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ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ :: 𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗎𝖺𝗀𝖾
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You'd heard about Jungkook's escape the morning after it happened, and it broke your heart. But Yoongi took it in stride, like he did with all news; just grimaced, nodded. Rolled his tongue. Sent Bangtans to hunt down him and Hyunjin, bring them back. Moved on to the next order of business for the day. You tried not to think about the assassin too much, but the way he had come to you before his fight with Yoongi kept replaying, over and over, in your dreams. You heard his voice, and one night you woke up, entirely convinced that Jungkook was on the balcony outside of your window. You swore he'd said your name. But when you rushed to look, only the gaze of the cold, distant stars met your eyes.
So, time passed. As it does.
But something wonderful happened a few days after the Escape. That's what everyone referred to it as, and you did the same. You heard a loud cry and hubbub coming from downstairs while you were working on an article in Yoongi's office -- he was out for the day, doing...whatever he did -- and rushed down the steps. Your eyes widened in surprise and a little shriek of joy left you. You jumped down the last five steps and physically flung yourself at the man standing in the foyer. Jin laughed and wrapped his arms around you, picking you up with ease and spinning you around in a circle for so long that when he set you back down, you were dizzy. You staggered and sidestepped as handsome, muscled figures rushed past you, whooping loudly.
The Inner Circle -- minus Kookie and Suga -- piled onto Jin, slapping him on the back, hugging him so tightly he yelled at them, ruffling his hair, putting him in a headlock, and a flurry of other boisterous actions. Your head spun and you gave it a little shake, blinking. To your absolute relief, Jin looked...good. Healthy. And even more devilishly handsome, somehow. He sported a black eyepatch over his left eye, and a few scars marred his handsome face, but they made him even more attractive somehow. Rugged.
Jin led the way through a quickly-growing crowd of men to one of the Manor's sitting rooms and dropped into a couch, resting his arms over its back. Happy he was home, you playfully fought Tae for the seat at his right side. When you flicked his forehead, the hacker pouted prettily and gave up, sitting next to you instead of Jin. But he bumped his shoulder against yours amicably, winking at you and grinning a boxy smile your way. You laughed, feeling happy, for the first time since Jungkook had come to you in the night. You felt Jin's arm snake around your waist and he squeezed you tightly up against his frame as he pressed a wet, sloppy kiss to your cheek. You groaned and wiped it off as two dozen or so Bangtan Boys mimed gagging and throwing up. Jin laughed. It sounded like windshield wipers and made you laugh, too.
Then you all started laughing, and you felt your heart release all of the negativity it'd been holding hostage for the last two weeks. The laughter died down and Jin winked at you. Ah! Did...did he know we all needed that or something? You shook your head. The ways of the Bangtan Boys were mysterious, indeed.
Over lunch on Saturday, you and the Inner Circle filled Jin in on everything that had happened while he was recovering, and Suga came home. Jin cried at seeing him, and you could tell Yoongi was emotional too, but he held his tears back and just beamed at his friend, welcoming him home. You all spent the rest of the weekend together, mostly binging Netflix in the Manor's home theater. It was wonderful. You only wished that Jungkook could've been there, too. For the first time in weeks, you felt as if the mansion was starting to feel like home again, and you were impressed at just how much Jin's presence lifted the spirits of everyone in the entire house.
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That week, Jin was the first to go with you to work, and you were pleased to find a new reporter who was going to be partnered up with you on your latest story. Your editor had asked you to show him the ropes and do some digging. When you asked what the story was, you had to hide your shock. Apparently, one of Jimin's big drug deals had been wiretapped by someone, and your job was trying to identify who the major players were. Your boss was frothing at the mouth for information: Jimin had been unloading eight kilo's of pharmacy-grade meth. He'd apparently tracked old World War II manifests, realized that when the war ended, all that pep they were administering to their bombers had to go somewhere -- they couldn't sell it, or burn it. So Jimin had ferreted out the location of an old, abandoned Air Force post in the US where they had stored the lab-manufactured product, all wrapped up in one-pound blocks, like little presents.
Your partner was flamboyantly gay, openly flirting with Jin and happy when your Bangtan escort flirted harmlessly back. He had introduced himself as Dae-Hyun, but begged you to refer to him as simply Dae. You liked him a lot. He was handsome, friendly, charming, and very polite. Which made you feel a little bit bad that the editor had partnered him up with you, of all people, for this story. You obviously had to work this very carefully; you couldn't let anyone figure out it was Jimin's voice on that tape.
The next day, you and Dae worked the story, talking to witnesses, but they couldn't positively ID anyone. Taehyung trotted along behind you both as you scoured the city streets, having to keep disguising his laughter as coughing fits the whole time. Dae flirted with him too, naturally. After five hours of getting a shitload of nothing, the three of you returned to the Ledger's HQ, Dae discouraged, and you secretly relieved. That night, when you got home, you asked Yoongi what you should do, and he laughed. Suggested you work the story, that Jimin was always bulletproof, even if someone had snitched. But you saw the wheels in his mind turning, and knew he'd be speaking with Jimin about the potential leak, and whether it had come from their side or the other.
The next day, at breakfast, you asked Namjoon if he could take you to work, and though he was surprised, he dimpled a smile down at you.
"Guess I can work at your office just as well as mine, Doll," he shrugged. "Meet me out front in twenty. We'll take my car."
