Chapter 8

Senguri was the first to take the hit.

Sure they had all learnt self-defence, but when it comes to people who fight every single day, it meant nothing.

Senguri, Junmyoon and Minho suffered the most.

Another person pulled out a gun. “Don’t move.”

Jongin froze. So they were going to die now?

The gun clicked.

Junmyoon felt his blood run cold. This was not how he wanted to die. He wanted to die of old age, surrounded by friends and family. Not like this. Definitely not.

Jongin never thought that the other people on the streets felt this way about them.

Senguri then realised the truth behind the black haired boy’s words. The only reason they were not attacked before was thanks to the Zutters.

Jongin silently prayed that Taemin would help them one more time.

They were naïve. They always had a false sense of security because the most they had never been seriously hurt before. When the Zutters attacked them, they only had a few broken bones; nothing that couldn’t be healed. But now, it was their lives that they messed with. Never had their lives been threatened. Until now that is.

Minho didn’t even have time to berate himself when he stared at the gun pointed at them. It didn’t feel real.

“You should really drop the gun.”

In all honesty, Jiyong didn’t want them to die. He actually found them quite interesting, just like how they found the Zutters interesting. Just like most of the Zutters, he did want anyone to die but it was necessary to give them a solid warning.

Taemin smirked. “You like them?”

Jiyong turned around. Did he like them? He found them interesting, yes, but did he like them? As far as he knew, not particularly.

TOP also smirked, “I think he does. He thinks about them quite often these days.”

Jiyong was surprised. TOP was usually right when it came to such; he called it a ‘sixth sense’ or something along those lines.

After hearing this, Taemin smiled to himself. At least he wasn’t the only one having mixed feelings about the group.

“I’m just thinking of what they might do. They’re getting closer.”

Key joins them. “And the rest of the time, you’re worried about our princess,” he states.

It was true. Taemin was most at risk if they found out everything.

“It’s dangerous for Taeminnie if they find out,” Jiyong defends.

“But you were more ruthless to the previous people who tried to find out,” Key states, “You’re definitely more forgiving towards them.”

“The previous people were adults who were part of the police; they should be prepared for such. These people are the same age as us,” Jiyong stated. Was he really more lenient towards them?

“It’s okay to like them,” Taehyung adds, “You like making friends don’t you?”

“Who knows?”

“You know, you shouldn’t like people who are a threat,” accused Zelo.

Taemin somehow felt like he was also being faulted at Zelo’s accusations. Although he would never admit it out loud, but he didn’t mind them. Yes, he was anxious and worried about them finding out the truth, but he quite liked them as… people. Maybe.

“You did it before with Namjoon,” Taemin argued with Zelo and then he looked at Taehyung, “And you approached Yongguk first”

“I don’t think they’re evil people,”Taehyung stated.

“You didn’t think Yongguk was a dangerous person,” Jiyong stated with a straight face.

“He’s our friend,” Taehyung said in Jongguk’s defence, “He’s helped us many times.”

Yongguk groaned at Taehyung’s cheesiness.

It really was strange though, how they all ended up becoming family.

- flashback-

“Yongguk hyung!” Zelo called.

“What?!” the man replied.

“People are coming after us again, I think we should move,” Zelo said.

Daehyun sighed,“Again? Where’s Himchan?”

“But we finally just gotten hold of this place,” Youngjae complained, “Why can’t people just be considerate and find some other place to stay?”

“What should we do?” Zelo asked.

Yongguk weighed his options. It was difficult enough to secure a territory that wasn’t occupied by another gang.

 ”No we’re staying here. We’ll fight them off.”

Himchan came running into the dilapidated building, struggling to catch his breath before he manages to utter out the words. “The Zutters are coming to this area.”

Not long after, an unfamiliar boy walked into the room where the six members of B.A.P were.

“Aww, is this place already taken?” the boy grumbled.

The six of them were all ready to take on the intruder, even if they were part of the most feared gang in the city. They had their weapons ready and were prepared to attack if the boy made any indication of being a threat to them.

What happened next was unexpected.

“Hey, I’m Taehyung,” the boy greeted with a smile.

The members of B.A.P were taken aback. However, Yongguk did not let his guard down as he continued to glare at the boy.

“What do you want?” he asked menacingly.

“Well, my friends and I just moved here today so we don’t know the area that well yet and we were told to look around,” Taehyung stated.

“And?” Yongguk scoffed, “Get out of here, this is our territory.”

Taehyung pouted. “Then can you at least tell me which areas are unclaimed?”

