Taehyung’s body stiffened at the mention of his best-friend’s name. He was hoping to rescue Chaeyoung without revealing his identity to the Phoenixes, and he would have succeeded if not for Jeon Jungkook. Their only other encounter before this was two years ago in Japan when both the Jeon and Park family had been invited to the president’s economical summit. When Jimin and Taehyung weren’t handling business for the Griffins, they were working part-time at Park Corporations for Jimin’s father – which is why Taehyung had been invited by Mr. Park to accompany Jimin as a way to ‘expand his knowledge about the economy’. Chaeyoung was working over-time at the hospital then and couldn’t attend, which is why Jungkook hadn’t recognized her.

“Taehyung, was it?” Jungkook asked, a sinister look developing in the depth of his dark eyes.

There was no point in pretending any further, so Taehyung dropped the act and turned towards Jungkook with a stone-cold expression.

“Jungkook,” Taehyung nodded, “nice to see you again.”

“Wait, you two know each other?” Chaeyoung’s brows furrowed together in confusion as she glanced back and forth between the two taller men.

Taehyung ignored Chaeyoung and kept his eyes steadily on Jungkook, his body slowly shifting into a defensive stance. They stood there, sizing each other up for a couple long seconds before Jungkook smirked and shifted his gaze to Chaeyoung. But before he could say anything, Taehyung interjected.

“What do you say we leave the girl out of this and discuss things just between us men?”

Chaeyoung gasped and elbowed Taehyung in the ribs before whispering, “Taehyung! Are you crazy? You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Shh, I’ll handle this,” Taehyung whispered back, squeezing her hand in an attempt to send a message for her to stay quiet.

Jungkook chuckled lowly, “but girls always make things so much more fun.”

“Okay, we don’t have time for you two to passive aggressively challenge each other’s manhood when someone is dying right in front of us,” Chaeyoung said, her frustration coming to a peak.

Taehyung sighed inwardly. It appeared, Chaeyoung did not grasp the gravity of the situation they were in. But, then again, how could she? She didn’t know Jungkook and what he was capable of like Taehyung did. To Chaeyoung, the value of a stranger’s life was more than her own – she had proven this many times throughout her life, taking risks for others when there was no obligation to do so. Her selflessness was one of the things that made her such a good nurse.

Unfortunately, Taehyung didn’t hold the same values. He wouldn’t hesitate