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✪26✪

My hands were pressed around the man’s throat. I squeezed harshly and he spluttered, trying to push my heavy body off him. With one hand still clasped around his neck, I reached for the gun that had fallen out of his hands and his eyes bulged in horror. “No one touches Taehyung,” I told him quietly before shooting him in the head. He jerked before becoming still.

“Tae? Tae!” I pocketed the weapon and crouched down hurriedly next to the boy who was clutching his foot. He hissed in pain as tears flowed down his cheeks. I wiped them away with my thumbs and tilted his chin up. “There are more of them… we can’t wait.”

“Go,” he muttered, taking a deep breath. “I can’t walk, Joan, please go!”

“I’m not leaving you.” I placed my hands on his shirt and yanked harshly but he just flopped back down in pain, his face wrinkling. “I can’t stand and you can’t carry me. Just go.”

“Do me a favour and shut up. I’m trying to think.” I tucked one hand under Taehyung’s knees with the other supporting his neck and tried to stand. “You are so heavy,” I grumbled, staggering to my feet. His large hazel eyes eyed me inquisitively.

“Don’t tell me that you are planning to run while carrying me.”

“I’ll manage,” I wheezed, fast walking out of the airport. “If you just keep quiet and let me- crap!” I ducked behind a wall as a big van screeched to a halt in front of the back entrance of the airport. I rested my head on the cool bricks and panted, trying to catch my breath.

“Please just-” Taehyung began.

“No!” Taehyung recoiled as I snapped at him. He closed his eyes and leaned on my abdomen, trying to calm his ragged breathing. “Please don’t yell at me,” he whispered.

“I’m not yelling at you, Tae,” I sighed, opening an eyelid and staring at him. “I’m sorry, I’m really stressed and your inputs to ditch you back there weren’t really helping. Look,” I stood straighter, repositioning him in my arms. “I’m not leaving you. It didn’t occur to me and I’m not even going to consider it. So just… I don’t know. I don’t know what to do,” I cried out finally. “I don’t know how to get out of this mess, much less get you out of this and I’m so so sorry.”

“At least you tried,” he smiled helpfully.

I let out an uncertain laugh. “Don’t joke about this! I’m going to shoot them.”

“Check how many bullets you have.”

“I can’t,” I exhaled. “You’ll fall.”

“Give it to me,” he stretched out his hands. “I’ll see. Just tell me how to.”

“Turn it around. Damn,” I whistled. “This is one ancient model. Also, the magazine is detachable.”

“So?”

“So nothing. I’m just stating facts. Open the clip like thing.”

“This?” he asked cautiously.

“Yeah, you don’t have to be so wary,” I giggled. “It can’t fire itself.”

“What if I accidently pull the trigger?”

“Fat chance. Ooh look, double set trigger! Perfect for long distance shooting.”

“So how many bullets?”

“Six rounds.”

“Which is?”

“Six bullets.”

“Wow,” he gulped nervously. ‘And how many men?”

“Seven.”

“So now what?”

“Now,” I muttered, gently lowering him to the ground. “I lure some of them here and slam their skulls into the wall or knee them in the groin.”

***

Taehyung and I stared at the three men in front of us, two unconscious and one dead; I had accidently snapped his neck. I stretched out from behind the wall and pulled the trigger. Four shots rang out clearly in the starry night and four screams of pain.

Bingo.

I dragged Taehyung back into my arms and hurriedly walked away from the black van.

***

“Do you ever feel bad? About killing them?”

I blinked at Taehyung. “Do you think I should?”

“I don’t know… I was just wondering. Do you know how many?”

“How many I have killed?” He nodded slowly. “Seventeen today.”

“Including the four that you shot?”

“They aren’t dead. I aimed for their arms and legs. Seventeen including the man that shot you and the one whose neck I broke.”

“Oh.” There was an uncomfortable silence.

“I feel terrible,” I said finally. “That man was right, they all had families. Sure they were trying to kill me too, but that didn’t mean I had to stoop to their level. I’m no better than they were. Seventeen doesn’t even include the ones whom I crippled for life. I ruined them, their families, everything! I am a horrible, horrible-”

“Ah,” Taehyung pried my right hand from my eyes. “You aren’t horrible. It’s all survival instinct right?”

“I’m a sixteen year old that has killed people. Go figure how nice I am.”

“Do you like killing them?”

“No but-”

“Do you wake up in the morning and think ‘today I’ll kill six people’?”

“No but-”

“If they hadn’t tried to kill you, would have gone after them?”

“No but-”

“Then you are not a terrible person.”

