Thursday
I was abruptly awoken by the thud of my bedroom door being swung open and hitting the wall.
"Rise and shine my little love birds, time for breakfast!" Jin calls out cheerily.
What was he doing here so early? I heard Joon groan and shuffle around from beside me. I peered around my room to see the door still wide open, I could hear the crinkling of plastic bags from the lounge room. I checked my phone, it indeed was a little early.
"Ahhh. What's Jin doing here?" Joon sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked like the walking dead. I chuckled.
"No idea but I think he bought us breakfast," I replied, throwing my legs off the edge of the bed and getting up.
"He'd better have coffee." Joon sat there for a second staring into nothingness before getting up too. He looked so out of it. We went and took a seat at the table.
"You two look like crap. Here," Jin chuckled to himself as he slid over just what we needed to wake up. The aroma of the coffee was like heaven to my nose.
"I don't expect you to look any better first thing in the morning," I mumbled under my breath as I sipped at the straw. Still feeling a little salty at his comment.
"You'd be surprised," Jin just laughed before taking out a few plastic containers from a bags.
"Bon appetite," He smiled as he cracked open the lids to reveal soup, egg rolls and rice balls. "Thanks, Hyung" Joon ruffled his hair lightly before taking the chopsticks Jin handed to him.
"Where'd you get this from? It smells amazing," I asked, leaning forward to inspect the food more closely. The smell was doing a good job of waking me up more.
"There's a restaurant just on the street behind us. I stop by once in a while, next time I'll grab the Japchae for both of you to try." Jin offered, daintily picking up an egg roll and popping it in his mouth.
"Sounds good. Haven't had Japchae in a while," Joon spoke, mouth half-filled with rice ball. I ate silently as I listened to them talk. By the time we finished eating Joon and I were fully awake, I suppose that was why Jin had waited until afterwards to bring up what he did in conversation.
"So, as much as I love you two, the reason I came by was to talk to you about something," He began to say. Joon gave a small nod as he listened. "It's about that guy Hoseok is meeting with tomorrow. I've had some men follow him around, turns out he has a weakness for cute blonde girls." Jin glanced over at me, but, I had no idea what was going on.
"No. No way, we already agreed that we wouldn't get Jia involved," Joon was blunt, shutting down whatever Jin was trying to propose. Jin gave a sharp tsk, obviously not pleased with Joon's abrupt dismissal.
"Namjoon. Look, this is important. What we agreed on was that we wouldn't get her involved unless it was necessary. And this is necessary." The volume of Jin's voice has risen slightly as he argued to make his point.
"What're you saying? We just send Jia along with Hoseok as eye candy to persuade this guy to do business with us? How the-" Joon was cut off. "Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying. It's a great idea! We need this deal, there's a lot at stake. Besides, Jia wouldn't be in any danger. She'll be with Hoseok the entire time. Easy solution." Jin ended on a confident note.
Joon let out a sigh and rubbed his temples. He looked over at me, I didn't know what he was thinking.
"I want to do it. Can I go with him?" I spoke up.
"Huh? Not you too..." Joon groaned.
"See! She's in, C'mon. Stop holding out on us," Jin added fuel to fire.
"Okay fine." Joon finally cracked. "But, just this once. She stays out of it after this," Joon said sturdily.
"Okay. Deal. Well, this has been fun but I've got to get going," Jin grinned as he stood up. "I'll see you tonight beautiful gir.l" He winked in my direction before turning to Joon.
"I'll see you later too. For now, I'll get everything organised for tomorrow. Just leave it to me." Joon gave a short nod in response before Jin took off.
"Do you two always argue like a married couple?" I giggled, Joon turned to me and lightly flicked my forehead.
"You're no better than he is, don't start playing up now or I'll change my mind." Joon raised a brow. I poked my tongue out at him. He cracked a small smile and shook his head.
"Anyway.. Are you going to explain to me what this is all about?" I questioned. Joon took a sip of his coffee.
"I guess I have to now. The guy you're going with Hoseok to meet is a prospective buyer. He owns some clubs so we need to settle on a deal so we can move some of the gear we're getting soon." Joon explained. I was a bit taken aback by how casually he spoke despite the topic.
