Jimin stood outside of the Supply Sector gate, begging for the nth time to the guards to let him in. Out of all the four sectors, the Supply Sector was heavily guarded even before a Supplier was appointed as the Village Leader.

“Village Leader Seokjin has not mentioned anything of a visit from a Healer,” one of the guards calmly told him. “We are not allowed to grant you -”

“I understand,” Jimin interrupted, already tired of hearing the same thing. “But this is urgent.”

The guard’s stony face remained as he inhaled sharply. “If you wish to send him a message, you may do so through us.”

“It is a confidential matter between the Village Leader and I,” Jimin raised his tone, patience already thinning out. “I will not pass the message through anyone.”

“If I may remind you, we are Suppliers. We do not reveal any confidential matter without consent.”

Jimin knew that. He knew that fact so well. But Youngjae had mentioned to him that he must keep it a secret and no one must know about it. Even to Taehyung, he’d only revealed to his friend that he received the flower, but he didn’t mention the identity of the sender.

“No,” Jimin sternly said, standing on his ground while keeping his posture composed.

The corners of the guard’s mouth curved slightly upward into a small smirk. “Then you may as well leave.”

He couldn’t just leave. He needed to find answers. He needed to know every reason Village Leader Seokjin had for him to send that flower to him.

If what Taehyung said was true after all, that Red Dahlia symbolized betrayal and that it was linked to the attack years ago, Jimin wanted to know what he had to do with it that out of all the people in the village, he was the one who received it specifically from the Village Leader. And it was sent with a caution, a warning. It had kept him awake for most days. It occupied his mind just as much as the problem his family was currently facing. He couldn’t just give up like that.

“Let me speak to Supplier Yoo Youngjae,” Jimin requested.

The guards’ faces hardened, their eyes telling him that they were losing patience with him. It was clear that only those who made appointments with anyone at all in the Supply Sector was allowed entrance.

“Please,” Jimin begged.

“Please leave,” the guard said with a sharp exhale of air through his nose. “You may come again if they wish to see you.”

“Let him in.”

Jimin’s eyes flitted past the guards’ shoulder. Youngjae was standing behind the gates, face stoic with his hands clasped behind his back. A sigh of relief escaped Jimin and he almost rolled his eyes to the guards who were standing like fences in front of him. Youngjae looked at him briefly and gave him the briefest nod.

“But -” the guard tried to argue.

“The Village Leader has been expecting Healer Park Jimin,” Youngjae said calmly. “Let him in.”

*

Jungkook could tell that Yugyeom wasn’t prepared for his attacks. His attacks had been rough and vicious before, but none of them could compare to the ones he did at that moment. Jungkook was enraged while at the same time being petrified over what was coming. At the end of each day, the flowers had multiplied. Yesterday morning, they were everywhere around his house, causing his grandfather to lose his temper easily, burning each of them into ashes whenever he saw one.

“Calm down, Jeon!” Yugyeom yelled as he avoided each attack in a rush. “Give me a break!”

Jungkook heard the pleas, yet when he made eye contacts with the other men, his tormenters, Jungkook couldn’t help the ferocity in him. He knew that they were behind those flowers. They wanted to remind him of who he was. And for sure, they were following someone’s order. There was no one else who’d had the mind and determination to do all that, to torment him further other than his former sparring partner.

Every suspicion seemed to scream certainty especially after what Yugyeom told him, that the men’s visits to the prison were now frequent. There was a voice inside of him, an instinct. It was telling him that the prison days of his mortal enemy would soon end. It was telling him that somehow his life would be in danger once again.

It was why he felt like convincing Chaeyoung that Junhoe would be the right man for her was the best decision he would ever do. He didn’t want to risk her. He wanted her to be safe. He didn’t want her to be a target to the men. If the men could follow him home, stalking him deep in the woods when he was alone, they could do just the same to her if Jungkook wouldn’t stop seeing her. If he continued to be around her, they’d know that she was special to him. They would h