Chapter 22 - (2.2K Words)

When Jungkook escorted you into the room, only Namjoon and Jimin were sitting at the long table. Yoongi was probably still pouting up in his room, and you knew where Taehyung was. You didn't know if he was awake or not, but that was another story.

Namjoon was seated at the head of the table, and Jungkook made sure that you were directly across from him. Jimin was sitting directly to your left, which left five empty chairs. Just as Jungkook was about to sit down on your other side, Namjoon got his attention.

"Jungkook, have you seen Taehyung?" He asked, folding his hands in front of him. "He's never usually late for dinner."

"He's asleep," Jungkook said, pulling out his chair. "I think that he should be along soon."

"Alright, then. I have a favor to ask of you, so don't sit down quite yet," Namjoon said, watching Jungkook's hand, which was resting on the back of the chair. "Can you go upstairs and bring Yoongi down? Most of us at the table are on bad terms with him."

You saw Jimin's sly smile, and you felt a knot begin to form in your stomach. You had almost forgotten about the incident with Yoongi. Jungkook obediently nodded and headed for the grand staircase in the front room. You watched as he left without making a sound.

Just as soon as he rounded the corner, a very sleepy looking Taehyung had found his way into the room. He yawned loudly and stretched his arms over his head, and you had to try your best not to laugh. His hair was going every which way, and it looked like not even a comb could help him at this point.

He looks cute like that.

"Nice of you to join us, Taetae," Jimin chimed, reaching up and pulling on his sleeve as he walked up beside you. "I took your seat so that I could sit by our lovely (Y/N), but you should still sit beside me."

You blushed and covered your face with your hand. You heard Jimin and Taehyung chuckle at your shyness, which only made you blush harder.

"That's okay, Chimchim, as long as it's for today only," Taehyung said, sitting down beside him. "I'm going to want to sit by her too."

Both of the boys started excitedly talking to each other, and soon they were lost in their own little worlds. You politely folded your hands in front of you, and looked down the long table at Namjoon. He looked the same as you did.

His hands were folded in front of him, and he had a smirk plastered on his face. His eyebrows were raised and he seemed to be watching you. Your eyes met, and you could feel a light blush coming to rest on your cheeks. You motioned to Jimin and Taehyung with your eyes and shoulder. Namjoon nodded, and you could hear him let out a light chuckle.

Boys will be boys, right?

Right.

You looked at the various dishes that were lined up in front of you, and you could feel your stomach growl. You saw a small bowl that had a matching lid, and you wondered what could be inside. You held the fragile lid between your fingers and peered inside.

At that moment, Jungkook came back around the corner and into the room. You instantly dropped the lid, which grabbed the other boys' attention. Jimin put his hand over Taehyung's mouth to silence him. Namjoon took his arms off the table, and Jungkook casually sat down beside you. You unconsciously mimicked them, and took your arms off the table too. You made sure sure that you were sitting up straight in the chair, even though it meant you would be uncomfortable.

As a second thought, you reached your hand to adjust your glasses, but you only felt air. You then remembered that you still had the dumb colored contacts in.

I had better get those back.

Yoongi slowly sauntered into the room and came to stand just inside of the door. You watched as all of the boys around the table stiffened, except for Namjoon, who looked like he was trying his best not to lose his cool. You had underestimated how high the tensions were.

Yoongi sighed quietly, and stepped towards the table. Everyone stayed completely still as Yoongi slowly moved to sit beside Jungkook. You heard the chair creak as he settled into it.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Yoongi asked, glancing at everyone around the table. "It's dinnertime, so let's eat."

Yoongi broke into his chopsticks, and took the lid off of one of his dishes. The rest of you watched as Yoongi started eating on his own, not bothering to wait for anyone to respond.

You watched as Namjoon slowly picked up his chopsticks, and started eating too. The rest of you began to follow suit, until you were all eating. Everybody was silent as they ate, but at least you were all distracted.

At least nobody decided to cause a scene, you thought to yourself.

* * * *

Even after each of you had finished eating, the table was silent. The atmosphere between everyone wasn't as heavy as it was before, but there was still some heaviness to it. You were all sitting there, as if waiting for someone else to do or say something. But, nobody moved nor talked. And you certainly weren't going to be the first one to do anything.

Yoongi had his hands folded in front of him, and his elbows resting on the table. Jimin seemed to be staring Yoongi down, tensed and waiting for him to make a move. Taehyung was finally straightening out his hair from when he had fallen asleep on the couch. Namjoon was checking his fingernails for dirt, and Jungkook was staring straight forward.

I guess it's going to have to be me.

"Well, thank you for the food," you said quietly, bowing your head. All of the boys turned their heads so they were looking at you. You felt uncomfortable with all of them staring at you, but you had to do something to get things moving.

"Taehyung, do you want to go play another game?" You awkwardly asked, trying to focus only on him. You could still feel the rest of the boys staring at you.

"Yah, you have way too much energy," Taehyung said, a happy smile resting on his face. "I don't think that I can win another game of pool against you, you're too good."

"Another game of pool?"

Shit. He wasn't supposed to know.

