"What did you do yesterday?" Jungkook asked Taehyung as he watched the kids who were part of the scene run after each other and get in the staff's way.
Taehyung decided not to tell Jungkook about what he actually done yesterday. He knew it would make the younger man anxious and he didn't want Jungkook doing something he might regret. As of now, they didn't have anything on Charlie. Jeonghan had notified him that he was currently the second-highest bidder and that he was losing by a large stretch: $200 million. It bothered him greatly knowing that that young girl was about to be sold to some pedophile and there was nothing he could truly do about it. It hit closer to home as he had two daughters of his own, one of which who was just two years older than the girl in question.
"Nothing, I just rested," Taehyung answered, sipping on his latte, "Yunah and Jaemin want to see Chanwoo."
"I know," Jungkook chuckled, "my babysitter agreed to watch Jaemin today along with Chanwoo so they could hang out. Maybe Yunah can come over tomorrow."
"She can't, she has ice-skating classes tomorrow," the older man answered, "but maybe this weekend."
"Sounds good to me," Jungkook trailed off as he scanned the area for one person. "Where's Charlie?"
"Over there," Taehyung nodded at where the strange producer was standing before turning the younger man around to face. He placed his large hands on Jungkook's shoulders and squeezed in a massage-like manner. "You need to de-stress yourself."
"I can't," Jungkook sighed, "a lot is happening right now."
"If you need to take a break, we can continue filming without you or delay the premiere," the actor said, "if this is too much, then you don't have—"
"No, no," Jungkook shook his head and crossed his arms. "I need something to keep my mind working or else I'll just drown in my stress. The job is the less stressful thing in my life right now."
"If it's just Charlie who's stressing you out then I can fire him, Jungkook," Taehyung asked said, "you—"
"No, don't do that. It's just— I don't know. Hanbin is— he's not stressing me out, but he—"
"It's okay to say your kids are stressing you out, people can't expect parents not to feel stressed and you have a right to be stressed considering everything that's happening and everything that had happened," the brunette quickly said.
"I know, but he can't help it. I've failed him enough already and now I don't even know what's going on with him and why he's acting out so I don't know what to do."
Taehyung could see the tears welling up in the younger man's eyes, so he quickly pulled Jungkook in a tight hug. He couldn't imagine what was going through Jungkook's mind and it made him feel so bad as a boyfriend.
"How about this weekend we take a break and go to a high-end spa and you get a deep tissue massage and I'll settle with a Swedish massage?" Taehyung suggested, "and before then we can see who Hanbin stays with the best: we can mark off your babysitter, have you tried your friend — what's his name? Jimin?"
Jungkook sighed as he moved away. "I'd love to, but you know Hanbin wouldn't stay with anyone besides me."
Taehyung smiled and pecked his boyfriend's forehead. "Doesn't mean we can't try. You need time to relax without having to worry about this or that and I just want a massage."
---
"No luck," Jeonghan said on the other line with a sigh, "everything shut down early, I think someone found out my identity or there was another cop."
Taehyung heaved a long sigh and cursed. He knew there was a small chance that they'd catch Charlie or someone associated with Charlie on the site, but he still had hope. He also felt bad for the young victim — who knows where she is now or what's happening to her.
"I'm sorry, man," Jeonghan said, "I can try searching for him another way. Minsun was and still is heavily involved with drugs, I assume the debt Minsun owes is to pay Charlie back for investment or something along those lines. If we can catch Charlie in the act of selling drugs or giving money for drugs then we can take him with that and see if we can break him down to admitting to child trafficking."
"And how will you go about that?" Taehyung asked, already doubting the success in the agent's plan.
"There are a few hot spots around here," Jeonghan explained, "we have undercover cops all over. All we have to do is find Charlie in one of these spots and arrest him and trust me, if Charlie invests in Minsun's underground business, he definitely hangs around these places to find other money-hungry people to owe him. The more people that owe you, the more you can rely on because they'll do anything to get rid of that debt, and debt in this type of business isn't the best thing to go to prison with."
