That day, Hoseok and Taehyung came with me to pack up the remainder of my things from my apartment.
According to Namjoon, my mom hadn't showed up for work that morning. However, when I went to the apartment, she wasn't there either.
Of course I was worried, but there was little that I could do at the moment.
"Is this the last of your things?" Hoseok asked, placing my laptop into a box, closing it up and setting it on the pile.
I glanced into my bare wardrobe once again to ensure I had all my clothes. "Looks like it." I replied, closing the doors of it.
"What about this guy?" Taehyung picked up the small light brown teddy bear that sat on my bed. "Why are one of his arms sewed higher up than the other?" He chuckled slightly. "And his eyes don't match."
I turned around to see what he was talking about, only to realise that it was Ted.
"Yah! That's Ted, my stuffed bear. My dad won him at a fair for me a couple of weeks before he died." I said, leaving Taehyung and Hoseok to exchange uneasy, sympathetic glances. It could easily be told that they weren't used to showing sympathy, but as fully fledged gang members, that was to be expected.
However, I wasn't paying any attention to them as I glared at the bear. "His arms are wonky because I accidentally got him stuck between the doors of the elevator once...poor Ted's arm came right off and mom had to stitch it back on." I laughed slightly, remembering how distraught I was thinking that Ted could feel pain. "His eyes also don't match because the neighbours cat bit it off and ate it. There was no way Ted was gonna get that back, so mom gave him a button for an eye." I took Ted from Taehyung and stroked his matted fur. I then glanced up at the two males who each had a solemn smile on their faces.
"Ted's been through a lot, is he gonna come with us then?" Hoseok raised an eyebrow with an amused expression.
"Heck yeah." I giggled, clutching the bear tightly as I went to put him in a box.
"That right there, is baby girl culture." Taehyung said quietly to Hoseok so that I couldn't hear.
Hoseok responded by punching him lightly on the arm, "Hornball."
~
There wasn't that many boxes, so we were able to get them all into the car with only two trips. We had to time it well however, to ensure that Mr Choi was out and that he wasn't coming back any time soon, giving us time to get everything packed and out of the apartment.
I had also disabled the security cameras beforehand, just incase.
Finally, we had finished and Hoseok and I had went back up to lock the door. Hoseok was good with locks, so he was the one who had picked the lock to open it in the first place.
I stood in front of the open door, my arms folded.
"Do you think my mom will worry whenever she sees that all my things are gone?" I questioned, continuing to stare inside.
"To be honest, yeah. But at that she might just assume that you wanted to move out." He replied, casting his gaze downwards at me.
"Ca-Can I leave her a note?" I furrowed my eyebrows with confusion. I didn't know whether or not it was the right thing to do, and I was hesitant.
"Sure Soomi-ah." Hoseok placed a hand sympathetically on my shoulder, giving me the same solemn smile as earlier.
I nodded my head and exhaled a deep breath, taking a deep breath. I made my way back inside, taking the notepad and pen belonging to my mom.
I held the pen in my hand, noticing how it was shaking ever so slightly.
Dang...why am I so nervous?
It's just a note...
I then began to write.
My hand writing was never the neatest, however it was easily identifiable. Mom would certainly know that it was me who wrote it and not anyone else.
I tore out the page when I was finished, leaving it on the small wooden table.
The note read;
"Dear Mom,
I apologise. I left you without any warning, and I understand that it was unacceptable. However, I stupidly got myself involved with something dangerous. It would be better if I cut contact with you for now, both for my safety, and yours. I promise you that I'm doing well, and I swear that I'll be as careful as I can. Don't worry about me. I love you so much.
Soomi."
I turned around, signalling to Hoseok that I was ready to go. I didn't want to look at the apartment anymore.
~This timeskip is sponsored by how much Yoongi infires me~
I stood back to admire my finished room.
The closet was now full, I had small sentimental ornaments on a shelf along with my Polaroid camera, I set my miniature aloe vera plant near the window and I even had Ted sitting on my bed. (a/n hey that rhymes)
The more I looked at it, the more like home it felt.
"Hey Soomi-ah? I checked this morning, and it seems like there still hasn't been any police reports about you being missing or anything." Namjoon poked his head in through the open door.
I turned around to greet him, giving him a small smile. "Ah, I see. I suppose that's a good thing." I replied, scratching the nape of my neck.
"Mhm, it is." He nodded his head, a dimpled smile appearing on his face. "I was thinking, you can go back to school. If you want to, that is." He said, now fully standing in the doorway.
