The day was coming to an end, Taehyung had finished speaking at his conference and was finalising some work he had to send over to a couple of other companies before leaving. Jiah was proofreading some employee contracts that were being made to suit some changes that Taehyung wanted to make.
Taehyung had been spending the day thinking way too much. Although he was so sure about his feelings for Jiah, he wasn't half as sure if it was a good idea to act on them. He had the most uneasy feeling boil up in the pit of his stomach, and he didn't know what to attribute it to.
He had accepted the fact that he wouldn't fall in love like other people, he had never fallen in love before and had accepted the fact that because of the lifestyle he had adopted early on, he wasn't going to fall in love in the most conventional way. Which was why even though he knew almost nothing about her, his heart wanted her so much... and for some reason he trusted that.
Jiah was sitting at her desk, tapping her foot against the ground constantly, not knowing what to feel. She couldn't do this. It was the first time she had thoroughly even considered the other person's feelings when acting, and right now, she kept telling herself she couldn't do this to him. After being his secretary for some time now, she almost knew him too well.
He was hard-working, once he set his mind on a specific plan for the company, he wouldn't even close his eyes until he saw it through.
He was kind, he wouldn't let his employees stay back overtime in case they got too stressed or overworked, and there were countless occasions where he made Jiah go home because he was planning on staying there for too long. While he seemed cold because of his excruciatingly charismatic presence, his intentions were always kind.
She didn't know what the right thing to do was.
On any other day, for any other person, she would have just walked away, cut off all contact. But she couldn't bring herself to do that to him.
He didn't deserve that.
But what did he deserve?
She dropped her eyes to her hands, seeing the remains of small cuts here and there, traces of years and years of fighting. The scars were impossible to hide and hard to explain.
She couldn't do that to him. She couldn't allow him to be involved with her in any way.
However, her heart wanted something so different.
Her telephone rang, and she looked up into Taehyung's office, the glass windows were set to transparent so she could see him waving at her to come inside.
Standing up, she heaved a deep breath and opened the door, walking in.
"Yes, sir?"
He tilted his head a little, a smile playing on his lips. "You can call me Taehyung, you know, I never really liked it when my secretaries call me that."
"Uh, okay, Taehyung, is there anything you need?" again, calling him by his name, she felt like she owned it. It scared her how much she liked that.
"Drive me home," he said, starting to pack his things, "I'm too tired right now."
Jiah was confused. He had never asked her to drive him home before.
"Taehyung," she suddenly asked, taking a few steps closer to his desk. Jiah internally rolled her eyes. It honestly was as if there were two people stuck inside her, one controlled by her heart and the other by her mind, and this was her heart speaking again.
"Yeah?"
"Do you," she lowered her voice, "Do you trust me?"
"Of course I do," he laughed a little, "You-"
"Don't trust me."
"You're my secretary, I'm obliged to trust you."
"With work. You can trust me with work. But don't trust me with anything else, like..." your heart. She never said it, but the words were there, hanging in the air and he shook his head at that.
"Can you drive me home?"
She wanted to plead him to listen, Don't trust me Taehyung, please.
Call it selfish, but something in her made her stop herself from repeating it.
Maybe Hoseok was right. Perhaps she should live a little.
--
On the drive to Taehyung's place, the ride was silent, but it wasn't a comfortable one. They both had so much to say but didn't know how to say anything.
"Do employees get discounts?" she finally broke the silence by asking.
"Hmm?" he turned his gaze from the window and to Jiah.
"My brother wanted a new basketball," she said, "Was wondering if we get discounts for working there."
"Oh yeah," he hummed again, "You have a brother?"
"Yeah, I do, Ji Young."
"Older or younger?"
"He's younger," Taehyung sat up in his seat to listen better, "He's in high school right now, his last year."
"What's he like?"
"Well," she shrugged, "He's quiet, kind, he's almost the complete opposite of me. He studies really hard and loves basketball."
He chuckled a little, "Sounds like me in high school."
She turned to look at him, feeling something flutter inside her stomach.
His eyes were glistening, and she knew she was never going to get that image out of her head.
"Really?" she asked before looking back to the road.
"Yeah, I would never get in trouble because I was always the top student. I mean, my parents owned the school so it may have been because of that," laughing a little, "But I loved sport, basketball for sure, also football and tennis. I was an all-rounder if I do say so myself."
After a quick pause, he turned to her, "I would love to meet him."
"Huh?"
"Your brother, Ji Young, I would love to meet him."
They were finally at his place, and she parked in his basement, "Yeah, sure, maybe one day."
"Do you..." was he nervous? "Want to come in?"
She blinked back at him.
"You see," leaning into her over the gear, he gained his normal demeanour, "I never leave anything unfinished."
