i run in front of yoongi and minho, because i just can't wait to see tae's face again, i can't wait to warm his cold hand with my touch and calm him down with a reassuring smile. i know he's better now, but a reassuring smile never hurt anybody. and besides, seeing him smile is a blessing.
what did taehyung say about being dependant on me for everything? it feels rather like i'm addicted to him.
so i run down the corridor, smiling, the happiest i was in days, in weeks, in months.
the widely open door is the first sign of something wrong, but i don't take it seriously, thinking that yoongi left it that way when he left for me, and walk in. but then there's a bleeding jimin on the floor - the second, much more obvious sign, and a missing taehyung, of whom there is no sign. i stop dead in my tracks and take in this atmosphere of wrongness, my smile slowly fading, before rushing to jimin's side and sitting down next to him.
"jimin?" i say nervously. "what happened? where is taehyung?"
he opens his eyes and groans quietly. "you barely missed them," he whispers. i jump onto my feet.
them. i know exactly what he means.
"jimin?" i hear a worried voice behind me. i turn around to see yoongi enter the room, but i barely have time to blink - and there he is on the floor by jimin, holding a hand to his bloody wound and holding back tears. but i don't have time to think about why he's crying even though he's seen injuries a lot worse - i grab my father's arm before he can cross the threshold and pull him after me.
"what happened?" he asks. "where's taehyung?"
"they got him, but i think we'll catch up with them if we hurry," i explain. "we must catch up with them," i add in a determined tone, and he nods as we both start running back to the elevator.
the doors open before i can press the button and i see a man dressed in a white robe behind them. for some reason i say: "are you dr. kim?"
he frowns. "yes, who are you?"
"jimin's bleeding. you better go help," i say without answering his question, and literally push him out to get into the elevator myself. my dad presses the '1' button and we start our seemingly endless descent to the reception hall.
as soon as the doors slide open, i jump out of the elevator and look around. as my gaze reaches the front doors, i spot a strand of blonde hair and rush in that direction.
the street outside is quite crowded, but it's easy to notice the man carrying taehyung over his shoulder. it's not mr. smirk, because he's taller and has a slightly different hair color, but he seems to be following somebody through the crowd. i squint and manage to see the color of the other's jacket: it's the same dirty green that son of a bitch was wearing yesterday. coincidence? i don't think so.
great, there's two of them.
i quickly point a finger in that direction so that my father knows who we are chasing, and we start running again.
it's hard to make our way through the street. i push people away with my elbows, not caring about their angry retorts, and try to keep my eyes on the blonde-haired head and the green jacket. once i lose them in the crowd and start to panic, but when I finally catch a glimpse of them again... they're putting taehyung into a trunk of a black car.
"no!" i yell, making mr. smirk turn around. as he sees me, his smirk gets bigger. he waves at me cheerfully and gets into the vehicle.
cursing under my breath i begin to push people harder, but only end up being pushed back myself and falling. minho comes to my help, pulling me up, and i manage to take a last look at the car before it drives away.
"no!" i yell again, though i know it won't help a bit. "quick, we need to get in the car before they get too far!"
"jungkook," dad grabs my arm, "we came here riding bikes, remember?"
"shit, shit, shit!" i curse loudly, making a few heads turn in my direction.
i look around again, searching for answers, and an idea suddenly comes to my head. i turn to my father with a pleading expression on my face.
"dad," i say, "can we please borrow a car?"
his brows furrow. "what? no, jungkook, we already talked about it: i'm only gonna help if you do nothing illegal and-"
"dad," i repeat more confidently. "taehyung is in danger, i can't risk his life. plus it's not like i won't put it back where i took it! please, let me steal a car!"
he frowns at me for some more but eventually sighs and nods. "alright," he mumbles, "but it's only this once!"
"thank you, dad!"
as i examine the line of cars parked by the hospital, i quickly spot the right vehicle - a pink porsche 911 - and start making my way towards it. i don't even care about the color.
