Chapter 3 - Betrayal of Two

Chapter 3 – Betrayal of Two

The sound of Taehyung's snoring pulled Jimin's thoughts back to present day. He was still standing over the bathroom sink in his apartment staring down at the white porcelain bottom. Hearing Taemin's name had brought back so many memories. It was hard to believe that the break-up had happened over two years ago. Jimin went back and forth in his mind trying to decide if he was going to return Taemin's phone call.

Jimin was exhausted. He decided that this decision would have to wait until tomorrow. He showered quickly and climbed into bed. It would be nice to talk to Taemin again. Yet, he had trepidation about the possibility of opening old wounds. This was going to be a hard decision. Jimin drifted off to sleep with a vision of Taemin's smile in his head.

The following morning, the sun rose through Jungkook's window over his bed. Jungkook's eyes popped open. He lay in bed staring at the ceiling. As soon as the morning fog lifted from his brain, Jimin came to mind. Jungkook was still mortified about getting the huge boner in front of Jimin the previous day. "Oh GOD," he covered his face with a pillow and screamed into it. Jungkook had to find a way to push Jimin away; push him out of his mind, push him out of his thoughts, push him out of his desires. Jungkook's mind was being held captive by confusion. The subject of Jimin was too complex.

His days were blurred together. Jungkook wasn't exactly sure what day it was. Was it Saturday? Yes, it was Saturday. Jungkook and the rest of the members had the day off because they had to fly to Hong Kong the next day for a show. Later in the day, they had a meeting scheduled to pack and go through the set list for the performance.

Jungkook's text message notification buzzed. He stuck out his arm and slid his hand up and down the night stand until it landed on his phone. He read the text,

Zico to Jungkook: You up boy? We're getting on the train now

Jungkook to Zico: YES! ETA?

Zico to Jungkook: About two hours, meet you downtown, train station?

Jungook to Zico: Yep!

Jungkook put the phone down and pounced out of bed. He had almost forgotten that his best friends from Busan were coming into town to spend time with him on his off day. He called Namjoon to remind him that he would be with his friends today. Jungkook got dressed and headed downtown to meet his Busan crew at the train station.

By the time Jungkook arrived, his three friends, Zico, Chris and Jackson were just stepping off of the train. Jungkook noticed that there were also two older girls hovering close behind them. The girls were giggling and whispering to each other. Jungkook stepped forward and hugged each of his buddies. Again, the girls broke out giggling. Jackson looked back at them in disgust,

"My stupid older sister and her stupid friend. My mom forced me to let them come. Apparently, they want to meet Yoongi." Jackson concluded.

Jungkook sighed. Groups of teenage girls hovering was becoming a more frequent nuisance these days. Jungkook looked in the direction of the giggling girls and bowed politely. He recognized the taller girl as Soujin. He had known her for years since he and Jackson were small children. But he really had never spoken to her. She was pretty much a stranger to him despite being his best friend's sister. Jungkook huddled with Zico, Chris and Jackson, "We're not stuck with them all day are we?"

"I'm afraid so," Jackson answered.

"Yeah, that doesn't work for me. I have an idea. Let's drop them off at the mall. They can do their thing, we can do our thing. We'll meet up for dinner and I'll introduce them to Yoongi. Everyone's happy." Jungkook smiled, pleased with his plan.

"Seoul has turned you into a genius," Zico said as he punched Jungkook hard in the shoulder.

Yoongi had ridden into town with Jungkook. He was there looking for a gift for his mother. Jungkook knew Yoongi wouldn't like it, but his plan was to introduce the ladies to Yoongi when the car arrived to take them back to the apartments. Jungkook really just wanted a quiet peaceful day with his buddies. It was too bad they had to babysit giggling girls. But he decided to make the best of it as they all headed in the direction of the mall.

Jimin was awakened by his bed shaking violently. He opened his eyes and saw Taehyung jumping up and down at the foot of his bed. "Fuck me," Jimin swore.

"Wake up Jiminie, Namjoon's on his way to go over the schedule for tomorrow," Tae informed.

"Tae-Tae, get down please." Jimin was polite. Taehuyng continued jumping. Jimin reached up with his foot and swept Tae's entire leg. The motion caused Tae to lose his balance, missing the bed and tumbling to the floor. Jimin laughed. Tae did not. He sat on the floor pouting. Soekjin's loud knock at the door, startled them both. Jimin hopped up to open the door for Soekjin and Namjoon. Hoseok trailed closely behind them.

