No Going Back

38

Bestow rewards without regard to rule, issue orders without regard to previous arrangements; and you will be able to handle a whole army as though you had to do with but a single man.
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The Art of War
Sun Tzu

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Run, hide, repeat.

Run, hide, repeat.

That exhausting and never-ending cycle was all Taehyung knew for weeks, months, years. He spent most of his young adult life running from senseless violence, running from unconquerable grief, and running from an overwhelming amount of suffering. He did all he could to hide from his enemies, hide his identity, and eventually hide his true self from a world that wanted nothing more than to witness his downfall. And with no promise of a reprieve, he quietly accepted that fate.

Running and hiding became Taehyung's entire life.

Early on - maybe a couple of months following that very first attack - Taehyung used to imagine life after running. He visualized all the things he'd do once everything returned to normal, like meeting new friends and exploring all that Seoul had to offer. He envisioned joining school clubs, going to various sporting events, and dating men from all sorts of backgrounds. He dreamed of finding out exactly who he was as a person; he fantasized about staying in one place out of choice and not out of fear.

But life didn't go back to normal. No . . . Running and hiding became the new normal. Looking over his shoulder, calculating each step forward, and second-guessing every decision became Taehyung's instinctual habits. And soon enough, those hopeful dreams of a danger-free future gradually faded from view.

All he had known was the present moment, a moment that was neither promised nor guaranteed.

All he had known was running and hiding.

However, after years of laying low and coming to terms with reality, the course of Taehyung's life changed all over again. He hadn't known his mother's death - and Namjoon's supposed one - had been part of a bigger plan; all he'd known was that the repetitive yet comfortable routine he finally learned to appreciate was gone. The simplistic days of training with Namjoon and drinking tea with his mother were gone. The two people he relied upon most and loved more than anything were gone.

And since Taehyung had been completely and utterly alone - since the weight of his anguish had threatened to crush him whole - he became a desensitized shell. He evolved into a machine that moved on autopilot; he transformed into a zombie that attempted to ignore its human tendencies. He did all he could to eradicate the guilt flooding his mind, to temporarily patch up his grief-stricken heart, and to grow accustomed to his newly darkened soul.

Simply put, Taehyung ran.

Fuck, Taehyung ran from his past and his present and his future. He ran from his obligations as the heir and his duties as a son. He ran from the boy he locked deep within himself, afraid to expose that vulnerable and distressed creature to his malicious surroundings. He ran from who he once was and who he had the potential to be.

And then he ran straight into Jeon Jungkook.

His brat.

His other half.

His sweetheart.

Maybe it was divine intervention, maybe it was a parting gift from his mother, or maybe it was serendipity like Jimin had claimed all those weeks ago, but whatever caused Taehyung to meet Jungkook felt a hell of a lot like fate. Fate. If finding the love of his life really was fate, things couldn't get more ironic. Because in his quest to avoid whatever the future had in store - to hide from the world and its master plan - Taehyung inadvertently and unsuspectingly ran down a path that led him to his destiny.