The day starts like any other.
Jungkook blinks his eyes open to the rays of the sun dancing on his glass wall.
He rests against his soft sheets, takes in the yellow glow of the morning until the next alarm goes off. Then he pushes the sliding doors to his garden open, the backside of his villa that hasn't gotten its fair share of the brightest star. He likes to walk on the grass barefoot, likes the crispy tickles under his feet. He stretches his body in fluid motions, lets himself take inspiration from the magic of the early morning and dances to the sound of the birds. He circles through the garden in contemporary motions. He stops only when the first leak of sun hits the garden, a glaze of sweat coating his back, breathing heavily, content.
He fixes himself a quick breakfast because he is trying to be healthy this year as part of his new year's resolution. He has done a good job at avoiding take outs and curb pick-ups for four months for any meals outside of lunch. He isn't committed enough to pack himself lunch from home but he has managed to increase the quality of his mid-day meal by joining the staff petition about the company's cafeteria.
His workplace is a skyscraper at the heart of Seoul. His office is spacious and minimalistic but the best thing about it is that is beautiful view of the Han River. Jungkook wouldn't describe it as breathtaking or out-worldly, rather calm and forgiving. He has a habit of daydreaming, and the river is his friend at such times, letting him escape the ruckus of the office and taking him to endless horizons, sometimes all the way to his hometown Busan. He loves his job, don't get him wrong, but that doesn't counter him from needing breaks. He is an introvert at heart even though his business partners would disagree due to his sociable demeanor in their communications.
He said it, he loves his job.
He is getting his computer started when a familiar knocking song sounds from the door. Jungkook smiles immediately. He hangs his jacket at the back of his chair and sits down while fixing his shirt.
"Yes, Jin-nim?"
A bright smiled, wide-shouldered tall man ambles into the room, composed and mannered even as he jokingly struts to Jungkook's desk.
"Good morning. How did you know it was me?"
"They don't call me Yoda for nothing," Jungkook raises his eyebrows, dividing his attention between his assistant's face and the paper slid to him.
"Of course not. Your Yoda impression is unbeatable."
"Jin hyung," Jungkook cringes briefly, dropping the paper on the table to whine about this properly. That was one time, one damn drunk company bonding party, last year. He can't believe how long-tailed rumors can be. He still hasn't collected enough evidence to prove it was the intern from Human Resources, which is entirely Jin's fault by the way because there is no way he doesn't know who kept boiling the pot, as Jungkook clearly remembers that meme of him in a Yoda costume accidentally popping into his email box.
Jin called Jungkook a piece of work for scolding the entire team but still didn't tell him who he was.
"It's Jin-nim for you. And who told you to drink," Jin dismisses the issue with a pushy pout, pointing at the paper with his eyes. He actually resolves with holding the paper in front of Jungkook's face to make him read. "Besides, you have bigger things than a carnivorous humanoid to worry about."
Grunting, Jungkook snatches the paper and leans on his desk to take a good look at the source of commotion. His morning routine had been enjoyable enough to get him ready for a productive workday but bickering with Jin would always be his first pick over anything. They have a friendship situation going outside of the workplace, which makes it easier to slip into their informal personalities here and there during the hours too. It honestly gives Jungkook life.
This paper though — it shows a problem.
The matter is about the new proposal he was supposed to work on for their next project. Jungkook's research team is funded by the organization to submit Request for Proposals (RFP) during certain times of the year, and they take the opportunity to collaborate with distinguished firms. Some proposals make it and others don't, but their success rate is as high as 70%. This time, Jungkook was very confident with their chances of landing the project as their team has a successful history of handling marketing deals of the type Jowon Group is looking for.
His team is scheduled to start planning the report in about an hour.
"I was briefing through the company's decision committee when I noticed," Jin narrates from the background. Jungkook barely hears him. His eyes are fixated on the name that sits at the bottom of the list of committee members who will decide the winner of the proposal. "Didn't you check before you picked Jowon out of all the others?"
Jungkook blinks, trying to think back to the decision-making process. The funny thing is... no, the answer to that question is just no.
"I... I just went by the scale of the project, how w-well of a fit we were and, and–"
"–I hear you, Jungkook," Jin puts a hand on his shoulder. "But this is going to come up."
Jungkook lets a curse slip. He wishes he hadn't but it's too late to worry about that now when he might not even be allowed to work on this project anymore. His uncle is listed to be a decision committee member in Jowon Group.
"I had no idea he worked there!" he sends a desperate look at Jin, who squeezes his shoulder and offers him a sad smile. They both know he should have been more responsible but Jin won't be going there, because he cares about Jungkook's feelings. "Hyung," Jungkook breaks out of character again twice already in the same minute.
"You don't necessarily have to withdraw."
"I can't hide this," Jungkook shakes his head strongly, rigged breaths leaving his nose. Hiding his affiliation is one thing he knows he won't do, regardless of how he is going to handle the tadbits after coming clean.
"That's not what I'm saying," Jin sighs, circling to the other side of the room. He pours water into a cup from the carafe sitting on the corner of Jungkook's massive table. "You must address it with the sponsor and the project committee first. Even though you won't be allowed to make any decisions per se, they wouldn't necessarily ban you from the project, you know?"
