Chapter 5 - A Girl Dog

 

When the three of them walked in together through the doors of an old worn out apartment, the chips Suga was eating decided to take flight and go all over the place. Jin almost choked on his soda, and Jimin tried not to widen his eyes upon seeing Soojin.

 

“Hey guys~ I missed you all,” Taehyung cooed as he ran to Jin’s side. Jungkook noticed all of their expressions and scoffed to himself. Why had he decided to let the chick have a chance? He didn’t know himself. Maybe he thought that there was no way Joon would actually allow Soojin to join their team for the time being. Either way, Jungkook tried his best to look unbothered by it as he made his way towards the kitchen for a beer.

 

“Hey… Taehyung. Who’s this?” Jin said pulling on Tae’s sleeve finally breaking his gaze on the unknown girl. Soojin gave a half smile before looking down at her shoes. These guys were the people she looked up to for months now, and they were already looking at her like she was foreign goddess. Act composed Soojin, she thought to herself straightening her back and setting her sights on Jungkook who was fumbled in the refrigerator. What an idiot. The beer is in the door she thought watching him until he found it. She grinned to herself.  

 

“Oh, right. Where’s Joonie? I need to talk to him asap,” Taehyung asked without paying attention to the previous question. Jin looked to him with disbelief, but Taehyung just blinked obliviously until he got his answer.

 

“He’s making a deal with Changwook at the moment, why?”

 

Suga got up from his seat to evaluate the mysterious girl more closely. “Hmph. You seem familiar--”

 

Once again, Taehyung ignored Jin’s statement. “Awh~ Kookie. Joon is out on business. What should we do with her for the time being?” Taehyung said turning around to his friend who had settled himself on the couch in the dimly lit room.

 

“How am I supposed to know?” Jungkook started out to say. All the rooms were taken except for… No. There’s no way she could sleep in that room.

 

Finally hitting a light bulb, Suga snapped his fingers. “I’m right aren’t I?! You’re that girl! Joo Hyuk’s girlfriend!!”

 

Laughter clouded the room. “Bwah? She’s Joo Hyuk’s girlfriend? Yeah right. He’d never go for such a low class,” Jimin commented from the back causing Jungkook and Jin to snicker.

 

“This is why we’re friends Jimin,” Jungkook said clicking his glass beer bottle with Jimin’s before giving a menacing glare to Soojin.

 

“Oh piss off. He’s not my boyfriend,” she finally snapped causing Jin to wince from where he was sitting. Jimin and Jungkook went quiet for a second.

 

Jungkook cleared his throat to break the silence. “Well obviously… that’s what we were saying,” he said putting the bottle to his lips.

 

Her eyes caught his avoiding gaze, and regret tore into him. There was pain in Soojin’s wordless exchange. He watched her silently before turning away again. Jimin laughed aloud, but Jungkook didn’t join along this time.

 

“Oh? Really you aren’t?” Suga said tilting his head while tapping his chin. “I really was sure though…” His voice trailed off as he made his way back to his seat.

 

“Idiot. She’s a completely different person from whoever you’re thinking,” Taehyung said tossing a ball from Jin’s desk over at him. “This is Zee.”

 

“Huh? This is the person that screwed with us?” Jimin got up from his seat making his way towards Soojin threateningly. His gaze periced her breath, but she withstood flinching from his towering presence.

 

“Screwed with you? More like helped you,” she said closing the distance between the two. Jimin found himself caught off guard by her stance. Jungkook watched the two interact, and the feeling he got wasn’t as relieving as he thought it would be. He threw his head towards the two trying to get Jin or Suga to step in, but they both shrugged.

 

“Did I hear this correctly? Helped us?” Jimin laughed aloud in disbelief.

 

“Hey calm down Jimin. We haven’t explained the whole situation yet,” Taehyung said taking a step towards his friend. Soojin felt heat rising into her fists as she clenched them.

 

Jimin shook Taehyung off before pushing Soojin’s shoulder nonchalantly. “Yah… apologize. Who do you think you are taking our money that we earned through hard work?”

 

“Didn’t know that stealing and cheating was hard work,” she said mumbling under her breath.

 

“YAH-” Jimin raised a hand at her, and Jungkook shot up from his seat in fear.

 

Her hand grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back before he could finish his shout. A swiss knife was unsheathed to his back while she put more pressure on his weak spot. “Don’t around with me.”

