Bargain

—Less than ten hours ago—

Your first meeting with the cousins from the Kim family may have been quite brief, but there was something about that first encounter that made everything so memorable.

For many years, you have taken pride in your ability to read a person's character even from the very first meeting. Yet, during the one hour you sat with Yoongi in his private meeting with the Kims, you couldn't get a single read from these men. It was hard to understand their true intentions, when they masked them so well as they formally spoke with your husband with full of respect.

While the three gentlemen had acted friendly with your husband, showing a familiarity that made you wonder if there was a history behind their relationship in the past that you weren't aware of, Yoongi had mostly responded to them with a cold and closed-off expression. He also seemed tense, which only added to the uneasiness you felt deep inside as you watched these men take over the discussion they were having with Yoongi.

Warning bells kept ringing in your head that you immediately believed that these respectable men might have been nothing but trouble. Especially with the way they kept pushing Yoongi to reconsider his decision about the business proposal they had been sending him for the past few weeks.

"Come on, Yoongi. Try to reconsider the benefit. You know that we can both gain something out of this deal," you heard Kim Namjoon say to Yoongi earlier that day, after the cousins were done presenting the business plan that they had come up with.

The presentation was soon followed by a long argument about the plan that had so obviously failed to appease Yoongi. Your husband hadn't said much after expressing his dissatisfaction, keeping quiet in his seat as the men continued to try their hardest to change Yoongi's mind.

But the way your husband kept his hand on your knee to anchor himself and hold himself together told you that he was slowly losing his patience.

"This would be the perfect opportunity for you to expand the business under your name, don't you think? With your father now focusing more on developing MYG & Sons Corporations and its foreign affairs, we can help MYG Holdings to branch out through this joint deal," Kim Namjoon continued when Yoongi chose not to respond, taking your husband's silence as an opportunity to make one final push to convince Yoongi further,

"We've done this together before, turning the tides with one small move and gaining something bigger at the end. And you know what we're capable of, so you know that you can trust us to pull things through at our end."

Namjoon's remark drew a sigh out of Yoongi. Tilting his head, your husband glanced over the printed proposal that was laid before him, while he kept his hand under the desk and began moving his fingers gently on your skin. The delicate brush of his fingers along the hem of your skirt felt calming, although you knew that he was doing it more to calm himself down rather than he was doing so to ease your nerves.

It was clear that he had no intention of accepting their proposal, nor did he have any interest in joining hands with the Kims, but something was holding him back from expressing his final thoughts.

As if he was wary about making his next moves against the Kims.

You had no idea why Yoongi would be so cautious when it came to the cousins. Just like how you found it hard to understand why Yoongi would make time to entertain them, enough for him to cancel a board meeting just to have this meeting with these men, if he didn't even enjoy being in their company.

But Yoongi gave nothing away, and he still managed to keep a straight face when he finally responded, "My father already has a lot on his plate right now while he's taking my grandfather's place at the head of the board, so I doubt that he would be focusing on expanding the company at all. Meanwhile, I already have my eyes set on other plans when it comes to expanding the business, and there is also the matter of my wife's business venture that I will need to pay more attention to at the time being."

Yoongi tightened his hold on your knee just then, silently reminding you of his promise regarding the arrangement you've made with each other. An arrangement that he was still keeping a secret, especially from these men.

"Which is why—" Yoongi continued, "as appealing as your proposal sounds, I am afraid I won't be able to consider it as an option. At the very least, not for the moment."

"Don't you trust us, Yoongi?" Kim Taehyung suddenly spoke in turn, cutting Yoongi off before he could say anything further. Leaning back in his seat, the man wasn't even looking at Yoongi when he first spoke.

His voice was just as deep as Namjoon's, almost as intimidating with a slight mockery hanging in the tone of his voice. For a moment, he let his words hang in the air while he kept his eyes on the glass of drink he had in his hand. Then, realising that he had drawn everyone's attention, his gaze was lifted, challenging Yoongi's sharp gaze when he continued by asking, "You still remember how much we've helped you in the past, don't you?"

