Billionaire's Bargain || Kim Taehyung

Shackles

He was in no mood to socialize. He had had an extremely tiring day and all he wanted to do was sleep. Taehyung's phone hummed in vibration for the third time in a row; the first two of which he had ignored gracefully. Muttering a string of curses, he grimly picked up the call.

"Who is this?" He seethed through his gritted teeth.

The other end replied with a voice all too familiar to him. He suddenly sat upright on his bed, momentarily forgetting his weariness. The voice merely uttered three words. But those three words were enough to shake Taehyung to the core. His fingers shivered a little as he realised how shockingly powerful words can be. The call had already skipped to a monotonous long beep indicating that it was disconnected but he held on to it; it was the only thing going steady in his life.

***

Kira slammed the laptop shut, desperate not to give her email inbox another chance to distract her with a chiming notification. She'd promised her roommates that she'd steady her sleep schedule and she intended to keep it. Not surprisingly, her body was already under protest by being too weak for her liking. She'd even fainted once, earning her an hour-long lecture from Hoseok on the importance of taking care of herself (he'd even prepared a set of graphic slides to 'attract her attention'-oh! the embarrassment).

She quickly brushed over her closing routines and jabbed at the elevator button. Kira cursed under her breath as her watch read an unfavourable time. She was late. As usual. The heels of her boots clattered noisily on the cemented floor of the basement. She mentally reminded herself to thank Jin later on for forcing her to take the car, for she was sure that no public transports would show mercy on her at this time of the hour.

She took her key out and pressed a button, prompting the car to greet her with a loud double succession of beeps from the far corner of the parking lot. She quickened her footstep but abruptly stopped as she heard a pair that wasn't her own. Considering it a part of her weird imagination; she continued, not bothering to stop. Another clank resonated across the empty lot, effectively grabbing her attention. She tucked the phone into her pocket and readied herself for any surprises that might come her way. She cautiously stepped her way forward, careful not to make too much noise. She heard it again; the unmistakable sound of another human. This piqued her interest.

She whipped her head back just in time to see a hooded figure scurry into the cover of a pillar. Her body was alert and her heart sped fast in anticipation. Her first instinct was to run, get to the car and avoid conflict as much as possible. As she started sprinting, she saw another hooded figure emerging towards her. She halted in her tracks and swiftly looked back to see the body from before walking towards her, trapping her between the two of them.

Without another thought, she made a beeline to the visible exit. The figures whom she now realised were men caught up to her and she felt a strong arm gripping her shoulders. She grabbed it and did a semi spin, twisting his arm in the process.