House of Cards by: sugamins

Part 24

Friday came around so fast that Taehyung once again found himself aware of how sudden time could creep up on a person. The last few days had passed him by in a blur so quickly and only looking back on it all did it fully hit him that he had spent close to four entire months inside of Haedogje Pa. Taehyung knew that undercover officers were usually only allowed eleven months on the job before being pulled out and in that time a great many struggled to gain enough information to result in decent charges and warrants. In less than half of that allocated time he had managed to do so much more but he wasn't going to brag about this particular fact. After all it was only through getting so close to Jungkook had he managed such a feat, and had he been left working the circuit just like the rest then he wouldn't have gotten this far. Taehyung had no doubts that he would have been one of three things by now: long caught, long turned or long dead.

He had been undercover for a third of the year so far and it was going to come to finish today.

Taehyung didn't really know what to feel with this knowledge, he just knew that he didn't feel the relief that he had once thought that he would feel upon knowing that he would get out of the gang. He felt a strong mixture of things, mostly anxiety, uncertainty and regret. Maybe there was a nice dosage of self-disgust added in too. Sitting at the kitchen table in the penthouse suite, a glass of water in his hand and the weight of the methadone pill on his tongue, he was pretty certain that the negative feelings far outweighed the positive, especially when his eyes settled on Jungkook.

Jungkook, who was completely oblivious to everything as he dined on his last breakfast that would be eaten as a free man, that would be shared in his and Jimin's company.

Jimin had lightened up over the last few days, had actually gotten close to his usual self and as a result Jungkook had pressed no further into his sudden melancholy that day. But Taehyung saw it when the younger man's back was turned, the way that Jimin's lips would sag at the corners and his eyes would go cold whilst Jungkook wasn't looking at him. Right now Jimin was picking at the remains of his food, stabbing and chasing around the odd mouthful with his chopsticks just so it seemed like he was still going to finish his meal.

Taehyung had eaten his breakfast already but the food felt much too heavy in his stomach, almost like a rock. That was probably what Jimin's stomach felt like too, and for the first time in what seemed like a long time Taehyung had a craving for the goddamn morphine again. The period might have passed when he physically needed it to stop him from getting ill but the cravings hadn't really went away. They were always lingering there, at the back of his mind, and today they were much louder than usual. Maybe the pill would quieten them down, he didn't know but he hoped that that would be the case. He just swallowed it hard with a sip of the water and hoped that that was the case.

He was already having to juggle his own feelings of disgust and shame today, he didn't need the morphine craving making it even harder to handle.

"Today's a busy day?" Jimin asked just for the sake of it, attempting to make conversation just like usual as his chopsticks played with the same piece of chicken. His spoon seemed to have gotten stuck in the congealed mess of rice porridge because he hadn't touched it in quite some time. Taehyung stayed silent rather than reply because he didn't really know what to say.

"I suppose," Jungkook replied as he placed his own glass down on the table. "It's a typical business day. Why do you ask, babe?"

"Just curious," Jimin said with a soft smile as he dropped his gaze to the table.

"...We won't be attending the meeting all day," he said after some thought and Taehyung noted that Jungkook's eyes shifted over to look at him as he did. His hair was still damp from his shower, parted and pulled back to reveal his brow, and he could see the slightest furrow between his eyebrows. There was something in his gaze and after a moment of thought Taehyung was pretty certain that he knew what it was. It was the beginnings of an idea starting to hatch in his mind. "Maybe just until the mid-afternoon, that leaves plenty enough time to be with you, babe."