“Hello there.” He repeated. His voice was one you’d recognize anywhere and as you expected the boy was sitting crouched on a tree branch not far from you. You sighed and sat down on a nearby tree stump. The cat boy jumped from his branch and crouched towards you, placing his hands in front of the stump you were sitting on. You leaned back slightly and tried to keep out of his reach. He seemed to be in a bit of a playful mood.

“Hey Jungkook, are you having fun?” He didn’t answer you and placed his hands on either sides of you, tilting his head as he leaned closer. Uncomfortable with this distance you pushed yourself off the stump, instead sitting behind it. That wasn’t a good idea because it placed you lower than Jungkook. Jungkook climbed up on the stump and sat crouched on it, his arms resting on his knees.

“I wanted to have fun together with you, Alice.” As he spoke you could hear the purring noise coming from his chest. Jungkook leaned down towards you, his head hovering over your knees. You weren’t quite sure how he balanced himself like that, but reached out to pet his head lightly. His ears straightened up and the boy tilted his head to the side, leaning on your hand contently. The purring noise became louder when you lightly scratched under his jaw.

You noticed just a little too late that his pupils had completely dilated and almost his entire iris had turned black. Before you even saw him move you felt a weight landing on your lap and pressing against you quite hard. Then you heard a purring sound right beside your ear, and realized you had squeezed your eyes closed. When you opened them you could see the body of the black haired boy seated on your lap, leaning against you. You could feel his hair tickling your neck.

“Don’t stop now..” He whispered in a voice that was a little too husky for your liking. Whilst you were trying to think he pressed his nose in your hair behind your ear and continued purring. Goosebumps formed all over your skin and you shivered. If Jungkook noticed it at all, he completely ignored it. Slowly you raised your hand and rubbed his back softly, reaching for the spot between his shoulder blades. The purring beside your ear got louder, so loud that you could feel it in the body that was pressed against yours.

“Aah! What was that for?” You jerked away from Jungkook, rubbing your hand over your ear. Because of his weight he hadn’t moved off your lap, nor had you moved very far, but at least he wasn’t pressed against you anymore. Just for a moment you had felt his teeth nipping at the shell of your ear. The worst part of it was that you’d felt his tongue, too. It made you shiver.

Jungkook stared at you with the special kind of shock that only cats can have. Both surprised and offended at the same time. After a few seconds of silence Jungkook simply raised a hand and over his wrist as if nothing had happened. You sighed and ruffled his hair shortly, trying to push him off your lap. Jungkook refused to be pushed.

“If you do that again I’ll scratch you.” He warned, not looking up from his wrist. You poked his cheek. Once again he seemed greatly offended. You chuckled and patted his side, giving him another gentle nudge.

“Come on.. You’re squishing my bladder. Can you at least move a little?” You asked. Jungkook didn’t answer you, but did move a few inches towards your knees. What a weird cat, you thought as you ruffled his hair. Jungkook didn’t purr this time and instead got off your lap, sitting down beside you.

“You didn’t thank me.” His voice was reprimanding you once again. You sighed and lied down on your back, staring up at the clouds that were passing above you. Jungkook’s face appeared right next to yours. You tried your best to ignore him, to which Jungkook retaliated by draping an arm over your form and pressing his nose to your shoulder.

“I’m bored.” Jungkook grumbled after a few moments. You nudged his shoulder slightly. He really was just a child somewhere inside there. At least most of the time, it seemed. How could you have forgotten about him? Jungkooks pupils dilated once again and his eyes followed your fingers so intently you feared he might try to bite them for a second.

“We can play if you want to.” You suggested, placing your hand down on the ground beside you. After staring at it a little longer, Jungkook picked up your hand and held it in his. They were a surprisingly good fit, not that much larger than your own hands. His mannerisms in holding your hand reminded you clearly of how young he had been back then. His fingers were always moving a little and he seemed to permanently be contemplating bringing them to his nose.

You turned your head to spare the tea party a glance. JHope was doing really well at being the center of attention. Behind you Jungkook seemed to have grabbed tighter hold of you hand, and you could feel it being pulled against his chest. Slowly Jungkook his fingers up over your arm, eventually resting it on your shoulder. His fingers wound the cloth of your shirt around it and tugged on it gently, trying to pull you closer to him.

