“What if we’re just someone’s puppets. They’re playing with our lives and emotions as if we’re toys.”

“Jagi, I can’t,” he glanced over at me with slight worry in his eyes. “There’s no way for us to know what’s really going on. And even if we did, there’s nothing we can do about it either.” I nodded solemnly, knowing he was right. “Look, we have rehearsal today, but when I get back, we’ll go get your favorite ice cream.” I smiled at him before placing a peck on his cheek to symbolize that we had a deal.

“I have a few things to get done around the dorm, so I’m not going to go with you guys today.”

“Are you sure? You’re ok with being alone in the house for that long?”

“I’ll be fine Kookie. If anything happens, I can immediately contact you through the bond.” He didn’t look convinced, but he knew there was no use in arguing with me.

As soon as the boys left, I went right to work. I had laundry to do, and paper work to finish. If I wanted to get into a college in America, I really needed to work hard to catch myself up. I had taken almost two years off from school now, and my math skills were quickly slipping away from me.

I had more than enough time to get everything I needed to get done before Jungkook would come back. Maybe I would treat myself to a little spa day when I finished my work.

“Jungkook! That’s the fifth time you’ve done that step wrong! Get it together!” I collapsed against the wall in disbelief. I don’t know what was going on with our manager, but he was singling me out like crazy today. Hoseok gave me a pat on the back, and I looked up at him helplessly, yearning for his help in this situation.

“You’re doing fine Kookie. I don’t what Manager-nim’s problem is today, but don’t stress out too much about it.” I nodded before taking a chug of water from my bottle.

“Alright. Again, from the top! This time Jungkook, make sure you step more to the left when you go into the triangle formation.” I nodded, determined to not mess it up this time. The song began, and we all became engrossed in the choreo. When it got to the part, I did as manager-nim said, and aimed more left in the triangle.

“Yah, Jungkook! Watch out!” I had only just processed Jimin’s warning before Hoseok’s foot made contact with my stomach and sent me flying to the floor. I coughed continuously, trying to make up for the air that had been kicked out of me. My whole body ached from the blow, and left me paralyzed on the floor.

“Just give him some space. He took a hard hit.” I did as manager-nim said, so why did he tell me to move left when that would put me in Hoseok’s way?

“Are you ok?” I looked at Jin, who was holding out his hand to help me.

“It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, but definitely knocked the air out of me. I’ll definitely have a bruise for sure. Don’t get in Hobi’s way, but if you do, he’ll make sure you never do again,” I chuckled as Hoseok smiled sheepishly.

“Jungkook…” Cathleen? She sounded so faint. As if she were falling in and out of consciousness. Maybe she was taking a nap. Then my eyes widened

“Cathleen.” At first, I was met with curious looks from the confused members, but they quickly fell into a panic as we remembered who was actually in pain, failing to notice as a figure silently stepped out of the practice room