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I survived the next couple of weeks on autopilot.
Exams. Stress.
Taehyung.
And then, just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, we get a call saying that I have to go to court a week after my last exam to testify against him. The man who ruined so many lives, including my mother’s, Taehyung’s, and now…me.
The only problem is, I haven’t told Taehyung what really happened that night when I shot Victor. In fact, he doesn’t even know that I shot Victor.
I don’t know why I can’t tell him.
Maybe because it’s eating me alive on the inside, and if I let it escape, it’ll eat him too.
But I will tell him. I have to tell him. One day. Just not today, when we are celebrating the fact that we finished our exams and the entire semester together. Not when it’s our three month anniversary.
And not when I’m meeting the son of the restaurant owners for the first time.
“Call me Jin,” he beams, the corners of his eyes crinkling being the only sign that he is older than us, otherwise I would think that he is just as old as Taehyung.
“Oh, and this is Nadia, my…”
“Fiancée,” the beautiful raven-haired girl holds up a hand that twinkles with a diamond ring, and I gasp.
“Oh my god, congratulations!” I exclaim, even though I have only just met the couple.
“Hyung! Why didn’t you tell me? When’s the wedding?” Taehyung’s eyes are larger than usual as he gapes at the ring, and then at Jin, who chuckles bashfully.
“I plan to tell everyone else now that I’m back home, but we got engaged not too long ago,” he says this with an arm around Nadia’s waist, his face glowing with pride that she is his, forever and always.
“Not too long ago? Baby, it’s been an entire month!” Nadia slaps his chest. “You know how long I’ve waited to show this beauty off to people?”
“I know, I know,” Jin rolls his eyes, smiling. “It must’ve been hard for you.”
“Oh, it was, and that’s why you gotta make it up to me,” she grabs his collar, eyeing him seductively, and Jin glances at her lips with a smirk. Meanwhile, Taehyung and I glance at each other, clearing our throats.
“Shall we go grab a table? I’m starving,” Taehyung’s booming voice slices through the air, causing the newly engaged couple to break away from each other and head into the restaurant.
“So I heard that today’s a special day for you guys?” Jin inquires once we sit down and order the food.
Taehyung immediately interlocks his fingers with mine and beams. “It’s our three month anniversary,” he glances at me with a sparkling gaze. “We survived it all together.”
“Yeah,” I smile. “Survived is the right word.”
“I hope Taehyung didn’t give you a hard time,” Jin jokes, and Taehyung and I exchange a look while laughing.
“Oh, no, everything’s okay now,” I assure him. “But every couple has their ups and downs, right?”
“We probably had the most,” Nadia raises her eyebrows, gesturing to Jin and herself. “I mean, from day one, when we met, it was just absolute chaos.”
“I hated her guts,” Jin confesses. “Seriously. I thought she was the worst person.”
“You’re not so much of an angel yourself, there, sweetie,” Nadia prods his cheek. “But yeah, he’s not wrong. I didn’t come from a good background like him, so I was very…problematic. I did some things I’m not proud of, but among those bad things…came something good,” she smiles adoringly at Jin, who has eyes only for her. “I don’t regret anything.”
“Me neither,” Taehyung murmurs, squeezing my hand and rubbing his thumb along mine. I send him a smile which quickly fades as I take his profile in, his high nose and long lashes, the faint scars on his skin, the shadow of stubble along his jawline. Little things about him that I love, all building up to the bigger things that I can love about him. His flaws, his mood swings, his past that haunts him…it feels wrong to hold back everything. I wish I could tell him everything, right in that moment, but I can’t.
It’s not the right time.
“Mmm,” Jin moans the entire time he eats, saying how much he missed the food here at his parents’ restaurant.
“I miss my foster mum’s cooking,” Nadia tells us about her foster family, and how she didn’t find a stable home until she was seventeen, because the earlier homes kept kicking her out because she went to parties and got involved in all sorts of illegal things.
