Butterfly | Park Jimin [Book II]

16: Speculations

[the media is probably every reader right at this point 😂]

THIRD PERSON

The conference room initially held tranquility with only the sound of a few pages of paper being turned. In walked Dongsun whistling to a tune as he glanced around. When he spotted the unfamiliar person in the room, he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

"Who do we have here?" asked Dongsun.

"This is Kihyun. He's taking over Haneul for this project," Jimin answered with a flat tone, gesturing towards Kihyun. Dongsun smiled with amusement and acquainted himself with Kihyun with a firm handshake.

Meanwhile, Jimin kept silent.

After his argument with Haneul last night, his mind remained in its troubled state. He wasn't that dense—never when it came to her—and he knew it wasn't really in Haneul's character to stoop that low just to make fun of him. No. She was better than that. And perhaps Jimin was dismayed at himself for letting his emotion get the best of him instead of seeing right through the situation.

With all the questions lingering in his mind, he could only trace a few dots here and there for any possible answer. Which led him to the point where everything seemed to take its major turn. Dongsun's appearance. From there, Jimin had his own speculations about the man.

"So where's Ms. Min Haneul? Breaking off her contract again, I see?" Dongsun chuckled, a lopsided grin formed on his lips. "She's a notorious quitter. That's not good."

At this, Jungkook couldn't help but ball his hand into a fist, his jaw tightened and he was so close to punching Dongsun. But being the professional he was, he didn't act on his anger. He knew Haneul would be disappointed if he did.

"If I were you, I'd drop her off. Your team is going to get a bad reputation," Dongsun added.

Jungkook's dead staring eyes were like daggers being thrown at Dongsun. His fist pounced lightly on the wooden surface, and he accidentally, on purpose, dropped the heavy binder book off the table.

Not exactly aware of the situation, Kihyun subtly observed Jungkook and shifted his gaze towards the two other men in the room. Trying to read the atmosphere and not pry too much, he busied himself with his work. After all, the incident with Haneul did not reach him.

"Don't think I don't know," Jungkook muttered before he rolled his eyes to the side and picked up the book.

It had been almost a year ago, yet Jungkook understood that it wasn't something someone could just forget. Haneul had all the right to act the way she did with Dongsun around.

Whilst Jungkook ignored Dongsun for the rest of the conference, the latter did not feel any guilt and even had the guts to smile and shake his head.

Jimin, who had kept his calm, witnessed the whole thing. He couldn't wait for the meeting to end. He wasn't going to delay one day more to find the answers when it was crystal clear that Jungkook knew something.

↠

"No, it only happened once. Well, twice now, with you," Jungkook replied when Jimin had questioned if Haneul often backed out on work projects.

"Who was the first?"

Jungkook slowly glanced at Jimin, hesitation plastered all over his face and sighed. "Uhm, hyung, I don't think you'd want to know."

"I'm gonna pretend you never told me."

Jungkook poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue. His mouth parted, but nothing came out for the first few seconds. Until finally, he gave in. "Mr. Choi."

"Choi Dongsun?"

"Yes, hyung," Jungkook answered, not tearing his eyes away from the paper. As someone who respected Haneul, he was worried and a bit guilty for confiding this information to Jimin.

"What happened?"

"Sorry hyung, I don't think I'm in the place to tell you. It's... kind of a sensitive matter for noona."

But that was more than enough for Jimin. If he couldn't squeeze anything out from Jungkook anymore, at least he found the key to everything.

Just what in the world could that Choi Dongsun possibly done?

"Thanks, Jungkook. I owe you one."

Jungkook paused what he was doing. "I actually feel like I betrayed Haneul-noona for telling you this." An empty chuckle escaped his lips. "So hyung, just take care of her in return. Make sure she's okay."

With a faint smile on his lips, Jimin nodded his head. In fact, he didn't really need Jungkook to tell him what to do.

So before Dongsun had left, Jimin made sure he wouldn't miss his chance to confront his suspect. When he spotted him about to leave the office, he caught up to him.

"Mr. Park," Dongsun greeted casually, unaware of Jimin's intention. "Anything I could help you with?"

"Choi Dongsun," Jimin began, his jaw clenching by a fraction. He didn't have time to beat around the bush. "Tell me... what exactly happened with you and Ms. Min Haneul?"

"Is there any reason for the sudden question?" Dongsun's face lit up with interest.

"I just heard some things," Jimin nonchalantly told him and Dongsun snorted.

"Don't tell me that you believe circulating gossips now, Mr. Park? Or did she tell you herself?" He clicked his tongue with sarcasm and wheezed. "What did she tell you? That I forced a kiss on her and tried to do something like what that coconut head believes? Really, that girl was too desperate to create lies against me. She couldn't even prove it, it's quite hilarious."

But Jimin's mind had long snapped at the mention of him forcing a kiss on Haneul. He knew well that it could have actually happened, he knew damn well that as much as he hated it, Haneul could really be vulnerable up to that point, and every possible scenario thereafter burned in his head. His nostrils flared in anger.

"You what?" Jimin huffed in disbelief.

The guy looked just as surprised as Jimin. Dongsun furrowed his eyebrows. "What's got you so worked up, Mr. Park?"

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Jimin blatantly demanded.

Dongsun's eyes widened, confused and alarmed at the unforeseen outrage. Before he could even reply, Jimin's fist landed straight on his face.