Stepping foot on a territory known to belong to a rival should have been enough to humble anyone yet as soon as he walked into the filming set, the attention he got couldn't help but inflate his ego.
It was a delight to know that, even in a space where he could have no business being, his mere presence commanded admiration and awe from all who laid eyes upon him.
The director had yet to notice him, however, as at that very moment Jungkook, along with two more actors, were filming and the man was focused on the cameras rolling and capturing the scene. P3 didn't bother to mingle in their work and casually made his way to a discreet corner where he could have a better view of the ongoing scene and allowed himself to quickly scan his surroundings, while in the eyes of the rest, he appeared as if he was inwardly critiquing everything and everyone.
It didn't take long for an astute worker to rush to the director's side, whispering into his ear the unexpected news about the presence of the one and only Park Jimin.
P3 slyly observed as all heads turned, seeking him out, yet he maintained an air of ignorance, concealing the fact that his target was among those shocked by the news of his arrival. Standing right by the director's side.
In the depths of Mr DuHo's consciousness, a profound realization took hold instantly upon his eyes making eye contact with Jimin's figure. Amidst the bustling crowd, he alone possessed the knowledge that he was not really the Jimin everyone knew of, even though he inhabited Jimin's body. P3 was the one in control and hence DuHo couldn't help but make a frightful assumption that there was a possibility of P3 having come all this way for him.
Mind games have always been a delight to witness. P1 I hope you don't mind ...I will borrow some of your tricks.
A knowing smile rose on P3's lips, right before the director rashly cut the scene and gave a ten minutes break before he waved at Jungkook urging him to go over to him and he did so cluelessly still as from the moment he had started filming, he had gifted all his attention on his role.
" Look over there discretely," The director commanded, his voice laced with mystery. "Park Jimin is here. " Jungkook followed his instructions and turned his head only to make direct eye contact with P3, who placed a wider smile and waved at him in the most friendly manner ever.
Jungkook's face remained impassive, a mask carefully crafted to hide his racing thoughts as from the moment you had informed him of Jimin's visit, he had thought things through and had concluded which behaviour would be more believable for him to keep on in order to convince everyone else that he supposedly didn't know anything regarding his visit.
" Do they have a shooting here, too?" He put on his confused expression as he allowed his gaze to return to the director.
"I don't believe so. If that were the case, he would have arrived with a crew," Duho stated the obvious, causing the director to spiral into a frenzy. The presence of the industry's finest actor barging onto the set was no trifling matter. A misstep in handling the situation could cost him dearly, yet he could not let Jimin stay around no matter what.
Jungkook and him were rivals on the field. Jimin observing the filming process was equal to allowing a spy to witness their cards.
" Jungkook, go over to him and ask him kindly why he is here and do your best to send him off, without causing a commotion, please. " Jungkook looked over at his manager as the director pleaded with him to resolve this exactly as he had guessed that he would do.
" Don't worry. I am sure he must not have come by for trouble. Leave it to me. " Jungkook reassured the director with a comforting touch on his shoulder then gifted him a smile before he gestured to his manager to follow him.
Duho trailed a step behind Jungkook as they both made their way closer to Jimin, who was already looking at them with a knowing grin plastered across his face.
" Well, well, well...if it isn't the busy Mr Park" Jungkook drawled, his voice dripping with intrigue "Long time no see. What delightful wind brought you over on such a day? "
" I would not disturb my busy schedule for something unimportant, obviously. Could we have a moment to talk ?"Chuckling softly, P3 deliberately allowed his smile to fade, redirecting his piercing gaze to Duho in an attempt to lead his worrisome thoughts to where he needed them to be.
" Of course. Please follow me to my changing room." Jungkook feigned mild curiosity, his acting skills polished to perfection and then he led the way, leaving Jimin to halt his step briefly in order to deliver an intense and long stare to Mr Duho before following Jungkook.
His gaze pierced through Duho's soul, igniting a surge of anxiety within him. The clarity in those eyes sent shivers down his spine and ignited a worrisome thought over what he could possibly spill to Jungkook about him. Certainly, P3 didn't look like he was going to leave him out of their talk. That being something that was not to his benefit so he quickly rushed after them, only to halt a step away by the door of the changing room in which they had both just entered.
" Who the heck is it now? "Duho muttered, his breath heavy with frustration, as he scrambled to end the call that had interrupted him, only to realise that it was Boram, the one trying to reach him and she being who she was, made him unable to turn down her call.
