12.

| 𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬 & 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬. |

Yuri P.O.V

Thirty minutes, and twelve seconds.

That's how long it took for Taehyung to gather courage to speak to me.

And it was just for me to connect his phone with the car's system via Bluetooth, while he drove the car, taking random and sudden turns.

I silently obliged, not looking at him.

I'm not gonna talk to him, until he speaks.

Yes, I'm a petty woman, and he needs to know that.

"Dial Yoongi hyung's number," Taehyung said stoically. I tried opening his phone, but a 4-digit passcode was required to unlock it.

I tried the simplest option possible, 1230.

The phone vibrated in my hand, signalling that the password was incorrect.

3012.

Incorrect.

I sighed. "What's your password?"

Taehyung glanced at me.

"I need it to open your phone, and call him."

Taehyung looked hesitant to tell me his phone's password.

'Why was he behaving like this?'

"Nine,"

I pressed the button, eyebrows furrowed.

"Eight,"

'Was his phone password my birth date?!'

My birthday was on eight of September.

If the next two digits turn out to be nine and seven, which happen to be the year I was born, 1997, I would throw the phone away.

"Seven."

"Is the next digit six?" I asked sarcastically, wondering if he would keep such an unoriginal and boring password for his phone.

Taehyung stared at me weirdly. "No, it's four."

The phone unlocked, his home screen popping up.

'9, 8, 7, 4? What does that mean?'

I stared at his wallpaper; a picturesque view of the sun setting, the tiniest silhouette of someone in the distance. The scene seemed really familiar.

I brushed away the thought, thinking that it was just another aesthetic sunset picture I had come across on Pinterest.

I typed 'Yoongi' in his contacts' list, but four different contacts came up, numbered from one to four.

"There are four contacts," I said.

"Call the fourth one."

I pressed the contact, and sat back, as the sound of the rings echoed in the entire car. After the third ring, Taehyung cut the call.

"Call Hobi hyung instead. Yoongi hyung might be busy."

I obliged, and sat back, the sound of the soft rings filling the entire car, weirdly soothing me. It didn't last long, however, as Hoseok answered the call on the third ring.

"What happened, V?"

'V? Do they have code names for each other? Probably, but how is V related to him name?'

"Hobi hyung, is someone around you? Why're you using codes?"

"They left a few minutes ago, but I can never be too careful, now, can I?"

"Yes, very good, you should be really alert. Yuri and I got ambushed at a mall we went to," Taehyung said, taking another sudden turn.

"What?! Are both of you okay? What happened? How did they know that you were there?"

"I'll explain everything clearly later. Now, I want you to listen clearly; Yoongi hyung and you cannot go back to the eagle's nest today. We need to shift."

'Shift? Again?' I groaned internally.

"Where to?"

"Seagull. We're shifting to the seagull's nest."

"Are you both coming here too?"

"Not yet. We aren't completely sure if they left our trail or not, so we're not gonna take any risks. We'll stay at a hotel for the night."

"What about the goods at our house? Our luggage?"

"I'll tell someone to collect it safely and send it over to our new house at midnight. Make sure both of you are at home then; we can't have them being left unattended."

"I'll call you, and keep you updated."

"Good. Also, tell Yoongi hyung to pass the message on to Mina."

"Will do. Take care of yourself."

"You too," Taehyung said, before ending the call.

He sighed, taking another turn, after glancing at the rear view mirror for the umpteenth time. I looked around and realised that we weren't in the heart of Seoul anymore.

Instead, we were somewhere on the outskirts; there were more trees and farms here, and hardly any vehicles seen.

I rolled the window down, letting a light gust of wind enter the car. My hair moved gently away from my face, the cool breeze entering my lungs, thoroughly refreshing me.

I took a deep breath, savouring the peacefulness surrounding us. I could hear birds chirruping in the trees we were zooming past.

Under different circumstances, I would find this exhilarating, romantic even, to some extent.

As if Taehyung and I were going somewhere far away for an excursion, just the two of us, with no worries, and no need to look over our shoulders for ambushers. . .

