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“Anybody can become angry — that is easy,
but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree
and at the right time and for the right purpose,
and in the right way — that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.”
― Aristotle

“What the is this?”

Soohyuk looked up from his files to see a folder drop down in front of him with loose papers fitted inside. He stared up at the man in front of him in confusion.

“What is going on?” he asked, reaching for the folder to read the contents.

“You knew all about this, didn’t you?” the man asked. Soohyuk’s eyes ran over the words and he could hear his heartbeat ring in his ears at the accusation.

“I can explain-”

He was hoisted up from his seat by the collar of his dress shirt and he stared at the man in front of him in fear.

The man brought his face close and hissed, “What did you add into her dosage?”

Soohyuk grabbed onto the man’s arm and threw it off him. He rubbed at his neck and glared at the man. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The man laughed at him incredulously, his face full of disbelief. “Don’t play dumb with me, Soohyuk. I’m asking you again, what did you put into her?”

“Get out of my office, Changmin.”

Changmin stared at him. “She’s my sister, Soohyuk. I have a right to know what you’re putting into her body.”

Soohyuk turned to him. “She’s my sister too. Do you not think I’d want what is best for her?”

Changmin narrowed his eyes at him and pointed to the files in front of them. “Then explain to me how a young girl was able to throw a grown man across the room and snap a metal food tray in half with her bare hands!”

Soohyuk flinched at the volume. “It was a result we didn’t calculate for.”

“You think I’m going to believe that? I’ve run tests on the drug. Why are there substances in it that nobody else on the research team knew was in there?”

Soohyuk stilled for a second. Then he looked away and let out a sigh. “I got research offers.”

“What are you talking about?”

“They were willing to pay to see how far the human body could be changed,” Soohyuk whispered. “With the money, we could fund so many more projects in the future.”

Changmin stood there, seething. Soohyuk continued, “All they wanted me to do was add in the research samples into her dosage to see if there would be any changes.”

“And what would’ve happened if there wasn’t any changes?”

Soohyuk avoided his eyes. “There was a high chance of death.”

Changmin stepped back and he stared at his brother in alarm. “And you were willing to cast away our sister’s life for money? After you went through everything to save her?”

“Aren’t you curious as to how much the human body is capable of? I mean, look at her. She’s physically stronger with each dosage. She could be capable of so much more.”

Changmin felt his skin run cold at the look in Soohyuk’s eyes and all he could do was stand there as his brother continued to speak.

“If we can genetically enhance her physical abilities, this will be a breakthrough for humanity. We would go down in history.” He stopped talking when he realized Changmin had fallen silent. His eyes rounded at the look of disappointment on the face staring back at him.

“Do you hear yourself right now? Since when were you so fixated on the fame than you were to save her?”

“We’ve already saved her. I’m just doing something more for her right now.”

Changmin shook his head. “No, that’s not what you’re doing. If you wanted to save her, you would’ve stopped when you had the chance.”

“Wait, I’m getting a signal.”

Jin and Hoseok turned to see Jimin tapping away at the laptop. Jin frowned. “What do you mean?” Jimin tilted the laptop screen so that the others could see and he pointed to the map he had pulled up.

“I was able to get Jungkook’s signal back. Something was blocking it before.”

Hoseok leaned in to get a closer look. “Where is he?”

“Isn’t that near the waters? How did he get so far?” Jin asked. Yoongi stopped the vehicle so that him and Namjoon could turn around in their seats and see what the others were talking about.

“What do you mean by something was blocking it?” Yoongi raised an eyebrow. Jimin shrugged. “There was something interfering with the transmission signals of the tracker.”

“How could that even be?” Hoseok questioned out loud. Jimin shook his head. “Maybe it was whoever had taken in. They must’ve did something to disrupt the signals. I’m not sure but I’ve managed to bypass it and restore the connection.”

“Did you try getting in contact with him?” Jin asked. Jimin nodded. “But I haven’t gotten any responses. His communication devices aren’t even powered on.”

“Then that’s where we’re going to go. If we know he’s still alive, we have to get him back,” Jin said, looking around at the others.

Yoongi thought about it for a second. “If he’s by the waters, whoever it is that has him must be trying to get across.”

Hoseok let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back into his seat. “I don’t get what they’re trying to do. What business do they have with them? Or more specifically, with us?”

