Everyone crowded around me, jaw hanging open as they took in my very alive features.

"So it really is true..." Lisa approached me, pulling me into a tight embrace that left my shoulder wet and my lungs gasping for air, "You really did fake your own death."

I laughed as the boys also hugged me, more confused than anything else, "I don't understand why you needed to hide?" Hoseok began, rubbing his chin in deep thought.

"Because Taehyung's father wanted me dead, so my lawyer decided it would be best to keep me under the radar." I explained, shivering and watching my breath escape my mouth amidst the cold. "I think I'm ready to exploit him."

"I told you guys there was a way out!" Jungkook jumped into the air gleefully, "You all owe me one banana milk EACH after this." The rest rolled their eyes, but nodded their head in agreement.

"Y/n. You should know we were never paid to be your friend." Jimin spoke up wide eyed, "No matter what it looks like, I promise we weren't paid. Taehyung however—"

"Shut up."

It didn't take long for us to walk out of that dark creepy alleyway. I walked side by side with Taehyung, linking arms and just embracing the fact that I could be together with him again. The smell of his usual cologne lingered on the scarf he gave me, bringing back old memories that felt like forever ago.

They led me to a coffee shop, right away ordering me a drink as we got comfortable on the couches. I told them my story, detail for detail. How I had managed to get Mr. Kim to want me dead, how the fire started, and how I managed to escape with the last of my wits. They all listened intently. Big eyes penetrating mine as I spoke still shaken from my experience. It was a hard story to tell, but I couldn't hide from it. No matter what had happened to me in my past I knew it was a part of me that I would forever hold

"So then this was planned from the very beginning?" Jungkook questioned Taehyung, curving his eyebrows in realization. The said man looked down, nodding his head lightly.

"Y/n I have something to admit." Hoseok spoke up diligently with tears in his eyes, "A long time ago we lied to you about a research project... we were all wondering if you were pregnant so we tricked you into giving us your pee. I'm SO sorry!"

Silence fell across the table as my mouth gapped open. "You WHAT?"

"This is why we don't tell Hoseok secrets," Yoongi sank down in his couch while face palming.

Lisa sat up with even bigger eyes, tilting her head to the side and slowly eyeing Namjoon next to her, "They actually... told me the same exact thing..." A part of her burned with fury for a few seconds and we awaited ultimate doom on Namjoon before she cooled down and nudged her man harshly, "Actually Namjoon has something to admit as well."

"I do?—OWW." Rubbing his sore ribs, Namjoon looked up at me and Taehyung with sorrowful eyes. Questioning whether he would make it out alive after saying whatever secret he had up his sleeve, "This is going to be a huge misunderstanding—Taehyung please don't kill me—But I made a stupid deal with your father to report to him or answer any questions he had about you."

Taehyung sat there, unmoved by the following words before snorting obnoxiously, "Yea sounds like him, why did you agree?"

He pushed his falling glasses back on the bridge of his nose before continuing, "Well, I snuck into his office to see if I could figure out what was up between you and your father because you weren't telling us what was happening. So... my curiosity got the better of me... Long story short, I got caught and he decided to strike a deal with me and I took it in hopes of trying to figure out what was going on."

Silence fell among us.

We were honestly so overcome with shock and realization that every new piece of information was hitting all of us like a bus.

"I have a quick question," Jungkook shyly raised his hand, "Was Jungmin an actor too?" A nod from Taehyung brought a frown onto the poor boy's face, "oh."

"Okay okay okay! But we have something interesting that Namjoon and I discovered when we were in Mr. Kim's office." Lisa spoke up, "We stole a NEWSPAPER." She grabbed a rattled and old newspaper from her bag and slapped it on the table.
We were not impressed to say the least. We all looked at the newspaper together before our unamused eyes slid over to Lisa's direction, "For goodness sake," she rolled her eyes, "Namjoon baby, please explain."

Reaching out, Namjoon flattened the newspaper and pointed to a heading within the paper that flickered our amusement, "It looks like your father is hiding something all these years."

"What do you mean? What does this even prove?" Taehyung took the newspaper into his hands reading the descriptions over and over and studying the picture like a map.

"Taehyung when is your birthday?" Namjoon asked.

"December 30, 1995... why is this important? Listen if you feel guilty about not getting me a gift don't worry I accept gifts year round."

"Oh thank god," Jungkook mumbled under his breath.

"What? No— look! See the date the newspaper was published?" We all looked at Namjoon's finger that pointed at the top of the page.

"December 30, 1995." Jimin read out loud with furrowed eyebrows, "Wait! That's not even possible..."

"Exactly," Namjoon took a sip of his coffee before continuing, "There isn't a single newspaper company that prints out news on the same day. It's either weekly or biweekly. So whoever that child is... it's not you."

Everyone gasped and covered their hands over their mouths in shock. Taehyung himself sat there wide eyed as he stared down the newspaper date.

I grabbed hold of the flimsy black and white lettered paper, taking a closer look of the entire hospital scene that was conveniently photographed with his dead mother still laying in bed. The baby was wrapped and placed inside a heating container to keep warm. I looked at the baby, trying to find any resemblance to Taehyung before it hit me.

"Guys. The baby is wrapped in a blanket covered in flowers."

"What?! Let me see!" Taehyung took the paper from my hands, "No way... those are flowers!"

Lisa clicked her tongue with a smile, "Last time I checked, we don't wrap our baby boys in flowers here in Korea."

"Oooookay!" Namjoon took the newspaper from everyone's grasp and gently folded it back into Lisa's purse, "From here on out, nobody touches the only piece of evidence we have left."

Yoongi slapped his hand on the table, "GUYS, I have a theory ! What if Mr. Kim actually wanted a boy, but got a girl instead, so he gave her away for adoption!"

"AND," Jimin continued, "He adopted a boy and named him Taehyung!"

"AND," Jungkook jumped up excitedly, "He killed his wife because she would be against giving away her daughter."

"AND," Hoseok elongated the train, "He did that because he wanted his son to inherit the company, not his daughter."

We all sat there in silence as we processed the set of words that our last nine brain cells were able to muster. Everything made sense, we just needed one thing.

"We need a paternity test." Namjoon finally let out, "From here on out, we will work with y/n's lawyer to successfully accuse Mr. Kim of attempted murder and maybe even murder itself." We all nodded together in agreement, happy with our conclusions before our eyes turned to

"Let's go catch a murderer." He growled.

~~~~~~~

SORRY I'M LATE!
Really excited to end this book soon :)
That means my next one is going to be published right after (it already has about 20 chapters written)
So updates should be fast!!!

If you're still here, thank you. I love you! I still can't believe you read the first couple of chapters of this book without cringing and dropping your phone in a bathtub (hehe, see what I did there?)

Here's a gift: (hopefully it shows)

Honestly. I just want to see him smiling. Is that too much to ask?