Chapter Text
The car stops with a screech. Jungkook is grateful he wore the seatbelt because he is sure he would have broken a tooth or two if he didn't. The driver has been driving like this since Jungkook sat in his taxi. When Jungkook complained and asked him to drive carefully, the man started complaining about how the roads were not made and maintained well and how the local politicians were useless. Jungkook resorted to staying silent after that.
He pays the fare and gets out of the taxi. The resort in front of him was no less than a mansion. A ten-story building with all kinds of amenities any rich brat could ask for. Jungkook huffs as he looks behind him, the evening sun stares at him as it takes a dip into the ocean. Jungkook turns around and admires the beach that separates the resort from the ocean. The golden water washes the sand, coloring them in their golden color. The salty breeze from the ocean ruffles his messed-up hair.
He flinches when he hears a loud yelp, he turns around but isn't fast enough to stop the body colliding with his. The fall is hard. For a moment Jungkook doesn’t feel anything, not understanding what is happening. He comes back to his senses when the man above him tries to get up, muttering a stream of apologies. Jungkook scowls when he notices the man failing miserably at finding his footing. When he gets impatient, he shoves the man aside and gets up, dusting off the sand from his clothes. He would have found this romantic, perfect meet-cute experience, but not today. It just wasn't the day. Jungkook was here for pressing matters, and no, it wasn't the wedding. Because there will be no wedding to begin with. Jungkook won't let it happen. Won’t let Taehyung get tangled in all the misery it would bring.
"I'm sorry, I’m so sorry, Sir", the man finally manages to stand up as well, and bows full ninety degrees in front of Jungkook. He then stands up straight and manages a big smile, "My name is Yeonjun, and I'm the bell boy of this resort. It's my first day working," He looks to be in his early twenties.
Jungkook signs and nods.
"Don't worry, I won't be complaining." Jungkook gives him a tight-lipped smile.
There is visible relief on Yeonjun's face. He smiles and reaches for Jungkook's trolley bag on the side, "Let me help you check in and show you your room, Mr…?"
"Jungkook"
"Mr. Jungkook, welcome to our resort," Yeonjun exclaims, flailing his hands wide with enthusiasm. In his excitement, Jungkook’s bag slips from his grip and tumbles on the floor. As if to add insult to injury, the bag bursts open and its contents scatter across the floor. His red and blue Spider-Man printed underwear at the top of all of his stuff gains him a couple of curious glances from the people passing by. He notices a woman stifling a giggle as she looks at the underwear and then at him.
When he turns his eyes towards Yeonjun, he can see the man’s eyes wide, an apology on the tip of his tongue. “I- I’m s-” Jungkook raises a hand and the boy goes silent. He knows it’s Yeonjun’s first day and looking at his face, Jungkook is a hundred percent sure that he is going to cry soon.
He heaves a long sigh. Then looks up and says, "Thank you, Yeonjun but I can carry my bag on my own. Just help me put all the stuff back in, will you?"
Yeonjun hesitates but then gives in and nods. They collect all the stuff in silence. Jungkook realizes he might have to wash a couple of clothes with his favorite underwear.
He follows Yeonjun inside, and after checking in, they both enter the elevator. Thankfully, the ride to the second floor is silent as they are the only ones on it. As they reach the second floor, the elevator door dings open and Jungkook drags his bag as he follows Yeonjun to the hallway. Yeonjun then unlocks the gate and hands over the keys to Jungkook. After Jungkook thanks him, with a small but genuine smile, he leaves before asking Jungkook to call the reception and ask for him when needed.
-
The room is huge, Jungkook notices, and might even hold a family of five, even six if the sixth one is a toddler. It has a living room in front of the door, on the left a small kitchen, and beside it, a small bedroom. On the right is a bedroom almost double the size of the first one. Jungkook checks out the bathroom and the walk-in closet attached to it. He wonders who decided it was worth spending so much money on such an extravagant room. Although they are one of the richest families in all of Seoul, it's unlikely for the Kims to spend money like this. It must be the Parks. Or maybe they were doing it since Taehyung was an only child. Jungkook is sure his father is going to have a lecture prepared for Taehyung’s father, Mr. Kim Hyunjoo.
Leaving his bag in the living room, Jungkook heads to the spacious bedroom. He jumps on the king-sized bed and sprawls on it. The bed is bouncy and the sheets smell fresh like his favorite fabric softener. He breathes a sigh of relief when he realizes they didn’t use roses, or Jungkook would have already started sneezing. He notices there are many flowers in several vases all over the room, none of them enough to trigger his allergy. The absence of roses means he can avoid his allergy medication, making his stay a bit more enjoyable, if not considered the reason he is here.
He takes a deep breath. He is tired from the trip and he hasn't slept properly for the last two weeks. As soon as he came to know about Taehyung's wedding, he became restless. It baffled him more because it wasn't even his best friend who called to tell him about his wedding. It were his parents. Mother Kim wished for Jungkook to be Taehyung’s best man. It required a great deal of patience for Jungkook to maintain composure and not scowl when he learned it was an arranged marriage. An arranged marriage .
How can Taehyung do this to himself?
