Over the next two days, I mostly just worked, coming home and spending the evening finishing everything up and getting some sleep. 

I woke up extra early on friday morning and went for a long run- I would have preferred a swim, but the indoor pool that I usually went to only opened for the mornings in April, so I would have to wait. 

After the run, I came home, took a shower and got ready for work. On my way there, I texted Junsu, asking how he was doing, seeing as we hadn't spoken in a while and I had absolutely no idea what he was up to.

Taehyung texted me while I was at work, saying that he would come pick me up at six- thirty. I felt little butterflies in my stomach every time that I thought of the dinner, out of nervousness of spending time with important, high- class fancy people.

Taehyung was one of them too, and although he tried not to make it very obvious in our friend group, he had always been from the easily most affluent family. 

It wasn't that that the rest of us weren't well off, but Taehyung's parents had been in lead roles of this massive company for as long as I could remember. They were loaded, absolutely loaded, but, growing up, I had noticed that Tae didn't have an extremely strong relationship with his parents, since they were always travelling or working. 

Because of that, he spent tons of time living with the boys- they would have sleepovers multiple times a week- and they became like his second family. 

After Tae had graduated, he had gotten a job at his father's company straightaway, and had spent more and more time working, not destroying, per se, but more like putting distance in his strong friendships. 

It was during this time that Jungkook and I had gotten much closer, when we would spend the evenings together after work. Then Taehyung left, moving to live near his parents in order to 'understand how the company worked better so he would be able to inherit the empire left for him.' Those were Jungkook's words. 

When Tae had left so suddenly, I could tell that the boys were upset. He let them know two days in advance, and then he was gone. 

Part of the reason why I didn't like him much earlier was that it didn't seem to bother him that he was hurting them- in my head, the boys had taken care of him practically his whole life; It seemed wrong that he should just leave them. 

But now I felt like he was different- the boy was fun loving, caring, and just sweet in general, and it occurred to me that maybe he hadn't wanted to leave them at all.

Rina came home at five thirty, when I was standing in front of my closet trying to figure out what to wear. I didn't have too many fancy clothes. Especially in the cold weather, I would freeze in a dress. I was about to go into full-fledged panic mode when Tae called me.

"Y/n,"

"Yes?"

"Wear a dress"

"No"

"Please it's inside a hotel. It will be a heated area, please just wear a dress."

"I don't have any not- casual dresses. Is a skirt and blouse fine?"

"Yep."

I ended the call and turned to Rina.

"I need to find a skirt."

Ten minutes later, I was in a pale pink top and a plaid skirt that went with it nicely. With Rina's help, I had gotten ready early enough to watch something on TV for the next half hour.

At around six fifteen, the doorbell rang. I was about to comment on how early Taehyung was when I opened the door and saw Jungkook standing there. He looked a little flustered, but I let him in.

"What brings you here, Kookie?" I asked teasingly, but as I said it, I realised that he was here for Rina. Under normal circumstances it would have excited me that this was going so well, but I was uncomfortable with the fact that just the two of them would be spending half the night in my apartment.

"Uhm... I'm here for Rina," he looked down, his face bright red.

"Woah, there," I said. I could feel the awkwardness, but I needed to get some things clear. "I'm gonna have to set up some ground rules. You," I pointed at Jungkook. "Out of here by eleven thirty at the latest, if I'm not back, which I ninety percent will be." He nodded slowly, still looking away out of embarrassment, and refusing to meet my eyes. 

"And you," I turned towards Rina. "You will text me every hour and tell me what you two are doing. The only things you are allowed to do are watch tv and eat. Maybe play some video games . Nothing should be missing from my kitchen. Nothing." She nodded as well, and looked away. 

"You guys can order food, but don't get my house messy." I went to the cabinet near the door and took out some of my keys. I skimmed through them to find the right one, and then walked over to my bedroom door. 

This was going to be awkward, but it needed to be said. "Bedroom is out of bounds. Don't you guys dare try to do anything nasty in my apartment, or I will actually disown you," I growled, locking the door to my bedroom. 

I looked at them and grinned at the fact that both of their faces were redder than I thought was possible. Smiling at their embarrassment, I walked out of the door to my apartment.

While going down the steps, I almost bumped into Taehyung on his way up. He was looking amazing in a white dress shirt and a black jacket and pants, way more formal than me. I had a sudden urge to ask him if I should change into something nicer, but he said:

"You look great, thank you again for coming with me today."

