Chapter 10 False Alarm

The mother and her son freeze before the TV. Their hearts beats so fast and so strong that it sounds too loud through their ears. The middle-aged woman nearly falls and her adopted son catches her. He looks at her with wide eyes and tries to help her breathe properly.

“My… my son.” she sobs. “No… it can’t be.”

The young man covers his mouth and stares at the screen again, he keeps reading the name list until his eyes get tired, until the tears fall on his cheeks, until his heart dies little by little. He shakes his head and holds the woman against his chest. He’s breathing slowly and difficulty. He still can’t believe his own eyes, he can’t swallow the fact that his younger brother is on the list.

“I can’t believe it.” he shakes his head again.

Before the woman can say anything, the phone started ringing. She closes her eyes, guessing it’s Hailee. “What should I tell her?” she sobs, “That he’s gone now?”

Yoongi presses his lips and holds his tears. He grabs the phone and takes a deep breath before answering. His heart shatters when he hears the young woman’s cries, he loses control of his own tears when he hears her shouting his brother’s name. He keeps asking her to calm down, to have faith and hope that he’s still alive, but he isn’t even able to believe his own comforting words. He wishes someone would tell him the same thing and give him hope that Jungkook is still breathing somewhere in this world.

His mother grabs the phone and cries along with her son’s fiancee. Yoongi watches her with tears covering his eyes. He looks at the frame placed next to the TV, a picture of the three of them during their last trip together. Yoongi and Jungkook surprised their mother with a trip to Busan after saving money for months. She was very happy to be out of town with the two men of her life. They spoiled her during the three days they spent outside Seoul, they enjoyed seeing her smile and joke around, they loved seeing her happy.

Yoongi closes his eyes, thinking that those moments will never be able to repeat again. Jungkook disappeared weeks ago and now the news are saying that he’s dead, but Yoongi can’t believe that he is. He has a feeling that he’s still alive, that he’s still waiting for someone to rescue him and bring him back to his family and his fiance.

He goes to the bathroom and washes his face quickly before grabbing his keys and leave the house. He runs to the nearest bus stop and takes the one that will bring him close to the NIS. People give him strange looks because of his outfit, he’s still wearing his pajama pants and a wrinkled t shirt. He has dark circles under his eyes and his lips are bleeding from biting them a lot.

He arrives to the agency a few minutes later and walks to the building with quick steps. The security guards try to stop him again but this time he resists and manages to push them away and get inside. They follow him but he doesn’t care, being arrested is the least of his concerns, he just wants to know the truth, the fearful one. The agents stop their walk just to look at him. Some widen their eyes and others look at him with disgust. Some recognize him from the other day and shake their head.

“I need to talk to the Head of the Team!” he shouts.

The security guards grab his arms, “You can’t be here!” They try to drag him out but he falls on the ground and shouts, “Where is Kang Sughyun?!”

“I’m going to call the police.” he hears a woman say but he doesn’t care, her words don’t threaten him. “Kang Sughyun, where are you?!”

Later, the Head of the Search Team appears with at least five guards behind him. He frowns when he recognizes Yoongi and looks away with an annoyed face. He stares at him from head to toe with disgust, he can’t believe that he came to one of the most important directions of South Korea wearing a pajama.

“Is the list real?” Yoongi asks impatiently, “Is it true that my brother is dead?”

“What list?” Sughyun asks with a lazy tone.

“The one on the news, I saw my brother’s name.”

“Well if his name is on the list it only means that he’s dead.” Sughyun shrugs, “You just wasted your time coming here again instead of preparing your brother’s funeral.”

Yoongi gulps. The agent’s harsh words hit him right on the weakest spot of his heart. He looks at him with wide eyes as he feels his chest tighten more and more. He can’t believe how someone can be so cold, so indifferent and insensible to death.

“Your brother is dead.” Sughyun repeats. “Now leave and let us work in peace.”

Yoongi shakes his head and resists the guard’s grip. “I’m not leaving until you check twice! I know my brother isn’t dead!”

Sughyun rubs his chin, “Are you a medium or something? Can you see what’s happening in the world?” he scoffs, “You’re the only one who comes here every day to annoy our asses while we’re working on serious business. You always bother us and ruin our day! You’re the only one who doesn’t want to accept that your brother lost his life during the plane explosion!”

“Shut up!” Yoongi screams with all his strength. He wants to run to Sughyun and beats the shit out of him but the security guards grab his arms forcefully and make him faint on the floor. He starts sobbing and shouts his brother’s name. Some agents start feeling bad for him and others just shut their ears to stop listening to his annoying cries.

A group of agents arrives to the main floor and one of them widens his eyes when he spots Yoongi on the floor. He leaves his tablet on a table and runs to him. He kneels beside him and cups his cheeks, “Yoongi-ssi? What’s wrong?”

