Once Again

79

Jimin sat in the winged armchair by the bow windows, one leg over the other as his fingers twirled the stem of the wine glass on the small marble side table beside him. A thick hardcover book sat open on his lap as he read. Every time he turned a page, he would look up to glance across the room before returning his gaze to his book.

The object of his attention was a lump that lay sprawled along a wall, facedown. A chain led away from it, ending at a wall hook set one foot off the floor.

Jimin was almost halfway through his book when the lump by the wall stirred and a groan issued from it. A satisfied smirk flashed across Jimin's face as he quickly finished his third glass of wine. He then marked his place in the book before rising from his chair to make his way to the wall.

About bloody time, he thought. This time I'm going to finish the job properly.

Using the toe of his Brunello Cucinelli shoe, Jimin flipped the lump over to reveal the man underneath. His lips pursed in disapproval as his eyes roamed up and down the supine figure before settling where the man's shirt wrapped snugly around a small bump in his belly. His eyes returned to his captive's face and locked gazes with gold-flecked brown eyes swimming in pain and confusion.

He waited until the eyes focused on him, and when they widened in recognition and fear, he felt victorious and his lips lifted in a smirk.

"Hello Kim Seokjin. Remember me? I'm Park Jimin, Jungkook's husband. My, my. You are a difficult man to rub out."

Jin began to tremble, causing the chain around his ankle to clink and echo in the room. Seeing his nemesis in such distress sent shivers of delight and pleasure to course down Jimin's spine. It propelled blood to his groin, giving him a delicious arousal and turning his smirk into a lovely smile that accentuated his handsome looks. But the sweet smile was completely incongruent to the words that next fell from his lips.

"Do not worry, Kim Seokjin. This time I will make sure that you stay dead," Jimin's eyes turned cold as he grabbed a handful of Jin's hair to pull him up. "And I will see to it that you won't be lonely in the afterlife. Because I will kill that baby in your belly first. My husband's bastard child can wait for you at the gates of hell."

Meanwhile in Tokyo, Taehyung stood behind Haein in Jin's tiny office at the back of the ramen shop. He watched as the man's fingers flew across the keyboard of Jin's work computer while talking into a Bluetooth headset. Haein was pulling up every information that he could find about flights that had left Seoul that day.

When Jin failed to come through the arrival doors at Narita this morning, Taehyung had become quite angry. He thought that his former best friend had prevented his husband from coming home. But after speaking with Jungkook on the phone, it soon became clear that Jin's disappearance was not by his design. Taehyung's husband was missing because of something else.

Worried for his husband's wellbeing, Taehyung had raced back to the ramen shop to enlist Haein's help. He'd remembered that Haein had been in the Special Forces and was trained in hostage rescue. He hoped that Haein still had contacts in the military, or at the very least, knew someone in law enforcement who could help trace Jin's whereabouts.

"Yes, I have it. I'm viewing it now," Haein spoke into his headset.

Taehyung immediately turned his attention to the monitor in front of Haein, and was shocked to see an image of his husband walking towards a security checkpoint in an airport. The time stamp in the corner of the screen indicated it was taken approximately two hours before Jin's flight. The recording was so clear that Taehyung could see the joy on his husband's face as he neared the cordoned off area where only passengers were allowed through.

In Taehyung's eyes, Jin looked happy and eager to catch his flight. There was even a soft, contented smile playing on his lush lips as his hand rubbed his baby bump gently.

"Jin," Taehyung whispered, his fingers unconsciously reaching towards the vision of his husband on the screen.

"We'll find him, Taehyung-sama. We won't stop until we get him home," Haein promised with a grim look on his face.

"Thank you, Haein-san," said Taehyung as he squeezed the other man's shoulder in gratitude.

Both men watched the scene unfold on the screen, looking for clues that could tell them where to begin looking. They were so intent on their task that they didn't even hear Hoseok enter with Minjoon through the back door. He had retrieved the little boy from the crèche after a panicked Taehyung barged into the shop earlier that morning, begging for Haein's help. The cousins had then immediately closed the shop and shut down for the day.

"There! That man!" Haein exclaimed as he froze the image on the screen and pointed at a man dressed all in black who stood eerily close behind Jin.

"What? What did you see?" Taehyung asked.

"That man put his hand on Jin's neck!"

"What? When?! I didn't catch it!"

Haein tapped a few keys, and Taehyung watched as the recording went back several seconds before replaying in slow motion. He gasped when he saw the stranger's hand touch the back of his husband's neck briefly before coming to rest at his side. Haein returned the playback speed to normal and both men watched as Jin inched closer to the front of the line.

Taehyung's husband was about two persons away when disaster struck. He began to wobble in place, and then collapsed to the floor like a marionette whose strings had been cut. There was chaos as passengers and airport security alike began to converge on where Jin lay unconscious.

Several minutes passed before the man in black, who had been holding Jin in his arms, said something to one of the men in uniform and everyone backed away to allow the stranger to lift Jin into an electric cart. It was clear that the man in black was making it known to everyone in the vicinity that he and Jin were together. They then disappeared from view as the cart left the scene.

"Where did they go? Where did they go?!" Taehyung shouted.

"I don't know," Haein replied. "This was all that my contact was able to get on such short notice. He said he can get us more but it will take time."

"Then tell him to get on it!" Taehyung instructed sharply as he hurried out the back door. "And call me when you find out where that fucker took my husband!"

"Taehyung! Wait!" Hoseok called as he ran after him. "Where are you going? What about Minjoon?"

"I'm going to Seoul. Please watch Minjoon for me," Taehyung requested. "I'm going to get my husband back. And I'm going to make that man who took him regret what he did!"