on patrol | vol. ii ✓

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

[It's Wonwoo.]

"...Oh...Are you with Jimin right now?"

[Yeah, and he's asleep. You should probably come pick him up.]

"Where are you?"

[I'll text you the address.]

"K. Thanks, Wonwoo. I'll be right there."

When Jungkook arrives, he does indeed find Jimin draped across one of the bar's tables, peanuts strewn haphazardly across the dark surface.

"How much did he drink?" Jungkook asks as he wraps a strong around Jimin's body to pull him into a sitting position.

"Not too much. I guess he was tired," Wonwoo answers slowly, pushing an empty glass to the side.

"Let me guess...he told you why he decided to drink today," Jungkook begins somewhat dejectedly as he positions his boyfriend so that the man is leaning against his shoulder. Wonwoo says nothing, but it's a clear enough answer for the officer. "Is Jimin in some kind of trouble?" he asks instead, trying to appeal to the more compassionate and sympathetic part of the skinny man sitting across from him.

Wonwoo says nothing but commences to pick loose peanuts off the table to throw back into the tacky red bowl in front of him. Jungkook, on the other hand, can't fathom what Jimin could possibly be hiding that Wonwoo can know about it but not him, and honestly, the pang of jealousy is back.

"Look, Jimin's been coming home with bruises, and they can't be from sparring. I graduated from there. I know the drill, so what is it? Is someone giving Jimin a hard time?"

"....No. Not that I'm aware of," Wonwoo answers slowly, blinking owlishly back at him. Jungkook grits his teeth. His gut feeling is telling him that something just isn't going right and that the skinny man in front of him is lying, but as he looks deep into Wonwoo's eyes, he can't detect anything. None of the micro-signs that function as telltale signs of falsehood. Wonwoo is simply staring back at him, his hands now folded neatly on the table.

"Fine," Jungkook mutters in defeat before slowly getting off the chair with Jimin secured in his arms. "Thanks for calling me."

They were going to have to talk...but now Jungkook's not quite sure if Jimin's willing to. So for now, he's going to have to wait. Wait until Jimin's ready to tell him just exactly what is going on. For the first time in his life, he was going to have to act like his damn partner, and he's not sure if he can handle it.

-

It's not until next morning that it finally hits Yoongi that leaving his past behind is not a choice that he could've ever made, and with that, Jihoon's words continue to replay itself over and over in his head. Jihoon knew about his status as a cop and about Hoseok, which meant that his father, as much as he hates calling him that, must know about it as well.

The man has been keeping an eye on him. Of course. How typical of him. The man would never let go of any of his pawns. Not even the ones that seem useless at the time. Oh no, the man was so much more sly and clever than that.

Yoongi rakes his hair back, trying to read into what the man could possibly want now that he will be using Hoseok as blackmail. He's spent the remainder of last night figuring out what the man was up to, only to find that he was a congressman now and making quite a name for himself. Of course he would be. He wouldn't expect any less from a man fueled by so much greed for power.