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“Tell me, Taemin.” Jongin pauses, fighting back his tears. “Did I ever mean anything to you?... Or was all of it a lie?”
The question hangs in the air between them; it’s acrid, choking Jongin on every inhalation he takes. He can’t believe this is happening.
Taemin stands on the other side of his desk, gun pointed to his face. Even behind the bandanna wrapped around his mouth, Jongin can recognise the eyes of his boyfriend. They're cold, no trace of love in them as Taemin's gang robs the bank that Jongin manages. He can hear the sounds of his employees, terrified as armed gun men keep an eye on them.
Taemin snorts behind the bandanna and carefully pulls it down with his spare hand, the gun never wavering in it's position. "You always were too sappy and in love for my own good, huh?"
"Answer me."
"How about this," Taemin quirks his eyebrow. "For every question you have, one digit of the safe combination for an answer."
Jongin grits his teeth, wondering if there'll be a chance for him to push the silent alarm. This may give him time and a possible distraction. "Fine."
"Number first."
"The first digit is three. Did I ever mean anything to you?"
"Not at first."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
Taemin tilts his head and Jongin sighs. "36."
"It means you didn't mean anything to me at first. You were just the way in to this vault. Nearer the end there, you did catch me bit by bit but well. I doubt we have anything going for us now."
"367. Why me?"
"You just got a shipment of seven hundred million Won. That's the biggest bank shipment of this year so far. Why else do you think? Well, you are kind of hot, so the sex was fun and enjoyable at least."
"Was I just some fuck toy for you? 3670."
"A little bit. But you were also an easy target. We were going to go for that... Baekhyun. Loud mouth he is, he's the one you can thank for all of this in the first place."
"36072. What do you mean I'm an easy target?"
Taemin pulls the safety trigger of the gun, tutting. "Don't try and confuse me by mixing the numbers up, now."
Jongin curses internally. "36702. Answer my question."
"i don't think you deserve it after that but, I'll play nice. You're a hopeless romantic. All you want is to be loved. You're stuck in a dead end job wishing and hoping for some excitement. It was all too easy to pop up and be the hopeless bad boy of those books you always read in the cafe. Humans are habitual; everything you do is mundane and boring, the picture perfect work till you make it. All you ever wanted was some form of fun and that was all too easy to provide you with."
Jongin swallows and looks down at the desk, finally breaking eye contact. "That's all you saw me as? 9."
"That is all you are, truly. I didn't tell you to fall in love with me. I did try and warn you, don't get too close, remember? On our first date, I told you, don't get too close or you might get burned. You fell for everything hook line and sinker."
Tears well in Jongin's eyes as the reality hits him. His boyfriend of eight months, eight goddamn months, the man he was falling in love with, the man he had considered moving in with, proposing to... All of it was for nothing more than a quick money grab.
"36702964. I don't have any more questions, just go."
Taemin snorts and rolls his eyes, slowly lowering the gun. "You really were all too easy, Nini."
Jongin flinches at the sound of his pet name being used in such a sneering way and Taemin chuckles. He pulls his bandanna back up before leaving the office, yelling for someone to follow him. Onew. Jongin commits it to memory.
He waits; it takes four minutes to walk to the vault when walking fast, a few minutes to get it open. It's packed; Taemin likely isn't going to grab it and go.
Jongin being mundane and boring... that's where Taemin is wrong.
He counts the minutes down on his clock, watches the minute hand as it ticks by before he presses the silent alarm.
There's a loud thud somewhere as the vault door locks shut, muffled yelling and banging on the door and he collapses in his chair. The tears finally take over him. He needs to check on his employees, make sure that nothing is going to happen now that the rest of the group know something is wrong with the vault door being shut.
All he can do is hold his head in his hands as the sobs rack his body as the sound of sirens get closer.