2.

| 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬. |

Yuri P.O.V

I was just about to close my eyes after keeping my laptop away, when the door of the mansion being slammed open, followed by a very loud of shout belonging to Jung Hoseok made me jump in my bed.

Unfortunately, as I was literally on the edge of my bed, I landed on the ground with a thump.

I quickly got up, not without wincing, and went down to see Yoongi and Hoseok half supporting, half carrying a very bloodied Taehyung.

I widened my eyes, all my sleepiness vanishing in an instant.

I gestured them to quickly, and carefully, set Taehyung on the stretcher, which they did.

I hastily pushed the stretcher inside the room devoted to all medical and surgical treatments, labelled as the medical room.

I glanced at Taehyung to see him wincing in pain, which quickly morphed into a sheepish smile upon meeting my gaze.

I looked ahead with a stoic expression, readying myself to lecture him about taking his doctors' advice seriously.

Once we reached the medical room, and his stretcher was in its proper position, I turned around and closed the door, not forgetting to latch it.

"Care to explain what happened?" I began calmly.

"I got shot by a bullet," Taehyung replied, pointing at his wound cheekily.

"I can see that, you dumbass. I'm asking how did all this happen?" I snarled, temporarily forgetting that I'm talking to one of the strongest Mafia leaders in the Korean Peninsula.

Taehyung didn't mind it though, and instead told me that he had removed the bandages I had spent ten minutes applying and went out to do some work, but accidentally got shot in his right chest, which I had previously stitched after removing a bullet.

My blood boiled at his nonchalant tone.

"I thought I told you to stay in bed and rest!" I cried angrily.

"You're being too loud this early in the morning." Taehyung had the audacity to say that to me.

"I specifically told you to rest and not stress your body, especially your chest area, to let the stitches heal, but no, you had to sneak out to do that shit work of yours and get shot in the exact same area!" I exclaimed, pointing at his chest, which had a concerning amount of blood oozing out of it.

"Not only are the stitches torn, the tissues of that area would have torn too! Do you know how painful that is!?" I added, internally wincing, imagining the amount of pain he's going through.

"I guess I do, I'm bearing it all right now, aren't I?" Taehyung said cockily, followed by a hiss of pain.

"It's not the time to joke, you fool! Why couldn't you just listen to me, and stay in your bed!?" I exclaimed.

"Work is more important," Taehyung said simply.

Work, work and more work. That was all he ever did.

"To hell with that work! How is work more important than your life!?" I said, honestly tired of his careless attitude towards his own life.

"Don't act as if you don't know what my work is. You know very well how important it is," He muttered, our eyes suddenly locked in each other's.

Oh, I do Taehyung. Much better than you do. I thought, recalling all the times when we had to shift our houses in the middle of the night because of some ambush from an opposition gang.

That was mainly why I kept all my clothes which weren't in use, in a suitcase, all packed and ready to move on a short notice, in case of a repeat of the situation.

"I do, but you should learn to balance everything," I said, softly maintaining our gaze.

"Fine, I'll try. But can you first please do something about this? The amount of blood that's coming out is starting to worry me," Taehyung said, glaring at his chest.

You should be, Taehyung. Losing that much blood should be worrying.

"I can, but it'll hurt, a lot. Especially because you didn't let the previous stitches heal," I said, worryingly.

I can't watch him go through so much pain. I can't do this.

I had grown a slight liking towards him. It obviously wasn't love. Oh, no. It was too early for that. What I had was probably just a crush.

And it's surely understandable, since no one can resist his charms.

When he wasn't out there, threatening and killing people and maintaining his reputation as well as his Mafia, Taehyung was just a normal man. Not to mention, handsome.

Very handsome.

He wasn't a heartless person. He did crack the occasional joke around me, mostly at the dining table, followed by a smile.

His beautiful, adorable smile.

That boxy smile made him look like a little child, and he probably was.

A little child whose childhood was ruthlessly snatched from him, and was thrown into this cut-throat competition called life. More specifically, the Mafia and underworld life.

I've been with them for almost a year now. Hoseok and Yoongi were okay, but I preferred Taehyung's company.

