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"You're not supposed to be down here." I spin and see Namjoon, arms crossed. I back up and he follows me. The dim basement darkens his features, making him look more ferocious than he does in the light. More intimidating.
I'm at a loss for words.
"Sorry I- I just just-"
"What's with you?" He says, but not in his usual uptight, bitter tone. It was weirdly calm. It scared me even more.
I back up into the wall and he places his hand next to me head. I gulp at how close he is to me.
"You just won't sit still will you?" He raises an eyebrow scanning my face. "You're violent, you run. Now you're snooping. You're a very... problematic girl." He says, his free hand tracing my tattoo. I flinch, but don't pull away.
It'll seem weak. I just glare at him.
"You're lucky that Jin hyung is so nice to you. Otherwise, you would be in the room next door." He says and I feel my chest tighten as he tilts his head to the side. He chuckles at my nervous expression. Then his face hardens into the normal Namjoon I know.
"Don't let me catch you snooping again. Go. Now." I take his hand off me and slip out between him and the wall. I quickly leave the room and up the stairs.
In my room, I run my hand through my hair, taking a deep breath. Just thinking of when he touched me like that makes him even more repulsive. He's crazy.
I sit on my bed. I suddenly don't feel very restless anymore. But I don't want to sleep either. Seeing him like that just reminds me that he has access to my room. That he can do what he wants. I lay my head on the pillow, but I don't sleep.
I can't sleep.
******
Before I realize it, light starts to show through the curtains. But not a bright, sunny light. A dim, grey dreary light. I look over at the clock. It's 8:45am.
I push myself up from bed and change my clothes. I clip my holster on my leg and go into the bathroom. I leave the door open while I quickly brush my teeth, putting a hat on.
I go down the stairs in hopes to see Jin, but when I get to the kitchen and see it empty, I remember he said he was out today.
"Morning." Someone startles me and I tense up. I look to see Jimin coming in, pulling a sweater over his head.
"Hi." I say quietly, climbing up on the counter to grab my pills. I get down and he's standing there, making sure that I don't slip.
"Sit down." He says and I look at him confused. "Your arm." He points his eyes down.
"Oh." I say and sit down on a chair. I swallow the pills and roll my long sleeve shirt up. He slowly takes the bandage off and I shut my eyes, leaning my head back.
"Does it hurt that much?" I open one eye and see his concerned expression.
"What? No. I'm just tired." I shake my head as he starts to clean me up. I wince a bit, but it isn't as bad as yesterday. I shut my eyes again and let out a long breath, relaxing into the chair and embracing his gentle touch.
"How much did you sleep last night?"
"I didn't." I say and he sighs. "Don't act like it isn't normal. I bet your sleeping schedule is messed up too."
"But I don't have a concussion." He says. "You need to eat and sleep. Get better."
"Yes sir." I salute to him with my other arm, my eyes still shut. "Is everyone already gone?"
"Yes. Except for Taehyung and Namjoon."
"Okay.." I say, hesitating to ask my next question. I open my mouth to speak, but shut up.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. Forget it." I say as he places a bandage over my arm.
"I'm serious. I told you that you can ask me anything." I open my eyes and take my head off the back of the chair.
"I was just wondering.." I slowly start. I don't want him to know I've been snooping. But I need to know what that room is. "Is there any way to train and stuff? So I don't get rusty?"
He clicks his tongue a bit hesitant.
"How about we talk about it later? When you're better?" He says and I nod. He probably has to get through Namjoon first or something.
"Deal." I say. "Are we done here?"
"Yeah." He says. I stand up and walk to the fridge, grabbing an apple. "Y/n."
"Mhm?" I ask, taking a bite.
"Why don't you stick with me today? None of us are doing anything."
"Depends. Does that include Namjoon?" I ask with no shame at all. I don't want to be around him.
"No. He's gonna be busy with phone calls." Jimin shakes his head.
"Then sure." I shrug. "I don't have anything better to do."
"Okay. I'm gonna go shower right now, though so..."
"Yeah go ahead." I nod and he stands up to leave the room.
I sit down, tapping my fingers a bit. What do I do right now..? My eyes keep wandering to the stairs of the basement. The setup they had. If I weren't injured, I'd be happy to go down there and work myself for hours. Forget about everything.
But even then, Namjoon would rip me to shreds.
I might as well hang out in my room while I wait for Jimin.
I go up the stairs, careful not to hurt my head on the way. I walk into my room and look at my bag. I still haven't unpacked my things. Should I? I'm not going anywhere any time soon. They made sure of that.
I pull some clothes out and shove them into the drawers. I packed light, so I only have about four shirts with three pairs of pants.
I still have my own medical supplies from the cabin. Peroxide. Bandage wraps, tape along with some antibiotics. I dump it out onto my bed and look into my bag again.
"You're not running again are you?" I spin to see Taehyung leaning on the door with his arms crossed but his playful smile makes me realize he's not being serious.
"Barging in?"
"You left it open." He shrugs and I turn back to my bag. I reach in and sigh, wrapping my fingers around the three photographs that I put into my bag before leaving the cabin. I couldn't leave them behind. I slowly pull it out and put it next to the peroxide.
