43: WAITING IN THE DARK

"Kujaku," by Nujabes

                At this point, not even Seokjin’s best back pats could keep Yoongi calm. The stale air of the abandoned house they were hiding in had put everyone on edge already. Now that the hour was passing eleven, and only Seokjin, Yoongi, Naeil, and Jungkook were gathered together. The anxiety had become tangible. Yoongi somehow found enough ground to start pacing back and forth, growing out “where the hell are they?” almost rhythmically every few seconds.

                A phone rang—Seokjin’s.

                “What are you waiting for? Answer it!”

                “I don’t recognize the number though…”

                He answered it anyway.

                “Yes…Namjoon-ah? What?!”

                “What is it?”

                “You—you’re where?!”

                 Yoongi grabbed the phone.

                “Where the hell are—WHAT? What did you just say?!”

                Naeil moved closer to the phone in an effort to hear what was going on. Namjoon was saying something about being caught unexpectedly, and that they’d have to spend the night. It didn’t make any sense to her.

                “What’s going on?” she whispered to Yoongi.

                He turned away from the phone and looked at Naeil, jaw clenched. “Namjoon and Taehyung were just arrested.”

                “Arrested!”

                Seokjin slipped the phone out of Yoongi’s hands.
                “Which station is it?”

                “Don’t come. I’ll deal with it myself.”

                “How are you going to do that? Don’t worry, I’ll call my family’s lawyers.”

                “No, no. Please don’t, hyung. I’ll figure it out.”

                “Come on, Namjoon-ah. You know it’s not any trouble to me.”

                “I know your parents are already upset with you for hanging around lowlifes like us all the time. This isn’t exactly going to make them happy. So just forget about it. Taehyung and I will be okay.”

                Yoongi grabbed the phone again. “And what are we supposed to do about this mess? You know we might not have a chance as good as this to get Juyoung for a long time.”

                “Go through with the plan without us. We’ve already talked about it. You’ll have to ask Naeil to help you. You won’t have a lookout, but we don’t exactly have a lot of options.”

                “That’s not gonna happen.”

                “Why?”

                “Because…well, because it’s a stupid idea!”

                “Stupid because why? I thought you said she beat you up once.”

                Yoongi looked up at Naeil to see if she had heard. She was smiling. She had definitely heard.

                “It’s too risky. I don’t think—”

                 “Hyung, I gotta go. We’ll try to meet up with you as soon as we can. Good luck.”

                A silent curse slipped out of Yoongi’s mouth as the call ended and his hand fell away from his ear. Seokjin took his phone back.

                “Has anyone heard from Hoseok?” asked Jungkook, who was keeping watch by a little window in the front.

                “No.”

                “He just texted me. He said he can’t come.”

                “He—he what? We can’t do this without him! What the hell happened?”

                “That’s all he said—”

                “Well ask him!”

                “Oh wait.”

                “What?”

                “He just texted again. He said, uh, ‘Jimin disappeared. It’s my fault. I will find him.’ ” He looked out the window. “Oh. Also…Shin Juyoung just drove by. He’s arrived.”

                Yoongi cursed again.

-------------------

                The four of them huddled behind the old warehouse, whispering despite the music blaring out from inside. The base was so jacked up it made the ground tremble. Or maybe they were trembling?

                “Like I said before,” Jungkook whispered, “Juyoung will probably stay in the main area with everyone else most of the time. The only reason he ever leaves is if he needs to use the bathroom, if he wants to get a breath of fresh air, if he’s hungry, or if he brought a girl and he wants to be alone with her. Since we’re missing a lot of people I guess each of us wil have to take a position by ourselves. Whoever is most likely to get lost should probably stay outside. I’ll hideout in the little room he uses to sleep in since it’s hard to find and I’ve been here before.”

                “I think I can find the room where they keep the food,” said Yoongi. “I’ll head there.”

                “Does that mean I get stuck outside?” said Naeil.

                “You can—oh. Yeah, you probably don’t want to hide out in the bathroom, do you?”

                “No. No, not really.”

                Seokjin was left to watch the bathrooms, which meant watching a little portable outhouse on in front of the warehouse, since there was no running water anymore.

                “In case anyone’s forgotten,” said Yoongi, “I’m the only one with a gun, and most of these guys are at least carrying knives. So if anyone so much as hears a sneeze from Juyoung or anyone else, text everyone before you do anything. And please remember that the last thing we need is a fight breaking out tonight. We’ve got to do this quietly.”

                Thus, Naeil found herself left outside while the boys sneaked into the warehouse through a back door. She sunk down to the ground with her back against the wall, in between two bushy trees that kept on pricking her cheeks with their scratchy branches. Maybe it was a little underwhelming compared to trying to infiltrate Bul-ui Agma’s hideout, but she found herself no less anxious. For a while, she opted for sitting down and playing with the grass. But she kept on looking over her shoulder at the smallest sound. Eventually she ended up crawling behind the bush at the corner and crouching there so she could see the door around the next corner as well as the door along her wall. There was one more door on the far side of the building, but Seokjin should have a decent view of it from where here was hiding.

                Her phone vibrated. It almost gave her a heart attack. It was a message from Yoongi: There are too many people in the kitchen. I found a good hiding place close to the entrance. The entrance? It couldn’t be a good place to hide, could it?

                Another message came soon after: I think I’ve spotted Juyoung. He’s with too many people right now.

                Naeil sighed. They might be waiting for a long time. Her legs got tired, and she ended up sitting back down again. The ground was a little moist and, in all likelihood, her jeans were turning brown from the sod. The wait was absolutely maddening.

                 A couple times some other boys would come out for a while, but none of them could be Juyoung. They were all too short. After a while, it became difficult to stay awake. She never would have thought she could get so drowsy while sitting in the dirt, but it was surprisingly comfortable in the middle of the night. She almost missed the sound of the door opening again. But the shuffling that came afterward was unmistakable. Naeil roused herself and looked around the corner. The figure was bent over, as if ready to vomit. She couldn’t see anything of his face.

                He stood up. He was almost as tall as the doorway.

                “Could it be…?”

                He turned around. It was definitely him.

                She took out her phone and quickly wrote one more message before standing up: Juyoung came outside. East door. He looks really drunk. I’m going after him.

Author’s Note

(This was the author's note I wrote when I thought I posted this chapter):

My guess is most of you guys are just as dead as I am after this comeback. My brain is 100% dead right now. So thank you for being alive and reading my story. My brother is about to bite my head off if I don't finish, we're supposed to be watching a movie right now so bye!!!!!!