*Taehyung POV*

I was seriously starting to get tired of the late nights. Technically my job was still a nine to five, but I seldom stopped working before two in the morning, again having to wake up at six. 

Most people joked around when I said that I only got four hours of sleep a night like, you're lucky you at least get that much, but I seriously, jokes aside, need eight hours. I needed those eight hours of sweet sweet sleep so bad.

The only thing that I ever looked forward to in the mornings was talking to y/n. None of my other friends were awake them, they were only free in the evenings when I had work. 

She was always up in the morning, so at least I got to stay sane by talking to someone. Honestly, I wanted to talk to about something, anything, that wasn't work-related. I had been having dreams about expense reports for almost a week now. That's how bad it was getting.

Sighing, I straightened my collar as I waited for Jinhee and Seokmin to come to the conference room. It was a pretty drab place, the walls, flooring and table all the same exact shade of beige.

 It didn't look very professional, as there was a plant in the corner that was probably meant to bring some life into the room, but it had been dead, from the looks of it, for quite a while. Before long I heard the familiar click of Jinhee's heels on the floor outside the room and stood up to greet her. She smiled at me warmly and sat across me, engrossed in the sheets in thick brown binder she had brought with her.

She was nice enough, considering she hadn't complained about me and Seokmin goofing around since we started working together on Tuesday, though I wished she would actually partake in the fun that we had like Rina and y/n did rather than just sit and watch us behave like idiots. 

Seokmin had been awkward around me for about the first twenty seconds that we had met, until he made a horrible joke about bindaettok, which I burst out laughing at. We were then having fun the whole day after getting a bit of work done, until I mentioned my dad's name in passing. 

Seokmin seemed mortified for a second, flustered by the fact that his opening line to the CEO's son was a lame joke about bindaettok. He got past it in a little bit, after I finally managed to calm him down and convince him that I would never fire him because of a dumb joke when I became CEO. If I become CEO, I thought to myself. 

It was Friday now, and we were almost done with the project. The three of us had a presentation that afternoon over lunch, which I was really looking forward to. We had put in a lot of work, and it looked pretty good to me. Tonight, I promised myself, I can sleep for twelve hours. I'd go to bed early as possible, and wake up with no alarm, whenever that turned out to be.

***

Unfortunately, that turned out to be six thirty. After all these days of waking up early, my body absolutely refused to stay asleep past sunrise. When my eyes first opened in the morning, I realised how early it was-there was hardly any light filtering through the blinds. 

I groaned and turned over, desperate to fall back to sleep, but my stupid sleep schedule was messed up for good. I buried my face in my pillow and tried my hardest to fall back asleep, but I just couldn't. 

After fifteen minutes, I convinced my body to get out of bed and slumped over to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Once I had washed up, I dragged myself to the kitchen and began making myself some breakfast. 

I pulled out my phone to play some music, but got distracted by reading the texts on the boys' group chat from last night. I was about to close the app when I saw y/n online. Grinning, I pressed call, and placed my phone on the counter facing me. She picked up immediately, her camera off.

"Y/n?"

"Goooood morning, Taehyuuuuuuung," she yawned while saying my name and I felt suddenly guilty that I hadn't bothered to check if she was okay with calling so early.

"Did I wake you?"

"Nope. Well, yeah. Kind of. I was using my phone but then fell back asleep."

"Oof sorry!"

"Nah, it's fine. I need to get my ass out of bed anyways."

I could hear some shuffling sounds on the other end and her video came on, the phone camera pointing at the ceiling. She kept the video that way until she had brushed and gotten ready. She put the phone up against the counter as she made herself a huge breakfast.

"So," she said, biting into her fruit. "How did the presentation go?"

"Great! I mean, I almost messed up one chart, but it went great apart from that. I think the dude we were presenting to was more interested in the lunch we were going to have, and to be honest I don't really blame him."

"Wow, whotta mood. How was the lunch?"

"Amazing. It was so good, my gosh."

