Jinyoung went out of the bar to avoid running into Seokjin, he strolled along the street while waiting for Jackson and Jaebeom to arrive. His cell phone rang he is running out of patience. It’s Jackson calling informing they reached the bar and couldn’t find him in there. Jinyoung informed Jackson that he came out to check out the cafes lining up the street, and he was heading back to the bar. Jackson informed him that Jaebeom is seated at the bar and he is at the back of the stage looking for Henry.

Jinyoung walked back into the bar cautiously not to bump into Seokjin and Yien duo. As he looked towards the stage, he could see Jackson having a conversation with Henry and Namjoon. Jinyoung is about to look for Jaebeom before he saw Yien joining the group. He is past stunned to see Jackson having a conversation with Yien. Henry and Jackson were saying something that made Yien chuckle.

For the second time in the same night, Jinyoung is having doubt if he is living in an alternative universe. What on earth is going on? How does Yien know every one of these individuals? Seokjin, Jackson, Henry, they share nothing for all intents and purpose with Yien. All these people move in different strata of society in which Yien is not a patron and they don’t live in the same country.

Jinyoung is aware that Jaebeom and Jackson knew Seokjin personally, but he is sure Jaebeom didn’t invite Seokjin here. There is a miniscule possibility of Jackson inviting Seokjin to hang out with them when he knew what went down between Jinyoung and Seokjin. So Seokjin’s presence in the bar tonight may be completely a coincidence, it’s not the social circle where you can find Seokjin unless things have changed in the past decade that Jinyoung had no clue of.

The question which still lingered in Jinyoung’s mind is how Yien knew these individuals. Did Seokjin acquaint Yien with Henry and Jackson? It seems a far-fetched theory considering Seokjin is not in the gathering with Yien. Additionally, Jackson just showed up here and by the vibes, it appears Jackson and Henry are acquainted with Yien.

As Jinyoung is dazed in his thoughts Seokjin joined the gathering and Jackson being his typical self hugged him affectionately. A minute or two into the conversation Jackson is pointing towards the bar where Jaebeom is seated and Seokjin headed in Jaebeom’s direction. He saw his cousin greeting Seokjin heartily and having a discussion; he could not join both of the conversations as one had Seokjin included, and the other had Yien in the gathering.

Jinyoung felt like a spectator in a play watching things happen passively from the sidelines. After a brief conversation, Seokjin headed towards Yien and both of them left for the dressing room area.

At the point when Jinyoung is certain that Seokjin and Yien are not in vicinity, he chose to join his cousin at the bar counter as he strolled towards the counter Jackson, Henry and Namjoon showed up behind him.

“It appears, you both are good friends with my spiteful ex. You both greeted Seokjin rather warmly.” Jinyoung stated pointing fingers at Jackson and Jaebeom.

His statement is followed by absolute silence from his best friend and his cousin. Jackson looked visibly uncomfortable with the statement.

“The spiteful ex you are talking about is my boyfriend, I would appreciate it if you quit calling him names.” Namjoon stated with a straight face.

Jinyoung had been in a ton of awkward situation in his life, but this seems to be the front runner. This is a first being caught while talking about his ex in front of the ex’s current boyfriend. At least he found the answer for why Seokjin is here. Apparently, his presence here tonight is to cheer for his boyfriend. So where does Yien fall into this scenario? Jinyoung thought to himself. While Jinyoung stood there awkwardly with his thoughts, Jackson introduced Namjoon to Jaebeom. Namjoon and Henry left shortly as it is their band’s turn to perform.

“Well, that was painful to watch, moving on what should we order?” Jackson stated looking at Jinyoung.

“Whatever, I am not in the mood,” Jinyoung replied. He had enough of surprises, insults and awkward moments for the night and he is annoyed with the fact that he has to be on guard to avoid Seokjin and Yien. He did not want Yien to hear about him from Seokjin that would seal his adventures with Yien even before it started.

“Jaebeom, should we order drinks for Seokjin and Yien? Should we invite them to join us?” Jackson stated with mischief in his tone.

“What the hell!!! Who is Yien?” Jinyoung and Jaebeom reacted simultaneously.

“Jinyoung I am kidding, I am not inviting anyone. Calm down, take a seat and Yien is a friend of Henry you both haven’t met him. I will introduce him to you after the performance. We all can have dinner together if it’s not too awkward with Seokjin at the same table,” Jackson stated, teasing Jinyoung.

“Jinny will chew Jinyoung up along with his food, I won’t blame him for that. It was Jinyoung who had been an absolute prick to Seokjin.” Jaebeom stated nonchalantly.”

“Ok enough, that happened a decade ago we were young,” Jinyoung fumed.

“You did the same thing to Lennox a year and half ago, so don’t you dare blame it on your age. You were wicked then and you still are,” Jaebeom stated in a distasteful tone.

Jinyoung is about to burst in retaliation when Jackson pulled Jinyoung to his side and clapped his hand on Jinyoung’s mouth, stifling the words emerging from Jinyoung. It is no good to allow Jaebeom or Jinyoung to continue with this conversation. Jinyoung struggled in Jackson’s grip but gave up after seeing Jackson’s pleading eyes not to make the situation worse. Jinyoung had to remind himself that they all are here for a reason, and tonight is all about Henry and his bandmates.