You kept your eyes on the man as you reached down, placing your hand over Yoongi's just as you felt him growing tense beside you. You disliked the way he was speaking to your husband, nor the way he was staring back at Yoongi. You've also had enough experience in dealing with all kinds of people in the past to recognise a threat when you hear one.

The subtle gesture of support you gave Yoongi seemed to help ease him a little, to which he responded by brushing his thumb on your exposed skin for a brief moment before he finally answered, "Gentlemen, I understand what you came here for and where you're coming from. But please understand that there are a lot of things to consider when it comes to accepting your deal."

Yoongi made a great show of turning to you and smiling widely before he continued further, "You must realise that with my new marital status and with my wife as my new partner, I now have more things to take into consideration, especially when it comes to the family business." Giving you another smile, he turned back to the men. "Not to mention, I've only recently gotten back to work after my wedding, and I still have many priorities to catch up on, so any decision made at the moment wouldn't seem fair to anyone involved, don't you agree?"

With a small grin on his face, Namjoon politely nodded. "That is quite true. Forgive us if we seem a bit pushy regarding this matter. We all know that you are a busy man, and after the news of your wedding, we saw an opportunity to offer a partnership that would be beneficial for both of us, so we had to take a risk," he tried to reason with Yoongi, even if it didn't do much to lessen the tension in the room. "With your grandfather's plan of announcing the next CEO for the mother company, we were concerned that there would be more competition in the future."

Yoongi merely gave him a smile in return. "That's quite understandable. But there is really no need to rush. As I mentioned earlier, I'm currently trying to keep up with the initial business plans that the board of directors have agreed upon before I took my leave, so I can't really say that there is room for another business deal until I can get back with the board and discuss this with my team," Yoongi calmly responded, quite brilliantly, if you must admit, as the men seemed to take this response in a positive light when their expression brightened for a moment.

"Tell you what," he said, leaning forward on his desk as if he had just made a big decision, "Why don't you give me some more time to study your proposal and discuss everything with my team, and I'll get back to you once we've made a decision? Perhaps I can find time to look over it again once I return from my upcoming honeymoon."

With a smile on his face, Yoongi turned to glance at you. "You see, since I've been busy catching up with work, I haven't gotten the chance to take my wife on our honeymoon trip," he said, his lips twitching to a grin when he met your curious gaze. He turned back to his guests to reassure them, "I might be able to clear my thoughts throughout the trip and plan more properly rather than push myself to make any decision now."

The three men before you exchanged gazes, falling into a silent discussion as they considered Yoongi's offer. "Very well," Kim Seokjin, who had been mostly silent during the entire conversation, suddenly spoke. "I do understand that as the leader responsible for the people in your company, you must plan accordingly before making such a big decision. And it would be a shame if you have to miss your honeymoon when you should be celebrating your new marital status."

Seokjin turned to smile at you when he said this, before adding, "I'm sure you'll give us the best decision once everything is sorted. Won't you, Yoongi?"

The smile that Yoongi gave in return was tense, but his voice remained calm when he answered, "Of course. I will let you know my answer as soon as I can."

Hearing this, Seokjin seemed pleased. "Then I suppose it's time for us to take our leave. I think we've taken too much of your time already," he said, rising from his seat. Smoothing his suit jacket, he turned to his cousins, nodding at them to follow suit. The other men began leaving their seats, and judging from the exchange of looks they gave each other, you could only assume that Kim Seokjin might be the man calling the shots while others would follow.

It was quite an interesting dynamic which made you grow even more curious about them, especially after learning that Nakatomi Trading, the company run by Kim Namjoon and Kim Taehyung, was supposed to be the leading part of their family business chain.

"It's been a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Min." Seokjin took your hand to shake as he bid you farewell. "I hope you can help us convince your husband to accept our deal. It will be unfortunate to let this opportunity pass, I can assure you."

You only responded politely with a smile and said, "I make no promises, but I'll see what I can do," before shaking the other men's hands before they all began making their way out the door.

You kept your eyes on them as you returned to your seat while Yoongi walked them out, feeling slightly relieved that the tension in the room was starting to ease now that they were no longer crowding the office room. The feeling of relief briefly faded, however, when Namjoon suddenly stopped at the doorway and turned back at Yoongi.