There was some silence for a moment after that as she stuffed the rest of her fruits into her mouth. I could see slight bags under her eyes, but decided not to push to ask her about why she wasn't sleeping since I knew how busy she had been the past few days, and figured that she'd be equally busy today, what with the movers coming in and everything.

"So how much more packing do you have?"

"Uhm, none, really. All my clothes and stuff for the next two days is in one suitcase and everything else is done. I didn't really have all that much to pack, since I haven't lived here for long. A lot of my things stayed in boxes, plus most of the furniture came with the place. It's my brother I'm worried about. Moving internationally isn't easy, and he's managing everything by himself."

"He's coming on Monday, right?"

"Yeah, his arrival is at like five am or something." She scrambled for her laptop to confirm the time. "Yeah. Five o'clock scheduled arrival."

"You going to pick him up?"

"You know I am. The boy got me a house, the least I can do is pick him up from the airport."

I laughed, and the two of us decided to stay on call for the next three hours, while I finished up my laundry and did the dishes, and she called the movers' truck to come that afternoon and cleared up a bunch of stuff that she wasn't taking with her. At around ten o'clock, Jimin and Rina showed up at y/n's place to help her take some boxes down, and we ended the call.

There was still two hours left until it was an acceptable time to have lunch, so I spent that time completing a chart I was supposed to work on over the weekend. Unfortunately, that only took about half an hour, so I still had another hour to kill. 

I talked to jungkook for a bit, but then he left to go help y/n with moving. Bored out of my mind since the others weren't picking up my calls, I went to my closet and organised it, and then cleaned the kitchen while watching some TV. 

I took a nap after lunch, and then went out to the park, did a nice long workout, came home, showered, ate dinner, and got into bed after opening a book. Just looking at the words made me sleepy, so I stared at the pages until I was yawning nonstop, not even bothering to take in what they said. 

Despite these efforts, however, I couldn't fall asleep. For over an hour I tossed and turned, thinking of random things. Eventually I got so fed up of just lying there that I called the boys group chat to see who would pick up. Namjoon and Yoongi picked up immediately, and before long all seven of us were on the call, talking as if there was no distance between us. 

I left the call at around midnight, finally feeling like I would be able to sleep. 

Turning off the light in my bedroom and laying on my back, facing the ceiling, I realised that it was the loneliness that had been getting to me all day.

That's all it came back to, not anything else that I had a habit of blaming- it wasn't my job that I hated, it was the solitude that came along with it, and I had to do something about that.

***

"So, Taehyung. What is it I can do for you that has to do with work on a Sunday?" My father looked at me over the rim of his glasses. 

"Don't tell me that they're making you work weekends as well. You're still in a nine-to-five, five days a week position. Don't overwork yourself, and definitely don't let others push work onto you."

I was sitting in my dad's office on the ninth floor, a simple and neatly organised room, furnished tastefully with only the minimal required furniture. He sat facing me, his back facing a huge floor-to-ceiling window. His huge desktop was on the side of his desk, so we were facing each other. 

I remembered the first time I had ever come to this office, when I was twelve or thirteen years old. It had been more than ten years since then, with various redecorations and renovations to the room, but there was still a sense of familiarity here.

My father surveyed me, but not in an unsettling way. I used to feel the need to impress him, but the past few weeks, especially after my talk with y/n, I stopped trying to be something I wasn't.

Instead of trying to sit up super straight, I leaned back against the chair. Instead of trying to come up with the most professional answer, I just said what was in my head, like a regular kid talking to his dad.

"No, dad it's not work related, exactly. Well, kind of. Not really."

"You're not really being very specific, Tae." He smiled at me and I felt myself smile back without really meaning to. I felt so good when he talked to me like this, like he used to when I was really small before he had to go away for work. 

In the last three weeks, after coming back, I already felt closer to my dad, and I think he was becoming more comfortable around me as well. I swallowed before speaking the next words.

"I think I want to transfer."

