Seoul City

Ch. 22 - Furious

Chaeyoung sloppily parked her car in the Parks' driveway, not bothering to raise the windows before hastily opening he door and running inside the house.

She was the charge nurse for the night and had forgotten her access keys to the health records files. It wouldn't have been a problem, except one of the patients' families was threatening to sue the hospital for misdemeanor and they needed access to the documents for legal purposes. Because it was the middle of the night, the records office was closed and no one else had a key for the department she was working on. She hadn't even realized she didn't have the keys until halfway through her shift.

As soon as she stepped inside the house, she heard a deafening gunshot, followed by a bone-chilling scream. Chaeyoung covered her ears as her heart started pounding relentlessly in her chest, her eyes searching for the source of the noise. All thoughts of her keys became irrelevant as she followed the sound of the screams.

Eventually she reached a closet underneath the staircase. Feeling and pushing against all the walls in the closet, one of them finally opened to reveal a hidden door, causing her to gasp in surprise. She'd always assumed this was just a broom closet and rarely opened it, definitely never realizing there was another door inside. She stepped through the hidden passage way and came face to face with a winding, cement stairwell. It took her a couple minutes to get through all the stairs, before reaching another heavy, steel door with multiple locks, activation code pads, and bolts; thankfully though, the door was cracked open. With a gentle push on the door, she cautiously stepped through – just in time to hear another gunshot.

Her eyes immediately searched the room for the source of the noise, feeling an innate need to put a stop to it and help the victim.

The first thing she saw was Taehyung, holding a gun. The second thing she saw was the Griffin ring on his finger, shock and fear growing inside her like a black hole. Her eyes followed his gun, a piercing scream erupting from her throat when she saw the limp, bloody, body on the chair.

Fear, shock, confusion, grief, denial, anger, and betrayal were just some of the emotions that surged through her as she collapsed to the ground, tears stinging in her eyes and her hands shaking as she brought them up to her mouth in shock. She sat on the ground, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Tae?" she asked, as if her eyes may be betraying her and not seeing clearly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Everyone in the room was staring at her in panic, but her eyes were only locked on Taehyung's, which looked just as mortified as she felt. She didn't understand why he was holding a gun, why he was wearing a Griffin ring, or why there was a dead body in front of him. It didn't make any sense. This was her Tae, her best-friend, the person she trusted most in this world.

"Who the hell left the door open?" Jimin growled from the corner of the room, but Chaeyoung barely heard him.

"Chaeng, I can explain," Taehyung said desperately as he lowered his gun, and moved towards her.

She flinched away from him, clumsily rising to her feet and creating a distance between them, "you're a Griffin?"

His eyes were full of somberness as he nodded in response, causing Chaeyoung to exhale a shaky breath. It felt like her world was crumbling before her.

"How long?" she asked, wiping a hot tear from her cheeks

"Chaeyoung, it was my fault-" Jimin interrupted but, Chaeyoung put a hand up to silence him, her eyes never leaving Taehyung's.

"How long?" she repeated, this time much more sternly.

Taehyung tried to take another step towards her but she stepped away, feeling only a little sorry to see how heartbroken he looked.