Taehyung slowly got off the vehicle, stopping next to Jiah. Confusion and worry filled him when he approached her, wondering why she froze suddenly before.

He had crossed the finish line and almost reached her when she swung her leg over the door and stepped out too.

Their eyes met, and instantly it was as if they were bare. As if the bandana covering their faces, the helmets over their heads and the clothes they wore fell at their feet. When brown met silver, everything else ceased to exist.

She had the urge to bring her hands up and cover; she felt so naked, so vulnerable when he was looking at her like that.

"Stop that," she muttered under her breath without thinking. When she realised, however, she prayed that he didn't hear her.

"Stop what?" He whispered, taking a step forward.

Her chest hurt so much, and she hated it. After discovering the intrinsic feeling she had, wanting all the demons of her past to stop taunting her for everything she had done, she really didn't need his clear, zinc eyes to see right through all of those insecurities she had tried so hard to hide. But that was precisely what it felt like he was doing.

"Looking at me like that," she whispered again, and now he was standing so close their shoes were touching. Of course, however, that wasn't where she was looking.

His damn eyes were ones that held you in the longest gaze, no matter what you wanted.

"Like what?"

"Like you want to kiss me," her words were blunt, but she wasn't the type to beat around the bush.

"What if I d-" she knew what he was about to say and luckily for her, his phone rang, silencing him.

Licking his lips, he tore his eyes from Jiah's reluctantly, sighing when he read the caller ID.

"What?" His voice was annoyed when he answered.

"When were you planning on coming to the meeting?" Jimin's voice filled the line, and Taehyung checked his watch.

"Right, shit, I'm on my way Jimin, can you tell them I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Tae," Jimin hissed, "I know you're tired, I know you're conflicted but remember we promised each other we would never let anything come before work, not even women."

"I know Jimin; I'll be there in twenty, I'm really sorry."

When he hung up, he looked up at Jiah before clearing his throat, "We need to get back."

—

The ride there was silent, both of them trying to figure out what exactly had just happened.

It was an awkward silence, an unnerving silence, one where the pair just wanted to jump out of the window and run into the blaring traffic just to save themselves from the torture.

"U-Uh, do you want me to print out anything for the meeting?" Jiah interrupted, and Taehyung internally thanked her.

"No, that's fine," he stifled a cough, "But can you please write up the minutes for the meeting today?"

"Oh, yes of course," she answered, and the car went silent again. Taehyung slowly turned his head to look out the window, and Jiah did the same.

They were finally at the building, and Taehyung quickly jumped out of the car, buttoning his blazer and walking through the front doors. Jiah followed right on his tail, and they swiftly passed through the security scanners, entering into the elevator doors.

"Which board room is the meeting being held?" He asked as he scanned the level buttons.

"Director Park's level," Jiah thought, "Twenty."

Taehyung nodded and then pressed the button for the level. After they got there, Jiah sat in the meeting for the rest of the hour and made sure to record everything that was discussed. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened before, however.

She felt something she thought she would never feel; guilt.

After all these years of being in the mafia and carrying out countless missions that just tore away at her heart, leaving her soulless, she never fathomed even the idea of being slightly guilty.

So why was it just a couple of hours ago she was so ready to run out of that racing track to the nearest bathroom and scrape off all those years of damage that had been done by her hands?

And to top it all off, the magnetic pull she always felt when she was around Taehyung was just getting stronger and stronger. There was nothing she could do to stop herself from it all, like gravity pulls the earth around the sun, he was pulling her closer and closer and just like the law of nature, she couldn't fight it.

When the meeting was over, Taehyung had left without any word, Jimin jumping up at seeing him do so, following him out.

Jiah bowed at the other directors inside the room before also tracking behind the two of them.

"Why were you so late?" Jimin hissed, struggling to keep up with his best friend, "I drove you into the office and then you were gone and missed our meeting?"

"I'm sorry Jimin, I was tired. I was a bit sidetracked. I needed to clear my mind and get it off," he coughed, "you know."

