Namjoon focus

The flight had been over within the blink of an eye. Taehyung and Yoongi had waved him goodbye with wide smiles on their faces, apparently not yet aware of his latest move, and Jimin and Jungkook had vanished within the blink of an eye, probably thriving in their newfound love. So, now he was alone. And for some strange reason he wished that Jin was here to accompany him a little further through the giant halls of Incheon.

The personal shopper had turned out to be quite a nice conversation partner, in case he stopped looking at his watch every few minutes. In the evenings when the man's appointments were over, he could almost be considered at ease. And he had not scurried away whenever their topics had become more philosophical but had listened to Namjoon with a lopsided smile, looking half amused and half interested.

But here Namjoon was, alone again, waiting for a taxi to carry him home.

On the way into the city, all the great moments of the job passed his inner eye. The chaos in their room after Taehyung had begun to mill-cut the tin needle and the disgusting smell of nail polish every time he had grown the pearls. Bailongs laughter and chatty attitude whenever he had come by in the evenings. Cat-Yoongi when he had thrown him into the pool (something he was not sorry for, because he had to endure weird stares for his electronic foot chain every time he had taken a swim). Jimin in his dresses, all dolled-up. And his favorite: the delivery man's face when he had told him that he had been embarrassed in front of his whole family by the wrongly delivered pink max-size vibrator with cock ring that had caused him a divorce (His Chinese vocabulary knowledge had increase by quite some unique words).

It had been a great time, he had to admit, but now was the time to face reality and to leave the dream behind. There was no place for him in the realm of con-artists and hackers. He belonged somewhere where his talents were used for good, for more than simple self-enrichment.

When the taxi driver halted in front of his well-known four walls, he sighed. He would have to leave this behind as well. Cutting all ties meant erasing them out of his life completely, even as his landlords.

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Half an hour later, Namjoon was pressibg the bell push on Mrs. Lee's front door. This had gone too far. He had not helped the bunch and risked his own freedom and soul to be treated with mistrust. The foot chain and the restrictions on his bank account and phone should have been enough, but this had gone too far.

"Mr. Kim," the landlady welcomed him with a warm smile and a sharp look. The latter must be a reflex of her old days with a husband that was a little more on the gray side of society. Namjoon had never asked for her background, but sometimes Taehyung or Yoongi had dropped a piece of information.

"Mrs. Lee," was his curt reply. He was too angry with the two thieves to be politer.

"The three are waiting for you," the lady said with a playful tint to her smile, and Namjoon once more understood why Taehyung loved her this much. They both seemed to have kept a piece of their juvenile humor which gave them an aura of shrewdness. It was charming in a way and frightening in another.

"Three?" Namjoon asked confused while he followed her into an unknown part of the manor.

"Mr. Jung joined us some minutes ago," she explained.

And in the next second, they entered a bright salon where the two thieves and the dancer from their last job waited with a cup of tea, looking very pleased.

"Namjoon," Yoongi began, "We were making bets on when you would arrive." The hacker grinned cheekily.

"You bastards," Namjoon growled at them, earning a scolding sound from the lady, but he ignored her and threw the hair needle he had found in his luggage onto the table. "Can't you do the dirty work by yourselves? Do you have to use me?"

Taehyung smiled apologetically, and Namjoon had to hold back his fury in order not to punch the man in the face. "We didn't use you," the redhead said becalmingly, but Namjoon did not want to calm down. He felt betrayed.

"No? Then what's this?" he hissed and gestured at the stolen jewel on the table.

Instead of an answer, Taehyung turned towards the dancer. "Hoseok?" And the man handed him a small package. With the swift moves of an expert Taehyung opened it, and two more needles fell onto the table, looking exactly like the one Namjoon had assumed to be the real deal. What was this?

"You know," Yoongi said with a shrug, "It's far too dangerous to smuggle something in your luggage, but if it looks like a package with cheap Chinese shit for a Christmas present, no one will care."

Namjoon huffed. So, the needle from his suitcase was a fake one. "But why?" he asked the two, still not willing to let this go.

Yoongi smiled sadly. "We had to make sure that we could play you dirty in case you would double-cross us again," the hacker explained, and Namjoon felt like all the fury went down to his knees to make them wobbly and weak. The two had planned his downfall before he had so much as thought about betraying them.

"I almost thought you were blowing up the mission when you went for those calls," Yoongi said and smiled half-heartedly, "but I was denied the fun of seeing you arrested." Even though the words burned like acid, the cat eyes showed that the hacker was lying. Yoongi liked him and would have hated it to ruin him again.

Somehow that pacified Namjoon a little. The two thieves would have suffered with him had he decided to be stupid enough to betray them a second time. But honestly, how stupid did they think he was to do the same mistake twice?

"By the way," the hacker said and sipped on his tea, "Whom did you call?"

Now it was Taehyung's time to look sad. Apparently, the news had reached the redhead. "The manager texted me when Joon arrived. He quit his job at my café," the artist said. "And he called the management of his apartment that he wants to move out."

The cat eyes widened. "You're leaving us."

There was nothing to add to that statement. Namjoon did not fit into their small world, and he would not change and swallow his conscious just to become a fit. It was time to find his own path again.

But there was one thing that was bugging him. "Am I not trustworthy?"

Taehyung's face softened. "Apparently you are," the redhead said with a warm smile, "It was just a test, Joon. We couldn't take the risk."

For a moment, the room was silent.

"I passed the test, so what's my reward?" he eventually asked.

Instead of an answer Yoongi pulled what looked like a small flash drive from his pocket and handed it over to him. Namjoon knew all to well what this was and could not believe his eyes. Of course, he had planned to leave and to cut all ties, but he would never have guessed that it would be this easy to convince the hacker to free him from his last and most physical chain. "You're free to go," Yoongi said with a small smile on the slim lips.

Trying not to look desperate but only succeeding partly, Namjoon pushed the key into the slot on his foot chain and the parts came loose.

And suddenly he felt like he could breathe again. All the piled-up tension left his body with one exhale and he could not stop the smile that lifted the corners of his mouth. He was free.

"We'd be happy if you stayed with us, but we can understand that you want to leave," Taehyung said and smiled back at him. Then the artist pulled a checkbook and a pen from his bag and scribbled something onto the paper before handing it to Namjoon. "Your salary."

Reluctant, he took the paper and looked at it. The number was horrendous, but something inside him was recoiling from the offer. "I'm not like you," he said quietly, putting the piece of paper down onto the table, "I don't want this money."

"Donate it then," Taehyung replied nonchalantly and pressed it back into his hand. "Mrs. Lee has a gala for Seoul's hospitals at the end of December. She sure would be delighted to add you to the donator list."

With a measuring gaze, Namjoon looked at the lady who smiled back warmly. "Not everyone is born to live a life like that, my boy, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been a valuable experience," she said.

True words.

Nodding softly, he stood up. "Goodbye then."

The two thieves looked everywhere but at him and if he did not hallucinate, Taehyung was wiping away some tears. Cute dude. A little too warm-hearted to be a conman, but then again there was his best friend and accomplice Suga to safe him from the best character trade he possessed.

Softly Namjoon put the parts of the foot chain onto that table and left the room.

Maybe they would meet again. After all, the world was a small place.

>>The End<<

I already have an idea for the next book of the Azalea series, so it probably won't end here. But given that exams start four weeks from now, I'll not start writing something new just yet.

However, how did you like this one? I know it didn't end with a big bang like the last one, but Namjoon is not stupid enough to do the same mistake twice, and Taegi is not stupid enough to be fooled into prison, so I had no other choice but to end it like this.