The Other Side of The Coin.

Jungkook realized he was wrong. Twice.

His clan did abduct the innocent, and his apprentice was not a little girl driven by her passion to achieve her dreams.

He was wrong about both, and it all unfolded before his eyes.

Laira stood there without the mask of lies on his right. Whereas, Min Yoongi dragged an unconscious girl, Chloe, out through the exit on his left.

Taehyung and Jimin were so far into the fight that it didn't seem to stop until one completely broke, and Jungkook had a bad feeling about his friend ending up with fractured bones.

He watched Taehyung diving to the left as Jimin's blade slashed the wind. The silver-haired assassin was quick and light on his feet as he spun and launched his attack on Taehyung again, cutting the grass along the way. Jungkook's partner was quick to realize the attack but slow to defend as the blade struck his upper abdomen. 

Jimin leaned away from Taehyung's reach and avoided his counterattack. Jungkook had difficulty following their rapid movements. A loud clanking of swords roared in the night. Taehyung's loud breathing was audible as he held a firm stance, encountering his sword with Jimin, blow after blow. He was getting pushed by his opponent's strength and it seemed like he would soon lose his footing.

Fortunately, Taehyung made a comeback by hitting Jimin on his knee, which bought him little time to catch his breath and aim for Jimin's left shoulder, but their enemy was fast to recover and swift to dodge the slash a few inches away from his body, and Jimin's blade dove across Taehyung's thigh, leaving an ugly wound as a caution.

Jungkook was torn between making a decision. Should he help Taehyung who required his help to survive the furious Tsuki clan leader, or should he save the innocent assassin, Chloe, from being abducted by his clan?

He should save Chole! His subconscious yelled at him.

Why would Min Yoongi kidnap that girl and taint the image of their clan?

Jungkook wanted to serve Yoongi that question along with a few punches to his gut. But, in all honestly, he knew his hyung, Jung Hoseok, must be just as involved in that awful deed.

He saw how Jimin's sword thundered against Taehyung's steel blade, making the latter lose his feet momentarily. Whatever he had heard about the Tsuki clan's leader, proved to be right, and might he add, in the most glorious way ever.

Jungkook was like a moth to the flame called skills. Hence, he was entranced.

He had quite a few occurrences in his life where he got to experience the demonstration of a mighty-skilled assassin, such as Park Jimin, and he couldn't help but admire him. It must've been the alcohol lingering in his system that had turned off his alarming sense to protect and fight.

Or maybe it was the betrayal that hit him right where it hurt.

He had liked Laira the moment she swore to do whatever it took to achieve her dream of becoming an assassin. In a way, that had reminded him of himself and in another way comforted him, to know that he wasn't the only one who was eager to leave everything just for the satisfaction of following their passion.

He thought he wasn't alone anymore.

Funny, that the girl he trusted used the same vulnerable side of him to book herself a stay in his home, the training center.

Taehyung was right. He was always right about strangers.

And now, Taehyung was paying for his mistakes, taking stinging wounds on his body, one after another. He had watched Taehyung develop himself to become this dangerous swordsman and never before had he looked so much on the losing side.

His arm was bleeding and his thigh was injured. Whereas, Jimin looked unscratched, as if the moonlight provided an armor to shield him from all that was insignificant. If wielding a sword was an art, Jungkook swore Park Jimin was his muse.

Jungkook decided to do nothing now that the two sword fighters were not alone anymore. Jimin was backed by a unit of his clan assassins, and Hoseok's team was covering Taehyung.

This just got bigger.

It had to, of course. Jungkook should've seen it coming. With or without the Laira betrayal, this was something The Grace's Night promised and delivered, all the freaking time.

He shook himself out of the obvious thinking and ran to help lift Taehyung to his feet. He could see, behind the chaos caused by both the clans' men, Jimin taking Laira with him. For a moment, his usual instinct was to free her from his grip, but the new realization clawed at his heart.

She isn't his apprentice anymore.

Hence, he watched as their silhouettes disappeared behind the dark of the trees. "Kook, I may need a blood transfusion," Taehyung painfully let out in his ear.

Jungkook scoffed. "You're not bleeding that much, save for your nose."

Taehyung eyed him incredulously. "I just fought with The Park Jimin, and this is all the concern and care you spare me? I'm deeply wounded by your nonchalance, my best friend."

