Jungkook's POV-

"Okay, Yoongi and Chanyeol just pulled up!" I grin with anticipation.

When Tae came back earlier I was so confused about why he got a call from "Sehun" and how he knew Yeri would follow him inside.

He only got about one third of the way through explaining his plan as well as what he has been up to this past week before I stopped him, telling him that Yoongi and Chanyeol should be here when he explains this. That they need to hear what a genius he is.

I can't wait for him to tell the guys what he has been up to and how today went. I don't even know when he had time to do all of this.

At least now I know why he kept turning plans down this week.

As soon as I hear the door being opened I jump up from the couch, taking big steps towards the two coming in the door.

"Hi Jungkook." Chanyeol says with a big smile.

"Why do you look like you're about to meet Santa?" Yoongi teases while removing his shoes.

"I just really want you to hear how today went. For you to hear what Tae did. Come on!"

I take Yoongi's hand in my left, Chanyeol's in my right and pull them to the living room.

"Does this mean our plan worked?" Chanyeol questions as he takes a seat on the couch.

"No. Your plan was shit." Tae states bluntly from where he is standing by the piano, running his hand along the curved edge before looking up at the three of us on the couch.

Yoongi just scoffs. "Was yours really that much better?"

"Our plan was solid! And we gave you all the information you needed." Chanyeol speaks up.

"Your information was also shit. I had to take things into my own hands. So let me begin..." he licks his lips, biting back a proud smile as he begins.

"I went to lunch on Monday with my new friend Baekhyun who I have heard talk about Kai, who I recognized was Chanyeol's friend at Irene's company. I figured that meant he probably knew a few more people with the company besides him, and I was correct."

He takes a step away from the piano to then walk across the room in front of the windows as we all watch him.

"During our lunch, while Baekhyun was talking about each of his friends, I was able to narrow down who I wanted to get acquainted with. I chose Sehun and Suho."

"I don't see how they'd be relevant to anything having to do with Irene," Chanyeol inquires, brows furrowed.

"I picked these two because they are not associated with Chanyeol directly like Kai is so Irene won't be able to connect them to he and Yoongi. I also chose these two individuals because each has unique roles at their company, as well as information I needed.

"I chose Sehun because Baekhyun said he is a dancer and helps the trainees and soon to be trainees, boys and girls alike, with choreography sometimes.

"Sehun was able to confirm that he has worked closely with some of the soon-to-be trainees, including Yeri. She's a bit of a teacher's bet, our Yeri. She adores her 'Sehun Oppa.'"

He pauses as he walks around the armchair to take a seat across from Yoongi.

"Next up was Suho. Getting in contact with him was crucial. He has access to the most information since he is the leader a group and is in direct contact with executives, instructors and the talent scouts employed by the company. The scouts are who I was particularly interested in knowing about.

"I needed him to get the name of the scout that discovered Yeri, which he did. After getting in touch with the scout I was able to get the name of Yeri's manager. I needed her because she is the person who knows the most personal information about Yeri."

I glance to the two men beside me, seeing Chanyeol's got his brows raised in surprise and Yoongi has his furrowed while I am grinning from ear to ear.

Tae is so amazing!

"How did you get the manager to speak to you?" Chanyeol asks.

"I called her and told her I was a journalist. That I was assigned to write an article about the roles managers play in presenting talented individuals to entertainment companies.

"The process managers go through when selecting clients and what kind of talents she looks for when finding individuals to represent. How managers work to get scouts to see their clients, what it takes to be a talent manager, how hard they work for their clients, blah blah blah.

"During our almost two hour phone call I asked what kind of backgrounds or personalities she looks for when finding an individual to represent. Which lead the conversation naturally towards the rising stars she currently works with.

"I snuck Yeri's name in when asking for backgrounds and details on a few of her promising clients. Honestly, with the information she gave me I could actually write a pretty decent article."

After Tae finishes Chanyeol takes a deep breath as if ready to speak but Yoongi does so first.

"Won't she be suspicious when said article isn't published?"

