Hayan Night

㊳It's My Time To Protect You

Jeongguk woke up early the next day, even though he didn't sleep that much. He was waking up every now and then, rolling from side to side, unable to shut his mind and sleep peacefully.

He plodded into the kitchen to drink some water and found a note attached to the fridge.

There are pancakes in the oven. Please eat at least one

He smiled weakly to himself and then opened the fridge to grab a bottle of water. He didn't have an appetite. Although he felt sorry for worrying his hyung, the last thing that was on his mind at that moment was to eat.

He went to the living room and turned on the TV as he withered on the couch. He brought his knees close to his chest and curled his arms around them. No matter how much he strove to forget what happened or take Taehyung out of his mind, he couldn't. He missed him already so, so much, and he couldn't do anything about it.

About an hour later, there was a knock on the door, and he flinched at the unexpected sound. With creased brows, he rose to his feet and edged closer to the door. "Who is it?"

"Hey, little boy. Jeongguk, right?"

He tensed up right away upon hearing that voice — he heard it just yesterday. It was definitely one of Kang's sidekicks. "What—What do you w-want?"

"We just wanna talk for a minute. Can you open the door?"

"No, go—go away." He retreated with trembling steps, his breath coming faster, and spun around to head to his room.

"You don't want Taehyung to get hurt, right?"

"What—What about him? Where is h-he?"

"You'll get to see him if you come with us. And this way, he won't get hurt."

"Why do you want me? Why?"

"Our boss wants to talk to you."

Kang. He took some drags of air to ease his racing heart. "Wait, just—just wait a minute." He scuttled to his room to grab his phone and called Taehyung, but it was out of service. He cursed multiple times and changed his clothes in haste as tears welled up in his eyes.

He returned and grabbed the door handle but halted. "Are you—Are you there?"

"Yes."

"You won't hurt me, right?"

"We won't hurt you."

A choked laugh followed the sidekick's words, and Jeongguk gulped. Of course, he knew it was stupid to trust these guys, but he had to go with them. He had to make sure Taehyung was safe and would remain safe.

So with a chest-swelling breath, he opened the door and faced the two sidekicks he saw for the first time yesterday. Their faces were covered with bruises, and he couldn't help but think of Taehyung and how he fought to keep him safe.

"Follow us."

Jeongguk trailed behind them and got into the backseat. "Is Taehyung really not going to get hurt?"

They shot a glance at each other and snickered. "We don't know and we don't care."

"Wait, you said—you said—" Panic consumed his whole existence as his eyes filled with tears all over again.

"We said what we were told. Now stay quiet."

And he obeyed; he didn't speak another word and only cried silently until the moment they arrived outside of a big house. They got out of the car, but he stayed still. Then his door was opened, and the one sidekick grabbed him by his forearm to pull him out.