Jeongguk didn't go to work the next day.
He didn't know if he even wanted to go again, but when he woke up and looked at himself in the mirror, he detected faint bruises cloaking his neck. Panic swept over him, and he dreaded to think what would happen if Yoongi saw those bruises. He was thankful for the two high-necked sweaters his mother had gotten him as a gift. Usually, he wasn't wearing turtleneck sweaters, but he would start now for sure.
Honestly, he wasn't scared of V. Maybe he was yesterday, and of course justifiably, but for some damn reason, he trusted Namjoon's words. He believed that V would have stopped even if Namjoon hadn't appeared. He knew that telling him he was the same as that sickening bitch when he had tried to help him infuriated him so much he couldn't control himself.
Or maybe the trauma his father left him the day he beat him up so badly had made him numb to physical pain or simply apathetic towards physical abuse.
🥀
"He's not coming," Namjoon uttered as they prepared the VIP section for the customers.
"I'm not expecting him to come."
"You have been glancing at the door nonstop since we started working."
V remained mute and settled for a frosty look. He knew he wasn't coming. He would be crazy if he were to come again, but he continued glancing at the door nonetheless.
He was relieved that he didn't see Solji at the club, but at the same time bothered by her absence. She had been going there every day and the fact that she wasn't there definitely meant something, but Taehyung didn't know what, and maybe he didn't even want to.
Another usual night passed, and V finally went home. He had a spacious house, not so much luxurious as simple and cozy. He had more than enough money to have a villa, but he didn't want to get attention, nor he liked living in a ridiculously enormous house all alone.
He could never sleep well. He woke up at random times, and usually, it took him ten to fifteen minutes to sleep again if he even could in the first place. These about six hours he slept every day weren't enough to actually rest, but he just couldn't sleep more, no matter how sleepy or tired he was.
And as the day passed, he got ready to go to the club. He usually went there two hours earlier than everyone to check and arrange some things. He was ready to open his car's door when a horn blasted out, startling him. He jerked his head at the source of the noise and saw a car parked across the road - a rather familiar car.
He felt a deluge of agitation sprawl through him and had to clench the keys in his hands to make sure he wouldn't drop them. The man who was in the passenger seat flashed him a wicked smirk and beckoned him to get into the car.
V didn't protest. He didn't have that choice, anyway. Trying to remain poised and not think about the worst, he edged closer and got into the back seat, uneasy.
"Long time no see, Taehyung," the driver snickered. "I think you did something wrong."
"Why are you here?" he asked once they started driving away from his house.
"When was the last time we were here?" Sijan, the one in the passenger seat, asked with a mocking smile.
Oh V could remember the last time they were there quite vividly, even though it had been eight months.
"The big head has some questions for you. We thought after last time you would know better than to piss him off, but apparently, you don't." A sinister chuckle echoed in the car, and after that, V stayed silent for the rest of the ride. He knew what was coming, and the only thing he could do was accept it.
They pulled over in front of a mansion, and once they got out of the car, they walked towards the entrance.
"You know where to go. He's waiting for you," Sijan said, and then strolled off with Haejun to the living room.
V went downstairs and stood in front of a big metallic door. He didn't have to knock as the door was suddenly pulled to the side by a guard, and he gestured him to come in. It was dead silent, the kind of silence that made a quiver run throughout his body and had him gulping dryly.
"Ah, V." An older man emerged from the back of the room. A small smirk was carved on his face as he sat on the couch and signed him to sit across from him. V made a ninety-degree bow and followed his instructions. "How have you been?" he asked, carefree, as he leaned back and crossed one leg over the other.
"Good, sir."
"Good, that's good. Do you want to tell me why Solji had to come all the way here to pay me a visit?" His tone was nowhere near fierce or harsh; instead, it was lighthearted, at the limits of mocking.
"Sir, I have asked her numerous times to not harass my employees-"
"Who do you think you are to ask her to do something, anyway?" he cut him off abruptly, still smiling.
"But she's harassing them-"
"She's not touching them, V. I told you they aren't allowed to touch, and they don't. But they can talk about anything they want."