Tae shakes his head. "I told her up front that I was a lower level writer. That I was asked to reach out to scouts and managers, asking them questions about their job to submit to the editor.

"I specified that because I was lower level there's a chance that it could not be published, but that I was reaching out to notable and successful managers to help my odds. When stating things in this way I made her feel important while also letting her know there's a chance the article wouldn't be seen."

"Even with you telling her an article might not even be released, she talked to you for that long?" Chanyeol asks.

"She was so excited to get to talk about her job that I don't think she really cared about being in some magazine. I asked her questions and she answered them all happily."

"And why didn't you just ask her about Yeri up front? Why did you spend so much time on just this?" Yoongi asks then.

He scoffs. "If I would have just come out with a bunch of questions about Yeri specifically that would have been the only thing she remembered about the call.

"She would have immediately reached out to Yeri after hanging up with me and been either excited to tell her someone called asking about her, or she would tell her about some random weirdo called wanting to know all about her.

"My approach may have been elaborate, but this way she will only remember a call where she got to talk about how much she loves her job as well as how much she cares about her clients."

A stunned silence fills the room as the three of us take in his words.

His lips are pressed together as he moves his eyes between the three of us before he speaks again.

"You keep wanting to force things, but that doesn't work. This is a patience thing, not a push-for-info-as-fast-as-we-can thing. Your way will inevitably raise red flags to Yeri, which she will relay to Irene and we will get nothing. So, with all due respect, trust my process. Trust me."

Yoongi grumbles a hollow apology before Chanyeol speaks up. "This is all so incredibly thought out. You did this all on Monday?"

"Thank you! My mentor is a true mastermind. And heavens no. Monday, Tuesday and yesterday." Tae smiles back.

"Three days. You did all of this in three days." Yoongi leans forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Oh, he's not done." I smile, eyes not leaving Tae.

I can see Yoongi is watching me in my peripheral vision with a small frown, but I don't pay him much attention. I can't take my eyes off my friend. I am in awe.

"Well, as you can imagine, the information these three individuals gave me was not shit. So let me tell you about Kim Yerim.

"She is in high school, is in talks with the company to get signed on as a trainee, but it's not official. Her family is friends with Seulgi's and that is why the two are living together.

"She is helping Irene with hopes of getting a personal recommendation from her to the company to sign her. She was told that getting Irene information from Koo about Yoongi will help that recommendation happen. Recently though, the job has evolved into her needing to not only get info on Yoongi, but try to find things out about Koo as well.

"Yeri is also doing this on a personal level. She was told that Yoongi was the one that mistreated Irene, causing her to think she is helping Irene get back at the 'big meanie' as apparently she calls him."

I look at Yoongi and he is nodding slowly as his tongue pokes the inside of his cheek. I figured Irene probably wasn't truthful about him to her friends, but it's still strange to hear.

"And lastly, she is easily flustered by flirting. She tends to get very chatty and over share if you get her talking and don't stop her, which proved very true today. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'd say I'm already ahead of schedule in the become friends with Yeri department.

"You guys just wanted me to get her comfortable with me, and I'd say we are. We exchanged numbers and will be going to brunch this Saturday."

"Holy shit kid," Yoongi chuckles with his fingers interlaced and his thumbs pressed under his chin.

"I know! He's amazing!" I chirp, bouncing in my seat a bit from the excitement.

I look over to Chanyeol who is leaned back on the couch, looking at Tae with a half smile. He's not saying anything. He and Tae are locked in some kind of staring match until Chanyeol breaks the silence between them.

"Well, go on. I'm sure you're not done," Chanyeol says, still smiling.

"Yeah! Tell them about the-"

"Shh Koo. I'll get to it." He smiles at me before looking between Chanyeol and Yoongi. "Okay, I needed some additional information to make me seem more, believab-"

"More information." Yoongi repeats flatly. 

"Yes." Tae huffs. "Anyway, I reached out to Kai, requesting extreme discretion from him as he is a known personal friend of Chanyeol's, and he gave me the names of two women at the company, your company, who help Irene. The receptionist Jin spoke with, Mina, and a stylist named Leah. Both of which I happen to already be pretty well acquainted with.