I raised my eyebrows, surprised.
"Seriously? Won't it be weird if I just go back after being absent for so long?" I questioned.
"I'll contact the school and tell them you were ill." He replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Ok then dad." I joked, giving him a thumbs up.
"I'm not your dad." Namjoon furrowed his eyebrows at me.
"It was a jo-" I was about to finish my word when he interrupted me.
"But I'll be your daddy." And with that, he sprinted off down the hall.
A mad blush spread across my cheeks.
"Yah! Joon! Don't be nasty!" I yelled, chasing after him.
~This time skip is sponsored by Soomi's teddy bear, Ted 🧸~
A couple of weeks had passed, and I finally felt as if things were getting normal again.
Well, as normal as they could be for a hacker in a gang.
I had finally gone back to school. Most of the students in my class didn't even realise I was gone. Hell, neither did the teachers.
But that was just the way I liked it.
Since joining Bangtan, I knew way more people around school.
I had it all worked out in my head. The incredibly shady guys that hung around the back of school were also the guys who bought and sold drugs in the underground. Lee Felix, the guy who had got beaten up in the underground, is in my science class. Park Jisung and Zhong Chenle of NCT literally sit at the lunch table behind Eunji and I every day.
I also made friends with a guy called Jae. His full name was Park Jaehyung, but he insisted I called him Jae. He and his gang practically worked for Bangtan, as they weren't that big on violence. They stayed behind the scenes taking care of the many warehouses owned by Bangtan, working as strategists and also handling 'business' enquiries.
Overall, I was content. I had managed to keep my grades up whilst simultaneously hacking for Bangtan. Of course, digitally changing my grades was an option, but something was satisfying about doing it myself.
I exited through the school gate, other students rushing past me.
With my eyebrows furrowed, I glanced around for any sign of Taehyung's car. Normally, he would pick me up from school each day to ensure I got home safe.
I took my phone from my pocket, clicking on Tae's contact.
Soomi🤠:
Are you dead?
Tae🤠:
No...are you dead?
Soomi🤠:
You're not here to pick me up! >:(
Tae🤠:
Lol sorry, someone messed with our shipments again so I was helping Joon-hyung sort it out 🍇
Soomi🤠:
Lol is that grape emoji supposed to represent Joonie's hair?
Tae🤠:
Yee bb
Tae🤠:
Anyways, I'll come and get you in 15 🚗💨 Stay there!
Soomi🤠:
I'll just walk :D
Tae🤠:
No you won't sis
Dangit, I hate being told what to do because it just makes me want to not do it even more!
Soomi🤠:
:D
I huffed out a sigh before making my way down the street.
After driving to and from school from the penthouse, I knew my way fairly well. Luckily, the walk was short.
I stopped at a convenience store on my way back, walking down the snack aisle.
If I didn't gamble that last ten thousand won on whether or not Mrs Yoon would show up to class hungover, I would have enough for snacks.
I was about to leave when I noticed the door opening, and in walked four girls.
"Shit." I muttered to myself, noticing one of them as Lisa, the girl from the underground.
I assumed that the other three were apart of Blackpink too.
I ducked into the next aisle, out of their view and attempted to dip through the side exit.
That was until I heard someone clear their throat.
I. Am. Not. In. The. Mood!
"So you're still crawling around here? I thought you would have been driven away by now. You have a target over your head, you know that?" I heard the familiar voice taunt.
I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, turning around to face the ponytailed girl.
"Doesn't every gang member have a target over their heads?" I raised an eyebrow, a look of fake innocence on my face.
"Not all of them have a target as big as yours." She retorted, folding her arms.
I rolled my eyes once again. "What do you want?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.
"What do I want? You out of my sight and off my territory. You're really bothersome, you know that?" She responded, venom dripping from her words.
"Your territory? Bangtan owns Seoul, get over it." I folded my arms and gave a smug smirk. "You're just lucky we've been letting your gang leech around here rent free."
"You're such a little bitch!" Lisa ran towards me, in an attempt to land a punch.
Oh hell no! Not this again...
Swiftly, I pushed one of the display cabinets between me and her. It landed with a thud, but gave me enough time to run.
I ran to the back of the store, in search of a back exit only to find it locked.
I cursed under my breath, hearing Lisa call for her gang. I then heard their quick footsteps towards my direction, and I knew I had to move.
