Author's POV || Flashback to last night
"She's so drunk.." Jo sighed and stared at you who were clinging onto Taehyung. Well, no, you didn't want to. You had the most significant opposition but Jo had to carry some bag and Azure so you were left with Taehyung who didn't look like he was very much interested in carrying you either.
"Ugh.. b*stard." You rolled your eyes drunkenly as your lips almost touched his neck.
His hands were on your waist, holding onto you firmly as one of your hands was on his shoulder for support.
You saw a muscle of his jaw jump as your lips slightly touched his jaw.
"Move away." He spoke in a low voice. Not cold, just... speaking, normally.
"You stink." He sighed again. You chuckled bitterly and said, "You stink worse, Kim B*stard."
You saw him raise a brow as he turned his eyes towards you, not moving his head. He shook his head and continued walking as you said, "Your jawline... is sharp."
He didn't answer. He had no answer to such a random comment.
"I like... how you did not touch me today. You gentolman."
"Gentleman." He pronounced correctly as you scoffed, moving away and saying, "I am sleepy. I want to... go home."
"You talk too much."
"You're handsome... hmm, you are not.. so...mean but... I hate you."
"Okay." He said, shortly. You frowned and said, "You should say you're thankful... I'm sparing mercy on your kidnapper ass." You scoffed.
Your voice was clumsy and low, drunken. You were drunk but calm, sleepy yet chaotic.
Jo entered Room no. 707 as Taehyung opened the door of your room. Room no. 708.
He put you on the bed before sighing.
"So annoying." He said, frowning at you who pointed your fingers at him drunkenly.
"You suck." You spoke. He rubbed his eye and said, "And I'm handsome, yeah?"
"Hey... that's... a fact. But you're still a douche." You spoke, closing your eyes, and snuggling into the pillow.
"Sleep." He said and turned around to go away but his steps halted as he heard you speak, "Home... is nice."
He saw your drunken smile and raised an eyebrow, a soft quiver in his lips.
"It is." He whispered before walking near the blanket at the end of the bed as he spread it on top of you. He changed the AC temperature of the room before keeping the remote away and walked out of the room. At that exact time, Jo and Azure entered the room to tuck Azure into bed.
"Get her meals ordered tomorrow and free room service as always. I'll be busy tomorrow in Chicago... business with Joel."
—End of flashback
You stared at him who stopped smirking and backed away, turning around.
"Go sleep." He said and walked towards the elevator you couldn't help but snort. This entire thing was— embarrassing.
Handsome? Nice jaw? Good-looking? Gentleman?
Yeah, you were crazy. You were not in the right state to ever say that. You pressed your lips together and sighed, this whole thing was— unbelievable.
All those little thoughts and realisations you've always denied and ignored because of the circumstances, your stubbornness... you spilt them out—in front of him—drunkenly.
—Next day
You looked at the time, 7 pm.
Right now, you all were at dinner. Jo and Azure, you and Taehyung. The same duos, the same chaos. But this time, you tried not to give them the normal glares that much and you tried striking up a real conversation which wasn't,
'You b*stards will die. I can't wait till the moment I get out of here. Your kidnappers are sh*tholes and I can't stand anyone of you. Especially you, Kim Taehyung, I hate you the most and you all stink. Azure is an exception.'
"So.. you were brought up in Seoul?" You asked Jo who nodded.
"Yeah, more precisely... I was born in Busan but... I grew up in Seoul at Mr Kim's house when I turned 10." He said. You clicked your tongue and said, "That's why... I was wondering how an idio- I mean, a naive... yeah, a naive person like you is a part of the mafia."
You saw him chuckling awkwardly. He probably didn't get you. But Taehyung did. You saw him shaking his head as he continued eating. A moment later, he raised a brow, staring right into your blue eyes. His deep brown eyes stared at you in a way which held mischief. This little stare of his came out rarely and it always gave you a vibe that he was up for bickering, for teasing—you.
Not the cold deep intimidating one which made you remember again and again how you were just kidnapped.
You wondered how the air between you both changed so frequently. But yeah— you hated him in every air, didn't matter what it was.
