The next day, Taehyung takes his parents to the hospital. He helps fill out the paper works since his father and mother are illiterate. After the checkup, the family goes for lunch at a restaurant. After lunch, Taehyung’s dad pays for lunch. Then, they head home.

At home, Taehyung’s mom is working around inside the house while his dad is outside working around as well.

“Taehyung,” his mother shouts.

Taehyung is in his room touching his phone. He hears his mom calling for him, so he goes out to see what his mom wants.

“Did you call me, mom,” Taehyung asks.

“Yeah,” his mom replies. “Reach for that vase for me will you?” She points to the top of the fridge.

Taehyung grabs the vase and hands it over to his mom.

“Why do you need the vase,” Taehyung asks his mom.

“Your father bought some flowers, and I want to put them in here,” his mom replies. “Why don’t you go help your father? He’s cleaning up the yard alone. It’s still cold outside. The more people working, the faster the job will be done.”

“Let me go put on a sweater.”

Taehyung heads outside and sees his dad sweeping the dirt on the sidewalk onto the soil ground.

“Dad,” Taehyung calls. “Do you need help?”

“Yeah,” his dad replies. “Go around and pick up the branches on the ground.”

“Put them where?”

“Underneath the tree in the backyard. I’m going to use them to make a fire.”

“A fire for what?”

“It’s your mother’s birthday on friday, and she loves eating pork belly. Is there anything you want to eat?”

“Just buy a lot of pork belly, dad.”

Taehyung starts to pick up the fallen tree branches and gathers them under the tree like his dad told him.

After the father and son are done, they head inside, and Taehyung’s mom has two cups of hot tea waiting for the both of them.

“Was is very cold outside,” his mom asks.

“It was bearable,” Taehyung replies.

His dad picks up the cup and takes a sip. Taehyung does the same.

 

The next day after school, Taehyung comes home. His dad is out while his mom is still in the house.

“Where’s dad,” Taehyung asks.

“He went out to buy some hot drinks,” his mom replies. She is wearing a cardigan, so she is pulling that cardigan close to her as she speaks. “It’s spring, but the weather is still chilly especially at night.” His mom observes his face. “Is something wrong? You look pale.”

“Actually,” Taehyung starts. “I’m not feeling well. My head has been hurting.”

His mom walks over to him and touches his forehead.

“You’re a little hot,” she says. “I’ll make you something to eat and give you some medication.”

His mom does so.

Taehyung finishes the food and takes the pill his mom had given him.

“Thanks, mom,” Taehyung says.

“You’re welcome,” his mom replies. “Why don’t you go to sleep. You need plenty of rest when you’re sick.”

Taehyung stands up and heads to his room where he goes straight to bed.

Today is Wednesday. Taehyung and his friends are in the cafeteria.

“What should we do friday after school,” Hoseok asks. “It’s a three day weekend. We should have fun early.”

“Karaoke,” Jin replies. “We can order some food, sing, and have fun.”

“Great,” Jimin agrees. “I’m in!”

“Same,” Jungkook cheers.

“I can’t go,” Taehyung says.

“Why not,” Suga asks.

“It’s my mom’s birthday, and dad promised to buy a lot of pork belly,” Taehyung replies.

“Lucky,” Hoseok says. “I want pork belly.”

“We’ll have pork belly at the karaoke place,” Jimin says.

“Yeah, but it’ll be expensive just to buy one serving,” Hoseok says.

“You guys go ahead without me,” Taehyung says. “We can do something tonight though.”

“Since we’re broke,” Nam Joon suggests. “Why don’t we go window shopping. We have to save some money for this weekend anyway.”

“Cool,” Jin agrees.

“Okay,” everyone else agrees.

The friends are in stores looking around. They find some things they want to buy, but they don’t because they are trying to save money. They enter the shoe store that has the shoe Taehyung wants. Everyone scatters around the store. Taehyung walks over to the shoes that he wants and stares at it. He wants the shoes badly, but there is nothing he can do.

“Guys,” Jungkook calls. “Come here!”

The friends rush over to him.

“Look at these kicks,” Jungkook says. “I'm going to ask my parents to buy them for me, and look,” he points at the price tag. “It's cheap too.”

They walk out of the store and head elsewhere. They are all walking and talking together when all of a sudden they hear, “Look at what we got here.”

The friends raise their head and look around. In front of them are a group of older man.

“Aren't you the little friends from the restaurant the other day,” the man asks.

The friends recognize him.

“These were the boys I was telling you about,” the man tells his friends.

“Ahh,” one of his friends say. “The pip squeaks?”

The older men laugh together.

“What do you want,” Nam Joon asks.

“Nothing much,” the familiar man replies. “Just a little revenge.”

“You want to fight with kids,” Jin asks.

“No. We just want to teach you respect. That's all.”

“You're the one who needs to learn respect,” Jungkook says. “How dare you, a grown up, pick on little kids like us.”

“This kid.” He takes a step forward, but his friends stop him.

Jungkook does so too, but his friends stop him.

“What do you want us to do,” Nam Joon asks.

“Just run a few errands for us then we'll call it even,” one of the older man says.

“Like what?”

They eye Jimin's shoes.

“Kid,” the friend from earlier says. “You have eyes for new kicks. Those things are expensive. Give them to me.”

“What,” Jimin asks surprised.

“Hurry.”

Jimin looks at his friends worried.

Nam Joon nods his head.

