Jisoo hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep ever since the mission in LA. Every time she closed her eyes, she was plagued with the image of piercing black eyes staring back at her. When she did manage to steal a couple of hours here and there, her dreams were filled with random ominous events that left her confused and uneasy when she awoke.

She didn’t know why she was bothering to listen to Taehyung. If she told Incra about his unwelcome appearance during her mission, wouldn’t they protect her? Jisoo did believe in the agency and she did believe that at least Teddy and the other girls would fight for her.

But she also knew Taehyung could follow up on his words very easily. Jisoo did not doubt that he could hurt her and everything she loved.

She’d rather not take that chance.

So for the time being, Jisoo would have to continue hiding her anxiety. She would have to continue letting his lethal threat hang over her head and eat her up from the inside.

It was extremely hard to push aside her integrity and sense of duty. Teddy always told her to pick her battles wisely. Jisoo hoped she was being wise in her choice.

It had been about two weeks since that fateful encounter. Jisoo buried herself in work at Incra and paid extra attention in class.

A certain someone also proved to be an effective distraction, as well.

“Hey, Jisoo.” Jinyoung put his hands on her shoulders behind her. She jumped since she was furiously typing out an essay.

“Oh my god! You scared me, Jinyoung.” She gave him a playful tap on his chest. Jinyoung sat down next to her. It was lunchtime and the girls were busy doing other things. Jennie and Rose decided to go off campus to grab sushi. Jisoo was pretty sure that Lisa was hanging out with Jungkook again. It was obvious that the two of them liked each other.

Jisoo initially liked Taehyung’s friends. But now, she was fairly certain they were involved in the spy business. Taehyung didn’t seem like the type to have friends that didn’t provide him some sort of benefit. Jisoo didn’t think she would be able to trust them because of their involvement with V.

“You’re supposed to be eating right now. You’ll still get a 4.0 if you take an hour break, you know?” Jinyoung sat next to her.

“I know, I just wanted to finish this a couple of days early so I had some downtime this weekend.” Jisoo informed him. The truth was that she was going to busy at Incra.

“Downtime to hang out with me?” Jinyoung’s lips turned upward.

Jisoo’s cheeks turned pink. “Maybe.”

Suddenly, she caught a figure out of the corner of her eye. It was none other than Taehyung. Only this time, he was equipped with his posse. Jisoo was right—Lisa there with them, chatting animatedly with Jungkook.

Jinyoung followed her eyes. He leaned into her. “I never really liked Kim Taehyung and all of them, anyways. Taehyung always seems like he has a stick up his pretentious .”

Jisoo laughed at this. “You aren’t wrong. Everyone knows he isn’t the nicest to me.” She resisted adding that not only was he mean to her, but he was fatal.

Taehyung made eye contact with her. They shared a knowing look—one that was unlike anything she had ever known. Looking at him for the first time in weeks made the bile in rise. Now was not the best time to run to the bathroom and vomit.

Jinyoung put his hand over hers. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Taehyung noted Jinyoung’s presence. His mouth twitched at the sight of Jinyoung and Jisoo holding hands. She picked up on this slight reaction. Inwardly, Jisoo was satisfied that she could get that to arise within him. It helped remind her that she wasn’t at a total disadvantage here. She did beat him at his own game last time, after all.