BETWEENUS//taekook//vkook // Yoonmin

PART 28

In the middle of the night, Taehyung couldn't sleep. He flipped through his notebook, the pages filled with memories and thoughts, until he stumbled upon a familiar phone number he had long deleted from his phone. A mix of nostalgia and curiosity washed over him.

After a moment of hesitation, he decided to call it.

He pressed the dial button, his heart racing as the phone rang.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

No answer.

He sighed, feeling a twinge of disappointment. Just as he was about to hang up, he decided to try one more time.

On the fourth ring, he heard a click, and a voice came through, slightly groggy.

"Hello?"

Taehyung's breath caught in his throat. "Is this... is this you?"

There was a pause on the other end, and he could almost hear the gears turning in the person's mind.

"Who is this?"

"It's Taehyung," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "I know it’s been a while."

The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken words and memories.

The voice on the other end was laced with a mix of annoyance and hurt. "What do you want, Taehyung? You refuse to marry me, and now you're calling me in the middle of the night?"

Taehyung felt a pang of regret at the reminder of their past. "Stop joking. I have a job for you. By the way, where are you? It's been a while."

There was a brief pause before the person replied, their tone sharper now. "Well, I went out of the country since you refuse to marry me."

Taehyung ran a hand through his hair, frustration bubbling beneath the surface. "I didn’t call to discuss that. I need your help with something important. Can we put the past aside for just a moment?"

The other person sighed, the tension palpable even through the phone. "What is it, Taehyung? You know I’m not just going to drop everything for you after how things ended."

"I know," he said, his voice softening. "But this is serious. I wouldn’t reach out if it wasn’t. Can we at least talk about it?"

There was another pause, and Taehyung could almost hear the wheels turning in their mind. Finally, they replied, "Fine. What do you need?"

The person sighed, clearly wanting to end the conversation. "Now tell me the job; I need to go back to sleep."

Taehyung pressed on, "But you didn’t tell me where you are."

"I'm in New Zealand, but I’ll be back in South Korea soon," the person replied, impatience creeping into his voice.

Taehyung took a deep breath, urgency in his tone. "The job is... okay, there’s someone who’s trying to come between me and Jungkook. He wants to separate us. I need you to come and keep him away from Jungkook."

Silence hung in the air for a moment, the weight of his request settling between them.

________

"Shit, here we go again," the person on the other call muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "You really think I can just drop everything and fly halfway across the world?"

Taehyung's voice was steady, but there was an edge of desperation. "I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t serious. This guy is relentless, and Jungkook doesn’t see it coming. I need you to help me."