'What the 'eff is this?'

Tae read the text on his phone at least three times, but the brief summary of the transaction was not registering.

'Two-point-five million won to Titan? The fuck is going on?'

His wire glasses bobbed on the end of his nose as he dragged his MacBook across the table and opened a fresh tab in Chrome.

Like he wasn't stressed enough, Tae had spent the past hour paying a mortgage to an unoccupied flat, rent to a landlord who owned the dump he presently lived in, and finding out how to apply for a passport because his current one had gone walkabout.

Now, he had a dubious payment to add to his list of boundless shit.

'This is all I frickin' need,' the fatigued man mumbled as he navigated to his online banking account.

Entering his logins, Tae thought back to the weird string of events that had played out over the past ten hours. He'd dropped by Daechi this morning to pick up his mail and noticed right away that someone had been inside his home since his last visit.

At first, he'd put it down to Yunhee. She was the only one with access, and a few of her personal items were gone, but then he'd discovered that half his trousers and shirts were missing, too.

Disconcerted, he'd stood staring at the bare coat hangers, wondering if she'd taken them for comfort, but those actions contradicted her skittish behaviour and the fact that she wouldn't talk to him.

Trying not to dwell on the unknown, Tae had crouched down to yank out the filing cabinet hidden in the base of the wardrobe, but his heart had leapt into his trachea when he'd discovered not only his crucial legal documents had vanished, but his most important form of identification.

Yunhee wouldn't steal those, would she? Jesus, if she was working for the mob, pilfering his official credentials was a dandy way to try and bring him down.

She's scared, Tae. Why else would she bang on the door of Jimin's club? Why else would she be staying at the mansion?

Suga's words rang in Tae's head as he entered his banking passcode and waited for the page to load. His wise friend insisted that Yunhee was not out to get him, but how on earth was he supposed to believe that when life kept throwing suspicious obstacles his way?

'Shit,' Tae faltered as he leaned over his MacBook.

The payment to Titan was there in black and white at the top of his recent bank report. And his paperwork and identification were gone from his apartment?

'What a coincidence,' he growled fiercely.

Scraping back his chair, Tae snatched up his phone and padded into the living room.

'Everything okay?' Suga asked from the sofa while reading an article.

'No,' Tae spat, shoving his glasses to the top of his head, 'some asshat is using my identity to commit fraud. I'm gonna have to call the bank in the morning and report it.'

Jungkook - sitting in his usual spot at the desk - hammered the Enter key with his index finger before spinning around on his chair. 'Huh?'

'How'd you know that?' Suga queried with a creased brow.

'Long story involving missing documents and a questionable transaction,' Tae sighed, hoping to God that it was not his ex-girlfriend. Glancing at his phone, he checked to see if he'd received a reply to his last message. 'Have any of you guys heard from Hobi? It's gone nine. He's usually here by now.'

'Nope,' Jungkook quipped.

'Lemme call him,' Suga suggested, his smartphone already fastened to his ear.

Tae and Jungkook waited in disquieted silence, but when the line went straight to voicemail, the salt and pepper haired man disconnected the call with a blasé shrug.

'Maybe he's getting laid.'

Tae shook his head at the brash comment. 'No offence to the guy, but Hobi would drop the opportunity to get his leg over for a chance to help Yunhee.'

'So, maybe he's having a night off or something,' Suga added as he linked his fingers behind his head and relaxed on the couch. 'The man's been working nonstop for weeks. Let's cut him some slack.'

'This isn't about cutting slack; he can have all the slack he wants. I'm saying it's not like him,' Tae iterated as Jungkook scratched his head and gawked at the ceiling. 'We agreed to keep digging until Yunhee came to us with answers. We all know how invested Hobi is in finding the truth.'

Suga's forehead crinkled as he lowered his arms and hunched forward. 'What are you getting at?'

Tae wasn't sure how to answer. What was he getting at? He would actively encourage his friends to take a break. His crafty team were not obliged to help him, but Hobi was the most eager of the four.

He always contacted them if he had other commitments.

'Why don't you try Yunhee,' Suga recommended.

Tae's face darkened as he looked inconceivably at his pal. 'Are you...? What?'

'What?' Suga mirrored his question, holding his hands up in defence. 'I'm only saying maybe you should try her. They're pretty close and Hobi was the first person she contacted. Why don't you give her a call? She might know where he is.'

'Because - like you all suggested - I'm giving the woman some space,' Tae laughed exasperatingly, chucking his phone down as he ran a hand over his nose and mouth. 'She doesn't even pick up when I do call!'