Zelo laughed at the innocent looking boy, this was unexpected.

“And why would I tell you that?” Yongguk sneered.

“Taehyung?” another voice joined them.

“Hyung!” Taehyung called when he saw his brother.

“Who are these people?” Baekhyun asked as he glanced at them warily.

“They’re the people who stay here,” Taehyung replied calmly.

“They’re dangerous,” Baekhyun states while keeping his guard.The B.A.P members were tense while they watched the conversation between the strangers.

“They’re not that dangerous,” Taehyung stated, “If they were, they would have attacked me already.”

Baekhyun could only facepalm at Taehyung’s terrible reasoning. He proceeded to grab Taehyung’s arm in attempt to drag him out. “Let’s go.”

“Hold on,” Yongguk called out.

Both Baekhyun and Taehyung stopped and turned around. They raised their eyebrows.

“Are you guys part of the Zutters?”

Baekhyun smirked while Taehyung grinned, “Yup.”

Zelo’s eyes widened and the rest of the members tensed up even more.

“What are you doing here? Last time I heard. You guys took over the streets on the other side of the city. Are you trying to claim this side too?” Yongguk asked heatedly.

“We’re just looking for a new home,” Baekhyun stated, “Do you mind sharing?”

Yongguk glared at the pair. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at Baekhyun, the rest of the gang followed by getting into an offensive position.

Baekhyun’s eyes narrowed and finally Taehyung also became serious.

“You should drop the gun,” a voice called. Yongguk did not take his eyes off of Baekhyun, but he sensed that at least three more people entered the room. Just then, Taehyung charged at Zelo who was closest to him. With a kick, he made Zelo drop the knife he was holding. He then proceeded to wrap his arms around his neck from the back into a headlock.

Daehyun made a move to help Zelo, but was stopped by Taemin who had just entered the room with the other two.

“Now then,” Jiyong started as he looked at the situation, “How about we talk it out instead of playing with such dangerous objects?” His tone was nothing short of hostile.

“Let go of them,” Yongguk said as he pointed the gun towards Jiyong, sounding just as threatening.

“So you’re the leader?” Jiyong asked, “It seems like you’re quite a small gang.”

The atmosphere was so tense that it was almost palpable. Yongjae, Jongup and Himchan were frozen.

“Let go of him,” Yongguk said through gritted teeth. He was about to pull the trigger when TOP pushed the gun so that it shot upwards. He then proceeded to break his arm and kick the gun away and push him to the ground.

“What is your name?” Jiyong asked.

Yongguk kept his mouth shut. A loud, agonising scream followed by the sound of bones breaking resonated in the unfurnished room. It was Himchan. And that was definitely more than one rib.

“! Leave them alone!”

Jiyong smiled before he introduced himself. “I’m Jiyong. And you are?”

Once again Yongguk said nothing.

“If you answer, I’ll spare your friends,” Jiyong said.

“…It’s Bang Yongguk”

Jiyong smiled, “Now that wasn’t so hard was it?” Taehyung let go of Zelo and Taemin and Baekhyun moved away from Himchan and Daehyun.

Jiyong then sat down in front of Yongguk who was now on his knees. Yongguk glared at Jiyong and was about to stand up when Jiyong spoke up.

“You’re a good leader.”

Yongguk looked at Jiyong incredulously; he didn’t know why, but his hate somehow eased a bit from that statement. Maybe because Jiyong used a softer tone, maybe it’s because he said it like he really meant it.

Jiyong smiled back at him, “Maybe we can be friends.”

Yongguk rolled his eyes, “Yeah right.”

“Call Lay and have him treat your lookalike here,” Taemin told Taehyung.

“He does not look like me!” Taehyung protested.

“Right, he doesn’t look like you, you look like him,” Taemin said.

Jiyong laughed, “You do look like Taehyung lookalike.”

The person being debated over winced in pain when he laughed at the strange argument in front of him.

“The name is Daehyun…” he mumbled.

-flashback end-

The Zutters never threatened them to leave that building. Ever since that incident, all they did was come and bother him and his five ‘brothers’ every day. Taehyung would tell them random stories or complain about how non-exciting his day was. Occasionally, the crowd would get bigger with all of the Zutters joining in and J-hope and Lay would come in with food. He would never admit it out loud, but this huge family grew on him.

Just like the way they had accepted him and the rest of B.A.P, the rest of the Zutters also became a part of his family.

Namjoon and Jungkook followed Jongin’s group as they carried on walking aimlessly.

