"It's Jimin. He's hurt. They called the ambulance-"
The world began to freeze all around me, shards of ice ready to pierce my skin with the reality of Jimin being severely hurt. My ears could no longer hear what Jungkook said as the possibilites racing through my mind drowned him out.
I wouldn't have known that my phone slipped from my hand if not for Hoseok's inhumanly-quick reaction. Moving faster than the strike of a viper, he caught the device before it even came close to touching the floor, but it was the effortlessness of it all that revived my senses and snapped me back to the world around me.
Hoseok hesitantly met my gaze as he held the phone out. As I took it and returned it to my ear, Jungkook's voice finally registered.
"Will you meet us there?" he asked distractedly among a background of desperate shouts and running footsteps.
"Which hospital?" I let out the weak question as my lungs fell short of breath. Hoseok's indecipherable eyes clung to mine.
"They're not here yet - shit!" his voice faded away for a moment and I could hear Jimin moan in pain. Then Jungkook yelled at someone, and suddenly the fire alarm was blaring from both the phone in my hand and the ceiling above me. "Jangmi, I have to go! Just head to the nearest hospital!" he yelled over the alarm.
Then the line went dead.
My mind told me to move but I was glued in place. My sight lifted to the view from the window and my heart pounded harder as students began to gather, pointing toward something beyond the building we were in. Their eyes were wide, many of them backing away from what they saw.
Hoseok wasted no time in grabbing my hand and pulling me with him toward the door. "Come with me," he said as he walked briskly with me in tow, leading us out of the room, across the floor and down the stairs.
The heavy smell of smoke weighed in the air as we stepped outside. My breath hitched when I looked ahead and saw angry obsidian clouds rising from a nearby building - the same one we had been in just a couple hours earlier.
Barely detectable beneath the deafening alarm, I picked up on the wailing of sirens in the distance. Even with the realization that help had arrived to take Jimin, the nauseating fear in my gut did not ease up.
"Where are we going? Hoseok, I need to get to the hospital," I said desperately as he led me away from the burning building.
"I know, I'm going to drive you."
I was too overwhelmed to question him, so I followed him through the crowd of evacuating students, the distance to his car far too long for my liking. The ambulance surely had Jimin on the way to the hospital by then.
After what felt like ages, we reached the parking lot of the boys' dorm. We passed several rows of spaces before Hoseok fetched his keys out of his pocket and pressed a button, causing the car a few feet ahead of us to start. If I was not so worried about my best friend, I would've gawked at the foreign sports car with its all-black wheels and its clay grey paint.
Quickly, I went to the passenger door and slid into the leather seat, buckling the seatbelt as Hoseok did the same. Then we were peeling out of the parking space and speeding to exit the campus.
When we got to the main road, worst-case scenarios flooded my mind. In need of a distraction from my wild thoughts, I looked over at Hoseok.
"How did you hear Jungkook on the phone even through the alarm?" I asked. It was so loud. There's no way he could've heard his voice through all of that.
"I didn't," he said quickly, eyes trained on the road. "I just heard the first part before the alarm went off. I could piece the rest together."
I frowned, still unsatisfied. My phone's call volume was always kept low intentionally to avoid the very issue of someone listening in on my conversations.
We slowed to a stop as we hit traffic. I groaned in annoyance, fidgeting in my seat while the knots in my stomach tightened. I wanted nothing more than to just see Jimin already, to ensure that he was okay and to comfort him.
I could feel Hoseok glance at me while my gaze burned holes into the bumper of the car in front of us, willing it to move. Of course, that did not take care of the line of vehicles that were stopped ahead of it.
"He's going to be alright."
I glanced over to find him staring back, his eyes surprisingly soft. With a deep breath, I nodded.
"I hope so."
Nearly half an hour had passed by the time we finally pulled up to the hospital. Everything from that moment on went by like a blurred dream. I rushed to the front desk, immediately informing the brunette receptionist of who I was visiting.
"I'm afraid Park Jimin is currently in the operating room, so you'll have to wait out here for now."
My heart nearly dropped to the floor. "Operating room?"
Hoseok came up beside me and the receptionist's eyes found his as he spoke. "Has a Jeon Jungkook signed in as a visitor here? Where can we find him?"
