Chapter 4

Aera’s POV

Time passed as I stared at window. The snow was falling beautifully. Why isn’t my life beautifful? I thought to myself. It has been a day and I couldn’t sleep or even eat.

“Aera!” Someone called me from downstairs. Jin? “Are you awake?”

I let down the stairs and peeked down at Jin. “I am,”

“Come and help me,” Jin gestured at me. I climbed down and followed Jin to the kitchen. “I usually make breakfast for them. I finally have someone capable to help me in the kitchen,” He paused with a smile. “Can you help me?”

His smile was too bright to say no. I’ll be guilty forever if I didn’t help him. “Alright,”

We decided to make pancakes for everyone. Jin was making the pancake and I helped him cleaning up the kitchen.

“Do you sleep well?” He asked friendly.

“No,” I answered shortly.

“Why? Is it uncomfortable?” He was concerned.

“Not that,” I shook my head. “Yesterday was a bit tiring..,”

I felt a touch on my head, ruffling my hair. “Aigoo, are you having a hard time my little lady?”

“Stop that,” I frowned.

Jin lowered his head to my level. His face was so close to mine. “Little lady, don’t frown too much, or you’ll be looking old at no time,”

I looked away as I was abashed.

“Don’t disturb her, hyung,” Jungkook said as he entered the kitchen. “Good morning, Aera,” He smiled, almost resembling a sunshine. Ah .. If everyday a handsome guy greet me in the morning.. Might as well I’m being lucky.. I nodded in response.

“Where’s your good morning to me you kiddo?” Jin laughed as he served the pancakes on the table. I helped him serve drinks.

“Good morning Aera-ssi ~” A cute voice greeted me. It was Jimin’s. His eye smile was so radiating. I’m blinded.. I just nodded. “Now that Aera-ssi is here, our morning is so pleasant. We don’t really have to look at that old man’s face over there!”

“You little-“ Jin made cute angry face while Jimin and Jungkook just laughed. I can’t believe they’re outlaws.. Who turned this guy into outlaws?

“The kitchen is so noisy, why is that?” Namjoon later joined the table with his bed hair. There goes your charismatic leader.

“Hyung, doesn’t it feel nice to look at a girl’s face in the morning?” Jimin placed his chin on his hand, looking at me. “Ah so pretty,”

“What’s wrong with him?” Namjoon glanced at Jungkook. Jungkook shrugged off as he stuffed his mouth with pancakes.

Jin took off his apron and gestured me to join the breakfast. Later, Hoseok and unfamiliar guy that I believed is Suga joined the table.

“So here’s the new kid,” Suga looked at me, seizing me up.

I just bowed lightly and started eating pancakes. I watched them and suddenly something ticked me. Where is V?

“Where is V?” I turned to Jungkook who asked the question. Did he read my mind?

“He wasn’t in the room,” Hoseok replied.

“He must have been training,” Jin sighed. “That kid... I hope he doesn’t wear himself out.,”

After the chatty meal, Jungkook, Jin and I were the ones left to clean up the kitchen.

“V is not having breakfast,” Jin sighed as he turned to Jungkook. “Jungkook ah, can you please bring him his breakfast?”

“What am I? Delivery boy?” Jungkook pouted as he dried off the plates.

“Let me do it,” I said to Jin. Jin was actually surprised. “Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah, aren’t you specifically scared of him?” Jungkook asked curiously.

I shook my head. “I was but not anymore. And I also need to thank him...,” I answered shyly.

Jin smiled as he set V’s breakfast on a tray. He passed the tray to me. “The training room is near the back,”

I nodded and went to the training room. I slowly opened the door and found V punching the punch bag. He stopped punching as he noticed my presence. He looked at me and then resumed his training. I walked inside and placed the tray on the table.

“Your breakfast...,” I said, somehow loss at words. I had the courage to thank him but somehow my throat won’t let me.

V didn’t say anything. His punches sounded louder than before. I slowly approached him. “V, I have something to say,”

V stopped punching and turned to me. He was catching his breath as his sweats rolled down his body. He was wearing sleeveless shirt and somehow it made him look charming. “What?”

“I wanted to thank you for saving me... I really thought I’ll be gone,” I bowed deeply and looked into his eyes again.

He also looked into mine, studying me. “How can you thank me...,”

“Hm?”

He turned to the punching bag and started to punch again. Lightly. “If I didn’t help you, we wouldn’t have met, and you wouldn’t be in this mess,”

I thought deeply. “But if it weren’t for you, I’ll be..” I trailed off, unable to emphasize the word. I stared at his back as he was punching the bag. He has such a kind heart for apologizing like that. But, why the killing? I knew it wasn’t a good idea to ask that. “I’ll be going,” I walked away.

“Wait,” His husky voice stopped me. I turned to him as he approached me. “Why do you fight back knowing that you can’t during the incident?”

