Daeun grabs Namjoon by the arm and shoves him outside to the patio. She is aware that the members of BTS are staring at them but she doesn’t have the time to tell them to go away. This man in front of her consumed her attention.

               “What are you doing in New York?” she exclaimed.

               He set his large duffle bag down and crossed his arms. He scanned her once over. In the time she had disappeared, her hair had grown out and she wore a tired expression on her face – more tired than she usually was. Other than that, Namjoon could see she basically looked the same. Healthy and extremely flustered.

               “You know, I could ask you the same thing. New York, of all places?” he said.

               She waved her arms in despair. “You can’t be here,” she said.

               He looked her in the eye, “Why not?”

               She tried to hold his stare but she broke away nervously from it. While she was good at detecting the lies of other people, she was a terrible liar herself. “B-Because it’s dangerous.”

               That was definitely not the right answer to his question. With a sigh, he walked towards her.

               She braced herself for the long lecture she knew that was coming from him. She could practically already hear him tell her how reckless she was and batter her with then questions of BTS. But instead, he grabbed her arms. She was pulled into a hug. This surprised her and she did not know how to respond. “Then let me stay here and protect you,” he whispered into her hair.

               Her heart was pounding and she pushed him away. His eyes did not betray any emotion and she willed her voice to stay calm before speaking, “How did you even find me?”

               He chuckled and spoke like the past moment had never happened, “‘Welcome to Grand Central Station. It is currently 8:37pm,’” he quoted back their phone call, “I didn’t know you slept so early by the way. Must make up for all the times you never wanted to leave the bar.”

               She felt heat rising to her cheeks and hoped that she wasn’t blushing. “That doesn’t tell me anything. You found out I was in New York but this city is huge.”

               He raked his hand through his hair and shrugged. “I pulled in a favour from a buddy of mine. There aren’t a lot of people in New York who will put down a three month’s payment for a building of this size like it’s no big deal. Speaking of which, whoever chose to rent it under “Bang Tan” is pretty stupid. I know the real estate agency is getting suspicious of the untraceable account.”

               Biting her lip, she turned away from him. She remembered Yoongi telling them that something had gone wrong with their banking account.

               “I’m staying, by the way,” he said before she could even speak.

               She spun back to face him. “No,” she picked up his duffle bag and handed it to him, “Look, Namjoon. I appreciate the whole checking up on me thing. But look at me. I’m fine. I think you should just return to Seoul.”

               He did not move from his spot. He grabbed her hands again and she felt the heat that had only left her moments ago return like a wave. Staring into her eyes, he took his duffle bag and walked back into the house from the patio. BTS tried to act like they had not been eavesdropping but Namjoon caught the red-haired small one run back to his seat.

               “Sorry about bursting in on you guys,” he said, looking around the room. He did not recognize any of them except for Hoseok in whom he had seen walk Daeun to work. “My name is Kim Namjoon. I’m a friend of Daeun’s. I know you are all probably are not exactly jumping for joy in my presence so I’m gonna offer you something. I’ve got another house a little bit away from here under my name – no suspicions. It’s closer to the main part of the city but it’s also not as extravagant as this one. I’m going to lend it to all of you to use, but only on the condition you let me stay by Daeun’s side.”

               Daeun looked at him in shock.

               Seokjin stood to face this stranger. He walked up and stood close to Namjoon, trying to read this man’s expression. “How can we trust you?”

               Namjoon held his ground and replied, “I have no reason to lie to you. Besides, Daeun can testify to that. I’m not lying.”

               All seven pair of eyes turned to look at her. She blinked and found that besides the usual low buzzing, there was nothing. She told them what she felt.

               Hoseok spoke up from his seat. He had been watching the whole situation with an amused expression. “Jin-hyung. I recognize this guy. He works at the bar beside Charle’s Diner. He’s her coworker,” he said, stressing the word coworker.

               Everybody was waiting on Seokjin’s words and after a few moments, he announced his decision. “We don’t have a lot of time before we have to meet our client tomorrow so I will take you up on your offer. Listen up: I’m splitting the team into two. Namjoon, you said your name was, right? Taehyung and Jungkook. The two of you will go with him and Daeun and move our belongings to this new place. I’ve got to work out a few things with Hoseok, Jimin and Yoongi so we will return to the hotel room while you move. I’ll meet back with all of you tonight which give us a solid six hours to get everything out. Yoongi, destroy our account and link it to a new one. I want all traces of “Bang Tan” to be erased from this room, do you understand?”

