18

Chapter 3

Yoongi looks at the scene before him, feeling sick to his stomach. Her body stiffens, trembling slightly. Her breath quickens and her heart starts pounding in her chest. As his brain tries to understand what he's seeing, he hears the thud of a body hitting the ground.

He blinks. Slowly, he moves his gaze back and forth between the two bodies sprawled lifelessly on the floor in front of him. They looked almost identical to him: Taehyung and the other woman were wearing identical outfits, complete with high collars and matching hats, both covered in blood that spattered their faces and clothes.

He can't believe it.

This... couldn't be happening right now. Not after all.

Yoongi shakes his head in disbelief as he drops to his knees and places his shaking hands on Taehyung's shoulders, shaking his friend gently in an attempt to wake him up.

No reaction.

"Taehyung," Yoongi whispers, his voice shaking a little, tears forming in his eyes, "wake up. Please."

Taehyung remains motionless, completely unaware of Yoongi's desperate calls. He raises his hands slightly to grab Taehyung's collar, pulling him closer and letting his head fall forward a little.

He's trying not to cry. He wants to keep his composure. He doesn't want anyone to know about what happened yet. He's afraid of losing control of his emotions and revealing the real reason he's here. Then he swallows hard and presses his lips together tightly to keep more tears from falling.

After a few minutes of waiting for the boy to wake up, he finally wakes up and lifts his head a little, looking around confusedly. Yoongi sighs in relief and walks away, wiping away tears quickly with his hands before standing up and looking Taehyung straight in the eye.

"...hyung?" the younger man asks in a whisper, confusion in his words. "...what...? W-where are mommy and daddy?" He frowns in concern and points to the motionless corpses on the floor.

"N... we don't know..." Yoongi calmly responds.

Taehyung swallows nervously as he looks at the bodies, biting his lip, unable to say much more.

"Taehyung..." Yoongi starts cautiously, "I need to ask you some questions." He pauses for a few moments, gathering his courage, before continuing.

"Are you okay?"

The question takes Taehyung by surprise. "Me? Yes. I'm fine."

Yoongi frowned. "How long have you been sleeping?"

Taehyung looks away from the older man, avoiding his eyes. "Long enough."

"Where did your parents go?"

Taehyung hesitates briefly before answering. "Mom says they're going shopping with her dad today."

"Alright," says Yoongi, taking Taehyung's arm and starting to walk down the hall towards the living room. Taehyung obediently follows, watching as the elder places the phone on the counter and starts making breakfast.

Taehyung watches as Yoongi cooks his own food, eating calmly and not saying anything. Taehyung waits until he realizes his hyung is done and he's sitting at the table next to him to talk again.

"So, Hyung..."

Yoongi hums absently, looking at his plate and picking up his spoon to eat. Taehyung pauses.

"You... uh, never told us who those men were. The ones that attacked you, I mean. Who they were."

Yoongi briefly pauses in his feeding before swallowing and slowly lowering the spoon.

"They're my friends. From college."

Taehyung's eyes widened in shock. "W... did you know them?" he asks quietly. Yoongi nods slowly.

"Yes. I used to work at the same club as them. But I stopped because I needed to focus more on school. I'm sure you've heard a lot about them..."

"N...no. We don't," Taehyung replies softly.

"Well, we've been close friends since university. And then our college got into some fights, which resulted in them breaking up with me and leaving. Since I'm a year older than them, they started bullying me too and threatened to break up. with me if I refused to get involved in their fights. My friends tried to help me and everything, but no matter what I did, the bullies never let me go. When I graduated, they decided I should leave college and join them instead. I couldn't see it working. It wasn't good for me financially and I wanted to start my own business. So I left university and joined them. They weren't very nice people and they didn't take me seriously in the at first, but after a while we started to hate each other and fight all the time, so I left."

He smiles slightly. "But, you know what? It worked. I love my job and it brings me so much joy, so it wasn't worth giving up. Besides, I've always had a hard time finding a decent friend. At least now I have a lot." He chuckles lightly and continues eating, humming happily in delight at the taste.

Taehyung is silent.

After a few moments, Yoongi decides that she needs to know more information before deciding whether or not to continue talking to Taehyung. He leans forward and leans his elbows on the table, folding his hands, before asking, "Do you have any idea who these guys might be?"