As an exasperated exhale escaped his lips, inwardly complaining about her bad timing, he answered the call as politely as possible. " Ms Boram, how may I assist you?
Mr Duho uttered the usual line he took her calls with, for she always calls him to order him around for some kind of task. But instead of her usual cheerful voice, Boram uttered his name over the line with a trembling voice, laced with tears.
" Mr DuHo ... I need your help immediately." She whimpered, and he couldn't help but look around him, caught off guard.
" What's wrong, miss? "
" I tried to do something behind my parents' back ... but some misunderstanding happened, and the owner of the store thinks I was trying to steal something... He keeps saying he will call the police and the media... Dad will be so mad. Please come help me. " She cried desperately on the line while Duho's mind had grown alert over the world media for certainly the Ceo would go off on him if he wasn't to solve this before be coming to big of a deal. To not mention that now that Jungkook was dating her, he could get stigmatised by her scandals.
" Just stay there, Miss, text me the address and tell them to stay put. I'm coming right over." He reassured her, then hung up the call, only to pause and take in the urgency of the situation he was in.
Knowing that losing this job could cost him his cover, which he had built for such a long time, he knew he couldn't just ignore Boram's serious entanglement but simultaneously Jimin's presence and his request to speak with Jungkook also was a threat before his eyes which he could not leave uncontrolled.
Under the pressure of the moment and the urgency of the matter, Duho opened his phone and texted a number that he had saved as ' Copy '.
---meanwhile---
" You seriously are surprising me. I wasn't expecting you to pull such a performance. " You whispered at Boram's side as she was brought to the office of the general manager of a jewellery shop. A place you had carefully sneaked into just a bit later, once they had exited the room and you had become aware that she was alone in there.
Everything Boram had uttered on the line to Mr DuHo was actually the truth for after you met up with her, she had convinced you that you could not present him with a fake problem for once he was to come over, he would realize that Boram had lied to him. Even if you were to succeed in taking a blood sample from him, he would inevitably become suspicious of her and grow more alert of his movements and get his guard up. A thing that was obviously not to your benefit for your goal lay further than this blood sample.
" I told you, I am good at crying. It comes easily. All I have to do is recall some things. " Boram smiled at you through her teary eyes while she responded in a low voice.
" Are you sure this was not risky for you, though... they will really call the police on you if he doesn't come to solve it ."
" Don't worry about that. I am who I am, I wouldn't be left there for long anyways. You just make sure to wait by the entrance so when he finishes, I will pass you his car key." Boram reminded you, and you nodded your head, feeling slightly nervous about the plan even though you had constructed it together.
" We can't fail no matter what. Try your best not to let your nerves become an obstacle." You emphasised, and she gave you a determined look before reassuring you that no matter how many things she had failed in life, helping Jimin won't be one of them.
Am I the only one hyper-aware of the fact that the man is a literal agent or what?
You thought to yourself before you took your leave from the office for certainly you could not stay long there since it was a place you were not supposed to be. You and Boram had come in separately in the shop, so none could claim that she had any kind of company, or if things were to go wrong, no one could connect her actions with you and Jimin. It would be a shame to blow that cover now, by getting caught in that office with her.
---Change of set---
Behind his expressionless face and his seemingly cold eyes, there laid a tormenting heart that was losing someone it loved. There Jiya stood, tied up before him. A familiar and loved face, now wearing off like a mirage. They had shared countless moments together yet he had never thought he would have to live one where his heart felt like it had suddenly obtained multiple holes from where the love he had for her, was slipping away, slowly and painfully. Emptying the spot full of care he had given to her in his heart.
There were many things that he wanted to ask her, yet Jin has fallen victim to his fear, for the moment he was to direct a question, she had to reply. And the response was something he wasn't sure if he could bear at that instant.
The words P3 had left with him after stepping out of his apartment, were hunting his thoughts But the more he gazed at her, the more unfamiliar she kept becoming. The more he kept thinking of the words so bluntly and hurriedly P3 had told him, the more he kept fighting in his head over what to believe.
"...Jin..."Reluctantly she dared speak his name, as she had faintly done once or twice so far, but she had been ignored and that had discouraged her from approaching him with the apology she so wholeheartedly wanted to give him.
"Don't speak to me. " Was all he responded with before he tear his eyes away from her. On his face morphed briefly the pain that was eating him inside, however, making Jiya do the exact opposite of what he had just asked her.