 

All four of the men in the room shot up from where they were. Jungkook almost wanted to go forward and help his friend, but something told him not to or else he would get his handed to him.

 

Taehyung cleared his throat. “Soojin.”

 

She grumbled aloud and kicked Jimin forward causing him to fall onto his knees. “The deserved it,” she spat turning her back away from him.

 

“There’s no way in hell I’m working with this chick,” Jimin announced getting up.

 

“Why? Are you afraid to work with someone who just put you on lockdown?” Jungkook asked without realizing what he was saying.

 

“ off.”

 

Jungkook smirked and walked over to his cell phone. “Shall I give the boss a call about the proposition then?”

 

“Shouldn’t we call Hoseok first and ask him?” Suga threw in.

 

Jin laughed aloud. “You know he doesn’t give a about who we involve ourselves with.”

 

“Jin cursed,” Taehyung pointed out. “Penny in the swear jar please~” He cooed. Jin threw him a glare.

 

“Not until I get a new computer,” he growled turning his chair away from Tae.

 

Jungkook laughed causing Taehyung to whine. “Hyung~~ I was trying to get you one! Really! But then there was this dog-”

 

“And dog that bit you and you waited for the owners like an idiot; Yes I know,” Jin mumbled.

 

Taehyung looked wide eyed around the room, and blinked in confusion for a few seconds. “Are you really that dense over an answer that a grade schooler could solve?” Suga asked.

 

“Uhhhhhhhhhh-”

 

“Dear god, he’s a hacker. We watch all of you 24/7,” he explained face palming his coarse hand.

 

Taehyung’s jaw dropped. “So you’re saying you both saw me in the jail cell for hours and didn’t do anything???”

 

Jin and Suga laughed together. “Yeah. We even saw you get pickpocketed by the old man sharing your cell.”

 

“Really? The old hag?” Jungkook asked trying to keep in a laugh.

 

Tae started to speak. “Hey, that man had sneaky fingers.”

 

“And he just played Candy Crushers for half of the time,” Jin added.

 

This time Soojin laughed aloud. “Who the plays Candy Crushers?”

 

“THAT’S THE ONLY GAME THE COP HAD ON THERE.”

 

The room was filled with laughter at Taehyung’s idiocy. Jimin, although, sat in the corner with irritation stitched onto his face.

 

“Won’t you all shut up, and get back to the real topic here?” He snapped causing the light atmosphere to go tense. “Does she,” he looked over to Soojin in disgust,” get to stay with us for the time being? Because the commitment to accepting her is high to remind you fools. Someone would have to train her as a Bts member before she could officially be a part of us. Any takers?” He challenged as the room went silent.  

 

Jin realized the awkward gap of nobody speaking, and decided to break the silence. “Lighten up Jimin. She didn’t do us any damage. Just emotional,” Jin admitted with a laugh. “This is more of Suga and my fault.”

 

“Yah, don’t let her off so easily just because she’s a girl,” Jungkook told his friend. There was a painful twitch that glazed her eyes for a split second, and for that, Jungkook suddenly felt guilt stirring at his stomach. Why does this keep on happening? It’s ing annoying…

 

“I’m done with you guys’ ty attitudes.” Soojin looked to Jimin to only pure hate, but the rest pity. The room stopped moving.

 

“I get it. I’ll leave. I’m not wanted here. But I won’t apologize for something I’m not sorry for though.” Soojin looked Jimin straight in the eyes. “I’ll let your chummy friends here explain why I did what I did,” she said looking towards Taehyung and Jungkook for a brief moment. All of the men in the room felt suddenly tense from the words that left . Why are we feeling guilty for being suspicious? It’s in our nature..

 

“But, there is something that pisses me off.” Soojin turned back to Jimin and took a step closer to him so that their lips were inches away. “Why is it that I’m always addresses as a ? I have a name you know? NA. SOO. JIN. I’m not some dog you can beat into submission so don’t pull that with me,” she snarled. Suga’s eyes had widened as he watched the two since it was rare to see a girl go head on with Jimin. Meanwhile, Jin pulled out his phone to text Namjoon about the scary mysterious girl fighting with Jimin.

 

“I understand your pissed at my actions, but you don’t have any ing right to call someone you just met a without knowing what type of person they are. I really hate people like you,” Soojin grumbled with fire flaring from her breath. Jungkook noticed the same light in her cold eyes when he first met her, and it was something that made him admire her. He almost began to move towards her and try to put in a word when her gaze met him. Jungkook stopped in his tracks. “Really… I hate people like you two.”