"Asking them if they want to fuck her or demanding to describe a scene about fucking her when they don't want to is harassment." The words came out of his mouth without thinking.
The older man raised a contemptuous brow at him. "Are you talking back to me?"
V dipped his head, burying his chin to his chest. "Sir, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to explain that what she's doing is wrong."
"But she has money, V. We need her money. And we shouldn't care about what she says, right?"
"We don't need her money. The business is going well. We have new customers every day and we make a lot of profit-"
"Are you really talking to me about my own business? Did you forget that it's my club and you run it only because I pitied your useless ass? Did you forget who gave you the life you have now? If I hadn't found you then, you would be in the streets now, starving, not to say already dead."
"I could never forget, I'll always be thankful for-"
"You'll always be thankful, but look at you now, opposing me and talking back when you should only say thank you for saving your pathetic ass and do your fucking job properly." He tsked and shook his head. "I think you didn't learn your lesson when we lost a customer because of your temper, Taehyung. Let's make it a little worse this time." He beckoned at the two guards, and they knew exactly what they had to do.
⚠Attention⚠
[|The next scene contains violence, proceed with caution. It's a small part and you can notice where it ends if you want to skip it|]
The one harshly gripped his hair and yanked him out of the couch, throwing him to the floor. He kneeled over him and started punching him brutally. Even if V could fight back, he knew better than trying to get away. That would only end with more beating and definitely him in a hospital bed or maybe worse.
Once the guard saw his face covered in blood and V cough on repeat, he stood up, and the other guard kicked his stomach with full force. V cried out in pain as he rolled to his side and clutched his aching stomach, blood now sprawled all over the floor as he coughed heavily again.
The two guards carried on with kicking his back for a good minute before the one grabbed him by his hair and delivered another vicious punch right in his jaw, making him spit out more blood, and knocked him down again, his head slamming against the floor.
He didn't move at all. He didn't make another sound. The older man rose to his feet and stood above the unconscious boy who was bleeding. "One more minute and get him into the van. Throw him at Hayan Night. He has to work anyway, right?" Laughs were shared between the three men as the older one exited the room.
And the two guards resumed beating up the unconscious boy ruthlessly for a whole minute. After one last strong, harsh kick on his head, they picked him up and carried him to the van.
V stirred awake ten minutes into the ride. Right away, a stream of excruciating pain crashed throughout his body as he broke into wild coughs. He groaned in pain and squeezed his eyes closed, embracing his aching stomach.
A rough kick was planted in his chest that made him bump against the side of the van. "Shut up," the guard growled and punched his face once more.
For the rest of the ride, V was left suffering silently, too scared to make another sound. The van came to a halt, and the one guard opened the door as the other seized his leg and dragged him outside, his head banging against the ground. He struck him with a brutal foot in his stomach and abandoned him there, bleeding, writhing, and grunting in pain.
Just as people became aware of what was happening outside of Hayan Night, Jeongguk sauntered towards the club, oblivious. He spotted someone lying on the ground, and his brows clumped together as his gait quickened. He gasped and sprinted for the rest of the small distance once he perceived that man was V.
Hastily, he fell to his knees and stared at the silver-haired boy in horror. "Oh my God, V... What the..." He endeavored to think about what to do with his hazy mind. He couldn't carry him alone, so he scrambled to use the intercom to talk to the security.
"Name."
"V is hurt, bring someone to help me carry him inside now!" he cried out and dashed back to V. "You'll be okay," he whispered and tried to pull him off the cold ground. As he struggled to help him, two guards and Namjoon burst out of the club in haste.
"Fuck." He heard Namjoon utter as the two guards picked him up and carried him inside. They took him to his office and called a doctor they knew well to come and help him. "What happened?" he asked the younger boy who was still shocked and shivering.
"I don't k-know, I-I found him outside l-like this. We have to wipe the b-blood, we h-have to h-help him, he needs help." He scuttled to the bathroom to find something to wipe the blood. He found a towel, and after soaking it with warm water, he went outside.
He kneeled in front of V who was lying on the couch and groaning quietly. He dabbed the towel at his face with delicate moves, trying to brush off the blood without hurting him more.