"What?"

"I want to move. I don't want to stay here anymore."

His eyebrows furrowed immediately, but it looked to be out of genuine concern for me, and not for work. "Is everything okay? How come all of a sudden?"

"I've been thinking about it for a while now," I began, and I realised that I had. In the back of my mind, I had dreamt of moving away for a long time. "I mean, working here is great. Being near you and mom is all good, but despite that, I'm really lonely, and I just don't see myself being very happy if I live here for the rest of my life. What do you think? Will I be able to work from elsewhere?"

"Well..." he looked away, flustered. I didn't blame him- this was a pretty big decision I'd just shoved in his face so suddenly, and I was asking him to answer.

"You don't have to say now, it's just a thought," I added quickly. He relaxed immediately, but still seemed slightly concerned.

"Did anything in particular prompt it?"

"Uhm, many things, you know, one after another, I guess. I've been very lonely here, especially since I'm at headquarters. Everybody looks at me as the son of the CEO and not as Kim Taehyung, and I just don't feel like this is the right place for me." I bit my lip, suddenly realising that I'd just indirectly blamed him for my loneliness, which was kinda stupid, since in a way I brought it upon myself.

"Taehyung, if you say you've been lonely 'here', then you mean you've been alone for years?" My father looked genuinely worried. "Why didn't you bring this up sooner?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but he stopped me and began scrolling through something on his desktop. I didn't know that it was possible to scroll aggressively, but he seemed to be doing just fine.

"I guess I just didn't feel the need to do anything about it until a few days ago."

"Taehyung." He looked away front he screen and focused his piercing gaze on me. "I'll let you know by Tuesday which branches can take you, and I'm quite sure there's already a preference, knowing you."

I looked at the ground, smiling slightly. "Yep."

"But that brings me to something else." Oh, boy. Please please please don't be I want you back here in another five years to take my role. Please.

"Yes?"

"When was the last time you took a holiday this year?"

What?

"Huh? I don't know, um, probably like the long weekend for my birthday before New Years? Oh wait, that was last year, I'm stupid. I took one sick day this year I think. It was just before the weekend. I had a stomach bug."

"You've taken one day off this year."

"Yes."

"Because you were sick."

"Yes."

"Taehyung, it's April. We finished the last quarter with a resounding success, and you had a large part to play in that."

I wasn't quite sure where this was going. I picked up the bottle of water that I had brought with me and took a small sip. "Okay, so what are you getting at?"

"I think I want to give you a furlough."

I choked on my water. "What?"

" I think," he repeated slowly, "you should take a leave of absence for a while, maybe while you move, and just take a few months away from work. I can guarantee you a position in the company, and while you won't be paid during this leave, I hardly think it's such a big deal."

"Wait but why, everything is fine."

My mind was racing at a hundred miles an hour. What the heck was this all of a sudden? The next thought that came to mind was so spontaneous and new that I spit it out without thinking. "Are you going to fire me?" I meant to ask if he wanted to fire me later, as in asking him if this was his first step towards firing me.

"Taehyung. This is a furlough. An unpaid leave of absence. I'm not firing you." He looked at me as if I had gone a bit stupid, which granted, it seemed like I had.

"I know what a furlough is, dad. I went to business school."

"Then why would you think I'm firing you?"

"I don't know! Why are you encouraging me to ditch my job for a few months?"

"Because I think you need some time to yourself."

"Okay?"

"Trust me, Tae."

"I do."

The silence in the room was not as uncomfortable as it used to be, for which I was beyond glad.

"Okay, so um" my dad cleared his throat. "I'll let you know if a position is available back at home, work wise. But before you move talk to your mom too, okay? She'll be after me again for making all the decisions and never asking her."

I smiled, getting up and walking towards the door. "Okay, dad. Thanks."

"No problem, Tae, no problem at all." I heard his voice as I grabbed the large ornate door handle

I closed the door behind me noisily, but I could've sworn I heard him say "I love you."