"Okay. So I guess I won't need to say much while I'm there. Just smile and look pretty, that should be easy enough," I nodded along. "That's the gist of it, yeah." He replied.
"Hoseok will probably come to pick you up from here around 1. The meeting is at 2." Joon clarified.
"Alright" I gave a small smile. Joon stared at me for a moment, then, reached out at ruffled my hair.
"Huh? What's that for?" I pouted, quick to shoo his hand away and fix my now messy hair.
"Nothing. By the way, don't you have class today?" Joon clicked his phone on the table to check the time.
"Yeah shit, I should get ready," I noticed I didn't have long. I quickly got up and went off to shower and prepare for class.
Halfway through my shower, I heard Joon yell from the other side of the door that he had to go. I yelled an 'okay bye!' back to him.
After classes finished for the day I decided to spend some alone time in the library to study. Joon didn't mention anything about working tonight so I just assumed I'd have the night off.
I decided to take a short break from studying so I quickly ducked out of the library and went to the vending machine that was just out to the front. The sky was dark, the air warm. The lamps illuminated the campus paths and gardens. It was so pretty at night.
Just as I reached down to grab my can of coffee from the machine I felt a small tap on my shoulder. I stood and turned, it was Mimi.
"Jia? It's you. I wasn't sure at first but it's you" She gave a small smile, seeming happy to see me.
"Hey, Mimi, what're you doing around here? How are you?" I probably looked stupid gaping at her but I was genuinely surprised.
"I'm good, I go to school here. How about you?" She replied, her hair was tied up in a messy bun and she was wearing sweatpants. It wasn't her usual attire at all, well from what I'd seen anyway.
"I go to school here too. I was just taking a break, grabbing some coffee" As I moved past the initial shock I was happy to see her.
"Oh that's cool, I miss you… I um, heard some rumours about why you quit… I don't know how much truth there is to them but soon after that I quit too…" She glanced to the side, speaking carefully.
"Oh… It was probably for the best Mimi… That place is dangerous. I miss you too, and the others. I can't say too much but, if you can, stay away from that place, okay?" I didn't want to divulge too much. Especially if she'd already gotten away from there. Telling her things would probably only put her in danger.
"Yeah… I figured as much. Say, if you're not busy maybe we could catch up sometime? Would be good to keep in touch" Mimi and I were always fairly close so it made me happy that she'd asked. We exchanged phone numbers before I went back into the library.
Seeing her had sprung up memories that I thought I'd already let go of. It made it hard to concentrate so I decided to call it a night and head home.
Snippets of happier times I'd had with Mimi and the others flicked through my mind. All the laughs, drinks, and even the small arguments all seemed so nostalgic. The door security, Grey was his name, as I'd recently learned, let me through straight away. It was kind of an odd feeling, having a line of people waiting as long as 2 hours to get in but some scruffy University student was getting let in instantly. It must have been confusing to them. At the same time to me it was amusing.
The music blared as I took a left towards the stairs that led up to the VIP lounge. I caught a glimpse of Joon, Yoongi and Hoseok as I passed by. Supreme boi and some other people I didn't know were all sitting together. I continued up two more flights of stairs until I reached my little haven. I could still hear the music from downstairs. I guess at the end of the week it would be like this.
I went to my room and put my things away and had a shower, got changed into a knit crop singlet and some shorts then went to find those strawberries Yoongi had left me.
They were sweet, and in more ways than one. I can't recall exactly when it started but, for a while now it seemed like life was moving so quickly. I remember when Yoongi and I first met. I'd thought he was so cool, him and the other three rappers. Back then we'd hang out in the studio and chill out over beats. That's right, then Yoongi stumbled into me after work that time. I was shit scared about them judging me but he didn't, instead, he kept my secrets nice and safe.
Maybe it was then that I put my trust in him, so much so that at the first sign of trouble he was the one I'd call. And, the fact that he was there for me without question any time I did call.
