There should be a trigger warning before anyone gets themselves involved in something like this.
Although I doubt that I would leave Junhee on the streets even after knowing the truth, still, a little caution would have been okay. I was just a doctor with simple dreams, and I had no idea about how I was going to deal with all this.
I was about to confront Taehyung hiding such a big thing from me but got interrupted by a cracking sound. I jumped on my seat at the sudden sound of glass breaking into pieces and someone groaning.
I looked behind to see Junghyun standing next to the cabinet, placed by the wall near the entrance of the living room. He was holding his side with his eyes closed as if in pain. The exquisite eighteenth-century vase, which always kept decorated on top of the cabinet - making it look more ornate - was now lying in front of him on the floor, broken into a thousand pieces. When I stared into those pieces, it felt like they were trying to tell me how Junghyun was going to get an earful from Uncle Max for breaking his favorite vase.
Junghyun recovered from the pain and marched towards us. His eyes glowered at Taehyung, who gave him an impassive look. Junghyun towered over him, just then I noticed he was taller than Taehyung by half an inch.
"Why do most of the times you have to do the opposite of what I say?" he shouted Taehyung, fuming in anger.
"Because half the times you are wrong about things, and this is one of those times," Taehyung said and just looked away, rolling his eyes at him.
Junghyun pushed Taehyung by his shoulder, making him stagger a bit.
"You are wrong. It is one of those times when I am hell serious. I have never been so sure about something before." With each word, he poked Taehyung on his shoulder blades. I could tell by the looks of Taehyung that he was getting irritated. I got up to stop them before things get out of hand. I went and stood between them, facing my back to Taehyung. "Stop it,"
Junghyun was about to say something, but I stopped him. I turned back to look at Taehyung and asked him, "Can you give us a moment?"
He looked uncertain, but when I assured him with my eyes, he shrugged and left from there.
"I still had few things to say to him," Junghyun whined as the sound of footsteps retreating got distant.
"Before that, I need to know why did you refuse him to tell me anything?" I crossed my arm over my chest to look intimidating.
He fidgeted with his hands and said, "I don't want another person to get hurt. It was better off not telling you about it. The less you know, the more you are safe,"
I really couldn't understand what he was thinking.
"Do you think keeping me off the grid would be better. What if one day they come back. I wouldn't know how to deal because I don't know who I am going to deal with," I tried to talk sense into him, but it looked like he was not ready to listen to anything.
"I just know I can't risk another life, especially yours. You have done a big favor by saving my sister's life. I can't repay you by putting you in danger," Junghyun clarified and turned around to leave, but I held him back by tugging onto his arm.
"Hyung, now when I know the truth, at least can you tell me the whole thing now. Please, I want to know," I begged him,
Junghyun looked a little shocked as if he had seen a ghost, "What did you just call me?"
I recalled what exactly I said to have him react like that. I called him hyung.
oh, can i not call him that?
"Hyung? Sorry, I thought since we were...like...I don't know I just felt I could call you that now, should I not?" I asked him,
Junghyun shook his head as if coming out of trance, "It's fine, it's just....no one ever called me like that, so I was taken aback"
"But, isn't everyone else in your team younger than you. Then why don't they address you like that?" I asked him, little bit confused,
"Because they are bunch of assholes, who can't respect their elders" he huffed,
I tried to hold in my laughter, suddenly I remembered what we were actually talking about
"Back to the topic, You still owe me a answer"
He sighed and nodded in defeat. I gleamed, but then my eyes caught the sight of broken pieces of vase still lying on the floor.
"But before that, we need to clean that," I said, pointing towards the mess on the ground, "Also, you need to be ready with a suitable excuse when Max finds out that his favorite vase is gone,"
Junghyun gave no reaction like he could care less about it. I shook my head at him and by myself cleaned the mess, though he helped a little too. After that, we both slumped down on the couch, resting our heads on the back of the sofa, and stared at the ceiling.
"So where should I start?" he asked as he sat cross-legged facing me,
"Maybe from the start ?" I suggested. The note of impatience in my voice caught Junghyun off guard.He leaned back on the mattress with his hands stretched out behind his back, looking at the ceiling as he exhaled loudly. A dark look crossed his features.
