“Get up! If you just lie there you're going to die. Is that what you want?”

She grit her teeth from her position, face down on the ground. She was beyond exhausted. She had been sparring for hours and her body had been pushed beyond its limits. She tried to push herself up, but she just couldn’t muster up the strength. She grunted as she flopped back to the ground. She heard her instructor scoff. “Useless. Yah, you two, take her to the third floor.”

She heard the shuffling of two sets of feet making their way towards her. She wanted to scream, to tell them not to touch her and not to take her to the third floor, but she was too exhausted to mutter a single syllable as they hauled her up and dragged her away. Her opponent mouthed an apology at her. She knew not to take it personally; they were all fighting to survive down here…

“Soo Jung! Get your out of bed!”

Her eyes snapped open at the loud voice, immediately waking her from her dream. N; not a dream… a memory. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, “I’m up!” she shouted back groggily as she flung off her blanket and made her way into the bathroom to freshen herself up.

She finally made her way downstairs and flopped into a chair by the kitchen table, where a full breakfast was waiting for her. “What’s with the name Soo Jung anyway? It sounds so weird.” She asked as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. The man in the kitchen sat down opposite her, a cup of coffee in his hand. “Well, if you hadn’t beaten up that guy so badly that he required medical attention, we could have been back in Daegu and I could still be calling you Mi Jin.” He said, flashing a grin in her direction.

She rolled her eyes, something that she had learned that young people did from watching countless movies and TV shows. “Come on Yoongi, you know he deserved it. He was harassing girls all over campus. It was disgusting. I just put him in his place. How was I supposed to know that he couldn’t take a hit?” she said as she started on her breakfast. He shook his head and chuckled. “This is why I never had kids of my own.” He muttered, but there was a note of fondness in his voice as he looked at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him childishly as she continued to eat. His expression became more serious as he watched her. “Are you sure you’ll be ok?” he asked, his words coated with concern. She sighed, tired of having the same conversation so many times. “I told you, I’ll be fine. Practically every student in this uni stays on campus. It would look strange if I didn’t too. I’m not meant to stand out, right?” she said, raising her eyebrow at him in a challenging way, a trait she had picked up from him after living with him for so many years. He chuckled at her expression. “Fine. But you remember the story, right?” he asked.

She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yup. My name is Min Soo Jung. We just moved here from Daegu. You're my ex-military dad and we moved around a lot when I was growing up. I need to keep myself in check and if I happen across another douchebag, I’ll just rough him up a little.” She said with a playful smirk. He smirked back at her. “Just checking.” He said as he stood up and cleared away their dishes. “Go grab the rest of your stuff. You don’t want to be late.”

She went back up to her room and packed up the rest of the things she needed to take to her dorm room with her. She had already forwarded on most of her things. All that was left was one box and her backpack. She stuffed her laptop into her backpack and double checked that she hadn’t left anything else behind before heading downstairs. “Good to go, kiddo?” she frowned at the nickname. “I really wish you wouldn’t call me that.” She mumbled as she headed out to his car with her box. Yoongi only chuckled in response.

Once he had dropped her off at her dorm, she took some time to organise her things. They had paid extra for her to get a room to herself, which she was thankful for. The only person she wasn’t awkward around was Yoongi, the man she called dad when other people were around. It was a ruse they had concocted years ago, the truth was just too hard to explain. She was well aware that he wasn’t her real father, but he had taken her in when the Institution that had trained her had been shut down. It was true that he was ex-military, a very high ranking official by the name Min Yoongi, that’s how he knew about her and her past. He had been a part of a team that had worked with her when she was only eleven years old. He had been incredibly uncomfortable with working with such a young child. He had never had children of his own, but he pitied the lifestyle that she had grown accustomed to.

He had spent some time talking to her, and for some reason she had felt at ease around him and had let down her guard. He was able to see the scared and vulnerable girl underneath the hardened exterior that she kept in place to survive. When the Institution’s funding got pulled, all of the children there had become a part of the system. All of them had undergone extensive psychological evaluation to determine whether or not they could be released back into society. The thought of where she could have ended up had terrified him. He knew that where she had come from had been hell on earth, and he didn’t want her to continue to suffer.

He had changed her files to say that she had passed all of the tests and had put his name down as her guardian. She had been so confused when he had turned up at her cell. She had been convinced that she was going to be spirited away to another facility and locked away for the rest of her life because of what they had turned her into. He had never told her about him changing her files. As far as she knew, she had actually passed the tests.

She had originally wondered about why he had chosen to take her in. She knew that he didn’t have any family, and in the back of her mind she worried that he would be taking her somewhere that would have her doing worse things than she already was. She had been beyond surprised when he had taken her to a completely normal looking apartment. A sight that she was not accustomed to. He had taken her to a room with a bed and told her that it was for her and that he had another room down the hall.

She had been so confused by the whole situation that she didn’t sleep for almost three days straight, so afraid that if she dared fall asleep she would wake up back in the Institution with everything that had happened with Yoongi taking her away, taking her to freedom being just being a cruel dream.