It wasn't just Yoongi that I'd been through a lot with, it was all seven of them. Each one I had a unique cascade of memories with, each as special as the others. Back then, I remember being more hesitant to open up my heart but, it seems to have happened regardless. Maybe I'd lied to myself all this time. Maybe my fears were unnecessary to being with.
Undoubtedly, there was a time I was happy. Recently, I don't know. A part of me is but, it's overshadowed by anxiety. Uncertainty of the future. Self-doubt.
I took a deep breath and let it all go. Coincidentally enough it was just before I heard my name being called playfully from the stairway.
"Jiaaa~ Babyyy~ Are you home?" Jin's head popped into view as he reached the top, he had two bags in hand.
"Jinnie pooo~ I'm right here~" I called back, obviously not to be taken seriously.
"God. That sounds terrible, don't call me that ever again please" he laughed before pulling out a chair and taking a seat beside me.
"So, how's your day been?" He went on, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek.
"Yeah, nothing too interesting. How about you?" I smiled. Jin broke into a grin.
"Amazing! You wouldn't believe what I got my hands on today," He gave the bag beside him a little shake in excitement.
"No idea, what is it?" I tried to have a sneaky peek inside but he gently slapped my hand away. "Hold on, naughty girl" Jin raised a brow playfully before taking the bag in his lap and reaching in.
The suspense was killing me as he slowly lifted something, the dramatic effect was working.
"Ta-Da! 24k gold face masks." Jin held up two golden packets of beauty face masks. The ones you leave on your face to make your skin all soft and supple.
"Whoa for real? Gold? Since when was that a thing?" I looked at them in awe, they were so shiny.
"It's a relatively new thing. Someone I was dealing with today had a ton of them and wanted to get rid of a few." Jin grabbed my wrist suddenly and pulled me to my feet.
"Huh? You want to do them right now?" I asked, Jin had already dragged me halfway to the bathroom. "Yes. It's the perfect time. If you want nice skin you need to make sure you go to sleep before 1 am. That's the optimal time your skin heals overnight," Jin stopped at the sink, smiled at me and then grabbed the headband that I used to keep my hair back when I washed my face and shoved it over my head.
"Ow, okay, be gentle..." I pouted, waiting for him to fix it up. "Yeah okay princess, whatever you say," He chuckled. Jin helped me wash my face even though I insisted I could do it by myself. The playful bickering between us was just as it had always been. After that, we put our face masks on and laid down and relaxed in bed beside each other to let them bake.
"Jin, can I ask you something?" I peered over at him, he lay on his back comfortably.
"Sure, what would like to know?" He replied. Eyes still shut.
"Why didn't you tell me you knew the others?" I asked. I'd been curious about it for a while now.
"It never came up in our conversations, also I just assumed we'd run into each other eventually." He answered.
"Oh... Okay." I gave a small sigh and closed my eyes again.
"You don't sound convinced… It might not show right now but, I have a lot of trust in my team. Not to mention, I didn't want to put you in an awkward position." His tone had changed, become softer.
"I still remember what you said to me back then. That you'd be there for me no matter what." I recalled. He'd been so sincere back then. I'd believed him wholeheartedly.
"Even though I said that, I don't think I kept my word." I held my breath. Searching for the right words. That just wasn't true.
"All you've ever done is support me. Care about me. Be kind to me. Make me smile. Whatever you're thinking, stop it because it's not true." I felt a small tension release.
"You're so precious, Jia. It's almost cruel. You know, this path you're going down with us isn't going to be pretty. I've given it a lot of thought lately. Logic dictates I should push you away from all of this, but I might just be too selfish in the end. Not having you around, I don't think any of us could bare it." His confession hung heavy in the air. I felt similarly.
"And here I was thinking I was the only one who felt that way." Silence befell us for a small while, time ticked by until our masks had finished baking.
We peeled off our face masks and Jin went and put them in the bin. He came back and snuggled into bed, pulling me into his side and lifting my leg over him comfortably. Even though this was the first time we'd ever slept together it felt like we'd done it a million times.
Jin lifted my chin and placed a plump goodnight kiss on my lips before resting back on his pillow.
"Sweet dreams princess."