BUG— listening/ hearing device typically used to hear unintended conversations

HIT — a surprise attack

I heard it from the state. They told me you were never gonna let me get away and if you tell me fiction, you will never get me back. I had to get away, I had to get away...

~

"HE THREATENED HER? What do you mean he 'threatened her'?"

I was shouting incandescently, thick smoke steaming from my ears as I scrambled around the room, wreaking havoc on anything in my line of sight. I was beyond the point of reasoning, furious at the fruition at the forefront of my reality.

Jimin braced my aggression, essentially compensating for his own with his fingers tearing at the roots of his unkempt hair, voice settling below octaves in comparison to mine, attempting to dim my limelight. "Flower," his tone was appeasing, "Frankly, I'm not concerned about your mother."

I had gotten through a chest of drawers when I whipped around to face him. Teeth baring, I was an uncaged animal, willing to scourge him alive with clammy hands and hellacious words. I was bitter and out for blood when I shoved into him. "Are you fucking serious?"

"Listen to me," He muttered, his eyes widening as he hastily caught the vase I launched across the room. He stumbled and regained his composure, breathing heavily through his nose, "I'm concerned about us. He's out for your blood and he's out for mine."

"I don't care about me!" I screamed. Adrenaline pumped through my bloodstream, fury bursting and coloring the world I saw in red. I couldn't care enough about whatever the hell could happen to me, not when the only person that truly mattered to me, not when my mother's life was at stake. "I don't care," I whispered.

"You weren't there, Y/n. You didn't hear what I heard. You didn't see what I saw. He won't hurt her. I know he won't not unless we push him. Right now, you're his target. I don't know when but he's coming for you by Bantuera's behest. He wants you six feet under and wants me joining you sooner rather than later if I can't make up my mind."

The book in my hand faltered and my bottom lip wobbled. When the object fell from my grasp, he caught it swiftly, minding his step towards me. He ducked his head low and gathered my chin in his other hand, languidly drawing my face up to his in anguish.

"Breathe," He said slowly, reassuringly, "I need you to try, okay?"

He freed my lip from my gnawing teeth and beckoned me to try. I gave only heavy pants. My chest felt like it was on fire, consumed with blistering hopelessness, and desperation. My adonis knew. He could feel the passionate rage and tried to ease me.

"I need you to go see your mother, alright? Talk some sense into her, get her out of here. I'll try to handle some of this and then we'll meet up and figure the rest out, okay? Everything's going to be okay." He patted my cheek gently.

His hand cupped my cheek when I nodded and he pressed a kiss on my hairline. I gripped his shoulders and tried to will the emotion away. I tried to recall the forefront, the ambition, and the aggression that made me who I was. I felt it there when his mouth sealed against mine breathily, pouring as much essence of strength as he could give.

"Come back to me," He said and let me go.

I left soon after.

I knew the route to my mother's house and how long it would usually take me to get there by heart. That's why it surprised me when I got there in record time.

I was at her door, hammering on the wooden plank like a madman until she appeared in front of me, tired and confused, coiled fists rubbing at her eyes.

"Y/n?" She said befuddled.

The almost untraceable wrinkles on her soft skin drew together in bewilderment and her eyes, stupefied and cloudy with disquietude stared back at me. Though I couldn't feel it. I was void of any emotion even as I pushed through her and into her apartment.

My hands were moving.

They were undomesticated, animalistic as they splintered through the small space. Magazines fluttered in the frigid air, a table flipped upside down, and cabinets and drawers were left strewn in my wake. I didn't even hear her outrageous scream or the door slamming nor feel her inching upon me until she was twirling me around.

"Y/n, what the hell is wrong with you?!" She shouted at me, venom spewing from her tone, "What the hell are you looking for?!"

"Bugs," I said, chest heaving as I shoved past her and towards her sofa. I pulled apart the pieces speedily, "I'm looking for bugs, mother."

