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I winced when I caught the thoughts of Rosé, Yoongi and Hoseok, just arriving on the scene. There would be hell to pay for this tonight.
I wanted to iron out the indention my shoulders had made against the tan car, but the boy was too close. I'd have to wait till he was distracted.
It was frustrating to wait-so many eyes on me-as the humans struggled with the van, trying to pull it away from us. I might have helped them, just to speed the process, but I was already in enough trouble and the boy had sharp eyes. Finally, they were able to shift it far enough away for the EMTs to get to us with their stretchers.
A familiar, grizzled face appraised me.
"Hey, Taehyung," Brett Warner said. He was also a registered nurse, and I knew him well from the hospital. It was a stroke of luck-the only luck today-that he was the first through to us. In his thoughts, he was noting that I looked alert and calm. "You okay, kid?"
"Perfect, Brett. Nothing touched me. But I'm afraid Kook here might have a concussion. He really hit his head when I yanked him out of the way..."
Brett turned his attention to the boy, who shot me a fierce look of betrayal. Oh, that was right. He was the quiet martyr -he'd prefer to suffer in silence. He did not contradict my story immediately, though, and this made me feel easier. The next EMT tried to insist that I allow myself to be treated, but it wasn't too difficult to dissuade him. I promised I would let my father examine me, and he let it go.
With most humans, speaking with cool assurance was all that was needed. Most humans, just not the boy, of course. Did he fit into any of the normal patterns? As they put a neck brace on him -and his face flushed scarlet with embarrassment-I used the moment of distraction to quietly rearrange the shape of the dent in the tan car with the back of my foot. Only my siblings noticed what I was doing, and I heard Hoseok's mental promise to catch anything I missed.
Grateful for his help -and more grateful that Hoseok, at least, had already forgiven my dangerous choice- I was more relaxed as I climbed into the front seat of the ambulance next to Brett.
The chief of police arrived before they had gotten Kook into the back of the ambulance. Though Kook's father's thoughts were past words, the panic and concern emanating out of the man's mind drowned out just about every other thought in the vicinity. Wordless anxiety and guilt, a great swell of them, washed out of him as he saw his only son on the gurney.
Washed out of him and through me, echoing and growing stronger. When Jimin had warned me that killing Jaewoo Jeon's son would kill him, too, he had not been exaggerating. My head bowed with that guilt as I listened to his panicked voice.
"Kook!" he shouted.
"I'm completely fine, Jae-Dad." He sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."
His assurance barely soothed his dread. He turned at once to the closest EMT and demanded more information.
