When Worlds Collide | PJM - KTH ✓ (Hahm Series #3)

Chapter 6

'Sorry, couldn't resist,' Taehyung sheepishly lifted the novel from his lap and flashed the cover. 'It's one of my faves-'

'We need to talk about this coffee malarkey.'

Oh, and here he was, thinking Jimin had come to start a book club.

'What more is there to discuss?' Taehyung drawled as he snapped The Iliad shut and rose languidly to his feet. 'I take Yunhee out. You and your men observe from the car.'

At least ten miles away.

'Not that part,' Jimin dismissed with a flippant hand wave. 'We need to set some ground rules.'

Taehyung kept his features firmly set as the foreign term bounced around his brain like a whore on coke. Ground rules? The only ground rules in his domain were the ones he wrote for the feeble underdogs that grovelled at his Bontoni shoes.

A satirical comment: that would do the trick, for he was positive Tae would react just as derisively.

'Oh.' Taehyung batted his eyelashes while splashing on a mocking pout. 'You mean we can't kiss and hold hands?'

'And that is exactly why we need ground rules!' Jimin hissed impatiently.

Golly! What an easy target dear Jiminie was.

'Would you like to chaperone our date?' Taehyung ventured as he drummed the book against his thigh.

'It's not a date, arsehat!'

Arsehat? Earlier it was arseling. How incredibly discourteous.

Enjoying the blood gathering in the tips of Jimin's ears, Taehyung crossed his arms and contemplatively tapped his chin. 'Crap. I better cancel our reservation at Hanilkwan tonight.'

'Hanilkwan? I don't fucking think so!'

Oh, now he'd gone and done it. Jimin was going to tear him a new arsehole, but Taehyung was in no mood for combat - primarily because he'd spent an hour in hair and make-up this morning - and so he lobbed the novel aside and started giggling.

'Relax. As if I'd take her to Hanilkwan. That restaurant is for the snobby rich and famous. It's just coffee, nothing more.'

'Damn right,' Jimin finalised with an authoritative crack of his neck, 'at Dream Bean.'

'Sure. Dream-' Taehyung's mirth died a premature death.

Dream Bean?

That was the café where Heiran and Tae had convened, but it was not their disastrous meeting that made his breath rapidly hitch. It was the burst of golden hair and sea-green irises that materialised behind his retinas.

'Oi!' The sharp click of a finger jerked Taehyung out of his spell, and with a perplexed frown, he regained focus. Odd. Had he just zoned out? 'Hanilkwan,' Jimin scoffed before swinging around to take his leave. 'Honestly, what next?'

With a rascally lick of the lips, Taehyung waited for Jimin to reach the door before rumbling, 'You may not like that part.'

The tension in Jimin's shoulders exuded a hazardous quality as he came to an abrupt stop and turned to face him with meticulous precision.

'Excuse me?'

'It was a joke!' Taehyung laughed while defensively sticking his palms in the air. 'Wow, you haven't changed a bit-'

'Likewise, you prick,' Jimin glowered as he gradually closed the space between them. 'I don't care if it's a greasy diner or the Ritz. Taehyung is the reason we're all here today. He's Yunhee's trigger. So, I'm warning you to be careful around her. The way you look at her, the way you speak to her. Everything. You understand?'

Taehyung's playful act sank away like a discarded cloak, his cocoa-coloured eyes flashing dangerously under the warm lights.

Very well.

'You stole the heart of the woman I love, yet I put that and our rocky past aside to help you. Please explain to me how that makes me a prick?'

'You haven't put anything aside-'

'Well, excuse me if I'm still feeling a little burnt,' Taehyung growled, mixing his putrid resentment for Jimin with his doppelganger's anguish. 'You expect me to get used to your new relationship overnight?'

'No, I don't.' Jimin's tone was enough to freeze a bag of peas as he stepped closer. 'But while you're living under my roof, I expect you to act like an adult and extend the same courtesy that I extended to you.'

It was not often that Taehyung accepted defeat, but he'd had his fair share of fun ribbing Jimin, and the party had come to a scorching crescendo. Any more, and he may blow his cover and let loose a maelstrom parallel to the vortex.

Oh, how he enjoyed a play on words.

'You're right,' Taehyung sighed dramatically, 'there's no excuse for my behaviour. I apologise.'

Fascinating.

The look on Jimin's face. At first, it was intransigence mingled with his coarse breathing, but then Taehyung witnessed a pinch of hesitation before he retreated a step and tugged his cuff over his Omega wristwatch.

'We leave at noon. Be ready.'

Taehyung remained immobile, waiting for the piqued clip of Jimin's heels to fade before he shut the sitting room door with a flick of the wrist and recovered his phone.

'Hoseok!' he grinned while promenading to the bay window to marvel at the view. 'Have you ever been to Dream Bean?'

***

A double update as a gift for you! That's it now until the New Year, though, folks! I need a nice long break and have lots of plans with friends and loves ones. Hope you do too!

Happy Holidays & a Very Happy New Year!

Love you all,

Tannie xxx

22nd December 2021