"Y/n, I don't understand!" She proceeded to put back together the storm I had spread across her apartment, annoyingly so. "I don't have roaches or ants or spiders. There aren't bugs here. Now will you stop?!"

"It's not those kinds of bugs, Mom." I turned to her then. Our eyes locked, my pupils severely dilated like hers. It felt as if I was staring into a mirror, the only difference was she was adorned in white, her nightgown, her bonnet, her slippers and I was unfavorable, swallowed in black whether it be my cable knit, jeans, or boots. It didn't matter though, we were two sides of the same coin, one broken and one whole.

"He's probably been listening to you," I muttered. My bruised fists pulled at my hair in vexation as I moved towards the kitchen as I continued, "Everything you've ever said aloud. Every song you sang, every cry you've ever had. He's listening."

"Sweetheart," She grasped my shoulders, confusion shimmering beautifully in her eyes. Her hand scoped the slope of my cheek, "Who are you talking about? What happened?"

A breath escaped me.

One that was lodged deeply in my throat, meshed with the words I so desperately wanted to say. But I couldn't speak. I had lost the ability to. The agony in my eyes could only communicate for a moment.

I left her eyes and moved down towards her. I stopped at her chest where a pendant lingered, the frail chain lifting from her prominent collarbones with every intake of air she took. Jimin's words came back to haunt then and suddenly, the fire came back, scorching and burning brighter and hotter than ever.

"Your necklace," I said.

"My necklace?" Her fingers grasped the chain delicately.

"Did he give that to you?" I nudged my head in the direction of her neck. My focus was razor-sharp on the glittery object.

"Yes," She said confidently and dreamily as if her touch helped her reminisce the thought, "I'm fact he did — Y/n, what are doing?!"

I tore the necklace from her neck.

It clattered to the ground between us and I stomped on it, the sickening crunch from the stone coming from the heel of my heavy boot in indignation. She shouted and shoved me away with purpose, falling to her knees.

"What is wrong with you?" She cried and helplessly tried to gather the pieces scattered across the hardwood.

"There was probably a bug in that too!"

I shook my head and stormed off into her bedroom. By now, I couldn't think. It hurt to. My mood was shifting from conflictive to fury. I couldn't decide even when my hands flew to her suitcase, begrudgingly pulling it from the closet.

"You're leaving," I dictated firmly, hurling it onto the mattress.

Her heavy footsteps thundered in after me and her hands on her hips reminded me of when I was younger when I was being scolded. Even then as a child, I decided more in her life than she ever could, too mature for my age, always looking out, always watching even when I wasn't supposed to.

"Leaving? Y/n, What do you mean leaving?"

I was desensitized to her voice.

It was like pure static from a jacked-up television screen, black and white, fuzziness. I was barely coherent to hear her cries, almost too numb to feel her nails biting into my skin, her feeble attempts of trying to stop me from damaging the wobbly dresser.

"You're leaving Seoul, going somewhere far away from here probably to the states. Somewhere he can't hurt you, somewhere where you're safe until I can come and get you and make sure everything is alright." I tossed heaps of her clothing into the suitcase, watching them plummet.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here. I have a life here. A man that I—

"Don't," I growled at her and she froze, "Don't say that. He's the reason why you are leaving. He's the reason you can't be here anymore. I won't let you stay."

She rolled her eyes.

"You've always hated him. You've always thought he was bad. In your mind, your concern for everything that has a place in your life has become deluded! Not everyone is a villain, Y/n. Not everyone is a bad guy. Dol is a good man. He is an amazing man who loves me just as much as I love him." She pleaded with me.

I scoffed.

I was delusional?

I dropped the clothes on the bed and I laughed at her. As I stared at her, I believed then that something I had gotten from my father was reading and seeing through bullshit.
Something she couldn't do.

That's why we fought all the time.

