Bleed For Me - Taegyu/Beomhyun

Chapter 4: A Rat Is A Rat

Jung's head exploded into a sea of red, the wall behind him becoming a twisted canvas of blood and skull fragments. Beomgyu sighed and returned his handgun to his waistband. Kim and Lee finally released Jung's body, letting him fall to the floor. The body hit the ground with a sickening thud, landing in a puddle of its own blood.

Taehyun started breathing heavily, looking anywhere except the corpse on the floor in front of him. Eventually, the sensory overload became too much and he cinched his eyes closed. Everything in the room was too loud, too bright. Taehyun wasn't sure if he felt like he was going to vomit or black out. It was official- he was an accessory to murder now. There was no going back; he had participated in the same criminal activity that he had been trying to rid the city of for some time. There was no way out but forward now.

"That's all, everyone. Don't fuck up unless you want to meet the same fate as Jung. Now get out," Beomgyu warned lazily, shooing the rest of the attendants of the meeting out. Once everyone else had left, only Beomgyu and Taehyun remained.

"Hey," Beomgyu spoke, walking over to where Taehyun was still sitting. "Open your eyes." Beomgyu reached one hand up to gingerly grab onto Taehyun's chin.

Taehyun's eyes snapped open in fear, looking Beomgyu in the eyes. Was he next? Would he meet the same fate as Jung? Was playtime with his new toy over? He began to panic.

Beomgyu used his soft grip on Taehyun's chin to turn his face to where Jung was laying.

"I said don't look away," he breathed, eyes never leaving Taehyun's face. Tears sprung free from Taehyun's eyes involuntarily as he looked at the mangled corpse. He wanted so badly to close his eyes again, but he knew better than to disobey Beomgyu. He forced himself to examine Jung's body, eyeing all the damage Beomgyu had caused.

"You did well," Beomgyu praised. "We taught everyone a valuable lesson today." He finally let go of Taehyun's chin, instead moving his hand to wipe his tears away. Taehyun continued to sob silently.

"What's your name?" Beomgyu finally asked, pulling Taehyun up from his chair to a standing position. Taehyun wobbled, his legs like jelly. He wasn't sure if he was capable of speaking right now. He held on to Beomgyu for support.

"Kang Taehyun." he whispered, barely audible.

"You did well today, Taehyun." Beomgyu repeated in an endearing tone. "You're going to do well here." Taehyun just nodded in response, shaking like a leaf. Underneath all of the terror and trauma, Taehyun was relieved as hell that he appeared to be on Beomgyu's favorable side. He had just witnessed first hand what Beomgyu was capable of, and he didn't want a one way ticket to the top of his shit list.

Beomgyu pulled Taehyun's arms off him, gesturing for Taehyun to follow him as he made his way over to the door of the meeting room. Taehyun trailed behind closely like a lost puppy, not wanting to be left alone in the room with Jung's dead body. Beomgyu held the door for him, carefully swinging it closed once they had both exited the room.

All the guards that Taehyun had seen escort Beomgyu into the building earlier this morning were now standing outside the meeting room; they had obviously been waiting for Beomgyu to wrap up whatever he was doing. Beomgyu quietly told Taehyun to stay put before walking over to the group of men. Taehyun didn't know what was worse, being with Beomgyu or being left alone. He was still shaking, and remnants of tear stains were clearly visible on his face. He pressed his back against the wall of the hallway, desperate for some stability. He kept his gaze on Beomgyu, watching his every movement anxiously.

Taehyun felt like he had whiplash. Going into the operation this morning, Taehyun had hated Beomgyu's guts; he was ready to take him down as quickly as possible and get the operation over with. On the other hand, after meeting him outside and discovering his flirty personality, Taehyun was reminded that Beomgyu was a human being with feelings too. Maybe an incredibly sick and twisted one, but still a person. However, any positive feelings or images that Taehyun had had of Beomgyu were left behind in that meeting room, in the bullets that were lodged in Jung's body. Of course, Taehyun had been the one who had suggested shooting him, so how much of the blame could he really place on Beomgyu? He felt like he was on a rollercoaster in a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. He had an inkling that that feeling wouldn't go away anytime soon.