Jungkook is slumped on his chair, watching the waves of the Han River. He wishes they would wash over this mess and make everything right so that he can go ahead and work on the one season he has been looking forward to the entire year. He really wanted to do this. His favorite part about his job is that he gets to be creative with these RTFs and join on the proposal competition with all the other teams whose eyes are on the prize. He has an ambitious spirit, he can't help it. It's what brought him to the head of the most crucial team in the company. And this is the Jowon Group they are talking about, one of the top retail companies in South Korea!
The conflict of interest is driving him crazy. He wants to damn his ethics and integrity and just go for it but he can't. He knows he'd be confessing his ties on the second day of work because he is committed to his principles like that.
He gives his uncle a call just to make sure he is the person on the list, a little hope flickering inside of him when he is asked to repeat the question. But in the end his uncle very happily announces that he was hired by the Jowon Group a few months ago, and Jungkook very erratically downs the water Jin hands over to him.
"At least you are not fired, Kook," Jin offers as they watch the city from Jungkook's glass pane. "I'm serious," he then reassures, which has Jungkook throwing his arms to the side with a seriously stunned expression on his face.
"Why in the world would I be fired?! It's not my fault my uncle got a job at Jowon–"
"Exactly my point," Jin nods fervently. To him, this is a true consolidation, Jungkook notes.
"That could literally be phrased in any form, according to your logic," he huffs. "At least I have hair, at least I can speak Korean, at least I am human–"
"Jungkook I'm..." Jin blinks seriously, stopping his movement all too suddenly. Jungkook is startled too, watching for his next words. "I'm proud of you for overcoming your Yoda complex because despite the rumor at the office, I can assure you are not a carnivorous humanoid–"
"Jin hyung?" Jungkook clenches his jaw to contain the venom on his tongue. He stares his assistant deep in the eyes before sporting the fakest smile he ever managed to pull off. And he says it. "At least I'm not old like you."
His shoulders square in satisfaction as he barges out of his office to go meet the Director, Jin's yelling behind his door eventually dissolving into a globule of air, then a benign bubble of nothingness.
...
In a matter of week, the company assigns an external project manager to work with the proposal team. To Jin's credit, Jungkook isn't made to leave the team entirely but he will not be in charge of the project anymore, although his opinion will remain superior and his ideas are due consideration by the new project manager. He was assigned other duties in the office to fill his hours, like training interns and participating in the marketing department's stakeholder meetings.
Jungkook is not happy with the outcome, though he can't complain. Not thoroughly checking the committee of bidders was his mistake. He would rather discover it now than being wrapped up in a conflict of interest scandal later in the process. There is also the possibility that their proposal won't be chosen, which wouldn't be ideal for the advancement of the company's interests but would transition Jungkook back to his routine work with his team. Sometimes the execution of these proposals take months. He can't imagine dawdling with external duties.
Speaking of external...
He is supposed to meet the new project manager in five minutes. He checks his reflection in the mirror of the office bathroom one last time to make sure he looks composed. His attire is business casual, a cardigan with a collared shirt paired with express pants. April has still been all about cozy wear for him, though the weight of his clothes has lessened noticeably due to the gracious change in weather. He looks good. He heads out.
He runs into a couple coworker friends along the way but he makes it to the office of the director in time. Over the foggy class design of the door he can see the silhouettes of four people, one of them belonging to the director herself. He takes a deep breath, reminding himself to not sulk and knocks on the door. A voice calls him in and he lets himself inside.
He is met with the chilly wave of the air conditioner in the room, the pleasant look his director is throwing in a direction, and lastly, the eyes of the new project manager.
For a moment Jungkook registers him like his brain does any other inexperienced memories, the blazer over the tasteful button down shirt, the professional sitting posture, the hands tied gracefully over the knee, the beautiful features... and then he starts picking on the little details, the mole on his neck, the crispy laughter ringing through his smiling lips, the youth venturing in his dark brown eyes, the night wind lightly brushing over his silky black hair, the bunching apples of his cheeks, and the playful shimmy of his eyebrows.
He is not in control when his breath catches on his throat and heart slams into his chest so powerfully that Jungkook feels himself get dizzy, his knees on the verge of giving out and skin grow hot in a matter of time he wouldn't be able to remember.
"Just in time, Jungkook," the director calls out from the void. "This is your new project manager, Park Jimin."
The name floats in the air, surrounds Jungkook from all sides and strangles his lungs into a painful knot. Jungkook struggles to maintain composure as he puts one foot in front of the other until he is standing in front of Jimin, who has now risen to meet his extended hand.
He is smiling so brightly that Jungkook mistakes him for the sun rays hitting his glass wall in the mornings, the yellow glow that warms his heart. He mistakes him for the endless horizon of the Han River that extends all the way to Busan. He mistakes him for his roommate in college, the one who stole a piece of his heart and never returned it.
"I can't believe we meet again like this," Jimin elicits a polite laugh, shaking Jungkook's hand in pure excitement. "It's my pleasure to work with you, Jungkook-ssi."
It's that moment in which Jungkook realizes that no, he is not mistaking Jimin for anybody else but himself. He is just as blind, just as clueless, and just as confident as the boy he had fallen in love with five years ago.
...
[A/N: Rain check: how are we feeling?! Excited for this book or what?!]