I Told You, I'm A Monster

Chapter Twenty-Four

“I agree.” Dr. Lee's face is gentle as the younger looks back up at him. “No matter what happens, I do not want Hoseok knowing until I say it's okay to tell him. This could break him and reverse all of the progress that you've made with him.”

“I understand.” Dr. Zhang nods slowly. “I need a moment before I go back in there.”

Dr. Lee nods in understanding. “I have to go call Jimin's family.” He sighs wearily. “Two deaths in one week. I don't know how this happened.” The two men exchange a look before the older walks towards his office.

Dr. Zhang takes a few deep breaths until he feels alright to walk back into his patient's room. Hoseok's face immediately brightens, making the doctor's heart melt. “Sorry about that, Hoseok-ah.”

“It's okay.” Hoseok offers his doctor a soda, which he gladly accepts. “Is everything alright?”

The doctor hesitates in his mind before shrugging. “Nothing is ever all the way okay in a place like this, you know?” Hoseok nods, and the doctor continues, “More importantly, are you okay after hearing the news about Namjoon? I know that had to have been hard to listen to.”

The patient tilts his head to the side in thought. “I'm a little scared,” he begins, “but I know he'll be caught. And besides, we're in there and he's out there, so he can't do anything to us, right?”

“That's right.” The two men exchange a smile, and they pull out a deck of cards to play Go Fish. He sincerely hoped Hoseok was right.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

There's a knock on Seokjin's front door, making him jump about a foot into the air as he's walking back into the living room. His glass slips from his hand and he mourns over the loss of his drink before going to the door to look through the peephole to see two men. “Who is it?” he asks.

“My name is Do Kyungsoo, and I have my assistant, Jung Daehyun, here with me. We've been sent to guard your house until Namjoon is caught.”

Seokjin relaxes hearing that. “Thank you very much.”

“It's our job, sir.” The two men step off of the porch, and Seokjin goes back to clean up the mess he'd made, grumbling quietly to himself.

“What happened?” Taehyung asks as he walks down the hallway from the bathroom.

“Ah, there was a knock and it scared me and made me drop my glass.” He sighs. “It's a couple of men that have been hired to guard the house.”

“Ah well that's good.” Taehyung smiles as he leans down to help Seokjin clean up the mess, and then he mops up the spilled liquid while shooing Seokjin to sit down. “I'll take care of it and get you a new drink. Don't worry about it.” Taehyung's kind smile puts the other male at ease, and he nods as he sits on the couch and opens his laptop. When his fingers are hovering over the keyboard, an alert pops up from the news site he follows. He opens it and freezes.

“Oh my God.”

“What?” Taehyung asks as he walks back into the room holding a fresh glass of iced tea. He gasps when he sees the news article on the screen.

[BREAKING] Former Mental Patient Commits Suicide

[Redacted], a former patient at the Busan Mental Hospital for the Criminally Insane, is believed to have committed suicide late last night.

The cause as of right now is unknown. He was brought to the Andong Prison on a murder charge.

Please check back soon as more details are released.

Seokjin closes his laptop slowly, suddenly feeling physically ill. He shakes his head slowly, and Taehyung sits next to him cautiously. The two stay silent for a long moment.

“I talked to Jimin a few times,” Taehyung murmurs. “The kid was messed up, but he didn't deserve that. Not by a long shot.” Seokjin nods numbly and looks at his hands that are lying limply in his lap.

“No he didn't.”

Yoongi, having seen the same news alert, walks out of his studio and immediately goes to hug his housemate and best friend. The older holds tightly onto Yoongi and clenches his eyes shut. The three men don't say anything for a long while, choosing instead to sit in silence and simply be there for each other. Seokjin nudges Yoongi and tilts his head in Taehyung's direction, and Yoongi blushes slightly as he sits in his boyfriend's lap and hugs him tightly. Seokjin feels a lump in his throat at the sight. Taehyung and Yoongi are holding each other as if their lives depend on it, and, despite the circumstances, Seokjin can't help but feel a little jealous.

That could have been him and Namjoon.

But, alas, it wasn't meant to be. Seokjin sighs quietly and takes a drink from his glass, the ice clinking softly, that and the low hum of the air conditioner the only sounds in the room for a long time.

That is, until there's shouting outside, followed by two gunshots.