Taehyung looks up and stares at the two bodies lying on the floor in front of him before looking down again. Yoongi has never seen him act like that, so nervous, scared, uncertain. It unnerves you. He hates seeing his hyung like that. It makes him feel weak, helpless and hopeless.

"Not really..." he replied, shaking his head. He clears his throat awkwardly before adding, "They looked really familiar... Maybe you've met them before..." he trails off, looking unsure of his own statement.

Yoongi stares at the ground for a second, desperately trying to think of something that might lead him to the truth. All he knows is that something must have made Taehyung react like that when those two men entered the apartment.

It must have something to do with them being here.

Something Taehyung isn't telling him. Something he's been hiding from him, something that keeps him from talking or even telling Yoongi where the hell he is.

Yoongi narrows his eyes as an idea starts to form in his mind. "Do you remember when I got home from work last night, Taehyung-ah?" he asks, looking up at his best friend, who shakes his head and shrugs slightly.

"Uh…no, I don't think so." His eyes flicker down once more and he picks his nails absently.

Yoongi nods to himself.

So he's not being honest.

"Alright, hyung knows where you are." He says in a low voice as he gets up and grabs his bag. He starts walking past Taehyung quickly, hoping the younger one doesn't realize he's hiding something. He doesn't want Taehyung to know how angry he is.

"Hyung! Wait!" Taehyung exclaims, jumping up from his chair, putting his hand on Yoongi's shoulder. "What are you doing?" he asks worriedly.

"I need to make a call," Yoongi replies, taking Taehyung's hand off his shoulder. Taehyung lets out an audible sigh and takes his hand.

"Hyung, wait a minute!" he demands, stopping him in his tracks. Yoongi looks at Taehyung curiously. There's anger swirling in his dark brown orbs, determination written clearly on his features. This isn't the first time he's done this, although Yoongi never noticed. He can tell it bothers him. Why would that bother you if it's nothing serious? Why does it bother him so much that he looks so upset? Yoongi thinks. Is it about those two men who attacked you earlier?

"Why did you lie to me before, Hyung?" Taehyung asks angrily, staring at Yoongi. Yoongi winks at him. Does he want an explanation? Or are his thoughts already running the other way and he doesn't care anymore that Yoongi answered his question, especially now that he's so upset and determined? Yoongi doesn't know.

"Answer me," Taehyung demands firmly, squeezing Yoongi's wrist. Yoongi looks at the young man's hand wrapped around his, a look of bewilderment deeply etched on his face.

"I didn't lie. You just misunderstood me when I told you that," Yoongi admits quietly, averting his eyes. He gently pulls his wrist out of Taehyung's grip.

"Did you just misunderstand me? Are you kidding me?!" Taehyung exclaims, letting out an exasperated groan, "No wonder you were acting strange! You've always been so reserved since we met, so why wouldn't you be afraid to answer a simple question! What was wrong? with you anyway?!" Taehyung suddenly gets up from the couch and turns to the kitchen table, taking Yoongi's phone by the side and holding it between his fingers.

"Look what you've done to yourself, Hyung!" Taehyung yells furiously, turning to glare at Yoongi. "All you have to do is answer a simple question, and suddenly you're so scared! Don't you realize how bad this situation is for me?! How much you've hurt me, how terrible it feels?!" Taehyung continues yelling, furiously pointing at Yoongi with his free hand.

"Don't you understand, Hyung? I don't blame you, I really don't. I don't really blame anyone but myself. I'm sorry you got into this mess, but I'm not going to apologize for it."

Yoongi feels his breath catch as Taehyung talks and he unconsciously clenches his fists.

"You should be better than that. You promised me, Hyung, that you wouldn't lie to me. I trusted you and this is how you reward me? Hurting me even more? Just because you're scared." and you think I'll end up hurting myself too?!" Taehyung yells angrily.

Yoongi swallows hard as he watches Taehyung, the hurt and anger clearly reflected in the young man's dark brown eyes.

"You should stop getting involved in stuff like that! Why can't you just stay away? You can do whatever you want, but I'll be damned if you get me and Jimin in more trouble!"

Taehyung takes a step forward, forcing Yoongi to back off a bit. His expression softens as soon as he realizes what he's done, however. He closes his eyes and inhales sharply, dropping his forehead against Yoongi's chest as he mutters, "I'm sorry, Hyung. I know you didn't mean to..."