Yoongi's POV-

This has been the longest four hours of my life. Thankfully though, according to Hyuk, it's about over.

He just informed us that we are only a few minutes from the check point and once we get through there we will be at the compound.

We lost cell service an hour or so ago and still haven't found it again. The only good thing about that is that now I know for sure why Kook hasn't gotten back to me.

Speaking of, I haven't checked my phone in a while.

As I reach over to the cup holder to check if I have service, I hear what sounds like Yeol whispering in the back seat.

I look back and see that Yeol still has a tight grip on Taehyung, who is resting his cheek against Yeol's chest while staring out the window with blank eyes.

Yeol is speaking quietly to him (from the subtle inflections in his tone, it sounds like he is attempting to comfort him) but Taehyung is showing no reaction to the words that are being said.

I feel so terrible for him. Besides Hyuk (due to his active duty in the military) I'm probably the only one that can relate even remotely to having someone die in your arms.

I was lucky enough to be able to bring Kook back, but when I pulled him from the tub that day he was pale, not breathing, and I couldn't hear a heartbeat. He was dead.

I turn forward in my seat again as I begin to remember the shade of blue that his lips were and how cold he was after I pulled him from the tepid water.

I remembered the scene so vividly that I used to have nightmares, and still do occasionally, that I was too late and couldn't save him. That him being in the hospital was some fucked up dream.

For a few weeks my thoughts really were that he had died and the shock of the situation caused me to make up that he actually survived. That my heart was deceiving me. That I was just in the denial stage of my grief because I wanted so badly for him to be alive.

That's part of why I would get so mad at my friends in the beginning. You can ask Jimin. He'll verify that on the rare occasions that I would visit he and Hobi in Hobi's studio, I refused to talk about him.

If they would even mention his name or anything about him during a lighthearted conversation, my mood would sour and I would leave immediately. I couldn't bare the thought of him. He was in the hospital, unconscious, but to me he was as good as dead.

Irene coming back into my life didn't help rid these thoughts either. As was apparent to nearly everyone but myself, she fueled them.

She had convinced me that he wasn't going to wake up. She even went so far as to tell me that it would be a good thing if he didn't. That I was better off without him. That he used me and abandoned me and I shouldn't cry over him because he never cared.

I cried anyway, but only because I thought she was right. I believed that he did use and abandoned me all because she told me so. I believed every word she said...

How stupid I was. So fucking stupid.

As the guilt of my naivety begins to pool in my stomach, a toll booth looking structure comes into view ahead of us.

A short while later we pulled up to the booth to see a single soldier inside. Once we are next to the window he speaks over an intercom, asking for a code as he glances around the car.

The women, Hayi or Hi as she told us she goes by, answers quickly.

"Zero-five-zero-five-two-zero-one-five, Lee Hayi. We are here to see General Kim."

The man's demeanor changed quickly as his eyebrows raised while he stuttered that we were free to go before pressing a bottom, raising the gate for us to drive through.

After that it didn't take long before we were pulled into a small parking lot and headed inside, Hyuk with Jinyoung's computer bag clutched securely to his side.

When we walked through the entrance, two guards were waiting for us. They bowed deeply to the Hi and Hyuk before turning to escort us to wherever General Kim could be found. They walked quickly as we followed them into elevators and through long hallways.

I'd glance over my shoulder every so often to check on Yeol and Taehyung who, although they were somewhat trying to keep up, the latter was still in no condition to be doing anything but curling up in a ball and getting some sleep.

Not only was he emotionally traumatized, but he was also visibly exhausted.

"Hi?" I call out while picking up my pace to catch up to her.

My sudden outburst causes one of the soldiers to glance back briefly, but she keeps her head forward.

"Yes?"

"Is there anywhere that Taehyung might be able to lie down? A spare bedroom or something?"

As soon as I've said it, spare bedroom, I regret it. It makes it sound like we aren't at a military compound but instead at the home of a relative we've come to visit.

She must have found my wording a bit strange as she turns her head to look at me with a raised brow. "I offered to take Taehyung to a spare bedroom while we spoke to the General, but he refused the offer. Said that he can't go to sleep until he sees 'Koo.'"

Normally I would shut this idea down selfishly and say that he can wait until after I see Kook, but I was just in close proximity for the last few hours with a rapidly unraveling Taehyung. He needs Kook more than I do right now.

He needs to be held by someone that knows how to comfort him and as much as Yeol has tried to do so, I think Kook is the only one that can do that.

As we round a corner to a long hallway, two large wooden doors come into view with two soldiers on guard.

When we get to the door, one of the soldiers looks us all over carefully before he looks at Hi.

"Passcode?"

She opens her mouth to speak but Hyuk does so instead, stating his name after reciting a different number from the one she gave earlier.

"We need to see General Kim urgently. He should be expecting us."

