-Chapter 2-

A week passed since she’d had the dream and it was almost completely forgotten now. Taehyung was always quiet in class, never speaking unless spoken to, and always saying the minimum. Students lost their interest in him after he was no longer the new student, which suited him perfectly.

 Lunch break was just about to end and most students had returned to the classroom. In fact, the only student absent was Taehyung. Minna was sat at her desk, laughing and talking with Jimin.

“Where on earth did you get that idea from.” Minna laughed.

“You told me that when we were little!” He said, confused why she was laughing.

“And you believed me?” Minna slapped her thighs as she laughed. “You were so gullible. Where did that cute little guy go? Now look what I’m left with.” She poked him in the stomach and he hit her finger away.

“Hey I’m still cute, plus if you failed to notice, I’ve got abs!” He said, poking at his stomach to demonstrate.

“Only because you drew them on in sharpie before class.” Minna teased. Jimin stood up and easily captured Minna in a headlock.

“You little… Respect your elders!” Jimin demanded while refusing to let go of Minna.

“But I’m older than you!” Minna said, her voice muffled by Jimin’s embrace.

“Not mentally.” He teased. At that Minna managed to break lose, she pretended to hit him one last time and then looked at her reflection in her phone.

“Look what you’ve done to my hair!” She complained, looking at how it was sticking up crazily after play-fighting with Jimin.

“It suits you.” He commented, giggling as he poked at a particularly wild strand of hair.

“I’ll be back.” Minna said, picking up her makeup bag from inside her school bag and heading to the restrooms. She brushed her hair so that it was neat again, and then applied some lip balm to her lips. Taking another look at herself she sighed, and wiped smudged makeup from under her eyes. Taking mascara from her bag she reapplied her eye makeup neatly.

“There.” She said to herself, admiring her now presentable appearance. She put her makeup and brush back into her bag and picked up her phone, taking the opportunity to snap some selcas while no one was around. Suddenly an alarm blared, scaring Minna and making her drop her phone.

“Aish… why are you so loud.” She complained to the bell, indicating the end of the lunch period. However, it seemed to be ringing for longer than usual. “What the… is it stuck?” She wondered to herself.

She looked around to see where her phone had fallen and found it under the sink. The back cover of her phone had fallen off and the battery was lying on the floor under the pipes. She reached with her arms but she wasn’t quite tall enough to reach all the way to the back. Crouching down carefully, she reached as far as she could but it was no use. She sighed, looking around for something that could help and eventually found a mop in the cleaning cupboard.

Using the end of the mop she gradually worked the battery closer to her. Putting the mop away she picked her phone up, examining it for cracks. Luckily it seemed to be fine. She carefully checked the battery, and after deciding that it was safe for use, she reassembled the phone.

Putting it into her pocket and grabbing her makeup bag from the counter she started on her way back to class. The restrooms were on the sixth and topmost floor of the school building, while her classes were held on the fourth floor.

She began to make her way towards the stairs, the bell still ringing loudly in her ears when she first noticed it, a strange fog starting to fill the corridor. As she came closer she realised it was smoke that seemed to be coming from the floor below. She stopped in her tracks. There was only one staircase in this building and there was no elevator. Even if there was, she had heard that you shouldn’t use elevators in emergency situations.

After deliberating for a moment, she started to move again, keeping low. She decided to try to get down the stairs before it could get any worse. The smoke made her eyes water and she needed to cough, but she was determined to make it out, crouching and pulling her school jacket over as she went. She made it to the next floor down, before realising it would be impossible to continue. She seemed to be the only person around on floor five, which consisted of science labs and storage rooms. Seeing as how no students had science after the lunch period, it made sense the classrooms here would be empty.  While the stairs from floor six to five had been clear of everything but smoke, the stairwell from floor five to four was blocked by a wall of flame. She looked around for a fire extinguisher and realising there would be one in one of the labs, she ran to the nearest classroom door and tried the handle.

The door was locked. She remembered then that teachers kept the labs locked, as they often contained harmful chemicals for experiments. She growled in frustration and went back towards the stairs to look for any possible way to get past.

Despite the alarm ringing in her ears and the flames crackling before her, Minna was able to make out a voice. Peering carefully over the banister and through plumes of smoke, she saw Jimin waiting for her on the other side, calling her name.