 

His heart throbbed. Why did that just hurt? As if I would care about a random person’s insult toward me. So why was this feeling occurring now? Jungkook looked to the girl with questions swirling at his lips waiting to be breached. Why me? Who are you to find these emotions I’ve locked behind doors for years now?

 

Soojin adjusted the bag on her shoulder and turned around to head out the door. She stopped in her tracks as her hand touched the handle. “Stealing and cheating isn’t hard work so don’t go around describing your work with such words. You’ve never had to work hard for anything rightly earned. You’ve only survived until now. There’s a difference in the life styles. And that’s all I admired about the Bangtan Boys; How they survived this cruel world.”

 

And with that, Soojin was gone. She left the five of them standing in silence to think about things that had never crossed their minds before. Jimin wanted to curse her out, but had nothing to yell about. There was no fault in her words, and that’s what pissed him off the most. Jin and Taehyung suddenly felt guilty for treating the girl so harshly. Jin scolded himself for not being mature enough to stop Jimin, and Taehyung bit his tongue for not speaking up fast enough.

 

Jungkook, although, only had questions for Soojin. He had cursed her, insulted her, and and almost physically hurt her when they first met, but for some reason… when their eyes met just seconds ago, he could only feel disappointment from Soojin’s expression. It was confusing him to the point where he finally ran out the door to follow her. Why did you look disappointed as if you still had something to believe in about me? After everything, how’s that even possible? What is she hiding…

 

“Hey Jungkook! Where are you going?!” Suga called after the youngest as he watched Jungkook’s back disappear behind the door. “Jeez, why do I feel like I’ve been scolded by my mother…” He scratched the back of his head ruffling the black hair that laid upon it. He got up from his seat, and threw himself to lay on their old couch.

 

“... You guys didn’t even let me explain her reasoning,” Taehyung whimpered taking a bag of chips from Suga’s desktop.

 

“I was going to listen. Jimin was the one that got heated suddenly,” Jin said whisking around with a pout.

 

Jimin clicked his tongue. “What possible explanation could she have for what she did?”

 

Taehyung exhaled a breath of exhaustion. “Dummy. She was trying to get our attention and warn us about someone who’s going to target us soon.”

 

Suga rested his arm over his eyes with a sigh. “I feel bad…”

 

Jimin looked to the door where Soojin and Jungkook had rushed out of, and suddenly felt regret stirring in his stomach. Really? That’s the reason why she messed with us? He put the beer bottle to his lips, and took a swig. I really hate nice natured people.

 

-------------------

 

“ing bastards…” Soojin kicked a rock on the sidewalk. “I swear that is going to be the last time I’m ever nice to anyone,” she grumbled pulling out her phone. Her fingers easily dialed the number in mind, and she waited for the ringing to begin.

 

“Pick up won’t you…”

 

‘Don’t leave a voice message because I won’t listen to it. Bye.’

 

“Tsk. What an ,” Soojin said looking down at the contact. “Can’t a brother at least pick up for his little sister? Sheesh.” She stuffed the cellphone into her back pocket before noticing a nearby food stand. Her stomach grumbled.

 

“Looks like it’s dinner time.”

 

A large bowl of warm black bean noodles sat in front of Soojin as she broke the chopsticks. She hadn’t eaten since the donut shop which wasn’t much. In fact, when had she last gotten out to have a warm meal? She couldn’t remember. The people in the tent around her all had their own conversations and couldn’t care less about a young woman scarfing down her food hungrily so she went on eating without manners.

 

“Ma’am! Can I get two soju bottles over here?” She shouted to the older lady in the back.

 

Her stomach already boiled with pain as she stuffed more fried rice into . She knew that she couldn’t hold her liquor, but tonight was a grand exception. Today she had been insulted and cursed at by her role models despite just meeting them and that was enough to put her in a bad mood for at least a week.

 

Two bottles of soju had been set on her table with a grunt of dissatisfaction. “You shouldn’t drink alone young lady,” the owner said walking off shaking her head.

 

“Yeah well does it look like I have friends,” she whispered pouring herself a drink. The liquid burned as it went down, but the pain was satisfying. Men watched her in disgust as she finished the bottle with ease.