"When Junhee was 8 years old. She and I lost our parents in a car accident." he paused as I looked sadly at him, "Being so small, we had no idea what was even happening with us. We would have lost if it not had been Max who took us with him"
I jerked my gaze back at him in shock. "Max? You mean Uncle Max?"
He flicked his gaze back to me a moment. I inwardly gasped at the intensity of the pain behind his eyes. For a moment, I wanted to go and hug him and tell him it's all okay now, but the moment was gone as he cleared his throat, the look in his eyes turned gentle.
"Yes, he took us in and raised us. Whatever we are today it's because of him only,"
At first, I couldn't believe what he was saying.
"Max is whom who taught us, trained us to be a spy. He was a friend of my parents, and they all were spies. My dad was the head of this agency that he created on his own, so of course, he had some enemies." he smiled bitterly, "After my parent's death, Max feared that they would come for us, so he secretly raised us and trained us. Nobody knows our real identity. For everyone, we are just like other secret agents, except the head chief of our agency as he knew our parents."
he paused to let me process everything, and slowly I got hold of it. I nodded at him to continue.
"After we turned 18, we joined agency too, and that's when the curiosity of what happened to my parents got me. Max never told us, but I needed to know because I always felt that something was wrong," he glanced at me as if to check my reaction, before continuing. "So I asked him, and that's when I came to know that they did not die in an accident. They were killed,"
I caught my breath, surprised by the sudden truth. Junghyun sat straight and looked at me closely, gauging my reaction.
"They....were..Ki...Killed?" I stuttered over my words, as it was still hard for me to digest this fact. he nodded, his eyes glinted with unshed tears. I stared at him as he closed his eyes with a deep breath before continuing.
"They were on a mission to eliminate an assassin, but during the mission, they found something they shouldn't have," he said and tilted his head to his right side and got lost in his thoughts.
"What was it?" I asked him, and it caught his attention back to me.
"I don't know exactly what, but it was some information regarding illegal businesses. They were not supposed to find the chip. That's why it got them.." Junghyun didn't have to finish the sentence. I could guess what happened to his parents later.
Something else crossed my mind, "Was it related to something to that Roberto guy?" I ask to which he nodded.
"Roberto was a very powerful businessman. The secret services always doubted that he was doing something illegal in the name of the transportation business. Then my mom and dad found a chip. In it, there was a record of his till the date illegal business. Mom and dad were going to the agency to submit it, but..." he trailed off, his voice choked from emotional pain."Max told us that it was Roberto who had them killed for the chip. But after investigation, they found that there was no chip or anything like that with them during that accident," he said, his eyes blazing with fire.
"Then what happened?" I asked him,
"Everybody thought that Junhee and I both were in that car during the accident, and we died too. And nobody found us because we were living with Max and he hid us well. That's why we never crossed paths with you, at the time of your stays here,"
I thought about the times when I would visit here and couldn't think of a day when there would be something suspicious. Max did a great job of keeping them hidden.
"As no one knew about our real identity, so we took it as an advantage for revenge," Junghyun took a deep breath before continuing again. "All these years, we kept an eye on Roberto and found a pattern. Then with the help of someone, we finally found the location of Roberto and planned to assassinate him. It was four years ago. Only the head chief knew about our plan. It was a first group mission of mine with these guys."
He paused and smiled a little but then his whole mood turned off. "But don't know how Roberto got to know who we are and that we will be attacking him. He was all prepared when we reached the location. Luckily we were able to take down most of his men," he said, his tone changes suddenly into a more severe one.
"At last, I got a chance and shot Roberto. But he fell in the river from the impact, and afterward, we didn't find his body. We were fools to let the matter go and thought he died because the bullet shot right near his heart," Junghyun sighed in defeat like he was cursing himself for something.
"If only we took it more seriously then today Junhee might not be in such a situation, neither you would have get involved like this," he said and ran a hand through his hair in exasperation.
"Hey, you didn't know things were going to be like this. No one knew, so stop blaming yourselves like this. The important thing is to know what his plan is and if he's really back for just revenge or he still wants that chip. And if he does, then we need to find it," I told him, trying to make him feel better.
He peered at me with an unknown emotion. "We can't find it? Only one person knew where it was?"
Junghyun's voice suddenly dropped low, like he was in a lot of pain.
"Your parents?" I asked, and he shook his head.
