HELLO, DARLING | JIKOOK ✔

26 || THIS NIGHTMARE IS ALMOST OVER

Jimin feels sick to his stomach, listening to the exchange between Chin-hwa and Jeongguk. It's as if the latter is being played with coarse string woven to his limbs. His skin has fallen ashen and he can hardly keep himself on his own two feet. He looks like a ghost.

"Agree to my terms and my conditions, Jeongguk. And then I'll tell you." Chin-hwa is smoothing out the distressed state of his lapels calmly as Jeongguk breaks into a million pieces in front of him.

"...I can't," Jeongguk replies, shaking his head adamantly with strands of blond hair obscuring his vision. "There's no fucking way in hell I'm handing Jimin over to you. No kind of bribery will make me cave."

At this, Chin-hwa's coarse brow lifts and Jimin's heart thumps. "Is that so?" he asks, tightening the tie around his neck. "What makes you think you can keep him safe, kid? Without knowing where your brother is, Jimin is as good as dead. You don't want that, do you?"

Jeongguk peers up through hooded eyes, resisting the urge to lunge forward. "And what makes you think he's any safer with you? You're a monster. Just like Daeshim," he says, looking over at Jimin who still huddles tightly into the corner, watching the scene unfold with glazed eyes. "You aren't even going to look after him, you're just going to treat him like a piece of meat. Because that's what you did to me."

Jimin spots one of the ladies on the phone. He scurries out of the booth while Chin-hwa is distracted and clings to Jeongguk's side. "We have to go. They're calling the police, Jeongguk," he mumbles.

Looking over his shoulder, a heavy sigh melts into the air. Jeongguk looks the old man in his eyes, having found some grasp on stability. "The next time you see me, you'll be begging on your knees to fucking live. Keep that in mind, sick fuck."

Chin-hwa's calm expression remains present, however Jimin can see the way his hands itch for contact. The duo make their way toward the exit of the diner. Jimin looks over his shoulder swiftly to find Chin-hwa dragging his tongue between the v-shape he has created with his fingers. It feels like his insides are sloshing around and he looks away, gripping onto Jeongguk's shirt tightly.

Before the policemen can arrive, Jimin and Jeongguk are gone. Pulling up into the driveway, they sit still for a moment in some kind of unsaid agreement for silence, allowing what has just happened to sink in.

A little bit more on edge, Jeongguk's knee is bouncing only lightly, but it's an obvious action considering it's something Jimin has never seen him do before.

It's clear that he's struggling with the thoughts in his head, so much so that Jimin can actually feel his own heart bleeding with hurt at such a saddening sight. And so he maneuvers over the console, making his way into the man's lap.

Jimin's legs bend on either side of Jeongguk's thighs. He burrows his face into the crook of the blond's neck and hands are felt snaking around his waist, tight in a way that reflects a possessive but also protective nature.

"I don't want you to give me up," Jimin mouths against the blond's neck, inhaling softly. "But if you want to know what happened to your parents..."

"There's absolutely no way." Jeongguk encourages Jimin to meet him face to face. He cradles his soft cheeks while looking into his eyes. "Of course I'm curious. I always knew that my parents got run off of the road but I didn't know that there was a reason, if that makes any sense? Or I guess I didn't want to believe that there was a reason," he replies.

Running a thumb below Jeongguk's eyes, Jimin's lips tilt downward into a frown. "How do you think Chin-hwa knows who did it? I know he's powerful, but how long has he been keeping this a secret? Is he even telling the truth?"