Hate You With Love || MAFIA AU

Chapter 35:: Fall

"Did he accidentally mistake me for someone else and said it drunkenly?" You asked yourself, sighing. But again, the words he used were directed to you. 'Please go away soon...' 

You were confused. And you didn't want to face him right now, or never again—which was impossible.

"Azure... help me out." You said to her who meowed for a moment before looking at the doorframe of the living room. As soon as you looked in the direction of her gaze, you gulped. It was him—entering the room. He wore a black shirt that flexed his biceps perfectly. Looking away, you tried to shrug off the weird thoughts roaming in your brain. Last night's events were questionable. 

He sat down, scrolling his phone as you looked at him, "We're searching the yard today, right?"
"Yeah, Jo's working on it." He said, glancing at you. You nodded and looked down. 
"Well, I had a question." You asked. He turned off his phone and looked at you, his entire attention diverting towards you which didn't go unnoticed by you. And it made you feel in a way. In a weird way. 
"Umm... did you ever see me before? Like before kidnapping me?" You asked. You saw his mouth moving a bit. His jaws tensed as he looked at you with a frown.
"No." He answered. You nodded and said, "Oh! Of course, yeah. Right.." 

"Why?" He asked, his tone becoming cautious.
"Just asking... I mean... in case." You said. He kept his gaze steady on you. His deep blue eyes bore holes into your soul. You tucked some of your brown hair behind your ears and looked away. Soon, Jo entered with his news of getting the yard ready for the searching. Taehyung and you got up.

You cried the past 2 nights. You even had a bad dream last night but you don't remember much about it. It had your uncle, that's all you remember. And the dream rushed to you suddenly after breakfast and now again. But every time you did, your stomach twisted uncomfortably. 

Taehyung looked at you before saying, "You don't have to come. Just take care of Azure."
"But-"
"You won't be able to help. Just be there." His tone should've sounded wrong. But it didn't. It sounded good, normal. He left the room as Azure meowed 3 lines that sounded like 'See? I told you.' 
"Told me what?" You asked, frowning. She shrugged and continued watching her cartoon. You sighed and shook your head.

—3 hours later 

"I brought some lemonade. It's hot." You said and placed the jug of cold lemonade along with two glasses on the stairs behind the house. Taehyung and Jo were searching the backyard. 
"There's nothing here." Jo sighed and walked towards you as you sat on the stair which led to the roof of the house. It was there to help while cleaning the roof during winter. It was dangerous but the stair was safe. 

"Thanks, Y/N," Jo spoke, chugging down a glass. You smiled and said, "Is it okay?"
"It's delicious!" He said and kept the glass down saying, "Gave me lots of energy, thanks!" 
"No problem." You said. Your eyes went towards the man who was digging the ground. You gulped seeing how sweat was dripping off his forehead. He must've been hot.
"Should I call Mr. Kim?" Jo asked. You looked at him and said, "I mean, sure?" 

He smiled and went towards Taehyung, saying something. He looked at you before looking at the jug of lemonade. He kept the shovel down and walked towards the stairs as you said, "Lemonade..."
"I know." He said. You poured the glass and handed it to him as he sat down, drinking it calmly.
"Is it good?" You asked. He looked at you before saying, "It is."

You saw a few red patches on his neck and asked, "Is your neck alright?" 
"Oh, yes." He said. 
"But... it looks-" You were talking but he got up, keeping the glass back, and said, "Alright, go inside. It's hot in here." He left as you sighed. Jo walked near you and said, "It's his allergy. He's allergic to beef." 
"For real?" You asked. He nodded.
"He sometimes has beef but he tries to avoid it. But still, food is food so he ends up having it sometimes. And when he does, he gets rashes. But eating medicine helps. Though the red patches take a day or two to leave." 

How come you never noticed? He was allergic to beefbackward. That's why he was hesitating. Maybe he wasn't in the mood to have beef that day but he did. It was confusing you.

"Is he in love with me?" You asked yourself. But the thought seemed ridiculous, a little too ridiculous. He had clearly stated he hated you. But he also said that weird line that day. You were confused now. You needed answers about this matter. But it couldn't be more important than what was happening right now. You thought you could ask him about it later and tried to shrug it off. 

—After dinner

"We failed... there's not a single thing in this house," Jo said. You sighed and spoke, "There's not a single spot that we've missed though."
"We're leaving for Korea tomorrow. But if we don't find the evidence, there's no way to stop the wrong ones." Taehyung said. You looked down, holding the metal detector. You held it above your head and sighed, then held it near your chest.
"This looks like a power ranger weapon." You said, chuckling a bit. Taehyung sighed at your actions and Jo nodded, agreeing. 

But a frown appeared on your face as soon as the detector started beeping.
"It's-" Jo was talking but stopped as you jolted up. 
"This-" You moved it away from yourself and it stopped beeping.
"Move it closer to you." You listened to Taehyung and brought the detector closer to you. It started beeping again.
You saw Taehyung walk towards you. He was inches away from you, staring at the detector and then at him. 

You noticed his gaze. It was on your locket. 
"This is a metal locket." You said. He shook his head.
"This only detects metal with special wires... not simple metal." He said. You shook your head.
"No... my dad gifted this to me...." Your voice trailed off as your eyes widened. You looked up at him who seemed to be in surprise.
"It was with her the whole time." Jo gasped. 

"But... I won't break it." You said, holding it. You shook your head as Taehyung sighed, "It has the evidence."
"It's a gift from my dad!" You said and shook your head, holding it tighter as you backed away. Taehyung walked towards you as you stepped backward saying, "No... I won't." 
You turned around and walked inside your bedroom as they were following you. Slamming the door shut, you gulped. You locked the door, hearing their voices call you but you ignored them.

You sat on the bed, taking off the locket as you stared at it for some time. 
"Dad... why this?" You asked, your eyes brimming with tears. You didn't want this to happen. Not this. If it broke, you'd break along with it. This was a memory of your father—this wasn't an easy thing to break off like that. You cherished it all your life, for 21 years. 

—10 pm

You stared at the locket. All these hours, you had been wondering about everything that happened. Everything you heard and got to know about. Your father was involved in this matter—the gold mine, the evidence, the reason for your kidnapping. And your parents' death could've been involved in this. 
"Mom..." You whispered and sighed, looking down. 
"This has the location, right?" You asked, staring at the photo frame beside your bed. You caressed the photo frame and sighed. 

"If I give this out, will I be helping the good ones?" You asked. Their smiles were so endearing in the picture, that it made you want to cry. You wished they were here. So bad. 
You were crying while holding it but it accidentally slipped from your hand and fell, shattering. You gasped and stared at the photo frame which was shattered. The glass was on the floor. 

You heard loud knocks outside and looked down. 

"Y/N! Open the door!" Jo spoke, knocking.
"Open the door," Taehyung said, his voice sounding loud and alarmed. 

They were outside the room, about to break the door but before they could, you opened the door, standing there. 
"I found something." You said as the men were staring at you confused and worried. 
"Maybe... we found the chip. Not the one of my locket but maybe... another one."