That kind of shut me up. We went downstairs together in silence and when we reached the main entrance to my building, he walked ahead and held the door open for me. Surprised at his sudden, over- the- top chivalry, I hurried forward through the door and gasped at what I saw.

Parked right outside my little service apartment building was a beautiful, sleek gray limo. It wasn't a really long stretch limousine (for which I was thankful, because I might have just exploded at the fact that I would be going in that kind of car), but it was still among the fanciest cars that I had seen in a very long time. 

It felt so out-of-place, such a fancy, distinguished car in front of a little building. Suddenly I felt overcome by nervousness, though I wasn't sure why. 

Taehyung appeared beside me and placed his hand on my back and steered me in the direction of the car. I was conscious of the way that his fingers fit between my shoulder blades, but was grateful for the support he was giving me.

Only then did I realise that I was shaking like a leaf, and I didn't think it was due to the cold. He walked me over to the door, opened it for me, and I slipped inside. 

The seats were cozy, with plenty of legroom, and when I scooted over to the other side I realised just how comfortable they were. Taehyung entered after me and closed the door, and without him even telling the driver where to go, the car began moving.

Now, I'm not a huge car enthusiast or anything, but this car was amazing. Not only was it gorgeous, it was comfortable, close to silent, and its suspension was incredible as well, making the ride so smooth. When I pointed this out to Tae, he just smiled.

"You should see my dad's car back home," he said, leaving me to wonder what the heck that meant. We were sitting in the back window seats on either side, and there were seats that faced us as well. In front of those was a separator and the front seat, where the driver was.

I wanted to open the window shades, which were blocking the view of the streets, but they didn't have a hook on them. Usually the ones I had seen before were taken off by opening up the latch, but there wasn't one here. 

I looked at the control panel thing, where there were six switches, lit up in a warm light. Were they all for the same window? I couldn't tell, so I poked Tae.

"Which one opens the window shade?" I asked quietly. I know it was just the two of us and the chauffeur, and there was even a separator between us and him, but for some reason I felt the need to be silent, like I was in a place I shouldn't be.

He leaned over, across me to my side's window to click on the right one, and the shade opened up. "There," he said, smiling at me. This was the other smile of his, not the cheeky boxy one, but the kind, thoughtful one that warmed me to my toes. 

It took me a second to realise how close our faces were, and I looked away and cleared my throat. He seemed to be uncomfortable too- we hardly made conversation for the next ten minutes, until we reached the hotel.

Pulling up in the driveway of the hotel, the brief feeling of comfort I had with Tae in the car seemed to disappear completely. 

The hotel was enormous, and not somewhere I would be able to afford to go to myself. It was the sort of place I went to as a kid, when I still lived with my parents, but I hadn't been anywhere as fancy as this since visiting the Waldorf in New York, six or seven years ago.

Taehyung got out of the car on his side and ran over to mine to open the door (I couldn't figure out how to open it, it was embarrassing- maybe the child lock was on?) and he held my hand until we were inside the lobby. 

It was tastefully decorated, and had a huge staircase leading up one side to a private hall, which I guessed was booked for the dinner we were going for. I felt flimsy and childish in my too- casual outfit, and though I was shivering, I could feel myself sweating, too.

"Relax," his voice was there again, soft and soothing. "You've got nothing to worry about, y/n."

"Well, I am worried."

"Why?"

"I don't know what to do, Tae. I've never been to an event like this. My dad is a successful businessman, but I'm not. I don't know what these things are like. And even my father- clearly, since I am like this- is not this sophisticated!"

Tae looked like he was trying to suppress a laugh. "It's all an act, y/n. Sophistication and distinguished-ness are all a facade."

"Huh?" My mind was too muddled to make sense of what he was saying.

"These high- class people? They're just the same as the rest of us, they just put on a show. After all, at the end of the day, they're all human beings, like us."

"They?" I asked, only halfway joking. "You're high- class too."

"My point exactly. Would you think that I come from one of the biggest business families if you just saw me with my friends?"

He had a point. I took a deep breath, and said "Okay. Just tell me what to do."

"Stay near me, smile at everyone, you don't even need to talk if you don't want to. I'll get us out of here as soon as possible, okay?"

The genuinity with which he spoke calmed me down and I followed him up the stairs, mainly focusing on trying not to trip on each step. Before entering the room, he smiled at me encouragingly and took my hand. I plastered a confident smile on my face, and took a deep breath, following him into the dinner hall.

*** 

Five minutes in, I was already starting to relax. Taehyung was doing all the talking while I just stood there next to him, smiling at the people who hardly gave me a second look. There was plenty going on, but Tae and I were trying to make our way to one end of the room, where his client was. 

