The Hunt

61

After some protesting from Jimin, I managed to leave the guys' house before 10:00 am.

Feeling refreshed after a long, hot shower, I put my phone on silent and sat down at my computer to work. It was amazing how restful it was sleeping in the arms of a beautiful man on a mattress made of clouds and dreams. I made a mental note to ask Jimin the brand name of his mattress. I hadn't slept that well in years. 

I put my headphones on and set to work on the children's book project. 

I managed a few hours of excellent progress on one of the pages, so I wasn't too annoyed when I was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. It was the repetition of the ringing that annoyed me. 

"Sarah? What's wrong?" I opened the door to find my friend standing there. She glanced over her shoulder before slipping past me into the house. 

"Do you have a go bag?" She asked as she walked straight to my bedroom without pausing. 

I followed along behind her. "Yes, why?" 

I opened my closet and grabbed a blue duffel off the top shelf. As I lived a slightly more paranoid existence than the average person, I kept a bag of clothes and toiletries ready just in case I needed to make a quick getaway. Another hold over from childhood- always be prepared. 

Slinging the bag over my shoulder, Sarah grabbed a couple extra sweaters for me and shoved them into a backpack. 

"We need to go. Do you have your phone?" She was already on her way back to the front door, and I was trailing behind her. 

"What's wrong?" I unplugged my phone and noticed the screen was filled with notifications of new text messages and missed calls from Sarah, Jimin, and some numbers I didn't recognize. I hesitated and glanced at my computer, wondering if I had time to grab my laptop and drawing tablet. 

"We'll talk in the car. Let's go." Sarah grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door, giving me just enough time to lock it. 

Hoseok was waiting for us behind the wheel of a sleek luxury SUV that I hadn't seen before. Sarah hopped into the passenger seat, and I tossed my bag into the backseat before climbing in after it. I barely shut the door before Hoseok took off. 

I scrambled to put my seat belt on as we rounded a corner, going a little too fast for my quiet neighborhood. 

"Hey, Waffles," Jungkook's voice rang out behind my duffel bag. He shoved it over the back of the seat and into the cargo area. "How are you doing?" 

"I'm good. What's going on?" 

"So, I talked to my cousin, Hyukmin."

"The hitman?"

"Contractor," he corrected me politely. "Anyway, he took one of those jobs we talked about." 

I nodded hoping he would hurry up. 

"So, it wasn't just roughing people up and scaring them. It was an... extermination." 

"Okay." 

"Y/n-ssi, the target is your brother's fiance," Jungkook said carefully. "Apparently, she doesn't want to marry him and has a human boyfriend." 

"Wait, which brother? Daehyun or Sehyun?" Having been out of the loop for the last few years, I had no idea that either of my brothers were engaged. My eldest brother, Jaehyun, had married the year before my sister, Hanna. 

"Daehyun." 

That made sense. Daehyun was an overbearing asshole. He was always cruel when we were growing up. He would seek out the younger kids and terrorize them because he was bigger and stronger. 

"Jungkook," Sarah said from the front of the vehicle. "Stop stalling. Tell her." 

I looked back to Jungkook who was avoiding eye contact. Great. This can't be good. 

 "Hyukmin didn't take that job, but he was given a different one. He isn't sure who ordered it, but it really sounds like The Council is behind it." 

"What's the job? Is it me?" It only made sense that it would be me. 

His eyes grew larger and round, and he nodded. "Yeah." 

"Is he supposed to 'exterminate' me?" I was proud of myself for managing to stay so calm. Obviously shit was going down and it clearly wasn't going to be good. 

"No," Jungkook finally looked me in the eye as we took another turn a little too sharply. "He's supposed to take you home. To your parents."