"couldn't you choose a cheaper one?!" minho asks with desperation in his voice.
i shrug, unlocking the door with ease. "it's the fastest. plus, we're gonna bring it back, remember?"
my father only sighs and plops down next to the driver's seat.
it takes me two minutes to start the car, and then we're off.
racing through the street i look out for the black car mr. smirk was driving and finally notice it about a kilometer away from us. he takes a left turn at his next stoplight, and as the lights turn red for me, i push the pedal even harder, earning a dozen of angry beeps from other drivers. i don't care right now. the only thing i care about is taehyung. it has always been that way.
i turn left where mr. smirk does and catch a glimpse of his black bumper as they turn right at the next corner. is he playing with me? i turn right, then i turn right again after him, and then i turn left twice. it goes on for about 20 minutes. poor tae must be sick in that trunk already. but then as i turn right again, their car suddenly disappears from sight and i push the brakes, the porsche stopping so abruptly that i almost bang my forehead onto the driver's wheel.
"fuck!" i cry out. my hands are shaking from anger as taehyung's probably are from fear. "where did they go?!"
"calm down and drive on!" minho urges me. "i'm sure there's some kind of an alleyway with a dead end somewhere here."
i follow his advice and set off a bit slower, checking the buildings for a hidden passage. and there certainly is one just a few hundred meters ahead. i take a sharp turn, almost crashing into the wall, and drive into a yard that looks like no foot has stepped here since last century.
and surely there is the black car, parked right in front of the door that has just closed before my eyes.
i pull to a halt and jump out of the vehicle.
"quick dad, they're inside!"
"wait, jungkook!" he stops me, grabbing my arm again. "do you have any weapons to protect yourself? there's two of them, isn't there?"
"yeah, so what? i don't care as long as-"
"yeah, taehyung shall live if you have something to protect him with, but you don't!" he argues.
he has a point, but i have no idea what to use as a weapon so i just show him my clenched fists and storm inside the building.
"oh, we've been waiting for you, jeon jungkook."
it all happens too quick for me to grasp, but at the same time it looks like slow motion. the knife mr. smirk was holding in his hand stabs taehyung's stomach with such a force, that he doubles over, groaning loudly through the piece of cloth on his mouth, and then falls over, blood spilling from the deep wound.
"no!" i scream for the third time, and fall to my knees beside him as tears start rolling uncontrollably down my cheeks. "taehyung, no, please, no!"
i take off the flannel shirt i was wearing over a tee and tie it tightly around his waist, making him groan even louder. then i untie the ropes around his body and free his mouth from the gag.
"jungkook!" he sobs, crying even harder than me. i press both hands to his wound and, though i hate seeing him hurt and cry, i keep them there as he cries out from the painful touch.
"i have to, baby," i whisper, stroking his cheek with a bloody finger. "you're losing blood. just hold on!"
"and who the fuck is that?"
my vision is blurred by my tears, but as i turn around i can clearly see my dad staring at the scene unfolding in front of him. i almost forgot he was there.
"dad, what are you doing? run!" i shout at him, but it's too late.
i watch in horror as a bullet hits him in the chest and my father's lifeless body falls to the floor.
"nooo!"
i stay where i am, holding the now unconscious taehyung in my trembling arms, but my wet eyes are turned towards the man who gave me a toy police car for my 15th birthday, who rode bikes with me in the park next to our house and played computer games with me all evening.
the man who gave me life was killed before my eyes, and the guy who is my life is dying slowly.
"what have you done?" i hear a shout, strangely coming not from me, but from the smirking son of a bitch. i turn my head and see that it wasn't him who shot minho. it was his friend, or partner or whatever. and now mr. smirk is quite angry because he realizes the guy killed a cop.
without hesitation he takes the gun from his hands and shoots him in the head.
"i'll come back in the next twenty four hours!" he warns and runs away without a word of goodbye, leaving me to my grief.
i feel like sitting there on the floor and crying, but there are things i need to do. with a bloody hand i reach into my pocket, extracting my phone. i call the ambulance and ask them to take taehyung to the same hospital he was in, and then i call the police and tell them with the quietest and weakest voice i heard from myself that captain lee minho was shot to death. and after everything's done, i tell myself to stop crying and stay strong for taehyung. so while i wait for the ambulance, my tears slowly dry away and i just turn numb, unable to move, unable to think clearly.
just like it was when... don't think about it.
when the ambulance arrives, i help them get taehyung inside and drive the stolen car right behind behind them. my mind is void of thoughts, the expression on my face emotionless. i feel like i just lost the sense of life.
yoongi's already waiting for me in the hospital hall. his eyes widen as he sees the blood on my clothes, but i just nod towards taehyung, who's being transported to the operation area. yoongi glances at his motionless body and back at me.
"what happened?" he asks quietly.
"he stabbed him. he's still alive but-" i trail off. there's no need to explain anyway.
