Jungkook's pov

On Monday morning, I wake up to my alarm, a window full of sunshine, and a good morning text.

Kim Taehyung: Looking forward to our Monday meeting today. Wear something red?

I smile at the phone. My good mood lasts all the way through my shower, my breakfast, to my conversation with my sad little palm tree. "Cheer up," I tell him. "Life is good."

And when I walk into the office later-in my red shirt and tight black pant and black tie-it's with renewed confidence. I might not know how Taehyung and I will solve our professional problem, but I have a job I enjoy, a purpose, and a man I really like.

I open my laptop and get started on today's work. The coming week is packed, but then again, so are most weeks here. As I sort through Taehyung's calendar, my mind is already racing ahead, thinking about the different firms I could apply for. Only working for Kim & Ryu for a few weeks won't exactly look good, but at least I'll get a good reference.

What can I say as the reason for leaving? Creative differences?

An email lands in my inbox from Terri. The headline makes me pause.

Terri Richards: I think you should check the break room. I'm sorry, Jungkook.

That's all it says.

It's with nerves in my stomach that I walk down the long hallway and into the open landscape. The atmosphere is normally competitive, but today it feels downright tense. Ben from accounting gives me a little smile, but he's the only one.

Terri is sitting in the break room with a stack of papers in front of her.

"It has to be Kang-min," she tells me. "I'm sorry, Jungkook."

With shaking hands, I grab one of the papers, and the world drops out from beneath my feet.

It's a picture of Taehyung and me from the wedding. We're dancing, and he has his lips against my temple. My hands are around his neck. It's clearly been enlarged-we're in the background of someone's photo-but there we are, in all our pixelated glory.

Below is an attached copy of my application letter. My eyes burn as I scan through the familiar drunken words. You're not going to hire me, you old stooge, and let me list the reasons why. And below it all is a single sentence in all caps.

WHY DO YOU THINK HE WAS HIRED?

I sink into the seat opposite Terri and drop my head in my hands. I swallow, and swallow again, to keep tears at bay. Everything we've done this weekend suddenly feels cheap when exposed under these fluorescent office lights. My outfit that I'd so painstakingly picked out in that washed-out picture, his hands resting just slightly too low on my back. It looks bad. The whole thing looks just as bad-no, worse-than I ever feared.

"I'm over," I say.

Terri's eyes are sympathetic, her bob as perfectly cool as always. "I'm not one for kind lies. It is bad. I don't know who he's circulated these to outside the office, but I think it's time for damage control."

"Everyone's seen this?"

She gives a polite nod. "In the office? Yes, I think so." She looks down at her nails, and her voice hardens. "Kang-min hasn't come in today. I bet that if we spoke to HR, we'd find his resignation letter."

"This is so... petty. It's revenge. And all because I took his spot when we pitched?"

"Yes, but it's got to be more than that. He was an asshole every single day in this office, and he never felt he got the recognition he deserved. I think you got caught in the crossfires. And... I think he's mad at Mr. Kim. He idolized the man."

Oh, Taehyung. He doesn't know about this yet. He can't, or he would have been at my desk immediately.

"I'm sorry, Jungkook. But I have to ask... is it true?"

What point is there in trying to hide now? I look down at the picture of us, at the clear happiness on my face, and feel nauseous. "Yes. That's not what he hired me for... but have we gotten closer? Yes. God, I've been such a fool."

She reaches out and puts a cool hand on mine. To both of our surprise, I grip it tight. We sit there for a long while, the two of us, both of us the picture of hard-working, professional office person, with blow-dried hair and fitted outfit. There's no competitive atmosphere in the break room at the moment.

"It happens," she says softly, her ice-blonde hair an elegant sweep along her neck. "I don't know you very well. I won't pretend to. But you were excellent in here. For what it's worth, I really enjoyed working with you, and I'd be happy to work with you again-as an architect."

"I enjoyed working with you too."

She pats my hand gently and lets me go. "Now, how are you going to get him back?"

"Kang-min?"

"Yes, and Kim. I like the man well enough, but he should not have gotten involved with his assistant. You would've thought the man had learned that lesson by now."

"What?"

Her eyes soften. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't... but you should know now. His previous assistant was nice. Sara. A little shy, from out of town. Good at her job, by all accounts. But she got far too involved. I don't know what happened between them, but she was very clearly in love with the man. In the end, she quit."

Something like ice settles in my stomach. I had asked why my perfect predecessor had been fired, but every time I'd gotten non-answers.

My application letter, there on the table in front of us, glares at me with its awfulness. He told me I impressed him in the interview. But how could I know it wasn't because of my looks?

"Can I sue Kang-min? For slander?"

