Cheaters ✓

Namjoon

PRESENT

This has to be a coincidence, Taehyung told himself repeatedly. I am sure yet he couldn't avoid the fact that there was an outside chance that the mug Yoongi had in his post and the one the trainer had in his display picture were the same.

If Jimin had not told him that the gym trainer had inquired about him, he would have never cared. And perhaps would have concluded it was all a coincidence. But now Taehyung had a doubt. He felt impatient to meet the trainer and clear this out once and for all. The only way he could do this without arousing any suspicion was through Jimin.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly until Taehyung and Jimin exited Hotel Conrad after dinner. They were waiting for the valet to bring their respective cars. Jimin seemed slightly drunk but Taehyung was totally in control. He was constantly smiling at him. As the valet brought his car, Jimin walked up to Taehyung and hugged him.

Taehyung didn't mind initially for it seemed like a friendly parting hug but when he held on to him, tightening his embrace, he wondered if it would seem too rude if he removed himself from his grasp. He was so close that he could almost smell his breath.

'I really like you, Taehyung,' he said loudly, attracting glances from passers-by. If he moved his face forward by a few inches, he knew their lips would brush. He flashed an awkward 'I-don't-know-what-to-say' smile.

'I know what the boys say about me in office.' There was melancholy in his tone.

Taehyung felt a bit embarrassed when he saw the people who were entering and exiting Conrad glance in their direction.

'Good looks can also be a curse, because then nobody wants to believe there's more to you than your so-called hot body. No-fucking-body. But I know you are not part of the boys' club in office. You are different,' he said.

'Jimin? Will you be able to drive?' Taehyung asked, changing the topic. He knew he was too drunk.

'I can drive,' he said, even though his eyes were halfclosed. By then Taehyung's car had also come. He asked the valet to take his car back to the parking lot while he, with the help of Jimin's valet, put him inside his car and got behind the wheel. As he drove, he kept asking Jimin for his address. He kept zoning out. After he called out his name multiple times, he woke up and gave him his phone. He noticed that the GPS app was open and the destination put as "home". He was relieved.

Taehyung drove Jimin to his apartment building, asked the security guard his flat number and then, taking the keys out of his bag, unlocked the door. He tucked him in, in the presence of the guard, and then closed the door to leave.

The next day, in office, Taehyung kept checking Yoongi's Instagram posts. On a hunch, he stood up and went out to the smoking zone. He saw Jimin there.

'Look, I'm sorry for last night,' he repeated what he'd messaged him in the morning.

'Forget about that. Here's the thing, I want to know if that gym trainer you told me about knew Yoongi as more than just a client.' Taehyung's problem was he could never beat around the bush for long. He knew Jimin could become suspicious of him and realize he knew Yoongi personally, but he had bigger things to worry about.

Jimin looked at him for some time. Then he stubbed his cigarette on the wall behind him and threw the butt into a bin.

'It's pretty obvious there's something personal in it for you, more than what you told me earlier about your husband and all.'

Taehyung knew he would connect the dots but didn't think he would be this direct about it. He could object or just refuse to comply with his request, Taehyung thought.

'But I won't ask why this Yoongi is so important to you. It's none of my business. What I need to know is, if I make it happen, if you get whatever you want from Namjoon, what's in it for me?' Jimin asked with such a straight face that Taehyung was totally lost for words.

'Another dinner?' he asked, hesitantly

'I knew you won't disappoint me. But at my place this time. I can't thank you enough for bringing me home safely last night. But that's no way of coming to someone's home. Allow me to be the perfect host.'

Taehyung drew in a deep breath. Whatever you do, there's always some collateral. Rare are those times when you are the collateral of your own choices.

'I'm in but no alcohol,' Taehyung said, setting the ground rules.

'Oh! All right, no alcohol. Deal.' Jimin said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

'I'm going to the gym in the evening. Namjoon will be there. I will talk to him casually and try to squeeze out any information about Yoongi. I will send you a recording.'

'Sounds good.'

'Coming Saturday evening, see you at my place. I'm already excited.'

'Sure. What I want to know is if Yoongi had gifted him that coffee mug which he has in his display picture.'

'All right,' Jimin said and went inside.

Taehyung couldn't focus on anything. Jungkook called up the moment he reached home. He sounded excited.

'You know, I met this twenty-year-old boy at my NGO who brought his teenage sister to us because she is suicidal.

Taehyung was trying hard to stay interested in what Jungkook was telling him but his mind was somewhere else. He was itching to check his messages to see if Jimin had messaged him.

'When I told him I was married, he asked if I would elope with him!' Jungkook laughed, adding, 'I told him I was a decade older to him. Guess what he said?'

There was no response from Taehyung.

'Are you there?' Jungkook thought the call had dropped.

'Yeah, yeah I'm there.' Taehyung realized he had not responded to his earlier question.

'Guess what he said?'

'I ... I don't know.' He actually didn't have a clue what Jungkook was talking about.

'He said.....'

Right then Taehyung received a ten-minute-long voice recording from Jimin with a message: I hope this is enough. LMK.

'Can I please call in half an hour? A work call has come up,' he said earnestly.

'Oh! Okay, sure. I'll wait,' Jungkook said. Taehyung felt bad about lying but he couldn't wait to hear the recording.

He played it. The first few minutes were gibberish. There was nothing of any importance. Yoongi's name was mentioned in the fifth minute. It was evident that Jimin was constantly manipulating the conversation to squeeze out more. In the seventh minute, Namjoon started talking about Yoongi, saying the coffee mug was a gift from him. That they both were in love with each other and were planning to set up a life together away from here, someplace by a beach. But that was not all. What was said in the ninth minute made Taehyung's jaws drop.

'One day,' Namjoon said on the recording, 'I saw him in a mall with a man. I couldn't see the man properly but something about them told me that I was being betrayed by Yoongi?

Taehyung realized the man Namjoon was referring to in the recording was him.

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