With a sly grin on his face, Namjoon gave Yoongi his last parting words before disappearing out the door, his words sending a cold shiver running down your spine when he said,

"You better not disappoint us, Min Yoongi."

"You better not lie to us, Jinyoung,"

"______? Is everything okay?" Jungkook's voice pulls you back to the present, yet it does nothing to steady your racing heartbeat, nor does it help clear your mind from the words echoing inside your head.

The words from this afternoon and the ones you heard from the recording keep bouncing off each other and blending together so that they are starting to mix into one.

Noticing your silence, Hoseok tilts his head and leans back against the desk. "You know who it is, don't you?"

Still in a daze and disbelief, you can only nod your head. "I can't be sure if I'm hearing it correctly, but if my memory serves me right, then the same man was in my husband's office today."

You look up when you notice the air around you shift. You can feel the tension rolling out of both Jungkook and Hoseok's bodies. Hoseok presses his lips together while looking uncomfortable, while Jungkook keeps shifting on his legs, looking like he is feeling quite awkward with himself.

"What's going on?" you ask, causing both men to look at you, and then each other, and then you realise, "You know whose voice that is. Maybe even more than I do."

Exhaling a deep breath, Jungkook runs his hands through his hair and drops back down onto his seat. He turns to look at Hoseok once again, who shrugs in return. "Yes, we know who it is," Jungkook says with a heavy sigh. "We know exactly who they were."

"So, I'm right?" Your throat tightens with nerves that you can barely speak. "The voice we just heard—" Swallowing hard, you look straight at Hoseok to ask, "That was Kim Namjoon? One of the men running the business chain that was said to be on the rise?"

The hacker, now losing the humour in his eyes, nods. "You are correct," he says, "I'd recognise that voice any day. That's who we were thinking. Him and his cronies—his cousins."

Furrowing your eyebrows, you turn to Jungkook to confirm this, only noticing the displeasure written on the detective's face. It seems that while the hacker has no misgivings in letting you in on their little secret, the detective is still having issues opening up. But you refuse to be left in the dark. Not after finding yourself dealing with secrets and lies ever since you met Jungkook, and that you may have gotten entangled deeper already than you realised.

"How well do you know him?" You keep your eyes on Jungkook as you question him this, forcing him to answer instead of avoiding your questions the way he has been the entire night.

"I don't—" Jungkook begins to answer before stopping himself when he notices that you aren't backing down. Clenching his jaw, Jungkook shakes his head and finally answers, "We are not what you might call—acquaintances, that's for sure."

It's subtle, but there is a hint of anger in his voice that is impossible to miss. It makes you wonder if he's not telling you everything. That what's going on between Jungkook and these men might be something personal, or if there was some bad blood between them.

"Why do I have a feeling that you're lying?"

Jungkook scoffs. "I'm not lying, _______," he protests with an exaggerated sigh. "Being associated with these men would be the last thing that I'd ever wanted. Trust me."

Before you can react to his comment, you hear Hoseok letting out a bitter scoff from your side. "You can say that again," he blatantly murmurs, while Jungkook can only shake his head.

"I can't speak for Hoseok," he says as he throws a glance at the hacker, who is looking back at him with a dark grin, "But I really don't know him personally. Nor the men associated with him who claimed to be blood-related to the man. You can say that I've had a few unpleasant encounters in the past with Kim Namjoon, and I've been keeping an eye on him and the other men around him ever since."

"Keeping an eye on them? Whatever for?"

Once again, Jungkook clenches his jaw as he considers his answers. But something that he said previously comes to mind. "Does it have anything to do with that case you're working on?" You look between Jungkook and Hoseok. "Together?"

Sighing deeply, Jungkook finally nods. "I suppose you can say that."

His response only makes you grow more curious. "What case are you looking into that involves these men? And what do they have to do with Jinyoung's death?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Jungkook answers you while shaking his head. "I couldn't find anything connecting those men to Jinyoung. Not until recently, at least."

"Recently?" you ask, "What do you mean?"

