❝You see the tower? Behind its bricks, there are buckets of pain, love and happiness concealed, owned by thousand souls, that you don't know. So, never assume that its beauty is its end. Rather, there are more into structuring its definition.❞
Y/N's P.O.V-
The intense amount of light pouring in through the window immediately shut my opening eyes close. A soft murmur of grumble escaped my mouth. A dull and numb pain spread across my whole body.
'Oh, you are up, finally! We thought we overdosed you with the drug or something. You slept for almost 20 hours.' I sat up on the bed and looked following the source of the voice, finding Youna standing beside my bed. She was the oracle of remedial treatment and therapy of the current base in the city. A kind looking matured young lady. Small eyes framed with round green glasses, she stared at me affectionately.
I asked, my voice sounded gravy from sleep and rather feeble in manner, 'What time is it?'
'About to reach 5. Now, give me your hand.' I drew my hand forward.
'There, you will feel better now.' I tapped my hand lightly, 'Ugh, it still hurts a lot. How much injured did I get?' I pushed the blanket off of myself then looked down, scrutinizing my whole body. Contrary to what I expected, there was no bandage wrapped anywhere except for one enveloping the lower leg.
Youna seemed to read me through my stare so she decided to speak, 'Well you will find a lot under your fabric.'
I pulled up my shirt to look and…
Ugh! My goodness!
Purple bruises apprehended half of my body, darkening at some places while band-aids rested on the other half.
'My precious body's ruined.' I cried.
'Well, at least nothing serious happened except for some minor bruises and cuts. Don't worry.'
'Nothing serious happened? You call this nothing serious? What about the leg?' I pointed at the plaster.
'About the leg… a bullet went into your left calf but fortunately couldn't pierce through deep. We took care of the wounds. Now, it's totally fine.'
'How long will I have to keep the bandage? Can I walk?'
'The wound will take some time to heal. You'll get discharged after one week. But you will need a lot of rest. And for now, no walking and if you do, use a crutch. You have to get up now. Sir is calling you.'
I was expecting that. 'Okay let's go.' I went out of bed. 'Don't forget, crutches.' She shoved a crutch under my arm. 'Yeah, yeah.' I held it and proceeded towards the door with her assisting me on the way.
'Come in, Y/N,' I pushed the door open and went in.
'Sit down. How are you now? Did you rest well?'
'Pretty much well, sir.' I said sitting on the chair in front of him. 'That's good to hear. I won't keep you for too long, so let's get to the point.'
'Yes sir.' I nodded. In a moment, there was a knock on the door in following.
'Come in.' Receiving the awaited permission, the door knob twirled. Two people peeked their head in slowly as if in unsurety, 'You called us, sir?'
'Yes, come in.' Nodding, Momo and Woozi came in and sat down in the chairs beside me. A small glance shared with each other, covert anxiety rested contaminating into all of our eyes.
'So, back to you Y/N, mind telling me everything what happened in your task night? before that,' Crossing his legs, he sat back leaning comfortably, ready to listen to my next words. 'I was told about…your earpiece malfunction?'
'Yes. The earpiece went off ridding me of the entire communication in the middle of the task.'
'That's bad. We have to remain more careful regarding apparatuses next time. What happened next?'
'I shall keep it brief. I went into the dorm safely and found the files. Unexpectedly one of the gang members came back and my earpiece stopped working right at that time. I was trying to hide myself properly but due to a slight mistake he got suspicious of my presence.' My voice slowed down mentioning the error I had made.
'Alright. Continue.' His voice was undeniably soft until now due to some reason. Astounding for sure. According to his motto, there is no place for errs when it comes to saving your cover or anything in a task.
'I had a small fight. When I saw that there were so many of them and it would get difficult for me to defend myself, I shot off the lights and tried to escape with the files. Then-' I recalled the next incident, which made me pause. That guy...
Before my mind could start imagining stuff, I was brought back by his deep stern voice, 'Then, Y/N?'
'Uh… then when I was trying to escape, I was shot by one of them. I managed to reach the car and drove off. They followed me. I was wounded badly and couldn't speed up enough. I took some quick snapshots of the pages inside. Before I jumped out of the car, I kept the files near the window. As the car blasted, the files flew out the window and fell onto the ground catching their eyes. They probably thought that I was dead and failed to get away with those. They went back. I called for backup. The rest is known to you.'
'But why did they come back? They weren't supposed to come back that time. Right, Momo?' Boss shifted his eyes towards the other female. Momo curled up slightly trying to reply excluding the nervousness in her voice, 'Yeah, sir. I uh,.. was sure that they wouldn't…the source told the same too but…'
'But?' He cocked an eyebrow. Momo licked her lips, not finding an eligible defending enough word to say.
'Sir,' I decided to intervene, 'It wasn't her fault. That gang member came back to pick up some stuff. Momo can't be blamed for that. She wasn't supposed to know that they would leave stuff behind and come back to pick them up.'
'And Woozi?
'Woozi was also conducting his part of duty properly too until the earpiece stopped working. It was...my fault after all...that the mission had this ending. If I had not made mistake that time, I wouldn't get caught and the files would've been here safely without any trouble. I apologize...' I couldn't deny it. I was at guilt of course. Momo's work was very dear to her, and she gave her best to it. She didn't deserve any admonishment, and I wasn't afraid to confess my fault. After all, it was me who was obviously responsible for the bigger factor of the changed course of the task.
