Chapter 24 - (2.3K Words)

Slam!

Your eyes flew open and you bolted up in the bed. You quickly scanned the room, suddenly remembering where you were. You could feel your heart start to slow in your chest as you realized that everything was fine. You rubbed your eyes, and leaned back against the mound of pillows behind you on the bed.

You could feel a dull ache start to take over your hand, and you began to remember the events of last night. You looked down at the covers, and realized that you were still in your clothes from the day before. You saw that some of the bandages around your arm and hand had come loose, and you could see your hand looked no better than it did last night.

Morning light was flooding through two large windows with white panes that were on the wall adjacent the bed. The long, flowing, light brown curtains were drawn back from the frames, and you could see the land outside. You curiously gazed around the rest of the room, wondering what it looked like now that you could see it.

The walls were a light red--so light that they were almost pink. The light brown curtains blended unusually nicely with the walls, which surprised you. Normally, you would never find these two colors together. Most of the things in the room were light brown, and stood out against the red walls.

There were two doors in the room, and you knew where they both lead. The one that was closest to you lead out into the hallway, while the other door must have lead to a bathroom.

You looked to your left, and saw the glass of water sitting on the nightstand. You had selfishly asked Jungkook for one last night, and you still hadn't taken a single sip. You looked away, trying to rid your mind of any thoughts about last night.

You noticed that in front of one of the windows was a set of two chairs and a couch, all around a coffee table. In the center of the table was a gray vase filled with white lilies. In another corner, there was a desk and a chair that looked like they had never been used. The only other things in the room were a large dresser, and the nightstands that were on each side of the bed.

You sighed and pushed yourself into a sitting position. You looked the room one last time before pushing yourself off of the mattress entirely.

I feel so dirty. I should shower.

You hadn't showered since you had landed in South Korea, so of course you felt disgusting. You ran your hand through your hair, and you shuddered when you felt its natural grease, which you thought was one of the worst feelings in the world.

You walked over to the dresser, and opened the top drawer. You were surprised when you saw only a single set of clothes; it wasn't quite what you had expected. Your glasses were sitting on top of the pile of clothes, which relieved you. One again, it disturbed you that they weren't your clothes, but it was most definitely your underwear.

You inspected the tank top, which was white with bright green stripes, and had a breast pocket. The shorts were light blue denim, and they were longer than the ones that you were wearing right now, which made you a little bit happier than it should have. You quickly grabbed your underwear, still a little bit self-conscious even though you were alone in the room.

You brought the change of clothes into the bathroom with you and found a towel already waiting for you. You turned the lights on, and you were met with the most luxurious bathroom that you had ever laid eyes on.

The walls were a nice, neutral shade of brown. The floor, shower, and counter were all a nice tile that was slightly offset from the rest of the room. The shower was separated from the rest of the room by a thin glass barrier. You could see a large white bathtub that was in the corner of the room, underneath a large window that was letting some natural light seep in through the closed blinds.

You quickly undressed yourself, took out the single contact that you had left, and hopped into the warm shower. You took your time in the shower, trying to rid yourself of the dirt from the past couple of days. It was hard to wash your hair with only your left hand; you were too afraid to get any soap or shampoo in the cuts on your right hand.

This might be the one time that I'll ever want to be left-handed.

You opened the glass door, and let the steam leave the inside of the shower and fill the rest of the bathroom. You wrapped the towel tightly around your body, and walked out into the steamy bathroom.

You dried yourself off, and quickly redressed. You slid your glasses on over the bridge of your nose. You blinked, and you could see the room around you start to become clearer. You were happy now that you could feel the familiar weight of the frames pressing down into your nose.

You opened the door to the bedroom and stepped out of the bathroom. You neatly folded your used clothes and left them on top of the dresser, because you weren't quite sure what to do with them.

You heard your tummy rumble, and you decided to go downstairs and see if anyone else was awake. After all, if people were awake, then that meant there was probably food too.

You turned the doorknob, and realized that the door wasn't locked. In all of the confusion last night, you had all forgotten to lock your door. Your thoughts flashed back to the list, and then to the tenth rule on that list.

10. Make sure to keep your bedroom door locked at night.

You nervously slid through the door, hoping that nobody had noticed that your door was unlocked. You were probably going to get in trouble for not locking your door. You left the door slightly open, trying not to break any more of the rules on the list.

You made your way down the hallway, and down the grand stairs in the front room. The white walls of the room were illuminated by the peaceful, natural light that was coming in through the several windows. You heard the scuffling of people down in the kitchen, and edged your way to the open doorway.

You stopped just outside the door once you heard three of the boys talking. You recognized the voices of Namjoon, Jin, and Hoseok. Jin and Hoseok must have gotten back late last night. You were interested with what they were talking about, so you listened to them from the other side of the wall.

"So you found him?" You heard Namjoon ask. "There weren't any problems, were there?"

"You'd be surprised," you heard Jin say. "A name like that travels well through a city like Daegu. It wasn't that hard."

"We brought him back safely," you heard Hoseok say. "Just like you asked us to. He might have a black eye, but that's all."

Who are they talking about?