Tae kept stopping along the way to greet people, but we were making progress- we were almost halfway through the sea of people. His ease with talking to strangers amazed me- I wouldn't say that I am shy, exactly, but especially in an environment where everybody was so much older and seemingly more experienced, I wouldn't have had half of the confidence that he did.

After greeting at least fifteen different people, we finally made our way across the crowd to the client. He was a tall, thin man with a narrow face and round glasses that hung on the edge of his nose.

As we approached him, Taehyung and I bowed, and Taehyung began the conversation. He spoke to Mr Choi about prices and discounts and the trend of the profits and so many other economic- business things that just flew over my head. 

I had taken economics in high school, but I never liked it much, especially since choosing it meant that I would have to drop music, which I wanted to take forward. I snapped out of my thoughts when Mr Choi greeted me. "And who might you be?" He asked politely.

"This is y/n," Taehyung said, before I could even respond. He made no further explanation as to who I was, and the conversation continued until he shook Mr Choi's hand. We walked away, him dragging me by the arm. 

Leaving the hall, we walked down the stairs, but instead of leaving the hotel, we walked through a door on the other end of the lobby that led outside into the big garden area.

It was already dark out, and there were warm fairy lights over the bushes which made the whole place look ethereal. Taehyung was trying to even out and deepen his shallow breaths, which confused me, since he was fine just before.

"Tae? Are you okay?"

"Yep, I'm fine, just wanted to get some air." He looked tired, worn out and sick, despite the fact that he had looked fine just a minute ago. He walked along the path ahead of me, and I jogged to catch up. His face wore an unfamiliar expression- he frowned at the ground, his jaw clenched.

I was shocked. "Tae?"

He looked up at my face and looked away, not holding eye contact. I went closer to him, placed my hand on his arm, and he locked eyes with me. There were tears in his them, threatening to spill over. Tae looked like a lost, helpless child and I yearned to help him. "What happened? Are you...of course you're not okay, what am I saying..."

"No, y/n, I'm fine, I'm fine, it's just that I-" a single tear slipped out of his eye and rolled down his face. "I don't want to inherit this position in the company, I don't want to be the stupid CEO! I don't want to be a big businessman! I just want to be a regular kid and work at a regular company and get to have a normal life." He sniffed, and rubbed his eyes. 

"It's stupid, I know, but really- there are people that are like oh, he's so lucky, his dad is rich and he can probably do whatever he wants, his life is pretty much already made for him, but guess what, I don't even get to have fricking friends when I'm at work! I haven't even ever had the chance to talk to my old friends after starting to work, let alone a make new ones, or even think about a relationship. If I brought this up with my parents, they'd think that was the answer; set me up with some girl who would benefit their financial interests. It's probably better that I don't have a girlfriend though, since I would never even be able to give her time, all because of the stupid company." His voice quivered at the end, and more tears rolled out. 

He choked back a sob, and I pulled him into a hug. "It's ruining my life," he whispered. My face was in his chest, his head resting on top of mine. I could feel the tears from his cheeks dropping onto my hair, but I let it be.

I never realised that Taehyung disliked his job, never thought about the fact that he was pressured into it. Since that had been the idea in his head that he would inherit the position since childhood, I assumed he was prepared for it, but that didn't mean he wanted it. 

I thought about what it would be like in that position- like when my family told me that pursuing music wasn't a viable option to take up professionally, and it would have to stay with me only as a hobby- but with my whole life. 

I tried to imagine having my path laid down for me since birth, and having to follow it even if I hated it. The thought itself brought tears to my eyes, and I hated to think of how hard it must be for Tae.

My heart was hammering from the close contact with him, but I tried to ignore that for now. I had no idea what to say to him; after all, I was nobody to tell him to quit the business. I couldn't make career decisions for him. Besides, he had only studied business after school, so that was the only thing he could work in, right? I turned over the thoughts in my head, but couldn't come to a conclusion.

A sudden idea occurred to me and I pulled away. Taking his hand, I began walking ahead, dragging him along behind me. We walked back towards the lobby and went up the stairs. "Y/n, what-"

"Shh," I told him, and walked towards the buffet. There was an enormous assortment of different foods, and when I say enormous, I mean enormous. The table lined the perimeter of the whole hall, with different levels that had different foods.

"I don't know what to say to the make the problem go away, but there is a temporary fix." I gestured towards the huge buffet in front of us. "Food."

Hey loves! I hope you like it so far. Have a great day or night wherever you are, and thanks for reading this! <3