Jimin sighs in annoyance and takes off.

“Good boy,” the friend from earlier says. “Walk it over here.”

Jimin does so and hands the shoes over to him.

“Great,” the familiar man says. “Let's get started.”

They walk out of the mall.

The older men are taking the lead while the friends are walking behind them.

“Why did we have to run into them,” Suga complains quietly. “Way to ruin our evening.”

“At least you have shoes to wear,” Jimin quietly shouts back. “All I have are socks.”

“If they plan to do anything irresponsible, we run,” Nam Joon says.

“What if they want to fight us,” Jungkook asks.

“We fight back,” Jin answers.

“Kids,” the familiar man says. “It's hot. Go buy us some ice cream.”

They are standing in front of a mini mart.

Nam Joon walks in and his friends follow. They pick up five random ice cream bars and pay for it.

“So much for karaoke tomorrow,” Hoseok mumbles.

They head back outside and give the bars to the older man.

“Why'd you buy strawberry,” a man asks annoyed. “Don't they have blueberry?” He takes the bar from Hoseok and eats it.

The older men starts walking, so the friends follow. They walk for another five minutes then they stop. The older men turn to face the friends.

“You see that drug store over there,” the familiar man asks. “They sell pretty good cigarettes. Go get us some. Five packs each understand? Even more will be better. If you do a good job on this task, we'll let you go and never bother you again.”

“How can we go in there and buy cigarettes for you,” Jimin asks. “We're underage.”

“Plus,” Hoseok adds. “We used all our money to buy ice cream for you.”

“Did we tell you to buy,” the familiar man asks. “We told you to go get it. Steal it if you must.”

“No,” Nam Joon says. “What you're making us do is illegal. You're asking minors to buy you cigarettes. I will not let my friends and I risk our lives to do something for someone who claims they know respect but obviously doesn't.”

“What did you say?” The man scoffs. “Seriously. Your parents must have not taught you to not talk back to your seniors. See, this is why we're teaching you, so show me some respect will you.”

“I'll show you the respect you want to see when you start acting your age instead of a bully.”

The man frowns. He walks over to Nam Joon and with his index finger the man pushes Nam Joon's head.

“What did you say,” the man asks.

Nam Joon glares at him.

“What are you looking at,” the man asks. “Lower your eyes.” He raises his index finger again to push Nam Joon’s forehead, but Nam Joon catches his finger.

“Enough,” Nam Joon says in a warning way.

“What do you think you're doing?” The man pulls his finger out of Nam Joon's hand and slaps Nam Joon's head.

The friends gasp.

“Gosh,” the familiar man says as he shakes his hand off. “I wasn't planning to be violent with you guys, but you were be stubborn.”

“So you want to use violence with us,” Nam Joon asks.

“Only when you're stubborn to teach you a lesson.”

“You're being stubborn too. Should I teach you a lesson as well?” Nam Joon raises his fist and punches the man.

The man stumbles back.

The friends charge towards the other guys, and the other guys do the same thing. They get into a fist fight. Everyone is throwing punches.

The people that are walking by them are gasping. The ones with their children are taking them away.

The older man are losing immensely. Nam Joon and Jin are taking on the familiar man while the others are one on one.

Ho Seok throws a punch at the guy making him fall. The guy looks at Ho Seok terrified and runs away. Ho Seok smiles in victory and goes help Jimin. He throws a punch at the man making him stumble and fall. Ho Seok climbs on top of the guy and throws punches continuously at the guy's face.

Jimin runs over to his feet and takes off the Jordan's that he was forced to give away earlier. He puts them on and kicks the guy.

Taehyung punches one of the guy making him stumble to the ground. The guy looks around and sees that his friends are losing. He reaches into his pocket.

Taehyung walks over to him and spins him around. He raises his fist to punch the man, but the man extends his hand towards Taehyung's stomach. Taehyung freezes. He feels something poking in his stomach. Taehyung looks down to see the guy holding a pocket knife. The guy has stabbed Taehyung. Taehyung's hand slowly comes down to his stomach.

The guy pulls the knife out making Taehyung jerk. He stabs Taehyung again before he kicks Taehyung away.

Taehyung stumbles to the ground. His hand is cupping his stomach. He's in so much pain. The bleeding won't stop. Taehyung feels weak.

The man walks over to Taehyung. He raises his arm and grips his knife. The man swings his arm down ready to stab Taehyung again, but Jin runs over to him and kicks him to the ground. The man drops his knife. Jin climbs on top of him and starts punching him over and over again.

Nam Joon runs over to Taehyung and holds Taehyung in his arms.

“Nam Joon,” Taehyung says in a hoarse voice.

“Taehyung,” Nam Joon says worriedly.

“It hurts,” Taehyung cries.

“You'll be okay. Hang in there buddy.” A tear falls out of Nam Joon's eyes.

Once the man is too weak to get up, Jin stops and stands up. He runs over to Nam Joon and Taehyung. His eyes widen, and he freezes.

The rest of the friends come running in.

“Hurry,” Nam Joon says in a shaky voice, “call an ambulance. Hurry!”

Jin, with his shaking hand, takes out his phone and calls for an ambulance.

“Hang in there,” Nam Joon cries. “The ambulance is coming.”

Taehyung shakes his head. “I don’t think I can,” Taehyung says in a shaking voice. “I’m bleeding too much.”

Nam Joon shakes his head. “You’ll make it.”

All the friends are crying.