Little Flower

5

"I look up and the whole room's spinning." ~ breathin [Ariana Grande]

The bloodcurdling scream was one Taehyung would never get used to. His body ripped from the bed like he was hit with electricity and his heart pounded loudly in his ears as he scrambled out the door to his wailing sister.

"Rosie," he scoops her into his arms and sighs in worry as she immediately clung to him and sobbed into his chest. "Rosie, you're okay. We're safe now."

Rosie only cried harder, maybe out of relief. She was so tired from staying up longer than necessary, and an unclear mind led to unhappy memories.

"Bad man," Rosie whimpers through broken sobs.

Taehyung felt his heart shatter, tightening his grip around her and swallowing the lump forming in the back of his throat. His eyes trailed over to the clock on her bedside, and he let out a sigh as 3:30 a.m. met his eyes. It was way too early for them to be up, especially on a school night, but taking care of Rosie was above everything else in his mind.

"No bad man," Taehyung keeps his voice strong and calm despite his own fear prickling at his skin. "It's only you and me, Rosie."

Shadows of dark taunted them as they cuddled close on the bed, both of their minds racing with unwanted recollections of the past. How unfair it was, for two innocent siblings to have gone through such pain. To have memories of the 'bad man' imprinted in their minds to twist their dreams into sick nightmares.

Maybe that's why Rosie took to praise and skinship. She so desperately wanted to be touched gently, to be held tight instead of in a suffocating choke. She craved reassurance that she was doing okay, and that everything the 'bad man' had told her before was false.

Because sometimes, late at night when she couldn't sleep, she began to believe everything the 'bad man' had snarled into her ear.

Somehow, the siblings settled down. Rosie fell asleep clutching onto Taehyung's finger, and he didn't have the heart to pull away, so he laid on his back and stared at the ceiling with frustrated tears in his eyes.

He thought this move would get them away from all of this, thought it would help them move forward into a blanket of security.

But the 'bad man' followed them into this house. Not physically, but by the pained memories in their heads.

***

"You call me if anything happens, okay?" Taehyung's sighs, as she was adamant on still coming to school.

"Okay," she nods, giving him a quick hug before racing inside.

Once she was away from her brother, she let her forehead fall forward onto her locker. She was exhausted.

She did manage to stay awake until English, but as her cheek rested against her palm, her eyes finally shut. They didn't stay closed for long, though, because a boy with round glasses gently shook her shoulder.

"Sorry!" he smiles sheepishly as she shoots up with alarmed eyes. "It's just, the bell rang and you fell asleep. I wasn't sure if you caught it."

"Oh," Rosie sighs in relief and smiles at him. "Thank you."

"You're new, right?" he sent her a charming smile as he stood up and swung his backpack over his shoulders. "I'm Ryan."

"I'm Rosie."

"I know," he looks down with a shy smile, peeking back up at her from his lashes before talking again. "See you around?"

With a slight nod from her, Ryan smirks and walks out the classroom, leaving her to herself. She didn't think much of it, and was happy she made another friend, so she packed up their things and headed to lunch.

What she wasn't expecting was a table full of tired boys.

"Are you guys okay?" she asks timidly.

The morning after meetings were always hard. They barely caught any hours of sleep before having to attend school at such an early time, leaving them with dark circles under their eyes and permanent scowls on their faces.

"Rough night," Yoongi mutters, folding his arms on the table and laying his head down to rest.

"Playing video games," Jimin corrects, smiling tiredly. "Rough night staying up and playing video games."

She nodded slowly as the boys snickered and murmured an assortment of agreements, her head turning to look at the ravenette who was rubbing his eyes with a sleepy grin.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asks him quietly.

"I should be asking you that," Jungkook says, turning to her with a teasing expression. "What were you doing up?"

Rosie bites her bottom lip nervously and looks up at him with a shrug.

"Rough night."

When Rosie had entered the library later that day, she was surprised to find Jungkook there again by the book shelves. He was looking at them with a curious gaze and his fingers trailed down the spinal of the book in front of him, and suddenly, Rosie began to feel very nervous.

If he acted anything like he did last time they were alone in the library, Rosie didn't know if she could handle it.

Sneaking around, she went towards the private beanbag area and sat down, pulling her book from her bag. In all honesty, she was too tired to read, but she was still determined to try.

Suddenly, Jungkook plopped down beside her with a sigh and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, peering down at her book. Her cheeks warmed and she bit down harshly on her bottom lip as his fingers ran up and down her upper arm, his cool rings causing her fingers to tighten on the book.

"Easy," he chuckles, taking his other hand and tapping her fingers gently.

Jungkook smirked because he knew she was too flustered to say anything, so he let her pretend to keep reading as he relaxed back into his beanbag.

A few minutes passed before Rosie fell into his side, and Jungkook scrunched his nose at her cute sleeping form, her cheek squished against his shoulder with a sleepy pout. His eyes stayed on her face for awhile before he looked the other way and shut his eyes tightly, exhaling a smile.

Jungkook was glad this part of the library was private, not only because no one would disturb them, but also because that meant no one but him would have the pleasure of watching her grow all flustered when she woke up and saw that she was practically on his lap.