“Taemin told us to follow them,” Namjoon stated as he walked a few steps in front of Jungkook, “But what do you think he will do when he finds out that we lost them?”

 Jungkook pouted as kicked a pebble that was in front of him, “He’ll probably be angry.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes as if it was obvious that it was going to happen. “He’ll probably be annoyed, like he always is.”

“And he’ll probably end up looking cuter than me,” Jungkook said.

“Who says you’re cute?!”

Jungkook stopped walking when he saw a crowd, “Looks like we found them and they’re surrounded by a group of idiots.”

Namjoon simply sighed. These people just seem to attract trouble.

“You really should drop the gun,” he stated.

Everyone except Jungkook turned to face Namjoon.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” the one man stuttered.

Namjoon simply smirked. Jungkook stepped forward casually and the crowd started taking very slow and subtle steps away from the two.

Jongin’s group turned looked at their saviours warily. Only now did they truly understand how much control the Zutters held. The two barely did or said anything, yet the crowd that surrounded them just a few moments ago were now backing down in fear. The gangsters motioned to each other to escape and ran of hastily.

Namjoon looked at Jongin’s group in annoyance while debating on whether to leave them or help them leave this place. Jungkook looked at Namjoon in question. “What should we do?”

During the few seconds they were busy deciding, another person joined them. Jungkook and Namjoon turned around when they heard the sigh from the boy.

“I knew this would happen,” he scowled.

Jongin’s eyes followed the silhouette hiding in the shadows behind Namjoon and Jungkook. Although he could not see the person’s face but he obviously knew that voice. The rest of his friends also thought it sounded familiar, however were not as certain as Jongin was about it.

“Taemin,” he whispered carefully.

Taemin took a few steps forward and now they could see that it was indeed the boy Jongin called.

Taemin’s scowl did not leave his face as his eyes looked at Namjoon and Jungkook and then back at the well-off bunch once again. He then walks past Namjoon and Jungkook who sighed and strolls through the gap between Jongin and Junymoon and walks away from them.

Jongin’s group stared at Taemin incredulously. He appeared all of a sudden and they all thought he was going to help them and apparently they were wrong because he was leaving them again.

 Taemin stopped and muttered. “You gonna follow or what?”

Hearing this, Jongin’s group tried to follow him in haste.

After walking for a while, and Taemin saw that that they were struggling to keep up. He glanced at Senguri who was limping and Jongin who was helping Junmyoon and let out a sigh. He walked up to Jongin.

“Cellphone,” he demanded.

Jongin’s eyes widened in surprise and confusion for a while before registering what Taemin meant. He quickly reached in his pocket, fished out his phone and handed his phone to Taemin.

Taemin grabbed the phone and dialled.

“Can I get an ambulance at Crescent street?”

There was a short silence.

“Five people.”

Another silence.

“I just found them all beaten up.”

Another silence.

“Thank you.” Taemin ended the call and handed it back to Jongin.

“Crescent street?” Jongin asked.

“About a minute’s walk at your current pace,” Taemin replied and they continued to walk in silence.

“We’re here, I’m going to ditch you now,” Taemin said as he stared to walk away.

Jongin’s body seemed to react faster and he grabbed Taemin’s wrist before the words ‘Wait’ left his mouth.

“Thank you for helping us,” he said sincerely.

Taemin said nothing and pretended to ignore as he tried to pry off Jongin’s wrist and walk away.

Jongin’s wrist tightens around Taemin as he pulls the boy towards himself. He steadily circles his arms around Taemin’s waist, allowing the boy’s back to rest against his chest. His chin was resting on Taemin’s shoulder as he whispered his gratitude.

Taemin’s body stiffened. His heart was beating excessively and that strange feeling was filling his chest once again. He felt like he could not escape it, this strange feeling was trapping him. He didn’t know what the feeling was and he didn’t even know if he wanted the feeling to go away. He hated the feeling, but he felt his heart welcoming it at the same time. Why did he feel like crying again? Why was his heart doing somersaults? Why did his heart feel so empty and full at the same time?

Jongin held Taemin for close to a minute before letting him go.

Taemin walked off hastily before the ambulance arrived.

His cheeks felt like they were on fire, yet his heart felt kind of hollow. He knew this hollow feeling and he hated it because he knew that Jongin was the one who unmasked it. The empty feeling was one of loneliness.

And that meant he was getting attached to someone who was not living in the same world as him.

He was getting attached.

A/N: sorry...