"This is helpful because the more names I can drop that Yeri can confirm with Irene are her people the better. Plus, now we know for sure who at your company works for Irene."

"Okay. So then what happens if she connects you with Kook?" Yoongi comments.

"She already has. But with what I told Yeri today about our dying friendship there should be no reason for her to care about my connection to him. Besides, they already knew about me. She confirmed with Seulgi that I was the friend with blue hair that goes to class with Koo."

"You saw Seulgi?" Chanyeol asks, eyes widened.

"No. Yeri called her on the phone." Tae says.

"They follow Kook to school?" Yoongi growls.

"Hello, if they have been watching you for years, along with the people that she sees as a threat, why wouldn't you think they have been following him too?"

"Fuck." Yoongi says as he runs his hands over his face. "I thought about them invading his privacy and looking into his business but I overlooked how they would probably have him tailed."

Yoongi then lets out a heavy sigh, "Okay Taehyung, we know how you did your recon work, but what was this brilliant plan you did instead once you got upstairs?"

Tae went on to explain how he had Jimin call him and he said that it was a call from Sehun to peak Yeri's interest. Then he went down the events of her following him to the treadmills and beyond.

"Why couldn't you just talk to her outside by the punching bags?"

"We've been over this. It has to be natural. If I would have done that it would have been awkward and forced. It needed to be her coming to talk to me. Not me cornering her and asking her to please trust me and be my friend like a psycho." Tae says as he rolls his eyes.

He continues on, telling them a little more in depth about the conversation regarding how he and I aren't very close and haven't been since he moved away in High School.

"The key will be to tell her things Irene can look into and confirm are true. If she does find out, if she hasn't already, that he and I grew up together, she will also see that I did move during high school and that I also didn't ever visit. That I really hadn't seen him for a long time before coming here.

"She believed my stories of a friendship lost, me not knowing who Koo was anymore and relayed that to Seulgi. She told her that Koo was out, that I am going to be the new person she is going to get info from." He smirks.

I lay my hand on Yoongi's shoulder, resting my head on it as I sigh. "He's amazing isn't he?"

I hear Yoongi grumble an annoyed, "Sure is."

"Kim Taehyung. I cannot believe you did all of this." Chanyeol looks at Tae with a proud smile.

Yoongi speaks up, "It doesn't sound like you really need any of us three to make plans anymore. You seem perfectly capable of handling this yourself."

Why does he sound mad? This is all good news! Tae was so brilliant and he is in with Yeri. This was a complete win, so why is he acting like this is bad news?

Tae nods, "I am more than happy to report to Chanyeol my progress." He says as he sends a wink to Chanyeol.

A wink? That was odd. Why would he do that?

I look over at Chanyeol and he is smiling even wider than before.

What is going on? Is there something going on between them?

I go over to Tae, grabbing his wrist to bring him to the kitchen with me under the guise of getting drinks to celebrate. When I really just wanted to get him away from Chanyeol.

I don't really know why... am I jealous?

It turns out all we really had in stock was the whiskey and beer Yoongi had for his Irish drink.

Chanyeol ended up having to leave anyway and Tae thought he probably shouldn't be seen with him, so he waited around for about forty minutes trying to get Yoongi to talk to him, not even about the mission but about anything really, before he left a few minutes ago.

I don't know why Yoongi has been fighting liking Tae. You really have to actively work to not like him. People are Tae's thing.

It's almost like he doesn't want to like him. But why?

As I continue to contemplate what could be going on, Yoongi is sat at his piano playing slowly while I lay on the couch, hands behind my head as I look at the lights from the city shining on the ceiling.

I can't take this anymore. He won't talk to me. He has to talk to me!

I swing my legs off the couch and walk over to the piano. I walk up behind him, leaning forward, placing my hands on the keys next to his before applying just enough pressure to interrupt his song.

When his hands stop I lean closer by his ear and say in a lowered voice, "We need to talk."