Winter Bear || TaeJin [Completed]

41. Keeping Me Alive

Third Person’s P.O.V.

Taehyung was in his cell reading a book, he had chosen Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye for today and with every turn of a page realized how long it had been since he had gotten a chance to sit down and enjoy a book.

Prison was kinda calm.

A week in here and he had felt that Hoseok’s warnings were quite unnecessary for no one even veered near him, his reputation preceding him as they kept their distance and addressed to him only in hushed tones.

Prison was kinda boring.

But that was until he had been summoned for the first hearing, the Judge had implored him to present his statements after reading out to him the multiple offences which he had been found guilty of, his attorney had set forth the information of him being an undercover soldier to infiltrate Axel and had began to assert how Major Kim Taehyung had been put on a covert mission and how he had succeeded in eradicating two of the top dogs of Axel.

It was going as planned and Namjoon, Hoseok and Jungkook sat stiffly with their breaths held in, faith growing greater than the worry that had been eating them from within.

If it hadn’t been for the information Byun had given them, things would have been just the way they had planned, or hoped. Now the Judge wanted the one who had been accused with the murder of Jeon Kai at court on the day of the second hearing.

Taehyung had gone livid the moment the information had been put forth, his deep enraged voice loudly denying the accusation against Jin and the guards had instantly come up to stop him from creating a ruckus at court. He had been taken away from court the same way he had been brought in, chains restraining his wrists and ankles while a number of guards surrounded him.

Prison had become typically cold after that.

Like the chill before a thunderstorm, and he was waiting for the time when lightning would crack.

He was ready.

The hushed addresses of the inmates began to get louder as the word of him being an undercover special force soldier spread around, making him a mutual enemy of every single criminal in that closed compound.

Namjoon had been trying his best to get the higher-ups to agree to shift Taehyung to a military prison, at least there they would be able to keep an eye on him as well as give him the dignity he deserved rather than plain out labelling him as a terrorist but his suggestions had been put on hold till the Judge gave any verdict.  

He wasn’t even given any visitation rights till now, and the only person who could meet him was his attorney.

The shrill bell rang through the echoy halls calling all inmates to dinner, and Taehyung set the bookmark in place setting the book down on his bed as he got up just in time when the warden unlocked the door.

He was thankful that they had not put anyone else in his cell, probably fearing his identity of being an assassin for Axel, it was this one time he was glad of the fear his status could instil in people. He walked to the dining space, not bothering to read into the hush that spread in the large hall the moment he stepped in, his eyes momentarily flickering around only to catch Byun’s eyes follow him and he looked away.

In the last couple weeks, after his dual identity had been revealed, Taehyung had faced multiple instances where he felt he was being safeguarded.

Every time he would get ready to fight against an angry fist coming his way they’d back off midway or disperse rather abruptly. Initially, he had assumed it was the cameras or the wardens only to realize later that he had been wrong, especially when someone referred to him as ‘Byun’s kid’.