The rest of Got7 and Namjoon eventually decided to stay at Jungkook's mansion. Jaebum and Jackson worked until around 3am at night until they went off to bed. By the next morning, the two of them were exhausted and couldn't do any more hacking until noon. Jungkook and Jimin prepared breakfast for the rest. Jungkook, again, made Namjoon promise that he won't step into the kitchen.
During breakfast, Jungkook watched as Jimin conversed with the members of Got7. More specifically, Jinyoung and Mark. Jungkook talked to Yugyeom and Bambam more while Namjoon occasionally striked up a conversation with Youngjae. He kept on complaining about how much Jackson was sleeping.
"Can't Jackson wake up a bit faster? I'm so bored....." Namjoon complained, groaning. Everyone else just rolled their eyes at him. They all finished their breakfast and Got7 went straight to work. Jinyoung was just about finished with the plan and Jungkook went back into the kitchen to make some food for Jackson and Jaebum ahead of time.
Soon, Namjoon stepped into Jackson's room and shook him awake. He was aware that he had a clear disadvantage when it comes to the offensive side, but he didn't care as he was still taller than the predator hybrid. He chuckled as he watched Jackson groan while he woke up, rubbing his eyes.
Jackson proceeded to wake up Jaebum, who went through the same process he did. They both went downstairs and ate their food groggily. Jackson occasionally glared at Namjoon for waking him up so abruptly, not that Namjoon really cared. Soon, Jaebum was wide awake and ready to work while Jackson needed a bit more time to fully awaken. Namjoon laughed at him while watched as Jackson slowly walked around the room to wake himself up.
In between chuckles, he asked something that made Jackson's blood freeze. "If you're having that much trouble waking up fully, do you want me to dump a bucket of water over you?" Jackson literally woke up immediately at the statement, sitting down at the couch peacefully, opening his laptop to work. "Damn, what caused you to wake up so fast?" Jungkook laughed.
"He literally threatened to pour water on me this early into the morning." Jackson complained, making Yugyeom call him out. "Uh, it's technically already the afternoon. We woke you up just a bit before noon, which meant both of you had more than enough sleep." Hearing this, everyone laughed at Jackson while his face heated up from embarassment.
"Well, whatever. It's pretty early for me!" Jackson blurted out, still embarassed. Hearing this, Namjoon sent another question towards Jackson. "Jackson, aren't jaguar hybrids supposed to actually be alright with water just like full-jaguars?" It took a moment for Jackson to reply, as he was setting up his laptop. "Just because we're fine with water doesn't mean we'd necessarily like having water dumped onto us at noon."
Before they could do anymore bickering, Jaebum quickly changed the subject. "Jinyoung, did you finish coming up with the plan?" Before Jinyoung could reply, Jimin got a call from one of his employees. He excused himself before leaving to pick up the call.
"Hello?" He said into the call, causing his employee to almost yell at him through the phone. "Mr. Park, can you explain why you decided to ditch work today?" Jimin sighed before replying to her. "I didn't have the motivation to come today. Stack all the papers on my desk, I'll sign them when I come to work tomorrow." Jimin replied quickly, hanging up before she had a chance to protest.
He didn't bother going back to the living room because they were probably talking about something that he 'didn't need to know,' so he simply went to the library. Despite saying that he didn't want to go, something just drew him in. After meeting Yuta and Sicheng, he became curious of what was going on in the secret passage.
Jungkook's explaination was very vague and brief, so that didn't really explain anything. He quietly slipped open the door leading down to the secret passage, gingerly stepping down the stairs. When he got to the bottom of the staircase, he looked down a long hallway. He didn't know what it led to, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to go further.
Still, he gathered up the courage to walk down further. He walked slowly, being very alert of his surroundings. He suddenly wished that he brought some kind of thing he could whack people with, just for self defense. As he walked closer, he saw a tall figure of someone walking closer towards him. At first, he thought that person was going to hurt him, so he was very alert. When he walked closer, he realized that the person seemed way too weak to even do anything.