“They’ve most likely taken them in as hostages against the Cover,” Yoongi concluded. Jin chewed at his lip in worry. “Then we definitely have to get him back as soon as possible.”

Jimin looked at Namjoon. “Has there been any word from the Forerunner? Do you think he’d be alright with us going?”

Namjoon looked between his eyes and to the laptop in his hands. “I’ll contact him but we’ll head to the location first. If we know where he is, there’s no reason to go back at the moment.”

He turned to look at Yoongi. “How long will it take us to get to his location?”

Yoongi hummed, running his fingers over the wheel of the vehicle.

“With this baby?” Not long.”

“Taehyung! Something’s wrong!”

Taehyung jumped at the sudden shout and dropped the meat he was cooking. He almost tripped over his own feet when he ran towards the truck where Jungkook had Nari in his arms. She was visibly shaking and was gasping for air.

He couldn’t even begin to explain the fear he felt course through his body when he saw the look on Jungkook’s face and the state Nari was in.

Jungkook stared down at her in horror. “She started to shake so I went to check on her and it looks like she’s having extreme troubles breathing.”

Taehyung jumped onto the truck to get a closer look.

The two of them held their breaths when they saw her eyes open but Taehyung’s face fell when he saw the red pupils staring back at him. Then, all of a sudden, the noise stopped and her body went still.

“Nari?”

When there was no response, Jungkook held his fingers up to her neck and waited for a pulse. Taehyung watched him anxiously but when Jungkook looked up at him and shook his head, he felt his blood run cold.

“Her heart’s stopped,” Jungkook whispered. They set her down and Jungkook placed one hand on top of the other and began to press down against her chest.

Taehyung sat there as Jungkook continued to do the chest compressions but there was still no response. Jungkook removed his hands and tilted both her head and chin up before pinching her nose. He created a seal with his mouth against her lips and breathed out.

Taehyung watched to see if her chest had risen at all but when there was no movement, his heart fell. Jungkook frowned in determination and tilted her head up further and leaned down to give another breath.

Jungkook drew back to see if there was any movement in her chest.

Simultaneously, they let out an immense sigh of relief when her chest heaved up ever-so-slightly and her eyes opened.

“Hey, are you okay?” Taehyung asked, lightly tapping against her cheek. She turned her head at his voice and blinked.

“Tae?”

He let out a tired smile and fell back against the truck. Jungkook helped her sit up against the window of the truck.

“How long have I been out?” she asked.

“It’s been a little more than two days,” Taehyung replied. She closed her eyes and leaned against the window. “That isn’t too long.”

Jungkook raised an eyebrow and turned to lock eyes with Taehyung when they heard the nonchalance in her voice. “You mean you’ve been out longer?” She opened her eyes to stare at him and this time, he noticed her red eyes.

“The longest was a week.”

Taehyung narrowed his eyes. “But did that week include cardiac arrest?”

At that, she fell silent and Taehyung let out a sigh. “This can’t continue, Nari. You keep saying you’ll be fine but look at what happened.”

She stared at him. “I am fine. I did what I had to do to get him out.” Taehyung’s frown deepened. “And what would have happened if we didn’t get your heart beating again?”

“Then you guys would continue on with everything. Losing me shouldn’t affect that,” she snapped. Taehyung’s mouth fell open at her words. “What are you even saying?”

She looked away from his burning eyes.

“Do you not value your life at all?” Taehyung whispered. She turned back to him to see the expression in his eyes and her face fell.

“We lost you once, Nari. We don’t need it to happen a second time right in front of our own eyes.”

She said nothing in response and Taehyung shook his head as he hopped off the truck.

Jungkook looked between the two of them and stayed quiet. He watched as her eyes followed his retreating figure and when he stopped, he saw her hold her breath.

“If not for yourself, then do it for us and promise us now that you won’t do that yourself ever again. I don’t want to go through what I just had to experience.”

Jungkook had stayed beside Nari for the next few hours, handing her some food and water that she quietly took and thanked him for. He had gone around to the front of the truck to grab something from his bag and when he returned, Nari was staring at him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He blinked, taken aback by her sudden words. Then his face softened. “You scared us, Nari. The thought of losing you just when I got to see you again was frightening.”

“I’m sorry,” was all she could say. Her hopped back onto the truck and her eyes fell onto the object he had in his hands.

“Is that-”

He nodded, cutting her off. “It’s your bow. I brought it out for you. Figured you’d want it in your hands again.”