The way he emphasized the last words, Jungkook could tell he wouldn't be saved from Taehyung's drama the whole night.

"Exactly, you fought with Jimin, who the heck in their right mind do that?"

"I guess I felt like taking a few blows and jabs to wake myself up, you know? It's like the assassin side of me was deep asleep." Taehyung grunted while Jungkook helped him walk back inside The Grace's hall.

Nobody was paying attention, even as Jungkook began applying ointment on Taehyung's wounds while the other sat on the stool with a blank expression on his face.

"Asleep?" He picked up their earlier conversation. "Because you couldn't figure out Laira's true intentions?"

Taehyung visibly slumped back to the wall. "Yeah, probably that."

"In that case, I require some beating as well."

*

When Jungkook woke up in his room, wrapped in his cozy blanket, he groaned and muffled his face back in his pillow.

There's no way last night was real.

If it was, he's doomed.

He had to face reality sooner than later, so he urged his feet into action and started about his morning routine just like any other day.

Except, it wasn't any other day. The second he slid open his bedroom door, his eyes spotted a woman in an orange gown tied to a chair, mind you, his dinner chair!

He cleared his throat and caught the girl's attention. "Chloe, right? Are you okay?"

The girl, in return, glared at him with an undertone that said are you seriously asking?

He cleared his throat once again upon her silence and asked, "Are you like this since last night?" He gestured to her chained hands to convey his point.

"Are you done having fun?" she seethed.

What?

He mentally knocked his head. Of course, she'd think you're making fun of her!

He bee-lined straight to the backyard since there was no point explaining his good intentions to a person bound to a chair at his home, aka his training center.

As he walked out, he spotted Taehyung sitting on the wooden bench in the corner, sharpening his dagger. "I've seen unusual things in our living room before, never an assassin hostage," Jungkook said, catching the other's attention.

"You are going to see a lot more, not just in our living room, but in our lives," Taehyung said, not stopping his hand from its work.

"Have you talked to Hoseok hyung yet?" Jungkook asked.

"About what?"

"That assassin."

"Wasn't planning to." Taehyung ducked his head back to work.

"Seriously? Are we going to play the bad guys now?"

"This isn't about us. It's between our master and his enemy. The Tsuki clan sent their assassin to spy on us, it's only fair that we pry out some of their secrets too."

"Pry out?!" Jungkook spluttered. "What? How? By torturing that girl held captive in our abode?"

At that, Taehyung glanced back up at him with a stern look. "Why are you pretending like you are unaffected by everything? Stop pretending like you can manage to be kind even after all that, Jungkook. Just stop.

"I-" Jungkook wanted to argue that he was completely fine, and he still had the heart to do what was justified and right, but suddenly those words felt too heavy on his tongue. What was he doing? How did he reach home last night? What was he going to do now?

He did not know. He was walking with half a mind and half a spirit to be awake in the present that was bestowed upon him, and despite his agony, he wished to see Laira again. Perhaps, not for any good reasons.

He might pick up his sword against her the very moment she appears before him, and this time, it won't be a practice round. Jungkook realized the seed of revenge needn't be sought after, it gets planted upon the appearance of betrayal. Thereafter, it grows and grows reeking of hatred. 

When he tried to imagine the day it would bloom, turmoil ran through his veins catching his heart leaping back and forth. He was too gone now to resist the urge to cause Laira the same pain she inflicted on him. Moreover, to win the game she was playing.

*

I need to escape.

Chloe knew the silence in the hall would not remain for a long time. Hence, she had to escape before the questioning and torture began. The rope that bounded her hands was too thick. She couldn't wean it off. There was no sharp object nearby she could use to free herself.

JK and V were in the backyard and their master was probably still sleeping or hungover. She could tell from the way his face was flushing last night that Jung Hoseok couldn't hold liquor well. This was her chance to make her escape before they showed up, or worse, before Min Yoongi showed up.

That pale assassin was ruthless and he wore no mask. He firmly stated that she would not utter a single word to cause a commotion throughout the night while he got the rest he deserved, and her heart, which was frantically beating against her chest, obeyed his words.

She had a dagger strapped to her waist which Yoongi confiscated when found. Her hairpins were made of plastic and the table's edges were too broad to cut the rope. However, there was a pair of steel chopsticks near the golden artifact on her left. She gradually grazed her chair to the side, so she could lean and retrieve it between her teeth.