She pulled hair and I pulled teeth. She was a lover and I was a fighter. Everything she was, I was not. I was stone cold to the touch and she was soft and pliable. It had never been an easy relationship between us and it only worsened when my father died, which reminded me of how different we were. Even as I stood before her, I could see it now, clear as day.

"If he loves you so much, tell me why did he threaten to cause harm to you? Hm?" Her eyebrows drew in, hands falling to her sides as I sneered, "If he love you so goddamn much, tell me why he told someone I trust that he would hate if something were to just happen to you? Told him he controls you?"

She gasped and covered her mouth.

"You make it make sense, mother, but until you do, you're leaving," I moved back to the clothes, shoving them with more force, more drive, and more determination.

I was fighting a conscious battle, my biggest fear, the fear of losing the only person I had left. That alone had my eyes pricking with tears and my fingers getting all shaky when they reached for the pile of fabulous shoes on the ground.

I didn't like to cry but I couldn't help it not when everything was at stake again, an empire I built to be protected. I thought about my father and his body in that coffin and how my mother's situation mirrored that almost identically. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong person.

I could stop it this time though.

"Y/n," She tried to reason, grabbing my hands, "Y/n, that's not true. You don't know him. You don't know what's he's like."

"Please just listen to me!" I shouted and shook her, "Please just this once. I need you to trust me. Believe me, believe your daughter, your child. Believe me when I am telling you that he is going to hurt you if you don't listen to me and leave," I was sobbing now, bludgeoning on despite my tears, "I need you to do this one thing, this one thing, for me. Just this once. Please."

I could see the reluctance in her gaze, feel the falter in her hands. How could someone be so blind? It was infuriating, maddening how much I tried to fight and how quickly she put me down and reprimanded me.

"Think about dad," I tried. It was a weak attempt into getting her to believe me, roping her in, "Do you think he would lie about something this serious if he was trying to protect you? You think I would?"

I was begging.

I was grasping at straws, awaiting an answer I should've suspected.

"I'm not leaving." She said quietly.

I was hurt.

There was no way to fake it, to cover up and mask my disappointment. I could only cover my mouth and turn away in disbelief. I couldn't breathe. It felt like I was on the verge of suffocating. I was mystified in lunacy, in anger.

I could feel her gaze, soft and brimming with tears on my backside, searing holes into me so painfully that it stung. I heard her stifle a cry and it was insane to me that she had the nerve to cry right now. She believed that this was tough for her, that her world was the only one that was falling apart. How fucked up could she be? How?

"Are you fucking serious?" I spat at her, "You're sad? You get to be emotional when all I'm doing is saving your life? You've been so damn selfish! Always! It always had to be about you and what's going on with you. You have no regard for anybody that isn't you no matter how they try to help you. You don't care. You don't care at all!"

Her eyes widened.

"I don't know whom you think you are speaking to but it's not me, Y/n. I am your mother and I am a grown woman who can make her own decisions and protect herself. I'm not your father."

Like I said before, we never saw eye to eye but that was a low blow.

"You make me sick," I told her and wiped away my tears, "You make me sick. I try so hard with you and you always put me second. Everything I say and everything I do is not enough for you. I'm somehow being topped by a man you met a year ago even though I'm something you decided to create all those years ago. You can't even give me a proper explanation as to why. Why do you believe him and not me?"

"It's not about belief, Y/n. I'm not upending my life for the violence you lead in yours. I'm not afraid. I don't need protection. I don't need to go anywhere. And you're telling me your trusted confidant is a felon as well? Park Jimin?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked tersely, "How did you know that?"

"Dol told me you'd do this. After he spoke with Jimin, he told me. He tells me everything! And he told me that he knew there was a possibility that Jimin might spin the narrative of their conversation and sell it to you because that's what he does. He is a career criminal attempting to drive a wedge between us. I've seen the bruises he's given you. How could someone who is trying to harm me tell me the truth?"

"Mom, that's not how it happened, not at all."

