To Find Something True

※ twelve

"S-so, how... how are you?"

Seokjin pouted with a wrinkle in the middle of his eyebrows. Deep, sad voice and nonchalant that said, "I'm good too."

"And Yoongi?"

"All he does is sleep after finishing his tasks."

"And the rest?"

Seokjin complained, "Things here are just the same without you. Jimin and Taehyung bickered for potato chips again today. They only stopped after I gave them a newer pack. I swear to god, they're giving me headaches the most! Namjoon broke a stool while standing on it to replace a lightbulb, he is okay anyway. Nothing to complain about Jungkook, he has been a good one recently. I should ask Hoseok to give him a raise, don't you think?" Amber chuckled. "Wheein and Jisoo... well..."

The halt led to a long silence. Amber raised her eyebrows at the sudden quietness. "Well?"

"They almost burned the kitchen today." Seokjin let out a soft sigh through his nose. Kitchen was his favorite place and if anything happened to it, he normally vented about it as if the culprit had done a huge sin.

Amber began to find the atmosphere strange. That was unlikely Seokjin. "Are you sure you're good, Seokjin?"

"Yes, yes. I'm good."

"If you're too tired." She paused to think. "You can ask for a holiday. I know you need it."

"Nah, I'm good. Don't worry," Seokjin halted to fix the USB cord that was stuck in between his phone and laptop. Once untangled, he looked at the camera again. "Besides, I can't let Yoongi and Hoseok handle the boutique without my supervision. Without me, the boutique will become a mess."

"I don't think the younger staff would make a mess to the extent you imagine." Amber took a deep breath before adding, "Sure, they're a mess, but, come on. It would be bad to assume these adults forget their responsibilities at the boutique."

"Not that I imagine stuff. It just -"

"Now I am convinced you are stressed. Stop denying." Amber then spoke in English, "Do you want to talk about it, man?"

Seokjin avoided the screen by looking down. "It's okay. I'm sure this will slide off soon."

It felt weird to see Seokjin like that. Amber thought a lot. Her best friend behave this way and did not seem to have her task given to them the reason. Just before she video-called Seokjin, Yoongi reported to her that he had someone in mind and that he would contact the person to settle this as soon as possible.

Remembering he often bickered with his sister, then it could be the reason. But usually, it would not make Jisoo's oldest brother act like they had done a huge crime. Their arguments were always something trivial and they would get back together quickly.

So, what could it be?

If Seokjin insisted that he was fine, she did not want to push him to tell.

"Let's talk about Hoseok's future assistant," Seokjin said.

Amber thought, if that was one of Seokjin's ways to slide things quickly, then for this time, she would let him. "Sure!" She said. "Yoongi told me he'd found one."

"Uh-huh! We will call her tomorrow. The faster, the better."

"Can you tell me about Hoseok's future assistant?"

"Hold on. Let me get the CV copy." Seokjin was then seen stretching his body to get a transparent, plastic file. He read the curricular vitae through the plastic and said, "Her name's Lee Jiah. She's the same age as Hoseok. I think what made Yoongi insist to pick her is because she is a former nurse."

As far as Amber remembered, Yoongi told her that the person he chose was a student of nursing. Confusion drew in her mind. "I think you got a mistake there. She was a student who took a nursing major, right?"

Amber's response had Seokjin's eyebrows furrowed as he reread the 'education background' passage. He sighed, "Right! That's the correct one."

Amber started to feel disappointed. She stared at the man ruefully. She calmly demanded, "Let's call this talk off. You need to rest."

Seokjin showed a bitter smile.

Amber had no choice but decided to be the one who end the conversation first. "Rest, Seokjin. It's eleven here anyway. I need to sleep."

"Okay. Talk to you next time. Don't forget to share your updates!"

Amber grinned and said, "Sure thing. Bye!" With a light smile, she clicked the red button.

At this moment, it bothered her how things at the store had been doing. Although she believed Hoseok could handle this alone, she doubted if the need to meet an important client would be a part that he could settle without obvious stuttering. Seokjin or Yoongi could accompany him, though based on what she had observed, it did not help him at all.

*********

Yoongi was counting the stocks in the storage room when he sensed a vibration from his denim jacket. He fished out his phone from his pocket. Pressing a button to unlock his phone, he saw an email icon from the notification box. He clicked it twice and swiped the screen to his recent email notification.

An email from Amber was shown on the screen. He could not help but have his eyebrows creased, thinking she should have told Seokjin what she wanted. Just when he stopped at the final line of the email that read 'let Seokjin rest', he finally understood why she sent the email to him.

Without many questions in his mind, he tucked his phone into the jacket's pocket and continued counting.

After he was done with his task, he went out of the room and locked it. Coincidentally, he saw Seokjin walk by. He called, "hyung!"

The younger's call halted the older man's paces. Nonchalantly, he asked, "What?"

"Are you alright?"

A confused look formed on Seokjin's face, nonetheless, he nodded his head.

"Okay then," Yoongi said.

"Why?"

"Nothing." Yoongi gathered a bunch of keys in his hand after he locked the storage. He was about to leave the hallway when Seokjin grabbed his arm.

Seokjin asked, "Did Amber tell you something?"

Maintaining a poker face, Yoongi shook his head, "No."

"Then why did you ask?"

"What-" Yoongi blinked his eyes multiple times. "I can't ask?"

"Not that you can't ask. I just find you a bit sus. You don't usually ask about my well-being."

The curly-haired man scoffed, "tsk, I'll stop asking about your well-being then." Before he swayed his legs to leave the older man alone in the hallway, he turned to face him to say "use the room we lied to Hoseok to rest. Rest well, hyungnim." Yoongi then continued his way to leave the area.

On the other side, Seokjin scoffed when he made his way to the resting room. He heard the older man muttered, "he's terrible at lying."

Taking out his phone, Yoongi arrived at the meeting room and sat on the solo couch that Hoseok usually sat on. Landing his arms on his knees, he unlocked the phone and immediately directed the screen to the recent email. He read the message again.

"These are easy," he muttered as he thought of the 'nurse girl'.

Yoongi was sure that he had chosen the right person. Perhaps, to gain more trust, he thought that he should prepare an unannounced test for her.

He assumed Seokjin might have missed one detail from the curricular vitae after knowing that he was not in a great condition where he would pay attention to the smallest detail.