A Way To Your Heart - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows, slightly squeezing his closed eyes when the bright morning sunlight fall over his face just as Taehyung opened the curtains.
It's the next morning, they're already in their hotel room Yoonji arranged for them the night before. The sun was bright, the sky was clear, the air was fresh and warm- not so cold and not so hot- a perfect romantic day.
"Jungkook? Jungkookie? Wake up."
Jungkook smiled, eyes still closed when he heard Taehyung whispering near his ears. He just let out a short whine as he lift his hand to search for Taehyung's hand blindly, and just when he found it, he just dragged the other down again to lie next to him, spooning him between his arms.
"Hey! It's time to wake up," Taehyung whispered in between his giggles when Jungkook's soft breath near his neck tickled him.
"Nghh... let's sleep more."
Taehyung just smiled when he heard Jungkook whining in his morning voice, letting the younger hug him while he plays with his hair. It's late but Jungkook isn't willing to wake up yet.
He knew Jungkook has been working too much lately that he couldn't get his proper sleep. So he thought, maybe he should just let him sleep for some more time.
"Where should we go first today? Since it's already fall, the parks would definitely look beautiful now with all those autumn leaves. Let's call the tour guide Yoonji was talking about. She said he's a Korean, right? She said he's been living here in Japan since he was 10 or something and now he's a tour guide here. We can ask him to take us to beautiful places. I can't wait to visit the places, I've been dreaming about coming here since like how many years?"
Jungkook half opened his eyes when he heard Taehyung, smiling when he noticed the excitement in his voice.
"Are you that excited?"
Taehyung wriggled himself out from the arms around him to turn back and face the sleepy younger. "Of course I am."
"I can see that," Jungkook chuckled at how Taehyung's eyes light up. He can definitely see how excited he is.
"Then get up."
"No."
"Do you want to sleep more?"
"Yeah."
"Then sleep. Let me go."
"No."
"I don't want to sleep."
"Let's just cuddle then."
And Taehyung gave up. Because he already knew he will never win this when Jungkook is trapping him in his arms and nuzzling his nose to the crook of his neck. He can't stop himself from melting into the younger's lips pressing over his own, how could he even win tho?
He let Jungkook to rest for the whole morning since he thought the younger need some more time to rest. He's excited to go out but he's more concerned about Jungkook's health.
It was almost 3pm when they finally met their tour guide Yoonji was talking about. The man was in his late 30s and the way he tried to start little conversations with them to make them feel comfortable around him and those random jokes and interesting stories were quite fun and entertaining. He got this tour guide job for a reason- he's quite of a good entertainer and knows how to make people enjoy.
And Yoonji was right. He's a nice person and someone they can definitely trust for their whole trip.
Since they started late, they could visit only a few nearby parks with beautiful views for Taehyung to take pictures for the first day, but they had so much fun together and they made sure to enjoy their day to the fullest.
This goes on and they didn't even realized they've already spent a week in Japan. They visited different places, flew across different cities together and Taehyung could finally live his life to the fullest, capturing each moment of the mesmerizing view of nature- his dream has finally become his reality.
"How is it?" Taehyung put his laptop in front of Jungkook to show him the pictures he just done editing.
"Woahh!" Jungkook stared at the pictures in amazement of how beautiful Taehyung's pictures were.
The fact that he was there in the same spots where the pictures were taken but the pictures felt different. They could definitely show the way Taehyung view it- kind of aesthetic yet has this cheerful, brighter and peaceful energy.
The pictures felt like the mirror image of Taehyung's soul- cheerful yet so calm, bright yet so pleasant. And Jungkook could definitely tell how happy Taehyung is at the moment through the pictures he took.
And Taehyung could just smile as he listen to Jungkook praising him. It felt good to hear someone's genuine praises for his hard work.
"Ok. Enough praising me," Taehyung closed the laptop. It felt good but he kinda felt shy for some reason.
"Why? You're so good at this. Like seriously, it feels like I'm looking at some masterpiece photographs by high class professional photographers."
Taehyung just rolled his eyes playfully with a chuckle, "do you wanna know a secret?"
Jungkook twitched his one eyebrow, interested, "secret? What is it?"