Once the heated moment passed, it strikes Jinyoung what Jackson stated earlier. Yien is a friend of Henry’s. He recollected Jackson mentioning that Henry’s stint in a monastery and how it actually helped him. If that is how Henry met Yien, Jinyoung thought world sure is a small place.

Jackson wanted them to get acquainted with eachother after the performance. Jinyoung is not sure how to feel about this. Yien may recognize him and tell the others that they have met before, there is a good chance that Seokjin might be there warning Yien to be aware of Jinyoung.

Yien being a friend of Henry in extension has become a friend of Jackson and that forbids Jinyoung to play with Yien. After what went down with Lennox his cousin and best friend drew strict lines stating that all of Jaebeom’s companions, friends and cousins of Jackson’s are off limit to Jinyoung until unless proven otherwise.

Yien was off limits earlier, as Jinyoung had a fragment of cognizance to not delibrately play with an individual who was going to transform into a monk. Since Yien seemed to be one of them, he is reachable and should be no one important who Jinyoung could stomp over all he desired without consequences.

In a twist of destiny, Yien by association with Henry has become forbidden once more. It appears destiny had a cruel method of playing with Jinyoung, parading Yien in front of his eyes just to let Jinyoung know he can never have Yien who is a nobody.

Jinyoung planned on leaving the bar right after the performance ends so he can avoid the introductions. Now that he is aware of the fact that Yien is a friend of Henry’s he can subtly extract information from Henry or Jackson about Yien’s whereabouts. He has to make sure that neither his cousin nor his best friend gets a whiff of what he is planning. Jinyoung is aware his feelings for Yien are superficial, and once he scratches the surface, he may not be interested in what lies underneath. As usual, it’s one more conquest for Jinyoung. If it’s challenging the more thrill he feels.

He has to accept this scenario differs totally from his early conquests. His conquests earlier were in just for the physical pleasure or for the money attached to him or in rare cases like Seokjin and Lennox genuinely in love with him. He is not sure if Yien will fall into any of these categories. What would make Yien who had spent 20-plus years aiming to become a monk who practised celibacy all his life and is not greedy of any materialistic things get propelled to share Jinyoung’s bed?

He hoped his plans to work, he never expected to cross path with Yien ever again in this life, but here Yien is, within his reach. He hoped his dear friend Jackson would forgive him once again when and if something went down between Yien and him, Jackson always forgave him no matter what.

While Jinyoung is lost in his musings Namjoon, his band members started performing and the people in the bar cheered for them with enthusiasm. Everyone in the bar had their attention on the stage and were grooving to the band’s music. The lyrics to the songs seemed self composed and held a genuineness in them.

Jackson noticed Jaebeom being entirely immersed in the music. It is safe to say now he has a legit possibility of convincing Jaebeom about the band. With the kind of music, the band is creating, there is no dearth of producers and labels who want to associate with them, but Namjoon is adamant about not changing his music style just to get a commercial success. He wants to make music on his own terms. He wants his music to be inspiring and bringing positive change in the society. As the band’s performance ended there was a roaring cheer from the bar patrons.

“I am glad that you dragged me here. It’s been a while since I heard music that’s straight from heart.” Jaebeom stated with a tap on Jackson’s shoulder.

“I am glad you enjoyed it. The band is the real reason I have selected this place for our dinner plans. I wanted you to hear them performing and if you think they are artists, we will be glad to associate with, we all can set up a meeting and discuss this. We can kick start our dream project of creating a platform for talented artists, and this band can be our first set of artists. Think about it, I have heard their music before. Henry has shared their work with me. If you want to hear it, I will send it to you, so you can see their range of compositions.” Jackson stated.

“Ya about that, I am sorry Jacks, I haven’t been cooperative in the recent months and the project kept getting delayed. I am glad that you had been looking around for talent. I will try to keep up with you on this. And send me the band’s work I want to hear more and we can meet them to talk about what they expect from us and how we will can support them in their journey. It will be a collaboration as we are new to this too, we need their trust for this to work.” Jaebeom replied.

“Ok, you both I need to rush somewhere I will talk to you in the morning,” Jinyoung stated in a hurry leaving his seat about to walk away.

“Where are you going? Aren’t we supposed to have dinner together?” Jackson questioned, confused by Jinyoung’s sudden desire to leave.

“You guys carry on with the dinner I will meet you before you fly out of Seoul, excuse me as I am in a rush,” Jinyoung stated as he waved them a goodbye and walked out of the bar.

“I am sure he is up to no good,” Jaebeom murmured as he glanced towards the exit where Jinyoung has disappeared behind.

“He not leaving the bar with a random person, that’s progress. Don’t be too hard on him, Jae,” Jackson suggested.

Jackson ended up inviting Namjoon and his band mates for dinner together, and the conversation flew rapidly about music and song composition. Jaebeom found out Namjoon, and he had a similar approach to music composition and song writing. It elates Namjoon to meet someone who is as passionate as his self when it came to music. After a long time Jaebeom’s mind is diverted and he felt content even if it’s for just a night. Everyone one them had a good night, Jackson is excited in a potential deal with the band, Henry & Namjoon are pleased with the audience response, Jaebeom is happy to meet Namjoon and get to know his work. Jinyoung left the bar with a lot on his mind on how he is going to approach Yien.