I gave him a small unsatisfied smile before opening the door to a small shabby, but well-lit store. A tinkling bell announced my presence and a young girl looked up from her book. She closed it and placed it to the side and pushed her large glasses up her nose. “Hello, how may I help you?” Her eyes travelled over to Taehyung in my arms before switching back to me. I shoved my gun deeper into my pocket with my elbow and skidded ahead.

“I don’t have money,” I told her. “But I really need some things.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” I jiggled Taehyung’s foot with my thigh. “My friend is really hurt and I was wondering if you had a pair of tweezers and some gauze to spare?”

“We just sold our extra stock,” she informed me apologetically, fiddling with her long brown ponytail. She walked over to a shelf and got out a fully stacked medicinal kit. “I could, however, play you for it.”

I raised my eyebrow and readjusted Taehyung again. “Play me for it?”

“I’m not allowed to give out free stuff but I’m really really bored so…” She opened her book again and I realised it was a school text book. “If you can learn the first twenty-five digits of Pi in ten minutes, then I will give you this-” she pointed to the box, “-and food and clothing.”

I beamed at her. “You will? Seriously?”

She nodded energetically. “Pinky promise.”

“I know the value of Pi already,” I told her.

She grinned. “Shoot.”

“3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa stop! That was amazing! How did you do it?”

I winked at her. “A magician never reveals her secrets. I believe you owe me something. Many things, actually.”

“That was seriously brilliant! How do you plan to carry the box and him?”

“Oh um… would you have a pair of crutches?”

She snorted pitifully. “The manager is going to kill me…but here.” She tossed them to me and I screeched and moved out of the way. “Sorry!” she yelped. “Didn’t realise you couldn’t catch it with both your hands occupied.”

I rolled my eyes and placed Taehyung on a chair inside the store. I carefully pulled off his torn shoe and sock and he winced. I stared at his pale blood-crusted foot in my lap for a few seconds before plucking the tweezers out of the box. “This is going to hurt like a bitch.”

“Okay.”

I gave him a small smile of encouragement before bending down, my eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

***

“How are you?”

“I’ve been worse,” Taehyung shrugged. “The question is, how are you?”

“Oh, I’m blooming.”

“Enough with the blooming rubbish,” he groaned. “You carried me for three hours while walking at least twenty-five kilometres, you tell me how you are really feeling!”

I stared at him from my position on the couch. “I’m tired,” I said truthfully. “Really tired.”

“Oh. Tell me more,” he pressed.

“My arms feel like lead,” I muttered hesitantly. “I can barely keep my eyes open.” Taehyung limped ahead before sitting on a chair in front of the sofa I was lying down on.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“You would have done the same for me.”

"T-tell me something about yourself, please?" Taehyung asked in a small voice and I lazily opened one eye and blinked at him.

"Okay... there isn't much, you know. Jin saved me and I stayed with him in one of his houses. He's very rich. At least, he was. He had a falling out with his dad which I'm not really comfortable talking to you about, but that's basically the only reason why we stayed in a different mansion. Obviously, his dad knew where we were and he payed for my education and stuff too but he was a nice guy so he kept away after making sure there were plenty of people to look after us."

I took a deep breath and abruptly stopped talking. There was a short silence. “Please don’t watch me sleep Taehyung, it’s really creepy,” I chuckled uncertainly. He didn’t reply. “I saw a phone booth outside. We’ll call Seokjin later tod-”

“I’m sorry, I tried to resist, but I can’t- I just can’t,” Taehyung mumbled before swooping down and pressing his lips against mine. He groaned in satisfaction as his lips sucked on mine and his hand caressed the side of my face. I tried to move my arms to shove him off me but when I said earlier that they felt like lead, I wasn’t kidding. My eyelids fluttered as his tongue slipped into my mouth.

“Taehyung!” I snapped finally. He pulled back in horror, his eyes wide in realisation.

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t know-”

“Don’t give me that rubbish! You knew exactly what you were doing.”

“I’m sorry,” he muttered miserably. I sighed and ran my hands through my dishevelled hair.

I pointed at him. “You-me, not okay.” Taehyung nodded. “You kissing me without my permission, also not okay.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated in a small voice. I sighed again and flopped down onto the cushions, turning my face away from his. “Just go to sleep, Taehyung. We’ll talk about this later.”

I woke up after a couple of hours with the sun beaming down at me through a gap in the curtains. I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them. My eyes travelled over to Taehyung who was watching me anxiously, tears flowing down his red cheeks and falling into his pyjama clad lap. I exhaled through my mouth and got to my feet, walking over to him and sitting down on the bed beside him. I hugged him from behind, resting my chin on his shoulder. I wiped his face with the sleeve of my shirt.

“It’s okay, Tae. Don’t beat yourself up over it,” I murmured and he shook his head wildly, his wet eyelashes sticking to the skin below.