“Mr.Park, you really need to get rid of your friend.” the Head of the Team sighs, “He’s starting to get on my nerves.”

Jimin frowns at him and looks back at Yoongi, “Why are you crying, tell me.”

Yoongi tries to breathe slowly and looks at the young agent’s eyes. His cries automatically stop when he sees the softness of the eyes resting on his. His breaths slow down and his pulse gets back to normal gradually when he feels the gentle touch of his hands on his face. His tears stop when he wipes them calmly with his small thumbs.

“My brother… Jungkook.” he stops to take a breath. “He says he’s dead.”

“Jeon Jungkook?” Jimin raises an eyebrow. “I can’t remember seeing his name of the found corpses list.”

“I saw it on the list, on the news!” Yoongi says.

Jimin rubs his chin and turns around searching for his team, “Who sent the list to the reporters?”

A tall man walks ahead and raises his hand, “I did, sir.”

Jimin stands up and asks him to hand over his tablet, he unlocks a file with his fingerprint and reads the name appearing on a list. He frowns and looks at the agent, “I see no Jeon Jungkook on this list, why is it over the news?”

The agent purses his lips and gulps, “I… I must have confused the two lists.” he looks down. “I finished tapping the list when I was on my lunch break, it must have been an error.”

Jimin pushes his head back and bites his lower lip. He takes a deep breath in order to calm himself down and not scold the agent in front of everyone. He runs his fingers in his hair and gives him back the tablet. He turns around and sees Yoongi looking at him with hopeful eyes. It hurt him so much that he wanted to take him in his arms and tell him not to worry about his brother and that he will do all his best to find him.

Instead he walks slowly toward him and helps him stand up. He looks at Kang Sughyun coldly and tells him that he can go back to work and that he will take care of Yoongi. The Head of the Search Team clears his throat and shoots Yoongi another death glare before leaving the main hall. The agents leave little by little, letting Jimin the only one caring about the intruder.

“I am so sorry, Yoongi-ssi.” Jimin rubs the back of his neck, “I should have revised the lists before sending them to the reporters. I am truly sorry for my agent’s clumsiness.”

Yoongi gulps and asks, “Is he… is he not dead?”

Jimin shakes his head, “We still can’t find any traces of him unfortunately. I tried sending other teams but there are still no improvements.”

Yoongi closes his eyes and almost faints again, thankfully Jimin catches him this time. He covers his face and starts crying unstoppably. The agent sighs and holds him tight against his arms, he hesitates for a moment before placing his hand on his back to caress it gently in order to bring his body a little comfort. “I’m so sorry.” he whispers again, feeling bad for causing him such pain. “We should have been more careful, I’m really sorry.”

Yoongi can’t even protest and tell him that it’s not his fault. The pain in his heart caused him a kind of weakness that consumes his body, he can’t even move, can’t even speak. The only thing he does is cry for his miserable life and the hopeless sentiment that his brother is going to come back.

Later, Jimin opens the car door for the sad man. He helps him get in and runs to his side and starts the car. “You need to rest, I’ll get you home.”

“No.” Yoongi refuses with a calm tone, “I can’t go home now, I need a drink. A few ones… no, a lot.”

Jimin looks at him and sighs, “But you should call your mother first, don’t you think? She must be worried.”

Yoongi nods and searches for his phone in his pockets. He sighs and shakes his head, “I left it at home.”

Jimin hurries to take his own from his blazzer’s pocket, “Here, take mine.”

Yoongi mumbles a quiet thanks and dials his mother’s number.

The young agent found himself drowning in pain and sorrow while listening to Yoongi telling his mother the good news. The way he lost his words, not being able to speak properly to her broke his heart. He could ever hear her loud cries through the speakers. Never did it happen in his family. The Park family has a good relationship unlike most other rich families, but they always managed to stay strong during the toughest times. His mother taught him not to shed tears when he’s sad, not to cry and scream when he needs help, not to show a lot of affection to people in order not to be betrayed later.

From one side, she’s right. People have respect for the strongest and toughest ones, they don’t dare approaching them or even think about fooling them. But from another side, it makes people further from them, it brings loneliness and frustrating calmness, it turns them indifferent to love and friendship.

The young male always wished for the things to be different in his family and his entourage. He wants to learn to be able to show his affection openly, to be able to speak honest words to the people he appreciates and spend most of his time enjoying the perks of life than jailed in his office reading papers and clearing schedules.

Later, he stops the car in front of his favorite bar. He opens the door for Yoongi and asks him to follow him inside. The night is going to be long for them.

The three adventurers are still swimming, taking advantage of the freshwater coming from the waterfall. The child comes back from time to time to let the pression of the drops massage his back because he loves the feeling of it. He closes his eyes tight and keeps smiling while he feels the coldness slap his skin the gentlest way.

