Even if my body was absolutely exhausted, my mind didn't allow me to fall asleep for a couple of hours more. After tossing and turning, falling in and out of sleep, I finally relaxed when the sun started to rise. When I woke up, Jimin was no longer in bed, and the very first thing that popped into my mind was the key. I instinctively raised my hand to my chest and exhaled when I felt the pendant. Still a bit paranoid, I opened the locket and checked if the key was still inside. Of course it is, dumbass. I silently closed the pendant again and checked the watch - it was way past noon. Not ready to face another day full of lies, I fell on my back and closed my eyes again, dragging a pillow over my head. My peace was quickly ruined by a loud bang in the kitchen.
Still trying to fit one leg into the hole of my sweatpants and my heart pounding from fear I jumped outside of the bedroom to check on the noise and froze. Jimin was wearing an apron and burning whatever was left of the produce in the pan. "What in the world are you doing?" I laughed approaching him. Jimin suddenly turned around. "Damn, did I wake you up? I'm so sorry, I wanted to cook you breakfast, but somehow my hands seem to not be listening to me today. I keep messing up." He said apologetically, and I kept smiling. My heart was pounding still, and I started to realise how much I was affected by the situation at home. My already high paranoia was growing even bigger. Trying to not allow the nasty thoughts inside my head, I pretended to roll up my sleeves and went to help Jimin out, while he simply sat on the barstool and pouted.
"Maybe we can talk about it now? " Jimin broke the silence. I hoped he'd give me some more time. I knew he was going to ask me, I actually kept waiting for him to do so, not daring to start the conversation on my own. After saving whatever was left of Jimin's breakfast, we sat on the couch and were drinking tea in silence. Jimin's patience must have ran out, just a tad bit sooner than I expected. I put down my cup on the table and started to chose my words carefully. I firstly began by confessing my lie about Dan's employment. Confessed a lie with another lie, superb. Jimin simply stared at me, not interrupting once. I actually expected him to have more questions, but he simply nodded. After that I told him more about Dan getting hurt. I didn't specify much, just said that he needed to rest for a while to heal and that I'd be going to help him. Jimin kept looking at me with an incredibly serious expression, and for one second I actually felt like he might start slipping through my fingers. To my surprise, he hugged me. I sat in awe, while he patted my back and kept saying how sorry he was. When he finally pulled back I saw that his face has become more sad, eyes looking very apologetic. "I'm so sorry, Kieran." He repeated again. I kept looking at him with a puzzled expression, not fully grasping what he was sorry about. He noticed that quickly and began caressing my head. "I'm sorry that your brother got hurt, I'm sorry that you'll have to work both there and study here. I'm sorry that so much responsibility is falling on your shoulders. I wish I could help somehow. Maybe I could take over some of your classwork?" I felt a knot forming in my stomach again, feeling embarrassed of myself. It was filled with anxiety, shame, regret and many other emotions focused in my disgust with myself. In front of me sat a man, so honest and so emphatic, consoling me, twisting his head in how to help me, and all I kept doing was lying to him. I felt like crying and vomiting at the same time, but I knew that in no way I could show this to him, so I simply smiled.
"Don't worry, I'll manage. If I'll see that I'm running late on my assignments, I'll let you know." I answered his inquiries with a bright smile on my face. Unbelievable. Jimin hugged me again. "Was your brother hurt badly? Will he recover fully?" This time I returned the hug and mumbled into his chest that he will be fine soon, that he simply needed some rest. Jimin quickly pulled back and smiled widely. "Great," he exclaimed, and I got confused again. "Since you're starting to work double the time from Monday, let's make the best of this Sunday then."
I got a chance to enjoy one last day of an easy going life before jumping into my responsibilities thanks to Jimin. We met up with the group and went out for lunch. After eating we went to Yoongi's club to have a few drinks and simply relax. Somehow, I managed to leave the negative emotions at home and spent the evening laughing. I felt that this was one of the few that I get to enjoy for a long time, and I was going to make the best of it.
The next few weeks flew by without any rest. My schedule was filled from top to bottom with university studies and learning about Dan's business. To my surprise, since Father passed, Dan minimalised the illegal weaponry and focused on a different side of business - people. He was selling the services of his men, some for threats, some for intelligence gathering, others for thefts, some even worse. I kept looking through the list of Dan's clientele and kept gasping at the famous names written there. Celebrities, politicians, law enforcement officials and many more. The twins urged me to try and delete the names from my memory as soon as possible, as the more details I collected, the more incriminated I became. We agreed to keep the names of the subordinates hidden, for both mine and their safety. All of them trusted Dan, and most of them didn't trust me. I, in turn, didn't trust any of them. So, instead of looking at their personal files, Ye-jun suggested that I'd only meet their team leaders. Great, not only they are in different professions, they even had layers of power. They promised to set up a meeting in soon time.
Dan was getting back on his feet pretty quickly, but he wanted to use this situation and pretended that he was still quite hurt. I couldn't help but find myself thinking that maybe he was enjoying his little vacation while I was working my ass off. Sometimes I'd get so overworked, that we'd even start to argue, which is something that we never did before. I knew that my involvement in the business was affecting my relationship with everyone. I tried to keep my cool about everything, but the more I learned about their activities, the colder I felt myself becoming towards them. I would catch myself staring at Ye-jun and Yu-jun and wonder, how these two amazing boys could be so merciless towards others for money. Obviously, their department was physical. Someone hurt you and you want to hurt them back? Maybe someone owns you money and doesn't pay back? Maybe you just have a person that you want to scare? Call the twins! Them and their subordinates will beat anyone for money, sometimes they will do even more!
I was sitting in the office room, face buried in my palms, trying to collect myself when I heard a knock on the door. Most of the crew avoided me for obvious reasons, so it was usually the twins that brought me information. Yet, ever since I stepped into this office and started to learn I felt our relationship shift. They understood the hierarchy in this business very well, and as soon as my butt touched the chair of the head, they began to treat me like one. I cleared my throat and invited them in.
"Kieran" Ye-jun greeted me and Yu-jun nodded. I really wanted to nag at them, or at least tease them for such behaviour, but I understood that in these circumstances I couldn't, so I simply nodded back. "If you have some time, we could round up the team leads. However, they requested that their identity would be kept at utmost secrecy." Ye-jun explained, I didn't manage to hold back and giggled. "So what are they suggesting? That I'd turn away and stare at the wall while they spoke?" I stared at the boys, hoping that they'd show any emotion, and to my relief, I saw both of them fail at hiding a small giggle. "No, Kieran, that will not be necessary." Ye-jun quickly recollected himself. Looking at them now, from a different perspective, I understood that outside of work Yu-jun was the lead, however, when it came to business Ye-jun took control of everything. "So what do you suggest then?" I asked and rested my head in my palm, crossing my legs. "They will wear masks." he simply exclaimed, and I started to laugh out loud and gestured them to proceed. I sure as hell wasn't planning to listen to their reasonings any longer, if that's what they wanted - fine by me. I'm staying in this position for a little bit more and soon will be coming back to my normal life.
YOU ARE READING
Her Name | pjm
Romance"Ever since Jimin left, I've been sleeping alone. I couldn't say that I hated it, but there was some sort of discomfort staying at a new place, absolutely alone, especially when I started to get used to him being near. Back home if I had a nightmare...
