I lazed on the pool chair, sipping on some freshly made ice lemonade and watching Jin and Hoseok playing tennis across the pool on the lawn.
Considering how serious they'd been at the beginning of the match and professional they'd talked you'd think they were Olympic stars. But the second Hoseok had served, the tennis game turned into a cross between badminton and dodgeball.
It had been a couple days since the mafian meeting. Namjoon and Jungkook specifically had made themselves scarce. Namjoon, of course, had the excuse on searching the location of Decker, or whatever the guy's name was.
Did I mention I sucked at remembering names?
Jungkook on the other hand was very obviously avoiding me. Whenever he saw me his expression would darken and he'd whip around and walk right back the way he'd just come from.
I just shrugged it off. I hadn't done anything to him personally if he wanted to be all pouty and angry to me cause of male PMS not my problem.
So it was a slight surprise when the lawn chair beside me scraped against the ground, signaling someone plopping down next to me. That someone was no other than John Jungkook.
Or wait, was it Jung? No, that didn't sound right either. That was Jimin's last name, or maybe it was Hoseok's last name. Ah forget it.
"Well, well, what did I do to deserve your royal-pain-in-the-ass company Jungkook?" I set down the glass of lemonade and straightened up next to him.
His aura was simmering, showing he was annoyed (nothing new there). So he wasn't siting next to me because he wanted to.
"While you've been lounging around and draining our supply of thin mints in the pantry, Namjoon and I have been hunting ruthlessly for Dexter," Jungkook began with his usual snide.
"First, Girl Scout thin mints are absolutely divine," I quickly corrected him, "Second, Namjoon's the one who's been searching on computers. You, on the other hand, have just been hiding in bathrooms to avoid me."
It was true: I'd rounded the corner the other day and had spied Jungkook just coming out of the bathroom. The moment he'd seen me he'd wheeled back around right where he came from and shut himself in there.
"Yeah about that," Jungkook narrowed his eyes a little. "I don't know what you did to the lock, but Jin and Taehyung had to pick the lock to help get me out."
"I enjoyed watching you trying to break down the door yourself because you were too prideful to cry out for help," I grinned unashamed.
It was pretty simple: I'd just stuck a small thumbtack inside the bathroom door lock, jamming the entire lock and making picking the lock ten times harder.
"Unbelievable," Jungkook groaned. "You're literally like that annoying little sister you can't shake off. How the heck am I supposed to survive with you for a week?"
"A week?" I frowned a little. "What do you mean?"
Jungkook sighed heavily. "Well, good news: Namjoon has pinpointed a location we believe is Dexter and his gang's current hideout. I've been assigned to check it out and confirm location. The bad news is I have to bring you with me on the mission and the location is a few days drive. A round trip will approximate to a week. And that's if nothing at all goes amiss. Namjoon is forcing me to bring you so I have no choice."
"You wouldn't have had a choice anyways," I set the glass back down. "You're kind of forgetting that you're the one who Awakened me, thus you're my master. And wherever you go, I have to follow you. It's just how the Genie thing works."
"I don't understand why Namjoon is on your side all of a sudden," Jungkook rubbed his eyes. "If I could I would make my last wish and send you off."
Right, Jungkook still thought that he had only one wish left after the clothes incident.
"So basically we're going on a trip together?" I grinned a little. "Sweet! Bonding time am I right?"
"No," he snapped back instantly. "Not right. Left."
"But why do we need to take a car?" I wondered aloud. "I mean, you guys have a crap ton of money. So why not take like a private jet?"
"The hideout is in Ulsan outskirts, so if we took a plane there, we'd have to rent some other form of transportation to get to the actual hideout and that's something we can't risk," Jungkook folded his arms.
"So, about a week of driving and burning gasoline just so you can check if some criminal guys are actually there? That sounds like a waste," I shifted into the lawn chair comfortably.
"There's also a chance they may have already found the genie."
My eyes flew open and I sat back up. "No way," I snapped instantly. "If there's a chance they got to an evil genie I'm so not going."
"But you just said so yourself, you don't have a choice," Jungkook grinned a little, leaning forward, obviously enjoying his brief advantage over me now. "Besides, you're scared of meeting another Genie? I thought you wanted to meet a Genie so you can fill that desperate hole of loneliness in you."
I bristled. "Don't joke about loneliness," I told him, dead serious.
Jungkook clicked his mouth shut.
"It looks like you're entering Beginner's Course of Genies: Level 2. I already told you about the three good Genies and their abilities right?" Jungkook nodded affirmation. "Well, there are five Genies in total. And the remaining two of them are plain evil and have the stereotypical phenomenal cosmic power magic."
I shuddered a little just thinking of the other two Genies. I knew Namjoon had mentioned it before, but let's be honest: I was tired and barely paying too close attention to what he'd been saying.
"There are the Shadow Genies," I held up a hand. "Little cold-hearts like to come out at night, the sun burns them. They get their energy from the darkness around them. The other Genie is the Blood Genie. These little leeches are the most powerful of all Genies, even surpassing the Ghost Genies, which is saying something. They get their power and energy from blood. Because of these two Genies, the legend of the vampires was born."
"Can Genies kill other Genies?" Jungkook asked, tilting his head slightly.
"No, we're not allowed to harm other Genies, but—"
"Then it should be no problem," Jungkook clapped his hands, standing up. "They can't hurt you and if anything, that means I'm the one in most danger here. So stop freaking out."
"Jungkook!" I yelled as he began to walk away. Partly because I hadn't finished explaining myself and partly because that little jackass just stole my lemonade on his way into the house, taking a sip out of it.
He ignored my yell.
I slouched on the lawn chair, groaning under my breath. Blood and Shadow Genies may not be able to actually kill me, but with their insane amount of power, they could easily crush my lamp, spiraling me into that coma-like state of loneliness for eternity.
No matter what type of Genie you were, we all had one thing in common: we loathed that lonely feeling in the coma-like state with all our hearts. We feared that loneliness more than we feared death itself.
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