               All of them nodded. They started splitting off into groups until Seokjin called Namjoon and Daeun’s names. He walked with them to a corner.

               “Daeun, I only trust him because I trust you,” he said to her, “But if he endangers any of the members, I will not hesitate to take any action I deem necessary.” 

               To Namjoon he said, “I don’t know how much of us you have been informed about. Neither do I know where you’re from, what your background nor how you found us. I don’t know anything about you except for your name. While all of that is true, you are Daeun’s friend so I will treat you as my friend for now.” From the back pocket of his jacket, Seokjin took out a gun. “Like I said, I don’t know how much of us Daeun has told you about but let me tell you: we aren’t around the nicest of people right now so use this for protection. I’m taking a gamble by giving this to you so don’t make me regret it.” Namjoon reached out to take the item. Seokjin did not let go.

               “You won’t,” Namjoon said. With those words, Seokjin took his hand away and left them to stand by themselves. Namjoon turned to leave as well but Daeun gripped his arm.

               “How do you have a secret house stashed away in New York? You can barely afford the flat you’re staying at in Seoul,” she whispered.

               He put his hands on hers and said, “My parents. I’m actually born here. When I wanted to leave, my parents got me a house thinking that it would stop me. It obviously didn’t, but it’s still under my name so I’m free to use it.”

               She accepted his answer. There was no buzzing at the back of her head to tell her otherwise. Nonetheless, something nagged at her that he wasn’t telling her the entire truth. She brushed the feeling aside. “That… thing…. Seokjin gave you,” she didn’t want to utter the word, “Do you know how to use it?”

               There was a slight smile. He patted her hand again and slid away. “I do. Like I said, I’m here to protect you.”

               He had never felt it when she was talking to the other members or even the odd moments when a man flirted with her. Hoseok had only needed to or wrap an arm around her shoulder before the opponent backed away. But with Namjoon, it was different. They were too kind with each other. She let him touch or pat her hand. They had even hugged outside at the patio when Namjoon walked in. Hoseok hadn’t thought Daeun was even capable of that type of physical interaction!

               He blew out a puff of air while he put his legs up on the coffee table. He, Seokjin, Yoongi and Jimin had returned to the hotel room to give space to the others to haul out everything. They had not brought much, but eight people inside a house were too many.

               “Jimin, run me down again on the blueprints of this place,” Seokjin was saying. Hoseok turned his attention back to the situation in front of him. He would have to deal with Kim Namjoon later.

               “There’s only one elevator that goes up to the VVIP room,” Jimin explained, “There are guards posted there all the time. I’ve gotten up to this floor once claiming I ended up there by accident, but they escorted me directly back down. I didn’t even get to take a single step down the hallway. Saying that however, I was able to get a good look at the layout. There’s only one hallway that leads to the room, which makes everything easier for us.”

               “So we take down the two guards by the elevator and we will have full access?” Hoseok confirmed.

               Jimin shook his head. He pushed the glasses he had been wearing up on his nose as it slid down again. He circled the doorway right outside the VVIP room in their version of the blueprints. “There were three stationed here. So we need to dispose of them as well.”

               Seokjin nodded. “That shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve taken out men three times that number by ourselves before. Yoongi, tell me what you’ve got on the actual room itself.”

               The silver haired man’s fingers flew over his tablet and he set it down on the table. They all stared at a live stream of the interior of the VVIP room. “I got in early to install these babies around the room. There are a total of six, including one at every corner, providing us with multiple angles of the situation. It’s funny. Once you tell people that the air conditioning system is broken, they call you in immediately to fix it. Guess everyone hates the summer heat here,” he chuckled to himself.

               “Anyways, using the trajectory of the camera angles - ” he paused as his fingers touched the screen and pulled up one of the cameras. It was positioned somewhere at eye level such that they could see the main living room area and the large windows in the background. The image was in high quality, something Yoongi prided himself in providing every mission, and reflected the multiple skyscrapers through the window. “ - I’ve calculated the exact room Jungkook needs to be in for sniping reinforcement. I’ve already booked the area off as a private request from “Bang Tan”.”

