Heroes | JJK ✔️

iii. Stutter

From afar, Mina heard the clacking of something dropping on the hard floor, and her head turned to see what it was. She spotted an old man, riding up an escalator, except he was turned the opposite way and was pointing at the cane he had dropped prior to getting on the escalator. He was grasping onto the moving railing, worry flashing over his face as everyone continued to walk by, ignoring his cries for help.

Before she knew it, Mina was running toward the escalator, picking up the cane and stepping onto the machine. She climbed up until she reached the man, kindly handing him his dark wooden cane.

"Thank you! Oh, thank you, kind girl," he bowed politely. He had a bit of an accent, one she could recognize to be Chinese. His short hair was black, a few gray hairs tinting it as his eyes crinkled into two crescents. The sight brought a smile to Mina's face.

"No problem, sir," she bowed back before she caught a glimpse of Bitna, standing on the bottom floor with her hands on her hips. She was gawking at her, tilting her head. Mina shrugged, turning back to the old man until they finally reached the top of the escalator. She gently helped him step onto the floor, and he thanked her once again.

"You are so kind, with a very good heart," the old man bowed his head slightly, his wrinkled and fragile hands grasping onto hers. "You must make your boyfriend very happy."

"Oh!" Mina blinked and stuttered. "I-I don't have a boyfriend, but, um, of course, sir! Thank you! I have to go now, so take care!" she said politely before the old man bowed once again, walking away with his cane tapping the floor. Mina took the escalator down, meeting up with an unimpressed Bitna.

"Girl, you scared the shit out of me!" she scolded. "I thought you saw your dad or something, and we were running from the police!"

Mina laughed, muttering a quick apology before they continued walking.

After visiting a few stores, they were ready to walk toward the exit, Bitna carrying multiple bags on her arm. Mina had helped her choose what sunglasses to buy or whatever, and those were the small things that filled her with happiness as she felt like a teenager.

"Shut the front door," Mina suddenly heard Bitna mumble, who stopped in her tracks. She slowed down too, her feet stuttering on the floor in confusion.

"What?" she cocked an eyebrow at her before she saw her eyes fixed on something from afar. Curiously, she darted her eyes to where she was looking, seeing four boys walking toward them. As her eyes focused, she recognized them to be Namjoon, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook.

Mina felt her heart race at the sight of the boy who hadn't left her mind for the past two days, who she dreamt about the previous night and who she drooled over during her chemistry class that day.

"Shit, we gotta- I can't-!" Bitna swallowed as her body glitched in its place, mentally fighting whether she should turn back or keep going.

However, it was too late, as Namjoon had already seen them, and was walking over with the others. Bitna was frozen in her place, her eyes darting from the wall, the floor, and the ceiling in her bout of nervousness.

"Hey, Bitna!" Namjoon smiled, the other boys standing beside him. Mina felt her eyes involuntarily glue to Jungkook before she snapped herself out of it.

"N-Namjoon! Hey!" Bitna coughed, avoiding eye contact with Taehyung beside him. "I didn't know you came here! D-Don't you have soccer practice or something?"

"Yeah, coach let us out for a bit so that Jimin could buy more shoes," Namjoon replied.

"Of course, that's not all we're going to do here," Jimin remarked, crossing his arms. He turned to Mina, raising his eyebrows at the unfamiliar face. "Who's this?"

"Right! This is Minnie, she's a new student," Bitna introduced her to Jimin and the others. Mina slightly waved at them, shyly as Jimin and Taehyung waved back.

Mina's eyes instinctively traveled to Jungkook, seeing him smile back at her.

"We've met," Jungkook pointed out, causing Mina to nearly feel her heart beat out of her chest. His long dark hair was falling perfectly around the frame of his beautiful face, his thin lips curved into a sweet smile that made her melt at the sight of.

"Where did you live before this?" Taehyung asked her, causing her to awkwardly chuckle in response.

"I... I've actually been homeschooled for my whole life," she replied, making Jimin's eyes go wide in response.

"You mean you've never been to a school before?" Jimin blinked. "It's a shame your first school had to be Marina Hills. It kind of sucks," he said, earning a jab on the side from Jungkook's elbow.

"Hyung, you're going to scare her away from our school," Jungkook scolded him before turning to Mina. "We don't usually get new students, and it's great to have a new addition," he reassured her.

"T-Thanks!" Mina suddenly exclaimed, to which she internally winced at. She would sacrifice one of her kidneys if it meant she could act cool for just one second while in front of the new love of her life.

"Anyways, we should get going now. Coach is going to kill us if we're any later than we already are," Namjoon stated.

"Sure! See you tomorrow in class," Bitna told Namjoon before suddenly grabbing Mina's arm and turning around, walking away swiftly. The boys were dumbfounded as they watched Bitna cling onto Mina as if she were her lifeline.

"Holy shit, I was seriously about to lose my mind, Minnie. That was the closest I've ever been to Taehyung, I thought I was going to faint," Bitna muttered.

"I thought you handled it very well," Mina remarked, Bitna snorting in response.

"Thanks. Meanwhile, I thought you did okay," she hummed.

"What do you mean?" Mina cocked her eyebrow as they walked toward the exit.

"Tell me about your crush on Jungkook."

-

Mina plopped her backpack onto her bed, sighing as she rolled her head back. This tired and exhausted feeling she had; she loved it so much. She could finally say she had a long, tiring school day.

She also went to the mall, for crying out loud. That was something she never thought she would accomplish, and it was all thanks to Bitna that she would finally take more steps in her journey to becoming a normal teenager.

With a satisfied sigh, Mina began emptying out of her backpack, gently and neatly setting her notebooks onto her desk in the way that Yeojeong told her to do. She carefully placed her pencils in a neat line on her desk, with her notebooks beside them, ready to open to do her assignments.

However, at the bottom of the empty backpack was something that caught Mina's eye. She tilted her head at it before reaching into the bag, feeling something caress her fingertips. It was small and had a glass texture. She picked it up, observing the way it was a bit heavy, almost as if there was some type of liquid inside of it.

She pulled it out of her bag, finally seeing it in a brighter light. It was a small vial of some sort, containing a bit of purple liquid that she'd never seen before.

Where did this come from? Mina thought as she put her backpack on her desk chair. Did someone accidentally drop this in here during chemistry?

She held it up to her face, examining the way a few bubbles swirled in the liquid as she shook it.

Curiously, she placed her fingers on the cap of the vial, twisting it off slowly as she looked down at it.

The cap twisted off, and suddenly, a cloud of purple smoke hastily exploded in Mina's face, fogging her vision as she squealed, falling back onto her bed. She coughed a bit, her eyes barely opening until they shut again and she wearily fell into a state of unconsciousness.