Veiled Intrigues | Taehyun

n i n e t e e n

She woke to the sensation of a scratchy, rough surface beneath her back. As her eyes fluttered open, she blinked repeatedly to dispel the remnants of sleep, finding herself staring at the weathered wooden beams of a ceiling above. The air was thick with the musty scent of aged wood and dust, mingled with a faint trace of antiseptic.

Haneul shifted slightly, immediately wincing at the sharp pain that lanced up through her thigh. She glanced down to see that her pant leg had been cut off just above the gunshot wound, which had now been bandaged with more care than the hurried job in the car.

"Ow. Kai! I swear. How long have you been doing this first aid thing? Can you not be any gentler??"

The sound of Taehyun's voice, tinged with irritation, drew her attention. She turned her head towards the source, her eyes squinting against the harsh light streaming through a door that was slightly ajar. Through the gap, she could make out the shadows of what she assumed were Taehyun and Kai, their silhouettes bathed in the warm glow of the late afternoon sun.

Despite the wooziness that clouded her mind, Haneul managed to push herself into a sitting position, biting back a groan of pain. She realised that she was lying on an old, worn-out couch, its springs creaking in protest as she moved. To her right, on a rickety coffee table beside the arm of the couch, she spotted the burner phone that Yeonjun had given her.

The voices of Taehyun and Kai in the other room were a low murmur, just barely audible. They hadn't noticed that she was awake yet, and she intended to keep it that way. The gravity of her situation weighed heavily on her. Here she was, in the company of the very people she had been assigned to capture.

Granted, everything about that plan had fallen through, but it still felt off. Everything she had believed about her mission, everything Mr. Choi had told her, now seemed like a web of lies. Returning to the estate was no longer an option; she knew that they would kill her for consorting with the thief who had 'killed the big boss's son'.

Thinking of Beomgyu made her sit up slightly straighter. Her priority now was to contact Yeonjun, get out of this place, and rendezvous with Beomgyu to help rescue Miyeon from the estate. Moving as quietly as possible, she scooted closer to the coffee table, reaching out for the burner phone. Her fingers had barely brushed the device when a voice, smooth and mocking, cut through the air.

"Going somewhere, darling?"

Startled, Haneul looked up to see Taehyun standing in the doorway. He presented a striking figure, despite his dishevelled appearance. A white medical patch covered one eye, and a freshly treated cut ran across his cheek, held together by neat rows of steri-strips. His torso was bare, revealing a sinewy, muscular frame marred by bruises and wrapped tightly with slightly bloodstained bandages around his ribs, evidence of the violence he had recently endured.