Bond Made in Hell || A TAEJIN STORY || Arranged Marriage

52

Jin

'Well, what did he say?' Ken whistled in anticipation.

I shook my head and sighed quietly. 'He didn't know.'

Ken nearly leapt out of his chair. 'What?'

'He didn't know,' I repeated, tiredly, passing a hand over my forehead. It is cold and clammy. 'Apparently, when he showed up at the place where the accident had taken place, and discovered me and Tae fatally injured, he had spotted someone else, a few meters from the spot. Someone who was in hiding, waiting to see if someone else showed up in time to rescue the two of us without making a single move themselves. He couldn't give me the exact description, not even if it were a man or a woman- the person wore black from head to toe, and could only be described as tall, and they took off as soon as they realized they had been sighted. That was what gave Jimin his first clue that the accident may have been premeditated- why else would someone hang around for that long without calling an ambulance, or at least informing one of the residents of our colony?'

'He got a call from an unknown number shortly after that, while we were in the hospital, recovering. The caller's voice was intentionally disguised, and he had no way of making out who it was- but his identity, as a potential mole, had been revealed to whoever had planned the whole accident, and they were hell-bound to ensure he kept his mouth shut about it, and not breathe a single word to anybody. He was....' Jin stopped and sighed deeply, '....blackmailed. They tried to bribe him at first, but he refused, and then they began to send him inflammatory letters, and threaten him. His sister's wedding was only a few days away, and they promised to ruin it- and her life, forever- unless he kept his tongue to himself. That was why he rushed back to his hometown at once, and could not make it in time to the hospital to see me as I recovered consciousness: he was scared to death that his sister would be harmed if he did not. The wedding went off smoothly enough, but the calls, however, did not stop. A week or so after, he was called again, and forced to pay a visit to the smuggling depot of the black market, as their representative, and convince the smugglers- with heavy money, of course- to not disclose their transactions to anyone or anybody. Evidently, the culprit(s) had caught wind of the fact that we, or someone, was on their trail.'

'Now wait a minute,' Ken raises a hand to stop me. 'How can you just blindly trust everything this Jimin guy tells you? He could be lying through his teeth for all we know.'

'Jimin is my best friend, and he is not a liar,' I tell him, coldly. Jimin is someone I know and trust. Unlike you.

'Okay, but think logically,' Ken argues. 'First off, isn't it a rather huge coincidence that he was the very first person to find you after the car crash? The fact that he was the first person to arrive at the spot and-'

'It's because he had been calling me repeatedly for the last couple of hours and I hadn't been picking up since I was out with Tae, and he was around the area and naturally got worried and decided to pay me a visit to see if all was well.' 

Ken still looked unconvinced. 'Fine. But this Jimin guy- he could have easily informed the police as soon as he caught sight of the black-clothed person hiding near the accident spot- but he didn't. No, he chose to keep mum about it, and-'

'Because he was preoccupied with having me and Taehyung immediately shifted to the hospital.' I shake my head. 'Ken...Jimin would never-'

'All those days- all the time that he had to inform someone- inform you- about the fact that he was being blackmailed, and he tells you now, and only when you force him into it?'

'It's because he was scared, Ken, damn it!' Angry tears prickle at my eyes. Of all the things I can take, one of them is certainly not Jimin being blatantly accused and insulted by this.....liar.  'Bad things could have happened to him and his family if he had told anyone, don't you understand? Bad things could have happened to me. He didn't want anyone close to him to be in danger- is that such a very unnatural thing to wish for? Wouldn't you have done the same in his place?' You probably would have not, you low-down sneaky bastard.