꧁༒༻༺༒꧂꧁༒༻༺༒꧂
༺༻ Chapter 9: Why did she? ༺༻
꧁༒༻༺༒꧂꧁༒༻༺༒꧂
The sound seemed unreal among the chaos which was left behind following the raid. The officers were quick to move in and surround him, guns still drawn, but he hardly noticed them. His attention was strictly with the woman in front of him.
Priya Thakur.
She stared at him, shallow breath escaping her chest, locked in place eye contact- as if she were seeing a ghost.
As the officers worked around them, securing the area, Priya hesitated. There was an odd tightening in her chest, a sense of gut feeling she couldn't shake off.
Something. About him—his posture, the way he moved—was... familiar.
Then, she saw them.
His eyes.
Dark, intense, burning with something lost to unreadablility.
A shiver ran down her spine; a memory she had long buried clawed its way forward. She gasped for breath.
Her fingers ticked around her gun, now long removed away from aim but, she barely whispered, lost in the memory and barely audible over the voices of the officers surrounding them.
"Mr. Kim, ... is that you? Under the mask?"
Taehyung's dark, piercing eyes never left hers. He did not blink. He nodded.
A long pause, and neither of them spoke.
Priya sucked in a breath. "Taehyung?" she gasped, so quietly that no one could hear her.
Her brain surged with awareness but struggled to grasp the situation. This was taehyung —the most wanted man in Delhi. The notorious mafia boss. The man who had escaped from police at every corner.
And he dropped his weapon without a fight.
Why?
Before Priya had the chance to figure it out, she made an instant decision.
A gun went off. Bang!
The gunshot rang in the cold morning air.
Gasps came from the scene while officers ducked and searched confusedly, but the bullet did not hit Taehyung.
The bullet hit a pole nearby, ricocheting off metal with a loud bang. The bullet grazed Priya's arm, blood blossoming against her sleeve.
The officers standing nearby went into chaos.
A sharp, burning pain cut through her skin and she stumbled back.
"Priya!" someone called.
But, she didn't hear them.
She was staring at him.
Taehyung was glaring at her, his body entirely tense.
In that moment, she made her choice.
Amidst the chaos, Priya met Taehyung's gaze and did the unthinkable.
She told him to run.
For a moment, Taehyung paused. His eyes flitted to her bleeding arm, then back to her face..
With her teeth grit, she subtly motioned for him to run.
His brow furrowed. He faltered.
Damn it.
Her lips barely moved when she mouthed, "Go."
"Go."
Something twisted inside him.
For the first time, she saw something flicker in his expression.
Something dangerous.
But then—he moved.
In a flash, he threw himself into the shadows. By the time the officers turned back around, he was gone.
Priya clutched her bleeding arm, surrounded by the chaos of screams and panic.
But all she could think was: What the hell did I just do?
༺✦ [location hospital] ✦༻
✦ Time: *around noon* ✦
The ambulance sped through the streets, sirens blaring into the night.
Priya lay on the stretcher with a bloodied cloth pressed against her arm. The pain thumped dull and heavy, but she had been hurt in worse ways.
Across from her, she could see her partner, Ajay, with his arms folded across his chest as he stared her down with an unreadable expression.
"You idiot," he said.
Priya rolled her eyes. "Not now, Ajay."
He leaned forward. "What the hell were you thinking when you pushed yourself in front of that bullet?"
She released a long breath. "It was an accident."
Ajay's jaw tightened. His eyes darkened with distrust.
A bitter chuckle escaped from his lips. "Accident my ass. You took a bullet meant for him, right? You let him go, didn't you? His protection was more important than saving your life, wasn't it?" His voice was low, but accusatory.
Priya twisted her fingers into the hospital sheet. "I did not. You are blind, Ajay. The pole did this."
Ajay stared at her arm wrapped in a bandage, then at her dark expression. "Sure. It was an accident." He muttered. "You know what is suspicious? The most wanted criminal in Delhi just magically surrenders, and just happens to have someone almost kill you while you are trying to shoot him." he narrowed his eyes.
Priya- you are merely overthinking
Ajay narrowed his eyes. "Sure. The pole just happened to get in the way, and the most wanted mafia king just happened to disappear at the same time."
Priya sat in silence.
She could tell that he didn't believe her.
She couldn't say for sure if she believed herself anymore.
Taehyung poured himself a drink, watching the amber liquid swish to and fro.
The alcohol burned his throat without compromising the nagging question in his head.
He lifted his hand and instinctively brushed against his beaten side. He had no idea he had even been hit.
With a sigh, he called for their hired personal doctor.
Even as the doctor stitched his cut and bruises, Taehyung kept losing focus.
"She should have shot me," his voice dripped with bitterness.
The doctor looked up, "She's a good cop. She doesn't shoot unarmed people."
Taehyung scoffed. Good cops don't let criminals get away.
So why did she?
With bloodshot, hollow eyes, Taehyung's head suddenly snapped up.
"My fucking day!" he said, his voice thick with rage and confusion. "A police officer fucking shot herself—for me, Stephen. For me. And you're asking whether everything's fucking ok? Are you mad or just stup*d?!"
Stephen stiffened, lips parting to say something, but Taehyung was already standing, pacing, holding his glass with white knuckles.
"You have been my shadow for years," Taehyung barked. "So let me ask you this, Stephen... why did she save me?"
His voice cracked—barely—but enough to leak the storm inside. He turned back to Stephen, his eyes bloodshot, his razor-sharp face looking... defeated.
"Why would she take a bullet for someone like me?" he whispered, more to himself than the man in front of him. "She could have died."
Stephen shifted awkwardly. "Sir... maybe she did it for gain. Power. Greed."
The glass exploded against the wall before he had finished speaking.
"No!" Taehyung shouted. "Don't you f***ing dare! That bullet blasted through her! She was bleeding out in front of me! That wasn't about the money; that wasn't fake!"
He ran both hands through his messed up hair, jaw clenched tight with every painful thought. "Why would she... do that?"
Stephen was careful now. "Sometimes people only do that for one of two reasons: money. Or..." - he hesitated. "...love."
꧁༒༻༺༒꧂꧁༒༻༺༒꧂
༶•┈┈┈༓༓༓༓༓༓༓༓༓┈┈┈༶
༺ To be continued… ༻
꧁༒༻༺༒꧂꧂༒༻༺༒꧂
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