My mind was still reeling from the discovery of Jimin needing surgery. Whatever had happened to him, it was serious.
"Oh, Jeon Jungkook was admitted as a patient. He's in room 138."
"A patient?" Hoseok's voice was coated with concern, speaking the same question I wished to ask.
"Thank you," I stated, grabbing Hoseok's upper arm and beginning to walk toward the hall of patients' rooms.
"Ah, wait! You need to sign in before you see him," the receptionist said.
I quickly took the pen she held out to me and filled out the form with a trembling hand, then placed the pen into Hoseok's gloved palm. The second he finished signing, I walked down the hall as fast as I could without breaking into a jog.
My senses had numbed to combat the anxiousness of waiting, but as reality finally set back in, those shards of ice pricked further into me, reawakening my body with each step closer to the room. Pristine white blinded my eyes, pungent disinfectant burned my nose, cold air raised goosebumps along my flesh, and rapid beats drummed against my chest.
My eyes caught sight of the door at the same instant that it opened. I stopped short, Hoseok nearly running into me from behind. Jungkook paused when his eyes met mine, a conflict of relief and worry washing over his face.
"You're here."
My breath faltered as I spotted the bandage wrapped over one of his hands and his entire forearm.
"What happened?"
His stare shifted to Hoseok. "Did you bring her here?"
Hoseok stepped forward, towering in front of me almost protectively. "Yes."
There was an odd tension between the two that could not be missed, but I refused to let it distract me.
"Jungkook, please. Tell me what happened. Is Jimin going to be okay?"
Jungkook sighed and opened the door wider, gesturing for us to go in. He advised me to sit, so I went to one of the chairs near the hospital bed while Jungkook sat on the edge of the mattress, directly in front of me. Hoseok remained near the door and leaned against the wall as he always seemed to do.
"Jimin and I both woke up early today to practice. He was in one studio with his dance partner and I was practicing alone in a room nearby. After about an hour, I started hearing screams and when I ran out to see what was happening, I found his dance partner yelling for help from outside of the room. The fire was already going and the flames were so high that I couldn't even see Jimin through the window."
My chest ached as I braced myself to hear more.
Jungkook ran a hand through his black hair to brush it away from his face. He looked down at the ground as he continued, "I told her to call for the fire department and an ambulance, and then I went in to find Jimin..." he let out a breath and shook his head as if he was trying to rid himself of the memory. "He was passed out by the end of the room. The fire didn't spread normally, it was like it had a mind of its own and it was targeting him. The flames moved away from me as they closed in on him and I was able to run and hook my arms under him to drag him to the door, but..."
"But what?" I asked hoarsely, hot tears welling up in my eyes.
"The flames got to his feet and he started screaming," Jungkook whispered. I shut my eyes as I tried to ward off the image of Jimin getting burned and the sound of his screams. "He was barefoot and it... it wasn't good. Other students came to help me carry him outside and that's when I called you."
"So they're operating on his feet?" Hoseok spoke from behind me. Jungkook nodded.
"They said the burns were pretty severe."
"Will he be okay?" I asked as I willed my eyes to stop watering.
"The nurse said the operation should go well but that the healing will take a while."
He'll have to stay off of his feet while they heal. He won't be able to dance.
A single tear trailed down my cheek. I was grateful that he was alive and breathing, but I knew how devastated he would be to realize that he couldn't dance, likely for the rest of the semester. What truly gnawed at my insides, however, was the feeling that what had happened was not accidental. I didn't know how, but I did know why. Jimin had mentioned my nightmares while everyone was around us in the opera house. The Hood had warned me not to share our encounters with anyone, so that single statement from Jimin might've sealed his fate.
No. Jimin isn't responsible. You ignored the warning and told him about what was happening. You are the one who chose temporary comfort over your best friend's safety.
One tear turned into many as all of my pent-up fear and newfound guilt escaped from my eyes. I stood from the chair and quickly walked out of the room, but I only made it past a couple of doors before a hand caught my wrist.
"I'm sorry."
My mind imagined that Hoseok was the one who went after me, but it was Jungkook's voice that came from so close behind me. What I found when I turned to face him was an expression that reflected mine. His brows were drawn in worry, lips turned down in regret, eyes shining with guilt.
