Before the Fall

Chapter Sixteen - Denial

Namjoon

Taehyung and I ran all the way to the clearing where all of us would meet up secretly to discuss topics of a more sensitive or personal nature.

Jin wasn't too far off when he said the walls have ears.

On more than one occasion where we had discussed something rather private, I had received a call from the General a day or so later, usually requesting vague information about something barely related to what we had discussed, or asking me to do something in regards to it.

It always felt eerily suspicious.

That's when I had called in Jungkook to sweep for bugs twice a day instead of...never.

I am ashamed to admit I became a bit paranoid.

It was probably for the best.

The afternoon was waning as Taehyung and I both shifted back and snatched a robe out of a disguised hollowed stump. We kept them here for such occasions. Not that we found each other's nudity offensive, but when you run the risk of always becoming feral, you cling to societal norms like mad.

Taehyung wrapped his robe tighter around him as he paced the clearing. "Hyung, I just don't feel good about this."

"You're getting soft, Taehyung." I sat down on a log at the edge of the small clearing, leaning back on my hands, still trying to catch my breath.

"Doubtful. You should spend some time with her. What Li is asking us to do is wrong. Again."

I watched him pace and I watched his face grow increasingly angry.

He was always prone to emotional flare-ups.

Taehyung had one of the biggest hearts out of all of us.

How he masked it behind that of some sort of cold psychopath every day I will never know.

"Careful how you speak of him. The birds will carry it."

"Then I'll kill the fricking birds. Do we even know what he did with her husband?"

I shook my head.

None of us knew.

Her file merely mentioned him, not what Li had done with him before sending Aster to us.

"I don't know, Tae. I had Jungkook do some digging in the classified files but there's no record of him even ever entering H-Corp. Jungkook couldn't even find his personal files. No government number, no birth certificate. Whoever Xander Presley was, he is no longer that person. He's all but disappeared, or better yet, never even existed."

It was my turn to pace.

I always walked more when I'm thinking.

This situation required some major thinking.

"I'm just not comfortable with us doing this to her."

"Jimin already gave her the first dose, Tae. You know we can't stop now. If we do, she will die."

He growled and grabbed a fallen stick, throwing it as hard as he could.

I almost laughed.

It wasn't a huge stick.

It barely even went a few meters.

"Tae, just calm down. I'll have Jungkook keep digging. We will find something. Meanwhile, just try to keep up appearances. We have a lot more at stake here than just Aster Presley."

Taehyung slumped down on the log and I could see his shoulders sink downwards.

"Hyung, I was always ready to fight for this, you know that. I was always ready to defend H-Corp and being part of their private military was a badge of honor for me. I mean, they practically birthed and raised me!"