She straightened her back, pursing her lips into a thin line, "I've, uh, made plans with some friends, they'll be expecting me."
"Okay," he nodded, the disappointment evident in his tone. "See you tomorrow then?"
She put her hand on the door handle to walk out, but he stopped her, placing his own hand on her arm.
"You can, take the car to go home," he told her, "It's fine."
"I can't jus-"
"You can," he offered her a smile, "I'll catch a ride with Jimin in the morning, don't worry."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then."
He opened his door, stepping out and standing, but only for a few seconds before sitting back down and taking Jiah's chin in his hand, pulling her closer to him, pecking her lips softly.
"See you tomorrow."
--
Seriously, what was happening to her? So many thoughts were running around through her head as she entered their hideout that evening. The soft emotions she was feeling wasn't something she ever thought she would experience. It was scaring her.
"Hey," Jungkook greeted when she walked into the living room.
"Hey," her reply was lifeless, and he picked up on her exhaustion.
"You okay? Did something happen today with Diamond?"
"Huh?" her head snapped up, looking at Jungkook, "What? What do you mean?"
"I mean," he said slowly, "Did anything happen at work, why are you so tired?"
"Oh, uhm," her mind went back to that morning, thinking back to the extreme calm she felt wash over her when she kissed him. Why was he complicating her life like this? Why was it then one look into his eyes, one touch of his hand, one kiss and she felt her whole heart fall so hard? Why him?
"I really want to fight someone right now," she muttered, lying on the sofa and Jungkook chuckled from the kitchen bench.
"Well I think Hoseok will definitely take you up on that," taking his pack of chips, he sat on the recliner in front of the TV, "He called saying he finally knows what you have to do next at work."
Her heart sank. There it was. The fear she had when she would fathom the idea of even being with Taehyung. She realised that being with him meant she was always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"He also said something about warning us," he sighed, "But I didn't catch that part properly before he hung up. Anyway, he'll be here soon so we'll find out soon enough, hopefully."
"Warning us?"
"Yeah, I don't know," ruffling his hair a little, he continued, "He said he found something out and he was going to tell us when he got here, but I didn't hear what he said properly."
"He said he was going to be here at eight, why is he not here?"
Shrugging, Jungkook lay back into the recliner, "Punctuality is something we gotta teach this kid, fuck, I... hate... waiting..." he turned to look at Jiah, sitting up in his seat. "Hoseok's never late."
"And last time he was late..."
"Oh God," he jumped up, "We need to find him."
Jiah whipped her phone out and called his number, frustratedly throwing it onto the couch when he didn't answer, and the answering machine started.
"Hello, lovely! Sorry I can't-"
"Do you know where he was when you called him?"
"With his brother, they were packing to leave tomorrow."
Jiah winced, in the midst of all she was going through with Taehyung, she had forgotten that one of her best friends - yes, best friends - was leaving for good.
"Call him," she ordered, "Maybe he knows."
"What?" Seokjin's voice was incredulous when Jungkook asked him if he knew where Hoseok, "I thought he was with you guys? He left two hours ago."
"How was he getting here? Car? Mo-"
"He walked," Seokjin coughed, "He was going to take the bus, but we got into a fight, I told him to take a taxi or take my car and threw his bus card out the window," when he heard Jungkook's sigh, he continues, "It's too dangerous for him, especially considering he's running away," he said that last bit in a whisper and Jungkook and Jiah exchanged glances - nervous glances.
"Okay, we'll be right there, you need to show us the exact route Hoseok takes to get here."
When they hung up, they spared no minute before running onto Jungkook's motorcycle, racing down to Seokjin's house.
After arriving at Seokjin's house, they jumped off the vehicle and strode to the front door.
"Jungkook I swear to God, if anything's happened to him-" Jiah started, but stopped herself when he didn't cut her off. He normally would have. Quickly peering at Jungkook, she saw the tears pooling in his eyes and she scrunched her eyes shut.
She had never seen him cry.
Seokjin opened the door and nodded at them both before pushing past them and starting to guide them on the route Hoseok would have taken.
Running across the path, the three searched frantically for Hoseok, on the roads surrounding it, in the bushes around the track, even under a few bridges that were nearby.
Finally, they got to a small bridge, and the path dipped under it. And in the corner, where the cement of the overpass met the cement of the underpass, was a large silhouette, doubled over on the ground.
Jungkook lunged forward, and Jiah fell back. They only realised they were holding hands the entire time, the moment they had to let go.
Jungkook's shrill cry was the last thing Jiah heard before she fell to the ground, everything going black when she realised who that was... and what had happened to him.
HEY GUYS
I hope you're having a good day!
I think things are finally happening in this story :( So sad my favourite character had to be the start of everything happening.
Let me know what you're thinking!
This part is dedicated to dantaebts because she always brightens my day with her comments xx