“I didn’t have good influences growing up, but I did have someone who was like an older brother to me, even if he was really reckless. I swear, this guy,” she pauses to laugh, “was an adrenaline junkie. Did absolutely everything under the sun. I love him, but he got me in a lot of trouble during my teenage years, and last I heard of him he’s running some underground gang or something…”
“Underground gang?” Taehyung echoes, looking to me with an alert expression.
“Yeah, he was really good at bringing people together, people who needed a little money, people who were desperate, innocent people, and then getting them to do his dirty work. Even as his unofficial little sister, I was still one of these people who got sucked into his dark reckless world, and it’s how I met Jin, because of something I was doing for him.”
From the look on Taehyung’s face, it’s clear that we are both thinking of the same person, the only person that fits her description.
Victor Long.
“This guy…sounds interesting,” Taehyung leans forward with a calculating gaze. “You haven’t heard from him lately?”
Nadia shakes her head innocently. “Nope. He hasn’t called me since…last year? But then again, I haven’t been in Melbourne for a while, because I’ve been in America with my baby,” she clutches Jin’s arm, resting her head on his shoulder. “Jin saved me from a life of darkness and regret.”
“Wow, hyung, you really are a prince charming, huh?” Taehyung teases Jin, who shakes his head, laughing.
“Oh, I’m no prince,” he denies modestly, until Nadia whacks him on the arm.
“Yes you are!”
Jin looks up at his fiancé and grins. “Yeah, I totally am.”
“Ah, there he is!” Nadia points at his face. “There’s the cocky man I fell in love with.”
“He never left,” Jin winks.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said he winks a lot,” I hiss to Taehyung, who nods.
“He’s a winker.”
After a long meal of laughter and conversation, we go to a club, the same club where they met, and although we start off drinking alcohol together at the bar, we gradually drift apart, with Nadia clinging to Jin’s neck on the other side of the dance floor while Taehyung and I sway in the core of it all. But soon the swaying turns into something rougher and more heated as his hands grip my hips and our breaths mingle, lips so close yet never quite touching.
“How about we get out of here?” Tae whispers in my ear, and I nod, biting my lip with a sultry smile. We weave out of that tight crowd, bursting into the spring night with heaving breaths and giggles, stealing quick kisses under the streetlight.
“Your place?” he asks between kisses, and I nod without even thinking, too caught up in the way his lips catch mine, tugging gently and making me go crazy for him.
We stumble into my dark empty apartment in a hot-blooded rush, never losing touch, never losing rhythm, never losing passion.
He’s touching me, all over my skin, hot and heavy, unrelenting touch, touch that knows no warrant, no boundaries, no –
No.
I don’t want to be touched. I don’t want his hands on me. I don’t like this.
Please, don’t hurt me. Don’t touch me! Get off me! Get the fuck away from me you sick freak!
I don’t realize I’m saying all this out loud, screaming and thrashing out in terror, until I hear my name being called in the distance that turns out to be closer than I thought, because he’s right there, staring at me with fear and confusion and worry with a red mark on his face.
A face so different from the one I see in my nightmares, because it’s not him.
“Aria, what’s wrong?” he reaches out and I instantly flinch, pressing my back against the wall. In the milky moonlight I see the hurt flash in his dark eyes, eyes that regard me carefully, as if I might break.
Because I’m already broken.
“I’m…” my lips tremble as scalding tears drip from my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“No, Aria, don’t be sorry, it’s okay,” he stares at his hands, which he keeps in his lap now. “I just thought that you wanted to, but I guess I was wrong – “
“Taehyung, it’s not your fault, it’s – it’s…” I choke on a sob and Taehyung grabs my hand, caressing it lightly.
“Aria, what happened?” he inquires softly. “Did something happen?”
I nod, sniffling as I try to control my sobs, control the flow of tears that pour from me like a river.
“I h-haven’t t-told you everything,” I stammer out. “I haven’t been…honest…with you.”
“What do you mean?” he fixes his gaze on me now, brows puckered slightly. I cower beneath his heavy gaze as I fiddle with a loose thread on the sheets.