“It’s not okay,” he croaked. “It’s assault! I kissed you without your consent.”

“Taehyung,” I pushed him down on the bed. “You are my friend, I wouldn’t call it assault. Look, what you did wasn't cool, but it's okay. I'm serious; I'm okay. We're okay. It was just a kiss.”

“I’m sorry,” he cried.

“Tae you are acting like you killed somebody. It was a moment of weakness, and that’s alright.”

“What about Jin?”

I shook my head. “He’ll be upset but he’ll get over it. I wouldn’t worry about him.”

“Do we have to tell him?”

I frowned at his question, my forgiving mood disappearing instantly. Wrong thing to say, Taehyung. “I make it a point to tell him everything. Partly because I don’t want there to be secrets between us and partly because I’d rather he hear it from me and not by reading my mind.” I got off Taehyung and dusted my shirt. “I’m going to the phone booth. Please don’t leave the room and make me come looking for you.”

He nodded slowly. I grabbed an old hoodie from the pile of shirts that the girl at the shop had supplied us with and disappeared into the bathroom to change.

***

“Seokjin,” I smiled into the receiver.

“Joan! You’re okay!”

“I’m okay,” I grinned.

“Please tell me Jungkook and Taehyung are with you.”

“Jungkook is gone too?” I asked, my mouth dry. “Only Taehyung is with me.”

“Yeah, he was with us one minute and then... Anyways, Hoseok and Namjoon have gone in search of the three of you because we assumedyou would be together.” I felt tears prickle the corner of my eyes.

“No, Jungkook isn’t with me,” I whispered.

“Do you know where you are?” Jin quickly changed the topic on hearing my discomfort. I closed my eyes, not wanting to think about my missing friend.

“South of Churchgate.”

“Damn,” he breathed. “That’s really far. Even from the airport, it’s really far.”

“I would know. I walked all the way while holding Taehyung because some joker shot him in the foot.”

“No way! Seriously? Are you still walking?” he demanded. "Did you stop at all? Take rest? This is not good for your health, you're already stick thin with a beetroot for a face-"

“Seokjin! We found a motel along the way at about four in the morning and I was sleeping until now.”

“You poor thing,” Jin cooed softly. “It must still hurt so much.”

“I’m fine.”

“Liar,” he chuckled. “You are in pain. Also, I can always tell when you’re hiding something, so spill.”

“Taehyung kissed me.”

Silence. “Oh,” Jin said finally. “Did you- did you kiss him back?” he hesitated.

“No, I told him to get off.” Jin was quiet for a while. “Say something.” He still didn’t reply. “You are insecure.”

“No, I- I’m just upset that the first person to kiss my girlfriend after someone tried to abduct her, wasn’t me.”

“Well, you can always be the first person to kiss your girlfriend and not be told to shove off, after she was nearly abducted.”

I heard him smile. “I’d like that. Should we meet up somewhere in the middle? Waiting for me to come will take all day, especially since Peter’s house is nowhere near, plus Namjoon has gone looking for Jungkook and you guys, so we can’t disapparate either.”

“That would be ideal,” I muttered reluctantly. “But I’m not sure how much more I can walk. Why don’t you call Namjoon and ask him to come back?”

“I tried but his cell is unreachable. Hoseok has switched off your phone too. You know what? I’ll drive the way, its okay. Just be at Churchgate after seven hours and we’ll come get-”

CRASH.

I screamed as the phone booth I was in exploded and shards of glass stabbed me from all directions. I whimpered as a large piece stabbed my closed left eye, making my vision fuzzy and blurred and striking a fresh jolt of pain in my body. I could make out the unclear silhouettes of a couple of men and maybe one female. Two of them drew closer and amidst the fog clouding my eyes, I recognised the tall muscular figure of one of them.

“Jungkook?”

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A/N_

this is really not how I imagined revealing the bad guy because at the time when I wrote it, I was expecting at least a few comments expressing some emotion.

Right now there's absolutely nothing commented in the last few chapters and I always write commentable stuff, okay! Anyways, it's really disheartening and I'm sad 🤠

Just a smiley or a shocked face would suffice :(
Just to let me know that you're there

Seeing comments hits differently as  opposed to seeing views
A lot of books have a ton of views but comments are the only thing which actually lmk if someone's enjoying my crap ☹️

You can even say "hi" I'm that desperate and miserable
Idk just a thought

If you're someone that's socially awkward, then it's okay, don't push yourself to comment or vote or anything. Your health is more important! Tbh everyone's health is really important haha
These are dangerous times so I hope everyone's eating and sleeping well and basically being strong mentally too

I love you ♡