Taehyung smiled pressing his lips together before bending forward a little closer to the other's curious smile, "I studied photography for two years without telling my parents. I even have a certificate with me."
Jungkook tilted his head, widening his big eyes. "Really? Without telling your parents? I thought you said you're not allowed to go out often. But for two years? How?"
Taehyung chuckled looking at the younger's surprised eyes, "it was when I was in college. When I was studying abroad, my parents made me stay with one of my cousin brother in his house instead of a dorm. And he-"
"Wait, you have a cousin brother? I've never heard of him."
Taehyung paused for a while at that and then nodded, he just realized he never mentioned about him before.
"Do you wanna see his picture? I have some in my phone," he scrolled through his gallery and showed the pictures to Jungkook.
"His name is Seokjin, my uncle's son, and I call him Jin hyung. But he left Korea to live with his boyfriend."
Jungkook widen his eyes at that, and Taehyung already understood his reaction so he continued.
"Actually, he was just 17 when he came out to his parents. He was so brave to tell his parents that he's dating a boy from his school. His boyfriend's parents are Korean but live in US and they didn't really mind about their relationship. But my uncle didn't approve, he thought his son is just confused with his feelings since he's a teen and asked Jin hyung to change himself and not to meet his boyfriend instead. He used to come to our house since my mother comforted him everytime he had a fight with uncle, she didn't mind him being that way."
Taehyung smiled, by recalling everything, once again, he realized his mother is such a caring and loving person. Maybe that's why she didn't mind when she first met Jungkook as her son's boyfriend- she knows how hard is for someone in this society to love another with the same gender. And he's happy that his mother is not the kind to object on any kind of love.
"But a year later, when he turned 18, he left Korea with his boyfriend when his boyfriend's parents came to know about their situation here and asked them to come and live with them there. I don't think he's in touched with his parents now but he always call my mom every weekend. And my mom trust him, so she made me stay with him while I was studying. She was afraid to let me stay there alone."
Taehyung smiled looking at Jungkook carefully listening to him, slightly bopping the tip of his nose with his finger, "don't worry. He's happy with his boyfriend now. I didn't know much about his boyfriend before since I was too young back then, but when I stayed with them, I get to know more about him, he's such a sweet person. He helped me in a lot of things, even for my college works, he's so smart and intelligent. And they also knew I like photography and travelling, so they helped me study photography for two years while I was staying with them. That's how I completed my course and that knowledge surely is helping me now."
Jungkook held Taehyung's hand gently as he stared at him, "I'm so glad we came here and you're finally getting to do what you love now. I don't even know how much this would've meant to you. But I'm so happy for you and so proud of you."
"Hey?! Oh my god, Jungkook. Why are you even crying?" Taehyung laughed as he quickly hugged Jungkook just when he noticed the tear rolling down his cheeks.
"I don't know. I'm just happy for you. And I'm sorry. Because of me, you had to delay for 3 months from doing this," Jungkook murmured in between his sniffles as he tugged onto Taehyung's shirt tightly.
"But you're wrong though? I didn't delay for 3 months because of you. But in fact, I got to do this because of you. If I didn't meet you, I would've been stuck sitting inside a four walled office room with a piles of work in my father's company. Then it wouldn't be only 3 months but would've delayed my whole life."
And Jungkook finally let out a chuckle at that.
"Now I get why you were so desperate to do this that you were even willing to marry me."
Taehyung laughed, relieved that Jungkook isn't crying anymore and is back to his teasing self again. But remembering the way he asked the younger to marry him, it sounds so stupid now that he think about it all over again. But his stupid plan wasn't that bad because now, he finally got everything he wanted.
"But imagine if it wasn't me. What would you do if the one you asked for help wasn't a good person? Someone could've taken advantage of you, do you know that?"
Taehyung covered his eyes with his palm at the question, "don't ask. I don't even want to imagine it. I was lucky enough that I found you instead. I can't believe I used to be so stupid."
Jungkook chuckled as he removed the hand from the other's face, "you're still stupid though?"
And he got a nice forehead flick from Taehyung's long finger.
"And you're still annoying," Taehyung scorned.
"But you love me though?"
