"This is a disgrace to food!! How do you call this food?!" Jeongguk exclaimed angrily, almost slamming his knife and fork on the table.
Taehyung panicked and looked at his chef who was busy serving Jimin. "Ajeomma, he isn't talking about the taste, please don't mind him. Your food always tastes wonderful. He hasn't even taken a bite yet!!"
The chef looked at him and gave him a small sad smile. "It's okay, Mr. Kim. I noticed it," she said. She did notice that Jeongguk was making such comments without even eating the food yet, but his words still did hurt her. Not that she would tell that to her sweet-as-honey boss.
"Jeongguk, behave!!" Taehyung hissed, glaring dangerously at Jeongguk as if he were an infant. "I am behaving!! I shall not consume a single bite of this disgrace," Jeongguk said and crossed his arms, Jeongyeon following right after. If Jeongguk wasn't eating, she wouldn't dare to eat either.
"Jeongguk, stop throwing a tantrum and eat what is given. Or go ahead and starve yourself, we won't stop you. But we won't tolerate you insulting the food, be it Korean or foreign. If you let go and try it once, you'll realize that pancakes are a God-given gift to humankind," Jimin lectured.
Again, Jeongguk somehow couldn't go against him, so he finally picked up his knife and fork and began to tear the pancakes into pieces with a high degree of unfamiliarity, trying his best to copy Taehyung's moves instead.
The second a piece hit his tongue, however, his eyes widened and before he knew it, his pancake was done. He wanted more, but Taehyung spoke up before he could even open his mouth. "Ajeomma, please take his plate away, he doesn't want to eat this dIsGrAcE!!"
"I would highly appreciate it if you stayed silent," Jeongguk said, very politely asking Taehyung to shut up before looking at the chef. "I apologize for my words earlier, madam. I was just new to such food," he said with a small bow that had the chef chuckling at him.
"Yeah, okay, young man, it's okay. As long as you enjoyed it, I don't mind what you said," she said and served him another pancake that he very happily devoured. And so she served him another one.
Namjoon, who was busy checking his phone until then, suddenly gasped and looked up, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Taehyung, don't accept the movie," he said with no foreground. "I'll mail Yoongi that you already accepted another movie."
Taehyung mustered the most judging look he ever could to look at Namjoon.
"And why is that, ajeossi?" he asked sarcastically. Just when he was starting to get excited about the movie!!
"Ajeossi?" Jeongyeon asked timidly. She was scared to talk freely in Jeongguk's presence, but she was really confused this time. Namjoon didn't look too old compared to Taehyung, after all.
"He's just being a drama queen," Jimin said, immediately understanding Jeongyeon's doubt.
"Queen?!" Jeongguk asked incredulously. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
Wasn't Taehyung a man?!
"A drama queen, yeah," Jimin said. This time, even he didn't understand what Jeongguk's doubt was.
Jeongguk's head snapped towards Taehyung and his eyes strangely contained excitement in them. "I was under the impression that you are a man!!"
Taehyung's eyes widened in offence. Before he could open his mouth to defend himself, however, Jeongguk continued.
"Now the prince falling for you makes sense," he nodded to himself and looked back at Taehyung, this time with a smile that had a corner of his heart go crazy. "Even I can take you with me when I return to my kingdom, then. I'd love to keep such a beauty with me."
Taehyung choked, Namjoon choked, Jimin choked.
Jeongyeon, who already knew how straightforward Jeongguk's personality was, wasn't the least bit fazed.
"DID YOU NOT HEAR MY VOICE?!" Taehyung yelled, grimacing at how high it went from the shock of what Jeongguk said out of nowhere. "I'M A MAN!! MAN!! 'DRAMA QUEEN' IS JUST A PHRASE USED TO CALL SOMEONE DRAMATIC!!"
"I see. I shall not take you with me, then," Jeongguk said coolly and got back to his eigh- ninth pancake.
Taehyung looked more offended than earlier, but he decided to let it go. He found another topic to pick on Jeongguk, anyway. He didn't know why he enjoyed bickering with him so much. He had met him only a few hours ago, after all.
"Where are all those pancakes going?!" he asked. As far as he remembered, he saw his chef serve Jeongguk more than double the number of times she would have served him alone.
"My stomach," Jeongguk answered and put the last piece of his ninth pancake into his mouth before looking at the chef for the next one.
"Okay, you are gonna burst and die. You can eat again in the afternoon, she won't go anywhere," Taehyung said after exchanging a wide-eyed look with Namjoon.
Jeongguk frowned at him. "What do you mean? I haven't even filled my stomach yet. I am not going to burst and die," he said, making Jimin snort. Some things never change. "Eat to your fill, Jeongguk, it's okay," he said.
Taehyung rolled his eyes and looked back at Namjoon, who was busy staring at Jeongguk with his mouth hung open.
"Hyung!!" he called to grab his attention. "Let it go and tell me why you suddenly don't want me to accept the movie role. I wanna do it."
"New movie?" Jimin asked.
"Yeah. Historical one. Gay," Taehyung answered and then added, "you're in it too," offhandedly.
"WHAT?!"
"Yoongi told me yesterday that they are gonna contact you today about your approval," Namjoon explained.
"I'll do it, of course!! I always wanted to do a movie with Tae," Jimin said.
"Me too!!" Taehyung exclaimed.
"But Tae isn't gonna be in it," Namjoon said sternly.
"But whyyyyy?!"
Namjoon's jaw clenched, intimidating Taehyung right away. It was rare for Namjoon to lose his cool, after all. "Because I said so."
"Hyung, you are his manager. Not his father. You can't say that and expect him to listen to you. It's his decision in the end," Jimin said sternly. Unlike Taehyung, he was sterner about things when it came to drawing lines.
Namjoon sighed heavily and sat back on his chair, rubbing his face with his hands and suddenly looking tired.
"Hyung, is everything alright?" Taehyung asked carefully. It wasn't like Namjoon to be acting like this, after all.
"Please don't do this movie, Tae," Namjoon asked, looking at Taehyung pleadingly.
"Okay, I won't. But tell me why. Please," Taehyung said. He wouldn't be able to fall asleep otherwise.
Namjoon sighed again and locked eyes with Taehyung. "I just got a message from Yoongi," he said.
"And...?" Taehyung asked carefully.
"They've offered the Prince's role to Jinnie. And he accepted it."