A Desire for the Moon

30

The footsteps were heavy. The hospital's hallway seemed extra long. The breath was shallow as Seokjin almost sprinted towards the operation theatre. Yoongi was already there, waiting for him to arrive.

"Where is he?" The first question that left Seokjin's mouth as soon as he saw Yoongi.

"They are operating on him."

Seokjin tilted his head and looked around. Jimin was sitting on the hospital chair with Taehyung by his side. "Did he sign the papers?"

Yoongi shook his head, "He wasn't listed as the official guardian."

"Huh?" Seokjin was a little confused.

Yoongi nodded, "Legally, it's someone named Mark Hughs."

Seokjin chewed his inner cheek. Mark Hughs was one of the ten members. Second-in-command, to be exact. Born in the United Kingdom, and was wrongfully blamed for killing one of the ministers. He must be in the empire if Namjoon is already in the operation theatre. But how did he sign the papers so effortlessly? 

That meant all of them were in the empire. 

Seokjin's gaze instinctively went to Jimin.

They are living a good life now.

I have proven to be a bad leader once, I don't think I can do it again.

With a huge gulp, Seokjin turned his gaze toward Jungkook. Jungkook immediately understood that Seokjin knew everything. He looked away in guilt. Seokjin was about to comment something sarcastically, but he stopped when he saw two boys standing behind him, fidgeting among themselves.

A lot of things were going through Seokjin's brain. A lot of emotions to process and a lot of questions. He needed to act carefully. Namjoon's group was in the empire. One wrong move would cause them all to repeat the things that happened five years ago. Seokjin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes when he heard OT doors open. A doctor came out of the room, taking off his gloves and the scrub. He looked tired. It must have been a long surgery. He bowed to Seokjin, "He is out of danger. He will take a day or two to get his conscience back. There were a lot of internal injuries and external wounds. Two were very critical. I will send the complete report to you in a few hours."

Seokjin nodded.

There were no tears in his eyes. His brain processed everything that the doctor said. He felt numb all over. Seokjin patted the doctor's shoulder, "Thank you." He turned to Jungkook, "I want everyone in my study in an hour. And I mean everyone."

Yoongi and Hoseok followed Seokjin as he left the hospital. As opposed to everyone, they were not shocked by Seokjin's behaviour. They had seen Seokjin act like a leader before. It's not that he was heartless. He was just better at switching off his emotions when needed. The only thing that they never figured out was how he processed those emotions.

~

Seokjin never thought his study could look so congested. 9 people were standing in front of him. Yoongi and Hoseok stood behind him, shocked to see all of them alive and in front of them. Their gaze switched between the group and among themselves. Seokjin looked over his shoulder, "Namjoon had already introduced me to the twins. I knew about this when we were in the village." He left the details for later. Seokjin scanned the room before speaking, "I didn't think you guys would show up."

Mark shrugged, "We had a  discussion."

"What if this is a trap?" One of them objected as Jungkook told them about Seokjin's order.

"He told us he would not do anything," JJ argued back.

There was a sigh, "But that was then and now is different."