Hostage {ℍ𝕐𝕌ℕ𝕊𝕌ℕ𝔾} -- DISCONTINUED

Chapter Fourteen

Jisung rolled his neck to the side, clicking his tongue in annoyance as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. This manor, one that he'd once lost himself in on more occasions than he would ever care to admit, now felt as familiar to him as his own home.

He'd woken up feeling strange that morning – well, stranger than usual. Something had been coiling around his gut, forcing him into uncomfortable unease – to top things off, he wasn't able to find Hyunjin anywhere.

If anything, that only entrenched his feeling of dread even further.

Where the hell was he? He frowned, eyes sweeping across the manor's empty halls. Scratch that, where was everybody? It was unusual that there be no guards tailing him, and no matter how irritating they were, he had gotten used to them to the point of simply ignoring their presences entirely.

By that point it should have been obvious he wasn't going to pull anything shady. He was only there because his father had made this deal, and he truly did want to go home and see Jeongin while not getting himself killed in the process.

He chewed on his bottom lip, eyebrows furrowing as his mind drifted elsewhere. Namely, it drifted back towards the case Hyunjin had been trying to build against the ones who had attacked them. They hadn't gotten very far; it was... troubling, how little information they could pull on any of them.

They ran into dead end after dead end, and, Jisung did something he never would have done otherwise – he conspired with someone who was still practically an enemy, lending his skills when needed, though Hyunjin always seemed ridiculously hesitant to accept, not that he could blame him.

It was as the saying went, though; the enemy of your enemy is your friend. And right then, his enemy was the Bangs, and whoever had lodged a bullet in his shoulder.

Giving up on trying to find the gang leader, he decided to head to his next favourite place, though it was his favourite for vastly different reasons. While he didn't get to annoy the living hell out of Hyunjin, he was able to breathe a little easier out there.

Whoever had started to grow this garden truly knew how to create a peaceful atmosphere; it never failed to help him unwind, release some of the dread that was pooling in his stomach. No matter how much he worked out or punched a heavy bag, it could never do anything about his feelings of foreboding.

He'd been having a lot of those lately.

He sat on a small stone bench, running a hand through his hair as he leaned back against the manor's wall, gazing at the array of flowers, a soft smile toying at his lips. His mother had always loved flowers, even the dandelions he and Jeongin would collect from the backyard.

His smile quickly turned sad at the thought of his mother; his memory of her grew fuzzier and fuzzier every day. Sometimes, he wondered if he could even properly remember what she looked like, or the sound of her voice. He wondered if time had skewed it, if her voice had truly been that soft, that melodic, if her eyes had ever been that warm.

However, one thing he could not forget were her words – she had always said that love trumped violence, and that was why she would survive whatever was thrown at her. She loved them too much to let a little hatred get in her way.

It was safe to say that, in the end, violence had won over her love and she died a death ruled off as an accident. Jeongin still believed that lie, but Jisung knew better; he knew what his father was truly capable of, what his world comprised of.

It happened all the time – accidental deaths that weren't so accidental after all, but the authorities never so much as questioned it. They were useless when it came to dealing with people like them – people who knew the ins and outs of the industry, who knew just the right ways to cover their tracks.

He paused, a slow chuckle escaping his lips. He supposed, in this situation, he was just as useless as the authorities were in catching the ones responsible for the attack. Though... unlike the authorities, he wasn't constrained by anything such as law.

Once he found out who did it, it didn't matter if he had sustainable proof to convince everyone else. He'd simply kill them, problem solved.

He looked up, snapping out of his daze as the sound of voices met his ears. His eyes narrowed, noticing for the first time the cluster of people gathered just around the corner of the manor. So that's where you were.

Standing, he rolled his shoulders back as he began to walk towards the gathering, hands once again shoved deep into his jacket pockets. Lo and behold, Hyunjin was in the middle of the group, face set in stone, more serious than he had ever seen it.

He was noticed right away – not that he was trying to hide his presence, anyway. Hyunjin's eyes snapped up to meet his and he sighed, his lips settling into a frown as he walked closer. "What's going on here? Got a lead you didn't tell me about?" He cocked his head to the side as he raised his eyebrows.

Hyunjin scoffed as he averted his gaze; so that's what this was all about. Jisung propped his hands on his hips as he shook his head. "How many times do I have to tell you, pretty boy? No matter what happened before, we're allies now. You'd do well to use me when you can."

Hyunjin's gaze hardened into a glare as he took a step forward, arms crossed over his chest imposingly. "I don't need your help; we can handle it." His words were stiff; his entire body was stiff, for that matter. Jisung's eyebrows raised even higher; what had brought on this change in behaviour? They'd been getting along just fine.

"That's insulting. Look me in the eyes and tell me any of these bastards are better than me." He was genuinely offended; there was no way Hyunjin thought these guys were more skilled than he was. The mere thought of it made his blood boil.

"What if they are?" Hyunjin stared down at him, clearly challenging. A disbelieving smirk crept up onto Jisung's features; this guy... He reached forward, watching as Hyunjin's eyes narrowed even more, focusing on his every movement.

In the blink of an eye his hand had wrapped around the handgun strapped to Hyunjin's waist, pulling it out. In the span of a second the safety was off and he had twisted to the side ever so slightly.

A dull clang echoed throughout the now silent gathering following the gunshot, and the can one of Hyunjin's subordinates had been carrying clattered to the ground, a bullet now lodged right in its center.

He turned back towards the gang leader who now stood in shock, taken aback by the sudden action. "You were saying?" He flicked the safety back on and tucked it into his own pants, lips stretching into a cocky smirk.

"What if you missed?" Hyunjin hissed, eyes snapping from the can to Jisung again. Sure, if he had missed the guy probably would've lost his hand, but...

Jisung tapped him on the shoulder and walked around him.

"I don't miss."

A/N: Sooo turns out that school is going to be pretty easy for me this time around; I'm not actually doing much every two days, and one of my two classes this octomester is a spare, so my writing won't be nearly as impacted as I thought. I'll aim for two-ish updates a week ;))

Lots of love,

~Emilie

Leave some questions for me!!! We're getting to a multiple of 5 next chapter ;))