"Yes, it did!" She yelled at me, running her fingers through her hair, "Dol told me he met with Jimin and tried to have a conversation on his campaign. Jimin wasn't that forward with him, was saying things that didn't quite make sense before flipping off on him. Dol told him to get his head together and hopefully, they could have another conversation to repair their still-fresh relationship. But since you are standing in front of me, tearing apart my life like a maniac, Jimin decided their relationship was worthless."

This man was a monster and he had fooled my mother into believing his hype, his bullshit. He was covering his tracks just like any smart criminal, rewriting the script.

"Mom," I squeezed her shoulders, eyes meeting hers, "Listen to me, that's not how it happened. We need to get you out of here, now, as soon as possible."

She tugged herself away from me.

"I'm not one of your victims, Y/n, so stop treating me like one."

It was futile then.

I knew then it didn't matter what cuts or bruises she saw or anything I did would be enough to make this woman see. She wanted to live in ignorance. She believed that it was better, that he was better, despite her own child. Even though she's done this before, it stung more now maybe when I realized there was nothing I could do.

I let her go slowly just as a tear fell from my eye and crashed to the ground.

She seemed to register what she had just done because she sighed and reached for me but I ducked out of her grasp and towards the door.

"Okay," I said to her, my back still facing hers as my fists coiled, "We'll play this game your way for now. You let me know how it goes...if he's everything you've ever dreamed of and if you're still alive when it's all over. You'll let me know."

And then I walked out of her apartment, leaving her in the disarray of what I had just done to her place and the silence looming in afterward.

I shut the door and went down the steps, taking one at a time, afraid that I might fall from exhaustion beginning to seep in. I felt sick and like I was going to hurl. My stomach hurt and my heartbeat was haywire. I tried to calm down and not to run back up to her apartment and force her to leave.

I got in my car, started it, and then called my partner.

"Van-Buren," I said.

"Stone," She responded. She sounded like was busy from her curt tone, "We got your hard drive with Dol's information on it. Are you sending more?"

"No, it's not that," I cleared my throat and drove off into the waning night, thoughts blurring together except one, "I need you to put a new protective detail on my mom immediately."

"Did something happen?" She questioned softly.

"Dol threatened her for the first time and frankly, I don't think she understands the severity of the situation as I would've hoped."

"You got it. We'll put shadows for her," There was a pause before she whispered, "I'm worried about you. You sound off. Are you okay with Park? We heard about Silas making bail. It's on the cover of every newspaper, an anonymous bail the editors are calling it."

"They're working together, Dol and Bantuera. He got him out of jail and he just tried to rope Jimin into their plan but things didn't turn out so amazing between them. To be honest, things aren't looking that great, Van-Buren. It all feels a bit hopeless." I sniffled, fighting back tears as I pressed on the gas.

"How do you think you'll turn out? You think there's going to be a hit on you both?"

"It's a possibility. The city's not safe anymore, not like it's ever been but you know..."

"I know," She reassured.

"Listen," I sighed, "I also need you to up the protective detail on Nana. There's going to be people after her. I know for certain, her family as well. We need her safe. If there's anything I need, it's those two things, it's my mom and it's Nana. Please, Van-Buren."

"Don't worry, Y/n," She said, "I've got you. I've got your back. Always. Let's get this shit done."

"Yeah. Let's." I finished and hung up.

I rang the next person I had in mind.

"Flower," His voice always seemed to soothe me nowadays. I felt at ease when I heard him speak, listening to him breathe. For a second, I shut my eyes and reveled in the gentleness of his tone, a small portion of peace I didn't know I was looking for in the small window of time. "Flower, are you there?"

"Yeah," I said, swallowing down the emotions ready to spill, "Yeah, I'm here. Where are you?"

"I'm at one of my restaurants. I got called in for something important. I'll send you the address and you'll meet me there?" He asked softly.

"I'll meet you."

