the rules of love and war.

09

The grasp that Chaeyoung had on me tightened as I stopped moving. I tilted my head towards him and saw his hazel brown eyes boring into me.

"Lisa, what the hell?" Hoseok hissed from next to me. "Let's go."

As I felt the pressure from my two best friends building, I continued to ignore them, much to their chagrin. "It's okay. I'll meet up with you guys later, okay?" I said, gently pulling away from Chaeyoung's grasp. I saw the two of them beginning to protest as I walked backwards towards Jungkook, but I put up a hand to tell them to stop talking. "It's fine. He's not a bad guy and maybe he actually knows where Taehyung is. None of us know where he is, so he's our last resort. I'll text you guys later."

Hoseok pursed his lips, but instead of fighting back, he just nodded grimly. "Fine. But if you're not back by fourth block, I will go and find you myself. Jeon, if you lay one finger on her..."

"I'm not that much of a dick, Hoseok. Cut me some slack." Jungkook laughed curtly as I stood next to him.

"Hey, you can't blame me for that." He shrugged, unaffected by the bite in Jungkook's voice. Hoseok, Chaeyoung, Taehyung and I seemed to be the only four people in the entire school that was willing to stand up to Jeon Jungkook. Chaeyoung and Hoseok sent me one last glance before they turned around and walked towards the senior lockers.

"Where are we going?" I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets.

"His safe place." He responded simply and began walking to the back of the atrium. I lagged behind him, purposefully putting a safe distance between the two of us. Now that I knew someone in our school had ratted out all of us, there was no one I could trust asides from my closest friends, and even Jungkook's crew.

I made my way down the stairs and flashed my senior privilege pass at the security guard who was standing at the back entrance. "Jungkook, can't you tell me anything else?" I cried out, noting that there was no one else around. "You're not giving me any reason to trust you." Jungkook didn't say anything until he stopped next to a shiny black Mercedes. My mouth dropped open when I noted the model: a CL65-AMG. "Don't tell me this is your car, Jungkook."

"If I lied, then you wouldn't trust me. What do you want from me?" he turned to me, pulling a set of keys out of his pocket. "Get in; I'll explain on the way." I hesitated briefly before opening the passenger side door and sliding in. Neither of us talked as he pulled out of the parking lot. He drove silently down the road, away from the center of town. "No one knows about this place, I doubt even you."

I scoffed and leaned back against the window. "You're kidding me right? We've been dating for three years; I know everything about him."

Jungkook glanced over at me for a brief moment and laughed harshly. "Right. So you know why his parents haven't talked to you about this? You know what Taehyung did to my family? You know why Taehyung hates me so much? You might know the Kim Taehyung that everyone at the High School knows, but I'm the only one that knows how fucked up he really is."

He focused back on the road again, but I continued to stare at the side of his head, fighting for words to say. What could I possibly respond with? Everything Jungkook had said was true; I was dating the Taehyung that our school adored. The Taehyung that appeared when Jungkook came into the picture was entirely different. Taking that into consideration, the only person who truly knew both sides was actually Jungkook...

"If you know so much about him, why aren't you guys best friends? Even Hoseok doesn't know this." I grumbled, moving so that I could lean against the chair again. Instead of giving a legitimate response, he made a sharp left turn that made me slam my head against the window. "You fucking ass." I rubbed the sore spot on my head and frowned at him, but he paid no heed to my mood. Instead, he began driving slower as he pulled into a small cul-de-sac lined with cookie cutter homes.

"Here." He finally said, easing on the brakes in front of a house. I looked out my window; it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. The lawn was impeccably landscaped with flowers planted out front. A few cars were lined up in the driveway, indicating that someone was in fact home. But my attention was immediately brought to the car closest to the entrance - I knew it was Taehyung's car.

What the hell was he doing here?

"How did-?" I began, but Jungkook swiftly cut me off.

"How did I know?" he said, getting out of the car as I followed suit, carefully shutting the door behind me. I couldn't exactly slam the door of his luxury car now; as he said, he clearly knew Taehyung better than the three of us. I didn't even know about this place. What else did Jungkook know that I didn't? "This was where I first met your boyfriend. Apparently this is where he goes when he's flipping a shit." He moved to the other side of the car and leaned his back against the passenger door. "Go." He gestured with his head towards the front door. "I'll hang back so you guys can fix your problems. And no, I'm not moving from this spot." He yet somehow managed to answer the silent question in the back of my mind. "I may have my nice moments, but I'll still take any opportunity I can to piss the shit out of him."

Without thinking, I swiftly punched him in the arm. Only when I made contact with his bicep did I realize the error of my ways. Who was I to hit Jungkook? Luckily, he only broke into a smile. "You hit harder than Taehyung, shit." He laughed, mockingly grabbing his arm. I rolled my eyes at him, but was still surprised by his good nature.

Jeon Jungkook was just one surprise after another.

I eventually made my way to the big oak door and slowly rang the doorbell. I waited... waited for what felt like an eternity before I heard footsteps inside. I heard the distant yelling to get the door; I heard the snappy response from whoever was approaching the door. I knew who it was that was going to be standing in front of me in a few seconds; I could recognize that voice anywhere.

Sure enough, there he was, Kim Taehyung in all his glory, looking as confused as hell. "Lisa?" he asked in disbelief, the bewilderment in his eyes evident. "What are you doing here?"

"Who's at the door?" I heard someone yell from behind him. Another man a few years older than us stepped from one of the connecting rooms and stood next to Taehyung. I had never seen him before, but the resemblance to Taehyung was impossible to ignore. "Well, I'm guessing this is Lisa." He said, a grin appearing on his face. He stuck out a hand for me to shake. "It's great to finally meet you. I'm Kim Namjoon, Taehyung's brother."