Everybody Wants to Rule the World

36

Trigger Warning(s): minor gun violence (a character is shot)

The Story by Conan Gray

~ Emira's Point of View ~

6:24 PM, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2028. SHANGHAI HONGQIAO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, CHINA.

True to his word, Jimin escorted me to the airport, but that was all he did. He barely touched me, except to move me away from security cameras and suspicious people. He smacked his baseball cap onto my head once, protecting me from an overhead camera, and then retrieved it, apologizing profusely. I felt like I was watching a shadow of him. The Jimin I knew would smack me harder for good measure and then smirk about it. But maybe that was all a façade. It was difficult to know what was real and what wasn't while he was acting so stoic. We didn't talk, either – only short snippets of conversation until we reached the gate.

"You know," I suddenly realized, "my boss is not going to be happy when she finds out I ditched my business trip and went all the way back to my hometown."

"Your boss works for Anesa – remember when I talked about Evania Holzer? She set you up to go to Shanghai to lure Charlisa in, and once she was certain Anesa would have Charlisa, she organized the meeting with Chen to have you killed. To remove the evidence, so to speak."

"And you intervened and protected me from that." He shrugged and looked down, kicking at the linoleum flooring. I smiled, but not on the inside. "Jimin, I... I really do love you. No, really. I know you think you're a monster, or whatever, but I'm more upset that you didn't tell me."

"We can't talk about this here," he said quietly, his voice strained. "This is China – every inch is covered by a security camera."

"I know, I just... I want you to understand. We met each other at the wrong time, in the wrong place, under the wrong circumstances. But, if... in the future... I don't know. I mean, once you do your secret agent stuff and take down Anesa," – his head lifted, and I lowered my voice, recognizing the concern in his eyes – "once you've finished, maybe we could... we could talk. Because I do love you, and I know, from your story, that you feel the same."

"I want that," he whispered. "God, I want that more than anything, you don't even know."

"Then I'll wait for you–"

"No, I don't want you to wait for me. Because this" – he gestured between himself and me – "can never happen, no matter what circumstances we're under. Even if she goes down – which will take a hell of an effort on mine and Charlisa's part – that doesn't mean we're in the clear. The CIA may be happy with me right now, since I've been a good little informant all these years, but you saw what the DIA did after our... our dinner date. I'm going to have to answer for my crimes against a whole bunch of different countries, and that's never going to end. Hell, I might even get the death penalty in some." He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We can't. I want to, but we can't."

"Okay," I said, but I wanted to wait for him, and to be honest, I probably would anyways. No matter how frustrated or hurt I was, I couldn't deny how he made me feel – and that was alive. Alive. He made me feel things I'd never felt before, and I wasn't willing to give that up. I would sacrifice every element of a normal life if it meant I could be with him.

But voicing those thoughts would only make him hurt more, so "Okay" was all I said. Well, and "Is it okay if I hug you? As a goodbye?"

He took several moments to consider it, glancing at the security cameras, and then nodded. I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. He was tentative at first, his hands barely brushing my waist, but as the seconds drew on, he wrapped his arms fully around my torso and held me so tightly I could hardly breathe. He pressed his face into the crook of my neck, and it didn't take the faint sensation of wetness on my shoulder for me to realize he was crying. I could hear his shaky inhales, and that was enough to make me rest my cheek on his shoulder so that no one would see me cry either.

I was initially lamenting the end of an exciting journey, of an angsty, enemies to lovers, 50k extended one-shot, but once I remembered why Jimin was crying, my tears lamented his losses rather than mine. I couldn't help wondering what the voices were telling him at that moment, if they were criticizing him for his stupidity, demanding that he k-ki–

I didn't even want to say it. I couldn't imagine what my life would be like without him.

Then, it suddenly struck me that I wouldn't be seeing him again any time soon, and that thought made me hug him even tighter.

"Gate G12, now boarding. I repeat, Gate G12 may now begin boarding," one of the flight attendants announced. Jimin was the first to pull away, sniffling and wiping his eyes with his sleeves.

"Please stay safe," he said tremulously. "If anything feels unusual, just... just stay safe."

"Nothing's going to go wrong," I promised. "I'll be home safely before you know it. And you can keep in touch with me, you know. Text me through Arlie's account, and such."

"I'll consider it." He glanced at the line forming in front of the entrance to the plane. "God, I want to hug you again, but they're already boarding."

"You could kiss me." When he looked at me with wide eyes, I shrugged and wrapped my arms around myself for some semblance of the warmth his embrace gave me. "It's starting to feel real now – me leaving, that is."

I was disappointed when he shook his head. "I can't do that to you. I've... I've manipulated you enough."

"You heard Arlie, though. It wasn't your fault."

"Let's be honest – the only reason Charlisa said that was to preserve your opinion of me. If I were you, I would recognize a monster when I saw one."

"I just don't want to end this on a bad note. Can you at least say you believe it's not your fault?"

He sighed. "It's not my fault. There, can you board now?"

"Yeah."

I felt so empty and unsatisfied when I turned my back on him. I wanted to see him one last time, but I was afraid that he would be gone when I looked, like in those spy movies. But Arlie told me not to believe stereotypes, and sure enough, when I couldn't resist my impulses any longer, he was still there, watching me with a sad smile.

It was automatic to mouth, "I love you."

And I think it was automatic for him to mouth back, "I love you, too."

The plane ride was relatively uneventful, aside from being unable to find the movie I wanted, a weird security incident at the layover, and a baby on the plane that wouldn't stop screaming. But none of it was, in my opinion, the kind of "unusual" Jimin was referencing. And there were always a few passengers who gave me the heebie-jeebies, like the staring businessman who was most likely a harmless pervert.

Although, honestly, "harmless" and "pervert" are two words that should never go together.

Then again, there was something oddly lifeless, even morally corrupt, in the way he looked at me. So, I guess I shouldn't have really been so surprised when his hand moved as quick as lightning, grabbing something from his jacket, aiming it at me, and triggering a small explosion.

There was screaming, but I couldn't hear anything except for the blood rushing in my ears. Terrible pain tore through my abdomen, like someone stuck a flaming rod into my intestines, ripping through each organ to reach my...

Oh, no.

Holy crap, no.

He hit my appendix, he hit my appendix, he hit my–

The woman sitting next to me seemed innocent until she smacked me on the head so hard that I saw stars and eventually relinquished to blackness.

He hit my appendix, he hit my append... my... appe...

Jimin!

~ ~ ~

Published January 29, 2021.