"Morning Sunshine," Soekjin greeted as he walked into the room.

"Good Morning Hyungs," Jimin returned their greeting.

"Tae-Tae, why are you on the floor?" Hoseok inquired.

"Long story," Tae replied shaking his head.

"Actually it isn't," Jimin laughed as he walked over and pulled Tae up from the floor, "he was pissing me off so I drop kicked him." Both Tae and Jimin laughed at Jimin's quick summary of events.

"Wait a minute guys, let me run down and get Jungkook. I'm sure he overslept as usual," Jimin smiled.

"He's already gone Jiminie," Namjoon offered, "He and Yoongi left a couple of hours ago to go down town. I'm surprised he didn't tell you. He has some friends in town from Busan. Yoongi needed to go downtown to shop for a gift for his mom, so they rode together. They'll be back later tonight."

Jungkook's sudden secrecy worried Jimin. They were typically joined at the hip. They shared everything. Why would Jungkook not tell him about such a significant event. Jimin worried if Jungkook was still angry about what happened in the car the previous day.

The five members met for a couple hours discussing the details of their trip to Hong Kong. Their travel manager joined them in Jimin and Tae's apartment. They covered all of the travel details, performance updates and scheduling for their upcoming trip.

"Namjoon!" Manager PD asked, "Where is your passport?"

"Namjoon smiled, flashing his two perfectly round dimples, "It's in the safe Hyung."

"Namjoon," Jimin continued to tease, "and what do we do with our passport while traveling?"

"Namjoon looked down at the ground, "Put it in my bag."

"OR" Jimin continued, "Give it to Jiminie for safe keeping."

"I trust Yoongi with my passport, YOU…not so much," Namjoon teased back.

Soekjin chimed in, "I'm starving. We missed breakfast and lunch. What are we eating?"

"Let's go downtown for an early dinner. We can meet up with Yoongi and Jungkook," Jimin suggested.

Everyone in the room knew Jimin's real motives for wanting to eat downtown. They all knew that Jimin wasn't too happy about being out of the loop concerning Jungkook's whereabouts. Despite knowing Jimin's nefarious motives, they agreed to head downtown a little later for an early dinner.

Jungkook and his friends were enjoying their time together. They had made their way into an arcade where they all played a round of darts. Jungkook was sitting on a chair laughing with Jackson when his phone buzzed. It was a text.

Jiminie to JUNGKOOK: So were you not going to tell me that you had friends in town? Do I get to meet them?

JUNGKOOK to Jiminie: _ _ _

Jungkook hit the home button and placed his phone back in his pocket. He felt badly about ignoring Jimin, but it's what he needed to do. He couldn't deal with Jimin right now. For right now, he just wanted to enjoy a few simple uncomplicated moments with his friends.

Jungkook looked up and saw more distractions coming his way. The giggling girls had managed to track them down in the arcade. The taller of the two girls, Jackson's sister, was staring at Jungkook. Her friend was hyping her up to help her get the courage to walk over and speak. She started towards the group but as she got closer, she diverted her path to her brother. She whispered something in his ear.

"Oh dear GOD Soujin! Really! You have to embarrass me like this?" Jackson's face soured as he listened to his sister's message. She continued whispering

"I don't care if you do tell mom, I'm not doing it." Jackson yelled. "He is on a break. He's not representing OT7 right now and he doesn't need you bothering him. Go back to the mall. We'll call you later."

Jungkook looked at the girl's deflected expression. Ughhh, he thought to himself. Jackson was wrong. Even though he was on his day off, he always represented OT7. This girl, however annoying, was ARMY and she was his best friend's sister. He owed it to her to at least speak and be gracious. He walked over to where she and Jackson were bickering.

"Hello, I'm Jeon Jungkook. Nice to see you again. He bowed again in her direction. Jungkook could hear her goofy friend squeal behind them. This was the first time that Jungkook bothered to take a good look at Soujin. He hadn't seen her in years. Soujin didn't look anything like her brother. She had long waist length blond hair with pink streaks running throughout. She was wearing purple contact lenses which gave her the look of an Idol from a girl group. Her skin was so pale that she almost looked ghostly. She was tall and lanky and very scantily dressed wearing shorts so short that her butt cheeks hung below them. She was wearing a tight tank top that pushed her boobs up towards the top of her chest to manufacture cleavage. Several tattoos were carved into the side of her neck, all written in Japanese. She made eye contact with Jungkook. Her eyes bounced around him as she surveyed his every feature. She was a bit intimidating. She seemed like the kind of girl Yoongi would greatly appreciate.

