Though Seokjin cried that morning, he didn't give up. Taehyung had walked out of his life before, he wasn't going to let him do it again. Seokjin made a resolve to himself that night; that he would make his heart stop acting like an organ and start acting like a bone, healing stronger than before, every time it breaks. No matter the hell Taehyung had put Seokjin through and most likely will continue to put him through in the future, Seokjin vowed to never give up, he vowed to be persistent no matter what.
And persistent he remained. It had been two weeks since that morning Taehyung told him that he didn't love him anymore, two weeks since he started showing up in front of Taehyung's gallery every morning, much to the older's dismay and annoyance. Yet, no matter what Taehyung said or did, Seokjin was there at 7A.M every morning like clockwork.
Taehyung turned the corner already expecting to see Jin standing in front of his gallery, waiting for him... again. He already had what he planned on yelling at the younger today. It was something along the lines of "I hate you" and "leave me the fuck alone."
What Taehyung didn't expect to see, was two men harassing Jin. Taehyung sprinted from where he was at the corner of the street to the front door of his gallery.
"Hey, get the fuck away from him" Taehyung yelled.
He pulled one of the men away from Jin by the shoulder and turned the man to face him in one swift movement before punching the man in the face.
"What the fuck, Taehyung?!" The man who had been punched and was now on the floor, yelled. He was clearly pissed.
"Jae Hwan?"
"No shit, Sherlock" The other man who's name was Jackson, said as he helped Jaehwan off the floor.
Jin instantly ran to Taehyung's side and wrapped his hands around the older's waist instinctively but Tarhyung was quick to push him away.
Those weren't any regular men, those were one of Mr. Sunshine's loyal minions. Taehyung hadn't recognized them from where he was at the corner and by the time he had gotten to them, he was already seeing red because of the way they were touching and pestering his Jinnie.
He had already punched Jae Hwan before he could process the identities of the two men.
Taehyung's gallery wasn't there for him to showcase his artistic talents, it was just a front for Mr. Sunshine's drug dealing business.
"Why are you two here? You aren't supposed to be here until next week" Taehyung queried. Typically, those men only came once a month to log the types and amounts of drugs that had been sent and stored in the basement of the gallery and report the information to the mafia leader.
"Plans changed. Are you going to open the door or..." Jaehwan asked after rotating his jaw to make sure nothing was broken.
"Right, the door." Taehyung said before inserting his key into the keyhole and turning it. "You should go" he said, turning to Jin after opening the door. Seeing as he had punched Jaehwan, he was sure Jaehwan pissed. That wasn't a good thing, especially considering how much he knew Jaehwan enjoyed revenge. Taehyung didn't want Jin to be around so he wouldn't be involved.
"No, he shouldn't" Jaehwan said as he lifted up his shirt slightly to reveal the butt of a gun. Oh, he was definitely pissed about being punched in the face.
Shit. Taehyung cursed, his gun was in the bottom drawer in his office desk. Seokjin, who had also seen the butt of Jaehwan's gun, grabbed a hold of Taehyung's arm in a tight grip.
"You don't need to hold on to him baby, I'm right here." Jaehwan said as he snaked his arm around Seokjin's waist and yanked him from Taehyung. Taehyung clenched his jaw hard, trying to remain calm.
"Let's go inside." Jackson said.
••••
In the basement, Jackson was in a secret room in the corner, logging all the types and amounts of drugs that had been sent to the gallery for the month while Jaehwan was feeling Jin up with one hand and had a gun pointed at Jin's head with the other.
"Taehyung, you bad boy, how could you have such a beauty and keep him all to yourself?" Jaehwan said as his hand slipped under Jin's shirt and began playing with his nipples. Toying with Seokjin in front of Taehyung was his revenge for being hit. From the way Seokjin clung to the older back when they were outside, and the way Taehyung was glaring daggers at Jaehwan now, Jaehwan could tell that Seokjin meant a lot to Taehyung.
"Taehyung-ssi" Jin cried as he looked at Taehyung with pleading eyes. His back was pressed against Jaehwan's chest and Taehyung was standing a few feet away from the both of them.
"Shut up!" Jaehwan said harshly, causing Jin to flinch and more tears to roll down his face.
Taehyung couldn't do anything because the safety of the gun was off. One move and Jaehwan would pull the trigger and Jin will be dead.
This is why Taehyung wanted Jin to stay away from him; his world was not safe and he couldn't always be able to protect Jin from it.
"This is the hoe you punched me for?" Jaehwan spat as he squeezed Jin's nipple hard, eliciting a scream from the younger.
Taehyung fisted his hands.
Taehyung wasn't looking at Jaehwan, his eyes were focused on Jin's pleading ones that had now been averted towards Taehyung's fisted hands. In that moment, Taehyung wanted to rip Jaehwan limb from limb for having the audacity to even put his hands on his Jin. Still, he refrained himself. You don't pick a fight with a man holding a gun to someone's head, especially when that someone is a person you care deeply about.
Taehyung would've lied and said he didn't know Jin just like he had to the mafia leader, but considering everything that had happened so far, he had a feeling that Jaehwan wouldn't buy his lie.
"You know Mr. Sunshine wouldn't be pleased with you messing with me" Taehyung stated knowing that that had to scare Jaehwan. Rumors had spend throughout the mafia about how differently the mafia leader treated Taehyung than he did everyone else.
"I'm not messing with you, I'm messing with him" Jaehwan replied, poking the gun at Jin's head for emphasis.
Taehyung's gaze met Jaehwan's and his hands were still fisted.
"Well, he's mine so hands off."
"Is he really?" Jaehwan challenged. "Then why can I do this?" He asked as he started moving his hand from Jin's nipples lower and lower, until it was now out of Jin's shirt and in Jin's pants.
Taehyung shifted his gaze back to Jin, and he un-fisted his hands.
Jin immediately elbowed Jaehwan in the gut, hard, causing him to remove his hand from Jin's pants and clutch his stomach as he let out a groan.
Taehyung quickly made his way over to Jaehwan before he could recover and disarmed him before punching him so hard across the face that he passed out, and most likely now had a broken nose.
"Door. Now." Taehyung said, pointing at the door Jackson was in.
Jin immediately ran over and shut the door before locking it with the key that was already in the keyhole on the outside of the door. They were Taehyung's keys.
"You remembered" Taehyung said, walking towards Jin who was now leaning against the door of the room that Jackson was in.
Jin could hear Jackson, who had now become aware that he was locked in, yelling from the other side of the door but he didn't care. His heart was still racing and his hands were still shaking. One wrong move and he could have had a bullet through his head.
"Of course I remembered. You only drilled it into my brain like five thousand times" Jin said before taking more deep breaths in attempt to calm himself.
Back when Taehyung was Jin's bodyguard, he had taught the younger certain things to do in certain certain life threatening situations such being held at gunpoint. On Taehyung's signal—which was him un-fisting his hands— Jin would execute the appropriate actions—in this case, elbowing Jaehwan in the stomach— which would get Jin out of danger's way and Taehyung would take it from there.
Taehyung stopped right in front of Jin and eyed him up and down before cupping the younger's face with his hands.
"Are you hurt?" Taehyung asked, worry sprain across his face. He figures it was no use continuing to be mean to Jin, not after everything that had happened.
Jin shook his head slightly, before asking the two most pressing questions on his mind at the moment.
"Taehyung-ssi, who are these men? And what have you gotten yourself into?"