32: THIS IS BAD

"Circles," by G.Soul

                There were many mornings when Naeil’s fingers moved along the piano keys automatically, while her mind roamed elsewhere. No amount of self-scolding could get her to focus on the music, until she made a mistake and was forced to think about what she was doing again. Her hands moved, but she was focused on looking at all the people filing in through the front doors. She wasn’t exactly sure what she hoped to see. Someone familiar, or comforting maybe? Someone new? Or…was she just hoping, against all logic, that she would see Min Yoongi walk through those doors?

                Suddenly Naeil realized the singer had stopped, and she made an awkward attempt to end the song gracefully. She sighed. That conversation with Yoongi had not gone well. Maybe she had been out of line. But what else could she have said? It was all so stupid. So, so stupid.

                She didn’t hear any of the announcements. It was all background noise. Still in a daze, her head turned automatically at a new sound, the sound of the sanctuary’s front doors swinging open. Someone was coming in late.

                Naeil’s entire body jerked without warning, a hand falling on the piano keys. People turned and stared at her, but the man at the front continued talking. Naeil didn’t notice any of that. Her eyes were locked on the two men who had just come in. Oh, how she wished she was imagining them. One was big and broad—massive, really. The other was tall and lithe. Both wore all black. Their faces would be forever etched in her memory.

                She looked around desperately for Sungchul, but he was nowhere to be found. With no small amount of panic, she realized he was out of town this weekend.

                The two men sauntered down the side aisles and sat down…just beside Naeil’s mother. The leaner one looked up. His eye landed directly on Naeil, and slowly, a long grin spread across his face. He nudged his companion and indicated Naeil with a tilt of his head.

                She was breathing too quickly. Her stomach was flipping and backflipping so much, she felt like she would vomit any second. What were those two Sa Hyeo Pa men doing here?

                “Naeil-ah,” someone was whispering. She looked up and saw the music leader nod his head impatiently, an eyebrow raised. “We’re waiting.” How could she play at a time like this?

                How could she not play?

                Naeil forced her hands to move. It was torture to look away from those men, but it was torture to look at them. They knew who she was. They knew who her mother was. What could she do? What could she do?

                The music seemed to go on endlessly. When it finally finished and Pastor Lee came to the front, Naeil went out the back door instead of sitting down. She ran to the bathroom and locked herself into the first stall. Her body lurched, and for a moment she thought she really would throw up. But instead she just bent over the toilet, breathing heavily, feeling hot tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

                You have to go back out there. You have to make sure they’re okay.

                It was the most agonizing forty minutes Naeil had ever experienced. She sat by her mother. Just one seat away from the two Sa Hyeo Pa men. It made her angry, seeing them that close to her mother. She could almost feel their impudence oozing from those smug grins nestled so comfortably into their cheeks.

                After the service ended, they stood up immediately and walked to the front, where Pastor Lee stood. One reached out his hand and shook the old pastor’s. Naeil couldn’t hear their words. But they both turned and looked at her, and just kept on smiling.

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

                “Do you plan on moving from that couch anytime soon? A few more hours like this and it’s gonna be shaped like your backside.”

                Yoongi didn’t so much as blink at Namjoon’s words. He hadn’t budged from that spot since the moment he arrived, and he had ignored all of Namjoon’s questions about where he went or what he did the night before. It wasn’t really that surprising, but it didn’t exactly put his friend at ease.

                “Want something to eat?” Namjoon opened the fridge. “We have some leftover chicken. How does that sound?”

                Receiving no reply, he took out the little box and tossed it into Yoongi’s lap. The time it took Yoongi to look down at the box, process its intrusion into his space, and remove it from his general vicinity lasted almost two painful minutes. It seemed he was in another world.

                His weary friend stood a few steps away, arms crossed and head thrown back in an expression of helpless frustration. Between Taehyung, Yoongi, and Jungkook, Namjoon would certainly be driven mad.

                Namjoon breathed out slowly. “Hyung.”

                Yoongi didn’t look up.

                “Okay. That’s fine. Don’t look at me. Just listen. I know you’ve had it really bad lately. I know that, okay? I do. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t be pissed right now. I mean, seriously, keep on being angry about it, otherwise you might go crazy. I’m just saying—”

                “Namjoon-ah,” said Yoongi without looking up.

                “What?”

                “Jungkook got stabbed.”

                “…Yes. That’s…”

                “He got stabbed because of those bastards.”

                “Yeah. Yeah, it was their fault. Not yours, hyung.”

                “They crossed the line, Namjoon-ah.”

                “What are you—”

                Yoongi’s phone rang. It was sitting on the table, out of arm’s reach from where he sat on the couch.

                “Are you gonna get that?” asked Namjoon.

                Yoongi shrugged.

                Namjoon glanced at the phone screen. “It’s, uh…Ji Naeil.”

                A pause.

                “Pass me the phone.”

                The reluctance was visible in Yoongi’s countenance as his finger lingered just above the receiving button on his phone. It rang two more times before he slid his finger across the screen and put it to his ear.

                “What is it?”

                “Sunbae.”

                The tone of Naeil’s whispered voice made him sit up straight.

                “Is—is something wrong?”

                “They were here. Those men.”

                “What men?”

                “Those men who had guns. The men across the street from church. From Sa Hyeo Pa.”

                Yoongi practically jumped from the couch. “What? Where? Where were they?!”

                “At the church. They came and sat with my mom. Sunbae, they just looked at me the whole time. They know. They know everything. I don’t know what to do. I’ve never felt so scared. They’re going to kill them, aren’t they? They’ll kill me, and them, and everyone else and—”

                “Naeil-ah, calm down. Get your mom home.”

                “But—”

                “I’ll be seeing you soon.”

                “But what should—”

                By the time Yoongi hung up, Namjoon had come so close his ear was practically leaning against the phone. His eyes were wide by the end of the conversation. “Hyung, this is bad,” he said, shaking his head. “This is really bad.”

                “Oh, this isn’t just bad. This is war.”

Author’s Note

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I feel so lame right now that was cheesy

Okay but whatever it’s gotta be dramatic.

Part I ends here, y’all. Part II will probably start appearing some time…..within….I don’t know, probably less than a month. Enough time for me to edit and outline a little more so things don’t get too out of whack as this story progresses. Oh, and I’m going to post a playlist of all the songs so far before then. I kind of doubt anyone cares but whatever.

Thanks for reading so far!! Things are reaching another level of unrealistic but exciting in the next part hahahaha by which I mean probably more gangs and more romance.