"I will keep my promise and make sure to introduce you to Yoongi-hyung . We'll be meeting for dinner in a little while." Jungkook's phone buzzed again. He excused himself briefly while he looked at it again.

Jiminie to JUNGKOOK: Please don't ignore me Kookie. I already apologized for what happened yesterday. You said you had forgiven me.

JUNGKOOK to Jiminie: _ _ _

Jungkook ignored Jimin again. He put the phone back in his pocket and attempted to resume his conversation with Soujin. The phone buzzed again. Jungkook swiped his text messages for a third time.

Jimine to Jungkook: Jungkookie, please?

Jungkook to Jiminie: _ _ _

Jungkook moved to put the phone back into his pocket, it buzzed again. Jimin was becoming annoying. This time it was a twitter update. Jimin had posted a picture of himself to the OT7 twitter page. It was a close up of his bare face with no make-up. He was pouting and showing off his plump pink lips. There was a caption underneath that said, "Missing you". The average person reading the post would have assumed he was referring to ARMY. But Jungkook knew this was a personal message directed at him. Jungkook stared at the picture for much too long. He felt his heart flutter as he absorbed Jimin's image.

Soujin shifted uncomfortably as she watched Jungkook's preoccupation with his phone. His phone buzzed again. He read yet another text from Jimin.

Jiminie to Jungkook: I sent you a message on twitter =0)

Jungkook to Jimin: With my friends, can't talk

Jiminie was a master at getting reactions out of Jungkook. He knew exactly how to get Jungkook to respond. This little trick worked exactly as Jimin planned. There was no way Jungkook was strong enough to ignore him a fourth time, especially after the twitter post.

However, this time, Jungkook turned his phone completely off and put it back in his pocket. He didn't want to take the chance of getting lured by Jimin into a lengthy texting conversation. He would turn his phone back on later when it was closer to the time to meet Yoongi.

Jungkook looked back and Soujin and continued his conversation. "Uh yeah, so I will keep my promise and introduce you to Yoongi. Who knows, he may even give you an autograph. Jungkook smiled, as politely as he could. Putting Yoongi on the spot like this was a sure way to guarantee Yoongi cursing him out.

Soujin spoke. "I'm not really a Yoongi, stan. I mean he's great. You all are, but…you're my bias. Her purple eyes were drilling a hole in the front of Jungkook's head. She lightly touched his hand. He jerked his hand back. The urge to withdraw his hand was immediate and urgent. The entire exchange with Soujin was awkward and uncomfortable. She smiled at him devilishly revealing bright white teeth that were perfectly aligned beneath her fluffy filler-injected lips.

"That's it, step away." Jackson appeared suddenly by Jungkook's side. He'd obviously been keeping an eye on the situation. Jungkook was very relieved to be rescued from his creepy encounter with Soujin.

"Well I am sure I can get you an autograph, er-uh, my autograph. Jungkook kept a sharpie in his pocket for situations just like this. What would you like me to sign? Jungkook expected Soujin to produce a piece of paper or photograph. Instead she yanked down her tank top and pointed to the area of skin just above her left breast.

"OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD," Jackson went into overload. "What's wrong with you? I'm telling mom. When did you become a OT7 whore? OH GOD, I am so sorry Jungkook." Jackson was mortified.

Sadly, living the life of an idol had made Jungkook somewhat immune to this type of behavior. He declined to sign her desired spot, but he assured her that once she had a proper piece of paper, he could provide an autograph. Zico rushed over to Jackson, looking Soujin up and down,

"Yo, can I get your sister's number?" Jackson was again horrified.

Chris gave Zico a high five. They all laughed at Jackson's expense. Jungkook thought to himself, "Yes, Yoongi's going to like this one".

Jungkook's phone was still turned off. He missed the messages from the other members telling him they were coming to meet them for dinner. Jungkook and Yoongi had arranged a meeting place in advance. Jungkook, his group of buddies and the "giggling girls" all headed to the designated meeting place which happened to be a Famous Chinese restaurant in the heart of the city. When they arrived, Yoongi was sitting out front with his legs crossed. He was surrounded by several bags.

