16: SOMEWHERE SAFE

"Paradise," by Millic (feat. Fanxy Child, Zico, and DΞΔN)

                Both Sungchul and the other men began speaking at the same time.

                In that tiny moment, Yoongi yanked Naeil close to him and whispered in one breath, “Get out of here, wait behind dumpsters, I’ll meet you—go!”

                Naeil realized itwould be her only chance of escape, so she bolted before anyone else had a chance to react. There were shouts and the sound of a gunshot, which echoed off the stairwell wall just above the spot where Naeil’s head had once been. She raced down the stairs without pausing to reconsider. Her heart wanted to go back with Sungchul, but her mind knew she could only be a hinderance now.

                At the bottom of the stairs, she heard two more gunshots. Her heart dropped and for a moment she stopped. There’s nothing I can do about it. She had to keep on going. Please be okay. Another gunshot echoed through the building as Naeil raced through the first floor and out the door.

                Sure enough, there were two dumpsters behind the old building, just as Yoongi had said. Naeil crouched behind the second one, not caring about the stink wafting out.

                Only a moment later, the sound of a door slamming came, then pounding steps landing on the trash lying around the alleyway. Yoongi dashed by the dumpsters, barely slowing down to snatch Naeil up by the hand.

                “Sungchul!” shouted Naeil, trying to pull away. “Sungchul, is he—”

                “He’s fine!” gasped Yoongi, dragging her onward.

                They ran like that through several neighborhoods, twisting and turning until Naeil thought her insides were going to come out with all her breath. They finally stopped in a more crowded part of the city, were the streets got wider and busier. Yoongi hailed a cab and pulled Naeil inside.

                “We’re going…out of town,” panted Yoongi. “Just take us…southeast, toward the old…railroad loading site…know the place?”

                “Yes. Are you alright, sir?”

                “Fine.”

                Yoongi fell back into the seat, finally looking at Naeil. His eyebrows furrowed, and he glanced down at their hands, still clamped together like rigor mortis. With a little snarl, he yanked his hand away, as if offended. Naeil just rolled her eyes. You started it.

                “So, where are we headed?” she whispered.

                “Somewhere safe.”

                “Yeah, but where would that be? How do I know if I think it’s safe?”

                “Look, you psycho—”

                “Excuse me—?!”

                “Since you thought it would be a brilliant idea to barge into a gunfight without a freaking gun,” he hissed, “How about we leave the decision making to me for a change?”

                “Hey, how was I supposed to—!”

                “Shh.”

                Naeil’s cheeks puffed out in irritation. She whipped her head away from Yoongi, refusing to talk to him anymore. The taxi driver glanced at them through his mirror with one eyebrow raised. But they said nothing to him, so he didn’t, either.

                The two of them stayed that way until they neared the outskirts of Seoul. Yoongi paid the taxi driver and he and Naeil got out.

                Naeil turned to Yoongi expectantly, but found him bent over, gripping his knees and breathing heavily. Her brow creased, and she came over, gingerly brushing her fingers over his shoulder.

                “Hey…are…are you okay?”

                Yoongi immediately straightened and started walking down the gravely road.

                “Yeah. Come on.”

                The day was ending, and light poles along the sides of the street were shining their old, yellowish, electrical light down on the ground. There were a few homes here and there, a few more warehouses, and some buildings that looked abandoned. Their windows were black, like empty eye-sockets. Naeil walked close to Yoongi without thinking about it until their shoulders brushed. She looked up at him, wondering if he had noticed, if it bothered him. His eyes were focused on the road in front of them.

                “Where are we?” she asked, more to chase away the silence than anything.

                “A lot of businesses here moved to the city a while back, but there’s a few that stayed because of the location.” Naeil felt comforted by the low rumble of his drawl, an accent that didn’t seem quite like full Seoul dialect. “It’s not such a bad place to store things. There really is a railroad company out here, like I said. You’ll see.”

                Two more turns and the land opened up to a wide plain of rocky terrain, railroad tracks, train cars, and shipping containers. Warehouses lined the edges, and small factories peaked out from the trees in the distance. But judging by the angle they were walking, their destination was one of the smallest, ugliest little huts Naeil had ever seen. At the sight of it, Yoongi started moving faster. He seemed to be almost stumbling over things as he hurried along.

                “Yah, are you sure you’re—” began Naeil

                Yoongi reached the entrance and knocked loudly.

                The door open wide, revealing a tall, anxious Namjoon. “Hyung?!” he exclaimed, as Yoongi pushed his way inside.

                Naeil followed without saying a word, looking around skeptically at the messy space she had just stepped into.

                “Yah, who’s she—HYUNG?!?!”

                Yoongi ripped his shirt off, peering down at the soaked patch of cloth clinging to his pale side. He peeled it off and gingerly poked around at the broken red flesh.

                Naeil’s eyes popped out of their sockets at the sight. She spun around, running smack into Namjoon, who wore a similarly shocked expression. He cursed and rushed past Naeil to get a better look at the wound.

                “What the hell—” hissed Namjoon. “This is from a gunshot—”

                “Just a graze—”

                “Shut up, are you freaking crazy? What were you—is that a gun?”