'Just leave it now. You managed to get shots of the files, that's enough.' He said. The change of tone of his voice was evitable. Both Woozi and Momo looked at me, and I knew the reason. It wasn't because of what he said, it was because noticeably he held this choice of favoring certain agents, I knew it too, someone as me for example. The tint of mocks and pities from both their eyes held me self-conscious.
'And everyone makes mistakes, right? Momo, are you finished sorting those out?'
'No, sir.' She looked back at the boss. 'I will let you know once after the work is done.'
'Alright. By the way, Y/N, was your cover all okay?'
'Yes, sir. My mask didn't move a bit from its place.'
'You sure about it?' A slight last-minute hesitation had occupied my mind I wouldn't deny, barricading me to put forth a strong yes as an answer to the question. But I jerked my head, got rid of it and succeeded to voice strongly with 'Yes sir, I am sure of it.'
'I believe your words are honest. Alright, you should go and take some rest. And everybody else to their work.' He clapped his hands. We bowed and bid him then went out of the room.
As soon as the door closed behind, Momo released a small sigh of relief, 'Whew! We went through a little this time. The boss was in a good mood today, I guess.'
'Even I think so.'
'Why are you saying that? You wouldn't get to any trouble anyway.' She looked at my bandaged leg and asked, 'How is it now?'
'Fine enough. But carrying crutch all the time is absolutely tiring.' Woozi blew a tsk in sympathy, but only to tease, 'So sad! It must be really tiring, isn't it Y/N?'
'Not really. Because I think, I will be able to use it for other works alongside for walking. Like this-' I hit his leg playfully with the crutch. 'Ouch!' The male pouted, 'Do you want me to get my leg wounded now too?'
'I would love to see your leg wrapped up in a bandage. So, yes!' I said sarcastically. 'You are such a bad friend.' He tried to pull up a hurt expression, instead ended up cracking, making me do the same too. Momo was silently observing our silly acts before finally deciding to interrupt, 'Stop it both of you. Woozi, we should go back to work. Y/N, you go and take some rest. The wound won't heal otherwise.'
'You're right. Okay, see you later then. Take care.' I headed back to the nursing room and lied down on the bed again. After prolong hours of sleep, my eyes weren't willing to close back this time. My mind kept on going back to the incident happened that time, me and that guy.
Recalling his appearance made me blush and smile. He was indeed very handsome.
Those silver fringes, how they swayed before his hypnotizing eyes with the cold breeze of night, his plump lips, the way he stared, his eyes filled with warmth...There was something oblivious about them. Like something, that I hadn't seen before...
Before my mind could go on further, I pushed the bridle.
Wait. Why am I thinking about him? I asked myself. He was pretty, so? After all, he is nothing but a delinquent in the eye of the law, that makes him an enemy of mine too. So am I his. To him, I am dead. And to me...he is nothing but a criminal. Criminal to be hated for long and forever.
Not that we are gonna meet again anyway. It got over, so get over it too. Right now, I need some distraction.
On habit, I moved my hand around on the bed in search of my phone. As nothing reached my hand, I looked back, immediately remembering.
Oh, I forgot! My phone...I had left it in the car...
A sigh of frustration escaped out of my lips. My hand sluggishly grabbed the remote to the TV, clicking on some random channel to watch until I go back to sleep sometime afterward.
Meanwhile…
Third P.O.V-
'You all were really IRRESPONSIBLE!! And you Namjoon! You are the leader. I should hold you more responsible for this.' Namjoon lowered his head in guilt. 'Should I punish you for that? Oh yeah, I think I should.'
'But…' All other protested despite the fear they held in their mind for the man, in try to save their leader, 'We took care of the situation well, leaving nothing against us.'
'How can you be so sure? What if she clicked any photo and sent them off before you burnt her down? And where's the proof that she died? Did you see the body? DID YOU?' the harsh voice echoed in the room. No word left the boys' mouths, as they knew, there was no strong answer on their behalf to face the man standing before them.
'Well, your silence makes perfect sense.' The figure slowly taking his time, brought out a packet of cigarette from the pocket, lighted up one, and released a smoke ring. A few minutes passed with pin drop silence.
'Anyways,' he spoke finally, 'those files didn't have anything that'll cause any danger to us or get me exposed. And it was your first fail, so I'm kind enough to let you go.' The boys were surprised by his unexpecting forgiveness. He was strict, cold and cruel. But they were lucky enough to get his pardon, at least for that day.
'But don't let the list of fail get longer. If you do any slight mistake in the future like this, you know what'll happen.' He flashed the coldest smirk. Namjoon spoke hesitantly, 'But what about the task?'
'Forget about it. It is no more required to get done. We can endure the loss but we can't take any risk.'
'Okay.'
'Now all ya leave! And, be careful with every step you take next time. The next time I see you off-road,' a malevolent scar of grin crawled upon his dry parched lips, 'You know what may happen.' The last line was shot more like a threat than a minor precaution. And they knew, within its small form of words, what the cruelest thing he actually meant.
'We will.' all of them replied together.d together.