Pandora's Hope

Safety Zone

The worst feeling for Hoseok is waking up in the morning alone. Especially when the person he loves is waking up next to someone else. His days don't start with the joy he knows they could if Nari was next to him each night. Until that day comes he'll continue to see her any way he can. Which means another night at the bar enjoying her company.

After some long craved intimacy, Nari closed up early last night since the power remained out. Today the skies have cleared and power has been restored so Hoseok parks his car and heads inside. Nari greets him with a smile though something about it seems strained.

"What's wrong?" He immediately asks knowing when she's bothered by something.

"Fox got caught last night," she says appearing a bit unhappy.

"Why are you upset? That's a good thing isn't it? The police are that much closer to getting to Leo."

"Yeah, but..." she hesitates averting Hoseok's eyes. "He's not handling it very well."

"What do you mean? What did he do??" He asks getting ready to find him if he put his hands on her again.

"Nothing, but he was irate when I got home last night. Not only that, but I can tell he's scared. He knows they're closing in on him and now he's acting even more erratic." She pours herself a cup of water and takes a desperate sip. "He won't give me any details, but anything I tried to say or do he jumped in and would start yelling at me. What he was saying wasn't even making sense to me, but I just went to bed so I wouldn't have to deal with it."

"Are you sure you're ok? He didn't touch you at all?"

"No, I'm fine, really. I guess I just started getting used to him being somewhat nice these past few weeks that I'm a little shaken by him quickly turning back into his usual old self."

That puts Hoseok on edge. If Leo is back to his usual self, then he doesn't want Nari anywhere near him. She insists she's ok, but he's not sure for how much longer. His determination to protect her is reaching an all time high.

He texts Jin asking if he knew about Fox being caught. Jin gives Hoseok what bit of details Namjoon was willing to share. Thanks to the storm Fox was caught after wiping out on his motorcycle while fleeing from police again. He tried robbing another ATM and this time they got him and the money he tried to run off with. Jin doesn't know much else other than Fox won't talk. He won't give names of who he works for and won't say why he stole the money. He also remains mum on what happened to the money he got away with previously.

Hoseok is unnerved about the lack of information. He's afraid it could take even longer for Leo to get taken away but Jin assures him that the police definitely know more, this is only the information Namjoon was allowed to tell. Hoseok just wants this nightmare over already.

Saturday night Nari seems even more on edge than she was the days before. Hoseok applauds her ability to put on a brave face in front of customers, but he knows her better than that. He knows her smile isn't genuine and her laugh is forced.

He wants to pull her to the side and ask her if things are ok. Ask her if she remained untouched when she was at home. But pulling her away for more than a minute is nearly impossible. She and Sunni are running back and forth all night, the usual Saturday night routine. Until things quickly stray from the usual pattern when Leo walks through the door.

He looks enraged for some reason and when Nari notices him she looks terrified. Hoseok is alert and ready to spring into action the moment Leo makes one wrong move.

"What are you doing here?" Nari asks trying to mask the trembling in her voice.

"You know what the fuck I'm here for!" Leo grumbles heading straight for the back room.