“So we’re sitting in a Pizza Hut in Frankfurt, Jimin’s trying to Google Translate the phrase ‘Can I get your number?’ to German, and our ride is 2 hours late-,”

“I still don’t understand why you had to go to Germany,” I laugh. We are lying besides each other, looking up at the starry night sky. Aside from the faint sound of leaves rustling and crickets chirping, our voices are the only sound in the air.

Jungkook sighs. “4 Flames business. Every ‘vacation’ we get is a mission in disguise.”

“Hey, at least you get to see nice places.”

“True.” Jungkook rests his head on his hands. “You know where I really want to go, though?”

“Where?”

“There’s this little village in France- Colmar- that we passed as we were heading to our next location. It was all colorful townhomes and blue canals and street shops, like something out of a fairytale. One day, I’m going to move there and live there for the rest of my life.”

I giggle. “Aw, little Jungkook-ie wants a fairytale ending.”

“Hey, maybe I do.” There is a pensive look in his eyes. “After everything... that would be nice.”

A pang of guilt hits me. “Sorry. That was a thing of me to say.”

“What? You’re fine, calm down.”

There is a brief quiet between us, until I softly ask, “Don’t you get tired of it?”

“Of what?”

“Of being a pawn in their game.” I hoist myself up and rest my chin on my palm. “The 4 Flames uses you as a tool just to carry out their dirty business. Same for all the other gangs. Innocence is always destroyed."

Jungkook doesn’t say anything for a while. And then he takes a deep breath in.

“Innocence... that’s something that no one really has or wants. Everyone knows things that they shouldn’t, Ami. And think about it- would you really be better off if you didn’t know anything? Or would you be constantly frustrated, always searching for answers, always confused?”

My eyes widen in shock. He’s right. I think of the Anime Club, which spent years looking for the secret behind Kyle’s death, but could never find it.

If I withhold that information from them because of my fear that the image of the brother and friend they had will be destroyed... I’ll be doing them a disservice.  

“Besides,” Jungkook drawls, “it’s easy being a pawn when you know you’ll own the chessboard.”

I know he meant that to be lighthearted and joking, but it makes me worried. In a few years, him and BTS are going to run the 4 Flames. They’re going to be behind all the malicious, abhorrent acts Yohan carries out.

“Hey,” he says concernedly, turning on his side to face me. “What’s wrong?”

I don’t want you to own the whole chessboard. I want you and BTS to get away, Jungkook, and escape this gang.

“You’re going to be in charge of the 4 Flames?” I snort. “Then can you do me a favor? Get rid of Training.”

He bursts into laughter. “No way. I owe Training. If it hadn’t been mandatory, then I wouldn’t have gotten to see you try to lift weights. That was the funniest day of my life.”

“Oh, shut up!”

“Make me.”

I shove his leg away with my foot. He reciprocates, and I push his leg harder.

“You want to fight? Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?” Jungkook smirks, looming above me. “Let’s go, then.”

He proceeds to mercilessly tickle my ribs as I shriek with laughter.

“Stop it, you bully,” I screech, flailing around violently. “This is abuse!”

“Oh, yeah?” Jungkook grins. “Well, this is for being a computer nerd, and this is for being so damn stubborn, and this is for being so frustrating all the time-,”

“You’re terrible,” I laugh, and suddenly Jungkook’s lips are on mine and he’s cradling my face in his hands and kissing me, kissing me so hard that every single one of my nerves feels electrified and I’m tingling and burning up at the same time. My arms wrap around his neck and pull him closer to me.

For a few moments, it feels like there is nothing in the world but the two of us. He tastes like hot chocolate and spearmint; two different scents that theoretically shouldn’t mix but are really quite good together.

“Ami,” Jungkook murmurs, detaching from the kiss. He looks down at me, his expression matching mine- nervous, exhilarated, surprised. It is the most innocent I have ever seen him look.

“Wow,” I say softly, my face hot. “Um... yeah.”

“That was nice,” he whispers.

“Really nice.”

We simultaneously burst out into laughter. “For once, you don’t have anything to say,” I .

A cocky half-smile returns to Jungkook’s lips. “Maybe I don’t want to say anything. Maybe I just want to kiss you again.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

“Yeah?” I tilt my face up towards his. “Then maybe-,”

The blaring ringtone of my cellphone peals through the air. I jerk away from Jungkook in surprise, hastily fishing my phone out of my pocket.

“H-Hello?” I stutter.

“Ami. You need to get to Lina’s place now.” Preet’s tone is cold, clipped. I scramble up, grabbing my things.

“Give me 20 minutes,” I breathe. Jungkook is staring at me quizzically.

“Lina’s sick,” I explain, biting my lip. “I need to go. I’m really sorry.”

“That’s no problem.” There is a disappointed look on Jungkook’s face. “We’ll come here another time.”

“That would be great,” I smile, taking his hand and squeezing it.

Jungkook drops me off at my house. Just like during the ride here, my insides feel jittery and anxious... but for different reasons. This time, I’m more preoccupied with Lina- not Jungkook.

    Once I am sure Jungkook is gone, I hurriedly call Preet again.

    “I’m on my way,” I tell him in a low voice, cutting through alleyways and backyards. “What happened?”

    “There are a lot of things that happened,”  he responds tersely. “Lina got the information. How? That’s the first thing. Second. We read over the files. Kyle was a spy for the Seven Stars.”

    I inhale. Well, I guess that eliminates the dilemma of whether to tell them or not.

    “And there’s something else,” Preet says.

    “What?”

    “Project Cotton.”

