Stuck With You [Taekook ff]

38 | No Matter the Cost

∗⋅◈⋅∗

Jungkook had managed to escape
Washington, D.C., slipping away from the eyes that always seemed to be watching him. The city that brought him joy because of Taehyung had become a prison, each shadow a potential threat, each passerby a possible enemy. Not just an enemy of his, but of Taehyung'a as well. He had dragged his Vegas husband into all of this, putting his life at risk. So, he had to get out. And it was for the best because maybe New York City was the only place he could think of, the only place that might hold answers to why he was being followed and why his parents were killed.

It was a gamble, but he didn't have a choice. The perpetrators who had killed his parents were still out there, and he had a feeling the men trailing him were working for the same murderers, or at least with them.

The journey back to New York was a blur of anxiety and paranoia. He switched buses, changed clothes, and avoided cameras, but he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was always just a step behind him. When he finally arrived, the city felt both familiar and alien. The towering buildings and bustling streets offered a strange kind of anonymity, but he knew better than to let his guard down. He had to keep moving, keep searching.

Jungkook had arrived in the city the night before. He had received some direction as to where to head next: a field of dandelions. There was only one place he could think of with that description. He grabbed an Uber to take him most of the way. Then he got out at a gas station to walk the rest of the two miles to the spot. 

His feet carried him to a place he hadn't planned to ever come back to, a place from his past. The field of dandelions stretched out before him, a sea of white, mixed with a little touch of pale yellow that swayed gently in the breeze. It was an almost magical sight, one that stirred memories he thought he had buried. Jungkook had come here often as a child, sometimes with his parents, sometimes alone, well except for with his nanny. After all, this was her house. It had always been a place of peace for him, a refuge from the chaos of the world.

For a moment, he let himself feel at ease. He closed his eyes and let the memories wash over him-his nanny's laughter as she chased him through the field, her steady presence beside him, the warmth of the sun on his face. The weight of the last few weeks seemed to lift, and for just a moment, he was free.

But then reality came crashing back. His parents were gone, murdered in cold blood. And he'd had to leave the one person he could interact with that was in his corner. He thought of Taehyung and sighed.

Jungkook had to face facts. He was being hunted, and he had no time to lose. Jungkook's eyes snapped open. He hadn't come here by accident. He was searching for something—anything—that could help him make sense of the predicament he found himself in.

There had to be a clue here, something his parents had left behind.

He walked through the field, his eyes scanning the landscape for anything out of place, ready to pull his gun at any time. Eventually, his gaze settled on the old house at the edge of the field. It had been abandoned for a while, but it was a place he knew well.

Jungkook made his way to the house, his heart pounding in his chest. The door creaked as he pushed it open, and the inside was just as he remembered—hardwood floors, marble countertops in the kitchen, a whole transitional design to the interior.

The staircase was not grand and it didn't add to the decor as the hardwood was the same as the other flooring in the open space, only adding cohesiveness. He looked around the familiar space and he spotted a wall full of pictures. They hung on the wall in the stairwell.

There were some there from when Jungkook was little. He smiled. He wasn't surprised that his nanny kept pictures of him.

As his hands ran over the dusty frames his eyes scanned across a group of pictures of a man and a woman, possibly a married couple. The photos were a depiction of the lovebirds from their wedding up to when they had their first child, Jungkook deduced. He saw no other pictures of the couple holding another baby. They looked happy. He assumed the young people were probably his nanny's family members.