I made a bee-line for the front doors, glancing over at the cash register. The store clerk was no longer there, presumably having ran from the potential danger. But that also meant that he would have likely contacted the cops about a disturbance.
Come on, come on, come on!
"Not so fast~" A red haired girl cooed, an ever so sweet smile on her face as she stepped in front of the doors.
"Move please!" I exclaimed, trying to push her out of my way.
All I wanted was to lay in bed and eat snacks, not get my shit knocked in. Plus, Taehyung would be angry that I didn't listen to him and wait outside of school, and I was in no mood to get yelled at by Tae.
"Nah, I'm good." The girl shrugged her shoulders.
Before I could open my mouth to speak, I felt myself getting yanked backwards by my backpack.
I swear to the gods if my laptop gets broken, it won't be the only thing that gets broken...
I quickly turned around, shaking whoever had a grip on my backpack off.
"I'm not looking to fight!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air with annoyance.
"Who said we were looking a fight? We're just giving you and Bangtan a little warning." The brunette grinned evilly before landing a punch, busting my lip.
I hissed with pain, stumbling backwards and into the red head who then grabbed each of my arms.
I noticed that the brunette was making her way towards me once again, so I acted fast. I brought my head back, swinging it forward with all my might to headbutt her. She grasped her head with both of her hands, wincing in pain.
Sure, my head also hurt but the adrenaline was numbing it.
I elbowed the red head so that she would let go of me and quickly ran down one of the aisles.
This seemed to have just angered them even more.
"Come on, is that all you got?!" I raised my voice, signalling them to come closer.
I smirked ever so slightly as they made their way down the aisle.
I quickly grabbed tins of food off the shelf, hurling as many of them as I could as hard as I could.
Rule number 1; Everything is a makeshift weapon!
With the rain of canned foods thundering down on the girls, they each reversed back to take cover.
I glanced at my surroundings, deciding to climb up the shelf to the top for a better vantage point.
Rule number 2; Vantage points = Advantage points.
"Yah! Looking for me?" I chimed, throwing yet another tin at one of the females, hitting her right on the back of her head. "Oof..." I winced on her behalf, realising how much it probably hurt seeing as it was pretty heavy.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Lisa yelled, scowling as she tried to reach me on top of the shelf.
"Some other day though because I gotta go! See ya!" I smiled sweetly at the females, throwing a can of soda in the air and catching it in my hand again.
Rule number 3; Exits must be cool, or else they don't count.
With a single shake of the can, I threw it onto the ground. The can exploded, sending soda everywhere and gave me enough time to jump down from the shelf and to the door.
I ripped open the door and sprinted for my life down the barren alleyway.
I noticed from the corner of my eye that my school uniform now looked extremely disheveled. If I went back to Bangtan looking like this, they'd definitely ask questions.
I dipped into the small alley right beside Kim Industries.
"Okay, alright...calm down Soomi don't be suspicious..." I panted heavily, attempting to catch my breath.
I placed my hands on my hips and paced back and forth in thought.
"If I go back in here like this, the guys are probably in the penthouse and they'll see me. I need to get up there and get to my room quickly..." I spoke out loud, skimming through my thoughts. "I got it!"
I placed my backpack on the ground, unzipping it and taking out my laptop.
I sat on top of my bag to shield my butt from the dirty ground and opened my laptop.
Luckily, the alleyway closed in enough so that people on the sidewalk couldn't see me.
"I'll just cause a security alert on one of the floors so they'll go there, and that'll give me time to get upstairs." I mumbled, typing quickly on the keyboard.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed.
Tae🤠:
Sooms, what the hell? I though I told you to wait at school?
Soomi🤠:
Yeah, about that 😬 I have a test tomoz so I'm in the library studying 😔
Tae🤠:
Are you sure about that? Because according to Jisung no one goes to the school library, only drug dealers. And I hope to god you're not hanging around with drug dealers now ❌🙅♂️
Soomi🤠:
Don't you class as a drug dealer??
Tae🤠:
😑
Tae🤠:
Get home, now.
I placed down my phone, exhaling a deep breath. "That was close..." I mumbled, continuing to type.
I didn't have a lot of time if Taehyung was on his way back, so therefore I had to work quickly.
"Done and...done!" I shut my laptop, putting it back into my bag.
I peered out of the alley, only to immediately hear sirens blaring. It was the alert system.
Success!
I slipped in through the entrance, where the security guard had left his post, and headed over to the stairs.
I knew that the elevators would likely be disabled, so I began to climb the stairs.