“It’s about Victor,” I mumble loud enough for him to hear, and he reacts with a low growl.
“That fucking bastard. What the fuck did he do?”
Taehyung looks so angry already that I’m afraid of how he’ll react when he hears the full story, but I promised myself…I promised him that I would tell him everything, no matter what.
I can’t keep lying to him, pretending everything’s okay when it’s not okay. When I’m not okay.
“He…he tried to…he was drunk…and he had a gun…and then I had the gun…but I shot him…and that’s why he’s in the hospital…and that’s why he has a trial next week which I have to go to…and I thought I moved on but I haven’t…I can’t…b-because he t-touched me…everywhere…”
I don’t remember when I ended up in his arms, but that’s where I let it all out as he rocks me from side to side, soothingly, like a child, and I remain there until his warmth becomes a part of me, until his touch is no longer rejected, but welcomed, a touch that somehow manages to calm me down, rocking me into a deep slumber.
“It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay,” is the lullaby that I fall asleep to, but then, among it all, I hear him say, “He’s going to pay for what he’s done. I’ll make sure of it.”
【★】
ᴛᴀᴇʜʏᴜɴɢ’ꜱ ᴘᴏᴠ
I want to kill him.
It’s not the first time I’ve had this thought, but it’s the first time it’s been this strong.
The first time I’ve ever actually pictured following through with the action.
I’m glad Aria shot him, even if it was on accident. The sick bastard fucking deserved it.
Shame the wound wasn’t enough to take him out completely.
“Taehyung, you don’t look so good,” are Jimin’s first words to me when the call connects.
“Neither do you,” I snap, and his jaw drops in hurt.
“Yah! What’s the matter with you?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” I grumble.
“Then why did you call me?”
I sigh, rubbing a hand down my face and messing up my hair. “I don’t know. I guess I just missed you.”
Usually Jimin breaks into a grin and says something cheesy in reply, but this time he looks solemn as he regards me through the screen. “Did something bad happen? Between you and Aria?”
At the mention of her name my heart crumples, while my fists ball up in anger. She’s broken, and it’s all because of him. All because of that slimy, perverted fuckface.
I don’t realize I am saying this all out loud until I hear Jimin say, “Who are you talking about?”
“Huh?”
“Is there someone I need to beat up for you when I come in a couple of weeks?” Jimin holds up his tiny fists, and I stifle a laugh.
“Jimin, you couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a whole grown ass man. Don’t you worry your pretty little mind.”
He giggles. “You think I’m pretty?”
I roll my eyes. “Anyway, don’t worry about it. I’ve got it all under control. By the time you get here everything will be okay.”
“I hope so,” Jimin rests his chin on his fist. “Even though I’m really muscular, I don’t think I want to beat anyone up. It goes against my image.”
I scoff. “Your image?”
He flutters his eyelashes, beaming. “Yes, my image, Taehyung, as a peace-making angel.”
“I thought you were a fairy?”
“No, I’m an angel,” he pouts, pointing to his head. “See my halo?”
“I think that’s just your dead hair,” I deadpan, and Jimin looks like he wants to beat me up.
“Yah! It’s not dead, I just haven’t washed it in a while. But my point still stands. I am an angel and that’s that!” he huffs.
“Why did I call you again?”
“Because I’m pretty?” he smirks.
“Yah, if I wanted to call someone because they’re pretty I’d call my girlfriend.”
Jimin gasps. “So you’re cheating on her…with me? You sly dog!”
“Jimin, can you just – be serious for a moment? Please? I need…advice.”
Jimin leans back in his chair with a conceited smile. “Ah, you need advice huh? Well, you’ve come to the right place. I am Jimin, the peace-making advice angel hyung with lots of natural sexy cute charms that will have you questioning your -“
“Jimin!”
“Okay, okay, what do you need advice for?”
I hesitate. “I guess I should start from the beginning. So there’s this guy, this evil guy who I used to be friends with…”
I fill him in on everything, even though it pains me to do so, and Jimin listens with a sober expression that is occasionally broken up by surprised reactions. By the end of it, I am no longer the innocent younger friend of his that could do no wrong, but that’s okay, because I feel…lighter. Less burdened.
