The Double

𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓇𝓉𝓎-𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒

I've been thinking about what Anna said about Ben acting out and how I'd deal with it. Ben is a wound that's currently stanched and I want completely cauterized.

"Then we called the company and had her reinstated." Taehyung finishes his story about a colleague and I suddenly turn to look at him, croissant halfway to my mouth.

I don't have to deal with Ben by myself, because he's no longer only a me problem. There are people better equipped to deal with Ben than I am, and all I have to do is ask.

"I need to ask you a favor," I say.

"Sure." No hesitation.

"It's about Ben."

Taehyung only nods when I tell him I'm concerned Ben might try to get back at me, and as usual, the siren call of Duna's name spurs him into action. "I'll take care of it," he says.

"What are you going to do?"

He looks thoughtful. "Hire some goons to break his legs?"

I hesitate, unsure if he's kidding.

He lifts the brim of his hat to look at me better in the eyes. "I'm going to talk to my lawyer, Suzy. No kneecaps will be broken."

"Good."

"Unless the lawyer recommends it, and then what can I do?"

I nod seriously. "It's a law if a lawyer says it."

There it is. The end of Ben in my life, not with a bang but with a lawyer's dry language.

Very satisfying.

Taehyung's phone rings. He looks at it, silences it, and then eats the rest of his croissant.

"Your mom?" He only gets that tight look around his mouth when it's Kim Nana.

"She's stepping up her campaign." He glances at the phone, then flips it over so the screen is covered.

"How so?"

He sighs. "She called Michael."

"The director for your next movie?" After this, Taehyung is due to start filming on a corporate spy action movie that I haven't been thinking about because it reminds me how finitie our time together is.

"He told me yesterday. She didn't threaten him—Nana doesn't anything so crass—but she said she wanted his advice on how to get me to see reason."

"Wow."

"I know," he says. I look left and right to confirm we're the only ones on the boardwalk, then pull him in to lean against me. The faint thump of his heart sounds against my arm and I trace little circles on his shoulder, feeling the muscles slowly relax. I have a moment of unreality, that I'm sitting here with Kim Taehyung, but he's only Taehyung, a guy I like who happens to be talking about problems with his iconic mother and his new action movie—normal person stuff. "Luckily Michael took it well."

"Is she trying to sabotage you?" What kind of a mother does this?"

"She should say she's looking out for my future."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." His shrug shifts against me. "What can I do? It's impossible to make her see reason."

"That's a bit defeatist."

"You don't know my mother," he says darkly. The phone vibrates between us and we ignore it.

"Aren't you the one who told me there are enough people in the world ready to pull me down and that I didn't need to join them? Same goes for you."

"Hardly the same thing." He stands, then turns away, tugging his hat down to hide his face as a pod of runners approaches en masse. "Can we walk for a bit?"