Taehyung tried to frown but ended up flustered when Jungkook placed a peck on his lips and then deepened it into a gentle sweet kiss.
They've kissed so many times but everytime their lips touched each other, there's always a new feeling that churn up in his chest- as if it's the first time they've ever felt each other. Something more endearing, and a more special feeling.
"I can't say no to that so yeah."
Jungkook chuckled as he lied down on the bed while Taehyung got up to keep his laptop on the table.
"What about your work? You were talking with Hoseok hyung this evening, right? How is your work there?"
"My work?" Jungkook hold out his hand for Taehyung to hold, pulling him down to make him lie next to him and wrapping his arms around him.
"Hmm... well~~"
"Hoseok-sii, why do you look so tensed around me? I'm not a ghost, y'know?"
Hoseok squeezed his eyes at the word ghost, pressing his lips together to hide his embarrassment when Yoonji finally spoke after a good awkward 15 minutes of silence since he sat down beside her to look into a file.
He thought that day on the beach was gonna be his most embarrassing moment, hopefully, but no. He thought he'll at least try to be more careful around her, but no. He thought, at least, he could show himself as someone responsible, but no. Because everytime he tried, one or the other thing would embarrass him in front of her without fail.
One day, he would bumped into her, spilling her coffee all over the floor and he had to buy her another cup of coffee from her demand. Another day, it was raining when they returned from a meeting but his car broke down in the middle of the road and he had to make her sit and wait inside the car till the car got fixed.
Since they work together, it was hard not to run into each other eventhough he badly want to. He tried to be professional as much as he could and things were getting a bit less awkward until the previous day, they had to work overtime and it was very late when they wrapped everything up for the day.
Never knew that night was going to be added in his long list of most embarrassing moment until the lights went off suddenly just when he was about to enter the elevator.
It's was dark and he shut his eyes closed since he was too scared to even move his feet. But when a hand from nowhere tapped his shoulder from behind, he lost it and with a loud scream, he jumped till he fall on the ground. But just when his back touched the floor, it was all bright again with the flashing tubelights of the building.
He should've felt relieved that the lights came back if not for the person he saw once the lights were on- Yoonji was standing in front of him holding her phone up with her phone flashlight still on and staring at him with wide eyes.
Nothing goes right for him whenever Yoonji is around him. After all his efforts of trying to be careful, responsible and professional, he still ended up fooling himself in front of her, and he got so embarrassed for so many reasons he couldn't even count.
And since that night, he had been trying to avoid her again. But since the moment he sat beside her to look into a file she gave him, for the past 15 minutes of their awkward silence between them, she has been staring at him for an unhealthy amount of time that he got so tensed up and start making a few mistakes.
But when she mentioned ghost all of a sudden breaking their silence, he already knew she's definitely trying to tease him for the previous night.
"No, Min Yoonji-ssi. It's not like that. Haha," he was just trying to act normal, he really tried but guess his unnecessary fake laugh made it worse.
After staring at him silently for a good few seconds, Yoonji bent a little forward, making her chin rest on her palm. "Jung Hoseok-ssi, do you have a girlfriend?"
"Huh?" Hoseok almost chocked on his own saliva at the question.
What? Girlfriend? Why out of nowhere?
Never even his dream he expected Yoonji to ask him that. "Girlfriend?"
"You have?"
"No? I... I don't have."
He don't even know why he denied it instantly. Well, yeah it's true that he doesn't have a girlfriend but somehow, he kinda felt the need to tell her the truth for no reason.
"So, have you dated anyone before?"
"I did. Back when I was a highschool."
He don't even know why they're suddenly talking about his dating life. During work.
"Then why don't you date anyone now? Don't you even go on blind dates?"
"Well," Hoseok sighed, "I don't. I'm busy with work and stuffs. I'm afraid I won't be able to give my attention to someone else, at least for now. I don't want them to think I don't care for them. If I date someone, I would want to give them all my love, but I'm afraid they might think it's less since I'm always busy. I don't want to hurt anyone."
He don't even know why he's telling all those things to her. Maybe he was a bit tired from all the works. It's not that he's complaining about his works, he loves his work. But sometimes, it worns him out and he would just want to throw himself on the bed and get some sleep.
