Jungkook stood outside Taehyung's office door for a moment longer than necessary. The neatly folded coat rested over his arm, still carrying the faint scent he had noticed earlier that morning. Expensive. Clean. Unmistakably Taehyung. The memory of waking up with it draped over his shoulders returned to him again, bringing back the same awkward heat to his face.
He had not known what to do with it then. For a moment he had simply sat there staring at it like an idiot, trying to process the fact that Taehyung must have seen him asleep at his desk. Which meant he also saw the finished report. Jungkook knocked lightly.
"Come in."
Taehyung's voice came from inside, calm and composed as usual. Jungkook pushed the door open and stepped inside the office. Taehyung sat behind his desk, already dressed perfectly as always, eyes focused on the papers in front of him. The morning light filtered through the large windows behind him, casting a quiet glow across the room. For a brief moment Jungkook wondered if he had imagined the coat. He walked forward and placed it carefully on the desk.
"I came to return this."
Taehyung glanced at the coat briefly before lifting his eyes to Jungkook. "Did you finish the report?"
Jungkook nodded. "It's on my desk."
Taehyung leaned back in his chair slowly. "Interesting."
Jungkook waited. For a moment he expected at least some acknowledgment. Even a simple nod would have been enough. Instead Taehyung's expression hardened slightly.
"You stayed in the office all night."
It was not a question. Jungkook frowned. "Yes."
Taehyung folded his hands together on the desk. "How dedicated."
The words sounded like praise. The tone was not. Jungkook felt the shift immediately. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Taehyung's gaze sharpened slightly. "It means you are either very hardworking," he said calmly, "or very calculating."
Jungkook blinked. "Calculating?"
"Yes."
Jungkook stared at him for a moment, unsure if he had heard correctly. "I stayed because you gave me work to finish."
Taehyung gave a small, humorless smile. "And by doing so, you made sure everyone in the office would notice."
Jungkook's confusion quickly turned into irritation. "Notice what?"
Taehyung leaned forward slightly. "That you were forced to stay overnight because of me."
The accusation hung in the air. Jungkook felt something twist sharply in his chest. "That's not what happened."
"Isn't it?"
"No."
Taehyung's eyes did not leave his face. "You think I do not understand how these things work?"
Jungkook frowned more deeply.
"You stayed here all night," Taehyung continued, his voice calm but cutting. "You made sure people saw you asleep at your desk. The hardworking junior employee suffering under a harsh boss."
Jungkook's hands clenched slightly at his sides. "You're serious right now?"
Taehyung ignored the question completely.
"There is an election coming soon," he said instead. "The shareholders will vote for the next CEO. Public perception matters more than people think."
Jungkook felt disbelief slowly rising inside him. "So you think I stayed all night just to ruin your reputation?"
Taehyung tilted his head slightly. "It would not be the first time someone tried."
Jungkook let out a short, incredulous laugh. "You're unbelievable."
Taehyung's expression cooled further. "Watch your tone."
"No." The word slipped out before Jungkook could stop it.
Taehyung's brows drew together slightly. Jungkook took a step closer to the desk.
"You gave me work," he said, his voice tight with frustration. "I did the work. That's it."
"You overdid it."
"You told me to prove you wrong."
The words landed between them with weight. For a moment Taehyung said nothing. Jungkook continued before he could interrupt. "You think I stayed all night for some stupid office politics? I stayed because you challenged me."
Taehyung's eyes narrowed slightly. "That was a mistake."
Jungkook blinked. "What?"
"You should have gone home."
Jungkook felt anger begin to simmer beneath the exhaustion still lingering in his body. "Then maybe you shouldn't have given me the deadline."
Taehyung stood up slowly from his chair. The movement immediately changed the energy in the room.
"You are still young," he said. "You do not understand how quickly things can turn against someone in my position."
Jungkook shook his head. "You're not even listening."
"I am listening very carefully."
"No, you're assuming."
Taehyung stepped around the desk. "And you are being naïve."
Jungkook scoffed. "I stayed because I wanted to prove I could do the job."
Taehyung's voice dropped slightly. "Or because you wanted everyone to see you trying."
