo of Jungkook next to the video and Jimin’s eyes went between the photo and the person behind him, incredulous.

"that’s why you can't leave" said Jungkook taking the remote and quickly turning off the television.

Jimin looked back, it wasn't the first time he was in trouble, but the sensation, although not new, was always a hindrance. Jimin looked back and a corner of his mouth twitched down, he put his hand around his neck and squeezed it tight, feeling the cortisol filling his body.

"Tell me you are not the CEO, please" said Jimin

“Okay, if you don't want me to say it, I won't say it” said Jungkook

Jimin closed his eyes and grunted, throwing his head back

"then this is how I ended up here" He said sighing "I shouldn't have pole danced yesterday"

"So why did you do it?" asked Jungkook

"I have bills to pay" said jimin glaring at Jungkook, how come he was asking why someone works?

“Look, this situation is causing problems for both of us, so here I have the solution” said Jungkook placing the folder in front of jimin “take it or leave it”

jimin took the papers and started to read, his eyes widened, and he looked at the other as if he were totally crazy, which jimin really believed he was. and the other was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, his face totally relaxed, his expression calm. Jimin wanted to run away from that guy, only psychopaths were that calm.

“This is crazy” said jimin

“Like I said is take it or leave it” repeated Jungkook

“I can't let go of this or I’ll have to pay three million won and I don't have that money” said jimin with great regret “and you know that, I suppose”

Jungkook shrugged and jimin rolled his eyes. jimin took a deep breath as he read that if he signed that contract, he would receive five million won on the spot. it was very tempting, besides the bills, he still sent some of the money home in Busan to help his family and also tried to save some for the future whenever he could. if he signed that, those worries could evaporate and jimin would never miss them.

“So, what will it be? Would you do me the honor of marrying me?” said Jungkook sarcastically