She took out a framed photograph of the two of them from when he had first taken her in. She was too skinny and looked tiny next to slim frame. He was grinning at the camera while she looked shy. It was one of her favourite photographs. It symbolised the beginning of her freedom, even if she hadn’t understood it at the time. She spent the rest of the day organising her room, making sure that everything was in its place. Once she was finally happy with how her room looked, she decided that she should get something to eat. She had looked at a map of the university before arriving and had it completely memorized. She slipped on a hoody before slowly making her way to the cafeteria, enjoying taking in the sights and sounds of the university. Crowds made her a little uneasy, an old habit as it meant her enemies had more places to hide, so she stuck to a longer, quieter route.

She ate by herself in a corner of the cafeteria, her eyes subconsciously scanning the people around her, memorising each and every face… just in case. Old habits die hard. She thought to herself as she forced herself to look out of the window instead of at the people surrounding her.

Once she finished eating, she continued her tour around campus. It had already become dark but that didn’t bother her. She wandered around, easily finding the library, student union, the building where her lectures would be held and a convenience store. Once she had everything mapped out, she slowly made her way back towards her dorm building.

As she was walking by the library, she could hear voices coming from the small alleyway that led to the back of the building. Curiosity got the better of her and she followed the voices. She reached a corner and carefully peeked around and saw that two guys had a third guy cornered. She heard one of the two demanding the wallet of the third. She closed her eyes and quietly cursed. “I’ve been here for five minutes and already there's trouble.” She muttered to herself as she looked back around the corner. One of the pair grabbed the third by the front of his sweater and pushed him against the wall behind him. “Are you deaf? We said give us your wallet.” He said as he reached up and slapped the black haired boy upside the head.

“Forgive me, Yoongi.” She said to herself as she stepped into the alleyway, her hands in her pockets to fight off the cold. “Yah!” she yelled loudly, startling the three men. The black haired boy that was currently pinned against the wall looked at her in shock, while the other two merely grinned at her. “What’s the matter, sweetheart? You lost? I’m sure me and my buddy here can take you wherever you need to go.” Said the one that currently wasn’t pinning the black haired boy to the wall. Her expression didn’t change as she slowly made their way towards them. “Let him go.” She said, her tone bored. The pair laughed, “Let him go? Sweetheart, we’re just having a chat with our friend Jungkook here.” Said the other one as he let go of the boy called Jungkook's sweater and instead slung his arm over the tall boy’s shoulders causing him to have to hunch forward.

Jungkook looked at her nervously. “It looks like he doesn’t want to chat.” She said coldly. “I think you should get lost.” She said. The pair laughed once again, “Sweetheart, you really don’t know how to read the atmosphere, do you?” the taller of the two taunted as she stepped up in front of her. “We’re busy here, why don’t you just run off and leave the men to talk.” He said as he reached out towards her. Her hand shot up and she grabbed his wrist in a vicelike grasp. “Do not touch me.” She spat, her grip tightening slightly.

The guy holding Jungkook cheered loudly, “She’s got you there! Why don’t you show her why a woman should listen to a man’s words?” he taunted. “Run!” Jungkook shouted, earning himself a slap from the man who was holding him. “Shut your mouth.” He warned. The man in Soo Jung’s grip tried to free his arm but she refused to let go. He tugged again and again, but she didn’t let up. “Let me go, you ing .” He spat as he swung at her with his free arm. She ducked out of the way of his punch and released his arm before kicking him on the backside and sending him to the ground. His friend immediately let go of Jungkook and strode up to her. Before he could say or do anything, she tangled her leg with his, tripping him up and sending him face first into the ground, her hands already back in her pockets.

“I won't repeat myself again, get lost.” The two men stood up, both of them cursing her. The one that had been in her grip cursed at her as he rubbed his wrist, “ing .” He muttered. “You better hope I don’t see you again.” he threatened as they made their way out of the alleyway. She rolled her eyes at the empty threat before turning back to the boy called Jungkook. “Are you ok?” she asked. He nodded and straightened his clothes. “Y-Yeah. Thank you. That was amazing! But it was really dangerous! You could have gotten hurt!” he exclaimed.

The word cute entered her brain but she ignored it. “I’m pretty good at martial arts. I could take care of those two in a heartbeat.” She said offhandedly. Jungkook approached her and extended his hand for hers. “My name is Jeon Jungkook. And thanks again, for helping me out.” She looked at his hand for a few seconds before slipping her hand into his larger one. “Min Soo Jung.” Jungkook smiled brightly at her. “Soo Jung.” He said, testing out how her name sounded.

“Are you heading back to the dorms? I can walk you, to make sure you get back safely.” He said. “I don’t think I’m the one that needs protecting.” She said making a small blush cover his face. She sighed, instantly feeling a little guilty for teasing him. “But sure. Let’s go.” She said as she led the way out of the alleyway, Jungkook following right behind her. Yoongi is gonna kill me if he finds out what I just did. She thought to herself as she walked back to the dorms, the tall boy following close behind her.

Author's note

Hey guys,

I just want to tell you all that I'm so happy/proud/overwhelemed with the amazing response from the prologue for this story! I didn't expect such an enthusiastic repsonse from so many people!

I hope this first chapter doesn't dissappoint.

Love you all!

L xxx