"Sorry for what?" I asked as I used my free hand to wipe the wetness from my cheeks.
"I should've been faster. Maybe I could have carried him differently. I didn't do enough to help him."
Looking at him in that moment was like seeing him for the first time. My previous notions about him had already started to break away in the past few days, but at that moment they crumbled to dust. He was no longer the shallow flirt I'd first thought him to be, but a sincere, compassionate person who had just witnessed his friend get hurt. I was so absorbed in my own emotions that I had failed to realize how upsetting it was for him, too.
Without replying, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him in an embrace that surely surprised me even more than it surprised him.
"You did nothing wrong, Jungkook. You saved him. Who knows what would've happened if you weren't there."
His shoulders relaxed and his breath fell over my neck as he sighed in relief, then he brought one hand to my lower back and gently held me in place.
"I meant to comfort you and here you are comforting me instead," he said, letting out a faint chuckle. "Don't cry, alright? He's going to be okay."
As much as I fought against trusting him, the more I got to know Jungkook, the more I felt my resolve steadily slip away. The fact that he put himself in harm's way to save Jimin made it difficult to continue shielding myself from him.
Taking a step back, Jungkook's arms fell to his sides and my gaze drifted over the bandage on his hand and arm. With another surge of guilt coming over me, I realized I'd been too caught up in Jimin's state to ever ask Jungkook about his injury.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
A small smile painted his lips as his coffee eyes looked back at me. "I thought you'd never ask."
"How did it happen?"
"The fire must've started at the door because the knob burned me when I opened it. Then I brought my arm up to block the flames when I was grabbing Jimin," he said.
"I'm sorry. I should've asked you about it sooner."
Jungkook shrugged. "You were concerned about Jimin, I get it. Besides, they're pretty minor. No need to worry about me, Red." He winked, and I appreciated his effort to lighten the mood.
Just as I was going to properly thank Jungkook, my gaze landed on Hoseok who was slowly approaching. His eyes were icy as they observed the proximity between the two of us, but the frost seemed to melt away when he found my stare.
Jungkook noticed my distraction and turned to spot the masked man, but Hoseok's gaze did not waver from mine.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"She's fine," Jungkook answered for me.
"I wasn't asking you." Hoseok's eyes finally parted from me, landing on the other male.
"I'm okay," I cut in, hoping to put to rest the suffocating air that surrounded us.
"Let's go." Jungkook's hand found mine and he started leading me back to the room.
A single step was all we took. Hoseok's hand abruptly caught my other wrist, effectively stopping us. Caught in the chilling atmosphere that hung between them, I felt their cold glares pass right over me as they stared each other down. Fed up, I freed my hands from both of their grasps, sending my own glare to each of them.
"I don't know what kind of weird rivalry is going on between you two, but leave me out of it," I said firmly, then I left them standing there while I returned to the room.
The two of them came in a moment later, both looking slightly embarrassed as they avoided my eyes. Jungkook still appeared bitter, and Hoseok was difficult to read as usual.
Before they even had the time to sit anywhere, someone knocked at the door. The three of us watched as the receptionist from the front desk came in, holding a clipboard and a pen in her hands.
"Jung Hoseok?"
"Yes?" Hoseok looked at her.
"I'm sorry, I just need to know your relationship to Mr. Jeon. You left that section blank."
That same tension that weighed between the two males returned in full force as Jungkook briefly caught my eyes, then he answered before Hoseok could.
"He's my brother."
• • •
So... that ending. Seems a little random, maybe, but I promise it has been planned from the very start! Just the beginning of many secrets to be revealed.
I'm sorry if it felt short. The word count is the same as most other chapters, but more of the action will happen next chapter!
I would love to know your thoughts on this one! A few more clues were sprinkled in, so that's fun. Any new ideas about who or what The Hood is? Are we thinking he's the one behind the fire?
I know you guys want to see Jimin. He'll be in the next chapter!
Finally, I just wanted to let you guys know (in case you didn't see) that I posted a one shots/short stories book! The first story is already up and I absolutely loved writing it, so if you have any interest in fairytale retellings, go check it out! ❤
Thank you for the support. I appreciate you all so so much.
-Kat
July 29, 2020