A small smile crept onto her face as she held the bow in her hands and was able to feel the familiar weight of it again. She turned to Jungkook. “Thank you. This brings back memories.”

He looked down at his feet. “You know, for the first few weeks when we lost you, it was unbearable. We fought with each other a lot. We didn’t know who to put the blame on. To make matters worse, the Forerunner instructed us to stay back since he said he would said people out to find you.”

She stayed silent at his words.

“Seeing you now, that was all a lie too, wasn’t it? It was like we couldn’t think of any other possible way to cope other than fighting with each other. It took us a while to realize it was our own fault.”

She frowned. “It wasn’t your fault. It could’ve happened to any one of us that day.”

“Yeah, but it was you who we lost. You were the backbone to the group. You were the glue that held us together and when we lost you, it was like we all fell apart.”

Her eyes began to water when she heard the small quiver in his voice.

“And god, it was horrible. Not even the Bliss pills helped to ease the weight on our minds. It wasn’t until the Forerunner called us into his office that day, that the next seemed to get easier and before we even noticed it ourselves, any recollection of you seemed to be lost.”

He turned to her. “So you can imagine how confusing it was for us to remember you again briefly.” She nodded, remembering the stunned faces they had when she saw them that day.

“When we confronted the Forerunner about it, he told us off that he had recently found you again. And he said he wanted to help us forget the pain by erasing our memories because. In his words, it was deemed beneficial for his soldiers.”

Her fingers tightened around the metal can she was holding with her water. “That’s bull.”

He chuckled. “I figured. Then we were sent to hunt you. Taehyung snapped out of it when he saw you, I suppose. The rest of us were sent back and the whole process was repeated.”

She didn’t know what to say.

“But Nari,” he stared, and she looked up at him, “why didn’t you come back to find us?”

She looked away when his eyes bore into hers for an answer. “I told Taehyung already but at first, I couldn’t get into contact with you. I fell into a breakdown and Baekhyun had taken me in. When I began to regain my own memories, I found myself hating you guys.”

“Hating us?” he repeated. She nodded, still avoiding his eyes. “I hated the fact that none of you came back for me. It took me a while for the blind anger to subside and then I realized it wasn’t your fault. Soohyuk must’ve done something.”

Then, she turned to him. “How much do you know about Soohyuk?”

Jungkook shot her a wry smile. “Pretty much whatever you’ve told Taehyung.” She let out a sigh. “Then you know everything already.”

He nodded. “He said it would be more painful to hear it from you and honestly, it is. I can’t imagine how much you’ve had to suffer on your own because of him.”

“Now, I just find myself hating him but on the other hand, I hate myself for being so weak and for him to be able to manipulate me as such.” She froze when she felt him pat her head and she stared at him in surprise.

Jungkook chuckled. “The tables have turned, haven’t they? Back then, you’d be the one patting me on the head and telling me everything was okay when training got too tough.”

She couldn’t help but laugh herself. “You’ve grown, Jungkook.” He tilted his head and grinned at her. “Well, it only makes sense.” He removed his hand and then turned to look at Taehyung, who had been sitting on the motorboat the entire time.

“I have no right to get mad at you since you were the one who risked your life to save me but Taehyung seems mad. He couldn’t sleep at all while you were still unconscious.”

She let out a small sigh and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll go apologize.” Jungkook hopped off the truck and reached out a hand. She grabbed onto his shoulders and he lifted her up off the truck and set her gently onto the ground.

Just as she turned to go, he called for her again.

“It's easy to get mad at someone when you don't know how to convey yourself. We've all been through it, trust me.”

a u t h o r ' s    n o t e

      Hello, hello! Hope you all liked the chapter. Haven't we all gotten mad at someone and then said things we don't really mean? As I write more and more of these chapters, I find myself adding in little snippets of experience and directing it in a way that the characters in the story would be going through. 

      See you all in the next chapter! Once again, thank you for reading and commenting! 

      And yes, the Changmin that Soohyuk got into an argument with is none other than the Shim Changmin of TVXQ. It took me a while to figure out who I wanted as the second brother and when I found out they were the same age, I knew who it was going to be from there. Plus, they just both seem to give off the brotherly/protective vibe to me, I don't know. I haven't decided if they're the same age in the story of if one's older than the other but we'll see. You'll see more of Changmin soon!