 

“Tsk.” She clicked her tongue and grabbed the second bottle before struggling to stand on her feet. With the change she had in her pocket, Soojin paid the old lady and left the place silently and unnoticed. Her whereabouts could never be pinpointed to a route. She was always wandering… keeping on her feet so that she wouldn’t be caught.

 

The street lights dimly gave sight to her alcohol induced eyes. She heard shouting and the sound of a man grunting in pain. The natural instinct that came was to keep walking as if she had never noticed the fight, but the alcohol wouldn’t let her think logically.

 

Soojin looked down a dark alleyway to see a man getting beat up by five others who had ganged up on him. The view was pitiful. Blood and bruises colored the man’s skin while a revolting form of entertainment caked the other men’s gazes upon him.

 

“Yah,” she stuttered catching their attention. “Leave that guy alone you s-” Soojin barely kept herself upright and almost fell over. The men went silent before laughing at this. They gave up on the pulped man and began to walk towards her with lust clinging to their aura.

 

“What are you doing out this late at night by yourself pretty?” The tallest one asked brushing his fingertips across her cheek. Soojin jerked her head away, and scrunched her brows trying to sharpen her senses.

 

“Don’t touch me,” she growled waking up some of her spirit. Soojin swatted the man’s hand away only to realize all five of them had already cornered her. The blurry vision made it seem as if there was 10 of them so for some reason, she couldn’t help but feel scared when a hand was placed on her back.

 

“What now then? It seems you’re just too irresistable,” one of the men whispered under his breath causing her to shiver. But once he reached for her hair, his hand touched the necklace that survived her apartment earlier that day. Anger suddenly coursed through her as she twisted his wrist backwards. A crack came first and then a cry out of pain. The man dropped to his knees clutching his wrist. The other four blinked in what had just happened before lurching at her with rage.

 

An unamused expression settled on Soojin as she swung her leg under the biggest one, knocking him off his feet. The next one ran at her with a dumb amount of force to which she easily dodged letting him run into the wall behind her, and knock himself out.

 

“Three down already?” She grunted looking around at the pathetic challenge. Before the other two had a chance to retreat, Soojin threw her Soju bottled at the tallest’s back. It shattered and torn into his skin. The man screamed as he fell to the ground.

 

Her cold gaze stayed locked onto the ground as she watched blood trickle in the crescents of the road. The last one helped up another deciding ganging up on her would be their best chance. One took out a knife while the other swung his large fists at her face. Soojin managed to keep on her feet while avoiding the knife, but the large man eventually got a hit on her. His fist sent Soojin flying back against the trash cans. Her hand slammed into the edge of the metal can causing her skin to break. She winced in pain, and cursed. The ankle that Taehyung had hurt earlier that day started to throb as she pushed herself to her feet.

 

“Fine. I won’t go easily on you,” Soojin mumbled softly, but loud enough to put fear in their bones. She lifted her head which caused her bands to fall in a mess. “Just don’t scream for help when you begin to die.”

 

Slowly with confidence, Soojin slipped out a dagger that had been safely kept at her ankle under her jeans. She twirled it as temptation for the two men before they ran at her once again. It was thrown at an angle so that it hit the wall behind them. The dagger sliced through man number one’s calf, and traveled on through man number two’s thigh. Both dropped to the ground and yelled as their blood tainted the back alleyway.

 

A smile swept across Soojin’s face as she finally sobered up. The last dagger was pulled from her belt, and then shoved into an arm. She watched the man squirm in pain. The blade twisted in his flesh which brought even more fire upon the man.

 

Soojin leaned down towards the man’s ear as he continued to curse loudly. Her lips barely touching his skin. “A tip to avoiding me; Leave strangers out of your pathetic anger outbreaks.”

 

Silence engulfed the five men even as they were in pain. Soojin’s voice felt like ice to their wounds, and it froze their breath. What was it about her that was so intimidating?

 

Soojin walked towards the beat up man, and swung his arm around her shoulder. She didn’t look back at the mess she left behind, and didn’t bother to hear their pain even as she turned the corner. There wasn’t a slim hint of remorse in her expression as she carried the man to safety.

 

“Who are you really?” was stuttered softly as the man in her arms grunted in pain.

 

Soojin looked down at the victum realizing she knew who it was. She smiled, and brushed some blood out of the man’s hair. “I’m just a . Remember Jungkook?”