"Apart from them, there was one more person who knew," he said, and I looked at him confusingly.
"Who?" I asked.
Before I could know his answer, someone coughed loudly to catch out attention. We both turned around to see Taehyung standing by the entrance of the living room and was leaning on the wall. He had changed into warmer clothes and held an extra jacket in his arms.
"What happened? Is everything alright?" Junghyun asked him,
Taehyung sighed and stood straight, "I am going back home. I need to ask Mason a few more questions,"
I guessed that he might be talking about that leader, whom he caught.
"But it's late now. You can go tomorrow," Junghyun suggested to him. Taehyung waves his hand dismissively."I can't wait until tomorrow. I need to go now." he said impatiently and asked Junghyun. "I came to ask if you wanna come?"
I turned to look at Junghyun, who looked conflicted, "I want too, but I need to stay with Junhee tonight. After what happened today, I won't be at peace if I won't be with her," he said.
Taehyung came and stood behind Junghyun, to pat on his shoulder.
"It's okay, I understand," Taehyung said and turned to leave.
I don't know what came over me, but suddenly I wanted to go with him. I had some questions to ask that guy, and I needed to do that myself.
"Wait, I'll go with you," I stopped Taehyung and told him.
He looked back and raised his eyebrows with a smirk. "What's the magic word?"I didn't understand what was with this guy, but he effortlessly irritated me. I had the urge to punch him, but I tolerated his nuisance as I needed to go there. Taking a few breaths, I smiled at him sweetly. He raised his eyebrows in suspicion.
"Taehyung, will you please take me there with you? I'd be grateful," I pleaded with bared teeth. Only I knew how hard it was to say out those words to him. Taehyung, for a moment, looked taken aback. I was sure he didn't expect that. He had thought I would retort to his comment, and I would have done that if I didn't want to go to his house.
Taehyung composed himself while Junghyun covered his mouth with his hand to control himself from laughing. A glint of amusement danced over in Taehyung's eyes.
"Fine, but first wear so thing warm and then meet me outside," Taehyung said and walked away, leaving us alone.
"Well, I need to go now," I waved Junghyun bye.
I first went to my room to change into a high neck and jeans. I went downstairs, taking my coat from the coat hanger by the door, and wore it before leaving the house.Just like Taehyung said, he showed up in his car at the front door after ten minutes.
"Get in fast" I got inside and buckled my seat belt. I just hoped to have enough strength to face that guy and a chance to get all my answers.
*******************************
Rolling down the window, I stuck my head out of the window a little bit and rested my chin on the elbow. The cool breeze kissed my face as I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the wind. Goosebumps ran through my arms, but it didn't stop me filling in the earthy smell of aftermath of snowfall.
"So, Junghyun told you everything, huh?" Taehyung's voice brought me back from my reverie. I turned back to see him looking at me with curiosity.
"Ya, I think so, if that's what everything is," I said, after which he gave me a muddled look.
"What does that mean?" he asked and I sighed and turned a little towards him.
"I think something is missing, either something he didn't tell me or something he missed himself," I wondered, Taehyung hummed in understanding.
"Ask me? Maybe I'll help you out" he said and I raised my eyebrows in astonishment.
"How come you are willing to help me? Do you not hate me anymore," I teased him and in turn, he glared at me.
"I don't hate you. I just find you annoying," he clarified, although his words were not sensible.
I let the matter go and started asking him questions.
"There were somethings which Junghyun told me. I felt like they were not coincidences like Roberto finding about his parent's plan or either your plans. It's like someone told him," I told him my doubts.
Taehyung bobbed his head and clicked his tongue. "We also thought of that possibility and did an investigation but couldn't find anything,"
I sighed in dejection and moved onto the next topic.
"Well then, how long you had known Junghyun and others?" I asked him.
A smile made way to his lips. I hated to admit it, but it made him look a little more charming and I wasn't going to say that to him to boost his ego.
"I had known Junghyun and Junhee since childhood, but I met others when we teamed up for our first case, that was to eliminate Roberto," he said and beamed while remembering his old memories but there was an emptiness in his eyes, for which I couldn't find any reason.
"We all hit it off at the first meeting and became permanent teammates. Although I was younger than Junghyun, still we became best friends," he finished with a chuckle,
"Did you came here for a mission too?" I ask him and he nodded.