He picks one up.
"Your family?" He asks a bit cautiously. I look at the family portrait and feel my throat tighten a bit.
"Yes." I say and lean over a bit. "That's my mom, dad. My sister. And my.. brother." I say a bit sadly at the end.
"This was how many years ago?"
"Twelve?"
"How old were you?" He giggles, trying to lighten the mood. "You were cute." He tilts his head. "Too bad."
I gape and smack him in the chest, laughing.
"You ass." I roll my eyes. "Nine or so."
"Aw." He laughs. "But it's a nice photo. It's sweet." He says, his face showing a twinge of jealousy. And longing. I sigh, looking at the smiling face of my father. My mother. We were happy.
He flips to the next picture.
"Oh this looks more like you." He laughs at the picture of me with my trainer from a few months ago. I'm dressed in a sleeveless shirt, flexing with him. His arm is on the top of my head and I have a sour expression on my face. But it was one of my best memories of him.
"Is this him?" Taehyung asks, flipping to the last one. The one Seho and I after we got our tattoos.
"Yeah." I say, fighting the urge of ripping the picture out of his hand. And fighting the urge to let tears fall.
"Your tattoo.." he says quietly, looking at my covered arm. "When was this?"
"Couple years ago." I take the picture out of his hand. He's looked at it long enough.
"You changed your hair." He says.
"I dyed it red for a while to make it hard to recognize me. I just decided to let it grow out last year. It wasn't me."
"Oh I see." He says, putting the pictures down. We stand in silence and I stare at the three pictures.
He touches my arm gently to get my attention.
"You know.." he starts. "I can get some frames for those. They're important to you. I can get some tomorrow so you can put them up right there." He says, his eyes pointing to the nightstand.
Wait really?
"Seriously?" I ask, a smile taking over my lips.
"Yeah of course." He shows a boxy smile.
"You're the best." I say and he laughs.
"I know."
"I never thought you two would be getting along so well." A voice says at the door. We both look at Jimin, who is running a hand through his still-wet hair.
"Well you heard her say it." Taehyung grins. "I'm the best."
"Mm." Jimin nods. "Believe what you want, Taetae."
"Huehue Taetae." I repeat and Taehyung kicks Jimin with his good leg.
"Shut up, Chimmy."
I snort.
"That's even better." I laugh.
"Surprisingly, it's not the best one." Taehyung grins. I widen my eyes.
"You must tell me."
"When the time it right." Jimin says. "Let's go downstairs."
*******
For the next few hours, the three of us decided to hang out and play some video games to pass the time. Jimin is the most competitive person I've ever met, but Taehyung claims that Jungkook is way worse.
Otherwise, I was enjoying myself. The two boys have been very nice to me, considering I stabbed one and kicked the other one in the face. I don't know what kind of switch flipped in Jimin because it's like he was never mean to me. It's like he never hated me before. Maybe his temper is one of his issues.
Or maybe that switch is what makes him a good gang member. To be able to separate your two personas.. lives may be a key way to survive. I just wonder what made him like that.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck.." Jimin mumbles. "Oh fuck!"
"Hah! Kicked your ass again!" Taehyung yells, jumping up and down like a child. Well his leg seems better.
I grin, but then I snipe Taehyung right in the head. His face drops.
"Kicked your ass again." I laugh and he smacks my leg.
"You suck."
"No you." I argue back.
"Anyone hungry?" Jimin says, jumping up from his seat.
"Very." Taehyung says and looks at me.
"A bit." I shrug.
"That means you're really hungry." Jimin says as Taehyung and I get up.
"What?"
"If you're not hungry, you're hungry. If you're a little hungry, you're very hungry. If you're hungry, then you're probably starving to death." Taehyung explains. I raise an eyebrow. "We got you all figured out."
"Or it can mean I'm just a little hungry. And no. No you don't." I grin.
The three of us go into the kitchen and Jimin starts to grab some snacks.
"Oh my god, what did you do?!" Taehyung's eyes are on the door.
I look to see Yoongi there with a bloody nose and a busted lip. He drops his bag with a loud thump. Jimin turns around and sighs.
"Get over here." He mumbles, putting the food down.
"I can do it on my own." Yoongi resists and Jimin shrugs.
"Fine. Just go do it now before you get blood all over the floor."
"You sound like Jin." Yoongi rolls his eyes and turns to leave.
"What happened to him?" I ask.
"He probably ticked off someone at a gas station or some shit. He's always coming home like that." Taehyung says. "If I didn't know better, I'd say his wife beats him."
"He's married?" My eyes go wide. He's so young and in this life..
"Ooh god no." Jimin laughs. "It's just a joke we have."
"Oh?" I ask, asking him to explain.
"Well under all that tough armour and persona, Yoongi is a total softie. I don't know if you've seen it yet. But we have a theory that he's a sub." I choke on air. "So we make jokes saying that he has a wife that beats him up when he's out."
I try to hold my laugh in, but the second Taehyung's mouth twitches and he starts to laugh, I can't help myself. I put my head on the table, laughing with Taehyung. I'm sure Jimin joined in too. Someone's footsteps approach us and I think it's Yoongi. I raise my head, still laughing but it dies as soon as I see Namjoon trudging into the kitchen.