"What about you, miss?" Jo asked.
"I was umm... born in Canada actually. My mom's Canadian and my dad's Korean. When I was born... they lived in Canada. A year later, we moved to Korea for some reason... I don't know, my parents died soon after that. My dad knew better. So I'm half Korean and half Canadian." You said, playing with your food.
"Oh... we're sorry for the loss you had to go through."
"That's not your fault." You said awkwardly. Jo tried to curve his lips into a smile but he failed. He was awkward too but he also felt bad.
"Don't need to pity me? It makes me hate you even more by the way."
"Oh- sorry." Jo thinned his lips as Azure meowed.
You noticed Taehyung quietly eating from the corner of your eyes. He didn't care, did he? Not like he had to but at least saying something would be nice. You didn't want to hear from him but it was basic courtesy, wasn't it?
You saw how he stopped eating a few moments later and said, "2 bottles of wine here, please. The food tastes bad."
You looked at him with a slight frown. The food tasted really good—what was he saying? Well, his taste sucked like him—of course.
But you liked the idea of having wine around. It was needed a lot. Definitely. Right now, at this moment? Yes.
—Time skip
"Not drinking at all." You said as Jo said, "You better not... but 2 sips are fine."
You hesitated for a long time. Taehyung just stared at you, noticing your behaviour. For the past 15 minutes, you were having trouble controlling yourself. You wanted a drink right now but after all that you did a night ago, drinking would be the worst choice.
You shook your head as Taehyung looked at his food. He stared at his plate intensely for a whole minute before sighing.
—2 days later
"Finally... flying back to Seoul." You yawned, resting your head on the plane seat. Beside you, Taehyung sat down while staring at your handcuffs. Right— you had been handcuffed again.
He said you'd try to kill him in his sleep which was partially true— you would. But still. He kind of knew too much more than he should've.
Jo and Azure were on the seat behind you both. You looked beside you to see your kidnapper scrolling his phone.
A few hours passed by and you felt yourself dozing off.
"God... please do anything but make me lie on his shoulder like a creep again. That was a disgusting mistake." You whispered to yourself thinking it was inaudible to anyone else but you were proved wrong as you heard a snort coming from beside you. Frowning, you asked, "Stop eavesdropping."
"You're worse than a public radio."
"Shut up, b*stard."
"That's the only defence you've got? Sure."
You snapped your head at him as he seemed unbothered. But you could see his eyes sort of narrowing towards you indirectly.
"Hah. Annoying kidnapper."
"People will think you're actually a mentally unstable person if you talk that loudly."
"I'll seriously kill you the day I get to."
"Of course."
He was at it again. The rare him, the random yet very annoying side of his. The mischievous side of him which always knew how to answer back— which always gets on your nerves.
—At Kim's Mansion
You plopped on the bed in your room before sighing. Azure was sleeping on the sofa outside as Taehyung and Jo went somewhere as soon as they came into the house. Jo said it was a confidential urgent and extremely crucial mission.
God knew whatever that was, but it wasn't like you were actually that curious.
Unless sometimes... when you really wanted to know about the inside of this dark mafia world. You were living in this world too, you wanted to know about how these people truly were, how their lives were and if they were like how you had known and imagined. They didn't seem like they were evil. They were bad, not evil.
And you were confirmed after that lounge party full of mafias. A party. A total b*llshit.
—On the other hand
"Sir... we've tracked their movements. Lee Taereung is not spotted in any action yet. His family had contacted the police and they are running investigations. She has been reported missing. Her friend is trying hard to reach her. We had to turn off her phone to avoid all those calls and texts."
Taehyung nodded as Jo further spoke, "But Mr Kim... I've found something suspicious. When Miss Choi told us that her father came to Korea from Canada for an urgent reason, I looked it up just for some time pass but... I found something else."
"Like?" Taehyung asked, his eyes instantly sparking confusion and suspicion.
"I think... Mr Choi, Y/N's father... might have been involved in this whole thing. Maybe... there is a reason why they're dead. Maybe, digging up some information about them can be helpful to us in this mission."