"and your father?"
i shake my head, staring at the floor.
"shit, jungkook. i should have gone with you." he says bitterly.
and then you would be dead too, and i'd have lost everything.
"no, you shouldn't have. jimin was shot. it wouldn't be right to leave him alone."
"yes, but taehyung-"
i raise my puffy eyes to look at him. "let's hope he'll be alright," i say.
yoongi nods. "he will. i know he will." he stretches out his arms. "come here."
without hesitation i approach him and hide my face in the crook of his neck. i may not be crying anymore, but i need support more than anything, and yoongi always knows what i need. we stay there, unmoving, for what seems like forever, and i savor that embrace, trying to forget, forget, forget.
while taehyung is in the operational room and jimin still unconscious, we sit by the door waiting. a bitter silence is hanging in the air. both him and i want to fill it.
"do you-"
"i need-" we say at the same time and turn towards each other smiling.
"you go first," he urges me.
"no, you go, it's probably more important anyway."
"it's not but whatever," he replies, rolling his eyes. "i just wanted to ask if you knew whose car you 'stole' today?"
"how am i to know that?" i ask back, rolling my eyes as well.
"well, there are ways-"
"yoongi," i interrupt, "whose car was it?"
"it's dr. kim's," he answers with a giggle.
i frown in confusion. "wait do you... i don't know a female dr. kim, so your words tell me nothing, yoongi," i admit.
he scoffs. "did i say it was a female doctor, idiot? taehyung's doctor owns the car."
i frown even more. "but that's... it can't be, yoongi, the car i used was pink!"
"that's exactly what i'm trying to say!" he exclaims laughing, and adds with a lower voice. "i heard him talk to his husband over the phone, saying his car was stolen, but then he suddenly noticed that pink porsche you were driving and his jaw dropped."
"but how can he afford a porsche?"
he shrugs. "i don't know, maybe his husband is a rich prick."
i chuckle. "this doctor has a whole package. he's gay, he's rich and he likes pink color." i pause. "but wait, how do you know it was his husband?"
"he called him namjoon."
"not his boyfriend?"
"he's wearing a ring, so i put it all together."
"you should've become a detective instead of jimin, you know that?"
yoongi bursts into laughter and punches my arm. "anyway, what were you going to say?"
i look down and clear my throat. "i just wanted to... apologize for my words back at the police station. i know it hurt you to hear a 'fuck you' from me, but you took good care of taehyung anyway. jimin almost died for him and-"
yoongi scoffs loudly making me stop.
"please, are we gonna talk about that? could you not say something more interesting?"
i smile. "okay. what's your relation to jimin?"
he turns to me so abruptly that i'm afraid his neck will break.
"how-" he pauses. "huh. taehyung was right. maybe you just know me too well."
"what was he right about?" i wonder aloud. the thought of taehyung makes me glance nervously at the door.
"he heard us whispering last night and... whatever, i should just tell you from the start."
i raise my brows and prepare to listen.
"so you remember that accident i thought you died in?"
"no i don't," i answer sarcastically.
"whatever. i was depressed from losing my best friend-"
"ooh, how cute!"
"-and went down to the local bar to have a drink. that's where i met him. he said his friend died that day too, and the understanding brought us together."
"you should be a writer."
"shut up and listen!"
"rude."
"anyway. we exchanged phone numbers and promised to help each other out. we became really good friends-"
"how dare you cheat on me right after i died!"
"-and then one day we realised we weren't just friends anymore, so stop bitching."
"still, you went out with a cop," i point out. "and still are."
"i'm not-" he groans from annoyance. "i didn't know he was a cop! i found out only a few months ago."
"and this broke your heart?"
"what?"
"what did you mean back in the car when you said the ones who loved you hurt you the most?" i ask with curiosity.
"oh, that. well, i just... he probably knew you were alive, but he never told me, and that's why i was a bit angry. but then i realised i never really asked, and that he could get in trouble for telling me, and anyway he apologized yesterday, so i cooled down."
i nod. "that's good."
silence falls again, but this time it's only yoongi who breaks it.
"may i ask... about you and your dad?" ouch. a painful question. "why did you have a quarrel and how come he-"
"no."
"no?"
"i'm not ready to talk about it yet."
he nods his head. "okay. i'm sorry."
"no, it's fine," i say, though it's not fine. "i can tell you this: crime is in my blood. i didn't choose to become what i am."