“Jimi_” Minna couldn’t finish calling Jimin’s name as the smoke burned her lungs, sending her into a coughing fit that brought her to her knees.  She tried crawling away from the flames when suddenly another figure appeared before her. Her eyes were watering and the smoke was a dark black now, blocking her vision, but she reached out to them desperately as the smoke became too much for her to handle anymore. He picked her up, covering her in his jacket. The jacket was sopping wet, as if it had just been washed, but she welcomed the coolness after the heat from the fire had prickled her skin.

She felt sudden movement and then the feeling of dropping, the same feeling as when you descend on a roller coaster. As quick as the feeling had started it was over, and she felt the impact as her and her saviour hit the ground below. She was instantly released from his hold and she stumbled forwards. Jimin caught her in his arms, and at that moment the fire crew arrived.

Minna was sent to the hospital along with Jimin, who refused to be parted from Minna’s side. The doctors took various tests and as she waited for the results, her Mother and Father arrived in the hospital, along with her homeroom teacher.

“Eomma!” Minna croaked, dry from the smoke. Her face, uniform and hands were blackened in places but she had no burns. Her mother frantically held her daughter in her arms, looking her up and down for injuries.

“You’re not hurt?” She asked worriedly. Minna shook her head and her mother puller her tightly into her arms and Minna hugged back, enjoying the comforting embrace. She pulled back after a moment.

“I’ll make you smell like smoke.” Minna worried.

“As if we care about that” Her father answered, embracing his daughter too.

Her mother turned to Mr Kang. “What happened? How could this have happened?”

“We’re still looking into that ourselves. A full investigation is underway I assure you.” Mr Kang turned to Minna “Are you sure you feel okay, you weren’t burnt?”

Minna shook her head again. A nurse arrived with water for Minna and Jimin who gratefully rehydrated their dry mouths.

After an hour or so of waiting, the tests arrived and both Minna and Jimin were told they were fine. They walked from the hospital side by side, staying a little further back from Minna’s parents so they could talk more privately.

“You didn’t answer your phone.” Jimin said, looking worried. “I tried to ask if you were out of the building, but you never replied. You always reply.”

Minna gasped and took her phone from her pocket. She pressed the power button and was relieved to see it come to life as usual.

“I dropped my phone and the battery came out, I must have forgotten to turn it back on after.” She explained to Jimin. After a moment, she spoke again. “Did you see him too?” She asked.  Jimin immediately knew about whom she was referring to.

“I did… do you think he started it?” He asked.

“I don’t know... But, did he really jump from the banister with me in his arms? How did he survive that without breaking a leg?” Minna shook her head in disbelief.

“It was even more unbelievable to watch. He just fell from the smoke like some kind of super hero, he didn’t even look like he was sweating.”

“Come to think of it, he wasn’t coughing at all from the smoke either.” Their musings were interrupted as Minna’s mother called out to them.

“Do you need a lift home Jimin?”

“Yes please, Mrs Baek.”

They climbed into the car and fastened their seat belts. The drive home was quiet as the two teens pondered just what had happened that day.

The next day Minna and Jimin were approached as soon as they walked into class by the other students who were curious about the fire. They were asked what had happened, how they escaped, what had caused it. Minna and Jimin relayed information as best as they could, but left out the part where Taehyung had arrived. They felt it would be easier to explain, and really, having Taehyung enter the picture would just raise more questions. As another student came forward to ask again what had happened, Taehyung stepped into class. He heard the subject of the conversation and cast a curious glance at Minna, wondering how she would answer.

“I’m not sure exactly. I was on my way down from the sixth floor when suddenly smoke started to come up from the stairwell. The fire was blocking the stairs down to the fourth floor so I had to jump over the banister. Jimin was there to make sure I was okay.” Minna told the student, unaware that Taehyung was listening in. He reached his seat just after she finished and she looked up in surprise. Their eyes met and she wondered if she should say anything. Before she could decide he looked away, leaning back in his chair as usual.

Why of all people did it have to be the mysterious, quiet Taehyung who saved her. The look in his eyes whenever they met made her feel like she was making a fool of herself just by being in his presence. Of course, that time at the lockers she had made a fool of herself. The whole situation was humiliating. Plus, she still had his jacket at home. She sighed as she wondered how on earth she could discretely return it.

Thank you for reading this far~ Please leave comments good or bad so I know what you think, and upvotes would be greatly appreciated!