You wash your face clean of the blood and the dirt smudges, and change into a fresh set of clothes provided by your gracious host.
It takes Mina a good long while to put ointment on all of your cuts, then to bandage up the bigger ones that need to be bandaged. Her hands are delicate and gentle with the process, something you highly appreciate.
When she's done, she claps her hands together and starts to gather up the extra supplies and put them back into the bag.
"I'll be a minute," she tells you. "Maybe you should go lay down and sleep. If those circles under your eyes get any bigger, your whole face will be the color of an old raisin."
"Gee, thanks," you scoff, and turn to go back into the living room. Wooseok is there seated in a chair, biting at his thumb nail while watching the television with devoted eyes.
You clear your throat to signal your entrance.
Wooseok goes cherry red again. "Oh, hello, feeing better?"
"Maybe, after I get some sleep." You sit on the couch, the soft cushions allowing your wear body to relax. It's a relief so intense that you feel your lips tremble as if you're about to cry.
When you open your eyes again, Wooseok is staring at you.
"You aren't just passing through, are you?" he says with curiosity brimming in his eyes, you notice that his nail is bitten down almost to the bed.
Like he's nervous about something.
Wooseok sees your eyes linger on his hand, and he swiftly tucks it under his thigh.
"I am," you answer. "I'm leaving as soon as I can."
He tilts his head, black hair shifting. "Where are you coming from?"
"Seoul." Indirectly. It's still true, though.
Wooseok nods, picking at the cloth of his chair with the hand that's not hidden. The way he's chewing on his lower lip makes you uneasy.
Where did you leave your shoes? In the bathroom?
You need to get them.
You're about to get up to retrieve them when Wooseok begins to speak again. "Why were you in a tree?"
"The moon was pretty tonight," you say dryly as you push yourself up. Wooseok stands too, and his height makes you feel like a peanut.
"I know that design," says the man. "The one on your thigh? I had to question myself, but I'm pretty certain now."
Your breath freezes like crystal ice in your throat, forming a lump there. "Yeah?"
You try to sound casual.
Woseeok nods. "It's Jungkook's, right? With all the time that Mina's spent at their shop, I've gotten to know them a little, too. They're nice guys."
You force your shoulders to relax, breathing deeply. He just knows them through Mina's visits. You were worried there for a second.
Chill out, Y/N.
"Are you close to them?" Wooseok asks.
You shake your head, almost laughing at the thought. "Um, no. I'm actually not a huge fan."
His brows arch up in surprise, and he slips his hands in the pockets of his jeans, rocking back on his heels. "How come? They're always nice to me."
The sentence prompts you to go through a quick ten-second run through of all the unfortunate things that have happened to you since you met the Bangtan Boys. Namely Jeon Jungkook.
"Some of them are nice, but some of them are not. Arrogant. Self-centered, and violent." You grit your teeth at the though of the ebony-haired tattoo artist that held you at gunpoint. "And he's just downright stupid."
"He?" A small smile creeps up the side of Wooseok's full lips. "Someone particular in mind?"
"Nope." You instantly shake your head in denial, embarrassed that you got caught. You're not sure why you're blushing at the moment, but you hate it.
Chuckling, Wooseok takes a seat in the chair again and looks up at you with sparkling brown eyes.
"People are hard to understand sometimes," he says in that deep timbre. "They can be cruel and mean, but there's almost always a reason behind it. Maybe, instead of hating 'him', you could try to understand why he is the way he is."
"I don't want to know, and I don't care." You crinkle your nose as you speak, as if the thought disgusts you, but in reality you understand what he's saying.
Jungkook's annoying and mean and doesn't trust you, but maybe there's a reason behind it. Maybe he has something against your family that you don't know, something done wrong to him.
If so, then the two of you would have something in common.
"Maybe you should lay down and sleep a little," Wooseok talks you gently. "The next bus won't leave until the morning anyways." He tosses you a blanket, a warm fluffy mass that lands on your head as he miscalculates.
"Oops," he laughs, to which you just shake your head.
A couple minutes of sleep won't hurt.
You return to your seat on the couch and turn, stretching out your legs with a grateful sigh. You lay down, resting your head on the arm of the couch, and feel exhaustion settle deep into your bones.
Your eyes begin to flutter closed.
"Goodnight," Wooseok says gently. You don't reply as your eyes drift closed, your mind slowing and thickening into a honey-like state as it shuts down.
And although you distantly hear Wooseok whisper, "He has to have a reason. Ask him next time, "... you don't remember it.
***
A draft breezes through the room, creeping through the knit of your blanket and making you shiver. With a blink and a shake, you come back into consciousness inside an empty, dim living room. Only a single lamp casts shadows throughout the room.
You blearily sit up, rubbing your eyes. What time is it? How long have you been asleep?
You sigh and sit still for a moment as your mind starts moving again, pausing when you hear secretive voices near the door.
"Thanks so much for your help," someone whispers. "We were worried."
"Were you?" Although you can't make out the first voice, the second one sounds like Wooseok. "I don't know what y'all are doing, but she doesn't seem to like you too much. What's going on?"
"It's private business." This speaker doesn't take the time or energy to lower his voice into a whisper.
Yoongi.
Your spine stiffens.
Immediately, you slip off of the couch and edge to the hall, staying as silent as you can. Your shoes are in there, and you think there might be a window in one of the bedrooms in the back.
You've been betrayed.
Even as you sneak down the hall, Jin's voice rings out. "Ah frick, Y/N, please don't run again."
You, contrary to his advice, run.
Ignoring the fact that you're barefoot, you sprint to the back bedroom and locate the window on the side wall. Who needs shoes anyways?
Shoving open the creaky frame, you force your body through it and land on the cold ground on the other side.
Just as you start to run from the window, Wooseok appears inside the bedroom. He scrambles to the window and reaches for you, but you've already moved too far away.
"Y/N, I'm sorry!" he yells. "But listen to me; they don't mean you any harm!"
"Judas," you spit at him before turning to leave.
Is there no one on their planet that has a kind heart and doesn't have some kind of strings to be pulled?
The concrete is freezing under your bare feet, but you keep going anyways. Down the alleyway, around the back of the house.
You've almost make it out when a rough hand grabs your arm and hauls you backwards.
You screech and smash into the wiry form of your captor as he drags you back.
"Just let me go!" you cry.
A glance over you shoulder reveals Yoongi, dark rings circling his eyes with his thin lips twisted into a scowl. He looks tired and stressed, and you feel a tiny bit bad as you simultaneously try to punch his lights out.
"Hey, hey," He shushes you, catching your fist in his other hand. "Calm down, babe. Just listen."
"Why?" You scream it, shout it out to the world at the top of your lungs so everyone can hear how tired you are of being chased. "Just let me go!"
Jin is here now, and Wooseok is jogging up behind them.
Your body has taken too much. You're trembling and shaking and hysteric, and tiny black and white spits are beginning to dance at the edges of your vision. Your body worn and beat down, and you feel the stress and physical exertion and mental exhaustion all coming to an explosive gathering in you head.
"I'm tired," is all you say before the world goes into slow motion, then is no more.
[A/N]
Unedited
Double update