A/N: listen to gasoline by halsey while u read this- i would link it, but i have NO IN WIFI HERE AND YOUTUBE WONT LOAD SO..... HOOK EEEM!!! DAB DAB DAB

This was a mistake- the water is a million times colder than I ever could have expected- my arms desperately flail around, attempting to gain some sort of leverage in the lake- no, why did I do this, I’m so ing stupid, am I seriously going to die here?

My throat is burning and if I was not already underwater I know tears would be streaming down my cheeks right now- my heart is pounding wildly and I cannot hear anything and I am sinking deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and it is getting darker and I do not know why I ever thought it would be a good idea to jump in and try and save her when I cannot even save myself- my body goes limp and I decide that I will simply resign myself to my fate, I will sink down and join Janet in the depths of Lake Rye and my chest is heaving up and down, up and down, up and...

I take a deep breath in.

And exhale.

Slowly, my eyes blink open.

I gasp.

I am breathing. I do not know how, but I am breathing.

I can see everything underwater- it is all crystal clear. Lake Rye is 80 feet deep and it is late at night, but I can see the dark green moss growing atop the jagged brown rocks at the very bottom. Shadowy figures loom in the distance ahead of me.

My fingers move up to the glowing amulet sitting atop my skin.

Holy .

Suddenly, I make out a mass of long hair below me, floating in every which way.

Janet!

I urgently swim down, stretching out my arm. As I near her, I realize her eyes are closed and is slightly ajar. ! Has she drowned already? My grow faster and more desperate as I try to move down to her faster and faster. The unstable waters, however, toss me this way and that; every time I make a little bit of progress, a current pushes me out further west. My teeth clench in frustration as I try and swim faster, faster, faster-

And then I see a dark shadow envelop her body. My eyes widen in alarm.

But the shadow is moving upwards, pulling Janet along with it. It grows closer and closer to me. I stay frozen in place until Janet and the shadow reach me. Only when they are both right in front of me do I realize that the shadow is actually a large, silvery seal.

A selkie.

“Thank you,” I say slowly as the selkie hands Janet to me. “Are you... are you her husband?”

The selkie looks at me for a long moment with its glittering black eyes. I cannot tell if it is my imagination, but there is sadness in its gaze.

“Yes,” it whispers in a low, unearthly voice. A shudder runs down my spine; however, my instincts tell me that the creature means no harm to me.

“You found your skin, didn’t you,” I say.

“Yes.”

“Did she kidnap you?”

“At the time, she did not know it was kidnap. I was on the beach in my human form, basking in the sun. We met and spoke for a long while, and she accidentally took my skin. Thus, I married her. She believed it was because I loved her, but it was because I was obligated to. But a few days after our marriage, she discovered I was a selkie, and took painstaking measures to keep my skin hidden from me.”

“So... you didn’t love her.”

The selkie looks at me for a long, long moment.

“I did not say that,” it finally tells me.

My eyebrows furrow. “But then if you did love her, why would you want to leave her?”

The selkie raises its snout and releases a loud, chirpy call. In the next few moments, several shadows move to us. I make out one, three- no, seven more selkies with wide eyes.

“She wasn’t my only family,” it utters somberly.

I raise my hand to my mouth, a terribly sad feeling rising up in my chest.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmur.

“Magic is a terrible thing, human. I do not know how you know about it or why, but stay far, far away. I am telling you this out of gratitude, as you committed this selfless act. You must leave this town and never look back; else, it will destroy you.”

Chills run down my spine. I can only look at the selkie with wide eyes.

“I can’t,” I say softly. “There are people here I have to protect. I’m- I’m scared... but I can’t leave.”

The selkie stares at me.

And then it utters, “I cannot force you to heed my words. But you have a good soul, human, and a kind heart. Take this blessing and return to your land.”

It touches its snout to my face. A warm feeling courses through the tip of my nose, down to my stomach, all the way around my body. I feel as if I am glowing from inside out.

“Thank you,” I say, making a mental note to research what a selkie’s blessing is. “I’m very grateful.”

“Take care of her. I have placed a bubble of oxygen around her face. And-,”

Suddenly, the selkie freezes.

A look of alarm crosses its face. It whips around to its family and lets out another sound- this time, a harsh, long bellow. I draw Janet closer to me, trepidation rising up in my chest.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“A sorcerer,” it simply says. “Goodbye, human. Take care.”

