We continue towards Namjoon's room in silence.
A/N: I've revised this chapter so many times I've lost count 😅
~
"There aren't any trackers on it?" Namjoon gestures at the letter.
Jimin hands it to him. "Not that I know of."
Namjoon reads the contents and turns the paper over in his hands. He's alert in an instant, unlike Jimin who took a few moments to wake up. "I don't sense anything either. This is really strange."
"It's harmless," Jimin agrees. "So I don't know what they could be up to."
Namjoon is in deep thought, head resting on his hand.
A long moment of silence follows.
Then he looks up at us with a strange gleam in his eye. My heart skips a beat in anticipation and worry.
"Jimin, how did you know about the letter?"
"Y/n woke me up and told me about it."
I look back and forth between them.
Namjoon sighs. "Jimin, I'm sorry if the next question offends you. But I have to make sure, for safety."
"Okay...?"
"Did you know about the letter before Y/n woke you up?"
"What?! No!" Jimin yells, incredulous. "What the - of course not - hyung! How could you say that?"
"It's a possibility."
"I thought we trusted each other! We're a team!"
"But how else could they have known about our location -"
"You're saying I told them?!"
Their voices get louder and louder.
I shrink into the wall to avoid any attention. If they get any louder, I'm afraid that they might wake the others up.
"Hyung, please think about this." There's a desperate expression on Jimin's face. "Let's say I'm the bad guy, then. Why would I come straight to you for help?"
Namjoon pauses at that.
"If I was the bad guy," Jimin continues, "I would try to hide the letter from you. It wouldn't make sense for me to come running for your help! So please stop accusing me."
Namjoon still looks skeptical.
"Maybe this is what they wanted." Jimin sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "They wanted us to divide ourselves and not trust each other by sending that letter. And that's the last thing we need right now, since there's only eight of us against all of them."
He moves to pat Namjoon's arm comfortingly. "Let's work together, yeah?"
I watch in awe as Namjoon's shoulders slump in defeat. "... you've got a point there. Sorry. I should've trusted you."
"No, it's okay. I understand."
It's Jimin's victory. The room becomes silent once more when Namjoon rethinks the situation and Jimin reads the letter again.
Strange.
That was quick.
Not that I'm complaining - it's great that their argument got resolved so quickly. But for Namjoon to agree so suddenly like that...
Maybe they've known each other for so long that it's a skill they've developed: solving conflicts super fast.
Yeah, that must be it.
I look at the two of them who're in deep thought again. In the midst of their argument and deep thinking, it's like they've forgotten that I'm still here.
"So... what's the plan?" I ask weakly.
Namjoon takes a deep breath.
"Well, one thing is for sure," he says. "They know where we are. We'll have to be extra cautious."
"We could go to Base A?" Jimin suggests. "We've got the best defense system there."
I silently agree with him - we should get moving. But Namjoon just shakes his head. "No. We shouldn't move."
What?
"But if they're tracking us... shouldn't we be on the move?" I ask.
"That would be a good idea," Namjoon says, "but seeing how accurately they've tracked us down, they'll find us anyway. Moving around to the other bases would only leak the rest of our locations to them."
Ohhh.
Namjoon nods when he sees me understanding. "So we need to stay here to prevent them from getting more information. We need to be extra careful from now on though, in case they start attacking."
I never would've thought of that.
Well, Namjoon isn't the leader for nothing.
I look at Jimin to see his response, but his gaze remains on the ground. He stays silent, and his blank face doesn't show any emotion.
He's probably still shocked from Namjoon's accusation.
I find myself sympathizing with him.
Poor Jimin.
"Anyways," Namjoon says, "it's 3am. I don't think they'll attack us so soon, so I say we wait till morning to tell the others. Sleep is important."
What? Just go back to sleep?
Jimin just nods.
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep after this though," I mumble.
"It won't be easy for me either," Namjoon says. "But you still have to try. You'll need the energy when we lay out plans tomorrow."
Jimin reaches out to hold my hand. A calm fog settles over me. "Let's trust Namjoon's judgement. He's the leader after all - let's go back to sleep, yeah?"
The meeting ends quickly after that.
Namjoon shoos us out, Jimin walks me back to my room, and I plop myself on my bed.
Alone.
Right back where I started.
I almost roll my eyes at how anticlimactic this whole thing turned out. A letter from Freedom Academy shows up on my windowsill and what happens? We do nothing and go back to sleep.
I sigh and try to relax myself, but my mind still runs at a thousand miles an hour.
I think about Namjoon accusing Jimin. I think about Jimin's reaction, and his ability to calm people down with his touch. I think about the letter, and what it could mean. I think about dinner earlier today, and I think about Jungkook and his banana milk. I think about the getaway fight, the test, the red truck, J-Hope's light abilities, this whole adventure...
Sleep is nowhere within reach.
I want to go back to Namjoon and tell him to do something, but it feels wrong to crawl all the way back and go against the leader. Especially after Jimin took his time to bring me to my room.
So I lay there, tossing and turning, mind spinning.
I lay there till the sky slowly - painfully slowly - gets lighter and lighter.
The sun eventually rises, and I can hear the others wake up and get ready. I crawl out of bed when I hear Jin in the kitchen. I get dressed and go through my usual morning routine.
And finally, I join them for breakfast.
~
Breakfast is simple: toast.
There's toast with avocado, toast with eggs, toast with jam, and toast with butter.
We sit in the same places as we did for yesterday's dinner. I was expecting some bickering based on last night, but it's unusually quiet today.
"... why is everyone so quiet?" I ask after a bite of avocado toast.
"Oh, it's always quiet in the mornings," Jin replies with a smile. "No one's really in the mood to talk in the morning because we're all grumpy and tired."
"One can never get too much sleep," Suga mumbles. It's the first sentence I've heard from him in a while.
"That's because you stay up so much that your sleep schedule gets messed up," Jin teases.
"Yeah. Well," Suga sighs. "I'm hoping it gets so messed up that it comes back around to the right time."
"Relatable," a sleepy Taehyung mumbles. "That was me still in school."
At the mention of school, I share a look with Namjoon.
He gives me a nod.
I watch as he gathers all his courage and prepares himself.
"Speaking of school..." he begins. The others turn to look at him. Namjoon sighs. "Something came up last night and it wouldn't be smart to wait any longer. It has to do with Y/n."
"What is it?" The worry in Jungkook's voice makes my heart ache.
"Freedom Academy sent a letter to her. It dropped on her windowsill last night."
The reactions happen immediately.
"They know where she sleeps?!"
"How could they -"
" - could've told us last night -"
"Why would they send one anyway -"
"Someone must've told them!"
Everyone seems to have woken up, and their shocked reactions all blur together into an anxious buzz.
I keep my head low and take another bite into my avocado toast, which has suddenly lost some of its delicious taste.
It's going to be a long morning.
~
A/N: Thank you for reading <3