Suga and Jungkook blinked at their friend as he flung himself onto the sofa and smacked his face into his palms. Tae was at a loss, the entire situation eating away at him from the inside as he internally screamed for help.

The world he knew had become biliously lopsided, leaving nothing but a sour pool of revulsion in his gut that festered like a bad disease. On top of Yunhee's reluctance to speak to him, he had a missing passport, a dodgy transaction, and a man who looked exactly like him hovering around his apartment.

Who's to say it wasn't that weird geezer attempting to steal his identity?

'Do you want me to try her?' Suga offered. Tae's eyes were closed as he pressed them into the heel of his hands, but he felt the man's fingers supportively patting his back. 'Maybe she'll pick up for me.'

'No, it's okay,' Tae rasped gruffly, lowering his arms to reveal his red-rimmed eyes. 'I doubt they're together. He probably just lost his phone or something and he's trying to find it before heading ov-'

Tae stopped talking, not realising that his cell was resting against his thigh until it began to pulsate through the material of his faded jeans. Picking it up, he peered at the caller I.D. expecting to see Hobi's name, but his face scrunched in confusion when he saw nothing but an anonymous number.

'Probably the bank,' Tae said aloud as he jumped to his feet and walked into the kitchenette for some privacy.

If they were aware of the fraudulent activity and were contacting him to resolve the issue, then it would save him the job of calling tomorrow to cancel his card.

'Kim Taehyung,' he greeted politely as he pulled open the fridge to grab a bottle of much needed water.

'Hey, you,' a silky, female lilt Tae didn't recognise drifted through the line.

'Hello,' he responded politely as he uncapped his drink and propped his hip on the countertop. 'Who is this?'

'It's me, silly!'

Tae frowned, still unable to place who "me" was, but when a sickly-sweet and very discernible titter reached his ears, he put down his bottle and broke away from the worktop.

'Heiran?' he whispered, gingerly making his way from the kitchenette to hover in the doorway. His mates must have heard the name depart his lips in a surprised hiss, because Suga's nose wrinkled disagreeably, while Jungkook's mouth parted like a goldfish. 'Wow. It's been...a while.'

The line was excruciatingly silent as Tae looked helplessly between the two men and waited for Heiran to speak, because he sure as hell had no idea what to say.

'How've you been?'

'Fine, thanks,' Tae's brows fired north as he glided to the settee, 'um-'

'That's great to hear!' Heiran's cadence sounded strained, as if she were barely containing her excitement. 'I don't see or hear much about you in the media these days. I presume you're keeping a low profile?'

What? Tae thought with a bewildered scowl. 'I was never in the media-'

'No, but your father was,' the woman babbled as Suga pulled a disgusted face and mouthed, 'What is she saying?' 'I just thought with your family ties you'd be all over the news-'

'Heiran,' Tae's voice plummeted an octave when he cut her off. If she really thought that spouting shit about his infamous clan was what he wished to chat about, she was wrong. 'How did you get this number?'

'A girl has her ways...' Heiran's laughter was melodically spurious, and Tae's eyelids fluttered closed as it resonated in some lecherous place he'd long since tucked away.

Ten years had passed since that evening, but he could taste the sharp tang of lust on his tongue again remembering how his fingers delved beneath her lace panties. He'd known back then that she was mad for him, and fucking her on his three-seater was the cherry on the cake after months of quarrelling with her boyfriend.

'Heiran,' he grumbled, rubbing his temple uneasily when a prickling of desire ignited his blood, 'let's cut to the chase. Why did you call?'

Tae opened his eyes to catch Suga swiping the tips of his fingers across his jugular to abort the call, but he ignored him because...well, despite knowing that upholding this conversation was going to come back and bite him in the backside, the horns of his suppressed demon were piercing the bubble and leaving him intrigued.

'I was hoping to see you again.' There was a long pause, and Tae gnawed on the skin of his chapped lips in thought. 'Whaddya say?'

Shit, if he couldn't use the distraction. The past month had brought nothing but stress and heartache, and he'd spent hours and hours searching for a woman who was theoretically shagging his nemesis.

'What are you thinking?' Tae ventured before he could talk himself out of it.

'Are you shitting me?' Suga seethed as Jungkook - who'd been rocking on his chair like a startled rabbit - suddenly swivelled around and began to type like a lunatic. 'Crazy son-of-a-bitch.'

'Coffee?' Heiran proposed on the other end of the line.