The selkies vanish. I am left floating alone in the water, fear creeping up in my heart.

And then I see something torpedoing down into the water, causing millions of bubbles to arise around it and the water to churn this way and that. Something dawns in my mind and I immediately close my eyes and play dead, my hand linked through Janet’s as I numbly float in the water. Only a few seconds later, I feel a pair of warm arms wrap themselves around my waist. In the next moment me and the person have shot back above the water.

“She’s got her!” I hear someone yell. A jumble of voices echo through the air; people are saying, “Oh my goodness,” or “What is wrong with her?” or “Are they still alive?” I feel myself being hoisted back onto the yacht and laid down onto the wooden deck. The arms around me still have not left their initial position; then I feel them move upwards from my waist. A pair of hands lay themselves atop my chest. They are hot- almost so hot, they feel as if they are burning through my dress.

“Come on, Joo,” a husky voice murmurs. “Come on. Please. Please.”

He’s trying to use magic to save me.

Is it safe for me to act like I’m okay now?

I force myself to violently roll over on my side and start coughing. My eyes slowly blink open.

Taehyung is crouched above me, his features contorted into the most desperate look I’ve ever seen on him. Beside him are Jin and- surprise hits me- Sofia, staring down at me in equal concern.

Janet Harvey is lying on the other side of the deck. There is an enormous group of people around her; I realize that most of the party is by her side.

I hope she’s safe.

When Taehyung sees I am awake, his expression changes from one fearful anxiety to one of absolute disgust.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he growls, standing up. The fury in his glare causes me to shrink back, eyes wide. A freezing cold sensation washes over me that has nothing to do with his magic; a horrible, aching pain fills my head. I double over, clutching my head in my hands.

“Taehyung, stop it,” Jin says. “She just got out of the water, for ’s sake.”

“I don’t care,” he snarls, his voice rising. Members of the party begin to look at us as he continues shouting at me. “It’s her own fault. You wanted to be the good guy? You thought you’d be a hero if you jumped in? Are you ing stupid?”

Please, Taehyung, stop shouting, I mentally beg, my head pounding. I become distinctly aware of the fact that a hush has befallen the crowd; everyone is staring at me and Taehyung.

“Do you really want to be liked that badly? What is wrong with you?” he roars. I simply stare up at him with wide eyes.  

And then a shrill voice shouts, “You !”

I turn around. Janet Harvey has risen, and is angrily pointing at me, a furious look on her face. Her entire body is trembling with anger as she screams at me.

“Why did you save me?” she hollers. “I was so close! I would have found him! You should’ve left me, you evil, disgusting little ! Do you want to him? Do you want to my husband?”

I look at her in utter shock, unable to comprehend what she is even saying.

“Excuse me?” I finally choke out.

“You heard me! You probably want to get with him yourself, so you stopped me from seeing him! You ing little harlot!”

“She saved you,” Sofia says, her eyes narrowed. “You should be thanking her-,”

“ you! I know these kinds of es when I see them!” The entire party is silent as Janet staggers towards me, tears of rage springing to her eyes. Jin protectively tucks me behind him; I clutch onto his shirt as she makes her way across the deck. Shame wells up inside of me; the numbness is beginning to fade away, replaced with an awfully familiar burning sensation in the back of my throat.

I knew this party would end badly, I knew this was a terrible decision, I should have faked sick, I should have hidden from Mrs. Kim, why, oh why am I here?

“ you,” she finally hisses. “You deserve to rot in hell.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Jin murmurs, soothingly rubbing my back. We are sitting in the corner booth at Denny’s, and I am currently sobbing my eyes out on Jin’s shoulder, his jacket wrapped around my still-drenched dress. Sofia is grimacing at me somewhat sympathetically across the table.

“Fry?” she says awkwardly, proffering the plate over to me. Sniffling, I shake my head.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble. “I don’t know why I started crying. This is so embarrassing.”

“It’s fine,” Sofia says. “There’s no one here anyway.”

I wipe my nose with a napkin, staring at her through teary eyes.

“Why are you being so nice?” I ask bluntly.

She rolls her eyes. Her fingers dart to the plate of fries and she impulsively pops a few in.

“I’m your mentor,” she says, propping her head up on her chin. “I don’t want a bad report.”

She gives me a strange almost-smile, and then pushes the fries over to me again. I gratefully take another one.

