Taehyung thought his feet might catch on fire.
Running fast and running hard.
"Have you got it?" Hoseok asks starting the engine as Teahyung opens the door to the waiting car and gets in, "I mean everything..."
"Yes." The blonde haired man next to him answers. Drenched in sweat and out of breath. Taehyung's heart was beating so fast he could hear the blood rushing in his earsdrums.
Hoseok hands over an envelope with copies of the documents he planted at the guesthouse.
Taehyung fingers through the stack of bills and forged receipts.
According to these, he hasn't lived at the Suleman Mansion since high school.
According to these, Hoseok's beach-house has been the home where, Taehyung had lived and paid rent since his graduation.
After the fire happened, Taehyung knew that things had come to a head.
The waiting game was over.
Hoseok found a local association of whistleblowers who he quietly alerted to Suleman's illegal activities through his guy on the inside.
The key Taehyung had stolen and handed over to them would make sure the forbidden documents it guarded fell into just the right hands....
....from an anonymous source, of course.
Taehyung brought his lips between his teeth in anxiety just thinking about it.
If those ledgers hidden at the mansion were released, then not only will Suleman be ruined, but it would destroy the integrity of the entire banking franchise he'd built.
Neither Natalie nor Suleman were home when Taehyung got back to the property with the only intent, to clear his things and flee the scene for good.
Car noise whistles loudly in Taehyung's head and he can still faintly recognise Hoseok going over the alibi again with him for the thousandth time.
Taehyung nods, pretending to listen. Adrenaline still rushing in his veins, breathing hard. He sits there, as rigid as a tree.
On the outside he was listening to his loyal friend who was risking it all to help him.
But on the inside he was thinking..
Thinking about the fact that he was about to board a plane in an hour and would probably never ever see Desiree again.
Panic dins through his body as Hoseok's car routes onto the motorway en route to the Airport.
"Turn the car around!"
"What?" Hoseok wheezes in disbelief, keeping his eyes on the road.
"I said, turn the car around, Hobi. I think I've made a mistake."
Hoseok draws a sharp breath in annoyance.
"Dude, are you fucking kidding me? I've put a lot on the line here to save your ass. Don't tell me you're about to fuck it all up. We've been over this. We have to stick to the plan!"
"No I-- there's just something that I need to do. Someone I have to say goodbye to.."
Hoseok groaned in realisation.
"Please..."
"You said you didn't want to see her before you left," Hoseok sighed.
"I know what the fuck I said. I've changed my mind."
"Tae, we haven't got time.."
"I don't care, turn the car around."
But after ten seconds of enduring Taehyung's steely glare, Hoseok reluctantly diverts off the nearest intersection.
A salt-weather beaten sign mockingly greets them as it comes into full view.
'Welcome to LongPalm Bay'
***
Leaves crackle on the ground and Desiree glances up with sad eyes sitting in her back yard.
"Hey Sam..."
She says as the young male who's hopped over her garden fence approaches. But when a pair of aquamarine board shorts and a frazzled mop of sun bleached hair registers in front of her, she shoots up to stand.
The young girl can hardly believe her eyes.
"... Tae!"
She links her browned arms around his neck.
Her mouth lands atop his in a hurry and everything is a blur of excitement, sadness and adrenaline until he slows the deep and maddening kiss they share and she pulls away.
"...Tae, I promise, I'll....It won't ever..." She stumbles over the words, her cheeks bright and flushed, " I mean, I want us to start over."
Taehyung shakes his head sorrowfully.
"Des, I only came to say goodbye. I'm sorry."
"W-hat?"
Taehyung gulps, pacing the earthen floor. The cool blades of grass tickle his bare feet and even though he's standing there in nothing but a beat up old t-shirt- Desiree thought she'd never seen anyone more beautiful.
She smiled a mirthless grin that made her lips quiver at the corners.
"Do you think this is funny, Tae?" She asks
Taehyung stops pacing to look at Desiree. His deep brown eyes shaking with earnest.
"No...I,"
'Well you're right. It's not. You can't just keep walking in and out of my life whenever you feel like it, Tae!"
The girl was angry.
"Des, I didn't mean to..."
"You didn't mean to?" She repeated, her voice breaking, "Tae, you never 'mean to'."
Her words stung and for a moment, he re-thunk the decision to have ever came.
"...but you do Taehyung, you do. Time and time again...don't you see?" A tear ran down her cheek. "I'm not made of stone Taehyung. You can't keep doing this to me."
"I know, babygirl, I know." He said faintly.
His arms longed to hold her close to him again but he knew he would only make more promises he couldn't keep.
There it was again, that powerless feeling that he hated so much.
"I have to go Des, I have to disappear...it's got nothing to do with what happened between us."
He stepped closer.
"But I couldn't leave without saying goodbye, without letting you know that you are the best fucking thing that's ever happened to me and that I still love you. I just can't be the man you need."
He held her face and her wide copper eyes leaked at the corners, more and more tears staining her speckled cheeks.
"I'm going with you," She blinks and suddenly her eyes flash with determination.
When Hoseok sees a bouncing head of curls coming out to the car after Taehyung he is surprised but Taehyung sits in with a straight face.
The girl shoves her duffle bag into the backseat before her and slams the door shut.
She beams at Hoseok politely who sits flummoxed in the driver's seat.
"Hi, I'm Des."
"Tae, are you gonna tell me what's going on or..."
"Just drive."
"To where?" Hoseok blurts out, exasperated.
"To the airport," Desiree smiles holding up her phone to show a boarding pass. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"Uh..." Hoseok replies slowly, giving Taehyung an indiscreet side-eye. "...likewise.."
With less than an hour to spare, the car speeds down the highway, exiting the small town, one last time.
Taehyung closes his eyes and enjoys the blast of salty air coming through the window. It stings his nostrils and whips his hair wildly about his face. A sense of peace dawned on him now that he was leaving LongPalm and hopefully all of its demons behind, once and for all.
***
A/N: Hmmm...I wonder, will they follow him?
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✨ BJF ✨