Luckily enough, the park that I took the dolls to the next afternoon was practically deserted.
The people that did happen to be there, however, barely paid any attention to me even though I had the dolls out in the open for everyone to see. Not that it mattered—the dolls were smart with their movements so that they wouldn't draw any unnecessary attention.
The sun was shining brightly that day, which made me even more excited to spread out a blanket to lay across while I read my book and sipped on my lemonade. My dolls snacked on the treats I packed and mostly enjoyed the sunshine alongside me.
Mostly, because there were a few instances where I had to stop Jin from trying to sit inside my lemonade glass. Jungkook found it hilarious and tried to copy him, too.
I found it increasingly difficult to understand why Jin had such an obsession with sitting inside drinks.
When I tried asking him about it, he shrugged and said something along the lines of "I'm only trying to understand them better by getting to know them on a personal level."
Okay, Jin, I thought to myself as I forced a smile and nodded at him. That's totally not weird at all.
A little later, I was in the middle of turning a page in my book when a wet popping noise sounded against my cheek.
With a blink, I adjusted my glasses along the bridge of my nose and narrowed my eyes at Yoongi. "What was that?"
"Nothing."
"You did not just throw a blueberry at my face."
"Like I said, it was nothing. You're just imagining things."
I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my romance novel. I cared more about Bella and Edward than I cared about arguing with Yoongi. Too many hours a day were constantly wasted by my constant bickering with the mint-haired doll.
That was too much precious time that I could be putting into my reading or writing.
After I adjusted my position so that I was sitting up, Jungkook pounced on the opportunity to crawl into my lap. He propped himself on my right thigh and leaned against my stomach as he peered at the pages in my book with fascination.
"Will you read to me, Y/N?" Jungkook sweetly asked.
My gaze wandered until it settled on Namjoon. He happily sat with a copy of Aristotle's Ethics that I got for him earlier that week. Because that doll loved philosophy like no other, I also got him some books by Plato and Socrates. Those were tucked aside in the picnic basket just for him.
Hoseok and Jimin sat on opposite ends of the book to hold it open for Namjoon, occasionally getting up to assist him in turning the pages. But not before cleaning off their hands from their snacks like Namjoon demanded.
I smiled.
"Why don't you have Namjoon read to you?"
Jungkook frowned at that, the pout sending his features into a reflection of naivety and innocence. "Because. His stuff is so boring and I wanna read a story."
Namjoon's head popped up like the crack of a whip. "Hey! Don't say things like that, have some respect."
"Sorry..."
"Thank you."
"—For speaking the truth."
Namjoon jumped to his feet as if he was about to square up with Jungkook. But before he could even try anything, I closed my book and then pushed Namjoon back down with the pad of my thumb.
"Can't we all just get along?" I sighed.
Namjoon pointed a finger at Jungkook, who raised his hands in defeat. "He started it."
I licked my lips before parting them to speak, when all of a sudden something red squirted onto my book.
"Taehyung!" I gasped in horror, snatching my book back from where I left it and then reached for a handful of napkins. "What did you just squirt all over my book? And how did you get it to squirt that far?"
Somehow, my sentences sent Jimin into rolling fits of laughter. "I didn't know that you were into squirting, Y/N."
I ignored Jimin's comment as I continued to dab at the red juice. Jungkook fell off my lap somewhere in my desperate attempt to rescue my book. I didn't notice until he kept patting my leg for me to get off of him.
I had accidentally caught his leg underneath my knee. Whoops.
I released him and then resumed cleaning off my book.
"Is this ketchup? How the hell did you get a packet of ketchup?"
"Yoongi gave them to me!" Taehyung cheered, giving another ketchup bag a squeeze, causing it to squirt out both ends of the packet. Jin jumped out of the way before any got on him as a consequence of standing too close.
Hoseok got up and ripped the packet from Taehyung's arms before he could repeat the action. He held the sticky remains away from his body with a look of disgust closing in on his face.
Taehyung sat down and crossed his arms, pouting.
"How did you even get those, Yoongi?" I scowled.
Yoongi met my glare with a smirk. "I took them from when your fatass got fast food."
All of the dolls gasped, sending us into a shocked silence.
I didn't even bother to say anything else. Without a second thought, I lifted my book, prepared to smack the shit out of him until he was thin enough to be one of the pages in my book. Or until he was the perfect candidate for cookie dough.
Yoongi's eyes widened at the realization of my thought process.