I keep my face neutral as the soldiers continue to scrutinize each of us in our little group, trying to keep the surprise away from my expression as to not make them think the General doesn't know we are coming, but him saying we are expected to be here today is news to me.

I certainly wasn't planning on bringing my dead friend's laptop to the compound today, so I can't imagine the General was expecting us to be bringing it either. But maybe somehow Hyuk was able to get ahold of the General without me noticing on the way here.

If I've learned anything over the past months it's that I know absolutely nothing about what goes on between Mrs Jeon, Hyuk and the military. The things they are capable of.

The soldier holds Hyuk's gaze, obviously skeptical of his words, before he leans over to the other soldier. He listens closing, giving a short nod to whatever is said before he turns around. He knocks twice on the door before opening it and stepping inside, shutting it behind him.

Not long after he had entered, the door is opened again, but not by the soldier. Instead it is a distressed looking Mrs Jeon.

She looks like she's been crying and it immediately makes me worry that maybe something did happen to Kook.

"M-Mrs Jeon-" I begin to speak, intending to ask where Kook is when she lets out a surprised gasp as her eyes land on something behind me.

I turn around, following her line of sight, to see Hyuk looking back at her fondly.

When I turn around though Mrs Jeon is no longer looking at Hyuk. She is now looking at the Hi. She slowly breaks into a smile as she walks to her, placing both hands on her shoulders with teary eyes before pulling her into a tight hug.

"I've missed you Hi." She says, voice muffled by Hi's dark hair.

"I've missed you too." Hi smiles as she returns the hug.

Mrs Jeon pulls away with a bigger smile than before as she looks between Hi and Hyuk.

"My father and I are just having a talk. We should be through shortly. Would it be alright if you go meet with General Kang and then we can-"

"Where is Jungkook?" Yeol speaks up from behind us.

When Mrs Jeon looks in his direction, her eyes quickly land on Taehyung, who is still clinging to his arm.

She immediately moves to rush to him with a worried expression, but Hyuk catches her arm to stop her before he steps between her and Taehyung to prevent her from going to him.

She looks up at him with confusion before Hyuk speaks, disregarding her expression as well as her unspoken question of why he is keeping her from going to Taehyung.

"Why don't you go finish your talk with your father and I'll show them where they can rest. It's been a long drive."

She has kept her eyes on Hyuk while he's been speaking but as soon as he finishes she looks back at Taehyung with the same paternal concern and worry in her eyes.

"Hi can go talk to General Kang while I take them to Jungkook." Hyuk speaks up again, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Is he on the east wing?"

She looks up at him and shakes her head. "No, he wanted to go to the rec room. I believe a soldier was taking him to the one on the south wing..." She trails off before moving her eyes back to Taehyung. "What happened?"

"We'll talk about it when I come back. Right now he needs to rest. He has had a- rough morning."

I hold back a scoff when he says this. This has been far beyond a "rough morning."

Missing your bus, causing you to be late for work is a rough morning. A man bleeding out in your fucking arms falls nowhere close to a "rough" anything. Traumatizing and horrific are much more accurate descriptions.

A stranger bled out in his arms. Jinyoung didn't know who Taehyung was and vice versa, but I knew him and so did Yeol.

Yeol and I met him when we were first brought on as trainees for Irene's current company. He was a vocal coach that worked for the company until Irene hired him to be her personal coach (as well as her investigator apparently.)

He had a family and a life outside of his work for Irene. What his reasons were for helping her, whether he started as her investigator before or after he became her vocal coach, I will never know. But he was a good man.

A good man that was fatally injured and died in the arms of a stranger instead of surrounded by his loved ones decades from now like he deserved.

After Taehyung managed to stammer through the retelling of Mrs Jeon's conversation with Irene this morning on the drive here, I have come to share the same sentiment as him.

Irene may have put the plan into action, but Mrs Jeon ultimately gave her the idea in the first place.

As I continue to get myself worked up thinking about the loss of my friend and the horrific way in which it happened, I stop listening to the conversation between the soldiers, Hyuk and Mrs Jeon.

Instead, I turn back and take the few steps to stand on the other side of Taehyung so he is between Yeol and myself.

He surprises me when he takes a step to stand in front of me before pulling me into a hug and begins to cry quietly.

I close my eyes as I try to hold back my own tears at his pained cries. I open them again when I hear Hyuk say in a gentle voice for us to follow him to where Kook should be.

I nod before glancing behind him and meeting eyes with Mrs Jeon. As she looks at me her eyes begin to water and I feel absolutely no pity for her.

Whatever guilt or sadness she will feel when Hyuk tells her what's happened, in my opinion, will be nothing close to what Taehyung feels.

I hope Hyuk will prompt her to put herself in his place so she can realize the gravity of what her actions put him through. That she'll think about how broken he is right now and how traumatized he will be for a very long time. And all of this will be because of her impulsiveness.