Chapter 36 - (2.1K Words)

You rounded the corner into the kitchen, and were met with the curious stares of the boys, who were all back in the kitchen after an unsuccessful search. Jin, Jimin, and Hoseok were all seated at the table again. They all gazed at you disappointedly, and you wondered whether or not you should tell them about what you saw.

Flustered because everyone continued to stare at you, you quickly lowered your gaze and hurriedly walked towards the table. You sat down at the end of the long table, across from where Namjoon should have been sitting, if he wasn't downstairs wasting away in a wave of alcohol.

"(Y/N), what's wrong?" You looked up and saw Hoseok leaning over to you. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"It's nothing," you shook your head, focusing on the food in front of you. "I'm fine."

"You didn't see Namjoon at all, did you?" Jin asked from farther down the table. "None of us could find him, and he's not one to up and leave."

"I think he was in the lounge, and then he went down to the garage," you said, picking your words carefully so that you wouldn't incriminate yourself. "It look like he raided your liquor store, and took out some of his anger on one of the pool cues and a couple of glasses."

"Why do you think he went down to the garage?" Jin asked, leaning forward and furrowing his eyebrows. "That seems a very specific, off-the-wall idea."

I have to say this carefully, otherwise I'm going to get into loads of trouble.

"When I went in to look for him, the door to the garage was wide open and the light was on," you said, helplessly motioning in the direction of the lounge.

"Did you go looking for him down there?" Jin asked. You saw Hoseok stiffen beside you, and your thoughts flashed to Jiyong. They didn't know that you knew about where they were keeping him, and you wanted it to stay that way.

"No, I didn't go down there," you lied, hoping your expression wasn't giving you away. "I was cleaning up the shattered glass because I didn't want anyone to accidentally step on it and hurt themselves. He kind of left a mess of the place."

"I can get somebody to take care of the rest of that later," Jin dismissed you with a wave of his hand. "You don't need to worry yourself about cleaning up after us."

"Namjoon's probably hiding somewhere, drinking," Taehyung loudly added, "so I'm fairly certain it'll be okay if we start eating without him. Right, Jin?"

"Fine, we can st--"

"You're going to do what without me?" Namjoon turned the corner, lazily holding a half-empty bottle of booze in his fingers. He looked absolutely awful, which was surprising, given how much he had actually drunk.

"We were about to start eating," Hoseok said, motioning to the plates setting on the table. "We didn't know when you'd be along, after (Y/N) said that she found that someone had been messing with the liquor cabinet."

Without responding to him, Namjoon sauntered forward to sit at the end of the table opposite you. You watched as he slowly and silently made his way through the room, the bottle still dangling precariously between his fingertips.

If he's not careful, he's going to drop that.

As he walked by, you saw a set of keys on a lanyard that was desperately close to falling out of his pocket. Your eyes instantly fastened onto the lanyard, and you wondered if they were the keys to the garage.

I have to get those away from him. But how?

"Alright, so what's stopping us from eating, then?" Namjoon asked as he sat down, his words slurred together terribly.

The boys around you moved to viciously attack whatever it was that was sitting in front of them. You watched in awe as their meals disappeared before your eyes, while you hadn't even begun to touch yours yet.

You gently pushed the plate away from yourself, as you had lost your appetite just from watching them. Hoseok gazed up at you from his plate, finally realizing that you were the only one not eating. He sat up straight and swallowed all of the food he had just hastily scarfed down.

"Are you not hungry?" He asked, somewhat concerned that you hadn't touched anything on your plate.

"No, I'm not very hungry," you shook your head.

My foot itches too--maybe I should have taken the won out of my shoes before I put them on. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

"You should eat something," Hoseok persuaded, casually pushing the plate towards you. "You haven't had anything to eat all day. You shouldn't starve yourself."

"I'm just not hungry," you calmly replied, putting your hand out in front of you to stop him from pushing the plate any closer to you. "I'm not trying to starve myself, I promise."

"Is something the matter, Princess?" You looked away from Hoseok, and saw that Namjoon was staring down the table right at you. It was as if his dark eyes were glaring right through you and deep into your soul.

"No, nothing's wrong," Hoseok answered for you. "She's just--"

"I didn't ask you," Namjoon immediately interrupted. "I asked (Y/N)."

Hoseok passively leaned back in his seat, and took his hand away from your plate. Namjoon focused back on you, and folded his hands in front of him. He slightly nodded his head and raised his eyebrows, signaling for you to talk.

"I'm fine," you quickly replied, vigorously nodding your head. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just not that hungry."

"You should eat something, you're probably still weak from that awful headache you had this morning," Namjoon said, noticing that you hadn't touched any of your food.

The stress headache that you helped cause.

You nodded politely, even though you wanted to scoff and turn the other way. You slid the plate closer to you and looked up at Namjoon. He was still peering at you across the table, impatiently waiting for you to take a bite. You looked down and analyzed the plate in front of you, trying to figure out exactly what it was they were attempting to feed you.