               “You’ve got to stop using that name,” Hoseok rolled his eyes, “I’m about 99.9% sure that there is nobody in New York, or the world for that matter, with the first name Bang and the last name Tan.”

               Yoongi shot him a look but was unable to do anything further as Seokjin spoke again. “Okay. That’s good. I’ll have Jungkook set up a couple hours before our meeting tomorrow. I just got a message from Taehyung telling me that their side mission at PNC* was successful as well so Mr. and Mrs. Chen’s banking account should be full. Has Hong Jung Yee reached out to you again, Hoseok?”

               He checked the phone but it was void of any activity. “No,” he reported.

               Out of habit rather than nervousness, Seokjin stood up and started pacing the room. They were all quiet.

               “So,” Hoseok broke the silence first, “Can we all address the elephant in the room? What are we going to do about our new “friend”, Kim Namjoon?”

               Jimin cleared his throat and Yoongi stared intensely at his tablet screen. “We’ll have to lie. Send him on an errand or something,” Seokjin said.

               Hoseok laughed. “Right. Have him run to around some liquor stores to try and find the city’s most expensive whiskey. That should take him a good day.”

               “I mean it. I don’t want anybody else involved in this,” Seokjin said in a strict voice.

               “Maybe you could have Daeun keep him company until the meeting. She’s not needed until then anyways. I’m sure she’s able to come up with something to ditch him when the time comes,” Jimin offered.

               Hoseok glowered. He felt the prick of annoyance again and tried to come up with an excuse of how this was a bad idea. He did not want to have Kim Namjoon and Daeun alone together.

               There was a brief pause after the suggestion but Seokjin nodded. “I’ll run it by her tonight then.” Hoseok sunk deeper in his seat. Well he couldn’t object it now.

               “Yah,” she yelled across the room, “If you guys have something you want to say then say it to me face to face.”

               They had already taken several trips back and forth from their old house to the new and thankfully were able to make a minimal number of trips. Before they could unpack, however, Namjoon told them it’d be better to give the house a good dusting as it had not been inhabited for a while.

               The two boys did not listen to her and only moved further away. Their whispering did not cease.

               Daeun took a deep inhale to yell at them again but in doing so, breathed in the dust which lodged in . Instead, she let out a hacking cough to expel the dirt. Namjoon immediately put down his mop and soothingly patted her back. “I’m going to get you something to drink,” he offered once she put up a hand to tell him she was okay.

               They knew that she had been about to yell at them so Taehyung and Jungkook walked over like puppies with their tail between their legs.

               “Sorry,” Jungkook said, his eyes not meeting her eyes.

               She waved his apology away. “I choked on dust. Unless you’re the cause of this dust, you don’t need to apologize.”

               Taehyung led her to take a seat at the plastic covered sofa. The whole house was still covered in plastic and Daeun wondered if Namjoon had ever set foot inside the building before bringing them here today. There was minimal furniture in each of the rooms besides the basic necessities. Although the house was indeed smaller than the one they had been renting, the benefit was that there were three bathrooms which allowed for good traffic flow around the house in the mornings.

               When Daeun had taken a seat, Taehyung said, “Jungkook’s apologizing cuz we were talking about you and that hyung.”

               She pretended to be mad and huffed, “Oh, the two of you noticed?”

               Jungkook scooted closer to her and sat at her feet. “It’s just we’ve never seen you that close with anyone. You’re always arguing with Hoseok hyung which is the opposite. You’re friendly with the rest of us but you aren’t as nice as you are with him.”

               Namjoon was one of the first friends she made when she moved out. He always seemed to know how to help her relax after a particularly frustrating work night. He was one of the only people in her life she had found comfort in talking to. However, she had been getting vibes from him that perhaps he saw her as more than the little sister she had always thought she was.

               “I’ve known him for a long time,” was all she could muster out. There were still questions in both of their eyes but they did not have a chance to question her any further before Namjoon returned with four glasses and a pitcher of lemonade.

               He set everything down at a table and stood regarding them. “The two of you look like students sitting in front of the teacher for story time,” he chuckled. He poured the drinks and dropped ice cubes in them as well before offering it to the other three. “My special concoction. It has a little something extra to serve as a booster, if you know what a mean,” he winked.