"Looks like you found something for mom," Jungkook said as he and his gang approached.

Yoongi looked up at Jungkook and leaned slightly to the left so he could watch the trail of people behind him.

"Looks like you found something too." Yoongi was oodling the two girls who were walking behind Jungkook.

"Yes, yes I did." Jungkook introduced the entire group. They all walked inside of the restaurant. Yoongi greeted the attendant

"Hi, we have a reservation for the private dining room. I believe there are going to be 15 of us." Yoongi gave a brief gummy smile to the hostess as she grabbed an arm full of menus and led them to their table.

"Fifteen, Yoon there are only…" Jungkook didn't finish. Yoongi completed Jungkook's thought by explaining the reason behind the number,

"Sorry, Kooks, I forgot to tell you, all the members and a couple of managers are meeting us. They should be here any minute."

They all entered the private dining room and found seats. Jungkook made a point to sit between Jackson, Chris and Zico to assure there was no space for Jimin to sit next to him when he arrived. As Jungkook expected, Yoongi immediately latched on to Soujin and struck up a conversation as she sat down, plopping herself unreasonably close to Yoongi.

Chris and Zico were talking to Jungkook about auditioning for an agency. Jungkook was excited for them and trying to give them advice on being an idol. Although Jungkook tried to engage with his friends, his mind was wandering as he thought about seeing Jimin. He really was irritated that Jimin was invading his alone time with his friends. Somehow, he knew it was Jimin's idea for this "family dinner". It was Jimin's way of regaining control after Jungkook left without telling him where he was going. They all sat talking for a while until Jungkook excused himself to go to the restroom. On his way back to the table, he ran into Soujin who had apparently followed him. She walked up to him pinning him slightly against a wall.

The other members came into the restaurant and took their seats with Yoongi and Jungkook's friends.

"Where's Kookie? Jimin said immediately as he surveyed the table.

"Bathroom," Yoongi offered, he was now engrossed with Soujin's friend, Koomin, who although a bit more demure, still seemed to have a naughty streak.

"Koomin? What a nice name. Tell me about your tattoos, Koomin,"

Yoongi said flirtingly. Koomin had a series of werewolves tattooed up and down her left arm. Jimin didn't even bother to sit down. Nor did he bother to introduce himself to any of the people at the table. He immediately headed towards the bathroom to look for Jungkook.

Jungkook was still trapped between Soujin and the wall. She was leaning into him, pressing her thin stringy body against his. He was not enjoying this. There was a low wall behind Soujin. In the midst of struggling to politely free himself from Soujin's presence, he saw a flash of red hair over the top of the wall. Jungkook immediately recognized the red tuff as the top of Jimin's head. He and Soujin were hidden by the wall separating the main restaurant from the bathroom area. Any moment now, Jimin would turn the corner and see the two of them standing there. For reasons only understood by Jungkook, he thought this would be the perfect time to prove a point to Jimin. Soujin was the perfect person to help him. It was an idea that Jungkook clearly hadn't thought through.

Soujin was not at all subtle about her motives for being all over Jungkook. She was trying to force him into a kiss. Jungkook knew what he had to do. He timed it just perfectly. He watched out of the corner of his eye for the exact moment when he and Soujin would come into Jimin's view. He grabbed Soujin and pulled her into an awkward kiss on the lips. Jungkook may have been acting, but Soujin was not. She pushed her tongue down Jungkook's throat and cupped his butt. She lifted a leg and wrapped it around him. Jungkook didn't exactly know what to do with his arms so he laid one arm on her should and used his other arm to grab her waist and pull her closer to him.

Jimin, who had been smiling brightly, had a sudden and drastic change to his expression as soon as he saw them. Jungkook pretended not to notice Jimin standing there. He knew Jimin had seen it all. Jimin turned on the spot and walked away without saying a word. As soon as he knew the coast was clear, Jungkook pulled Soujin off of him. Jungkook stood there pathetically proud of the little scene he had just pulled off. He thought to himself, "Maybe now he'll understand that I don't want him."

Jungkook looked at Soujin after pulling her away.

"I'm sorry, but, I'm not interested in you." Jungkook said bluntly. "I have a girlfriend, this was a mistake and I just got caught up in the moment. I hope you understand." he lied.

