Take Me to the Sky | BTS+

Treasure/Hunter

After the tense introduction to Noon Mool Fortress was over, Kim Taehyung guided Ava and Shae to a suite of Noon Mool's main floor that the ladies were to share during their stay.

When they walked from the grandiose hallway of towering white ceilings and plush indigo carpet, into what were to be their living quarters, they felt a touch of soothing relief.

Shae and Ava both acknowledged to themselves that the suite they'd just entered was like a drawing room pulled from a Jane Austin novel—which did play a factor in calming their nerves a bit. The tray of teas and cakes that Tae left for them before giving them a bashful farewell didn't hurt, either.

Naturally, the Shae and Ava stayed up all night talking about the crazy situation they found themselves in. By the end of their talks, no tea or cakes remained.

The young women were both were equal parts disturbed and intrigued by their situation. For a hot minute they considered their escape plan options, but quickly realized that it would take understanding this new world more to form any serious schemes.

A couple of things were clear, though: Ava really didn't trust Joon; Shae really didn't trust anyone that wasn't Ava.

____

The next morning, while Shae and Ava reclined in their drawing room area and enjoyed their overly extravagant, servant-delivered breakfast, there was a knock on the door of their suite.

The door opened, and there stood Tae looking positively transformed. He wore a set of golden wire rimmed glasses with large frames, and a flowing white top tucked into skinny tan pants.

At the sight of him, Ava made a giant gulp, the lump of Danish in her mouth going down heavy.

"Good morning, ladies. I hope you've rested well." Tae lingered in the doorway and clasped his hands delicately together.

While Ava had uncharacteristically lost her words, Shae answered pleasantly enough, "We did. Did you need something in particular, Tae?"

"Yes. I've come to bring you two to your first escort lessons. If you would be so kind...."

Shae and Ava exchanged curious looks. Ava couldn't help but rise to her feet and submit to the amicably delivered request from Tae with a grin. Shae followed Ava's lead, wiping her buttery fingers carefully into a napkin from remnants of the scone she'd just eaten. Shae felt a bit little less enthusiasm, more skepticism, as the two young ladies exited their cosy suite.

"He's so much nicer than that Joon guy," Ava mumbled into Shae's ear as they followed Kim Taehyung down the maze of hallways with vaulted white ceilings and bright lights.

Shae blinked. An image of Joon's boyish smirk bearing down at her when she was lying on the medical table flashed into her mind, along with a fuzzy feeling she didn't want to name. She shook her head angrily to get it to go away.

Tae's velvety voice cooed, "This way, please."

Turn after turn they went, and a few times they encountered clusters of people about their own merry way that morning who would part ceremoniously around the three of them, or who would stop altogether to stare and whisper as they gawked at Tae, Shae and Ava's passing. In these moments, Ava held her head a little higher and smirked with mild amusement at these lesser beings. In these same moments, Shae tilted her chin down slightly and felt her ears burning.

Eventually, Tae led Shae and Ava through a set of large double doors, into a new kind of suite... and their mouths fell open in shock.

Inside the expansive space, there hung on glistening racks rows upon rows of more clothes than Shae and Ava had ever seen before. The floors were red velvet, the walls glistening gold, and the ceilings dripped with icy crowned chandeliers.