Everybody Wants to Rule the World

29

Trigger Warning(s): none

100 Ways by Jackson Wang

~ Jimin's Point of View ~

01:08, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2026 (2 DAYS LATER). BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA.

"Jiminie!"

When I opened the door, Anesa had been laying on top of the covers of our lavish bed, staring at the ceiling and mumbling to herself. But the sound of the door clicking redirected her attention, and her lips curved into a bright smile that I struggled to reciprocate. She rolled off the bed and ran across the room to throw herself into my arms. For a few moments, it was easy to forget what I had done – what she had done – and I fell in love with her all over again. I wanted to hold her forever, to bury my face in her neck and inhale the floral scent of her shampoo for the rest of my days. I loved feeling her hands caress the back of my neck and run through my hair while she pulled back only to draw me into a deep kiss.

God, the feeling of her lips...

I suddenly remembered the situation, but she was kissing up my neck and pulling me towards the bed. "I've missed you," she murmured, falling back onto the soft duvet, tugging me down with her.

"You don't... know what happened?" She didn't seem to realize how distracted I was. Despite always struggling to recognize facial expressions or tone of voice, this was odd, even for her.

"Of course, I do." That made me stiffen. "Why are you so worried, Jiminie? I'm not mad." She smiled and dropped her head to the bed, exposing the length of her neck. Careful not to make my behavior too much of a disparity, I bent down and drew long, open-mouthed kisses up her neck, tracing her jawline with my tongue. She arched into my mouth and let out a deep sigh, but I couldn't find any happiness in pleasuring her, not after fully understanding the extent of what she had done. Even though I was trying to conceal my emotions, when I stopped kissing her neck, she began to realize that something was off with me.

"There's something more, isn't there?" she asked, reaching up to fiddle with my hair while I buried my face in her neck and nodded.

"I just... I can't believe that you're not mad at me. I failed. The crime ring is still out there."

"Jiminie, one crime ring does not pose the smallest threat to our power. We are now unstoppable. Me..." She laughed and gestured to the elegant bedroom around us, filled with luxuries and expensive furniture. "I spend my days working in paradise, indirectly controlling the global scene, and no one is any the wiser. So, please, don't worry about it. Just... stay with me tonight." She bit her lip through a smile. "I'll help you forget everything that's troubling you."

"What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's something troubling you as well."

"There's nothing troubling m–" The smile faded from her face when her laptop buzzed, and she reached over her head to drag it into view. When she noticed what the notification read, she spoke, her voice shaking. "The crime ring issued a statement several nights ago that they would not tolerate any challenges to their power, that they are going to dismantle the Jade Phoenix."

"You told me about that, already. That's why I went on the mission."

"It's a new one." She sounded out of breath, despite barely exerting herself since I entered the room.

"It's not a new one. See? Same wording."

"How could they have known about it?" She pushed me away suddenly and got off the bed, pacing around the room. She muttered unintelligible things to herself, occasionally smacking her hand against her brain and shouting, "Think!"

That was the thing about her, what I've been trying to explain. Appearance-wise, she looked the same as ever. Clad in a floral, silk robe that only reached mid-thigh, with her hair floating in wisps around her almost frail-looking shoulders, she looked small, in need of protection. But her hands were shaking with anger, and her eyes were flitting anxiously around the room. No one would know what she was thinking, not even me, but I could tell that it was torturing her.

"They're time travelers," she reasoned suddenly. "They have access to time travel."

"What? Peaches, no – that's the same statement from several nights ago."

"It is not," she screamed at me, whirling around and jabbing a finger in my direction, "the same statement. They knew what would happen – they might be here now, waiting to burst into this room and kill me. Jimin, check the hallway. And the bathroom. And under the bed." She suddenly threw herself onto the bed and curled into a ball, wrapping her hands around her knees as her eyes searched every corner of the room. "Do it!"

"I..." I relinquished with a sigh and searched each of the places she requested. I wasn't surprised to find that there was nothing there. "Anesa, there's nothing ther–"

"You aren't looking hard enough! They're here to kill me, I know they're here to kill me, to kill me, to kill m–" Her voice cut out with a sob, and she smacked her hand over her mouth, continuing to mumble something about 'them' telling her that the crime ring wants her dead.

"Anesa..." As much as I just wanted to run from her, there was still a part of me that felt terrible, seeing tears pool in her eyes and run down her cheeks. And her sobs were heart-wrenching, no matter what you thought of her. I crawled back on the bed and tentatively wrapped my arms around her. I breathed a sigh of relief when she leaned into my chest rather than jerking away from me and throwing something at me, as she had done several times before.

She was hurting, I had always reasoned. She needed love. I needed love.

"I'm always so scared, Jimin," she sobbed, clutching the front of my shirt in her fist. "It's hard, not having you with me all the time."

"Babe, we've been doing this for five years. I don't like it any more than you do, but we're in separate lines of work now. You're the brains, I'm the... the brawn."

She didn't notice when I stiffened and simply nodded. "I know. But I still miss you." She looked up at me with the most doe-like eyes I had ever seen. "Can you... just stay for tonight? Make me forget?"

"Yeah," I said, even though that was the last thing I wanted to do. "Yeah. It'll be okay."

But midway through the night, she threw herself away from me and started screaming about the crime ring again, having a full conversation with herself while I awkwardly dressed, knowing that the Anesa I had first met, for better or worse, was long gone.

~ ~ ~

A/N: stan talent. stan hotness. stan crackhead-ness. stan jackson wang ( ˘ ³˘)♥

Published December 18, 2020.