"I'm so proud of you Minnie Mouse." -Park Jimin

Chapter 2: The bEaSt Himself

“Oppa?” Hamin called out to Taehyung as soon as she walked into his cafe: Tae’s Tea. Taehyung had opened this cafe near her and Jimin’s home, making it easy for her to become a regular “customer.” She barely paid for anything Taehyung served her, mostly because he refused to accept pay from her especially.

The cafe wasn’t too big, but had several wooden seats with tables, a huge window allowing sunshine to come through, and an overall theme of green and lavender, which were Taehyung’s favorite. And since the owner was quite the looker, his cafe seemed to always be busy, with girls leaning in and out to catch a glimpse of Taehyung making the drinks they ordered. It wasn’t really helping when he flashed his boxy smile at them every time he handed them their drinks either. 

“Min-ah!” Taehyung waved at Hamin from behind the counter where he always worked. His eyes and mouth matched the emotion of excitement he was feeling just by seeing her. 

“How’s your day been? Busy?” Hamin walked towards him and he nodded, his smile not leaving his face, “Yeah but not too busy.” 

“That’s good,” Hamin smiled back at him. Him and his contagious smile, she thought. And that’s one of the things Hamin loved about Taehyung: he always gave her a warm, happy feeling.

“What about you? How was your day?” Taehyung asked as he began to walk to the cake stand and reach for a slice of chocolate cake with his tongs. He didn’t even have to ask what Hamin wanted; he knew exactly. 

“It was pretty good,” Hamin said, rubbing the back of her neck before she continued in a quieter voice, “Actually, I got another job offer and I’m debating whether or not I should take it.”

“Another job offer? From Jimin?” Taehyung placed the chocolate cake on the counter before going to the coffee machine to make a cup of green tea latte. 

“No, from a man I met today,” Hamin said, making Taehyung stop. 

“What? A man you met today?” Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows with his smile gone, clearly not liking the sound of that. 

“Yeah, can we talk about this? After you finish making my drink please?” Hamin pleaded with a small laugh and Taehyung slowly nodded as he went back to making the drink. The cafe wasn’t too busy at the moment, making it seem okay for Taehyung to briefly step out of work for a conversation.

Soon, Hamin’s regular “order” of chocolate cake and green tea latte were sitting at the counter, and she thanked Taehyung as she picked them up and walked to her favorite spot by the huge window. Taehyung of course followed her, seating himself next to her. 

Hamin scooped a big piece of her chocolate cake into and she closed her eyes while a grin grew on her lips, “Mmm! This is just what I needed right now.”

Taehyung didn’t say anything but gently tucked a strand of hair that was in the way behind her ear and quietly watched her eat his work, waiting for her to finish so they could talk about this job offer from “a man she met today.”

Once Hamin had finished half of her cake and a third of her drink, she cleared and began to explain, “Well I finished work at Jimin oppa’s place in two hours, giving me time to visit Soony Halmeoni, since she was nearby.”

“Oh that’s nice,” Taehyung nodded, remembering Hamin talk about the grandma every time she visited. Taehyung never met the grandma but liked her just by the fact that Hamin absolutely adored her. 

“And I ended up reading a story for her because she said she hadn’t been sleeping too well and sure enough, she fell asleep in less than an hour,” Hamin said, and Taehyung watched her use her little hands to explain, causing him to hold back a chuckle.

“You’re that good, huh?” Taehyung reacted, showing his attentiveness. 

“Well I don’t know about that, but when I was about to leave, a man had been watching us by the door,” Hamin said with her head tilt. Taehyung’s eyebrows furrowed again and his lips formed a small frown. 

“And?” his voice grew deeper. He wasn’t fond of this image of some man secretly watching Hamin like a creep in the slightest bit.

“And it turns out he was the grandson of Soony Halmeoni, but also the co-CEO of Hope’s World, or something like that,” Hamin said rapidly, seeing the look of concern Taehyung was giving her. She continued, “He was amazed by the fact that I could make his grandmother fall asleep so quickly that he wanted to hire me to do the same thing for his other co-CEO, who also suffers from severe insomnia.”

“Hope’s World? Isn’t that the famous gaming company that Jimin always talks about?” Taehyung placed his elbows on the table. 

