Author's POV:
"Yeah... I know." You said, looking at the glass of water kept on the nightstand.
"I've been here for 36 days now. Just some more days to go and I'm out, thankfully." You said, smiling. But deep down, you felt a little sad. Not sad about leaving this place but sad about feeling like you were being abandoned like he was pushing you away and you were unwanted. Like he was forced to keep you here—which was partially true.
But it still stung a bit, right there—in your heart.
Almost an hour had passed by. Taehyung was sleeping right now and you checked up on him once. You were outside the room, doing your stuff.
You looked at the time, it was 10 pm right now.
You heard some noise coming from Taehyung's room and frowned. Why was he so noisy?
Even a few days before, you barely acknowledged his existence—other than your brain reminding you every 5 minutes that he existed—but now you were hearing unnecessary noises from his room every hour.
Once a glass breaks, what broke now? You wondered.
You stood outside his room, staring inside to see 3 maids standing there, trying to help him but he shaking his head.
"But we have been ordered to feed you."
"Am I the mafia or are you?!" He asked, his voice loud yet feeble. He had a fever yet he was acting so bold. You raised a brow and got in saying, "You're the mafia and also the weak one in here, for now."
He looked at you, his cold gaze turning a little softer. The gaze you'd give a familiar face.
You blinked twice before sitting down and asking, "What's wrong with you? Just eat."
"I do not like this soup. It tastes bad."
"It's because you have a fever." You said, raising a brow.
"Do not imitate me." He spoke, frowning deeply. You sighed and said, "It's not called imitating, okay? It's not only you who knows how to reply."
He looked away, not replying.
"Fine, can I try?" You asked as the maids nodded, leaving the room. You sighed and took the spoon, carefully scooping up the soup before looking at him who was looking away, clearly uninterested.
"Look here. Have a sip." You said, your voice coming out bolder and stronger than expected. He looked at you, his gaze fixed on you. He didn't even bother to look down at the soup or anything, he just stared in the blue of your eyes, a quiver in his lips, yet again.
"You... don't get to order me. Leave." He spoke, his eyebrows clashing together. You wanted to laugh at his face but couldn't. This wasn't the time to.
"Listen here you bossy b*stard, right now, I'm saving your life. If you die out of starvation, later on, your teammate might kill me. I'm saving you and me."
"He won't kill you neither will I die." He clarified as you sighed, shaking your head.
"You're worse than Tzuyu." You said. He frowned as you dropped the spoon gently and spoke, "Every time she was sick, Uncle Lee asked me to feed her the medicines but like you—she loved to clarify unnecessary things and push me away. I honestly had to use my force on her at times though I also regret those."
"You're bad." He whispered, frowning.
"Better than you, at least." You raised a brow. He didn't reply and just sat there, looking down.
"Look, you know well that this isn't what's supposed to happen. But we both are humans and you're sick so as a nice human, I must take care of you—especially when your friend has asked me to. So, just cooperate, can you?" You asked as he sighed. You could see how he was looking like he'd rather eat puke than this soup.
"I would've fed you puke if I could, it seems to be better than the soup in your eyes." Your statement made him scowl at you.
You chuckled in a low tone before taking the spoon and forwarding it near his mouth.
"I hate the fact that I'm feeding you, you know? But... your injury will hurt if you move your arms too much." You sighed.
"Just eat. I hate you." You whispered. You saw his lips twitch as he took in the bite. Finally, thankfully.
The scowl on his face deepened as he somehow swallowed the soup. You couldn't believe this huge-ass mafia in front of you was acting like this.
"You still have a fever. You should take medicines after eating and sleep, it'll be better then." You said as he scowled. This scowl.
You took another scoop, blowing on it. For a moment, you were wondering why on earth you were doing this. You didn't have to blow. But you were used to it because Tzuyu was someone who'd throw tantrums about the food being even 2% hotter than how she preferred.
"It's too hot, ugh."
Your head shot up at the scowling face in front of you. You tilted your head, wondering how ridiculous he was. Just like Tzuyu, or maybe—even worse, honestly.
"Aren't you an adult? Thirtysomething guy." You frowned and continued, "You asked me to act like an adult and always frown at me and now you're acting like a toddler."
"I never did." He said in a very defensive tone as you shook your head, a smirk on your face. You were sort of—just a little—enjoying this. You blew on the soup a few more times before forwarding it to him. He was swallowing the soup with water.
"I don't think it's that bad, honestly. You're just dramatic." You said.