People were rushing down past me as I continued to climb, wondering why the hell I was going up rather than down.
At the same time, the alarm stopped. That meant that the threat had likely already been checked out and everything was under control again.
The stairs seemed to be never ending, but eventually I made it to the automatic doors that required a keycard to open, with the help of some more running that is.
I took the keycard out from my backpack and swiped it across, the small light flashing green as it accepted the card.
The door opened and after, I eventually made it down the hallway and opened the door leading into the penthouse.
"Oh my- hallelujah!" I panted heavily, wiping the beads of sweat that appeared on my forehead.
Suddenly, I heard the elevator ding.
"Crap!" I exclaimed, quickly leaving my bag at the door and taking off my shoes, rushing over to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. "Stairs are gonna be the death of me..." I grumbled, quickly climbing them and reaching my bedroom. I closed the door at the same time that the elevator doors opened.
I heard the chatter of Bangtan from downstairs as they flooded into the lounge.
"Soomi-ah? Are you home?" One of the guys called, likely noticing that my bag and shoes were at the door.
I didn't reply, looking frantically around my room wondering what to do. I was sweaty, my uniform was disheveled and I had a busted lip.
I heard the footsteps getting closer and closer to my door before I made my decision. I quickly jumped into my bed, covering myself with the blankets and pulling them up to my nose.
"Oh, Soomi-ah, you are home. Did you hear that alarm going off?" Seokjin opened the door to my room, his eyes immediately furrowing with confusion. "Why are you in bed?" He questioned.
"I wasn't...feeling well." I quickly made up an excuse, ensuring the blankets were up to my nose.
"I see, you're burning up too..." he said, placing his hand on my forehead. The real reason my forehead was slightly clammy and hot was due to me running up so many flights of stairs. I also blame the heat due to me head-butting that brunette.
"Have you been home long? Taehyung said that you weren't at the school gates." He asked, sitting down on the bed beside me.
"I've been home for maybe 15 minutes now. I know, Taehyung told me to wait for him but I felt like some fresh air would help me feel better, so I walked." I said, making my voice sound weak as it came out muffled through the fabric of the blanket.
Honestly, where is my Oscar award?
"Ah, that explains it. You poor thing, try and go for a nap and I'll call you when dinner's ready." He said, brushing the hair off of my forehead before getting up to leave.
"Thanks oppa." I said weakly.
The door finally closed, and I threw the blankets off of me.
"It's hot under there, damn." I sighed, fanning myself with my hands. "Now Jin thinks I'm sick...I hate lying to them..." I mumbled, heading over to the bathroom to hop into the shower.
~This timeskip is sponsored by Jin's heavy metal scream in Dionysus~
"Dinner!" A yell was heard from the other side of my door.
I glanced up from my laptop only to curse slightly. I looked around my room, my eyes landing on the black face mask hanging from the handle of my closet.
~
"Can you pass the water please?" I asked, pointing at the jug at the opposite end of the table.
Hoseok looked up at me, passing the water jug over.
I poured it casually into my glass before setting it back on the table.
I glanced up at everyone, only to notice them staring at me with confused faces. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what their problem was.
"Soomi, sweetheart, why are you wearing face mask indoors?" Seokjin questioned, gesturing to the black face mask I wore to cover my lip.
"I don't want to make you all sick." I said bluntly, pulling my mask up ever so slightly so that I could reach my chopsticks to my mouth, but ensuring no one could see my cut lip.
"Don't be stupid, you won't make us sick." Jungkook shook his head, reaching towards my mask to pull it down.
"Nope, I definitely will." I swatted his hand away, to which he glared at me confused.
"Sooms, just take the mask off." Taehyung mumbled, stuffing his face with food.
I shook my head in refusal.
"C'mon, give me the mask." Namjoon said with an unamused tone of voice, holding out his hand for me to give it to him.
Geez, he's in a bad mood...
I glanced uneasily at each of their piercing gazes.
This is it. This is how my life ends.
I took a shaky breath, pinching the material of the mask and slowly removing it.
I turned my head away from the guys, blindly placing the mask in Namjoon's hand.
"See? Was that so hard?" He grumbled, returning back to his meal.
"Soomi-ah, lift your head." Seokjin scolded.
I huffed out a heavy sigh, raising my head so that I was looking at him.
"Now lower your hand." He said, impatiently.
I cursed slightly under my breath, bringing my hand down onto my lap.
"Who the hell did that?!" Jungkook exclaimed, angrily.