The job I have is. . . complicated, to say the least. It's really stressing, for multiple reasons. The most prominent reason being that their lives are in my hands.

Well, along with Mina's hands. She's also a nurse here. Mina has been with them longer than I have, by a couple months.

Usually, nurses for Mafia's are temporary, and are deposed after a couple months, either because they can't be trusted anymore, or because they crossed their limits and tried seducing the leaders.

Mina and I have been lucky, probably owing to the fact that we stick to the rules and keep things professional.

However, I have been noticing Mina hovering around Yoongi's room more often than usual. They probably have something going on between them.

Unless it's mutual, Mina will most likely be fired.

This is mainly why I'm afraid of catching feelings for Taehyung. This job is very important to me, and I can't afford to lose it. Apart from giving a good amount of salary, this job has taught me many important life lessons.

It made me more observant, alert and taught me not to trust people so easily, among other things.

Even though I'm not in love with Taehyung, I can't deny the obvious pain I feel when he's in pain. Which is exactly why I can't get myself to do this operation.

I'm already burdened with so much guilt about all the things I've done to him, and how much pain he's gone through because of me.

"I don't think I can do this, I'll call Mina to do it," I muttered, feeling fidgety. I stood up to go call Mina, when Taehyung suddenly grabbed my hand and forcefully pulled me back.

A squeak escaped from my lips. I turned around to see Taehyung's powerful stare boring holes into myself.

His eyes are so beautiful. They were staring into mine, an unrecognisable emotion present in them. My knees gave out on me, and I staggered onto the chair beside him.

He has so much power.

One look, and I'm a shivering mess who can't stand straight.

"Lee Yuri. You were, are and will be one of the best doctors who has ever operated me. I know you can do it, have hope in yourself, because if you don't, no one else will have hope in you. But, right now, I have faith in you. You can operate me, remove the bullet and stitch back the wound. You can save me," Taehyung said, still staring into my eyes.

I usually can't tell the difference when he actually means something, or if he's being sarcastic, but right now, I felt that all his words were sincere.

"Now, get onto this quickly before I die from excessive loss of blood," He added, smiling that endearing boxy smile of his.

I can't describe the feeling, when someone as important as Taehyung says those words, that he has faith in her and that I can save him.

I felt a surge of confidence flow into my body, though it faltered slightly when I saw his futile attempt at concealing his pain.

"But, it'll hurt a lot." I repeated once again.

Taehyung smiled before taking my hand into his own. He has such big hands. I felt sheltered when his hands were fully encompassing my tiny ones. I felt safe.

He caressed my hand slightly. It was a bit ticklish, but I didn't mind that.

"You could never hurt me."

My smile grew at that. Those words, they always made me feel things. They made me feel special.

Taehyung always says that, every time before I operate on him. It makes my heart flutter.

I nodded, feeling much more confident than before, and wore my surgical gloves. I sedulously removed the sticky piece of clothing off of his body.

I tried my best to not react much to his naked upper body, because if I began thinking about it, I would never stop. That's just how he was made; so exquisitely, that one could go on and on about him.

My eyes fell on the wound in between his chiseled abs. I recalled blushing furiously while tending to it. At the time, I couldn't believe that I was lucky enough to have gotten a chance to witness and touch his body.

I quickly got onto cleaning the blood from his wound, after embarrassingly being caught checking out by him.

Once his wound was cleaned, I gasped. The entire injured area looked so painful.

The stitches I had so meticulously sewed on his body a week ago, were torn. Not completely torn, just partially, which is even more painfully, since I could clearly see the remaining stitches pulling at his ripped skin and flesh.

The bullet had gone through the bottom half of the unhealed wound. It hadn't gone in too deep. Thankfully, I was able to pinpoint its location due to its shimmer.

As I brought the medical tweezers near his wound, I realised that my hands were shaking. I took a deep breath and said, "This is gonna sting," before poking it inside his chest.

Taehyung closed his eyes, but didn't show much reaction other than that. He's pretending to be okay.

The bullet slipped through the tweezers multiple times, mostly due to my shaky hands. I glanced at Taehyung, and saw his eyes closed tightly.

He's in pain. A part of me worried.