"We were in London for some other mission then we came to know that there was going to be a big drug smuggling sooner," he started talking with interest. "We needed to catch them in action, so we had to make a plan and disguise ourselves,"
"After months of waiting, we finally got the time and place and came to this city, but things went completely wrong," he said, at the end looking frustrated.
I felt like something was wrong. Something was missing in all this. Like why everything they try to do something and it always goes wrong, like someone is one step ahead of them. I dig that feeling deep in my heart and took it as my overthinking,
"How younger are you than Junghyun?" I changed the topic to stop thinking about my doubts.
"He's five years older than me," he said and I was shocked at this new information.
"Why you look so shocked?" Taehyung asked,
"Well I thought you were actually way older than him, specially from how you behave" I told him,
He gasped as I smirked at him. He punched me in the arm.
"Such a meanie. I am 28, okay and for your kind information everyone says I look younger for my age," he yelled at me and looked away,
I laughed loudly making him more agitated.
"Okay, okay, I was just kidding, no need to be so serious," I said but my lips kept twitching from trying to holding back my smile. He didn't gave me any reply and stayed quiet for the rest of the ride.
His hand suddenly shot out to glide across my cheek. I froze in my seat, dare not to look at him, but caught a quick glance of his red tainted cheeks as he too looked away.
Heat rushed to mu cheeks and I looked away. But I couldn't digest the fact that I was shying, I couldn't possibly have crush on him. I quickly shook my head at the thought.
There is nothing like that, it was just too sudden and shocked me, that's all.
I told myself.
"Was just checking if you still had those scars on your face. Looks like it is almost gone," Taehyung said after a long stretched silence. I unconsciously touched my cheeks, and it did not sting anymore. Those finger prints were gone.
"Ya, I just wish that soon I won't have to wear these bandages also," I told him. It was really uncomfortable to have bandages wrapped around arms all the time. But this made me realize that I never thanked him for saving me.
"Thank you for saving me yesterday," I said to him. He looked at me and just nodded with a small smile.
After we reached his house, my hands started to sweat. All the flashbacks of what I went through in the morning, came back to me. It was only a few hours back when I was almost near to get killed, but it feels like days have passed, all this stuff had exhausted me.
"Hey, you'll be fine. I am here," Taehyung said, giving me an assuring look. I nodded and got out of the car.
Once we get inside, I hang my coat on the coat hanger nearby the door. Taehyung took me downstairs to the basement and stopped in front of a small door. I rubbed my hands to calm down my heart as it started beating very fast.
"Let's go inside and get some answers," he said and opened the door to get inside.
I followed him inside and saw a sleeping man tied to a chair sitting in the center of the room. This time his face was not covered. I took a closer look at him to find his one eye turned purple and fingerprints marks on his left cheek. Taehyung went to him and slapped him hard to wake him up. The guy jerked awake with his eyes wide open.
"What the hell? Who wakes up people like that?" The guy barked, then he turned to look at me, and his eyes turn dark, "Uh, you brought him too?"
The guy grinned making my skin crawl in disgust. Taehyung moved to stand in front of me, to shield me away from that guy's gaze.
"And what time it is?" the guy asked and looked around for any watch and found one hanging by the wall on his right, "Man, it's one hour past midnight. This is not a time for chit chat,"
"We are not here to chit chat, Mason. We need answers. So you better give them" Taehyung snarled at him. The guy named Mason chuckled without any humor.
"You ask a lot, my friend..." Mason said, making Taehyung punch him again. I held him back before he does more damage to that guy.
"I am not your buddy. I need to know what happened on the night when you...?" Taehyung got silent as he couldn't finish his sentence.
"When we tortured your dear friend," Mason completed his sentence with a sadistic tone. Taehyung was about to hit him again, but I stopped him. Mason's eyes zeroed on my hand on Taehyung's arm.
"But looks like you are enjoying yourself anyway," Mason said and I quickly removed my hand and stood a bit far from him. Taehyung looked uncomfortable too.
"Stop talking nonsense, just answer my question," He yelled at Mason, who gave him a bored look.
