SWITCH

Chapter 23 - Why?

"Jungkook, how are you? How is she?", Sejeong asked as soon as she saw him coming out of the bedroom.

He looks tired, with signs of fear of losing her. It was almost midnight and he needed that sleep. But until the shooter is found, he can't afford to let himself be taken by the alluring throes of sleep. Not when Chaeyoung was on the verge of death.

"She is recovering from the shock and needs to sleep,  her body is exhausted... ", he said hoarsely, his eyes barely held open.

"And you?", asked his father seeing his condition

"I got out to find any news...",

"You need to rest, stay by her side, she will recover faster...", Doyoung told him concerned about his health.

"I guess you don't think that she is a bad choice for me anymore... ", he said at the switch in his father's attitude towards Chaeyoung, as if he wasn't the one who didn't like her.

"We don't have time for that...  Now we need to focus on the shooter... ", 

"Mingyu and Chaeyoung's father is working on it...", Jungkook told his father, and he surely surprised him with this piece of information.

"Park? Why is he on this? ", he asked with a frown

"Maybe because his daughter is the one who got a bullet? His anger is quite a help... and I am planning to tell him everything... ",

"No! You can't do that! It's risky... ", he warned him, Doyoung doesn't want Park involved in this in any form, it will only give him more motives to bring him down.

Jungkook scoffed, "For whom? The lies are the ones that caused all these problems... You should have been honest from the beginning... Nothing from this would have happened if you told the truth from the start... Maybe only,  the fact that you would not have been the king... But don't worry,  I will fix it... "

"What and how will you fix it?"

"That's not the right question now. .. the real one is, where were you two when all this mess happened? What more important things did you two have?", he was disappointed, when he needed their support they were God knows where.

Both Doyoung and Sejeong stiffened, they didn't know what to answer, and more importantly, what did he know, since Jungkook is always full of surprises.

They got saved by a breathy Mingyu who meddled in their conversation.

"We lost him, he shot from the crowd...  There were too many people and panic created an advantage for him... I am sorry Your Highness... I failed again ", he said disappointed in himself, he even tried to avoid Jungkook's eyes.

But Jungkook somehow expected that, so he took the only right decision he found, "Mingyu I want you to give Mr. Park every single piece of information we have about them..."

§

Exhausted, Jungkook closed the bedroom door and with heavy steps walked to the bed where Chaeyoung was sleeping. She was like his remedy.

Jungkook lay down beside her, bringing his face down to the same level as her own. Slowly, he reached out his hand to her and locked their hands into a closed fist. Chaeyoung stirred in her sleep, waking up, and Jungkook felt guilty for ruining her much-deserved sleep.

Slowly she opened her eyes to meet his concerned ones.

"How are you feeling?", he asked right away, 

"I am fine...", she said in her sleepy voice, she maintained eye contact with him.

"Why did you do that?", he asked in a whisper, enough for her to hear, his eyebrows forming a knot

"I don't know... It was like a vision... Like something was telling me to do it, not to be afraid... and I listened..." she explained as best she could, though what she was feeling was inexplicable and more complicated to recount in simple words.

"Don't do it ever again... I thought I lost you... ", he pleaded to her, he won't be able to go through this again.  He is the one who should protect her and not the other way around.

"You didn't... I am totally fine...  I have always thought that it's a myth that the soulmate bond can heal... I am glad that I was wrong...", she giggled at her somehow stupidity.

"Chaeyoung let's have our honeymoon...", he said out of nowhere

"In the middle of an attempt? Do you want to make it easy for them?", She shifted away a little to get a better look at him, searching his facial expressions to understand if he was serious now.

"I just want to be with you... We can run without anyone noticing... Just two of us on an island where no one will disturb us...", he moved closer, his hands holding hers more firmly as he explained his motive and his wish

"I can't... I...", but she sits up on the bed breaking the hold of his hands and avoiding his eyes, his black and dreamy eyes.

"God, Chaeyoung! What is holding you back? Why can't you let me in? I know you feel the same as me, so why?", he didn't allow her to hide herself, he turned her to him making her face him.

"Because I don't know with whom I fell in love with! You or the person who you pretended to be...", she said it in a higher tone at first, her voice lowering to the end of her words. Words that represent her shameful truth, and her confusion.

"How many times should I tell you that I never pretended when I was with you?..  You don't know him Chaeyoung... My brother is nothing from what you think he is...", his orbs were running after hers that tried to hide from his gases. She was silent and was only biting her lips.

"All this time it was me, the real me! The flirty and funny one. The one who is not afraid to say that he loves you... and it hurts, that you, my soulmate, don't believe me...", he sounded mad and his voice almost broke.

Chaeyoung felt her heart clenching but didn't respond, torturing both of them. Defeated by her silence and unwillingness to hear him, he took a pillow and started to walk away...

"Where are you going?", she asked as she saw him leaving her alone on the bed

"I'll sleep on the couch...", he said coldly as he threw the pillow on the couch.  He was mad but still cared about her not leaving her alone in the bedroom.

Chaeyoung watched as he curled up on the couch and covered himself with a blanket, his back to her. She couldn't fall asleep, all she did was stare at his sleeping figure, unable to muster up the courage to ask him to come to bed...

§

"I thought that I hired the best, but your people keep failing... Wasn't I clear that he should be dead?", In a darkroom characteristic of all villains, an angered man was shouting at his so-called "worker", who disappointed him once again.

"How could we know that she'll cover him... ", it was a ridiculous attempt to justify their failure.

He looked at his lowered head and thought for a moment about something he had recently seen.

"I have another job for your men and they better succeed... "

Another chapter is here!

Thank you all so much for reading!!!