Taehyung is lying his back against a rock while he watches his long legs float under the water. It’s so clear and clean that he can even see every small rock on the ground. He pushes his head back and closes his eyes to feel the sun kiss his face.

Jungkook looks at him and smiles, he swims closer to him and chuckles when he sees the hair growing around his chin. Taehyung is starting to change from a handsome and perfect model to a regular and normal man, but still handsome anyways. “The color is fading.” he tells him, pointing at his hair. The blueness of his locks is starting to disappear because of the salt water and the burning sun rays.

Taehyung looks at him and smirks, “Yours too.”

Jungkook smiles and runs his fingers in his hair, “We’re getting back to our origins it seems like.” he laughs. “We even started growing beards. Later we’ll look like old grandpas.”

Taehyung chuckles, “At least I’ll look like a hot one, unlike you.”

“Excuse you?” Jungkook crosses his arms, “Are you telling me that I’m no hot?”

“You’re very smart too.” Taehyung smirks and lets out and groans when Jungkook suddenly splashes water on him.

“Take back what you said.” Jungkook keeps splashing water while Taehyung tries to escape from him. He manages to grab his wrist and pulls his closer to him until their eyes connect. “Come on, say that you’re completely wrong and that I’m the hottest man you’ve ever seen.”

Taehyung gulps and looks away. He clears his throat and waits until he gets a hold on himself to stare at the younger male again. He smirks and says, “You’re not the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.”

Jungkook frowns and is about to splash water over him when Taehyung said, “But you’re the cutest though.”

The pink haired male widens his eyes and the actor finds himself surprised by his own words. He looks at Jungkook’s shocked face and hurries to look away. He feels thankful for the water on his face for hiding the blush that splattered in his cheeks. He takes a breath and escapes from Jungkook’s grip to go swimming far from him.

Jungkook stays inert for a long moment, still playing his words in his mind. But you’re the cutest though.

He shakes his head violently when a strange feeling consumes his body again. Something pushes him to follow him. He looks around to make sure the child is still playing peacefully and swims behind Taehyung who disappears in the middle of the large rocks.

The blue haired turns around and raises an eyebrow when he sees him. He gulps and keeps swimming, not feeling bothered but nervous by the younger man’s presence. His movements slow down in the water, he feels more relaxed when he feels the freshness caress his skin and the gentle sounds of the birds whisper in his ears. But his heart races when Jungkook gets closer and closer. It feels different to face him after he confessed that he finds him cute and he doesn’t even understand why. Taehyung knows a lot of young men and women because of his job. He worked with a lot of handsome models and actors and he never found it difficult or weird to praise their appearance. Now, he’s all blushy and shy about facing Jungkook because of a simple compliment.

He stops and lays his back against a rock. He presses his lips when he sees Jungkook approaching him slowly, his eyes not leaving his own. The pink haired stops until he’s only centimeters away from Taehyung. He copies his facial expression and finds himself pressing his lips too. He looks away and takes a breath silently before looking back at him. He tries to look and sound normal and smirks, “So, you think I’m cute.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes, “Now you’re going to make me regret saying it, am I wrong?”

“Maybe.” Jungkook rubs his chin. “I just still can’t believe it. You, the man who has only been frowning and looking at me with death glares just said that I’m the cutest guy you’ve ever seen. That’s not something to stop bragging about.”

“I think I exaggerated.” Taehyung says, “You’re surely not the cutest I’ve met.”

Jungkook hums, “Are you sure? Can you think of someone else now?”

The blue haired gulps and shakes his head, “That’s because you’re pressuring me.”

“Am I?” Jungkook raises an eyebrow, “I’m not doing anything though.” he raises his arms and laughs.

“You’re just… looking at me like this.”

“Like what?”

Taehyung finds the courage to look at him and he immediately regrets it when he drowns in the brown color of his eyes. “Like… this.” he answers with a breathless voice.

Jungkook licks his lower lip as he admires Taehyung’s beauty. The young man looks even more handsome with the droplets of water on his skin and the wet hair under the sunlight. He can’t feel himself getting closer to him, he can’t feel himself getting hypnotized by his tiger stare and he can’t feel himself cupping his cheek with one hand.

The birds are chirping, the sun is shining and the water is falling. The two young men are devouring each other with simple stares, their hearts are beating at unison, the tension is growing and the confusion is fading. Their faces approach, slowly and calmly, they can feel each other’s breaths against their skins, they can smell the desire flowing in their bodies. Jungkook opens his lips and Taehyung closes his eyes, ready to break the wall.

The pink haired brushes the actor’s lips with a simple breath, he consumes them and owns them with the simple movement of air. He closes his eyes too and he’s about to give it up all when a sudden shout interrupted the dream, “Hyungs!”