He doesn't even look at us. He goes into the fridge and gets something. Then I realize he's on the phone. I notice that Taehyung and Jimin straightened themselves quickly.
"Yeah. Got it." Namjoon says and hangs up the phone. "Jimin."
"Yes?"
"You need to go back with Yoongi." He orders.
"What? I thought we needed two-" Jimin protests, looking at me.
"I'm here. It's good enough. Go with him. Be ready in five." Namjoon says firmly and Jimin's shoulders slump a bit.
"Okay." He leaves the kitchen and I notice that he's going in the direction of the basement stairs. Someone snaps their fingers in front of my face.
I narrow my eyes at Namjoon. Why is he such an ass?
"Eyes over here, princess."
"Don't call me princess." I say, gritting my teeth together. He smirks a bit. "I'm going back to my room." I mumble and stand up, squeezing between him and the counter.
He grabs my arm and I wince a bit, considering it's the one with the gunshot wound.
"Don't turn your back on me." He growls.
"Hyung, just let her go. I don't want anything to escalate." Taehyung says, giving us a weary look.
Namjoon looks back at me and I keep my expression the same. My eyes narrowed, my jaw clenched in anger and my lips pursed. A challenging look.
He loosens his grip and I tear my arm away from his hand, placing my hand on the sore wound. I turn and tap my back as I walk away to irritate him.
I go up the stairs, massaging the skin around my injury.
I swear, the second this is all over and I'm healed, I'm gonna stomp on his balls so hard before I leave.
I shut the door to my room and bite my cheek. I grab the pictures off my bed and flop on the chair at my desk. Staring at the picture of my brother and I, I slowly take out a pencil from my drawer.
I sketch out the wing on his arm, curving around his side to his back. Much bigger than mine. But I don't draw his face. It takes me about three hours until I'm sure that I have every detail in it. Every scale and feather perfectly proportioned.
Until I have every piece of his body correct, even the small matching birthmark that we both have on the back of our shoulder.
I'm close to finishing when I hear someone tap on my door.
"Come in." I mumble. Taehyung's head pokes inside and I put my pencil down. I motion for him to come in with a small nod to the side.
"Sorry about earlier." He says, closing the door and walking over to sit on my bed. He has a bag strapped around his shoulders, putting it down gently.
"You did nothing wrong." I say, turning my attention back to the sheet of paper. I pick up the pencil and continue to shade curves and shadows.
"I know but still.. I feel bad."
"You don't need to feel bad for me. I stabbed you, remember?" I say without thinking. He's being nice to me, maybe I shouldn't be so harsh.
"Kinda hard to forget." He lets out a breathy laugh and I relax when he doesn't get offended.
"Anyway, Jin should be home in..." he pauses, probably checking the time. "An hour?"
"Okay Thanks." I say, scratching the pencil on the surface of the smooth paper.
"What is that?" He asks and I cover it with my forearm.
"Just a small sketch. It's nothing." I say and he stands up. He leans over and looks at the picture beside me.
"Hey." He whispers, moving my arm gently. "You don't need to hide it from me." He says softly and I sigh, letting him move my arm out of the way. He looks between the photograph and the sketch, nodding in approval.
"It's really good." He says. "Did you used to draw or something?"
"There wasn't much to do at the cabin. In between training I doodled a bit." I shrug, putting my pencil down.
"The cabin..." he says. "That's where?"
"Seoul."
"I thought Hyunsoo is in Seoul." He says, tilting his head slightly.
"He is. We were hidden. But we knew that he would be looking for us in other places. He would think that I left the city entirely because I wouldn't want to get caught. Of course at first, I left but after a couple years, we went back to Seoul after all the commotion died down. He woundn't the looking as hard in a place that he lived in."
"Reverse psychology." Taehyung says and I nod.
"Kind of like that, yeah."
"That's smart."
"It was stupid." I shake my head. "They still found us." I shift my attention to his hands where the photo lies.
"But it's useful." He says, putting the picture down.
He reaches behind him and I hear a clattering noise in his bag. Then three wooden and glass frames emerge. I sit straighter as he hands them to me.
"When did you get these?" I ask, confused.
"I did some digging in a few boxes. Found a few that I think would fit." He says and I immediately grab one, opening the back.
I slip the picture inside and close it, laughing a bit as I set the picture frame down. I can't believe he actually did this for me.
Before I can allow my body to respond to my brain, I stand up and throw my arms around him. His hands hover over my back for a moment, obviously shocked. But then he firmly embraces me, careful where he places his hands.
"You have no idea how much this means to me." I whisper, grabbing a fistful of his shirt in my hand and releasing it as I pull away.
"No problem." He laughs a bit. Then I realize what I just did. Why did I-
"Sleep deprivation is getting to me." I shake my head and he grins.
"Or maybe you have a thing for me." He says jokingly, sending a cheesy wink my way.
"I can still punch you with my good arm." I threaten and he grins.
"Okay, darling." He gives a cheeky smile, opening the door behind him. "I'll see you soon."
"Bye gimpy." I shake my head, chuckling.