“Don’t look at them. You’re with me now, aren’t you?” His voice quivered slightly. When you looked back, you could see that his eyes had started to fill up with tears. “Why do you want to leave me?” It sounded so much like the Jungkook you’d known as a child that tears formed in your eyes as well. He looked desperate and you couldn’t help pulling him into a gentle hug.

“I don’t want to leave you. I promise, I won’t leave you.” You whispered, fighting the tears. Your voice came close to breaking. Jungkook scooted closer to you, his form pressing hard into yours as his arms wrapped so tightly around your back that it gave you trouble breathing. Despite how tightly he was holding on to you, Jungkook was trembling.

“So you’ll stop trying to leave?” He finally spoke. You tried to untangle yourself from his grasp, but he wasn’t willing to let you go. It made you feel rather trapped but you didn’t struggle. Jungkook sounded like he was crying and he probably didn’t want you to see him like that.

“I won’t leave this place without you.” You finally whispered. “If I can’t bring you with me, I will never leave.” Hopefully that would be enough to appease him. Jungkook’s shoulders shook and you thought you heard a sob. Suppressing a sigh, you reached over to rub his back again gently in an attempt to make him feel better. It seemed to calm him a little.

“But I can’t leave here.” He whispered, his voice now broken. You understood what he meant by that. Jungkook was his true name and he hadn’t been brought here by anyone. He came here himself. With a sigh you wrapped your arms around him, squeezing him almost as tightly as he had squeezed you.

“Then I’ll never leave.” Like you had promised V. You couldn’t leave them here. The life you’d lived had been a scam. Without a trace left of the friends you’d held so dear. You wouldn’t go back to that if you couldn’t bring them with you. Jungkook sighed as well and leaned back. He had been crying but furiously wiped at the tear tracks on his face before offering you a smile. Not his usual grin but a smile so pure and innocent you forgot he’d taken great delight in frightening you for fun.

For a few moments, you shared a smile with him. You didn’t want to say anything else and only hold on to him and keep him feeling safe and close. Unfortunately, as Jungkook relaxed enough to allow even a foot of distance between the two of you, you heard someone call out behind you. Jungkook seemed equally frustrated and glared over your shoulder at the owner of the voice.

“You two aren’t planning to do anything stupid, are you?” Suga scolded. You imagined he was crossing his arms as he spoke. Jungkook mockingly copied Suga’s words as he crossed his arms. A few seconds later, a tea cup came flying over your shoulder. It might have hit Jungkook if he wasn’t faster and more nimble than any human could be. Next thing you knew, Jungkook had curled himself around you and was batting his eyelashes innocently. You glanced back at Suga who looked done with Jungkook.

“Suga’s trying to hurt me Alice.. You have to protect me.” Jungkook whined. Suga glanced between your faces and raised an eyebrow. As you, he mouthed ‘friends again?’ to which you responded by ruffling Jungkook’s hair gently. Suga rolled his eyes and gestured somewhat violently at the tea table where JHope was in the middle of a story. Next to him, V was listening intently while Jimin was pretending to listen.

“Isn’t Jin coming?” You asked, scratching behind one of Jungkook’s ears. The feline boy leaned down, pressing his head against your hand. Again you heard the purring next to your ear, before he yawned somewhat exaggeratedly.

“The king will be here when he gets here.. He’s being a responsible king. Also known as lazy.” The cat laughed and slowly got up, sending Suga a glare before offering you a hand. “He was supposed to throw you a party since we’re all here now. But I guess Suga could throw one as well.” Before Jungkook could start casually insulting his friend, you got up and draped an arm over Suga’s neck.

“We can have a party anytime, alright? There’s no need to hurry.” You offered. Jungkook, who was giving the two of you the most offended look he could, shrugged and slipped his hands in his pockets. The tail that had been playfully tapping the back of his legs curled upwards slightly, thickening like the tail of an angry cat does.

“I’m going to see if Rap Monster is ready to come outside.” He pouted, turning around and sprinting to the house. Suga glanced after him before shrugging your arm off his shoulder.

“You know you’re going to pay for that, right?” Suga swung his arms playfully, grabbing your hand before you could try to escape. He seemed very amused and you had the sudden feeling he was a sadist at heart. You glanced after Jungkook who just slammed the door and hoped he wouldn’t do something weird to Rap Monster. Before you could head over to hear the remainder of JHope’s apparently hilarious story, Suga grabbed your arm and stopped you.

