Shadows of Desire (Completed)

Chapter 5 (Part One)

“You’ll always be my favorite what if.”

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
October 20, 2020

The view from his penthouse is still his favorite. He can see the busy city below him, the way light shines against other skyscrapers; the towers at the heart of the city under the spill of lights that was Kuala Lumpur.

He was standing here, near the window of his penthouse. It’s a cool night, and he was just chilling and drinking his scotch when an unexpected call disrupted his thoughts.

 
“Hello, how are you my friend?” The man from the other line didn’t bother to hesitate to call him friend.

“Oh, to whom I owe this pleasure? As far as I know, we weren’t friends.” Poison smirked.

“I just called for a rain check. Everything’s doing well in Malaysia, I suppose?” Phantom answered back.

“Yes. Everything is smooth and fine.”

“I’m glad to hear that. But I hope you reconsider my offer? Is 1 billion won isn’t enough?”

“You really think lowly of me Phantom. I won’t trade my brain just for you.” He ended the call and put his phone on airplane mode and put it back inside his pocket.

“Hey babe, the dinner is ready.” The woman said as she put off the apron and hugged him from behind.

“I think the dessert is more delicious than the main course.” Poison replied as she carried the woman to the bedroom.

“The food will get cold.” She giggled while trying to get off from his bed.

“That can wait.” He kissed her to stop her from talking.

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Jin felt tired. After the running and chasing, and the long flight, he felt exhausted. Not to mention, he worries about Taehyung. He remained silent for the rest of the flight.

They are now inside their rented room in Kuala Lumpur. Jin decided that it is much better that they share a single room than to occupy two rooms. After all, they are more comfortable with each other. And to his heart’s greed, he wanted to see him every single minute. But he didn’t want to admit it to Taehyung.

 
They are now resting in the couch when Phantom called Jin.

“Jin, how was your flight? You can take a rest first if you want to.”

“Why do you send us here in Malaysia?”

“Why are you mad? Take it easy Jin.” Phantom laughed from the other line. Jin wanted to punch him in the face.

“What do we need to get here? You know I hate Malaysia.”

“You need to find Poison. You need to get the full details especially the formula of Euphoria. I need the drug soon.”

“The man isn’t a mafia member. You can easily snatch it from him.”

“But the mafia loves his sexy brain. The drugs that he produced are still the top tier in the industry. They protected him. If only you agreed with me before, then maybe you are more famous than him. If only you continue the…”

“Stop it. We had an agreement and we already settled it.”

“Okay fine. But get it soon and we won’t have problems.”

“Why the Euphoria specifically?”

“I will be the most powerful leader if I got the formula. You know that the others are also trying to lure him. But he is a tough guy. You know him too well.”

“That’s why I’m trying my best to never cross our paths but you gave me this.”

“I know you can do this. And V, you can use him. Maybe he can be more useful with this one. He defeated spine breaker with his tricks. So where are you two staying?”

“I’ll take care of it. But for now I need to rest. I will send the chalice to you tomorrow.”

“Poison owns the Club Baepsae in Bangsar. Maybe you can find him there.”

Jin ended the call without saying goodbye. He is mad. He didn’t want to see him again.

Taehyung heard the whole conversation as Jin put the phone on speaker mode.

“So, who is Poison? Why are you bothered?”

“You know him too. Kim Namjoon. My lab partner.”

“Oh, your overprotective lab partner who tried to feed me the spicy noodles, because I hate spicy food. Is that him?”

“Yes. You didn’t forget that huh?” Jin laughs as he remembered the quarrel between Namjoon and Taehyung.

“How can I forget that? My lips and tongue became numb for several hours because of that. I know he can’t be trusted but he is your friend so I respected him. Maybe he is just jealous of me.” Taehyung frowned as he remembered his bad encounter with Namjoon.

“Yes, he is.” Jin suddenly became serious.

“How did he end up here in Malaysia?”

“He suddenly disappeared after graduation. I just come to know his whereabouts last year because Phantom had been targeting the Euphoria ever since he knew about the drug. I’ve tried so hard not to get involved but Phantom found out that Poison is my classmate. He thought it would be easier to get it because we are friends before but that’s far from reality. Namjoon hates me.”

“And why is that?”

“He is a competitive person. He is always the top of our class. We are friends but he still considers me as a rival. And the fact that he likes me. He even confessed to me. But I turned him down. The truth is we made the Euphoria drug together. The main intention is to make other people happy. When the drug is induced in the body, the drug mimics the happy hormones, endorphins, and it also binds to the serotonin and dopamine, thus making the person feeling happy. I don’t know what happened to him. He altered the formula. Now the drug is fatal. After four hours, the body tends to fend off the drugs which elevate the heart enzymes, elevating the blood pressure and heart rate. Within eight hours, the person will die. Autopsy reports show heart attack. No traces of drugs will remain in the body. But it is indeed murder. Phantom will be the most powerful if he will acquire those.”

“So Phantom knows that you made the formula?”

“No. But at some point, he tried to convince me to produce illegal drugs, which I strongly disagreed. Most of my potions are for personal use, you know that.”

Taehyung nodded as he remembered one sunny afternoon at Jin’s house…

“Once I had the perfect equations and solutions, this will make me rich, Taehyung-ah.”

“But I missed you; you had no time for me.” Taehyung hugged Jin from behind. He really loves to hug the Witch.

 

Taehyung shakes his head as his thoughts were back to the present.

“Have you tested that one with me?”

“No.” Jin looked at Taehyung’s eyes.

“Because back then we were genuinely happy. We don’t need anything else to be happy, just you and I. But now things get complicated and they were out of control.”

Taehyung held his hand and brings it closer to his chest.

“No matter what happens, I’m just glad that you are here with me again. You’ll always be my favorite what if.”

“But Tae, this isn’t right. You don’t need to be in the darkness forever.”

“We’ll figure this out. But I promise you, I won’t let you go this time Jin.”

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