I shook my head, trying to get rid of my fantasising thoughts.

'I am not here for a romantic outing with Taehyung, we're escaping from ambushers, trying to stay alive.'

I reminded myself, face hardening to a stoic expression.

"Please call Hyunjin."

Startled at the sudden politeness, I glanced at Taehyung, and saw him looking very distressed, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

My gaze softened as I realised just how stressing this job must be for him, and how much he must hate all this, given the fact that it isn't his fault at all.

I scrunched my nose, as my fingers clicked contacts in his phone, mentally deciding that I'll try not to be a prick to him anymore, and stay calm whenever I could.

This was a matter of life and death, and I was here being irritable over Taehyung not answering a question of mine.

"Hyung? What happened?"

I heard the voice of a long-haired man I had managed to meet only thrice in my life, coincidentally, each of those three times being every time we shifted houses.

"You know how it goes, Hyunjin. We're shifting once again."

I frowned at how tired Taehyung sounded.

"Where? And, I assume the procedure will be the same as last time?"

"Eighty-nine. And, no, it's a bit more complicated. I personally won't be present to overlook the packing and moving. In fact, none of us will be there, it's just you. The other two will meet you directly at eighty-nine."

"Anything I should specifically look after?"

"The small boxes in the basement. And, of course, the luggage, but I suppose that goes without saying."

"Of course, hyung. When have I ever let you down?"

My heart swelled slightly when I saw Taehyung smile at Hyunjin's feigned accusatory tone.

"And I expect you to keep up with the good work, Hyunjin. Also, stay with the hyungs till I message, won't you?"

"Of course, anything for you, hyung. I'll keep you updated with the progress. See you."

Taehyung smiled as he bid Hyunjin farewell, even though he knew that Hyunjin had not even the slightest chance to see it.

"He seems like a good kid," I said.

"He is. Very dedicated. Not to mention, extremely entertaining."

Taehyung gave a small laugh, his expression distant, as if reminiscent of a particularly entertaining act of Hyunjin.

"Have you ever, like, done something for him?"

"Oh, the things I've done for that kid. . . why do you ask though?"

"It's just that he said something about doing anything for you, so that got me wondering."

Taehyung glanced at me.

"The kid loves dancing. I just did him a favour once, helped him get into a dance academy. Ever since, he's been dedicatedly doing anything I ask him to do, without questioning a single thing."

I spoke after a short silence. "That was. . . nice of you."

"Yes, occasionally, I do nice things too," Taehyung said, sarcastically.

"It's just that it seems very unlike you to help a random guy to get into a dance academy. I mean, you doing it without any reason is—" I racked my brain for a word which wouldn't sound accusing, or harsh, "—unexpected."

Taehyung's expression was blank, as he continued driving in silence. There was a few minutes of silence before he spoke again.

"But, there was a reason," he mumbled softly.

"And, if you wanna share the reason, kindly do so, because I'm not gonna ask you," I said, rolling my eyes, because I knew that making other's ask questions you want them to ask you was a habit of Taehyung's.

A couple days ago, I would coo over this trait of his, but I was now determined to despise it, along with everything else about him.

"He was. . . uncannily similar to me in many ways. . . reminded me of myself. I felt as if. . . by helping him, I was, in a way, helping. . . myself. Something I couldn't do before. Something I still get mad about. . ."

Taehyung spoke slowly, and softly.

I stared at him, internally having a battle with myself. How can I despise him, or dislike him, if he continues doing this?

How can I hate him, when he makes me pity him?

x x x

A / N

here is a TaeRi filled chapter,, tho, frankly I have no idea what this all is gonna lead up to

but, don't worry, I'll come up with smth, so that chapters like these, which seem like fillers, will actually turn out to be important :)

do the characters make sense as of now? Can you understand why they're going what they're doing?

Because, I have so many characters in mind, that I'm afraid that I'll mix some of them up, and make them a whole new person dhsjdh

anyways,, vote, and comment, and spam, because I love y'all very much, and I would love some love in return uwu
Stay safe <3

Ciao~

-xo-
:]