They just stayed in silence for some seconds, and then it starts getting awkward when Yoonji kept staring at him, until~
"Jung Hoseok-ssi, will you go out with me?"
Hoseok almost tripped from his chair when Yoonji suddenly broke their silence with the most unexpected question.
"W-w-what?"
Maybe he heard it wrong? Somehow?
"I said, will you go out with me?"
Guess it's not. But if he heard it right, then why? Why would she ask him out like that? Didn't he just tell her all his reasons for not dating anyone?
Or, is she just messing with him?
Yeah. This sounds more right. She must be just trying to tease him.
"Nice joke, Min Yoonji-ssi. Hahaha!" So he just laughed, an awkward laugh to be exact.
"What do you mean nice joke? I just asked if you will go out with me to some place to eat something. It's already time to get off work for today. I'm hungry and I don't want to go alone. What were you thinking?"
Well. That was really a whole joke on him- an embarrassing one to be honest.
"Ahh! Hahaha! It's nothing. Forget what I said. You're hungry right? I know a place nearby. I'll take you there, the food is good there."
Yoonji pressed her lips together to suppress her chuckle when she noticed the male trying to hide his flustered face by making himself busy with arranging the papers.
Cute. She thinks.
She had been working with him for almost two weeks, and she came to know how dedicated Hoseok is to his work. He never complained about anything, just did his best to manage everything. She often noticed him being friendly around other coworkers, cheering them up with silly jokes- he's such a bright, hardworking and undeniably sweet and charming person.
To be honest, she enjoyed working with him more than with Jungkook. Not that Jungkook is not a good person, but he's a quite person and so serious when it comes to work. He's a perfectionist, and would be devoted all his mind and attention only to the work, so it's obvious to say working with him will only give the best results, which is good in another way.
But with Hoseok, it's quite more fun. Of course he's serious, too, when it comes to work. But there's something different about him. There's this kind of happy and cheerful vibe whenever he's around.
Since the day they met on the beach, she noticed him being tensed around her, maybe he's embarrassed for whatever stupid things happening lately, she couldn't help but find him quite funny and... cute?
She don't know why but she just enjoy seeing his reactions.
"The food was great. I'm full now. Thank you," Yoonji said as they are finally out from the restaurant.
"Shouldn't I be the one to thank you instead? You didn't even let me pay for the food. I ate a lot too."
She chuckled as they walked through the streets.
"I was the one who asked you to go with me. And... I'm not a person to wait for a man to pay for me."
"I'm not a person to let a woman to pay for me either. You're the one to pay for everything till now. You even bought me one slipper that day."
And Yoonji just laughed at that, "well, you can pay for your girlfriend when you get one."
Hoseok smiled, "I'm definitely going to give her everything she wants. I want to make her feel the happiest to be with me."
Yoonji just stare at him. She always find him being funny, and sometimes clumsy. But when she remembered the way he was talking about himself before and then now, she found another side of him- caring, gentle and sweet side of him.
"Jung Hoseok-ssi, your girlfriend is going to be so lucky. I can see how you're gonna treat her in the future."
Hoseok smiled at that, "of course I would treat her with love."
"Ahh! I suddenly want to be your girlfriend," Yoonji huffed.
And Hoseok almost stumble on his feet. She has been saying so many weird stuffs lately.
"Jung Hoseok-ssi, will you let me be your girlfriend?"
Hoseok just laughed, he's not going to fall for her jokes again. "I don't want any girlfriend for now. So, no. You can't. And I won't let you."
Yoonji rolled her eyes, "am I not pretty?"
"Of course you're pretty," he said it so casually but Yoonji smiled, flipping her short hair with her hand.
"That's right. I know that. Then why don't you want me as your girlfriend? Don't you want a pretty girlfriend?"
Hoseok just sighed, "Min Yoonji-ssi, did you drink too much? I thought you had just one glass. Are you drunk already?"
"Do I look like I'm drunk now? I have a high alcohol tolerance. One glass is like drinking a juice for me."
"But you're saying all these weird stuffs-"
"But I'm serious though?"
Hoseok kept quiet for a few seconds when Yoonji cut him off.
