ACT IV | SCENE XVI

❝MONOCHROME❞

ALMOST A WEEK had gone by and yoongi's life had regained some sense of normalcy. it only took a day for the rumours of his fatherhood to be swept aside by the news that a famous idol had gotten pregnant for an actor five years younger than her. it was all anyone could talk about, effectively overshadowing his 'scandal'. there were still a few persistent reporters trying to get a statement out of him but they were negligible.

work was going smoothly and he had been able to catch up on the work he'd missed during the weekend by forgoing several hours of sleep. he wouldn't lie that he was not tired but he wouldn't complain either. this was the path he'd chosen for himself. it was his life.

still, he'd found his mind straying to the incidents that had occurred over the weekend. to a certain six-year-old and how fixated she was on him. the way she'd so easily referred to him as her father still sent a chill down his spine. his fingers froze over his keyboard as he vividly heard her voice in his head.

no matter how he tried to think about it, it simply didn't make any sense to him. he was aware that children didn't think the way adults did, didn't see things in the same way. but what in the hell would make a girl who seemed in love with everything bright and yellow look at him who was dripping in black and white, who was so monochrome and think he could possibly be her father?

his fingers clenched and rested on the dark wood of his desk. there was something about her eyes that bothered him. they were too bright when they looked at him. they sparkled like lost constellations had made a home in her irises and looked at him with wonder. like he was magic. which he definitely wasn't.

he remembered what rian had said. she never had a father. never even broached the topic. until she met him. yoongi glanced at himself in the reflection of his blacked out computer screen, eyeing his features from different angles. his brows drew together when he wasn't able to find anything particularly special that jumped out at first glance.

blinking profusely when he realised what he was doing, he straightened. his index finger brushed against the silver hoop on his left ear as he moved the mouse to bring the screen back to life.

yoongi liked stability even if it meant predictability. he didn't mind boring, if it meant his life wouldn't spiral out of control. which it almost did when haneul had skipped her way into it. that weekend had felt like all his nightmares coming to life. unwanted attention that hadn't stemmed from something involving his professional life. helplessness. confusion. failed plans. unpredictability.

yoongi disliked wild unpredictability the most. because unpredictable things couldn't be controlled. they couldn't be managed. and yoongi knew all too well how easily things could go awry when they became too difficult to manage. he'd seen it happen before. and he definitely didn't want that for himself. he was the last person anyone would consider to be spontaneous or impulsive. it wasn't that he was impossibly rigid, but he wasn't exactly flexible either.

blowing a breath out, yoongi returned to his work. fingers moving over the keyboard, he let his mind fixate on the job at hand. a soft knock on the door of his office made him look up. jeongguk slowly made his way in, bowing briefly as he stopped in front of his desk.

"i've completed all the tasks you gave me for today, president. here's the file for the daisy deal that you asked for." he held out a carefully arranged folder before placing it on the desk, making sure it was not crooked. "thank you, secretary jeon." his gaze briefly shifted to the folder. satisfied with its placement, he went back to his work. "is there anything else you need me to do, sir?" jeongguk asked.

"no, that is all. thank you. you may leave for now." yoongi looked at the younger man with the ghost of a smile tilting his lips. jeongguk bowed in response, ready to leave. at the office, the two always assumed a formal interaction. although they were more like brothers in a sense.

yoongi could still remember a bumbling, awkward jeongguk when he first started working for him. he remembered being frustrated at first. constantly messing up, dropping things, mixing things up, the perfectionist yoongi had almost fired him on more than one occasion but held back. it had taken a whole lot of patience to help jeongguk adjust and become the efficient secretary that he now was. the bumbling, awkward part of him was still present but it was not so overt that it was a problem.

yoongi couldn't pinpoint when exactly he had developed a soft spot for the younger man, but he began to see him as the little brother he never had. and took him under his wings. now he was protective of jeongguk, although he couldn't do much when it came to seokjin. honestly, his best friend wasn't much of a threat to jeongguk. he still didn't understand the dynamics of seokjin and jeongguk's relationship, but it was still interesting to see.

"but hyu- president," jeongguk started, pausing just as he was about to turn and leave. yoongi looked at him expectantly. "did you have lunch?" jeongguk asked softly. blinking, yoongi glanced down at his watch. his eyes went wide, surprised to see the time. "ah, not yet. i didn't realise this much time had passed."

jeongguk's lips pressed together and yoongi knew he wanted to say something but was holding back. "i'll get myself something to eat as soon as i'm done looking over this." gesturing to his computer, he assured the man with another small smile. seemingly satisfied, jeongguk nodded before excusing himself.

yoongi was about to return to the job at hand when his phone began to ring. letting out a sigh, he picked it up, glancing at the caller id before answering. "hello?" he said into the phone. "yoongi, are you still at the office? did you have lunch yet?" the voice yoongi was probably the most familiar with responded.

"hyung, aren't you supposed to be at a photoshoot right now?" he asked, trying to multitask. "i am. we're taking a break for a set change at the moment. you didn't answer my questions." seokjin answered. "yes, i am still at the office. and no, i haven't had lunch yet." yoongi said drily, rolling his eyes. "i knew it. you better get up out that seat and get something to eat right now. also, i need you to go somewhere for me."

"which one do you want me to do, hyung?" he asked, closing the document he had been working on. "both. get something to eat on your way. you're going to need it." seokjin mumbled the last part. yoongi chose to ignore it. "okay, fine. i'll do that soon." he nodded.

"no, right now!" seokjin's voice suddenly got louder, taking him by surprise. "you get something to eat and go to the address i'm going to send you. i mean it, yoongi." his tone was serious. exhaling deeply, yoongi shut down his computer. "fine, hyung." he acceded, getting on his feet. "i'm leaving right now."

"good." seokjin answered. "look, i have to go now. talk to you soon." he sounded distracted and yoongi thought he heard the man's name being called in the background. "later, hyung. good luck with the shoot." he smiled softly. "thanks, yoongi. later." seokjin replied before the call ended.

slipping his phone into his pocket, yoongi grabbed his coat off the coat rack. his phone buzzed with the notification of a new text and he assumed it was from seokjin. slipping his coat on, he left the office after releasing jeongguk for the day. it was an unforeseen change in plans. but seokjin was one of the only people yoongi would forfeit his plans for without a second thought.