“Hey, Alice?” He whispered. You glanced from him to the three guys chatting and noticed JHope making a grandiose gesture with his arms. Was he distracting Jimin?

“Yeah?” You muttered back. Suga glanced around him and bit his lip.

“What’s… My name, what is it? A-all of our names. Did you find them?” As soon as he said it, you noticed a shimmer of hope in his eyes. He was trembling, but it seemed to be with excitement rather than worry. Slowly, without smiling, you nodded.

“I found your name. And JHope’s, Jin’s, V’s, Rap Monster’s and mine.” You divulged. For a few moments that hope remained and Suga smiled. Then his face fell at the realization. He mouthed the words ‘what about…?’ but didn’t finish his sentence, only glancing at Jimin who had started pelting JHope with sugar cubes. You bit your lip as well and nodded slightly. Suga glanced at you, then towards the house where Jungkook and Rap Monster were. He was thinking about Rap Monster, you knew. Contemplating his dilemma.

“I can’t do it, Alice.” He finally whispered, looking back at you. “I’m sorry but I can’t do it.” Tears were filling up his eyes, which he hurried to cover up. It must be a horrible thought. He had the chance to go back to his family and his parents. He could be back in the real world with his family after four years but two of his best friends would be forced to stay here. And what would become of this world if Jimin and Jungkook didn’t have their friends? You felt the cold settle into your heart. You couldn’t do it, either.

The rest of the afternoon was a somewhat sombre occasion. It was horrible. Jimin was happy to finally have his group of friends completed and for his sake, you pretended to be happy. You were sure that Suga and JHope were also pretending, though you couldn’t be sure. Jungkook also came out of the house, dragging a somewhat groggy looking Rap Monster behind him. You bit your tongue. Namjoon, you repeated mentally to yourself. His name was Namjoon.

“Look what I found!” Jungkook sang cheerfully, though you had a feeling he hadn’t quite forgiven you yet. Rap Monster waved and cracked a smile at you, which you tried your best to return. Jungkook, ignoring you, brushed past you and dragged Rap Monster along to make him greet everyone. Suga glanced at you with a smirk that said ‘told you so’. You stuck your tongue out to him.

“Have you decided what we’re going to do yet, Areum?” Rap Monster asked once he’d managed to sneak away from the chattering. Whoever said that girls talked a lot had clearly never met JHope. You sent a glance at Jungkook, who was doing his best to ignore you despite looking back at you every few seconds, and sighed.

“Suga says he can’t. I don’t think I can bring back Jungkook either, so...” You bit your lip and shook your head. So, no. Rap Monster sighed as well, placing a hand on your shoulder. The expression on his face was a quite serious one.

“Then.. At least tell me my name. Before I forget. Tell me all the names.” He wasn’t looking at you anymore. Instead he was staring at Jungkook, who was edging closer to you step by step, still pretending he couldn’t see you. You felt a sense of nausea and swallowed, turning to Rap Monster.

“You’re Kim Namjoon.” As you said the words, you thought you could hear the sound of a bell tower somewhere. An oddly familiar bell tower. “Suga is Min Yoongi. JHope is Jung Hoseok. Jin is Kim Seokjin, and V is Kim Taehyung.” As you said that, you noticed Jungkook’s black tail swishing into your line of sight. Rap Monster grabbed your shoulders firmly in his shoulders, his eyes boring into yours now.

“And your name, what is it?” He insisted. You swallowed.

“Cho Areum.” You admitted after a few seconds. Rap Monster’s posture relaxed. His shoulders lowered and he released you. From behind you Jungkook grabbed your waist with a panicked yelp. Rap Monster stepped back with a pained smile as Jungkook enveloped you in the tightest embrace he could.

“Hyung, please.” He whimpered. “Please, I’m scared.” Rap Monster appeared even more pained at these words.

“Areum, I know you think you’re not capable of this, but I believe in you. You can do this.” He took another step back, and vanished. Jungkook screamed and clutched you tighter. You swallowed. Namjoon had gone back to his world. Your world. And you could feel him tugging at you as Jungkook clung onto you as if his life depended on it. But Namjoon was stronger…