"Min Yoonji-ssi, I'm... I'm not ready to date anyone right now. I already told you all my circumstances before and I-"
"Yeah. I heard everything. You're afraid you won't be able give them your time and that they'll misunderstand you and you might hurt them, right? But we're working together. We'll understand each other. I can understand you."
Hoseok just looked at her, trying to see if she's joking just like before, but now, it doesn't seem to. Her eyes were serious.
"I... I don't get it. Do you even like me? And if you do, what do you even like about me? I mean... I've been fooling myself around you all these time and I-"
"Jung Hoseok-ssi, how old are you?"
"Huh? Why?" Hoseok gave her a confused look.
Why is she asking for his age all of sudden? Out of nowhere? At a moment like this?
"You look young but I'm sure you're older than me. So..." Yoonji shrugged her shoulder.
Hoseok just sighed, "I'm 28."
"Right. You're definitely older than me," Yoonji nodded.
"Isn't that obvious though? I mean... you're Taehyung's friend so you're definitely gonna be younger than me."
"Then I'm gonna call you oppa from today."
Hoseok paused to turn towards her. "What?"
"What? I'm younger, so I'm going to call you that. Isn't that obvious?" Yoonji shrugged her shoulders.
But Hoseok still gave her a pair of confused eyes. Are they already that close to just call each other like that? Like, they do work together everyday, meet everyday, but he don't think they're close enough to address each other that way.
"But isn't that a little-"
"Aren't we dating already? Do you still want your girlfriend to call you as Jung Hoseok-ssi? We would sound distant y'know."
Hoseok dropped his jaw, confused. Because why not? Suddenly he's dating and has a girlfriend without even him knowing.
"Wait, what? When did we start dating?"
"Just now? I just confessed to you. You don't remember?" She brought her hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear dramatically, blinking her eyes, "Oppa?"
But Hoseok was busy doubting his own existence. What's going on? Is he in a nightmare? When is he going to wake up?
"W-what are you- wait. I didn't say yes."
What is he even saying!
"No problem. Whether you agree or not, I'm your girlfriend from today."
"Min Yoonji-ssi, I think you're really drunk."
"I'm not drunk, but I can be drunk for you."
"Min Yoonji-ssi, listen to me-"
"Oh right, let's go and have a drink together to celebrate for being a couple. Let's get drunk together. Yayyy!!!"
"What? Wait!" Hoseok couldn't even say anything further when she suddenly linked her arms around him and dragged him away.
Well. No doubt. She was definitely drunk.
‐‐‐
"You look so good today."
Jungkook smiled when he saw the way Taehyung was resting his chin on his shoulder while looking at him through his reflection on the big mirror in front of them.
"I always look good though?" He smirked but ended up laughing when he got a smack on his arm from Taehyung.
"Sometimes, you sound so much like Jin hyung. He never gets tired of complimenting himself on his own."
"It's good to compliment ourselves sometimes. It helps to boost our self confidence, y'know."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm handsome too," Taehyung rolled his eyes as he look at his own reflection on the mirror, fixing his hair.
"Of course you're handsome. I've never seen anyone more handsome than you."
"It's obvious," Taehyung shrugged his shoulders at the compliment, winking at Jungkook through the mirror, then burst into laughter when Jungkook clutched his chest and fell back on the bed, pretending to faint from the wink.
They were having a good time giggling and laughing about the silly jokes they made for each other when Jungkook's phone rang.
"It's Hoseok hyung," Taehyung took the phone from the table beside him and gave it to Jungkook.
"I think he miss me so much," Jungkook chuckled as he take his phone from Taehyung.
"You should thank him. He has done so much for you. I kinda feel sorry for him."
"I know. I'm thinking of promoting him when I get back." Jungkook smiled as he turned to answer the call. "Hi hyung. What's up-"
But his smile didn't last even for a minute after he picked up the call.
Taehyung panicked when Jungkook suddenly sat up straight with a terrified expression.
"What happened?" Taehyung quickly held Jungkook's hand just after the call hung up but Jungkook didn't respond. "Jungkook, please say something. You're scaring me. What happened?!"
And after a few seconds of silence,
"Taehyung, we need to go back."