"Hoseokie-Hyung, could we talk?"
Hoseok grabs a towel from his bag and wipes the sweat from his face, "Sure Jiminie. What's up?"
Jimin looks around even though its only the two of them inside the practice room. He sits down on the floor in front of Hoseok. He looks nervous for some reason, slight fidgety and doesn't stop biting his bottom lip.
"Um, the other day I saw something," Jimin whispers low. Hoseok scoots in closer to hear better. "You know the day that Jin-hyung ran out of the breakfast hall? The day we found him in the waiting room with General Min?"
Hoseok nodded. It had been a weird thing to witness. They had found Jin but he was crying in the waiting and General Min was there with him, just coldheartedly staring as snot was coming out of their hyung's nostrils.
Thinking that Jin was crying because of the General, Hoseok had stepped in and grabbed the tiny man by the collar and asked him what did he do. General Min had just stared dully and told him to ask Jin and then just shoved Hoseok away with more strength than he thought the general had and walked out.
Jin had assured both of them that the general had actually been trying to comfort him. Hoseok didn't believe him, he didn't think that Min Yoongi was capable of such a thing.
"That night I stayed in the practice room till morning," Jimin continues, "It was probably four in the morning when I decided to go back to my room and I saw..." his voice drifted off, he took a breath and finished, "I saw the King leaving Tae and Jin-hyung's room."
Hoseok snorted, unable to hold it back, and Jimin pouted at him. "Jiminie, there's no way. The King isn't allowed in our bedrooms."
"But I saw it!" Jimin whined, "Not only that but I saw General Min dragging Taetae there too! Tae didn't sleep there that night! Jin and the King were...alone."
Hoseok didn't believe it. More like he didn't want to believe it. Because it made perfect sense. The way Jin-hyung had been acting lately, going all moody because the other candidates talked about their dates, it could only be explained by the clear assumption that Jin genuinely liked the king. However Jimin's words could create a scandal, a riot, Seokjin may end up being hung if any other the other candidates knew.
"Jiminie," Hoseok said, suddenly turning serious and placing his hands on Jimin's shoulders, "That is a very dangerous accusation."
"Would you be angry if it was true?" Jimin asks worriedly.
He paused, thinking. "No," he finally said. And it was the truth. "No. If it's Jin-hyung, then I can't get angry. He deserves something like this and if the King chose him then good for him. I'd just feel a little...betrayed? I mean he didn't tell us and also everyone is still making us go through this thing when there's already a winner."
Jimin nodded. He too understood that. They had been friends with Seokjin for years, it hurts to know that he doesn't trust them enough with his secret. "Maybe," he wanted to believe, "Maybe he just hasn't found the time to tell us?"
Hoseok cocked a brow, "Doubt it Jiminie. But still, I won't push him to tell us. I'll just secretly support them from the shadows. If it's true. Since nothing's been confirmed then I'm still giving it my all in this competition."
"Same, but I can't help but to worry, you know? Nothing can happen to the King accept people getting angry for already choosing a winner, but Jin-hyung could get a lot of hate not only from the candidates but from the public as well."
"Yeah, I hear you," the elder sighed, "I'm worried about that too."
In a way Hoseok and Jimin were like Jin and Tae. Both of them had grown up with each other, supported on another, Hoseok had always offered his home whenever Jimin couldn't go home.
Jimin always felt like he caused Hoseok trouble, much like Tae always felt that he held Jin back. Maybe that's why he always got along so well with Tae, both of them could identify themselves well with each other.
They both got up and headed to their rooms to shower. Jimin always thought about a lot of things while being in the shower.
He had no doubt in what he saw that night. He had clearly seen the King open the door to Jin's bedroom while General Min had been knocking to drag a furious Tae back to the room.
He also heard a few words that were exchanged between the General and the King. He clearly heard the word's "he's perfect" coming out of the King's lips. Only...those words had sounded sweet and full of love.
Other things made sense because of this. Many times Jimin would come late from the work out room or the practice room and see Jin going out of his room and head for the kitchen in the other wing. Jimin hid behind a pillar to see what it was all about and only saw Jin cooking.
Knowing about Tae's condition, it was no surprise that Jin must've been making meals for Tae.
Until about an hour later he saw the King also go inside, the two of them eventually chatting the night away.
There was no doubt.
He was sure that the King loved Seokjin.
And he, for one, was going to support that relationship, a hundred percent.
There was a large press conference today. More like a live interview with the thirty candidates, the royal family being present of course. Yoo Jae Suk was the MC for the event.
After showering, Jimin went into the waiting room, it was always majorly chaotic during events like these. Today was no exception, stylists were running back and forth, the air heaved of hairspray and makeup powder, the sound of men laughing among themselves. It was quite a sight to behold.
"Jimin!" his stylist Lee Sung-kyung called out. She waved him over.