"Jin, please listen to me. Give me a chance to explain" She pleaded inwardly knowing that this vulnerable moment of his, could turn to her benefit if she was to use it right. "I will tell you the truth. You can't just believe P3 without hearing my side."
"P3 may be many things, but he is not a liar Jiya," Jin admitted bitterly that no matter how much he truly wanted to believe that P3 was being irrational, he knew better. P3 was not one to conclude anything without proof.
"Please, please. I am a traitor yes. I betrayed Jimin and you but I still love you. Our relationship was not a lie. Please talk to me." Jiya squirmed in the chair she was tied to, while Jin just closed his eyes shut as he heard her admitting to what he wished that would have been some kind of misunderstanding.
"Traitor?... You have been so from the start?" His burning wonder escaped his lips before he could control himself and Jiya took a pause before she whispered shamefully her positive reply.
Jin's silence hung heavy in the air immediately after, his thoughts swirling with a rapidly growing unease, just as his restlessness did, making it impossible for him to remain still in his seat anymore. He started pacing the room, lost in the chaos of his thoughts that kept getting born, filling him with ugly possibilities while her eyes were following his agonising figure with worry.
"Ask me...whatever you want to know, I will let you know." Jiya proved unable to bear the tension any longer so she spoke after a while of seeing him going up and down and Jin's feet instantly halted in place.
"The medication I have been giving Jimin every time he loses himself...was it truly just strong sedative medication?" He reluctantly formed aloud the wonder that had struck his consciousness like an arrow and was slowly filling him with guilt over the possibility of him having been harming Jimin all this time, with his own two hands, while completely unaware of that.
"Yes, it's just a sedative that slows down the activity of the brain and the nervous system." She responded and a wave of relief took over him, that made his own body weak enough to lean against a piece of furniture he had near.
"Thank God..." his hushed words escaped his lips, barely audible as Jin with a heavy heart, allowed his head to droop, a gesture of surrender to the overwhelming fear that engulfed him. The mere thought of having inflicted harm upon Jimin had left such an unbearable taste of ache and guilt over his chest that for an instant even the ground beneath his feet, seemed to wobble.
"You really would have blamed yourself for it?... Just why...why do you always try too hard to help him?" Jiya looked over him with teary eyes, feeling pity towards the man she loved, not because she couldn't understand that he cared for Jimin, but because unlike him, she was aware, that it was futile. "You can't always succeed. There's no saving him!"
"Shut Up!" Her triggering words had made him instantly lift his head and allow his booming voice to penetrate the room, just as his angered gaze landed on her.
"You will get hurt! Don't you understand! Stop being so hopeful about him. Stop being so delusional!" Jiya went on with tears dropping down her cheeks, desperate to break through him. "He is broken beyond repair! It's not your responsibility to keep him sane!"
"But it is!" Jin roared in rage as he abruptly grabbed a lamp that was nearby and clashed it on the floor, breaking it to pieces just as his eyes got filled with tears.
"I failed to protect him once! I could have prevented him from being in this state today! I should have been with him that day! They abducted him right before my eyes!" Jin lashed out in a fit that had Jiya unprepared for she had never witnessed him so out of control and seemingly overwhelmed.
"What are you talking about?"
Jin paused at her question for admitting it felt like someone was piercing his throat with a middle, ripping his skin with the claws of the guilt that his silence bore. The secret that he had sealed and sworn to take to his grave for it was one that he was never supposed to know to begin with.
"You have betrayed him with your actions...but I have betrayed him with the things that I never did..." He uttered right before he started pacing slowly closer to her and with a painful expression he leaned over her head and rested his hand on her shoulder.
"Since you are an agent, you must know who is the one that started this. Who is the one that urged you and your colleagues to go after him?" He allowed his other hand to cup her cheek as he leaned lower to be face-to-face with her. "Give me the name and I promise you, I will never leave you. We will be just as we were before."
Jiya's eyes grew wide upon hearing his sweet words. Despite how unbelievable they were and how aware she was that he was not trustworthy right that very instant, the fact that he was looking so broken while uttering that sentence, made her heart clench. It made her feel like she had a debt towards the feelings of this man, which she had broke so mercilessly.
She avoided his gaze as she was collecting the strength to utter one of the most disturbing truths she had ever held captive in her head. The sole reason that she had bitterly accepted the fact that Jimin's future would be short.
His wound could never be healed...because his wound was carved by the ones that owned his heart.
"A now retired secret agent that had left an unfinished mission...A mission that she failed to see through, because of her own son."
"Son?"
"...She is... Jimin's mother..."
---To be continued...