Soujin didn't seem too upset. She pulled away from Jungkook, adjusted her shorts and said,

"Oh well, at least I can tell all my friends that I made out with Jungkook," Soujin said as she casually turned away.

"We didn't exactly make out, you kissed ME. I hardly…." Soujin had already started walking away. She was holding up the peace sign with her two fingers as she walked off.

Jungkook's mind immediately turned back to Jimin. He was hoping that Jimin got the message. He just wanted to be friends without all of the "other stuff". Now maybe, they could concentrate on just friendship.

When Jungkook returned to the table, Jimin wasn't there. Jungkook thought it strange for Jimin to not be there. He fully expected Jimin to be there sitting boastfully full of judgement for him.

"Where's Jiminie-hyung?" Jungkook asked.

"He went looking for you," Namjoon said as he broke open a pair of wooden chopsticks. "Didn't you see him?"

"No, must have missed him," Jungkook lied. Taehyung took out his phone and texted Jimin.

Taehyung to Jimin: Hey where did you go?

Jimin to Taehyung: Going Home

Taehyung to Jimin: What? You just got here. Why leave? What's going on?

Jimin to Taehyung: _ _ _

Taehyung received no more responses from Jimin. He informed the rest of the group that Jimin had gone home. Taehyung knew something wasn't right. He knew Jimin very well and something was way off with this situation. He would have to talk to Jimin later to make sure everything was ok.

Jackson surveyed his sister as she sat back down.

"Where have you been?" He whispered. "Making out with Jungkook," she whispered back. Jackson looked at Jungkook. His lips were swollen and covered in purple lipstick. He was feverishly trying to wipe it off with a napkin. Jungkook looked flustered and extremely unhappy.

"Oh GOD, what did you do?" Jackson was infuriated with Soujin. Whatever happened between her and Jungkook, Jackson was sure that it was Soujin's fault. Soujin didn't answer.

The group enjoyed dinner and conversation. Soujin and her friend Koomin had a great time. They managed to get autographs and pictures from every member. Jungkook's group of friends had the honor of being escorted back to the train by all of OT7 (minus Jimin). Jungkook gave each of his friends a final goodbye hug as he watched them individually board the train. When Soujin came around, he made a point to give her a nice firm handshake while making zero eye contact or even looking towards her face. He waived goodbye as the train slowly advanced on it's way back to Busan.

Jackson, Soujin and Koomin had not been on the train 3 minutes before Jackson lit into his older sister about her behavior.

"I can't believe you. I am definitely telling mom about your behavior. This is Jungkook, one of my best friends and you acted like some sort of groupie. You are an embarrassment. I mean, I know you act like this with other guys, but Jungkook Soujin? Really? The next time we see them, you BETTER not try to jump him again," he ended his rant in a huff.

"Don't worry, there won't be a next time," Soujin answered, "he's so gay." Jackson spun around and glared at Soujin. Her expression remained resolute. Jackson's mouth dropped open.

** The members usually took two separate cars when they traveled as a group. This time however, since Jimin was gone, Jungkook squeezed into the car with the other five. He couldn't help but think about Jimin. He missed him during dinner. Jungkook knew he was probably a little angry to see him and Soujin kissing, but he knew that Jimin would get over it within the next couple of hours and then they could go back to things being normal.

As the evening wore on, Jungkook became a little concerned that he hadn't heard from Jimin. In fact, he hadn't heard from him since he abruptly left the restaurant. It was unusual for Jimin to not even text him. He checked his phone to make sure he remembered to turn it back on. The phone was on. He went back to the twitter page to look at the picture Jimin had posted earlier in the day. The picture was so beautiful.

Jimin was shaking. He laid across his bed in the fetal position feeling completely betrayed. He wasn't stupid, he knew the kiss between Jungkook and the girl was completely staged for his benefit. But it still hurt. Jimin couldn't get over how mean-spirited Jungkook could be. This was a callous act, directed towards Jimin with the intention of hurting him. Jungkook did it on purpose. No one purposely hurts a person they care about. It was becoming clear that Jungkook didn't care about him. In fact, Jungkook only cared about his self. Jimin was tired of chasing him. After all these years, after all they had been through, for Jungkook to still behave this way (childish, selfish, immature, stupid) was unacceptable. Jimin was over it. Everytime they took one step forward, they would take several back. This was the final straw. Jimin was now beginning to realize that the incident in the car just made things worse between them, not better.