    When I burst into Lina’s living room, I am confronted with a standoff. Preet and Marcus stand on one side of the room, glaring furiously at Lina, who is standing on the other side of the room. Annabelle sits on the couch in the middle of the room, blankly staring ahead of her. Text-heavy papers and manila folders are strewn around her lap.

    “Who the hell are you?” Preet hisses. His fists are clenched. “Enough lies. Tell us the truth.”

    “Can we focus on the damn files, first?” Lina snaps. “You read what Project Cotton was. That’s our first priority.”

    Marcus scoffs. “The files. That were written by my dead brother who was apparently part of the Seven Stars? Where you somehow got these files from?”

“Guys, what the hell is going on?” I say, storming into the room. “Can someone explain-,”

“Here’s what happened,” Preet spits out in a caustic tone, “Lina isn’t who we think she is. Those files are straight from Seven Stars Headquarters- there’s a seal on them. I’ll ask you again, Lina: how did you get these files?”

“I told you that I would handle it,” Lina says through gritted teeth. “And I did. I got the information.”

“I thought that you would try to research Kyle, research the Seven Stars, maybe take a few weeks to dredge up some irrelevant information that we would pat you on the back for- not get some of the Seven Stars’ most confidential files!”

“So you were expecting me to fail?!”

I push past Lina and go to Annabelle. “Anna. What do the files say?”

She looks up at me, expressionless. I gently nudge her side. “Anna.”

“The files are daily logs, written by Kyle,” she finally whispers. “He wrote every single plan regarding Project Cotton, every single thing that he learned, during his entire time there.”

“And?”

“Project Cotton... the 4 Flames divisions all across the globe are working on it. And it’s not just the 4 Flames that’s involved.”

My eyes widen. “Other gangs are a part of this, too?”

“No.” Annabelle swallows. “I mean the FBI, M15, FSB, BND, and other nations' intelligence agencies, along with various terror groups across the world.”

I slump down next to her.

“Yohan is illegally developing and trafficking an advanced grade of high-technology arms to militaries across the world. I’m talking everything from deadly bioweapons to portable nuclear grenades. See, the ‘cotton’ in Project Cotton is short for flash cotton, or nitrocellulose, a component of modern gunpowder.” Annabelle flips through the papers. “This is... this is insane.”

“Oh.”

She looks up at me. “Ami, you don’t get it. Almost every attack and foreign policy incident that’s occurred in the last 5 years is connected to Yohan. The Russian invasion of Ukraine? Yohan goaded them into it by presenting them a new line of weaponry and telling them that Ukraine was in talks to enter the EU. ISIS? They approached Yohan with $5 million in cash for their newly developed howitzers."

"And there have been assassinations of politicians and CEOs, and bombings, and so many other incidents that have happened in the last 5 years. The United Nations, Interpol, and all these other international agencies don’t know anything about this.”

    I clap my hands to my mouth. A lump is welling in my throat; fear is gripping my heart.

The 4 Flames has so much power. Over governments and crime groups alike. At this point, X.E. and the Seven Stars aren't even close to the level of influence that the 4 Flames has right now.

No. I'm not just feeling fear right now.

I'm feeling sheer terror.

“Do they know that Yohan is actually a front for the 4 Flames?” I utter.

    Annabelle shrugs. "I don't know. They probably do. I mean, we're talking about the American, European, Russian, and Chinese governments here. What don't they know?"

    So if we turn the 4 Flames into the authorities for anything- organ trafficking, street violence, Project Cotton- nothing will happen.

Because the authorities are on their side.

No. This is too much to take in. I rest my head on my hands, blearily staring at the floor. Yohan is... untouchable.

    Project Cotton must stop.

    But how? How are we supposed to do that? What the hell are we going to do? We're literally a group of teenagers. How are we supposed to go up against this billion-dollar company, let alone the governments of the most powerful nations in the world? We have no money, no resources, and no safe houses.

And I'm still working for the 4 Flames, and the fate of my cover rests purely on Marge. If something happens to her, or she decides to turn me in... then I'm toast. And so are all my friends. And I don't want to work for the 4 Flames forever- I can't! But I can't quit. They won't let me go. They'll kill me.

   Even if we did somehow reveal the truth about Yohan... what would happen to BTS? What would happen to Jungkook? Would they be imprisoned or even executed for the crimes they committed in the gang?

    Then I recall what Marge told me at the banquet. If the government were to find out about any gang’s proceedings, they could easily trace all other gang’s’ illegal activities as well. So what would happen to Baekhyun and Chanyeol? Would they all go to prison, too?

    . . .

    The sound of elevated shouting snaps me back to attention. Lina and Preet are up in each other’s faces, arguing loudly.

    “I don’t have to tell you anything!” Lina screams. Preet lets out a bark of laughter.

    “Yeah? We were supposed to be friend! I’ve known you since the 2nd grade, dammit! I’ve told you everything.”

    “If I told you, you’d hate me!” she shrieks. Lina’s eyes are bright with unshed tears. Preet steps backwards, a shocked expression on his face.  

    “We would never hate you, Lina,” Annabelle says, her voice shaking. For the first time, though, I realize that she’s actually mad. “You, me, Marcus, and Preet have known each other since we were all kids. I’m tired of you dodging questions and pretending like I know you when I don't.”

Lina jerks back like she's been slapped in the face. "Anna-,"

"Look, Lina." I stand up. "You saw the contents of those files. Before we figure out what the hell we're going to do, we need to know the exact position that we're in. So ing tell us."

    Lina glares at us for a moment, her fists clenched, her expression a wild mixture of fury and pain.

    And then she breaks.

    “Fine,” she whispers, “I’ll tell you.”

A/N: many things are happening

but the most important things to take away are: 1) ami and jungkook KISSED and 2) ami and her friends are at a literal dead end right now lol