"Okay, Jimin," she said as he sat down in front of the mirror, "So all 30 of you are going to be wearing similar clothing, so I have to at least make the four of you have hair and makeup that stands out. I'm going with the sexy in suits."
Jimin laughed at that and simply let the woman work. The stylist took turns between the four of them, one moment doing Tae's hair then doing Jimin's eyes makeup, followed by Hoseok's base and Jin's brows.
She finished up on the others much quicker than she did with him and Taehyung. Hoseok and Seokjin were already putting their suits on.
Jimin eyed them from the mirror.
Hoseok had been placed in a pinkish red suit jacket and high waist pants, a white button-down tuck in with the first three buttons undone and brown dress shoes on his feet. His hair was straight, yet his bangs were nicely parted to the left side of his face, curving down in a bit of a coma shape.
Jin also looked great. He was dressed in a normal black suit and white button down shirt that was tucked into his pants, but the stylist had added a very light blue and black striped handkerchief and tied it around his neck. His pink hair was parted to the right and his eyebrows were drawn in thicker, giving him a more masculine look.
Jimin wanted to smile proudly at how good his hyungs looked.
"Yah, Kim Seokjin why do you always look good in everything?" he heard someone ask.
Jimin slightly turned his head, one of the candidates, he believed his name was Lee Jung-hwan.
He was grabbing Seokjin by the shoulder's and admiring how he looked. "You definitely have us all beat in the looks department, guess the rest of us just have to use our personality."
That comment didn't fly by with Jimin, it was as if it was suggesting that the only good thing about Jin was his looks.
Jin laughed awkwardly, "No, but you do look well yourself," the elder assured him.
"You're just saying that!" Jung-hwan laughed, patting him on the back.
Jimin's eyes narrowed. Seokjin wasn't one to just hand out meaningless compliments to people, who did this guy think he was, acting so friendly.
At that moment the stylist got done with Tae. He stood up. In many ways he coordinated with Seokjin, black pants, black suit jacket, white button down not fully buttoned down, the biggest difference was his hair. Instead of it being neatly styled, his blonde hair was being slightly pulled upward by a black headband, a thick one that covered most of his forehead yet allowed a good view to his thick eyebrows.
He looked at himself in the mirror and turned to Jimin who gave him a thumbs up.
As the stylist worked on him, Jimin wasn't sure what to expect. He didn't think he could pull off being sexy, his height allowed him to go more for the cutesy look, it why he had dyed his hair pink previously. People always told him he was cute. Never handsome or hot.
"Wow, Jiminie!" Seokjin exclaimed, "you look great!"
Jimin glanced at himself in the mirror, his hair had been styled very similarly to his hyung's but his make up had been done a lot darker, his eyes being the emphasis, completely smoky. His suit consisted of black pants, a black button down that was button up till the very last button and a white suit jacket that had only four large buttons in a squared shape.
He did look good.
He honestly could not believe that the guy in the mirror was him.
"Okay gentlemen," Sung-kyung called out, bringing in her four men, "Listen you four, there are rumors that tonight's interview and meet and greet is essential for the King to consider leaving you in the competition. After the interview you are to come straight here so I can get you ready for the meet and greet."
Seokjin frowned, "No one said anything about a meet and greet."
Sung-kyung nodded, "I know, it's supposed to be a surprise but literally every stylist here knows and is informing their candidates. Basically the palace is allowing visitors to come in today and meet you all, they get to talk with you, ask you questions, take pictures. This is all super important of course because if they like you they will post about you on their social media and you'll have more people in your favor."
"This isn't a popularity contest though," Hoseok comments, "Isn't the King the one choosing and not the public?"
"Yes but imagine if the King chooses someone who the public doesn't like. Wouldn't that look bad for the royal family?"
Yes but that completely defeated the purpose of the king choosing a spouse for himself. If the public had any say in it, then this meant that perhaps the king wasn't supposed to fall in love. He was just supposed to look for the best one out of the many.
Jimin noticed Jin's face go pale. He couldn't help but to feel bad for his hyung, he had a lot of standards to live up to know that the King didn't really have all the say in the matter.
Not just anyone could be a King.
If he really wanted to marry the King, he would only have to win over the King's heart, but also the heart of all Korea.
Uff. The pressure.
Their stylist continued, "So be sure to put on your best smiles, gentlemen. You all look great so looks are the last thing you have to worry about. Just focus on everything else."
He walked over and hugged his hyung, hoping that the silent support was enough. Jin hugged him back, Jimin could practically feel Jin's body shaking. "I think you'd be a great king, Hyung," Jimin whispers softly, "You'll do great."
Seokjin didn't bother to stop and think why Jimin was supporting him so much. The boy was naturally kind. But those words scared him. It was sweet that he thought so well of him, but he couldn't believe anyone actually thought he'd be a decent king.
He didn't even believe it himself.