The Escort

Mr. Lee

Y/N joined the group and fixed Jin with a glare she usually reserved for unruly negotiators in the board room. He gulped and looked down, nobody saying anything.

Y/N felt her pulse thumping in her ears but managed to take a deep breath. There would be plenty of time to deal with him afterwards. It would do no good to make a scene here and now.

"Nice to see you again." A deep voice finally said and leaned forward to bow and shake her hand. She bowed as well and shook Taehyung's hand.  "I wasn't told you were coming."  He said, raising an eyebrow at Jin.

"It was a last minute change." She said clippedly. Jin shifted and several eyebrows lifted as pairs of eyes looked in his direction. Instinctively, Y/N looked up and around for Jimin. But he had disappeared. Fucking coward.

Y/N made her rounds, sipping wine and rubbing shoulders with people she knew would throw her under the bus at any second. Jin stayed, talking with a long-time investor, but he looked sick.

Inside, she was boiling. Why had Jin recommended Jimin to her? He was always asking questions about her personal life, not that it was that interesting. She was fairly open with Jimin, for her. She felt embarrassed and humiliated. Did they both talk about her, get a kick out of all her hang-ups? Her face flushed as she imagined how their behaviors in the bedroom would be related to an enraptured audience looking for a good laugh.

And even if that wasn't the case.....they'd both lied to her. They'd both fucking lied to her. How was she supposed to trust either of them when they couldn't be up front about things like this with her? She felt as sick as Jin looked.

For Jimin's part, he was dragged off to sit and listen to two boring, rich women discuss all manner of gross medical things he didn't want to hear. But he had to sit and be polite and look interested. He was being paid. Being paid as his mind wandered and played Y/N's look of realization and betrayal over and over. He knew what it looked like to her. He knew what she had been thinking as soon as she had stepped into his group of friends. It was why he had been against keeping it from her in the first place. But Jin had been worried she wouldn't accept help and he felt Jimin was the best for the job.

It was with a sinking heart that he contemplated what might happen. He knew she wouldn't make a scene here, but that wouldn't mean the confrontation when she next saw him would be any less pleasant.

He was so preoccupied with appearing like discussing knee surgery in graphic detail was the most interesting thing in the world to him and trying to keep his thoughts from getting out of control, that he didn't see the person approaching until it was too late. Too late to keep from being cornered.

A sneering Lee was staring down at him, with several business associates. Jimin had the feeling Lee resented what Y/N had done to protect Jimin.  Just a wild guess and now Jimin was out here with no real protection nearby.  Just his secrets and Lee looked like he could care less at this moment.

"Well, look who it is." Inwardly Jimin cringed but outwardly his face was blank, purely professional. He tilted his head and cocked an eyebrow, waiting for Lee to show his hand. "Jimin! I haven't seen you in a while!" His voice was loud, loud enough to draw the attention of more eyes. Before Jimin could react he was pulled away from his client and an arm was around his shoulders. His client opened her mouth to protest, but one look from Lee silenced her.  He searched the crowd for something before grinning. Jimin looked too, curious to see what he was looking for. His client looked pissed. But she wouldn't say anything, Lee owned a large number of shares in her husband's company.

Jimin saw an alarmed looking Hoseok walking over, gently pushing past people, towards them.  He didn't see any of the others.  He was alone.

"Yes, you haven't." Jimin said firmly, shrugging Lee's arm off and turning to look him square in the eye. Show no fear. He would not be bullied. "Was there something you needed? I'm busy right now." Lee looked amused and exaggerated looking around again.

"Busy? Busy with what? You look like you're enjoying yourself like everyone else here!" Lee's hand came up, gripping Jimin firmly behind the neck and squeezing. A warning. "What could you possibly be busy with, Jimin? Hmmm? Why don't you tell all of us waiting ears?" There was a mix of people at this event. Some knew who Jimin was and what he did and had even hired him. Some were from out of town and didn't know the games played behind the scenes in daily Seoul life. And the rest had occasionally seen Jimin around in the company of some of the rich men and women in the room. They probably assumed he was a gold-digger at the worst. "Why don't you tell us what you do, Jimin?" Most people looked like they couldn't give a rip, honestly, but there was almost always a secret reporter or two at events like this and Jimin knew if this went too far his face could be splashed across the web tomorrow. True, other people would go down with him, but he didn't want to make his own life difficult for that. Most were normally good at covering their tracks, he would have to leak proof to the media and that was a revenge circus he wasn't interested in joining. He tried shrugging Lee off again but was rewarded by Lee's grip tightening.

"What the fuck..." What was he, a doll?

"Hmmm, not gonna talk?" Lee's tone went from jovial to sinister in a fraction of a second. "Tell us what you do, Jimin. Tell these respectable men and women how you kneel down and suck...."

"Jimin's a therapist, since when has that been a crime?" An extremely irritated Hoseok pushed past one last person, coming to stand in front of Lee. Several people suddenly found themselves needing to go home. For some of them, Hoseok wasn't intimidating. But for others, Hoseok's family owned a variety of stocks and a successful business. A Jung could be a pain in the ass if they were crossed.

Lee stopped for a second, surprised at being confronted and at what Hoseok said. Then he laughed, right in Hoseok's face. Lee didn't fear the Jungs, he was one of the more powerful and corrupt. He had his fingers in too many pies to be afraid of honest business people, like Hoseok's family.

"Oh, is that what they call it these days?" Jimin had had enough, his face was burning even though Hoseok had interrupted Lee. He reached up and grabbed the man's arm but the man was strong, worked out quite a bit. Jimin gasped in pain, feeling like the back of his neck might be crushed. If he wanted to get away he'd have to get more physical. That would free him, he knew he could take Lee on, but it would cause a bigger scene. He could imagine the backlash if the cops ended up getting called by someone staffing the event.

Hoseok glowered at Lee, his fists tightening. He didn't care, the man was hurting his friend.

"Get your hands off him."

"What? This filthy whore..." During this exchange, several people had gasped and stepped back. Even Hoseok was distracted, his eyes looking behind Lee. It was enough for Lee to glance behind him mid-sentence and then stop.

The people behind him had also backed up a little bit and an extremely pissed off Y/N was standing in the path they'd cleared, glaring daggers at Lee.