You looked over, and Yoongi's hands were no longer folded in front of him. His eyebrows were folded in anger, and you suddenly felt uneasy. You could feel a knot form in your stomach, and you crossed your arms to protect yourself.

You could see the two boys sitting on either side of you stiffen. You could see Yoongi's gaze harden as his eyes went from you to Taehyung, and then back to you again. You saw Namjoon and Taehyung exchanging a long glance, and mouthing words to each other.

"What the hell do you mean by another game of pool?"

Taehyung seemed to be ignoring Yoongi, as he quickly stood up and left the table. He carefully stood over you and helped you out of your chair. He made sure that you were safely on your feet, and then made sure he was between you and the table.

"Don't do anything, don't say anything, and don't question anything," Taehyung said, securely gripping your shoulder. "Just keep walking forward. I'm going to get you out of here."

You nodded your head, trying to keep yourself calm. You could feel the heat rushing to your face, and soon enough it was getting hard for you to walk right. Taehyung had to do his best to keep you from stumbling and falling.

Why am I so weak? I've never been this scared before.

"Taehyung, did you clear my game?!" Yoongi asked, his angry voice echoing loudly through the room. "I want an answer from you."

"(Y/N) and I were just playing a couple of games, it's not a big deal. We can go play another game right--"

You heard the sound of shattering glass, and Taehyung instantly wrapped himself around you. You heard several chairs scooting, and you heard what sounded like fighting going on behind you. You could feel your knees give out beneath you, but it didn't matter. Taehyung was holding you so tight that you were suspended in midair.

You clamped your hands tightly over your ears, trying to block out all the noises you heard. You could feel the tears start to form in your eyes as you heard the noises of skin hitting skin, and you held your ears tighter. Taehyung didn't let you go until the room was silent again.

Realizing that you weren't on your feet anymore, Taehyung carefully set you down on the floor. You wiped as many tears away from your eyes that you could, but it didn't matter, there were more that were still coming. You felt your entire body shake, and you let yourself rest on the wall that was just behind you.

Only inches away from where you were sitting, the shattered remains of Yoongi's food dish littered the white floor. Some shards looked as though they had blood on them, but you weren't sure whose, or how much. One of your eyes was blurry, and you must have lost a contact in all of the excitement.

You felt a burning sensation in your hand. You picked your hand up off of the floor, and you knew whose blood was on the shards on the floor. There were several cuts and scrapes on your hand, and you could see little shards of glass stuck deep in your hand. You could see a long trail of blood leading from your soft palm to the cold, hard floor.

How the hell?! Just a minute ago I didn't feel anything at all!

"I'm sorry (Y/N), I didn't move fast enough," Taehyung said, standing over you. "I tried to shield you from the worst of it, but I think you still got hurt. You're not mad at me, are you?"

The side of Taehyung's shirt was ripped open, and it was now stained with his own blood. You could see a streak of blood that had splattered onto his cheek. He was gingerly moving the clothes around his hip, where he had gotten hit by the dish. You wanted to cry again, just looking at him.

"Thank you," you gasped, bowing your head to him. All of a sudden, you found yourself on your good hand and your knees, and words were uncontrollably spilling out of your mouth. You couldn't stop yourself from thanking him, even if you wanted to.

"(Y/N), please stop," Taehyung commanded, lifting you up off of the floor onto your feet. "A lady does not need to thank a man for protecting her. A man should know that it is his duty to protect a lady. He does not need to be thanked for doing what is expected of him."

"However, this man has something else to take care of," Taehyung said, leaving you resting safely against the wall. "And this time, it's personal. This was my favorite shirt."

Just across the room, you saw Jimin, Namjoon, and Jungkook standing over Yoongi, who was laying against the ground. You could see a dark circle around one of his eyes, and he was clutching one of his ribs. Namjoon was staring angrily at Taehyung as he made his way across the room.

His eyes moved to you, and you felt yourself shrink under his intense gaze. He quickly looked away from you, and then tapped Jungkook's shoulder. The two exchanged a long glance before Namjoon motioned in your direction. Jungkook nodded, and quickly made his way over to you.

"Can you walk?" Jungkook asked, helping you off of the wall.

"Y-Yeah, I can walk," you nodded, taking a couple of steps to reassure yourself. Your knees buckled and you fell to the ground. Jungkook caught you before you could put your hands down to catch yourself. You didn't need to get the glass stuck even further into your hand.

"Please don't push yourself too hard. You can always ask for help." Jungkook grabbed your arm and threw it around his neck.

"Take care of her hand and then take her straight to her room," Namjoon commanded, not even bothering to look your way. "Feel free to come and join us afterwards."

Jungkook nodded, even though Namjoon was turned away from him. He quickly escorted you out of the room, and around the corner.

You weren't even all the way out of the room before you heard a loud, unnatural snapping sound. You heard a loud scream of pain, and you could feel the tears streaming rapidly down your cheek. You felt your stomach knot even tighter, and you started to stumble down the hallway.

"Don't worry," Jungkook said, stroking your back with his hand.

"They'll let him live."