I stared up at him. “Because in the midst of hardship, no matter what happens, I couldn’t afford to give up,”

V stared at me back. To be honest, I didn’t mind staring at his eyes like this. His eyes were starless but captivating. Suddenly, his expression relaxed. It was so unexpected so I buried the image in my mind. He looked so innocent and angelic. Angelic? Yes, he was my angel. “You’re so foolish,” He paused. “But I like how you made it sound,”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean nothing,”  He returned to his punching bag. “I’ll eat the breakfast later, thanks,”

I nodded even though I knew he won’t see me. As I left the room, I couldn’t help but to feel fluttered. I think he slowly opening up to me...

 

Third Person’s POV

Jungkook and Jimin stared at focused Aera. They were sitting near the door outside even though the snow was thick and cold.

Aera was so focused in painting, facing the snowy forest in front of her. Jungkook sighed, bored. “What’s so fun about painting anyway?”

“Beats me,” Jimin placed his chin on his palm. “She’s not so bright,”

“She doesn’t talk a lot,” Jungkook continued. “She’s so passive,”

“And grumpy,” Jimin pouted. “We are all being nice to her and she couldn’t afford to smile,”

“Ya, what is there to smile about if you were in her place?” V’s voice startled them. V stood behind them as his eyes watched Aera.

“Ah you’re here,” Jungkook turned to V. “What are you doing here?”

V showed his gun. “Shooting practice,”

Jimin’s and Jungkook’s face suddenly brightened up. “We want to join you,” They both stood up and joined V walking towards the forest.

“Wait,” Jungkook stopped. “Won’t we disturb her?” Jungkook pointed towards Aera.

V turned to her and watched her hand gracefully painting the canvas. She was so focused but her eyes flickered sadly. As she was about to paint another , she paused. She was hesitating but then her eyes turned to them. Her eyes met V’s.

V kept staring at her. Something about staring into her eyes left an unsettling feeling for him. “It’s becoming habit,” V sighed.

“What V?” Jimin asked, wondering.

V ignored them and approached Aera. Aera placed down her brush. “What brings you here?”

“Shooting practice,” V answered unknowingly. “Namjoon hyung ordered me to help you with that, for protection purposes,”

Aera contemplated the idea but she agreed to it anyway. Jungkook helped Aera packed her stuffs and all of them moved into the forest.

It wasn’t a long walk from their place. They are a few target boards hanging around for their practices. Most of them have many holes on it.

Jimin and Jungkook already started practicing shooting.

V took her hand and placed a realistic toy gun. “We’ll be practicing aiming first since a real gun would be too much for now,” There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone but Aera didn’t mind it nevertheless.

Aera held the gun cluelessly. “This is how you reload the bullets,” V showed her the way to do it. Aera followed him flawlessly. V then showed her how to pull the trigger where Aera again flawlessly followed him.

“Now aim,” V commanded as Aera aimed towards the nearest board. V corrected her posture. His touch somehow made Aera nervous but she quickly focused back on aiming. “Try shoot,”

Aera shot the board but her eyes were closed, so her bullet didn’t hit the board. “Ya! How can you shoot while closing your eyes?!”

“I’m sorry, I’ll try again,” Aera continued to shoot but this time, her eyes squinted a little. Her shot hit the board only near the corner. She then tried again, little did she notice her hands were trembling.

“Stop,” V pushed down her hand and took the gun from her. Aera seemed startled as her eyes watched V removing his warm gloves. He put on that gloves on Aera. Aera stared up at V’s expressionless face and she felt a bit shy all of the sudden. “How can you go out without your gloves? Your hands are ice.”

“I usually paint without using gloves,” Aera answered him.

“Your carelessness is going to mess up your training,” He returned the gun to Aera. “Again,”

Aera nodded and resumed her practice. Now that her hands were not trembling anymore, her aims were improving.

Jimin stopped practicing and nudged Jungkook. “Ya Jungkook ah, look at them,”

Jungkook paused what he was doing. “Heol,” Jungkook hugged himself. “I felt shiver down my spine,”

“He’s so stoic but look at him moving on her,” Jimin snarled.

Jungkook leaned his back on a tree and crossed his arms. “Come to think of it, V does seemed fond of her,”

“Fond of her?” Jimin wondered. “Like what? Did he talk about her?”

He shook his head. “Not really, I can just feel it,”

Jimin sighed heavily. “Is this what they call ‘’ ?”

Jungkook immediately smacked Jimin’s head. His strength was greater than Hoseok’s. Jimin cried painfully. “WHAT’S THAT FOR?!”

“I think it’s something Hoseok hyung will do,” Jungkook kept his gun. “Get a hold of yourself, aish!” Jungkook hissed at him disgustingly and walked towards Aera and V.

“You guys are so meanie,” Jimin pouted as he rubbed his painful head.