               They each took their drink and Namjoon took a seat beside Daeun. The sweet acidity of the lemonade with a hint of vodka hit the perfect spot after all their hard work around the house. “So, what were you guys talking about?” Namjoon smiled at the two younger men.

               Exchanging looks with each other, they both gushed out, “You.”

               That earned another chuckle from Namjoon. Turning to Daeun he said, “Seems like that’s all they’ve been talking about since we entered this house.” The boys exchanged another sheepish look. “I’m just kidding,” Namjoon commented to lighten the mood, “Is there anything you want to know about me? I mean, we are going to be living together for a while.” He leaned back on the couch and extended an arm behind Daeun. She noticed how casual the action had been for him but felt herself sit a little straighter, away from his arm. That had never bothered her before.

               “How did you and Noona meet?” Taehyung asked.

               “At the bar where I work. There were a couple of pretty nasty guys that tried to run me off stage but Daeun saved me. You can call her my muse, if you like. I was ready to give up producing music but her words convinced me otherwise.”

               Daeun could feel her cheeks flush at his words.

               “You make music?”

               “Mhmm. Oh, speaking of which Daeun, I just finished my newest mixtape. I wanted you to be the first to listen to it. Taehyung and Jungkook, do you guys want to listen to it too?”

               The two boys nodded so Namjoon took out his iPhone. He scrolled through his music playlist and then a soft beat started from the speakers. It was very relaxing. Daeun had heard Namjoon perform on stage before and recognized the song he was playing. However in the studio version, he had stripped down the instrumentals and accentuated his deep voice rapping, bridging together a song that was soothing to the ears. They all sat and listened. Once the song was over, Namjoon put away his phone. “That’s a bit of a spoiler for the album. If you guys want to listen to the rest of it, you’ll have to buy the album,” he told them with a wink.

               “We will!” Jungkook said enthusiastically for both himself and Taehyung.

               “Hyung, you said you were born here, so why don’t you stay with your parents?”

               Namjoon shifted in his seat and put on an uncomfortable smile. “Nah. My mom is sort of busy and I don’t know where my dad is.” This was news to Daeun. She had never heard of Namjoon speaking about his parents.

               “I’m sorry to hear that,” Jungkook said, “Taehyung and I don’t know where our parents are either. But we’ve got each other so that’s fine with me!” The younger embraced the elder in a headlock.

               “Yah, Jeon Jungkook,” Taehyung tackled Jungkook to the ground. Namjoon laughed as he saw the two rolling on the ground.

               “I’m glad you’ve got each other but with the amount of rolling you two are doing, you’re bringing up more dust. There’s a vacuum in the master bedroom if you two wouldn’t mind doing a bit of cleaning again. I’ll clean up this area with Daeun,” he said.

               They got off the floor and saluted, racing each other to grab the vacuum. The remaining two got up from their seats and started cleaning the table where they had taken a break.

               “They seem to like you a bit better,” Daeun commented as they walked to the kitchen. They put the pitcher and glasses into the dish washer.

               Namjoon smiled at her. “I like them too. They’re like the little brothers I never had.”

               “I’ve never heard you talk about your family,” she said quietly, “I didn’t know that about your father.”

               He leaned back against the counter and sighed. “He’s a cop,” he said. When he noticed how she had tensed up, he laughed to lighten the atmosphere. “Don’t worry though. I’m not going to be running to the police any time soon. My dad may be with the NYPD, but he wasn’t by any means a good cop. He left one day without even a word of good bye to my mother and me. As for my mom, she remarried pretty quickly after realizing my dad wasn’t coming back. I’ve never told her but I suspected that she was already having an affair with my dad out for work so often.”

               “I’m… I’m sorry to hear that,” she said.

               He pushed away from the counter and ruffled her hair. “There’s no need to apologize. Really, I should be thanking you. I wouldn’t have ever returned to my birthplace if it wasn’t for you.”

               Outside the kitchen, they could hear the door open and Hoseok yell, “We’re back!”

               There was silence as the two of them stared at each before Namjoon broke the eye contact and said, “The rest of the members are back. Let’s say hi to them.”

               She nodded and followed him out.

*A/N: PNC is a famous bank in NYC (according to Google....)