"Remember when I told you that Jinyoung contacted me with information for the case that I was working on independently?" You nod, recalling everything he told you about the old case that had led him to Jinyoung. Jungkook never specified which case that was, only that he was forced to investigate on his own and only when he was off duty due to all the obstacles that he kept getting into. "We never got to the specifics, but he once mentioned the Kims in passing, stating that he had something to share about these men."

Your head is spinning from all this new information. Knowing that Jinyoung had some kind of relationship with them wouldn't have bothered you as much if only you hadn't met them in person today, or if you hadn't found out that there is something wrong about these men for Jungkook and his partner to feel so wary about them.

"Did he ever get to tell you what it was about?"

Jungkook's gaze softens with regret. "The accident happened before he ever got back to me with more details, and everything I did to try and find what he was trying to give me always led me to a dead end."

You lean back in your seat and say nothing in return. No matter how often you hear Jungkook telling you this, it still feels surreal. The fact that there is someone who would go to such lengths to cover the details about your late fiancé's accident is still hard to fathom. You didn't even want to believe it the first time Jungkook revealed that fact to you during his investigation.

Pressing your lips, you recall everything that Jungkook had shared with you about his secret work. How he had told you that he has been working behind his colleagues' backs to solve his case, moving in secret as he works hard to dig deep to find the truth, and how he is now forced to do the same to figure out what actually happened to Jinyoung. So far, he has never been willing to tell you every detail of his work, but despite his secrets, you have yet to find any reason not to trust him.

Hoseok moves to take a seat on another chair nearby. The hacker leans closer when he asks you, "What were they doing at your husband's office today?"

Thinking back about your meeting with the Kims today only brings back the uneasiness you felt when you were in the same room with them. After hearing the message, knowing that at least one of them had been present during Jinyoung's final hours, and after hearing what Jungkook had to say about them, that feeling has only been growing stronger.

"They came to discuss a business offer for Yoongi's future business plans with MYG Holdings. Something about a work collaboration and acquisition of parts of their company. It seems that they're trying to have Yoongi acquire one of their side businesses, take them under the company's wings as part of its future expansion, and in return, Yoongi and his team will be helping their development for a new business endeavour under their name."

You continue to share some of the things that were shared during the short meeting, including Yoongi's answers and the way the men presented their ideas, nothing that would seem significant for either the hacker or the detective, yet they seem to be listening carefully to every detail.

"What do you know about these men, aside from their interest in working with Yoongi?" Jungkook asks you once you are done talking.

"Nothing much," you admit, before telling them about the first time you saw them was from a picture that was taken of them together with Yoongi and Jinyoung at the Country Club. "Before that night, I'd never heard of them. Not from Jinyoung nor my father, so I wouldn't be able to tell if they ever had any connection in the past before I was involved in the family business. But, oddly, I never heard of their names publicly too, seeing that I've tried to keep up with the business world since I started working with my father."

"It's not that surprising," Jungkook responds, "As businessmen, they've kept to themselves a lot. It wasn't until their business chain went public about a year ago and started gaining some notable profit that they began to reveal themselves as the faces behind the success."

"Yoongi said as much," you concur with a nod, before asking, "What did they do for you to investigate them in the first place?"

Jungkook leans back with his arms crossed over his chest, thinking deeply for a moment before answering. "It's hard to explain. It didn't seem like they ever gave me enough reason to go after them in the first place, but—"

Furrowing his eyebrows, Jungkook begins to explain, "Everything about them is questionable that I couldn't help but pay attention. First, they seemed to appear out of nowhere. Their company wasn't significant when they first came out and went public, and then their main company simply appeared like they were risen from the shadows and went straight to the top of the ladder."

"That's not unusual. A lot of businesses that are well known today have risen out of even more peculiar events."

At least, that had been the case with someone that you know so well.

Park Jimin's family business hadn't been big or that well-known at some point in the past. His father started a small business which then suddenly grew overnight, reaching success through one of his innovations that was marketed through his company. That was how Jimin became your friend during your teen years, when his father became successful enough that he was able to send his sons to the private school where many future business heirs went to study.

"It wouldn't have raised too many questions if their rise had happened as naturally as many others," Jungkook responds, pausing briefly before he finally reveals, "These men came to rise around the same year Min Yoonseok was convicted of fraud and embezzlement through the company that he built outside of the family."