Jungkook felt something inside him snap. "You think I care that much about what people here think?"
Taehyung did not answer immediately. Jungkook ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
"You know what?" he muttered. "Forget it."
He turned toward the door. Taehyung spoke again before he could leave. "You should be more careful."
Jungkook stopped but did not turn around. "With what?"
"With the image you create."
Jungkook let out a tired breath. "You're the one creating an image right now."
Taehyung's voice hardened. "I am protecting mine."
Jungkook finally turned back to look at him. For a moment neither of them spoke. Then Jungkook shook his head slowly. "You know what the worst part is?"
Taehyung remained silent. "I actually thought you left that coat because you felt bad."
The words slipped out quietly. Taehyung's expression shifted slightly. But Jungkook had already turned again.
"Next time," Jungkook added without looking back, "don't bother."
He opened the door and walked out before Taehyung could respond. The office outside had begun to fill with the usual quiet activity of the morning, but Jungkook barely noticed as he returned to his desk.
Inside the office behind him, Taehyung remained standing where he was. His eyes drifted to the coat resting on the desk. Then to the closed door Jungkook had just walked through. A faint tension settled in his chest. Because for the first time during that entire conversation, one thought had refused to leave his mind. He had not meant to accuse him. But somehow the words had come out that way anyway.
Jungkook returned to his desk with far more force than necessary, the chair scraping lightly against the floor as he sat down. His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment, but the numbers on the screen refused to make sense anymore. His mind was still replaying the conversation from Taehyung's office.
The accusation, the tone and he way Taehyung had looked at him as if he were plotting something. Hannah noticed almost immediately. She rolled her chair closer, glancing at him carefully. "You look like you're about to punch your computer."
Jungkook let out a dry laugh. "I might."
She leaned her elbow on the desk. "What happened?"
For a moment Jungkook considered brushing it off, but the frustration sitting in his chest was too heavy to ignore. The words started spilling out before he could stop them.
"I went to return his coat," he began, lowering his voice slightly. "You know the one he left on me while I was asleep. I thought maybe he'd at least say something about the report."
Hannah simply nodded.
"But instead he starts accusing me of staying overnight just to make him look bad before the shareholders vote on the CEO position." Jungkook ran a hand through his hair, still irritated. "Like I'm some kind of manipulative office villain."
Hannah stayed quiet.
"I told him he was the one who challenged me to prove him wrong," Jungkook continued. "But he kept talking about perception and politics like I planned the whole thing."
He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. "I swear I don't understand that man."
Hannah watched him vent without interrupting, her expression thoughtful but calm. Jungkook sighed.
"And the worst part is I actually thought he left the coat because he felt bad."
She still did not respond, she just listened. While inside Taehyung's office, he had not moved much since Jungkook walked out earlier that morning. The door had remained closed the entire day, leaving the rest of the office to quietly speculate while work continued as usual outside.
The report Jungkook had finished lay open on Taehyung's desk now. Every page had been reviewed twice already. The numbers were solid, the projections adjusted exactly the way Taehyung had demanded. Even the sections he expected Jungkook to struggle with had been carefully corrected.
It irritated him more than he wanted to admit. Because the work was good. Very good for someone his age. Taehyung leaned back in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose before glancing at the time. The day had passed faster than he realized, though he had barely spoken to anyone since morning.
His phone buzzed quietly against the desk. Matt. The name flashed across the screen with a new message.
"Did you disappear on me this morning on purpose?"
Taehyung stared at it for a moment but did not reply. A few seconds later another message arrived.
"You left before I even woke up."
Still nothing. Taehyung locked the screen and placed the phone face down on the desk. Silence returned to the room, broken only by the distant muffled sounds of activity from the office outside. The phone buzzed again.
"Tae?"
Taehyung did not look at it this time. Instead he leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, letting the unanswered messages sit there while his thoughts wandered elsewhere. Back to the morning. Back to Jungkook's frustrated voice and the disappointment in his eyes. Taehyung exhaled quietly. Whatever conversation Matt wanted to have would have to wait. For the rest of the day he stayed inside the office, the door closed, ignoring every message that appeared on his phone.