HIM.

vi.

vi. SIX

THERE were six of them, including Kim Seokjin. All of them sat, watching her. It didn't freak her out, but she was confused.

"Recognize any of them?" Seokjin questioned, watching Mari's eyes drift to each one of them. Slowly but surely, there were traits of them that she did recognize.

She had seen the one strong build before, he didn't smile much around her, but usually when he did, he had two dimples freckle his cheeks. He had blonde hair.

She had seen the one who was currently wearing all black, and whose dark eyes bore into her face, trying to read her. Good thing on her, she found herself very hard to read. She watched in blank satisfaction as his eyebrows twitched in mild confusion—probably unsure of what to make of her—before sighing to himself.

Then the pink-haired one. She definitely recognized him and his brightly dyed head. He always had a girl on his arm whenever he was at the Black Pearl. He wasn't smiling, but she knew that he had a charming one. Seemingly safe, but by getting a gist of his association, Mari had a feeling he was far from that.

Second to last, those two sitting shoulder to shoulder looked like fraternal twins. One had a perfectly symmetrical face, it alarmed her on how someone's face looked so naturally perfect, while the other one had an undeniably handsome face with its own flaws. She recognized them as well, they always came in together, ordered the same things.

A number 40. She considered that drink to be fairly strong, and these two looked younger than the rest.

"Yes." Mari nodded. "All of them, actually."

"I'm glad you do. This is Mari, she works as a bartender, and probably has served you all multiple times beforehand."

"I recognize her, I think." The one with blonde hair spoke, then smiled politely. "Is she the one who sings?"

"Yes." Seokjin and her responded simultaneously. Her eyes darted to his quickly, one of the other men scoffed softly under his breath.

"My name is Namjoon." The blonde chimed again. "That's Yoongi, Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook. You've already met Jin."

"Kei Mari." She rested her chin in her fingertips. "Are you guys a gang of some sort?"

"Ever heard of the Black Pearl?" Yoongi blinked slowly. "Asides from the bar Seokjin hyung owns."

"No." Mari shook her head. "I guess that's a good thing I don't know."

"Yeah. The Black Pearl is another word for the South Korean mafia. We are a gang, so to say, but mafia is the more accurate term for it."

Interesting.

"Hyung, she's taking this pretty well." The one called Jimin spoke softly. He didn't mean to be loud, maybe talking aloud for himself, but Mari still heard nonetheless, laughed aloud in response.

"I guess that's the reason your hyung chose me, right?"

Once again, there was another pregnant pause. Yoongi, who had been trying to get an idea of her, what kind of person she was, tried not to laugh. She was like them, Jin hadn't let them down. Min Yoongi always had his ways to read someone, the fact that he couldn't get a single thing from her until she sneeringly responded to Jimin told a whole deal about her.

She was like them. She didn't care for who was good and who was bad. There was no white or black for her, everything was just gray.

"We're dangerous."

"Okay." Mari responded. "I'm in this just for the business. Whatever you guys do, I don't care."

"You're curious though, aren't you?"

"Of course I am." Xiaoling cracked a knuckle, turning to her boss with an indifferent look. "But, I would prefer getting paid for what I'm going rather than knowing what exactly going on in your back room, Seokjin."

Taehyung let out a breath, lips parted into a half open-mouth smirk. Mari paid no attention to this, then glanced down at her buzzing phone.

"Oh, my roommate's calling. I think I'll have to go now, but it was nice meeting you all. See you soon?"

Namjoon nodded in time with Jin. "Yes, of course."

She flashed them a lasting white smile, then turned away, her black leather jacket being the last thing in their vision before she disappeared into her car.

Jungkook laughed under his breath.
"Hyung I don't know what to tell you, but she's definitely something else."

Seokjin nodded, meanwhile Yoongi fiddled with his fingers.

"My only thing is, will Jae like her?"

"Who cares if he doesn't like her," Jimin grinned. "I think we're all in agreement that she's here to stay. I've never met anyone like Kei Mari, no matter how many girls are in the Black Pearl."

Yoongi shrugged, supposing Park Jimin was right. But still persisting, that thought worried him. A team was no good if one person found fault with the other.

a/n: i hope you guys like the story so far :/ idrk what people think of it, please let me know!