Jimin was startled when his phone range. He immediately thought it was Jungkook. He had every intention of ignoring it but when he looked at the caller ID, he saw that it was his brother Alex. He was relieved to see his brother's number. Alex always had an uncanny ability to call at the best possible time. Tonight was no exception. He was calling just when Jimin needed him most. Jimin answered in a low painful voice,

"Hey"

"What's up Chim?" a cheerful voice echoed from the other end.

"Hey," Jimin repeatedly solemnly.

"You don't sound so good. What's going on?" Alex prepared himself.

Up until this very moment, Jimin had managed not to cry. Something about the kindness and sincerity in his brother's voice let Jimin know it was ok to let it out. Jimin replied through tears,

"I saw him kissing someone else Alex."

"I assume you're referring to Jungkook?" Alex, very much aware of the history surrounding this K-Drama, knew immediately that "HE" could only mean Jungkook.

"It was a girl, a very pretty girl. She wasn't even his type," A few warm tears trickled down Jimin's face. "He did it to hurt me Alex."

"Jimin-hyung – you know Jungkook's an idiot. Why do you continue to let his senseless actions affect you?" Alex laughed. Jimin sniffled on the other end. Alex continued, "There are three things that I know about Jungkook 1) He's not the most mature being 2) He doesn't always think about the consequences of his actions and 3) He cares very, very deeply for you. I know that for a fact. I've seen the lengths that he will go to, to have you to himself.

"You don't intentionally hurt someone that you "care" about, Alex," Jimin countered.

"I am not taking sides here, but don't you sometimes play the exact same games with him? I mean, you aren't exactly subtle with your flirting, are you?" Alex proceeded gently.

Jimin didn't want to hear this. He wanted his brother to be unequivocally on his side. "I'm just saying, maybe he was trying to play your game."

Jimin sniffled again, "No Alex, this was something different."

"You think something instigated this?" Alex said caringly.

"Something happened yesterday. I didn't handle it the right way. Let's just say, for the first time ever, Jungkook responded to me…physically. I thought it meant that he was finally seeing me differently."

"OHH!" Said Alex, "let's stop right there. I don't need to hear any more of that."

"He's confused Alex, but that's no excuse to keep pushing me away. I'm tired. I believe Jungkook and I may be unrequited lovers. It's time to move on." Jimin concluded.

"For as long as I can remember, it's been Jungkookie this, Jungkookie that. I don't think you're capable of moving on. But I support you. Whatever you decide to do." Alex accepted his big brother's claims of "moving on" with a great deal of skepticism.

"Thanks Alex. On a brighter note - I do have some good news. Guess who called me yesterday?" Jimin changed the subject.

"Santa?" Alex quipped.

"No smart ass. Taemin." Jimin sat up in bed with a little bit of excitement in his voice.

"Taemin! What's he calling for? I thought we got rid of him over two years ago. I guess our plan wasn't fool proof." Alex laughed hard to himself.

"I have no idea why he was calling. He left a message with Taehyung and left his number for me to call him back." Jimin took out the piece of paper with Taemin's number on it.

"You're aren't going to call him are you? I mean, hasn't that ship sailed? The break up wasn't exactly pleasant. Plus, he hurt you. I don't like that." Alex chimed in.

"Oh..I see, you're perfectly ok with Jungkook hurting me, because you like him?" Jimin's voice rose a little angrily.

"You know that 's not what I meant." Alex tried to defend his position.

'I'm going to call him. I just decided. Plus, I really do owe him an apology. I was so wrong the way I handled things back then. I was still young, you know. This situation with Jungkook has made me realize that it's time to make things right with him." Jimin continued to play with the piece of paper with Taemin's number on it.

"We all were young Jiminie. I'm sure that he knows you regret how things went down. He probably regrets it too. You don't need to actually TALK to him to set things right. Send him a note or something," Alex was partially kidding, but mostly serious.

"Alex, you're being silly. Besides, if I'm really going to move on from Jungkook, I think this is a good place to start. Jungkook was the reason that I mishandled the situation in the first place." Jimin thought pensively for a moment. The phone was silent. "Alex?"

"Yeah Chim," Alex, completely unguarded, should have picked up on the curious inquisition in Jimin's voice.

