diamond.

"I'm letting you go." seokjin had called another meeting for everyone, except for namjoon wasn't by his side this time, and he wasn't bringing news that taehyung would want to kill him for.

"what?" hoseok was the first to ask.

"you can all walk out." seokjin said. he leaned his elbows on the desk and looked each one of them in the eye as his gaze flitted around. "if you chose to stay, that's fine, I'll be happy to keep you. but I want you all to go... live your lives the way you should."

"but- we'll get into so much trouble, jin, it's not that simple-" namjoon began to say. it was true; walking away was not as simple as seokjin just letting them go.

"I'll take all the heat. I can handle it." seokjin said. he sighed heavy, pulling out a few little boxes. "I'll give you all a diamond to start your new lives. you can come back if you need money, but I won't force you to stay here. you're all... free to go. no more control."

taehyung almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. it wasn't until seokjin was right in front of him, handing him a diamond in a box, that everything processed, and taehyung almost cried- he was so happy. he'd been betting for years that he would have to battle his way out of the criminal life, because their reputations were ed, and seokjin's family was not happy with any of them- taehyung especially.

"we can just go. just like that?" taehyung tried not to sound skeptical, because he wasn't, really; he was so happy that he couldn't possibly think negatively.

"just like that." seokjin said. "I regret making jungkook come with us. I'm sorry you two got hurt, and I'm glad you've recovered."

"thank you." taehyung said, and, for the first time in a long time, he bowed to the older boy. he turned, with jungkook on his arm, to walk out of the room. he waved over his shoulder, "goodbye, hyung."