"Wait... what did you do?" he whined, "Did you go racing without me!"

Taehyung turned to his best friend, a smile breaking over his face, wrapping an arm over Jimin's shoulder, "Sorry love."

"But it's our thing!" he whined again, "You went and did our thing without me?"

"Next time I won't forget, I promise."

--

"Jiah, I'm fine with driving myself home," Taehyung sighed, walking behind his secretary to his car, "It's really okay."

"I got a couple hours of sleep at my desk today while you were in that conference," she told him firmly, "You haven't had any sleep today."

"It's okay, I don't live too far, and I'll sleep as soon as I get home."

She shook her head, "No, I'm not letting you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she saw a silhouette growing larger from behind Taehyung and without thinking, she stuck her hand out and shoved him to the side, immediately coming face to face with a man in a black hood and black trackies.

While her pants were tight, she somehow managed to lift her right leg and swing it against his side, knocking him to the ground. It didn't take him long to recover, however, as he got back on his feet and picked up his fist, aiming right for her cheek. She dodged it, throwing her own fist toward him and not missing this time.

He stumbled backward, and Jiah took this time to kick his torso, making him fall on his back again, but now she kneeled over him, pushing her arm against his neck, leaning in close enough to whisper to him.

"Who sent you?"

"Jiah?" Taehyung's voice was incredulous from behind her.

She saw his shadow come closer, and she stopped him.

"Don't come near!" she told him, "Stay back."

For some reason, he listened, and she turned back to the man she had pinned to the ground.

He didn't answer her question from before, instead kicked his legs in an attempt to free himself, which obviously proved useless. She held her finger against the cut on his head, wiping some blood onto it and showed him so he could see.

"If you don't answer me," she hissed, "I will put your head into a wall. Trust me; you don't want to mess with me."

"Your friend's brother," he whispered back, and Jiah scrunched her eyebrows, pushing in further, seeing the veins on his neck bulge.

"Again? What has this boy gotten himself into?" she asked herself, "But wait, why were you attacking him then?" she indicated Taehyung who was behind them.

Finally, he mustered enough energy to push Jiah off him, starting to stand up. She followed him, standing up next to him and pulling him close by his collar.

"I wasn't here for him," he whispered, "I was here for you."

Taking in a deep breath, she rolled her eyes, "Well, you better run now, before I ram you into the concrete, or before my boss asks questions."

He smiled now, winking, "See you soon, Jiah, see you soon."

With that, he wiped his lip with the back of his sleeve and freed himself from her grasp, turning on his heel and running to the exit.

She lowered her gaze to the ground; a million excuses start to grow inside her head, swirling all around and causing her to face Taehyung.

His eyes were wide, not believing anything he had just seen, but his first instinct was to run up to her, his hand cupped her cheek, thumb rubbing the side of it where a small cut lay.

"Are you okay?" his breathing hitched, "Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," her own breathing was heavy, "Really, I'm okay."

"Who was he? Should I call the police? I can't believe I let him get away, should we go after him? Should-"

"Hey," she hushed him, "You couldn't do anything, I... I wouldn't have let you do anything, Taehyung," it was weird calling him by his name. It felt like somehow she owned it, she owned those vowels, consonants, the whole being. 

"I'll make sure security finds out about it, but I don't think he'll bother you again, honestly."

"Y-You can fight," he muttered under his breath, as if speaking more to himself than to her.

The two were so focused on the conversation, making sure the other was okay that they forgot how close they were. But she was brought back to the moment when she felt his breath hot on her cheek.

And when she did, she leaned back, attempting to put some distance in between them.

But he wasn't having any of that, his arm swinging around behind her and pulling her close to him again.

This made her look up again, his eyes waiting to meet hers. After a few seconds of the pair mesmerised by the other's gaze, he spoke.

"Your eyes are like smoke; dark and full of heat." Taehyung's own eyes dipped into Jiah's, his arms only slightly loosening.

"Hate to break it to you, Shakespeare, but smoke isn't full of heat, it's an effect of heat," she corrected, yet it was hard to take her bitter tone seriously after what had just happened.