'Okay.' Tae couldn't help it; he smirked, knowing damn well that the shameless little princess was not pursuing him for coffee and a catch up. Whether he chose to cater to her fancies, was another matter. 'Any time next week is fine. Text me a time and place.'

'Will do!' Heiran squeaked animatedly. 'I look forward to-'

'Bye, Heiran,' he interrupted before she could launch into another tirade of concupiscent dribble. Tae ended the call, his mouth puckering uncomfortably while avoiding the lethal stare of the tactless Min Yoongi. 'Don't say it-'

'Oh, I'll say it, alright,' Suga susurrated as he sprang to his feet and pointed a finger at his chest. 'You've officially lost your marbles!'

'Yoongi-'

'I know what you're thinking, Tae; she's a hot diversion. Shit, I would bang the chick myself if I were straight, but come on! Lee Heiran? She's an unalloyed nightmare!'

'Lighten up, will you?' Tae rolled his eyes and slumped back on a cushion. 'It's just a bit of fun. Lord knows I need some right now.'

'Fun?' Suga bellowed as Jungkook remained stationary in the corner. 'You fucked the woman on purpose and drove Jimin to make a decision that destroyed your life!'

'Which is ultimately why we're all here today!' Jungkook chirped for good measure.

Tae glowered at the raven-haired man before swinging around to face his livid mate. 'Heiran's not a part of our lives anymore. She has no ties with any of us!'

'She will if you tie her to your bed and screw her again! Jesus, Taehyung! Don't do something you'll later regret. It's been a decade since-'

'Who says I regret anything I did?' The words tumbled from Tae's lips with an impatient scoff, and Suga's face hardened to stone while Jungkook's pupils glazed over in shock.

'You really are complete dick at times, you know that?' his friend uttered disappointingly.

Tae shrugged dispassionately, but the sheen of dissatisfaction in their eyes cut into his battered heart.

He knew it was a rotten thing to say; but it was the sad truth.

The only thing he regretted was losing the love of a good woman, a sorrowful breakup brought on by his own selfish deeds. Everything else that had transpired in the years leading up to Yunhee was done, and there was nothing he could do now to change the rash decisions he'd made.

Moving to Busan was his only option, but it had given him the opportunity to start afresh after the unlawful imprisonment of his father. The separation from the deceitful world of the mob, however, had helped him find clarity, and for the first time in his life, Tae felt at peace. He was earning his own money, and his animosity for Jimin became a distant memory.

One particularly unspecial morning, though, he'd awoken with a peculiar beating in his chest; a need for retribution akin to the hunger that had trickled through him when the Kim-Park feud was at its peak.

To this day, he couldn't explain why he lost all sense of control. Why the contentment he'd found in Busan was replaced with a niggling sensation that would not leave him be. All he knew was that he could not rest until he returned to Seoul to hunt down his old friend.

It was like a microscopic worm, chewing through his brain, sucking away what was left of his happiness and replacing it with painful reminders of his teenage days. The loss of his innocence at fifteen. The jealousy when the Parks began to win additional contracts and claim more territory.

The shitty realisation that there could be only one.

In his mind, Tae was eighteen years old again. Impulsive. Spiteful and wanting to lash out. Just like he'd done when he'd targeted Heiran. Just like he'd done when he'd invited her over and uncorked that bottle of red.

By the time Jimin walked into his apartment, his girlfriend was naked and at his mercy, and seeing the ultimate betrayal burning deep in his chocolate eyes as he calmly walked out was disturbingly gratifying.

As was the pathetic conduct of his cheating sweetheart as she ran after him to beg for forgiveness.

Their relationship was dead. Tae's reckless comportment backfired. And Jimin played his final card to end their game once and for all.

Yes, regrets were pointless, but he was still a hotblooded male who needed to blow off steam and - as foolish as spending time with Heiran may have been - his intentions were anything but devious this time around.

'Heiran is trouble,' Suga's bark of condemnation snapped him back to the present. 'She was trouble ten years ago, and I can guarantee she is now.'

Deciding he'd heard enough, Tae brushed Suga aside with the intent to tell him that he could shove his opinion where the sun didn't shine, but when his friend stepped closer, he inhaled sharply, not comfortable with the pool of pity lurking in the depths of his eyes.

'Yunhee was the only one that worked,' Suga murmured for only him to hear. 'You know what could happen if you start dabbling in meaningless sex with other women.'

'What the fuck is that supposed to mean?' Tae rumbled, detesting the impact his accurate words had on his conscience.

