Chapter 20 – My Chance
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Running away is only escaping physically. 

     Taehyung was the first to wake up. His eyes slowly opened against the reluctance of his exhausted mind. Yoongi and Hoseok were asleep on two chairs against the wall across from him, both leaning their heads on one arm. 

The orange haired shuffled around gently, wincing at the pain that vibrated through his sore body, and looked around. Only the three of them were inside the room. Trying to minimise the volume of his groans, he got out of bed and walked weakly to the door, one hand running over the wounded area of his arm, memories of the previous night flashing in his head. He made his way down the corridor and entered Namjoon's room as quietly as possible. The first thing his eyes laid on was Jimin. 

The room was clean but there were signs of the chaos from hours earlier. For one, the hyungs and maknae's faces; they looked so worn out, and two, the bed. Jimin's face was cleaned up and the blankets covering him looked neat, but Taehyung didn't need to see to know that the sheets underneath would be stained with lots of blood. 

He slowly walked over and sat down on the bed softly, reaching over to trickle his fingers over Jimin's fringe hair gently. Then he the boy's cheek and managed a small smile. At least he wasn't dead. That, as minimum as it was, comforted Taehyung. He twist-squeezed a soaked hand towel and scrunched it up to pat Jimin's face lightly, disliking the dried sweat that was present on the elder's features. 

"H-hyung..." 

He turned around and met eyes with the maknae who glanced at him surprisingly. "How's your arm?"

Taehyung blinked. "It's alright," I've been through worse. 

Jeongkook got up and, after rubbing his tired eyes and ruffling his hair, offered to go boil some water for everyone to drink. Taehyung nodded and watched the cute maknae walk away. He turned his attention back to Jimin, leaning close to peck his hyung's forehead, then nose, then lips gently.

The door of the room opened suddenly and Yoongi and Hoseok barged in, letting out a sigh of relief when they saw Taehyung. "Why didn't you wake us up?" Yoongi exclaimed, to which Taehyung just smiled. "Anyway, there's someone outside for you." 

"What? Who?" 

A lady wearing a cloak peeked in. Taehyung's eyes widened. "Mother?"

     "You have to listen to me. You have to run."

"Wait-wait, start over." 

His mother squeezed his hand tightly. "You have to leave Taehyung. Taebeom was struck on the head yesterday badly and he's been passed out ever since. I think he might have amnesia when he wakes up. You need to take the chance to get away. Take Jimin with you. Leave."

Taehyung shook his head. "I can't do that! What about you? What about my friends? They'll all be in danger!" 

His mother's eyes were so worried, and he felt so guilty for rejecting her even after she risked going behind his father's back to see him. "I'm sorry. You should go back mother, before they find out. Go, call me if you need anything."

She shut her eyes for a moment before nodding. "Just remember, if you're going to leave, do it by tomorrow night. Take it into consideration, okay? Please."

He stared back into her watery pupils and jumped into her arms, hugging her tightly. "I will mother, thankyou. Take care of yourself."

She held him back. "You too, my son. You too."

He watched his mother leave and turned around to see his hyungs staring at him from the doorway, wanting an explanation. He dropped his head and walked past them into the room where Jimin and Jeongkook were. His love was awake. He entered to see Jeongkook feeding Jimin some warm water, the elder struggling to drink it smoothly. 

"Jimin-ah," Taehyung gulped, no emotions from earlier comparing to what he felt now. An overly relieved smile made its way to his mouth. Jimin glanced up at him and stared back with an equally happy eye-smile. He opened his arms weakly and asked for a hug, a warm hug he lingered in for a long while. Thank goodness they were all okay. 

"So what's going on? You don't have to tell us who that lady was but at least we should know who did this to Jimin. Start talking Taehyung." Yoongi demanded, eyes narrowing to the younger. The orange haired turned around. "I-"

"I'm sorry hyung, it's hard to explain." Jimin grabbed his arm and interrupted. "You understand right?" 

The four eldest hyungs exchanged somewhat disapproving looks. "I don't get how you being randomly stabbed is something I should just 'understand', Park Jimin. Fine, if you insist. So Taehyung, you never told us you had another hyung." 

Said boy froze on the spot and Jimin's head shot up with worry. . 

Jeongkook stood up. "Hyungs, stop asking please. The only reason they won't tell you is because they don't want you put in danger too, so stop forcing them."

"That's kinda funny coz' we should be the ones protecting you guys." Namjoon said, no one else finding it amusing. "But seriously, we only want to help." 

Jeongkook glanced at Taehyung who contemplated his choices. He thought long and hard. "We have one day. We're leaving."

"What?!" They all exclaimed, gaping at him. 

"It's either that, or murder."