IKIGAI l KIM TAEHYUNG

Chapter 18: Taehyung

He took his time processing all this before speaking again.
"When did this happen?"
"One day after we were... attacked. There has been a murder each week since then." A lump formed in my throat.

Was this the result of trusting her? Losing my people whom I cherished so dearly?

"It... It could be that organization. They now possess much information about us." I spoke in a heavy tone.

I could practically see as the pieces clicked into places inside his mind. It was nice to have him by my side through all this, even if he didn't know what had actually happened.
"I think I have found a lead. I will be back tomorrow." He nodded with sincerity and left.

Now I was alone with my thoughts. And that was a dangerous combination for my well being.

Everytime I was alone, my mind circled back to her. How she had looked me in the eye and told me that what we had was all just an act to gain information about me. How she had told me that it was all fake.

It was real to me.

I tried to understand it from her point of view. I understood that for her, it was a chance to protect her country. In her point of view, she was infiltrating a mafia who was probably destroying her land.

But still I couldn't forgive her. She never came back. She knew where her priorities lie, and while I respected that, I wasn't fine with it.

Oh how badly I wanted to see her. To feel the touch of her fingertips on my hand. To look into her eyes and see all of my world staring back at me.

To burn with desire and keep quite about it is the greatest punishment one could bring on themselves.

And I had done exactly that.

I mean, to be honest, what did I expect? She had only known me for a week.

My phone rang, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"What is it?" I asked in a monotonous voice, not in mood for a conversation.
"I'm in Korea. Come meet me at our place."
"But Hobi Hyung-" I hissed angrily but he cut me off.
"No buts. Today, 7 o'clock." An authoritative tone colored his voice as he spoke.

Great. Of all the times my brother could have chosen to meet me, he chose today. As if I didn't have enough on my plate.

As much as I love him, I won't hesitate to punch the daylight out of him if he dumps one of his problems on me.

I glanced at the time. It was 6:12 pm. So, an hour to go.

I looked around in the restaurant trying to find him. This was our go-to-place to meet. There weren't a lot of people, the food was good and the staff were trustable. I saw Hobi Hyung in a corner, talking with the chef.

I briefly wondered if the chef was going to be the next target of the murders.

As I was walking towards them, I slowed down a bit to hear what they were talking about.

"How did you and Taehyung become allies? The last person I'd expect in his circle is a chef." He asked, laughing loudly. Yeah, that was one of his many traits.

"Oh it's actually kind of weird but-"
"Is it the spiders?" He asked out of curiosity, cutting him off.

"The... spiders?" The chef asked hesitatingly.
"He has more spiders in his building than average, you know." He said as if it was common language. Well, atleast now I know it was time for a clean-up.

"What's average?" The chef asked awkwardly, weirded out by the brunette's excitement about spiders.
"48." He answered so quickly that I had to supress a laugh.
"I haven't seen any spiders in the building."
"You're not looking hard enough my friend."

This was another one of his antics. He loved making people awkward and honestly I could use some of this distraction right now.

"I'm... not looking at all." The chef looked like he was about to burst due to confusion.
"Good." He nodded.
"Do you like there being a lot of spiders?" The chef asked after a moment, trying to make sense out of the conversation they were having.
"Yup. And...I don't like sharing." He glared at the chef through his hair falling into his face. As a matter of fact, he did not like spiders. Scaredy Cat.

Time for me to intervene.

"Hello there. I see you both are getting to know each other. Hope it wasn't awkward." My eyes went to Hyung for a second before I smiled politely.
"It was pretty awkward." He said in between chewing his food. The chef fixed his clothes and avoided eye contact.

"Why? What happened?" I asked, pretending to be curious.
"He said he only hangs out with you because there's more spiders in your building than average." Hobi Hyung said, eyes not leaving his plate.
The chef finally lost his temper.

"NO. He said that." He yelled as he pulled up his sleeves, suddenly feeling too hot. I was enjoying this.
"Why would I say that? I already have all the spiders I need." He batted his eyelashes innocently before resuming eating.
"Look. He has been saying weird things like that." He was looking at me as if I were going to help him.

"Aw, mate. If you want my spiders, you can have them." I said as I patted his head before sitting down at the table.
"I don't. He does."
"He said he already has all the spiders he needs, though."
"I do, in fact." He piped in.

At this, the chef got up and muttered some excuse about how he had left some dish in the oven. We both laughed as we watched him frantically get away from us.

"That was quite an entrance." I said, raising a brow. I was indeed impressed.
"You know me." He smirked.
"What are you here for, though?"
"I heard you got into some girl trouble, my friend." He said as he cleaned his mouth with a napkin, smirking.
"It's over now. There's nothing to talk about." I said, clenching my jaw.
"Your body language says otherwise. But I won't push you. I'm just here to spend some days with you."
I smiled. He always knew what I needed.

"Thank you, Hyung." We chatted a bit about what he was upto since the last time I saw him. He was successful in his franchise of hotels and I was so happy for him.

I brought him to my building, the base. He moved in just fine, except for his complains about the spiders that he saw on the way.

~~~~

hobi is here y'all. dw, i'll have small cameos of the rest of the members too because i love them too much to not mention them
remember to vote if you liked this chapter :)