“So this guy is going to jail, right?”
I nod.
“And he got shot by your girlfriend in the thigh? Wow,” he whistles. “Your girlfriend sounds awesome.”
“She is,” I agree. “But she’s also struggling a lot right now because of all that. And I can’t help feeling like…it’s all my fault.”
“Taehyung, how is it your fault? You weren’t even there! You couldn’t have done anything!” he reasons with wide eyes.
“If she never met me…she never would’ve met Victor. And then he never would’ve attacked her, because -“
“Tae, listen, honey, sweetie, princess, baby cakes -” at the look on my face he stops. “There was nothing you could’ve done, you hear? Nothing. It just worked out that way. And even if you guys never met, wouldn’t they still have lived in that apartment next door to Victor? And there still would’ve been a chance that Victor could’ve attacked her? Even if he didn’t know her?”
“How is this supposed to make me feel better? That still sounds horrible to me,” I wrinkle my nose.
“What I’m saying is, it’s not your fault. Okay? Not. Your. Fault. None of it. Don’t beat yourself up for anything. It’s Victor’s fault. Victor the Villain. Victor the Vulture. Victor the -“
“Yes, okay, I get it now, thanks,” I interrupt him. “But -“
“No buts!” Jimin interjects. “Except mine, which I like to call the jibooty -“
“You are sickening, you know that?” I can’t help but laugh, and he grins.
“At least you’re laughing again. See? The angel hyung’s work here is done.”
“Hurry up and come here, alright? I wanna give you a big hug, you tiny man,” as soon as I say tiny man his smile drops.
“Yah, I’m not tiny! I’ve seen men shorter than me!”
“Yeah, old men,” I snigger, and I swear I feel the daggers from his glare. “Anyway, thanks, Jimin. You really are the best friend a guy could have. Or anyone, really.”
“Yes, I know, I’m the best, keep the praises coming,” Jimin glows. “And by the way, Taehyung, I don’t think you should do anything stupid, if you know what I mean. The guy’s going to jail, and he’s already gotten enough pain from the bullet wound. And I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve any extra pain, but…I don’t want you to be in pain because of a silly revenge plan. Got it?”
“Fine,” I succumb reluctantly. “But I was kind of hoping you’d tell me to go for it.”
“You should’ve talked to Jin then,” Jimin suggests. “He loves revenge.”
“Oh! Speaking of Jin…he’s engaged now.”
“I know. He told me,” Jimin boasts.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Seriously? Ugh, I’m gonna kill him,” I laugh. “But there’s something else about him. His fiancée. She knew Victor since they were kids. Same orphanage or something.”
“Whoa, really?” Jimin looks gobsmacked. “Small world, huh.”
“Too small sometimes,” I grimace.
“So I gotta go feed Sam Sam now,” Jimin seems distracted by something in his lap, something with a spotted tail, and I smile.
“Thanks for listening to me, Jimin. And thanks for not hating me for what I used to do…”
“How could I hate you? Everyone’s made mistakes in their life…” he pauses with a cheeky smile before singing, “Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days!”
“Yah, you’re too much!” I laugh before hanging up.
I still have a lot of pent up anger inside of me, and since I cannot release it on its source – grr, Victor, that fucking bastard! – I decide to call Jin.
“Where are you right now?”
“I’m with Namjoon, why?”
“Let’s go to the gym together. Bring him too.”
“The gym? Are you sure you’ll be able to keep up with me?” Jin laughs.
“We’ll see about that,” I smirk.
【★】
I finally got my bias Jin to do a cameo! And yes, his story is coming, and i’m so excited to start writing it!
I think Hooded’s last chapter will be very very soon, and I can’t believe it’s ending already! This story is based on a lot of true things for me and it’s got me through so much! :’)
I hope you guys also enjoy Destined, which is the second story in the series, and after that will most likely be Yoongi’s story and then Seokjin’s 😀
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