BEEP BEEP

'We think we have a lead, Taehyung.'

'What is it? Did you find the owner of the letters?'

'Not exactly, but we did find some fingerprints. It's a male who spends a lot of time with Aera, we know this because we found her fingerprints merged with his ones.'

'Okay, that's a start. Keep me updated,' I said.

'Sure thing. Anyway, how's Aera?'

'She's fine.'

'You're lucky. It's big money, right?'

'Bye, Jimin.'

BEEP BEEP

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ -═══════ι▬▬

I marched towards Aera's hotel room. Each step sent a painful sensation through my body. I'm surviving on three hours of sleep, I was exhausted. It was difficult to peacefully sleep when the one person who made you happy hated you. Aera doesn't spare glances towards me, doesn't hug me goodnight, doesn't make fun of me like she used to. It was painful.

My perfect record of successful rescues was getting tainted by her. I couldn't protect her like this, I was getting too distracted by my feelings for her that I forgot my place, I forgot why I was here in the first place. I couldn't get distracted. I couldn't let a repeat of what happened two years ago. If anything happened to Aera, I would never forgive myself.

I clutched the metal door handle and swung the door to the suite open.