'It means, be careful. Or you're at risk of not only losing Yunhee, but yourself.'

Tae dipped his chin and squeezed his eyes shut, his fingertips pinching the belt of his jeans as he remembered Heiran's hot breath pleading for more against his ear.

'You need to talk about what happened. It's okay to talk about it,' Suga sighed as Tae clenched his teeth and tried to push the beast away.

He'd worked so hard to forget the trauma of those lecherous weeks. The feel of that lady's sharp nails maiming his skin as she took his virginity because his father wanted him to become a man. The experience had distorted his view of females, and he'd buried the damage by shutting off, his only coping mechanism being twisted, dominant sex where he was in control.

It had been a long time since he'd experienced that sublime high. That licentious need to restrain a girl beneath the sheets and fuck her to within an inch of her life as she begged him to be her undoing. And he'd be lying if he said those dark cravings weren't slinking into the shallows right now.

But why? He'd never felt any better when the deed was done. All he knew was that he would forever struggle to allow a woman into his heart because he wasn't deserving of their love.

Yunhee was the first; the only one with the power to show him that ecstasy could exist outside the boundaries of their bedroom walls.

Lo and behold, he'd screwed that up, too.

There was no denying it; Kim Taehyung was far from over his childhood ordeal, and somewhere deep inside, he understood that he was the only one that could fix the broken pieces.

Perhaps one day, he'd be ready to take that step.

Perhaps one day, he'd find his Eden.

'It's fine.' Tae's unconvincing statement crushed the deafening silence as he grabbed his phone and coat. 'I'll be fine.'

'Hey!' Jungkook wailed while Suga groaned in defeat. 'Where are you going?'

'To get some air!' Tae yapped as he rushed to the door. 'Call me if you hear from Hobi.'

*

The tension radiating from his doppelgänger was enough to ignite the cigarette between his lips.

Enthralled, Taehyung dropped the unlit rollie to the ground, thoughtlessly moving out of the shadows as Tae stopped outside his front door and drew his coat around his lithe form.

Holy hell, the sight was riveting to behold. Bar the milder hue of hair that really did compliment his flawless skin, he was a carbon copy of himself. From his facial features to his physique, to the cupid's bow of his top lip and the inquisitive arch of his thick brows.

Taehyung found his legs working on their own accord, following mindlessly when Tae bounded down the steps and headed towards his car. He was pulling out his phone, his eyes moist and his tanned face a picture of despair as he pressed it to his ear and waited.

'Pick up, baby,' he muttered.

Neither man was surprised when Yunhee didn't answer, but the expression on Tae's face was unlike anything Taehyung had ever seen in the mirror. It was desperation, a wretched cry for help that he'd cut cords with many years ago.

Abject emotions of this kind were a sign of weakness. It's why he chose to keep them entombed. Without self-discipline, he'd become entangled in a web of childhood lesions and lose grip on reality.

The exact reason his doppelgänger had no idea he was being watched. Too preoccupied. Too blinded by the intensity of his past.

Hanging up the call, Tae wiped his pink nose, unlocked his car, and slid into the driver's seat. He didn't start the engine. He merely remained motionless, staring through the windscreen at nothing but thin air as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Taehyung watched from a distance, fascinated by the cold countenance that contradicted the pain in Tae's eyes, but he knew what was to come when he saw the gap between his eyebrows dip and his lips twitch into a frightening sneer.

The roar that escaped his throat shook the windows of his car, along with the balled fist that pounded the living daylights out of the steering wheel before it trailed through his hair in utter exasperation.

Taehyung laughed and withdrew another cigarette as he perched on a wall and dug out his lighter.

What a character he was, crammed to the brim with a delicious depth that matched his own.

Their traits may have differed in some aspects, but the similarities were endless.

This was going to be easier than he imagined.

***

Hey, guys! Did anyone cry? Lol

Yeah, this stuff is heavy, but I adore the complexity of his character. Tae has a lot of demons and we are only just delving into them now. He has a journey to make, and I promise to take you on it in both Hahm, and the new sequel to Hahm :)

So, while on the subject of our struggling boy, did anyone notice the moment he woke up in Busan with the need to return to seek revenge? That niggling sensation that wouldn't go away? Well, that's key towards the VERY BIG reason all of this is happening today.

Call it foreshadowing, if you will ;-)

As for his sinful past, what's he going to dooooo in the meantime? Will he turn to the devil and be a naughty boy again? Or will he resist temptation so that he can work on fixing himself in the future?

8th February 2021