                Namjoon had noticed the black handle poking out of Yoongi’s pants. “You brought a gun?!”

                “As you can see, I obviously needed it.”

                “That’s not the—!”

                The curtain hanging from the doorway which separated the backroom was pushed away, and Taehyung sauntered out. As soon as he caught sight of Naeil, a surprised smile broke out on his face. “Noona!” Taehyung glanced to his left and saw Yoongi bent over, shirtless, blood dripping from his side. He gasped. “Hyung!”

                Taehyung rushed toward Yoongi and began fussing over him, bawling over how short his life had been and how they were never going to get to play Uno at Christmas or vandalize the bathrooms at Jae-Dong High like he had always dreamed, which just made Yoongi look supremely irritated and got Namjoon even more stressed out while scrambling around for towels and medical supplies.

                Then the front door swung open, this time revealing Hoseok and Jimin.

                “Hoseok-ah?” said Naeil, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

                “What are you doing h—hyung!! Are you okay?!?!”

                 “It’s—” stuttered Jimin, “G-g-gun-shot—”

                “Is that you, you little cockroach?” growled Naeil.

                Jimin squeaked.

                “What’re—?”

                “Taehyung!” shouted Namjoon, helping Yoongi over to the couch. “Get me another towel from that drawer!”

                “Right!”

                Jimin shuffled anxiously toward the others. “What happened to—eyeh!“

                Naeil had grabbed Jimin by the shoulder and spun him around, eyes sparking with fury. She didn’t care that Hoseok looked freaked out..

                “You!” cried Naeil accusingly.

                “What?!”

                “What the heck are you caught up in, huh? Who are those people? And why are they bothering my church? Hurting my people?”

                “Why are you so mad at me? Yoongi-hyung spends more time at your little church than me anyway! How do you know it’s my fault?”

                “Oh, please. This all started as soon as you showed up!”

                “Yeah, well why don’t—!”

                “SHUT UP!” roared Yoongi through gritted teeth. “I’m already really pissed off right now, and you guys are driving me seriously insane!”

                The room went quiet. Everybody shuffled around uncomfortably as Namjoon cleaned Yoongi’s side and began adding medicine to the spot. The rest of the boys tried to help, but no one else knew what they were doing except Namjoon, so mostly they just stood around. Soon the wound was all bandaged up, and Yoongi laid limp on the couch, practically passed out. Taehyung got a blanket from the back and gently covered up Yoongi’s bare torso and shoulders.

                Namjoon moved away from the couch and turned to face everyone, fingers pressed into the side of his forehead.

                “How did this happen?” he asked quietly.

                Naeil assumed the question was directed toward her.

                “There were some men across the street from my church—”

                “I thought so.”

                “And—”

                “You don’t have to finish,” he said wearily. “I can guess the rest.”

                Namjoon slumped into the nearest chair. The others took it as a sign that they could sit down themselves, so they did—everyone, that is, except Naeil.

                “So…why did Yoongi bring me here?” asked Naeil, a little anxiously.

                “That’s what I would like to know…” muttered Jimin.

                “Be quiet, Jimin-ah,” chided Hoseok. “Naeil-ah…you…well…”

                “You’ll need to stay here for a while,” Namjoon stated simply. “Lay low. There might be a few parts of Seoul that are safe, but it’s too risky. It would be best to just keep away as much as possible.”

                “What do you mean by that?

                “Well…” started Hoseok. “Maybe you could just…stay here for a few days…or…a few…weeks or…”

                “A few months,” finished Namjoon.

                “What?!” shouted Naeil.

                “It’s—”

                “I am not going to stay in this little hut with some random dudes I barely know,” huffed Naeil, “Definitely not for a few days, much less months. You guys must be crazy.”

                Naeil began looking around for the door. “I should be calling my mom right now, to explain why I wasn’t home hours ago.” She spotted the door and started moving away. “And then I should actually go home.”

                Someone stopped her.

                Naeil turned around, looking down at the large, pale hand that grasped her wrist. Her eyes followed the arm’s length up to the owner’s face, widening at the sight. Yoongi had stumbled up from the couch, one hand holding her, the other clutched to the wound at his side, blanket still half-wrapped around one leg. His eyes gazed steadily at hers.

                “No.”

Author’s Note

OH NO WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN I DON’T KNOW … OH WAIT I DO CUZ I’M WRITING IT HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Probably by now everyone has figured out I’m not a normal person. But then who is?

I’m sort of obsessed with “Paradise,” by Millic. It’s kinda chill and hardcore at the same time. And Zico and Dean. Ahhh they’re a great combo.

Alsooooooooooooooo………the 12^th was the anniversary of when I first published A House Filled With Night and the 19^th is the anniversary of the first chapter I posted (like my first ever on aff ohmigosh TEARS) so I’ve been all nostalgic this week and I started working on a pencil drawing that I want to share with you guys on the 19^th. I hope you’ll like it, I’ve been working really hard and I’ve never shared any art on aff before. Or anywhere on the internet, for that matter.