Of course he is, you dumbass. Do you think he'll be smiling when a bullet is inside him? The other part of me, which I really despised due to its sassiness, shot back.

I closed my eyes, cleared my head from all unnecessary comments and put in all my focus on getting that damned bullet out.

After a couple minutes more of struggling, a clink echoed throughout the room.

The strangely relieving sound of the bullet falling on the steel plate. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of myself.

Taehyung opened one eye. "Is it out?" He asked.

"Yes," I replied, realising that I still needed to stitch his skin back. I sighed.

"I still need to close your wound. I would suggest you to keep your eyes closed," I said, bringing out the equipment I needed.

"I would rather gaze at beauty," He said, fully opening his eyes, only to stare at me.

"Taehyung, please. Now is not the time to fluster me, I need to concentrate on your wound," I groaned lightly at his very effective flirts.

"I only stated the truth," He said, still staring at me.

"Are you flirting with me?" I asked slowly, looking at him.

Taehyung just continued to stare at me, not giving me any response. I exhaled before beginning suturing his skin.

It was a very tedious process, which required my utmost attention. I couldn't let anything distract me. Not even Taehyung's very distracting gaze.

"Do you know," Taehyung suddenly began. I was startled, but hid it well. "I'm not feeling any pain right now? Wanna know why?" He quizzed.

"Why?" I asked, almost done with the suture.

"Because I was staring at you. Looking at you makes me forget about the bad things," Taehyung said with a straight face.

I stopped, staring at his wound intensely. I was too afraid to meet his gaze.

What are you doing to me?

"Taehyung. Why are you doing this to me?" I asked instead, not meeting his eyes.

"Doing what?" He asked, and I could just tell by the tone of his voice that he was smirking and was enjoying this way too much.

"Yo—"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, please." Taehyung interrupted me, his hands grabbing my chin and gently pulling it upwards, till I met his eyes.

His hand was still holding my chin, and judging by his grip, he wasn't planning on moving it anytime soon.

Our strong gaze was unwavering. As I stared into his perfectly carved eyes, filled with the most beautifully brown eyes, I was reminded of all the other times we had interacted in such a way.

Every time, we would just stare into each other's eyes, until I got too shy to even see his face, at which point I would run away from there.

Taehyung was a total romantic. Hopelessly romantic.

When he's in a good mood, he would spout cheesy pickup lines, and deep quotes about fate and how everything is already planned.

He believed that everyone was destined to a certain fate, and, as unlikely as it would sound, if fate decides it, it was bound to happen. No matter what.

Taehyung once said, in a drunk state mind you, that he was waiting for that special someone he was destined for.

I had jokingly said that no one would dare to date a Mafia, but instantly regretted it when I saw his heartbroken face. He then claimed that he too was a human, and that all humans deserved to live and love.

Taehyung was almost in tears by then, so I had decided to drop the topic, although I realised that he wasn't all what he showed everyone.

He was also a human. A human, who had feelings and thoughts. A human, who has the right to cry whenever he feels like. But he doesn't.

When he's in his work mode, no one can tell how he's feeling. An intimidating, expressionless face was all he wore.

People might forget that, despite being a Mafia leader, he is human, not a robot.

A human, I might add, who has an obsession with flirting with me and making me flustered.

But this time, I didn't give up. I stared back into his eyes, with equal intensity.

A flash of amusement sparked in his eyes, before it returned to a softer gaze.

His beautifully shaped lips were slightly tugged upwards. His perfectly curved nose just added to his handsomeness.

Taehyung's long fingers were still fixed in their position, although their grip loosened slightly.

What happened next was fully intentional and I'm not sorry for doing it.

I grabbed his chin, the same way he had done previously, and this time, I pulled it closer to my face, agonisingly slow with my movements.

Closer, and closer, till our lips met.

x x x

A / N

I didn't rlly know how to end this chapter sksksksk so why not-
But, I rlly rlly love how this chapter came out, I hope I was able to portray both of their characters nicely

I know the story is boring rn, but please bear with me, the story is gonna take time to show it's true colours, and that time, I bet y'all will fall in love with the story, because I'm super excited for this.

Patience is a virtue.

Thoughts about Yuri? I love her😌

Ciao~

-xo-
:]