Silence & Chaos | Kim Jungwoo

Chapter 15 - Rallentando

"You brought Sunhee?!" Yuta whisper-yelled at Jungwoo, who was rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort.

"I'm not allowed to leave her, Yuta." His calm demeanor sported an argumentative spirit. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Not take her to the danger?" His voice began to raise, causing Taeil to reach out and hold his arm in a warning.

Thankfully, Taeil swooped in as the voice of reason. "There's not much we can do about it now, except make sure she's safe. We haven't heard back from Kun or Sicheng yet, so we can't be sure if it's clear. We thought there were more of them, but they might have fled when Yuta shot at them."

"I didn't even manage to hit any of them," Discouraged, Yuta regretfully thought about how it'd be if he managed to shoot a Rogue member in the leg. Oh how he would have been praised for bringing in a subject to question.

Taeil looked down at Jungwoo in disappointment. "If we really were in need of more backup, you'd be shot or dead by now, Jungwoo," The man's eyes made contact with Sunhee's figure standing next to Jungwoo, "Probably you as well, Sunhee."

Her head hung low at the grim thought. Unable to shake the feeling, she buried her face into the top of Jungwoo's shoulder.

He was hesitant to wrap his arms around her because of his hawk-eyed coworkers standing right in front of them. However when Sunhee's grip on his torso tightened, he gave into the need to comfort her. One arm draped over her shoulders, and the other smoothed her hair.

The way Yuta and Taeil both were glaring at him made him feel sheepish and ashamed. His head dipped to whisper in Sunhee's ear, "Can you wait in the car for a little bit?"

Sunhee stayed suctioned to him for a few moments longer before nodding slowly and peeling herself away from him.

Jungwoo watched intently how her form waddled back to his vehicle. Until she was safely shut inside, he didn't move his eyes from her.

"You could have just ruined the whole case, Kim Jungwoo." Taeil stepped forward, now that there was privacy to talk. "She's the most crucial part of finding these guys. She's the final cornerstone to this whole thing. You could have been the reason she would have been kidnapped, or killed... or worse."

That made Jungwoo's stomach churn. He put her in so much danger, and only got lucky that nothing had happened to her.

Then the realization struck him. It wasn't entirely his fault

"Taeil, I'm not allowed to leave her alone. If Lucas wasn't picking up your calls, there's no reason why he would have answered mine. I couldn't have dropped her off anywhere that wouldn't have risked taking too long to get here. What did you expect me to do, Taeil? I did my best with what options I had."

Standing up for himself felt good when he was in the right to do so.

This time Yuta spoke, with the same chiding tone that his partner displayed. "Then you you should have hid her better."

Jungwoo's jaw went slack and hung open in disbelief. They weren't listening to him. He became exasperated and just sighed in frustration because he didn't want to fight with them.

Waiting in silence for even just a few seconds allowed Jungwoo to convince himself that he was once again being wronged, but before he could voice it, a set of footsteps rang from behind the car. Now all three men at least had their hands on their firearm.

"Hey now, let's not start turning on each other," Kun's head popped into view, followed by Sicheng's. They strolled leisurely around the vehicle as if the situation they'd just been in hadn't existed.