"You made sure that he was safely locked up, right?" Namjoon asked. "I could care less what you did to him, so long as he's alive. Did you hear anything about Mark or Yugyeom while you were in town?"

"No, there wasn't any sign or any mention of them from anyone. They must have left the city as soon as they could have," Jin said.

"I'm not surprised," Namjoon said. "They've always been known to run away. Did you get anything on Jackson either?"

"We heard some rumors about him, but they were all pretty vague. He's still in the country, but we're not sure where he is, or who he's with," Hoseok said. "We can only assume that he's being protected by somebody, especially since we can't find him."

"That's highly possible. We just have no idea who, and little to no idea why they're protecting him," Namjoon said. "We have to be on the lookout for any news about him whatsoever--"

You picked this moment to walk into the room. You saw Namjoon and Hoseok both leaning against the counter, while Jin was slaving away over the stove. All of the boys had a coffee mug either in their hand or setting down beside them.

Namjoon looked well rested, while Jin and Hoseok looked tired. Both of the boys had bags under their eyes, and looked as if they could fall asleep right then and there. Hoseok was lazily holding his mug, and his eyelids were halfway closed.

"Good morning, (Y/N)," Hoseok said, raising his mug to you. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Um, yes, I did," you said, awkwardly stepping forward. "When did you guys get back?"

"We've only been here for a couple of minutes," Jin said, stirring something on the stove. "We've just started breakfast, and it will be done soon, if you want some," he added absentmindedly.

"He said he's making a western dish, special for you," Namjoon said, looking at the various pots and pans on the stove top. "He said something about eggs, bacon, and pancakes, I think."

Your face instantly lit up, and you walked over to the stove. You couldn't wait for the familiar taste of a simple breakfast. Jin was going out of his way to do something nice for you, even though it was just a simple thing, like cooking you a special breakfast.

"Thank you, Jin," you said, watching the food cook. "You didn't have to do this for me."

"Of course I did," Jin said, stirring up what looked like scrambled eggs. "I thought you would like to have something familiar, and so I thought I would make you some nice comfort food. And look at that--you're smiling," Jin laughed, poking you with the butt of the spatula.

You smiled and playfully batted the spatula away from you. Jin smiled, and went back to his cooking. He was very talented to be taking care of all three parts of the meal at once. You had to admit, the pancakes were larger and fluffier than most other pancakes you had ever seen. The bacon looked crispy, and it wasn't coated in grease at all. The eggs looked like they were light and fluffy little clouds.

You felt an arm drape lazily around your waist and pull you back to rest on the counter. Hoseok gently rested his head on your shoulder, and you felt a light blush come across your cheeks.

"(Y/N), I'm so tired," Hoseok moaned, nuzzling his face deeper into your shoulder. "I haven't had any sleep since we slept together."

Your face turned beet red, and Namjoon was eying you both interestingly. You quickly faced the floor, and tried to hide your embarrassment. You heard Namjoon set down his coffee mug.

What a tease. He's doing this on purpose.

"I remember the look on your face when I took off my clothes," Hoseok teased, causing Namjoon to tense up. "I told you that if you wanted to take something off, it might make you feel better. You remember, don't you?"

You nodded, and let a small laugh escape your lips. Namjoon stiffened, and crossed his arms over his chest. You could tell that he was getting angry with Hoseok, but you weren't sure why. After all, he knew that Hoseok was just teasing.

Is he jealous?

Hoseok's arm traveled down your back and found its way to your left hand. He placed his hand in yours, and you felt a searing pain break out across your palm. You wrenched your hand away from his, and pulled it close to you.

"Wait a second, what the hell is this?!" Hoseok grabbed your elbow and pulled your arm towards him. He inspected the tattered bandages, and shook his head. He released your arm, and then turned on Namjoon.

"What the hell happened to her?!" Hoseok asked, pointing at your arm. "We weren't even gone for a day, and she's in bandages! What went wrong?!"

Namjoon sighed, and looked at you. He didn't look as tense as he did when Hoseok was talking suggestively about you, but he still looked as if something was bothering him. His eyes traced down your arm and to your hand, which had the bandages from the night before hanging loosely off of it.

"There was a bit of trouble with Yoongi last night," Namjoon said, scratching the back of his head and avoiding eye contact with Hoseok. "He was angry to begin with, and he made some very dangerous decisions. He and Taehyung are both in the infirmary."

"Both of them?" Hoseok asked, a hint of shock creeping into his voice. "Did something happen between them?"

"Taehyung tried to shield (Y/N)," Namjoon motioned to you, "and broke some of his ribs because of it. He broke one of Yoongi's legs. He stomped down so hard on his leg that he broke his own foot, too. Jungkook's been with them all night long, too."

You thought back to the sounds from last night. You winced again just thinking about them. Now that you knew what they were, and what actually happened, it was even worse.

Before anyone could say anything else, Jin had plated the food, and was bringing it out to the kitchen table. Everyone took that as a sign to stop talking. You quickly walked over to the table to sit down, and the other boys slowly began to follow suit.

You all sat awkwardly at the table, quietly eating Jin's wonderful cooking.