"So what exactly are you saying, Jeonghan? Break it down to me, I don't speak FBI."
"There are hot spots all around here full of drug dealers and users and traffickers. Minsun is in debt to Charlie and my best guess is because to make money alongside his suspected child trafficking business, Charlie gives people money to "launch" their "business": he gives people money to pay for drug cartels, human trafficking, etc and he expects more than what he invested back. If they fail to pay him back, they will remain in debt and therefore Charlie is essentially over them until then. Basically Minsun is doing things for Charlie until Minsun can pay what he owes."
"And say Hanbin is what Minsun owes—"
"Or rather, the price that he could go for."
"Right. So you're saying Charlie is the one who's truly after Hanbin and Minsun is just using him because he doesn't have enough money to pay...wait. I remember when Hanbin was kidnapped, Minsun requested five million USD and I gave Jungkook the money. What was he going to do with the money if he was already giving Hanbin to Charlie?"
Jeonghan hummed. "Could be a security payment just in case Hanbin didn't reach a high bidder or Minsun needed money to get out of the country and continue supporting his business."
"So what am I to do? I can't just sit here, knowing Charlie is probably already devising a plan to take Hanbin away from my boyfriend again and cause that child more trauma than he already has."
There was a pause before Taehyung heard someone talking in the background. He assumed it was the person who was part of his team and helping Jeonghan out and his assumption was correct when he heard Jeonghan say, "okay, I'll tell him that."
"You give him the opportunity to take Hanbin and we'll catch him in the act."
Taehyung frowned. "What? No, I can't do that. I'd ruin Hanbin's trust towards me."
Taehyung knew Hanbin already didn't trust people but for him to just let Charlie take Hanbin would ultimately ruin any chance he had at gaining just an ounce of the boy's trust.
"This is the best way instead of waiting at drug hot spots," the agent argued. "You can devise a plan to leave Hanbin alone — it'll be normal for him and he won't even know what's happening. But make sure Charlie is aware that you're leaving him alone. Charlie is a smart man, so he wouldn't be the one to take Hanbin, he'd have an associate do it so make him aware of it a day or two beforehand so he too can devise a way to get him."
Taehyung was about to reject the suggestion until he remembered that he and Jungkook were going on their relaxation date this weekend. It made him feel terrible, the idea of basically using Jungkook's son as bait.
"Charlie won't touch him, will he?" Taehyung asked.
"No, we'll be there waiting. Hanbin won't even know Charlie is there."
"And you sure all of this will work out?"
"The only thing that could go wrong is Charlie decides not to act, besides that, it's foolproof."
And so Taehyung told Jeonghan his plans for the weekend. Jungkook was currently looking for someone that Hanbin was willing to stay with and once he succeeded in that, they were heading off to a spa two hours away and he planned to spend the weekend there if Jungkook was up to it. Jeonghan explained that would be more than enough time to set things up and confirmed that his team was on board. Now all Taehyung had to do was deliver the news to Charlie in an unsuspecting way which would be easy: Taehyung would tell his acting and production team that he and Jungkook were taking a break on Saturday and Sunday and go to a spa. He hoped Charlie or someone aware of Hanbin's condition would ask where Hanbin would stay and he would tell them.
"And be sure to tell the person he's staying with," the agent added. "It would be a little weird if the FBI showed up at their house and them not knowing why."
"Will do, thank you, Jeonghan."
"Just doing my job."
---
Word Count: 1579
I hate this chapter ✨❤
Q: what do you guys want to be when you get older? And for those who are currently adults, what did you want to be and did you fulfil that dream?
- I want to be a psychiatrist or a psychologist
PREVIEW:
" He found marijuana wrapped in a sandwich bag and a CD wrapped in bubble wrap. Frowning, he pulled his phone out and dialed Jeonghan's number. "
....
" "Go on the news channel right now!" Both Jimin and Namjoon yelled. "