Terri cocks her head. "Maybe. You'd have to talk to a lawyer about that."

"My application letter. How did he get it? Did Mi-hee give it to him?"

"I know he has a background in computer engineering, before switching to architecture. If he wanted to access the file... maybe he could. But it seems unlikely."

I gather up all the papers on the table. As she watches, I tear down the ones stuck to the fridge, to the cabinets, and toss them all in the bin.

"Thanks for telling me."

She nods. "You would do the same for me."

And she's right. I would. No one should have to go through this, even if it's their own mistakes being thrown at them. My path forward suddenly seems crystal clear.

"What are you going to do?"

I look down at the one paper I spared, my proof copy. "The only thing I can," I say. "Damage control."

-

-

Taehyung's eyes soften when I enter his office, over an hour early for our Monday meeting. "Hey." But then my expression registers. "Kook?"

I make sure to shut the door behind me and thank whoever designed this building that his office is an entire corridor away from the open landscape, currently filled to the brim with judgement.

I put the paper down in front of him. Taehyung grows still as he looks it over, an angry flush creeping up his neck. "So that's why Kang-min resigned this morning."

"That's what Terri thinks."

"The fucking asshole. I should have fired him a long time ago." The paper crumples in his hand, knuckles white. "I'm assuming everyone has seen this."

"Yes."

He looks up at me. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Jungkook."

No. No, no, no. I can't stand the sympathy in his eyes, the apology, the acknowledgment that we did something wrong. I pace in front of his desk. "I'm ruined. Again."

"Not at all. Jungkook, you've done nothing wrong."

"Will anyone believe that? Think about the way it looks to everyone else! It looks like you pulled Kang-min from the project for my benefit, and that I've been sleeping my way to the top!" Taehyung is standing now, reaching out to me, but I don't want to be touched. I throw my hands up. "This job was a godsend, and I mess it up not two months in."

"You haven't."

"Really? Isn't everything Kang-min said true?"

Taehyung pauses, eyes hardening. "Nothing Kang is insinuating is true."

"Really?"

"No. I didn't give you the job because I was interested in you. I didn't pull Kang-min from the project for you. And I never wanted our personal relationship to affect our professional one. You have to believe me, Jungkook."

I look at him, my insides at war, fear and hope and humiliation taking up my arms. I said I'd never regret what we did, but right now, I can't think of anything beyond the destruction it's wrought. "I really want to believe that."

His mouth hardens. "I'll fix this. I don't want you to worry."

"There is no fixing it. You don't think word will spread? My career is over, and it's my own fault." I put my head in my hands and fight the urge to cry for the second time of the day. I need to get my head in the game, to figure out a game plan, but I can't stop feeling nauseous with embarrassment. "This should never have happened. How could I be so stupid?"

I'd applied to all the big firms in Seoul months ago, after Eun Ilsung. They hadn't wanted to touch me with a ten-foot pole, and then I'd only lacked a reference letter and been tainted by Ilsung's tentacle-like influence. This time, I look like a man who uses his body to get ahead career-wise. I'll never be hired again.

A warm hand lands on my shoulder, like he's afraid I'll shake him off. I don't.

"It's not all over," he says, and his voice is vibrating with emotion. If I'm despairing, Taehyung is furious. It rolls off him in waves. "It might feel that way now, but it's not. And Kang-min won't get away with this. Not in a million years."

"Can I sue for slander?"

"Potentially. I'll look into it."

Right, I thought. Taehyung's name is being dragged through the mud as well. Both of us come out of this looking bad, and the unnamed thing between us looks crude in the harsh light of day. I take a deep breath and try to pull myself together. His hand drops as I stand, smoothing down the wrinkles in my pant.

"Why did your previous assistant quit?"

"Why do you ask?"

Something inside me sinks at the question, at the wariness in his eyes. "Someone just told me that she was in love with you. Did the same thing happen earlier?"

He rubs his neck. "No, Jungkook, it wasn't similar at all."

"Right." I take a step back, unable to handle this discussion any longer, unwilling to hear whatever damning thing he'll say next. My chest feels painfully tight. "Well, we didn't exactly come out of this looking good, did we?"

"We will," he says, with far more conviction than I feel. He's already back at his desk, shoulders wide with tension and purpose, picking up his phone. "I'll make this disappear. Don't worry, Jungkook."

I take a few steps toward the door and watch him in action. Thick hair and a strong jaw. In the corner, the model of his opera house is resting, covered by the sheet. I'd been naive enough to hope I could have it both-my dream job and the man of my dreams.

I should have known that was too good to be true.

-

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To be continued.....

The twist their fate takes has shaken then and their bond to core.
What do u think kook should do next ???!