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RM parked his Jaguar E-Type in the underground lot beneath your building, and your knuckles had been completely white on the 'oh shit' handle the whole drive. You were breathing hard as he gently tapped the shifter into Park. Actually panting. You looked over at him, bewildered, and saw the half-shy, half-amused grin dimpling his cheeks.
"I can't be perfect at everything, right?" He asked.
"...R-Right," you shuddered and opened the door. You fought the urge to drop to your knees and kiss the ground under your feet. Reminded yourself to drive you both back home later. Namjoon laughed at your expression. Shifted his briefcase to his opposite hand and offered you his arm as you both walked to the elevator. You took it and smiled up at him. "Hey, so. Obviously I asked you to escort me today for a reason. I'm kind of...stuck between a rock and a hard place with work, and I kind of wanted your advice." You both stepped into the elevator, and as it went up 50-some floors, the tall man held out his hand, looking at you expectantly.
It took you about five floors to realize what he wanted, and you quickly fished around in your wallet and pulled out a 10,000 won bill. You pressed it into RM's large hands and he folded it, tucking it into his front pocket. He turned to face you, dark eyes serious as he looked down at you. You noticed how close he was and hadn't realized what a strong aura of confidence and calm, leadership and trustworthiness radiated from it. It rocked over you in waves, and you blinked a few times, suddenly feeling very, very glad you'd asked him to come.
"Okay. You now have attorney-client privilege," RM said. "What's the issue, Doll?" But just as you opened your mouth to respond, the elevator chimed merrily and a trio of people got on. One of them shuffled up to stand beside you, and you saw your escort eyeing him warily. A small frown marred your features as you turned to look at him; the guy was leering at you. Staring. Like he recognized you. You felt a wash of terror run through you for some reason, and were frozen to the spot, chest heaving. Smoothly, Namjoon stepped between the two of you, pushing the slightly shorter man away with his broad shoulder and a polite 'excuse me'.
RM wrapped a very muscled arm around your waist and jerked you hard against him, making your breath whuff out of you. The guy continued to stare at you. Your skin crawled. Namjoon looked the man dead in the eyes and tilted his head, pressing a kiss to the corner of your mouth, his gaze never leaving the stranger's eyes. With a grunt, the guy finally, finally looked away. Your hands gripped RM's thick forearm tightly, fingers shaking. Something about the guy had felt...off. Wrong. Dirty. Not in a sexual sense, more like... unclean. So when the creep's eyes left your figure as he got off eight floors below yours, you panted out a few breaths and dropped your forehead against your escort's wide chest, sucking in one lungful of oxygen after the next.
"Did you know that creep?" Namjoon asked. You shook your head emphatically. "Hey. I need you to really, really think here for a second, Doll. Have you ever seen him before? Yesterday here at work? In the elevator, on your floor, following you in the city?" Again, you shook your head.
"N-No. Thank you for getting his eyes off of me. No, I... I really don't think I've ever seen him, Joon. I'm sorry," you said. But he shook his head.
"It's alright. Just means he maybe recognized you from somewhere else. Which is actually a bit more worrying," he replied, biting his lip.
The way he did it made you hot all of a sudden and it must've shown on your face, because the lawyer's face morphed into a knowing little grin. And his eyes suddenly grew softer as he looked down at you. Which made you even more flustered.
"Well," RM went on, and you were grateful he had said something; apparently, you'd forgotten how to speak for a moment there. "I'll keep an eye out for him. But what did you want to ask my advice about?"
"Oh, right," you said as the elevator dinged your arrival. The two of you stepped out, and you led Namjoon off to the side of the double-glass doors leading into the HAO Ledger's office. People were coming and going, not just from the Ledger, but from all the other businesses on this floor, so you stepped close to him and pitched your voice low, for his ears alone. "My editor has me working on a story involving stolen US government property. There was a recorded conversation, and he wants me and my new partner to find out who the speakers are. Problem is, said property is about 20 kilos of pharmacy-grade methamphetamines, and one of the aforementioned speakers is our Jiminie."
Silence for a few beats. "I see. And you wanted to ask my professional opinion on what you should do?"
"Well, I mean, yeah. But also, can you help me? I dunno, find someone else to pin this on? You've dealt with some shady clients, right?"
"Yes, but," RM laughed, "I can't tell you their names, Doll. My advice is this: work the story. Lie through your teeth. Jimin's good at what he does, there won't be witnesses. It's likely the story won't pan out on the Bangtan side, so focus entirely on who the other players are. Once you find them, you can tell the truth and satisfy your editor while keeping the spotlight off us. People in our circles don't speak to cops or reporters, so even if they're found, they won't drop names."
"That's...smart," you said. You were doubly glad you'd asked him to come today. "But what about the person who gave the recording to my boss in the first place? They're willing to leak some information, aren't they?"
"Yes, but not enough to reveal identities. Relax, Doll, and just work the story, okay?" Namjoon dimpled a bright smile down at you and tapped your nose with his fingertip. "C'mon, you don't want to be late."
So you did as he suggested that day. Worked the story with Dae, even got somewhere with it to an extent. Namjoon kept a sharp eye out for anyone following you, but saw nothing alarming. At the end of the day, naturally, you offered to drive home. And were incredibly thankful when RM laughed and handed you his keys.
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ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ:: ♥