"Where are we going?" Namjoon hesitated to ask, but curiosity won out.

He watched as Yoongi tossed a simple shirt and jeans to him that the dom had grabbed from his closet, since all of Namjoon's clothes were mostly just mini skirts and lingerie.

If he was getting proper clothing, it meant they were going out.

"I'm going see Seokjin." Yoongi said, looking away as Namjoon pulled on the clothes. "See how much he knows about what his brother has been up to."

They headed out to the car and climbed in, with Namjoon especially being excited at the fact he wasn't being locked in the trunk this time. At least Yoongi was true to his word about pausing the bet whenever a new lead came in.

The dom was refusing to look at him, and Namjoon knew Yoongi was out of domspace for this meeting. He wondered what would happen if he forced Yoongi to look at him while in this state. Would he drop? And if he did, would it be immediate? 

He could end this whole bet and win it in just a few moments... all he had to do was grab Yoongi's jaw and turn his head and look into his eyes-

His fingers twitched from where his hand rested on his thigh, and he curled them into a fist and squeezed it between his thighs.

No... he couldn't do that. It would be cheating. And the whole point of this new bet was to see if he could win by earning it.

He looked out the window as they drove.

"Should we call Sai?"

"He's babysat us long enough lately. He's got his own job and responsibilities to work on, he doesn't need us calling him over every little thing." Yoongi replied.

Namjoon watched the houses whip past the window, then realized they had missed the turn that led to Seokjin's house.

"Uh, Yoongi, you went past it."

"We're not going to his place first. I'm dropping you off somewhere else." The doms eyes were narrowed as he floored the car down the road.

"You said we were going to talk to Seokjin and find out what he knows." Namjoon didn't know what Yoongi was doing.

"I said I'm going to do that." Yoongi reminded him.

"You're going to talk to Taehyung."

-

Namjoon was dropped off in front of the prison, with Yoongi calling out "I'll be back in an hour to pick you up.", before he drove off.

Namjoon watched him go, before quickly heading inside. The jail wasn't that busy at this later hour, so Namjoon hurried up to the front desk in the waiting area.

Would Taehyung even want to see him? If he was the one who started the rumor, he might just refuse to meet with Namjoon and deny everything, and Namjoon would have a hard time proving him wrong.

After signing in on the logbook, Namjoon was directed to sit and wait for the prisoner to be fetched, and he took a seat on a hard plastic chair. He looked around at the posters for a while, trying to amuse himself and pass time, but learning about the human trafficking statistics didn't help his mood improve.

"Mr. Kim?" An officer unlocked a metal gate and walked into the waiting room. 

Namjoon jumped up and hurried over. "Yes, that's me."

"He's ready to see you." The officer led him down a long, narrow hallway to the visiting room, which was currently empty. "You know, you're the first visitor he's had that wasn't his brother."

So Seokjin had visited Taehyung, Namjoon thought. Maybe they were the duo.

He was seated at a table and the officer stepped back, waiting for Taehyung to be escorted in.

They didn't have to wait long, the door on the other side of the room opened a minute later and the boy came strolling out, a grin on his face.

He was dressed in casual clothes and looked like such a normal kid that, if it wasn't for the fact he had his hands cuffed in front of him and a guard leading him to the table, that Namjoon would have thought he hadn't committed any crime at all.

"You have thirty minutes." The guard said as he locked Taehyungs handcuffs to the metal ring in the table. "Then visiting time is over."

It was the first time Namjoon had seen the boy since the incident, and other than having a different haircut now, nothing had seemed to change about him.

Taehyung leaned back and regarded him coolly. "I'll be honest, secundo loco, I wasn't expecting you to ever come visit widdol ol' me."

"Cut the shit." Namjoon snapped leaning in. "I know what you did."

Taehyung laughed. "What I did?" He gestured with his limited range to the cell around them. "Take a look around, victus, there's not much I can do in this place. But I'm interested, what exactly is it that I supposedly did this time?"

"You're trying to ruin Yoongi and hurt me by doing so."

Taehyung tilted his head and pressed a finger to his lips, mimicking deep thought. "Hmmm, as much as the old me would have definitely done that, the new me hasn't done anything but go to therapy, read books, work out and help in the kitchen sometimes."

Namjoon scoffed. "Yeah, right. You, in therapy? Here?"

"I was in therapy before I was in here." Taehyung reminded him. "It's court mandated, so I meet with Dr. Choi three times a week. I like him. He helps me see past the things I can't change and work on anger management."

"You have internet access." Namjoon challenged. "I bet if I get an order to look at your history I'll see that you follow Yoongi's livestreams."

Taehyung chuckled. "I can access the computer for an hour each day during rec time, but I can't go onto any social media or porn sites. It's against the rules here, they have firewalls in place. And even if I wanted to, I can't break them. I'm a former psychopath, not a hacker."

"I don't believe you." Namjoon shook his head.

Taehyung shrugged. "That's out of my control, so I won't dwell on it. I'm on better medication, I have time to think and reflect on myself, I like my new doctor and I'm far away from you. My life is good. I don't need or want to dip into petty past lives just to reignite drama. I'm content now. My brother visits me and that's all I need."

Namjoon felt his heart start to pound as he began to believe what the boy was saying. Something in the way he spoke and how he portrayed himself was genuine.

"I didn't tell you Yoongi's livestreams were porn." 

Taehyung fought a smirk. "It's Yoongi. Of course it's porn. I'm not dumb you know, I always got second place for a reason."

"Yeah, the reason being I was always better than you." Namjoon couldn't help but be petty.

This boy had attacked, humiliated, degraded, blackmailed, threatened to carve his name into Namjoon's skin and had tried to rape him, after all. He deserved it.

The cocky grin left Taehyung's face and he looked down at the table. He scrubbed his eyes with a cuffed fist and sighed deeply.

"You know... for all the knowledge I have, I was never able to figure out one thing."

He raised his head and Namjoon was surprised to see the boys eyes were watery.

"You knew how much winning meant to me." Taehyung whispered. "You knew how frustrated and disappointed in myself I was every time you beat me. You knew. You didn't care, but you still knew. Years and years and years of countless assignments, tests and presentations we battled in, and not once did you ever be a bigger man and stand down. Never once did you ever just let me win. Never. Once. As if I didn't have hopes and dreams too."

Namjoon hated the way the boys words affected him as his own eyes pricked with hot tears.

"Why?" Taehyung's voice cracked. "Why couldn't you just let me win?"

Namjoon stood up abruptly, wanting to leave. He didn't wait for the guard to escort him out, instead he just took off.

Once he was outside he leaned against the brick wall and took some deep breaths.

He didn't know what hurt more- Taehyung's words or the fact he didn't start the rumor.

And now Namjoon truly had no suspects.

And that was terrifying.

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sorry it's short, I just wanted to double update