“Besides, that lady was a ,” she says. “I told you to leave her alone. She’s ing nuts.”

“Yeah, the stuff she told you was awful. I don’t get what’s wrong with her.” Jin shakes his head.

“At least she’s in a holding cell right now,” Sofia hums. She gazes off into the distance. “I was pretty surprised about Taehyung.”

The sound of his name causes me to wince. “Why?”  

“He was really worried. No offense, but I thought he’d be the first to let you drown. But when you jumped in, he immediately jumped in after you.”

I furrow my eyebrows. “Wait, that’s not possible. I was down there for, like, ten minutes.”

“Huh? No, you were down there for two minutes tops until Taehyung saved you. Did it really feel like ten minutes?”

What? But there’s no way I could’ve swam after Janet and had that entire conversation with the selkie in only two minutes. Did I hallucinate the whole thing?

No. I still remember feeling its warm touch.

Weird.

“Taehyung was a , too,” Jin mutters. “I don’t know why he started yelling at you like that.”

“Yeah, ing bizarre. He snapped back into his normal I-hate-Jooyeon-Jung persona like that.” She snaps her fingers for emphasis. “Honestly, he’s awful to you. The rest of us are bad, but he’s on another level.”

I’m so worn out that I can barely comprehend the oddness of Sofia talking about people being mean to me; my head is pounding and talking about Taehyung has caused me to play back the shouts he threw at me, his livid expression, how he made me look like some kind of attention seeker in front of the entire party... and then I recall what Janet Harvey said and the tears start coming again.

“Crap, I’m sorry,” I moan, frantically wiping at my eyes. Jin clucks his tongue soothingly and guides my head onto his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he says, patting my head. “Just let it all out.”

“This is a one time thing,” I promise. “I swear, I’ll never cry at a ing Denny’s again-,”

And then I see the door open and the lacrosse team and its groupies loudly swagger in.

Including Taehyung Kim, who is standing at the forefront of the entire group.

When they see us sitting at the booth, they all go silent.

I feel Taehyung freeze as he scans my wet eyes, the tears streaming down my cheeks, my blotchy face. Embarrassment and anger and frustration flush through me; , I was doing so well before and never let him see me so weak, but in the past few weeks alone he’s seen me cry twice. I despise him but there’s something else that I’m started to feel towards him- a new emotion that arises every time I think about him- and I ing hate it and I know how evil he is, but-

Taehyung looks away. He is laughing at something Mackenzie said, but I can see how tense he is.

“Jin, Sofia, are you getting volunteer hours for dealing with that?” Laila calls, a vindictive smirk on her face. I see Taehyung stiffen beside her.

“She’s my mentee,” Sofia responds, frowning.

“Hey, Jooyeon,” Derek Weismann says, a twisted sneer on his lips. “You must be really happy because of all the attention you got. Couldn’t let Hoseok be the star of the night, huh? Even if was his birthday-,”

“Cut it out,” Jin says, crossing his arms. I stand up.

“I’m going,” I wearily tell Sofia and Jin. They look at me in concern.

“Are you sure?” Sofia asks as Jin says, “I’ll drop you off.”

“I’m sure,” I tell Sofia, giving her a small smile. “Night.”

Jin guides me to the door, a hand on my back. Taehyung’s table begins hooting obnoxiously.

“She’s really got you whipped, huh,” Laila says.

“Hey,” Jungkook says, furrowing his eyebrows. “Chill.”

“No, seriously. I don’t know when you became her , Jin, but here you are.” There is a savage glint in Laila’s eyes as she stares at us. “I mean, we can’t help you. If you’re really into pathetic little rats who try and leech off other people’s money-,”

Suddenly, Taehyung utters in a deathly soft voice, “That’s enough.”

Their eyes slightly widen. Laila visibly shudders. Goosebumps are prickling all up and down Jin’s arms; I give him a questioning glance- and then realize that Taehyung must have altered the temperature of the room. Everyone is completely silent. Laila looks like she is alternating between feeling fury towards me and fear towards Taehyung.

I catch his eye for a moment.

We exchange an unreadable look.

And then my lip curls and I murmur, “Let’s go,” to Jin and we leave the restaurant.

“I ing hate them,” I whisper.

A/N: DABBBBB ALSO YUHH LEAVING THE FARM TOMORROW. also i might be going to kcon la!! :D yuh yuh yuh!