"Says the one who starved for 3 days because she couldn't eat vegetables."
"I can shove this spoon up your throat and choke you to death so, shut up." You said sternly. You saw him frowning at you in disbelief and scoffed.
"Would serve you right, honestly." You said, smiling cheekily.
He rolled his eyes and groaned a little, moving his torso.
"Gosh, I am not feeding you for the rest of the days." You said.
"Jo always feeds me. I don't want you to feed me either, it's disgusting." He spoke. You scoffed and said, "So Jo is your babysitter? Nice..."
"He is not." He said. He was so annoyed right now, it was written all over his face. You wanted to cackle, this was fun—bothering him.
—Time skip
"You give me the 'moody-5-year-old-sick-kid' vibes, to be honest." You said when you were almost done feeding him. 2 more scoops left and it'd be finished.
You were surprised he was even listening to you. You didn't get the 'I'm the boss' aura from him right now. He also acknowledged that he was weak right now, he was sick and you were taking care of him.
"God, I want to forget this. Please forget it too." You said to Taehyung who scoffed weakly and said, "As if I want to remember this for longer than a second."
"Now that's offensive." You said, tilting your head as he looked away, the deep brown in his eyes looking tired.
"You should sleep then, you're done eating." You said and got up as he said, "Alright."
"And, one more thing. May I ask how old are you?" You asked. He looked at you, a slight frown evident on his face as he answered, "What's that to you?"
"No offence, I just wanna know why you're always bossing me around. I mean, you know." You said. He shook his head and said, "Thirty-two."
"6 years older than me?!" You asked, frowning. He didn't seem to bother as much as you did. He was already getting ready to lie down again as you said, "Wait! Medicines. Have them, then sleep."
You saw him looking at you, a sort of helplessness in his eyes. He looked like a lost sad puppy looking at his mother who was advising him.
You smiled a little, taking out the medicines and putting them near his mouth along with a glass of water as you fed him the medicine and helped him lay down properly as he closed his eyes saying, "Let me sleep alone now."
"Not like I was nagging you?!" You asked.
"You told me stories about your family and compared me to people I've never heard about and gave me a 500-page essay about why I'm problematic while feeding me a 15-spoon soup."
Right, he was right. But not like you were going to pay attention, you finally got to talk a bit to someone about stuff you cherished. He is actually quite approachable, you realized. At least more than what you thought of him at first.
It was always you who never approached him. But now, actually talking to him like you both were equal and humans, it was like talking to a new person. He wasn't giving you rude replies or anything. He never did. He just never socialized first and you never bothered to approach him either. Maybe that's why you both never had a chance to talk properly like you did with Jo sometimes.
You saw him slowly falling asleep and sighed, turning around.
You saw Azure sitting at the dining table, her eyes open. She was looking around and as soon as her eyes fell on you, she meowed. You smiled at her and said, "Hey, you slept well?"
She meowed again as a 'yes'. Taking her in your embrace, you walked inside your room and sat down.
"Honestly, today was better than what I had expected. Your owner does seem like a human... a mysterious one."
—On the other hand
"Lee Taereul. When are you going to bring that girl back?" Kim asked Lee who sighed and spoke, "We saved Joel from him. If we get some help from Joel, we can destroy him. I'll save her right before we attack them."
"He's definitely searching for Joel right now. He even fought with Joel's men in the base and killed off 80% of them. This isn't going well."
"Have you checked all the files of Choi before he died?" Lee asked as Kim nodded.
"I think we need to investigate inside Choi's house in Canada. There must be something there."
"A trip to Canada?" Lee asked as Kim nodded.
"We'll let Joel handle the business with Taehyung here in Korea. He'll distract him and his men while we search for the location of the gold mine in Canada. It has to be in Choi's house. And once we get our hands on the documents in the gold mine, we'll destroy all the evidence against us and we'll kill off that b*stard trying to expose us." Kim spoke as Lee nodded.
"But make sure my real identity isn't exposed in front of Y/N. She's grown up with me. I don't want her or my daughter to go against me."
"You won't be exposed. If anyone, that Taehyung will be the bad guy." Kim spoke, smirking.
"All right. Plans noted. But, can I kill Taehyung with any chance I get?" A voice was heard in the room as the two elderly men looked in the direction of the voice. It was Joel. He smirked as Kim said, "We'll see that."
He was here the whole time after being saved by Kim and Lee from Taehyung's capture. They were in this together, planning this—against Taehyung.