/Narrator POV/
Jimin is pacing about the small, boxy living room portion of the apartment when he hears the doorknob jiggle around indicating that someone was trying to get in. He had been trying to collect his thoughts for the past few hours before going out again to look for Liyah. He hadn't spoken to her since their petty argument in the kitchen the other day and she didn't return home last night. Good or bad terms, Jimin could not rest until he was assured that his bestfriend was safe.
"Please be her, please be her." He whispered, stopping in his tracks as the door opened. A deep sigh of relief instantly left Jimin's lips once she stepped in. She wore her trench coat and heels. Her Afro a frizzy mess on her head, face exhausted with not even a trace of happiness with life at the moment.
"Oh thank god." Jimin muttered, rushing over to pull Liyah into his embrace. He doesn't allow her much time to kick the door before he is scooping her in his arms. Liyah released a small "umph", chest squeezing up against his as the slightly taller human held her close and buried his lips in her hair.
"I was just about to put out a search party for your ass. Don't ever disappear on me like that again." His voice muffled as he passively threatened the woman. Liyah smiled small although it failed to reach her eyes. Atleast he cared.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, chim." Liyah assured him. But of course, Jimin had to take his own words and concerns over hers. He took the extra mile to step back and examine her. Her face was free of any markings which would indicate violence. As he traveled down he noticed that her coat was in good shape. It was all good until his eyes landed on the large lump of bandage on her hand. Jimin furrowed his brows as he took her arm and raised it to get a better look at her hand.
"What's this?" Jimin asked. "You were cut." He guessed correctly off bat. Although something told Liyah that he wasn't guessing, but rather, he already knew.
"It's nothing." Liyah avoided going in that direction. The last thing she wanted to do was think about last night. Or Taehyung. Or anything else for that matter. She needed a good smoke, bath and a nap. That sounded like the resolution to all of her problems at the moment.
"But you're hurt." Jimin said. "And pretty damn badly too. What is this, about two bandages in one area. Were you cut?" He resumed. Liyah sighed and snatched her arm from his grasp.
"Something...happened at the club last night. But someone helped me and I'm fine now. I'm just really tired." Liyah briefly summed up her life in the past 14 hours. Jimin eyed her with skepticism and it ticked Liyah off. He didn't believe her to a certain extent although technically, she wasn't telling a lie. She did get the injury last night at the club and Taehyung had helped her. Perhaps he understood that the "I'm fine" portion of it all was the biggest lie that Liyah could have told in that moment.
"I'm sorry for pestering you I'm just...I've been worried sick about you. All I could think about was the argument we had the other night about me dropping out of college. I figured you might've avoided the apartment because you didn't want to be around me." Jimin admitted, wrapping his arms around himself. Almost as if he was sinking into a cocoon of some sort. Liyah thought he looked adorable with his cute little knitted red sweater that fell off of his skinny shoulders. A natural pout on his pink lips, giving a warm and youthful look to his features.
"Of course not." Liyah said softly. She wouldn't dare put Jimin through that emotional distress. Especially not over some petty little argument. An argument they still needed to talk about but it was still petty nonetheless.
"And about that," Liyah fiddled with her fingers. "I'm sorry for being a bitch. It's selfish of me to try and stop you from doing what you want. Especially when your main drive is to help me out. I just don't want you to think that you have to abandon your dreams in order to take care of me."
"I thought on it some more and I don't think I want to drop out. I think... I need to have a meeting with a few people, maybe take out a loan or something. But you were right. I've come too far to back out now." Jimin said. Liyah smiled. That was great news.
"Really? That's amazing." She exclaimed. Jimin licked over his lips. "Come to think of it, I needed that from you. It's refreshing to know that someone in this world gives a fuck every once in awhile." Jimin mumbled. Liyah's mood dropped.
"You know I'll always be here for you. Your success matters to me." Liyah reassured him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her cheek on his shoulder. Jimin grinned painfully.
"I'm gonna go freshen up, okay?" Liyah whispered. Jimin pursed his lips. It was best if he finally settled down as well. He had work later on.
"Okay." He whispered distantly.
•••
Taehyung never understood the passage of time. How one's fate could already be written out for them thousands of years from now and one would never know it until they were thrusted into this universe. He once knew a girl who used to talk about realms and dimensions and gods. Taehyung had always called bullshit on all of those things. He was the furthest thing away from religion. Taehyung was also the closest thing to a non-believer.
But if you were to tell his 19 year old self, a younger version of the same man who stood today, that he would be encountering the love of his life years later. Having her in his bed, saving her from assault and looking her in those beautiful brown eyes of hers once more. He would not believe it. There was once upon a time where Liyah was completely untouchable. Taehyung could not access her, hear her voice or even see her for that matter.
Despite the amount of letters he wrote. Shoe boxes filled with returned letters, stamped and marked and all. Stashed under his bed along with other namely possessions he had kept as a reminder of her. Finally, he could see her in real life instead of imagining what she would've been like on paper. Hear her voice and not read her letter. Breathe the same air as her, be the reason she is smiling rather than seeing a picture.
As he sat parked in the vacant lot across the street from the red room, a burning stick of nicotine between his fingers as he squinted his eyes to watch the customers walk in and out of the building. He thought about how earlier that same day Liyah had been sitting in the passenger seat of his Buick, pouting out of his window as he brought her back to her car.