"That works too," Taehyung's crooked smirk switched to a small smile. "They always get darker when you're angry."

"Like you would notice."

"Like I wouldn't."

Everything that happened then happened so slowly, with the hand that was still cupping her cheek, he lifted her chin so that he could capture her lips with his own.

And she didn't know what was happening to her as she felt the seeds he had planted down in the corners of her heart grow at the fastest rate, his name being imprinted in the stems, leaves and petals of every single one.

She couldn't fight the urge to wrap her arms around his neck, bringing him so close, as if doing so would make those flowers in her heart blossom. Was it her misjudgement or did she want those flowers to bloom so much so that she would have a garden of him in her heart?

He took a few steps backward, turning so that he could lean her against the side of his car, not stopping himself from moulding the two of them together. And like he was her sun, the flowers in her heart followed him, her fingers threading themselves through his hair.

This feeling, it was happiness, something she had blocked herself from her whole life, something she didn't know she was ever capable of feeling, something she would have never thought to feel because of another person, let alone that other person be Taehyung.

The vibration coming from her blazer pocket made her reach into it, opening her eyes to read the screen. She pulled away when she saw Hoseok's name, meeting Taehyung's eyes.

"I-I'm-"

"Sorry," she tried to take a step back, forgetting she was held against his car. "I have to take this."

The silver in his own eyes had gotten darker as if he was hungry for more. But he looked away, stepping aside and letting her walk a few feet from him.

"Hello?"

"Jiah, when are you getting here? I need to tell you and Jungkook something," after a small pause he spoke again, "It's urgent."

"Sorry, I'm on my way."

When she hung up, she turned to look at Taehyung.

"I need to-"

"I can drive you if you-"

"It's okay," she cut him off, "I'll take a cab; see you on Monday, Taehyung."

--

Biting her lip, Jiah threw the door open of their hideout. Her mind was pushed over breaking point, anger, nervousness, anxiety, confusion, glee, wonder, were emotions all mixed together, swirling around in it like a poisonous cocktail, and if she wasn't careful she knew she would be in for an overdose.

"Jiah?" Hoseok asked from the living room, and a sudden wave of relief washed over her.

Oh God, she missed them.

"Hey guys, what's up?" she grabbed Jungkook's beer can from his hand and flopped onto the couch, leaning into his chest as they looked over at Hoseok.

"I have something really important that you guys need to know, it's about my brother."

"Oh yeah, the one who ordered the hit on you, and also on Taehyung."

"What?" Hoseok asked, standing up from the couch across the coffee table.

"Yeah, someone attacked Taehyung and me today in the parking lot of our office," she sighed, "Hoseok, what is happening?"

"I'm sorry you guys," he inhaled a deep breath blinking rapidly, "I can't tell you guys because if I do, they might kill you."

"Hoseok!"

"I'm sorry; I really don't want you to be in danger as well. I found out something about what our higher-ups are doing, and they tried to kill me. Now they're after you too? This is not okay, and it's what I called you here to talk about. I'm leaving, I'm leaving this stupid city, this stupid gang, this stupid life," the blinking stopped working, the tears were flowing now, and he couldn't do anything to stop them. "I'm leaving with hyung, and I'm not coming back."

The two were speechless, not knowing what to do or say.

Of course they wanted him to be free from this life, they understood that much. But as a friend, they didn't want to be separated from someone whom they both considered family. With the little family they both had, Hoseok meant so much to them.

"I'm sorry guys, I really wish I could stay, but as long as I do, things like this will keep happening. And I can't let it keep happening."

"Hoseok..."

"I love you guys," he whispered, and the pair's eyes shot up to look at him, "I don't want you to suffer because of me."

"We..." Jungkook slipped out from behind Jiah and hugged Hoseok, "We love you too, Hoseok, we want you to be happy."

Jiah gulped, "And we will do whatever we can to help you."

I hope you're all having a great day/night!

Our fated lovers kissed!!! Heh

I love you guys so so so much! I hope you are liking the story! xx