“Is it?” Hamin took another bite of her cake, trying to remember Jimin’s gaming rants. It was true that he always talked about this one company he and his team aspired to be like. But she couldn’t remember if it was Hope’s World.

“Yeah. So let me get this straight. A co-CEO of that company wants you to help the other co-CEO sleep at night? So you have to read him a bedtime story or something? Does that mean you have to go to his bedroom at night?” Taehyung started to raise his voice. Hamin shushed him by placing a finger on his lips, to which Taehyung’s ears reacted by turning pink.

“Yes, but just for an hour. All I’m doing is making sure he falls asleep and I’m getting triple the pay with transportation provided,” Hamin quickly said. Taehyung still shook his head.

“But you don’t even know what he’s like. How can you trust that they won’t do anything to you?”

“Yeah, but I just think the conditions are so good. I mean, when will I ever be able to find a job that pays good and doesn’t get in the way of my classes and just requires me to read? It’s a triple package that seems too good, doesn’t it?” Hamin rapped, realizing how much she wanted the job. Why was she defending the job when she clearly had the same concerns Taehyung had initially?

“I guess if you really want to do it, there’s no one stopping you,” Taehyung slowly said, his eyes still full of worry. He then went on, “But why don’t you ask Jimin about it first?”

“Okay,” Hamin agreed, eyeing Taehyung with raised eyebrows in hopes to return a smile on his face, because a Taehyung without a smile was very concerning to her.

***

“Are you kidding me? Of course you should do it!” Jimin’s voice rang through the house. He was almost standing on his chair out of excitement. A job offer from the co-CEO of Hope’s World? That didn’t seem like a question to him. Of course his sister should take it.

“Can you lower your voice?” Hamin hit his arm, afraid the neighbors would hear. It was already 10pm at night, and Jimin had come home about half an hour ago. 

“This is perfect. I can’t believe Soony Halmeoni is Kim Namjoon’s grandmother. What a small world,” Jimin said rapidly, happy to hear that his sister had such an amazing connection to a man he thought of as his role model. The co-CEO of Hope’s World, the number one gaming company in the country, wanted his sister to work for him. It was too good to be true. 

“So you think I should do it?” Hamin tried to confirm, although she knew his answer from the way he was nearly bouncing off the walls now. 

“Duh! Don’t you know Hope’s World is the company our company aspires to be like? You should definitely work for them and tell me how things are run in there,” he said, eyes twinkling. But Hamin shook her head, “I’m only going to work as a bedtime story reader, which means I won’t be in their company for work; I’ll be in one of their bedrooms.”

It sounded a bit funny to call herself the “bedtime story reader” for a grown man, and the fact that she would be working in his “bedroom” sounded weird altogether.

“Oh,” Jimin said, nodding. He was aware of the skills his sister had in reading for people from what he heard in the past, “That’s right. I forgot you’re going in as a reader. Well, since you said the pay is good and it won’t get in the way of your classes, what’s there to stop you from taking the job?” 

“I guess,” Hamin nodded as well and took a deep breath as she held her phone in one hand and Kim Namjoon’s business card in the other. 

“Just do it,” Jimin urged, and gave her a small smirk, “Who knows? What if you end up getting close to them and later be able to help us collaborate with them or something?”

“Park Jimin!” Hamin scolded. She rarely called her oppa by his full name unless she felt he needed to snap out of things. She shook her finger at him, “Don’t try to use me or them for your benefits sir! This will be a good experience, and I don’t want the purpose of it to be so...bad.”

“Okay okay, I was kidding kiddo,” Jimin put his hands up in defense but ended up smiling. There were many sides to his sister Jimin loved, especially the side of her integrity and honor. If anything, he could count on her for being the most loyal and “pure” person he knew.

“Alright here it goes,” Hamin refocused her view on the phone and card in her hands. She took one last deep breath before dialing the number and taking the phone to her ear. 

“Hello?” It didn’t take long before a man picked up on the other side.

“Mr. Kim Namjoon?” Hamin asked cautiously.

“Yes, is this Ms. Park Hamin from earlier?” Namjoon’s asked as well, recognizing her voice. 

“Yes, I um, wanted to say,” Hamin cleared and Jimin was holding back his laughter as he saw his sister nervously continued, “...that I would like to accept your offer and work for you...or your other co-CEO...guy.”

“Excellent,” Namjoon smiled. He already knew she would take his offer, given that he made the conditions so appealing.