The others screamed in protest over each other so quickly that I couldn't make out who said what.
"No, stop!"
"He didn't mean it, he's just trying to get under your skin!"
"Wait what's happening?"
"This is murder!"
"I'mgoingtopretendI'mdefendinghimtoobecauseeveryoneelseis!"
"Well hey, on the bright side you'll have an even number of dolls."
All the dolls, including Taehyung, paused to stare at the brown-haired doll who made the last comment.
Yoongi was the first to speak as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not helping, Jungkook. Don't encourage this behavior," he transitioned into returning his attention to me, palms up and waving me off. "C'mon, Y/N. Think about this. Do you really want to murder me? Allow me to recommend an alternative—anger management classes. Or maybe even seeing a therapist? Or in your case, both?"
The goading and condescending nature of Yoongi's speech had me quickly swinging the book downwards as if I were about to get into a brawl with a mosquito.
"Wait!" Yoongi squealed, jumping out of the way at the last second. His narrow escape left a wrinkle in the blanket where he was just standing. "Logan's behind you!"
Yoongi made a beeline for the picnic basket, my book easily tracking him like its prey.
"I'm not falling for that," I laughed.
The other dolls dropped as Yoongi made it safely into the basket. I lowered the book, my eyebrows drawing together in confusion.
"Falling for what?"
I jumped to my feet and spun around, book raised in defense. Logan's arms shot out to grip my wrists and hold me in place, clearly noticing the alarm in my face.
"Oh," I murmured, defeated. "He was telling the truth."
Logan stared at me like bugs crawled out of my mouth. "Who was? And why were you swatting your book around like a crazy person? And why do you have these dolls out again?"
"Um... the voices were telling the truth."
"The voices?"
"Yes, the voices. And I was swatting around because... a bee attacked me out of nowhere while I was... reading. Yeah, I was reading."
"I see."
"And I have the dolls out because—" I maintained, my eyes darting around as I tried to think of something. "—I'm babysitting my aunt's daughter."
I mentally patted myself on the back. Go Y/N.
A hint of amusement entered Logan's eyes. "You're babysitting your aunt's daughter?"
I nodded.
He smiled, a mischievous glint coloring his expression. "Okay, you're babysitting. So where's the daughter?"
Shit.
My smile dropped as I watched Logan brutally murder my confidence. I wanted to crumble over the realization that he was pulling my fabricated story apart at its seams.
"Uh—"
I lost all words. He got me. I tossed my book next to the picnic basket in defeat and sighed.
He roared with laughter, "I know that those dolls are yours. And 'my aunt's daughter?' Do you not have any family? That would be your cousin, Y/N."
That stung both my heart and eyes. I crossed my arms, setting my lips into a thin line after saying, "As a matter of fact, I don't. I was an orphan who never found a family."
That wiped the amusement clean off his face and I immediately felt bad for launching that depressing comment at him. I desperately searched for a way to re-lighten the mood or change the topic.
"So, what are you doing here anyway?"
His head shot up from its drooping position. "Oh, right."
He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. The basketball court was behind him, and so were his group of friends. One of them waved.
I pretended I didn't see him.
But the sweat glistening on Logan's skin suddenly made sense, along with the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt. I was too occupied trying to save my own ass to notice how toned Logan's body was.
Not that I cared.
"My buddies and I come here all the time. But that's not actually what I wanted to talk to you about," he continues. "I wanted to know if you know that guy that's watching you. The one wearing black."
I frantically spun three-hundred-sixty degrees, scanning my surroundings from every angle with my eyes squinted. "What guy? Where?"
Logan didn't say anything.
"Logan?" I looked back at his face to see a huge amount of confusion coating it.
"Huh," Logan mused, also looking around in bewilderment. "He was just over there. But I don't see him anymore."
Suddenly, it felt a million times hotter outside than it already was.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I nodded, eyeing the basket and my stationary dolls who kept their faces void of emotion while pretending to be fake. I appreciated them doing exactly as I instructed in the presence of other people.
The protective and fearful instincts of a mother were glossing over my emotions. My breathing was beginning to be weighed down by panic.
I wanted to throw up all the fruit I just ate.
"Thanks Logan, I have to go home."
And make sure the dolls don't leave my place again until I figure out who this guy is, I added in my mind.
____
Only thirteen chapters left! What do you think will happen / what would you like to see happen?
And don't worry, the rest of the chapters are already planned. That means that I'm asking to see how accurate your theories/opinions are ;)