His best friend deserved his cliche, a movie-like love story. He can't let Taehyung have a boring marriage with a boring office-going man for a lifetime. We only live once and love once, and finding the perfect partner was extremely important. Taehyung was the office person himself, but he wasn't the boring type, and Jungkook couldn't fathom him getting married to some money-making-machine-cum-finance-geek. He deserved someone livelier, someone who thinks beyond the stock market. Someone who's not Park Seojun.
Jungkook quickly gets up and fishes for his mobile phone from his pants pocket. He calls Taehyung and waits for him to pick up.
He hears the call ringing until a pre-recorded voice says The number you are trying to call is not answering.
Jungkook sighs.
It's been like this since the time Jungkook left for New York six months ago. Taehyung wouldn't talk much in the first few weeks and then he stopped receiving Jungkook’s calls altogether.
Jungkook stopped trying, assuming Taehyung might be busy with work. Also, the time difference didn't help much with all the hectic schedule Jungkook had. He was in New York for a film project. He had gotten the chance to work with his favorite film director as an Assistant Director. He had prepared for the interview for months, and Taehyung was there for him throughout all of it. They were best friends, after all.
Since he came to know about Taehyung’s wedding, Jungkook had tried a hundred times to talk to him only to meet with unanswered calls. Taehyung had been avoiding him constantly. Even his messages would be met with excuses about being busy with wedding preparations.
It frustrated Jungkook to no end.
Why wouldn’t Taehyung talk to him?
He wondered if Taehyung was upset with him. Wonders if he should have stayed here instead. Would Taehyung have agreed to this wedding if he had not gone to New York?
He shakes his head in the hopes of getting all these negative thoughts out. He can’t be moping right now. He has to do something to stop Taehyung. He can't just let his best friend ruin his life for his family business now, can he?
He has decided that he will do anything and everything to save his best friend from this loveless arranged marriage.
This wedding wasn't going to happen.
Not on Jungkook's watch.
Jungkook brings his bag to his room and puts it on the bed. He opens it and sits in front of it to look through it all. Under the pile of clothes, were folders of different colors containing files & papers.
It took Jungkook lots of time, his hard-earned money, and a detective whom he hired to find out all the information on Seojun. When Jungkook searched for the best detective in Seoul, Kim Namjoon wasn't the first name that the search engine suggested, but he surely was under Jungkook's budget.
The guy was still following Seojun and informing Jungkook everything about his whereabouts. Yes, Jungkook knows stalking is not an ideal thing to do. But what can he do when he is miles away and his best friend won't pick up his call?
At first, Jungkook thought that maybe Taehyung was being forced, but when he saw the pictures Namjoon sent him, he felt like puking. Jungkook pulls out the same picture from the green folder. He looks at it and something doesn't feel right. Taehyung is laughing in the picture and it seems like that Seojun guy had cracked some lame joke. Taehyung's eyes are almost closed, mouth wide, his teeth peeking out. He looks happy. But Jungkook knows better. What we see is not always the case.
Something in the picture unsettles him. Makes him want to tear it, keep Taehyung's side of the picture intact, frame it, and put it on a wall. And with Seojun's side of the picture, he would love to tear it to pieces, then burn them until they turn into ashes. Just thinking about doing it eases the uncomfortable feeling in his chest.
If Jungkook is being honest, he didn't need to print all of the pictures & research documents on Seojun and bring them to Seoul. But he has always been someone who would go all the way in for anything he decided. It was also easier to read them during his 8-hour flight.
Jungkook had seven days starting tomorrow. There are going to be different events planned by the biggest wedding planners of different countries together. Though private, the Kims and the Parks were planning to host the wedding of the decade.
Jungkook notices the event booklet on the bedside table, specially arranged for all the wedding guests. As he turns the pages, he notices there are numerous events and each of them requires a special dress code. Jungkook didn't bring anything fancy. He knew Mrs. Kim must have already handpicked all of the fancy clothes and accessories for him to wear. She was a big name in the fashion industry, after all.
And, she loved Jungkook. Jungkook smiles in triumph thinking about how that Seojun guy can never be that close to Mother Kim. She even tells him about all the gossip of the town. A bit of a talker and the kindest of them all.
The wedding is to take place on the seventh day from tomorrow, in the late afternoon hours.
Jungkook had seven days.
Jungkook is sure he will cancel the wedding in the next two days. He has been planning for this for days. This is the only thing he has been doing. He even took sick leave from his work. He was glad the shooting was on hold because the lead actor got caught up in a scandal and they had to lay low for some time for the situation to get under control.
Even though he has a plan, he knows he can't do this alone. He knows none of his family or their friends would be eager to help him execute the plan. They might even kick him out of the resort if they ever come to know about this. Jungkook knows because he had this conversation with them all. He didn't exactly tell them he was going to break off the wedding, but his opposition was enough for them to understand that he wasn't happy with this. And no matter how much they all loved him, they wouldn't bat an eye to call the guards on him if they even got a hint of it.
So now there was only one person left.
He picks up the telephone kept on his bedside table and after going through the list of numbers on it, he dials the number for the reception.
He smirks when the call is picked up, "Hello, how may I help you?"
"Hello, can you please ask Mr. Yeonjun to come to Room No. 209?"
"Sure, sir.”
“Thank you!”