One of us was supposed to hang up but we didn't. We stayed in silence for a moment and listened to the sounds of our breathing channeling through the line. I imagined him staring across from me and me staring back. I suddenly had the urge to go to him as if my heart was yearning for its other half.

"You with me?" He murmured.

"I'm with you," I told him.

The road led me to him and within fifteen minutes of driving, I was at one of his many restaurants in the city. The name didn't matter to me, he had so many that I couldn't even keep track of them. I ran my fingers through my hair, twisting them around my fingers as I stepped outside and towards the curb.

I moved inside and was immediately stopped by some dude in a tux asking me what my reservation was. I didn't have to say much or anything at all when my knight and shining armor came rushing in, quickly sweeping me out of the scene.

I kept my head down as we passed tons of people, happy people, people I envied wishing I could have some form of normalcy. I craved the laughter, the joy, the reddening cheeks from too much wine and too much excitement.

He took me to the far back of the restaurant, a secluded area where a few affluent people were in hushed conversations. He hid me away with his burly body and I leaned against the table, rubbing a hand over my face in tiredness.

"What happened? Is your mother gone?" He asked me. I shook my head and sighed heavily, feeling my body begin to shut down on me.

"No, Jimin. She didn't believe me."

His eyebrows pushed together.

"Flower—

"Dol told her a completely different story, said that you tried to step to him for no reason and tried to fight him. You also perhaps planted an idea in my head that Dol was a bad man trying to hurt my mother, threaten her, and that I was so gone for you, I believed it."

"What?" He scoffed in disbelief, "You have to know that isn't true."

"I know it isn't. That's not what's bothering me though." I looked away, afraid I might cry.

He gently cupped my cheek and turned me back to him. A frown settled on his lips as he leaned in closer to me.

"What is it then?" He murmured.

"She believed him, Jimin," My voice broke quietly, "She believed him over me, her daughter as if I haven't spent my whole life trying to protect her since my father's death."

My head fell to his chest.

His hand cradled my head as his lips pressed into my hair, his other hand coming to smoothen over my back, trying his best to comfort me. A tear slid down the bridge of my nose and I wiped it with my sleeve.

"We're just so fucked and whenever it feels like a win, it just..." My voice broke off as I shivered, "It just keeps getting worse and worse and I can't do anything to stop it."

He let me wallow in his embrace for a moment before dipping his head low to my ear.

"I know it's dark and I know it sucks but you have me on your side," He nudged his nose into my cheek softly, "I'm going to fight with you, Y/n, until I can't any longer. I'm with you and I'll do whatever it takes to prove that to you. We'll figure it out together."

He lifted my chin.

I nodded, words a little rough.

"Together," I whispered.

Though I knew that wasn't entirely true.

I turned my head as his face nuzzled into the crook of my neck. I shivered as his mouth pressed against the juncture of my throat as I stared out at the lively audience seated at a table, wining and dining.

I was so distracted that I almost didn't see it.

There was a glare on the window, barely noticeable. It was a flicker of flight that brushed upright against the large glass that held the front of the restaurant together. It had seemed like Deja Vu like I had seen this moment happen before.

It's like I knew what it was.

And I did.

Oh god, I did.

It didn't hit me when the glass broke, shattering everywhere. It didn't hit me when bullets went flying, when people were screaming and ducking cover. It didn't hit me that we were under attack until I saw one bullet heading straight in our direction.

I shoved Jimin so far back that we went tumbling to the ground not before the bullet nicked me in the arm. I let out a shout just as I collapsed on top of him, blood oozing out of the wound as I quickly went to grasp it.

Glass went flying everywhere, a shard slashing Jimin's cheeks, his eyebrows, his hands. Same with me, little scratches beginning to slice up my skin.

We looked at each other for a moment and let it settle in for only a second longer before we were springing into action.

"Back door," He commanded me as he reached for a napkin that slid under the table. He wrapped it tightly around my arm before sitting up and pushing me towards the door, making sure to keep my head low.