"Whatever, well we called Junhee that night and told her that we have some proof on her parent's murder if she wants it, then she has to come alone. The silly girl believed us and even came alone after that you know what happened" Mason said in a brief as if he wanted to finish this as soon as possible, also looked bored, like he could care less about it.
I could see by the looks of Taehyung that he was going to do something wrong, so I gathered courage and took his place.
"Who was that man in the hospital, and why took him away?" I asked him and Mason looks at me menacingly.
"He was one of our men. During our fight that night, he was badly injured by Junhee, so we had to admit him to the hospital. After we found you, we had to take him away, as we couldn't risk us getting caught," Mason explained with angry expressions on his face.
"What I still don't get is, how did you found us? We never had revealed our faces before in any of our missions" Taehyung asked Mason, who looked at me with resentment.
"Well we knew you all, but we didn't know you by faces. Boss only knew Junghyun by face as while he shot boss, the boss was able to remove his mask. So we tracked him." Mason started to explain,
"It was hard at first, as he had changed his sim and details. But a few months back, he made a mistake to use an old number which he had while he was on his first mission, and we tracked him and saw him." Mason said, looking at Taehyung like he's showing off.
"But boss wanted Junhee not him, so through him, we thought to get you all," Mason smirked at the end.
"We trapped you in fraud information to lure you all into here, and you all came like expected. That night we could have seen her too, but it was so dark that we couldn't see her face clearly except her eyes," Mason kept telling us what happened that night. We stayed quiet to let him finish whatever he has to say. "I admit we made a mistake, but you all made a bigger one by coming in this town and falling in our trap,"
After Mason finished, Taehyung stormed out of the room, anger radiating off him. I sighed and follow him out before closing the door from outside.
I dared not look at that guy's face as he creep me out. I went upstairs to find Taehyung pacing back and forth in the hallway, I thought for a moment and decided to leave him alone, he needed time to digest all this.
"I should go, it's getting late," I told him and didn't wait for his reply and turned to leave, but he called me out.
"Wait, it's late. It won't be safe to go back now and also everyone must be sleeping" he said, and I realized he was right. I couldn't possibly disturb everyone's sleep but I couldn't stay here too. Also, with that guy downstairs, I didn't think I would feel at peace.
"It's okay. Then I'll go to my house," I told him, and Taehyung looked at me like I have gone mad.
"And how? If you are thinking I will drive you there, then you are wrong. I won't," he said and turns to goes upstairs.
I stood at my place, pondering over his words. Taehyung was right, it was late now and it won't be safe to go alone. For the second time in the day, I listened to his words, and followed him upstairs. He was leaning on the wall by the door of the room, he pointed to the bedroom in front of him.
"You can sleep in that room tonight. I'll be in this room. If you need anything, then please don't bother me," he said and gave me a fake smile before shutting the door on my face. He looked strangely calm after knowing everything. I wondered what was going inside his mind and what kind of face would he be making in alone.
I frowned and stood in front of his door before knocking. A few seconds later he opened the door with an irritated look.
"Didn't I say you no to bother me?" he asked. I fiddled with my fingers and looked down at my feet.
"Can I stay in this room? If I stay in that alone in that room, I will always be paranoid and in alert mode, with that guy downstairs," I told him honestly.
His eyes softened a little, listening to my words and he opened the door wide to let me in.
I thanked him and went inside. It was the same room where I waked up in the morning today. I turned around to see Taehyung taking out a blanket and pillow from the cupboard and placing it on the sofa. For a moment my heart softened thinking how considerate he was being by sleeping on the couch,
"Here I have arranged your bed, now go to sleep and don't disturb me again," he said, and all that soft feeling, I was having for him flew away. I glared at him after hearing his words.
"Hey, I am not going to sleep on the couch," I told him as he exhaled.
"Look, either you sleep on the couch or go back to your room because neither I'll sleep on couch nor we both are going to sleep on the same bed," he said before lying on the bed and covered himself with a blanket and closed his eyes.
"Don't forget to close the light," he mumbled before the sound of steady breathing filled the room.
So much for being nice. I stomped my foot in anger, but I had no other choice.
I went back to sleep on the couch, after covering myself with blanket and closed my eyes. I hoped when we would tell Junghyun about the truth and everything else Mason said, they would be able to come up with a solution. I felt myself getting drifted to sleep with the last thought in my mind of a blue-eyed guy.
********************************