"What did you mean when you said, you guess your plan wasn't fool proof?" Alex's stomach jumped through his throat. That simple slip of the tongue jeopardized exposing a secret that he and Jungkook had held for over two years.

"Nothing, it was just a phrase," Alex tap-danced, hoping that Jimin would drop it.

"Alex, I am your hyung. Don't lie to me please. What did you mean by "plan"? What plan? And another thing, what lengths would Jungkook go through to keep me to himself? How would you know?" Jimin was starting to piece some things together. "Alex?"

Shit, fuck, shit shit! Alex thought to himself. Jimin was relentless when he smelled a lie. Alex knew he was busted. He tried to do some quick thinking to come up with the story that would do the least amount of damage possible.

"Alex!" Jimin yelled, "What. Did. You. Do?"

Alex took a deep breath. There was no escaping this and he knew it.

"Don't be mad Jiminie. We only wanted to do what was best for you. It was Jungkook's idea." Alex felt badly about throwing Jungkook to the wolves, but he felt strongly that if he was going to tell this, he needed to tell Jimin the complete truth. He continued speaking,

"Remember when you and Tae were at the cabin a couple years ago? The night you broke up? Well, Jungkook barging in on you two wasn't exactly a coincidence. We planned it. Me and a friend drove him up to the cabin. I told him which cabin you were staying. We were afraid that you might not go through with the break up if you didn't have a little "push". You were miserable Jiminie. You have so much strength, but when it came to ending things with Taemin, you always seemed to back down. We knew that if Jungkook were to show up, it would irritate Taemin and well - speed things along. Jungkook wouldn't admit it, but I don't think he liked you and Taemin being together. Plus he was so worried about you. He didn't want you up there alone with Taemin. He wanted to protect you.

There was a long pause. Through the eerie silence, Alex felt that he could hear the wheels of Jimin's mind turning as it processed the severity of this betrayal. After an eternity, Jimin spoke.

"How dare he. He doesn't want me, but he doesn't want anyone else to have me either. What kind of macho bullshit is that. Do you know how much worse you two made things? You were playing with some very raw emotions. Things could have gotten violent, hell they almost did.

"Jungkookie was there to protect you Jiminie, he would have never let anything happ…." Jimin cut in

"It's not about that you fool! This was a moment that you took from me. I had toiled for months over how to break things off with Taemin. The one thing I wanted most, the ONE thing that I wanted most was to do it with respect and dignity. You two took that away from me. From him. You escalated a situation that could have been resolved peacefully. You had to know that Taemin was going to blame Jungkook. You had to know that I was not going to allow him to do that. You had to know this. You two fools. I can expect that kind of shit from Jungkook, but not you Alex. You're my brother. I have lived with regret from that night for two years. TWO FUCKING YEARS. That's two years that I will never get back."

Alex was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry Chim. I guess we didn't think about…" he trailed off again.

"Right, you didn't think. Same bullshit that I have been dealing with Jungkook for all of these years. He doesn't give two fucks about other people's feelings. It's all about what he wants. He wanted me and Taemin apart. Nothing else mattered. For your information, I was going to break up with him. I didn't need your little intervention. All you did was destroy my attempts at salvaging the last respectful moments of a broken relationship."

Alex said one last thing before Jimin hung up the phone on him, "Jiminie, I need to say something in Jungkook's defense. When he found out about Kai and Taemin…"

"Wait! Jungkook knew? You knew? And neither of you told me?" Jimin interrupted with a definite tone of disgust in his voice.

Alex continued to speak, "I didn't know. But Jungkook found out through his friend Zico who was there the night they hooked up at a party. He saw them make out and then go up to Kai's hotel room. Zico is the one who told Jungkook. Look Jimin, we were young. Jungkook didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to tell you. He didn't tell me about it until he was here for Christmas. That is when he came up with the plan. He had to make sure that you got out of that relationship. He didn't want to see you continue to get hurt by someone who was lying to you. He was just as surprised as I was to learn that you already knew about Taemin's cheating. I really think, deep down, that he loves you Jiminie…more than just a brother. I am so sorry Jiminie. Please forgive me. Forgive Jungkook too. His intentions were pure. I promise." Alex ended his plea.

Jimin didn't speak any further. He hung up the call without even saying goodbye to his brother.