That would not aid her to open her restraints, but it could be used as a weapon, so she dropped the chopsticks on her lap and used her teeth to cover it under her gown. Since she had to means to untangle herself from the chair, she decided to wait for another opportunity and closed her eyes counting her breaths.

The sound of a wooden door sliding against a wooden frame broke her out of her meditation, but she remained quiet in her seat.

"I remember I left you a few inches on the left from that spot," Yoongi spoke. She recognized his voice even with her eyes closed. "Were you taking a tour around the house?"

She gulped the taste of bile in her throat and decided to speak. "I was looking for something to untie my hands with." 

"I didn't expect any less from you, but for a Tsuki clan assassin, although still a trainee, aren't you a little too slow?" he asked, flashing her a toothy grin.

"I missed the class when they were teaching the ways to break free from a lunatic."

He softly mumbled, "Bad for you," before he entered the room on the right.

Chloe let out a huff of air to push back the strands of hair falling on her face. She watched Yoongi walking back into the hall with a tray of food in his hands. He placed it on the table and stepped behind her to unbound her hands.

He spared her a lazy look after dumping the rope in the corner of the room and then without a word he seated next to her by the table.

She was contemplating whether to eat or to attempt to run, but with Yoongi being so close escaping seemed futile. 

"You should eat some," a voice called out from behind her. "Yoongi may not look like it, but he's a great chef."

She whipped her head to spot Jung Hoseok walking near her with a flowering smile on his face. Yoongi's attention was not on her anymore as he leaned back in the chair, resting his head on the wall. 

"Were you able to sleep well?" Jung Hoseok asked. "I argued with Yoongi that we should provide you a place to sleep comfortably, but you see, he's very stubborn sometimes."

Chloe felt something similar to a warmth in her chest seeing the soft look in Taiyo clan's leader's eyes, but she wasn't sure if that look was real or fabricated. "I couldn't sleep a blink longer," she confessed.

He sighed in Yoongi's direction. "That's very bad. You finish your meal and then take our guest room to rest."

"How long do you plan to keep me here?" she asked.

"For as long as you want," he answered enthusiastically. "If you desire to leave, you may do so at your convenience."

Yoongi blinked his eyes open at that, and now he shared the look of confusion as she did. "But you abducted me," she reminded.

"I'd like to apologize for that," Hoseok said. "I had my reasons that I don't expect you to understand."

"I wish to leave right away," Chloe let those words out, testing the waters. The same experimental curiosity sparked in Yoongi's eyes as he stared at his leader.

"As you wish." Hoseok gestured to the exit.

She stood up holding her tangerine-bright gown, sneaking the metal chopsticks from her lap into her one hand, covered by the long sleeve. The tiny hesitated steps she took towards her freedom felt threatened by an upcoming halt.

"Before that," Hoseok spoke, "do me a favor and write your master's address on this paper." He put a white sheet on the table with a black pen.

"Master's address?" She halted in confusion. "Your assassin has been to our main headquarters before. He would know the way." She pointed at Yoongi.

Hoseok laughed. "Not his workplace. His home."

Chloe's brows furrowed in confusion. "Master Jimin resides in the headquarters."

Hoseok clasped his hands together. "It seems like you don't know. Well, in that case, I cannot let you go, dear."

At that moment, Chloe spun on her heels to reach for the door when Yoongi's hand trapped her right wrist. She struggled to pull it free as he pushed her against a wall. She tightened her grip around the silver chopsticks before diving them into Yoongi's hand clutching her wrist. It pierced his skin and he jerked a few feet away from her. 

She ran for the exit with a last glance at Hoseok lazily staring back at her with no hint of daylight in his eyes anymore. Her gown tripped her feet once, so she gathered it in her hands as she made it out of the training center. Her heels were slippery on the green grass and her hair was sticky around her neck.

I escaped. Just some more running.

I escaped-

"You aren't supposed to leave this place." A sword to her waist stopped her in the tracks. "Hyung's orders."

She turned around to meet her eyes with JK. The confused look on his face from the morning was now replaced with silent fury, and if she had forgotten, the danger that gleamed in his eyes reminded her why he had a scary reputation.