I groaned and trudged on, knowing this hit was meant for us, not for anybody else, and these men knew exactly who their targets were.

I quickly looked back to see them hopping in through the broken window, kicking around people in search of us. Jimin pushed me along, faster and harder than before until I was hitting a small door. I opened it quickly and slipped outside and he followed in a suit after.

We leaned against the door, catching our breaths while drawing our weapons from our pants.

We looked around and then at each other, thinking the same thing.

"Congressman," We said at the same time.

"I didn't think he'd be so soon," Jimin said as he leaned forward slightly just to see if there were more coming from the side.

"Me too. Wasn't he just trying to get you on his side?" I winced quietly when I felt blood already soaking through the napkin.

"I guessed he changed his mind pretty quickly. We have to get out of here. Where's your car?"

I pointed to across the street and tossed him the keys.

"Great," He rolled his eyes and cracked his neck, "I'm ready when you are."

I nodded and that was all he needed before we went in guns blazing.

It honestly wasn't a fight equally matched.

We took down most of the men that were on site easily, sending bullets to their knees and arms which sent them down and out. One tried to charge at me but I easily slammed my knee into his groin and then his face before throwing him like a sack of potatoes.

Jimin grabbed one that attempted to throw a punch and beat him against the hood of the car, banging his head repeatedly on it until the dude's teeth were cracked up and his face was mangled, eyes swollen shut. He was so hot when he was aggressive.

We emptied into the car and he started it but just as it turned on, a bullet went soaring through the back window, splintering the gas and hitting him in the shoulder.

"Fuck!" He slammed his hands on the wheel and speed off as more men came swarming in. I sat on my knees and aimed for the broken window, shooting recklessly enough to hit the man that shot him with a bullet to the throat.

"You okay?" I asked as I grabbed his discarded weapon and pointed both guns back at the window.

"Am I okay? No, I'm not okay, I just got fucking shot in the shoulder, Y/n!" He exclaimed, his hand digging at his shoulder to briefly see the damage as he kept a hand on the wheel.

"God, I'm sorry I asked." I rolled my eyes.

Just then, a bullet from the opposing side went flying and hit the roof of the car with a thunderous blow. We both ducked instinctively.

"Can you handle it?" He groaned loudly.

"Can I handle it? Of course I can handle it!" I mimicked his reaction and he grunted and knocked his fist against the window, swerving slightly, "Listen, I'm going to need you to obey traffic laws so I can get a shot here, alright?"

"Oh yeah yeah," He trailed off, annoyed.

I leaned closer and reclined the seat so I could see the car behind us and its wheel. A blowout for a tire would be amazing right now. It would buy us enough time to get out of this district completely.

"Y/n, get the fucking shot," Jimin grumbled, "My shoulder is hurting like a bitch."

"Well, so is mine so shut the fuck up and drive!" I yelled at him and squinted my eye. He muttered a curse word and I so desperately wanted to give him the finger but another bullet hitting the car had me refocused.

I centered myself and decided to hone in on one tire before I pulled the trigger.

Two rapid fires and the blowout was a success, the car's tires immediately giving out and flipping over. I felt bad for the pedestrians scrambling out of the way and the cars swerving at Jimin's haphazard driving but it looked like there was nobody hurt. I knew the blowout would be a big distraction but not long enough. There would be more.

I turned my attention back to Jimin just as he began to speed up.

"Good?"

"I bought us five minutes tops. There's going to be more after us. We need to get out of here," I mumbled.

I tore open the glove compartment and searched for a pair of scissors. I quickly went to work on Jimin's shirt, cutting it open to inspect the massively bloody wound that adorned his pale skin.

"Do you know where you're going?" I questioned, searching for alcohol bottle.

"I have a place," He winced and briefly casted a glanced towards me in wariness, "Just hang on, Flower. I'm going get us out of here."

-

end of chap.

hope you enjoyed. nearly killed myself writing this for y'all. i'm out for the week so you guys have a great one <3