V cracked his eyes open then and stared at the one by his side through his blurred vision. A tiny smile surfaced on his lips once he recognized him as Jeongguk. "Why are y-you h-here, little b-bun?" he croaked out, trying to keep the smile, but failed as he ended up coughing blood.
"Shh, don't talk," he said, tears pouring down his cheeks without even realizing it.
"I tried," V muttered, his eyes closing against his will. "Leave. You s-shouldn't be here. You can't be h-here." His voice was barely audible, and with the minimum strength he had left, he twined his fingers around his hand and ceased his movements.
Jeongguk gazed at him with doe, confused eyes, clueless about what he meant and why he didn't want him to help him. He shook his head as he freed his hand from his weak grip and continued what he was doing.
"Little bun," he rasped as he grabbed his wrist again.
Jeongguk held the towel with his other hand, and instead of giving up, he clasped his hand. "You'll be okay," he said as he perched on the floor, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb on the back of his hand.
Namjoon approached them and took the towel out of his hands. He was the one cleaning V up as Jeongguk just sat there, his tearful eyes riveted on the boy who was badly beaten, holding his hand in a tight but tender grip.
The doctor arrived soon enough and checked how bad V was injured. He took care of his cuts and stopped every bleed before he resumed examining him. "Sorry, kid, can you move? I have to check his stomach."
Too worried to argue and knowing he should give space to the doctor to treat him properly, he loosened his grip, but V squeezed his hand, not letting him go. Jeongguk whipped his head to him and stared hard, astonished by his action. He cupped his hand and caressed it as his surprise melted away, letting him know he wasn't alone.
The doctor didn't ask him to move again and went to the other side of the couch. Once he lifted his shirt, he saw a load of nasty bruises all over his stomach, and he could only sigh. He was indeed very badly injured. "He needs to go to the hospital."
"No." Namjoon dismissed his remark at once.
"He could be bleeding internally, Namjoon. Look at this." He pointed at his stomach. "And he's coughing blood."
"V doesn't want to go," Namjoon stated. It wasn't the first time this happened, and he could clearly remember V yelling at him that he didn't want to go to a hospital. And if V wasn't so badly injured, he would be doing the same at that moment.
"V, just go to the hospital," Jeongguk uttered close to his ear as he ran his fingers through his hair, but he didn't get any kind of reaction. "V." He shook him, but still nothing. "V!" he exclaimed, attracting the others' attention, who were still arguing about taking him to the hospital or not.
The doctor rushed to his side again and checked his pulse. It was way weaker than when he first came, and he knew something was definitely wrong. "He needs to go to the hospital now. He'll die otherwise."
"Fuck! I'll drive him." Namjoon gestured to the two guards to move him outside.
"I'm coming."
"Jeongguk..." He sighed as he gave his keys to the one guard to put V in his car. "He said you shouldn't be here and that means he doesn't want you here. You should go home." He hurried outside, but Jeongguk was quick enough to follow him.
"But he held my hand."
"If he knew what he was doing he wouldn't have done that."
"I don't care, I found him, I'm coming," Jeongguk said, decisive, causing him to groan.
"I'm the one who'll pay for letting someone else see him like this! If he wakes up and sees you beside his fucking hospital bed, I will never hear the end of it."
"But hyung, I just want to-"
"He almost choked you!" Namjoon spun around and shouted at him with a ferocious fling of his arm. "How can you even care so much when I know pretty well what you're hiding under that turtleneck of yours? Two days ago, he had his hand around your neck, and he was choking you. How can you even care so much?"
"I don't care about dying!" Jeongguk cried out, his bloody hands clenching into fists. "I don't care that he almost choked me because I don't care about dying."
"Namjoon, you have to take him now," the doctor interrupted the two. Namjoon broke eye contact seconds later and scurried to his car.
Jeongguk surged behind him, but a guard wrapped an arm around his stomach and held him back. He didn't try to follow him again. He dropped his head, defeated and dejected, as he wiped his tears with his bloody hands.
⚜✳⚜