Jimin stopped walking, just watching the tall figure walk closer to him. Eventually, he got a glimpse of his face. "J-Jaehyun?" He stuttered, starting to get teary-eyed. Jaehyun just simply smiled at him with the same smile he knew for the majority of his school days before he collapsed. Jimin watched in horror as his best friend fell to the ground. He wanted to scream, but nothing came out when he opened his mouth.
Jimin rushed to Jaehyun's side as fast as he could without making any sounds. By the time he was close enough, Jaehyun was already starting to get up. His teeth was gritted and his fast was balled up tightly as he placed it against the wall. Jimin looked down at the rags Jaehyun was wearing. The clothes were barely covering his slim body.
He took a closer look, noticing all the scars that were scattered throughout his body. He looked behind Jaehyun's back only to see fresh, red wounds on his back. Some were small, some were big. One thing was clear; they were all bleeding and obviously very painful. Jimin didn't know what to say. He just stared at Jaehyun's body in horror.
"Jaehyun, please. Tell me the truth. How did you get those scars?" Jimin managed to say, his tears already threatening to spill. He watched as Jaehyun averted his eyes, looking at the wall. "I..... I got them while I was receiving punishment." Jaehyun hesitated, still not looking at Jimin. He knew how much Jimin admired hybrids. He didn't want to ruin that.
"Jaehyun, don't just tell me vaguely like Jungkook did. Tell me in detail. I don't care how fucked up it is. I don't care if it'll ruin my opinion on hybrids. Just tell me, please." Jimin begged, falling onto his knees. When Jaehyun didn't reply, Jimin just pulled him into a hug, careful not to touch his fresh wounds.
"If I tell you, can you promise not to tell anyone except for Jungkook? Jungkook will surely spread it to the people he trusts, and Yuta already told me that I can trust them. Just... please don't tell the public about this." Jaehyun choked, tears rolling down his face. Jimin paused before answering. "I promise."
Jaehyun took a deep breath before he started speaking. "They were from Lee Taeyong, a tiger hybrid that's known as a very handsome CEO to the public. Behind all the cameras, he's a completely different person. Manipulative, infamous, malicious and ice cold. Those are all accurate words to describe him, but he's also warm, sweet and genuinely nice."
Jimin didn't understand how Jaehyun could describe Taeyong in a nice way after all he did to him. After thinking about it, he finally realized why. "Jaehyun, tell me the truth. Did you fall in love with Taeyong?" Jimin asked in a whisper, causing Jaehyun to chuckle quietly. "Yeah, you caught me. I, Jung Jaehyun is in love with Lee Taeyong."
Jimin didn't even bother asking why or how he fell in love. He knew that it was out of his control. Instead, he asked another question that would be easier to answer. "How long have you been in love with him?" He spoke quietly, holding onto Jaehyun even tighter. After finally seeing his best friend after five years, he didn't want to let go.
"I met him when I was pretty young, but I only developed feelings for him after I entered high school. He looks exactly the same as he did a decade ago." Jaehyun replied softly, wrapping his weak arms around Jimin. He felt tears on his shoulder, and felt guilty that those tears were because of him.
"I'm sorry that I disappeared on you five years ago. Taeyong told me that I couldn't tell anyone if I wanted to go with him. It was like becoming a hacker. I had to leave my old life behind. He covered it up with missing posters of me while I stayed with him. Since then, I haven't seen sunlight for the past five years." Jaehyun explained.
"So you've been trapped down here for the past five years?" Jimin asked quietly. Before Jaehyun had a chance to reply, he heard Taeyong's voice calling to him at the end of the hallway. His voice was warm and sweet, but Jaehyun didn't want to change that. He pushed Jimin away, signalling to him with body language, hoping that Jimin will understand what was happening.
Jimin nodded and ran away as quietly as he could. He ran up the stairs and entered the library, shutting the door as quietly as he could while being fast. He went down to the living room and took a deep breath, relieved that Taeyong didn't find out. He just hoped that Jaehyun was alright. He snuggled against Jungkook and fell asleep on the couch while watching the seven hackers work. The entire time, his mind wandered back to one question.
"Why did you have to fall in love with him, Jaehyun?"