FOOLS

Chapter 12

A man bumped into Hoseok, who steadied his gaze up ahead and hadn't felt the impact. The man mumbled an apology and kept walking, thinking to himself how strange the young man had looked. His face that of a Greek statue, marvelous yet frozen in some time. Hoseok continued his steps, walking aimlessly to the station. He hadn't slept at all last night. The image of Namjoon covering the mafia leader's body was something that he couldn't run away from. Something was wrong.

After pulling the trigger, the two of them ran too fast for Hoseok to catch up. He didn't know why he didn't report this to the rest of the team. He told himself that if Namjoon isn't in his office on time, then he'll say something. A part of him wanted to give Namjoon the benefit of the doubt, surely his eyes deceived him because his best friend would never. That's it, he declared, he saw it wrong and he would ask Namjoon for an explanation. Even though his heart was made up, there was a grumpy voice inside his head, probably Yoongi's, telling him he was being too naive.

To his horror and dismay, the chair in Namjoon's office was cold and empty. And to think Hoseok had purposely dragged his feet the entire time to get there. He wasn't alone. The rest of the boys had already gathered in their places, Jimin and Seokjin on the sofa while Yoongi laid flat on the couch. Taehyung was by the whiteboard, tracing the red lines with his fingers as if he could sense the movement and conversations by the touch.

They all glanced over at Hoseok, like trained puppies, awaiting for their next command. Hoseok shook his head and went to his seat. "He's never late." Jimin said.

"We shouldn't have let him gone there last night without any protection." Seokjin balled up his fists and sighed. Hoseok turned his back towards them so they couldn't see his face, it would reveal that he's holding a secret. The downside of working so closely to the boys is that they see through the lies and the bullshit.

"We should go get him then. He might need our help." Taehyung said with concerned, he never liked it when any of his hyungs get hurt. They were extensions of him, he felt their pain as well.

"We don't even know where he is," Yoongi stated. The room then fell silent because he was correct, as usual. "Give him a few more minutes, he might have misplaced his car again." He continued in hopes of lighting the mood of the room a little bit to no prevail. They still had on gloomy faces.

"Hoseok, you're awfully quiet today." Seokjin suddenly said. It made the younger one jump. HIs neck tensed as he debated if he should dash out of the room or not, but Jimin or Taehyung would surely catch up, they're better in combat than the rest of the group. Fuck it, he thought, he had to tell them.

"Listen, there's something you should-"

Just then, as if a gift sent from God, the door to the room flung open. But the disappointment continued, it was not their leader. It was one of the police interns, and he did not look okay. "Sir," he exclaimed, addressing Hoseok who's in command in cases where Namjoon wasn't present. "You need to come see this, all of you." Before the boy could finish his sentence, the team had already jumped to their feet and ran out the door. They followed the sound of commotions to the front gate. Hoseok's heart stopped.

It was their leader, his best friend, but he wasn't standing tall and strong like usual. He wasn't even conscious. Namjoon was chained to one of the pillars by the gate, mouth gagged. He was still in his suit from yesterday, and there were stains of what Hoseok could only assumed to be blood. Even from afar, he could see his bruised eye. "Oh my god," Jimin whispered. All of them ran with all their might, as if reaching him would somehow make the pain hurt less. Taehyung was the first one to reach him, and desperately tried to rip the chain out. Instead of telling him to stop, everyone decided to join in. Something struck their heart, the sight of not just their leader hurting, but their closest friend and brother. Jimin was on the verge of tears and Yoongi had what looked like fear.

Luckily, the chain was locked, it was simply tied. But that raised the question of who could have done this in such a short amount of time. Hoseok ignored the thought at the moment, "Some call an ambulance!" he yelled, "Call the fucken ambulance, now!" The chain fell harshly on the ground and Namjoon's frail body fumble forward. Seokjin managed to catch him on time.

"I'll kill whoever did this to him." Yoongi growled.

"We know exactly who did this." said Taehyung.

"Adelfós." Hoseok looked at the street, almost envisioning the path that the car took, the car that carried the man who will pay for everything he has done.

***

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to keep the boys back at the office, but Hoseok didn't want a large group of detectives to disturb the place. So he put Seokjin in charge. As Hoseok got off the phone with Seokjin, the doctor exited the room. He quickly shuffled his feet to reach the older gentleman. "How is he, doctor?"

"He just woke up and told me his head hurts. His body is physically fine, just a little beaten. He just needs to rest for a day or so." Hoseok bowed to the man and quickly yet quietly opened the door. Namjoon was changed into the white hospital gown and his head wrapped in white bandage. Hoseok had seen this once before, it was their first mission together and Namjoon wanted to show off. He ended up with a concussion and his new leather jacket in utter ruins.

Namjoon knew he only had a few seconds before Hoseok starts questioning him, and he believes he's ready. "Before you ask, I feel fine." he told the man walking closer to his side. "It's like that time you ruined my leather jacket."

Hoseok scoffed. "Me? You were the one that thought you could jump off that building. You're lucky you didn't break everything."

"Well, I didn't want to embarrass myself by not doing it."

"If you weren't our leader, I would kick you right now."

"You do that anyways regardless of my rank."

"But really, are you okay? I mean, what happened? You blocked my bullet. Why would you do that?"

Namjoon exhaled, here goes the acting he tried learning from Seokjin. "He revealed himself to me, I'm not sure why. Maybe he was taunting me. But he knew you were there, hyung, before you pulled the trigger. And if I hadn't pulled him away, he would have signaled to his men to take you out. After that, he dragged me somewhere and gassed me, I passed out immediately. I guess the bruised eyes came from when I struggled this morning. And then I ended up at the gate."

Hoseok nodded at the story, unsure if he should believe it but there was no reason for Namjoon to lie, right? "So you didn't see anything else?"

"No."

Hoseok cracked his neck, "Alright. I'll stop with the interrogation. Just get some rest." The younger one complied and laid back down, closing his eyes. Internally cheering that he passed the test. Hoseok said he would come back tomorrow with the boys and left. It didn't make him feel better, he only had more questions. A conversation took place between Namjoon and Adelfós, hence the look of shock on Namjoon's face. And when the bullet grazed his arm, Namjoon wasn't glad, he was terrified. And it was certainly not for Hoseok's life.