This looks like....Bulgogi?

You picked your chopsticks up off the table and grabbed one of the lone pieces of meat. You let it dangle freely in the air as you thoroughly examined it. You heard Namjoon clear his throat in an annoyed fashion, and you quickly popped the meat into your mouth.

Pleased that you had finally eaten something, Namjoon leaned back in his seat and focused back on his own meal. Hearing your own stomach grumble in response, you quickly ate a few more pieces of bulgogi to satisfy yourself.

You heard Hoseok chuckle under his breath, and you whipped your head around to look at him. He quickly shrugged, trying his best to keep his cheeky smile under control. You rolled your eyes at him, and ate another piece of bulgogi.

"So, how about a game of pool after lunch?" Taehyung asked, lightly tapping your arm to get your attention. "I've been itching to take you on all morning."

Your thoughts flashed to the missing eleven ball, which had been put through the windshield of the car named after it. If you wanted to play pool, you would have to go down to the garage and get it. It would give you an excuse to go and find exactly where Jiyong was, and you weren't sure when you would get another opportunity to do so.

"Alright, I'll accept your challenge," you chuckled, a convincingly smug smile creeping onto your face. "That is, if you're not afraid to lose."

"Actually, if the two of you want to play pool, then you're going to need these," Namjoon pulled the keys out of his pocket and flashed them at Taehyung before setting them down on the table in front of him.

"One of the pool balls is down in the garage," Namjoon focused back on you. "You're going to have to go down there and fetch it if you really want to play."

The both of you nodded, and you focused back on the plate in food in front of you. Deep inside yourself, you were practically jumping with joy. Nobody realized what you had planned, and they were making it all too easy for you to get away with it.

Maybe it was a good idea to play obedient for a little while. They don't think I have it in me to make a move.

You popped another piece of Bulgogi into your mouth and tried to keep your faint smile under control. You didn't need them getting suspicious now, not when you were so close to freedom.

"Alright, I'm ready to go whenever you are," you said, setting your chopsticks down in front of you.

"To the pool table!" Taehyung excitedly clapped his hands, and pushed himself out of the chair. You held your breath, hoping that he wasn't hurting his foot too badly. You quickly followed after him, and lightly tugged on his sleeve to get his attention.

"Tae, the keys," you said, finally catching up to him, even though he was the one with the boot.

"Oh, right," his eyes widened as though a lightbulb had gone off in his head. He brushed past you, and made his way toward the end of the table. He politely grabbed the keys from Namjoon, and made his way back towards you. He patted you lightly on the shoulder, urging you forward and out of the room.

"Actually, before you two go, I want to ask everyone a question."

You turned around, and saw that Yoongi was leaning forward in his chair. You nodded, and patiently waited for him to say whatever it was he had to say.

"I'm missing some money," he said confidently, now that all attention was on him. "About 100,000 won to be exact."

That's how much money I have hidden in my shoes right now.

Your throat went dry, and you fought to keep yourself calm. The boys in the room furrowed their brows, and gazed around at each other. Even Taehyung, who was standing just beside you, was looking at the other boys. None of them, however, looked at you at all.

They don't think I have the money.

"Are you implying that somebody stole it?" Jimin asked, folding his hands on the table in front of him. The other boys followed suit, and all leaned forward, as if to intimidate Yoongi.

"Money doesn't just go missing," Yoongi said, clearly unfazed by the other boys. "I was in the infirmary for a while, so it gives anyone in this house enough time to take the money."

You slowly took a few steps backwards, hoping that Taehyung wouldn't notice your obvious unease. Yoongi's eyes instantly flicked over to you, and you froze in place. You desperately hoped that your eyes weren't giving anything away.

"(Y/N), you wouldn't happen to know anything about my missing money, would you?" Yoongi drawled, turning towards you. All of the boys in the room turned their heads to look at you.

Shit. Gotta play this out carefully...

"How would I have been able to take your money?" You asked, furrowing your eyebrows and doing your best to keep your voice steady. "I don't know anything about where you keep it. I don't even know which room is yours."

The boys all looked back at Yoongi, and you could feel his gaze harden as he continued to stare you down. He set his jaw and folded his hands in front of him. You felt an unusually cold shiver run down your spine, and you shuddered.

"And what if I have your room searched?" Yoongi asked, raising his eyebrows. "I won't find anything, will I?" The boys

"You'll find a bed sitting against one of the walls, and an empty dresser," you said confidently, feeling both of the won bills pressed safely against your feet. "There's nothing of interest in the bathroom, but if you insist, I won't stop you from looking."

Yoongi quietly grumbled something at you before turning away, and returning all of his attention to what was left on his plate. The other boys slowly started following suit, until they were all distracting themselves from looking at you.

"Come on (Y/N)," Taehyung said, hastily pulling you out of them room. "Let's go play some pool."

And I can get my escape plan into action.