He thought about how he had given her an offer, an invitation to Franks later on this week. He was already prepared to wait for her. Liyah had always been indecisive but she still ended up coming around. Her head was always wrapped around other things, it took her awhile to process one single thought before moving on to the next. Nonetheless, she was a smart girl. She understood the importance of closure. Something that Taehyung planned on giving to her if she met him at Franks.
The crushed rocks stick to the underside of the tires of the sleek black 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine, insides protected by tinted windows as the evening sun bounces off of the shiny black paint.
"Fuck." Taehyung had almost forgotten that he has a task. Always focused on the future instead of the now. He knew that his father would bitch about it.
Taehyung takes one last pull from the cigarette before rolling down the window to toss out what remained. Afterwards, he adjusts the sleeves of his brown leather jacket before pulling his keys out of the ignition and stuffing them into his pocket. Taehyung then steps out of the car, attempting to appear as nonchalant as possible as he opens the back door to the limousine and slides inside.
He is instantly greeted by the smell of cigars. Taehyung cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with his father for as long as he could get away with. The atmosphere of the limousine was rather compressed. Although it was only Taehyung, his father and one of his father's many lapdogs seated at the back of the limo. All of their legs spread providing very minimal room for the next. Taehyung was the only person out of dress code, clothes rather comfortable than formal.
"Good evening father." Taehyung spoke. Mr.Kim clenched his jaw.
"Don't give me any bullshit Taehyung. I'm not jiving with you, I'm not in the mood to piss around." The man gritted. Taehyung finally looked at him. He noticed the anger instantly. The tension lines on his forehead. The thinness in his tightened lips. The redness in his face.
"What are you talking about?" Taehyung asked. Honestly, truly he was dying to know. As far as he was concerned, he hadn't done anything.
"You must be really naive to think that I would never hear about your little meeting with the officer. What the hell were you thinking?!"
Oh...that.
Honestly, what Taehyung was thinking would really piss the man off. He wanted Liyah because she had exactly what he was looking for. Taehyung wanted Liyah because she was what he had been missing for seven years. Mr.Kim would use her and toss her right back into this world. Taehyung wanted to take her away from it.
When he met up with Jungkook, his intentions were to protect Liyah. He wanted to ensure her safety. He wanted to be sure that she wouldn't be in the cross fire when all that's happening in the dark does come to the light. But he couldn't tell the man that. It would only fuck things up.
"So he told you?" Taehyung asked. Mr.Kim jutted his hand with the cigar out in his son's direction but stopped himself before he had the chance to do anything stupid. Taehyung doesn't even flinch. After years of being hit with that same hand, it becomes a bestfriend more than it does an enemy.
"This fucking boy is going to be what kills me." Mr.Kim muttered, shaking his head. His little lapdog releases a small chuckle. Taehyung scowls at him before looking back at his father.
"Never mind who told me. I was told that you asked Jungkook to keep an eye out on the girl for you. Nobody specified on why you wanted her to be looked after and I would assume that it's not because of the list because that's your job." Mr.Kim stated. Taehyung shook his head.
"That's right. I told him because I don't want her getting harmed. Especially since she has what you're—" Taehyung stopped himself. "What we're looking for."
"Have you enjoyed the pleasure of meeting her? I hear she's a customer favorite." Mr.Kim smirked. Taehyung nodded. Although his words were maddening, Taehyung had become a master at masking his emotions to appeal to his father.
"I have." Taehyung kept his response vague. "I know the importance of this father. I'm not out to fuck anybody over. I just want this to roll smoothly." Taehyung said.
Oh, how easy it was to lie when you were in love.
"I see." Mr.Kim nodded. He was soaking it all in. The more he thought about it, the more Taehyung made sense. Perhaps he was jumping too quickly, letting his emotions control him instead of looking at logic.
"Very well then. I apologize for taking up your evening."
"I promise it's not a problem." Taehyung lied. "Is there anything else you need me to take care of?"
"Not at the moment. Just keep doing what you're doing. And keep a close eye out on that little dancer. We need her soon."
"Yes sir." Taehyung nodded, opening the back door and stepping out. The minute the door closes, the driver is pulling off. Taehyung is left standing against his Buick in the lot, hands tucked in his pockets as he thought carefully.
There had to have been a way that he could attain more information from someone other than Liyah. She needed space and he would give her that. But Bobby needed to be handled so Taehyung needed to get a move on.
There was a pay phone around the block. Taehyung hoped inside of his Buick before driving around to the pay phone. When he arrived there, he parked the car on side of the road before running up to the pay phone. He popped in his change and dialed the special number, holding the telephone up to his ear.
"Yo?"
"Hoseok, we have a problem." Taehyung licked over his lips, strands of hair over his eyes as he scanned the scene.
"What's going on?" There was a rise in panic in Hoseok's voice. The crazy bastard would be manic until he seen Taehyung in person.
"Just meet me at the red room tomorrow night at around 8. It's important." Taehyung sighed. "Very fucking important."
The other line is still for a few seconds, besides the static coming from an unknown place. The white noise cancels out once hoseok comes back to the phone. Saying exactly what Taehyung needed to hear.
"I'll be there."
-
A/n: y'all asked and I delivered!! It's honestly so fun writing Crook because it reminds me of a movie. Multiple movies actually. It's interesting.
Excuse any mistakes <3.