FOOLS

Chapter 21

Namjoon sped through the dark of night, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. In the passenger seat, Hoseok was warming up his knuckles and preparing his gun. He never thought going to confront Namjoon tonight would lead to this life or death chase to get to his brother. But he was almost glad, he was getting bored of the missions given by the police chief. On the other hand, Namjoon was a worried mess. Jungkook's tone was urgent and he could tell that the boy was injured. The phone hung up before he got the location but luckily, Namjoon figured out a way to pinpoint where Jungkook was.

As soon as they got to the place on the map, they ran out of the car. Namjoon ran ahead to find Jungkook while Hoseok stayed close behind to scope out the place. The first thing he noticed was how deserted the street was and the lack of light. It was the perfect setting for an ambush.

The signal on the map disappeared, meaning either Jungkook was out of range or his phone was dead. Namjoon didn't want to think of other possibilities. He ran, checking every alleyway and corridor. Up ahead, he could hear a crowd of footsteps running towards him. His hand was already on his gun, finger gliding over the trigger. Behind him, Hoseok was backing up, their backs touching.

"I think we have unwanted visitors." Hoseok said.

"I think we're the ones unwanted, hyung." Namjoon replied. Both of them had their weapons ready and feet angled to run into the chaos. But before they could lift off, a pair of arms pulled them further back into the velvet darkness. Hoseok reacted first and twisted the arm, and the stranger let out a groan. "Hyung, let go, it's Jungkook!" Namjoon whispered yelled. On command, Hoseok let go of the stranger's arm and took a step back.

"Sorry, but it's not my fault. Don't ever sneak up on a sniper." he warned. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the dark and to see Jungkook clutching his body against the wall. Namjoon saw hints of bruises and blood. He didn't gasp, but he was visibly worried. He went over to his brother and grazed the bruise on his cheek.

"What happened?" Namjoon asked, a mixture of tenderness and sternness.

"One of my men turned on me. I don't know who the others were, but they all wanted to take me somewhere, dead or alive. I outran them for a bit, but they caught up and did a number on me. I managed to hide here for a while." Jungkook explained.

"We need to get your out of here." Namjoon insisted. "And somewhere safe. I'm certain a specific man is behind all of this."

"You think your father did this?" Hoseok asked.

"It seems like it's his trademark to get rid of things that are inconvenient for him." Namjoon stated. Jungkook stayed silent but even he knew this was true.

"Hyung, we have to go back to my house."

"Now isn't the time to worry about your possession, Jungkook." Namjoon returned in annoyance.

"No, no, it's not that. Ajumma is there, I'm worried they might get her." he pleaded. Hoseok was taken aback. Firstly, he had not expected to come face to face with Adelfós and to find out he was just a young boy was even more awes trucking. He had also not expected him to care about anyone but himself, but just like Namjoon had describe him, the boy cares about the people he meets. It was just unfortunate that he got into the wrong profession.

"Shit," Namjoon mumbled. It would be dangerous for all of them to travel together and he doubt that his place would be any safe. His eyes wandered to Hoseok standing defensively close to Jungkook. "Hyung," he spoke up. "Do me a favor."

Hoseok, knowing exactly what Namjoon was going to ask him, put Jungkook's arm around his shoulder. The boy flinched a little, but Hoseok had already wrapped his arms protectively around Jungkook's frail body. "Call me if anything happens." Namjoon nodded, then opened his mouth to say something, but something was holding him back. Hoseok sensed the reservation. "I'll take care of him, I promised."

Namjoon turned his attention to his brother, "I'll go to your house to get her. Stay with Hoseok in the meantime, alright?"

"But hyung," he began protesting.

"I'll be okay. We need to get ajumma to safety." With that, he left. The two remaining men didn't share a word with each other as they sped walk down the street. Since Hoseok didn't bring his car, he hailed the nearest cop car he could. And also since he was a higher up, no one dared to question why he was with an injure man.

"Thank you," Jungkook finally said as Hoseok laid him down on the couch. He returned from the kitchen with a first aid kit.

"No problem. But don't think I'm doing this for you. You're only alive because Namjoon trusts you and I trust Namjoon." Hoseok answered flatly. Jungkook admired his straightforwardness. He wasn't used to getting that with his men. They kept their voices low because they feared for their lives.

"You really hate me, don't you?" Jungkook asked.

"Well you haven't given me a reason to not." Hoseok answered, then he sighed and threw his head back. "I still can't believe I'm doing this. Helping my best friend by helping my enemy."

"Wait, how did you find out in the first place? Namjoon hyung said he would keep it a secret."

"And he did a really good job of it. He just forgets that he trained us to notice everything and eventually we saw his erratic behavior. But then tonight I caught him secretly investigating his father, well, I guess your father too."

"Oh, I see." Jungkook replied in confusion. It wasn't part of the plan to investigate their father and if it was, Namjoon should have told him since they were a team.

"I'm sorry, again, about your mom."

"It's okay, it was long ago." Jungkook was even more confused now. He thought Hoseok was simply trying to connect but why bring up his mother.

"I can't believe that man would do something like murder."

That caught Jungkook's ears right away. "What did you just say?"

Hoseok raised an eyebrow, "You didn't know? Shit, I don't think I was supposed to say that." After he realized how fucked he was, Hoseok threw his body weight on Jungkook to keep the boy from running off to kill his father.