old cigarettes | min yoongi

xxiv.

your stomach clenched. you'd recognize that voice anywhere. you swallowed your fear and sighed. "good evening, dohyon."

the man smirked. "nari, good to see you." his every word sent a shiver of anger and fear down your spine. this man, dohyon, was one of your old friends from high school... needless to say, he wasn't a friend anymore.

"if you'd please let me through, i won't have to kick a few of these bastards into hell," you said, nodding your head to the men that now surrounded you. despite your tough talk, you were absolutely terrified, and dohyon knew it.

"let's not be hasty now," he said, his voice dripping venom, "we've only just reunited. we can't rush heartfelt reunions, can we?"

"i'm sure we can." you stated, taking a step forward as if to slip past dohyon. he stepped hard on your foot and his men took a step in. your eyes watered as you pulled your foot back, biting down on your lip.

as you blinked at dohyon's smirk of power, you had a feeling you couldn't work your way out of this one. at least, not without a few injuries. you wordlessly formed a prayer in your mind to whatever god there was out there that if dohyon and his men killed you, jin-ae would be safe. after all, this was how you'd gotten yourself in this situation in the first place. by trying to keep jin-ae safe.

suddenly, a crashing sound came down the alleyway. dohyon and his men turned towards the sound immediately, alert. "who's there?" dohyon barked as two of his men stepped so close to you that you could feel their breaths on the back of your neck. your mind involuntarily flashed back to the night when you'd rescued the drunk hoseok and suga and the night that followed...

what the fuck? you asked your mind. you were literally on the verge of being seriously injured and you still couldn't keep your thoughts straight. "who's down there?!" a commanding and weirdly familiar voice shouted from the mouth of the alleyway, directing your thoughts in the right direction.

"scram, it's the cops!" one of dohyon's men whispered hurriedly. he must have been the second in charge or something, because all the other men except for dohyon fled down the back of the alley. if it really was the cops, dohyon was either ridiculously brave or ridiculously stupid.

dohyon had his back to you, and was gradually backing up towards you. you looked around the alleyway for anything you could use as a weapon... there was a thick wooden plank to your right next to a trash can. swallowing your fear, you moved to grab it, but dohyon pushed past you, sending you to the ground as he fled after his men.

"hey, are you okay?" the familiar voice said, moving closer to you to help you up. he gently grabbed your forearm and brought you up. "wait, nari?"

you looked up in alarm at the sound of your name, only to come face to face with min-hyuk. you jumped back in surprise. "min-hyuk?" he was quite frankly, one of the last people you were expecting to find in an alleyway, and also one of the last people you thought would be mistaken for the cops.

"what are you doing here?" he tilted his head at you, making his hair flop around.

"i was going to a shop, but it's closed down. i was just on my way out when dohyon basically cornered me." you said, quickly deciding there was no harm in telling the truth, especially to someone like min-hyuk.

min-hyuk started walking out of the alley and you followed hastily. "you know that guy?"

"yeah, he used to be a friend from high school... as you can probably guess, a lot changed since then." you ended with a slight chuckle.

"no kidding. he looked like he was about to rip your throat out. what even happened?" the two of you were out on the main street now, and the street lights had turned on, basking the people and the cars in yellow light.

you swallowed. "a lot that i'd rather forget, thanks. but at least i know i can trust you with my sister." you smirked at him as his ears turned pink.

"wh-what do you mean?" min-hyuk said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"come on, it's obvious the two of you like each other," it seemed that his ears had discovered a new shade of red, "and besides, you helped me without knowing who i was, so i think you're a good person."

min-hyuk stuffed his hands into his pockets and was silent for a minute. "would it really be okay with you if i asked her out?"

"of course it would. besides, jin-ae isn't mine to give away; she's her own person. you just have to promise me one thing." you said, coming to a stop.

he turned around to face you after noticing you stopped. "what?"

"treat her as best as you can, and my threat from before still stands," you ended with a laugh, heading off up the street ahead of him to the shop. you noticed that he didn't follow you. jin-ae had already turned the lights off in the shop and turned the sign around, but she didn't lock the door.

you headed in, locking the door behind you. "jin-ae! i'm back!"

"nari! get up here, you'll never guess what kind of text i just got!" she shouted back from upstairs. you almost took the steps two at a time, having a pretty good idea what kind of text it was.

"what is it?" you asked, shrugging off your coat.

"i-i, just look at it..." she said, flopping back onto the ground. her phone was on the table showing a thread of messages from min-hyuk. the latest was asking her out on an actual date.

you smirked at the phone, putting it back down on the table. "what are you waiting for? say yes~!"

"b-but what if he doesn't mean it...?" jin-ae said, sitting back up and tugging at her sleeves.

you deadpanned. "are you kidding me?! of course he means it! have you not seen how he looks at you?"

"only if you're sure..." she picked her phone back up hesitantly.

"i'm sure." you nodded enthusiastically.

"it's sent... now to get you and suga together!" jin-ae grinned evilly as you flopped back onto the ground. does she ever give up?