Roulette ♧ 엑소

t h i r t y

$ t h i r t y $

Mitsuki had been in Japan for a few days when she tried to talk to her husband. But the door to their bedroom was locked. She tried to coax him into opening the door, but when nothing else worked, she resorted to her experience picking locks to get the door open. It was easy for her and she was able to unlock it with a hair pin. He had seen it coming, knowing her as he knew her. But he had no time to stop her as she entered the room.

"We have to talk, Shin." She said to him with a sigh. As she entered the room, she shut the door behind herself and let it lock with a click. She had also gone as far as to stand in front of the door to prevent him from making his escape.

Her husband was sitting on the edge of their bed, gaze fixed on something on his cellphone. According to her brother Takuya, he had all of her belongings and every trace of her thrown out. But the second in command knew that the leader still had pictures of her in his cellphone that he looked at all the time. Of the late, he had semi gotten back to his duties as leader of their gang. But whenever he could, he'd slip away somewhere private and relive their memories with a sad sigh. He still loved Mitsuki, but he no longer wanted her by his side if she didn't love him.

Shin looked up at her from his cellphone screen and she saw the red and puffiness in his eyes. Mitsuki felt her heart ache for him. She knew exactly how he felt. But she owed Shin so much. He had married her when she was the laughing stock of their friends and family, even though he wasn't in love with her. He had done it for Takuya, and he had done it for her.

When he fell in love with her, he didn't care that she loved someone else. He loved her that much more, he loved her for the two of them. And he had been understanding when he had talked to her about starting a family and Mitsuki told him that she wasn't yet ready. He was patient, and he was kind, and she thought he deserved so much better than her. But Mitsuki did love him. She wanted to make him happy, to see him smile every day, and to know that he was well. She knew that was love too.

If she already loved him, she knew she could fall in love with him too.

"What do you want?" He asked her, his voice cracked slightly and he recovered by pretending to clear his throat. Even after everything, there was more hurt than resentment in his words.

"I want you to forgive me." She said in a voice barely above a whisper.

She felt ashamed, and she knew the last thing she had the right to do was to ask for his forgiveness after helping his enemies escape and admitting that she was in love with her former boyfriend. But she still didn't regret helping Yifan and the Coven. What she regretted was leaving her husband alone.

Shin refused to look at her because he was convinced that if he did, he would let her into his arms and he would forget everything. He would tell her that everything was forgiven and that there was nothing to be sad about between them. But he didn't feel like they were ready for that yet. "Didn't your brother tell you? I will forgive, but I'll never forget. I think we should spend some time apart from each other and then see if we want to continue married." His words caused a prick in her chest, and she felt selfish. Her mind told her that since it hadn't worked with Yifan, she was running back to her husband.

But it wasn't exactly that way. From the very first moment that he kicked her out of the house she missed him and her family. She always wanted to return.

"If you really feel that way, I will respect your decision." She said, lowering her head for a second. But steeling herself, she suddenly added, "But I want you to look at me and say that, Shin. Look at me and say that you don't want me anymore. Please don't hide from me."

-

As the deadline for Iva Fu's murder approached, Yifan had continued in constant contact with Jian. The business man had kept up the lie about how they had been attacked and his wife kidnapped, and that there was a ransom on her life. He had decided not to get the police involved, but word had gotten out since he was an important business man and his wife was a descendant of the Romanov royal family in Russia. The police had almost interfered with their plans when they checked the security tapes and had caught a glimpse of the van in which they had been taken. But the Coven was smart about it, and the police had turned up with empty leads.

That morning, Yifan had thought to send Tao on many errands so that he wouldn't try to stop them from killing the Russian girl in their basement. But Tao had other plans. He had left the house, and hidden the keys to the basement to buy himself some time.

He returned quickly with a body bag containing a corpse in the back of his truck. He had connections with someone who worked in a morgue and had gotten a girl with Iva's physical description and age range. When he returned, dragging the black bag into the house, he was met with his leader who was fuming. "I told you not to get attached to her." He growled in annoyance. Then he barked an order at him. "Give me the keys to the basement. We need that money and I'll have to kill her myself since I know you won't do it."

Tao gave a shake of his head, refusing to hand over the keys until he could offer his proposal to Yifan. "I found a dead girl we can pass off as Iva. Her husband will never know the difference."

"For fucks sake, Tao. Let it go." Yifan demanded.

But the youngest of his pack would not budge. "We can't let her die. She's innocent. How would you feel if you were in my shoes? How would you feel if this was Ciel's life on the line?" 

His words managed to strike a chord with Yifan. He didn't even want to imagine something like that happening to Ciel. He felt for Tao. When he had finally found someone he liked, she had been sent off to die. It took him a moment, but he had finally given in. "You're sure you can convince them that the person in that body bag is Iva Fu?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at Tao questioningly.

Tao gave a nod of his head. "I promise, duizhang."

"Okay, fine." Yifan dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "I'm gonna trust you with this. Don't let me down."

Tao was grateful that his leader had done this for him, and he gave him a grateful hug. When he pulled away, he went to call Fu Jian so that they could meet up at a place for Tao to deliver the body. The lookalike had died of a drug oversode, but Tao planned to put a bullet to her head in an attempt to make things look convincing. But he thought that Fu Jian wouldn't care too much about it, as long as he had a body to bury. 

Next he would need to tell Iva the truth, and if she decided to stay with them, they would need to give her a new name, and a new identity.

-

tao going through all this trouble for iva. he likes her and he doesn't want to admit it. how cute. also i agree with him that iva is innocent and doesn't deserve to die. if anything her husband should die. but he needs to live for now because he will still be relevant to the story.

please stay tuned for more updates. we are almost nearing the middle of the story and its going to start to getdramatic.

thank you all for reading and supporting. have a wonderful day.

-clary