The young man now leaned back in his seat, indicating that he was finished with his story. He studied my face and asked, “What do you see in him?”

Wait. Which ‘him’ were we talking about? “Jungkook?” I tried.

He shook his head. “V. I just want to know why, no, how you can believe that that person has the ability to train you. To protect you?” I wanted to interject but he raised his hand to stop me and continued, “Granted, I’ve only just told you five minutes ago why he is not someone you should be hanging around with, so I’m giving you a chance to tell me. Do you still want to meet him after this?”

“Yes,” I replied without thinking twice. What was there to think about? “Yes, I do. He saved me, how does that make him a bad person? He knew I was in trouble and hid me from the people looking for me.”

“Saved you?” he repeated in disbelief. “Who exactly did he save you from? Me? I am a threat to him, I bet. But to you? Am I a threat to you, Jin?”

I chewed on my lower lip, not really able to answer him right away. “No…” I started, “it’s just that, I was scared. I mean, I beat someone up. Besides, I didn’t even know you at the time.” I was rambling like my life depended on it. Even I wasn’t convinced with my own words.

“But now you do.”

“Yes.”

“And you still choose him.”

He got me there.

His phone rang just as I was about to speak. He asked for my permission to leave the table which was odd, but I let him go. He took the call after walking a reasonable distance away from me. I watched his face, waiting for any sort of emotion to show, to give away something. But of course, nothing ever happens the way I intend it to.

He nodded a few times, mumbled something, and ended the call.

“Who was that?” I asked as he sat back down. He shook his head like it wasn’t anything important. I frowned. “What’s wrong? What is it?” I tried again. He glared at me, which was definitely something new. Of all the times I’ve talked to him, he has never given off the vibe that he was any kind of danger towards me. Maybe I was pushing it.

But I was getting annoyed, so I really couldn’t give a . “Tell me!”

“He got shot,” he spat out, and I froze in shock. “V got shot,” he repeated to really get it through my head. I stared at him and he only stared back. Did he really think that kind of information wasn’t important to me?

How could he let that happen?

“I—I have to go see him,” I let out a shaky breath. I couldn’t think straight. That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he said, “No, you don’t. That kid’s nothing but trouble.” And when he saw the incomprehension on my face, he added matter-of-factly, “You are not going anywhere near him.”

And what was I supposed to say to that?

                                                                                                ***

The mansion had never looked so dark, figuratively speaking. I stomped my way upstairs, duffel bag in hand and slammed the door shut behind me like an angst-ridden teenager. I wasn’t angry, and I didn’t have nearly enough hatred towards Namjoon or his gang to reach resentment level. I just felt frustrated and guilty.

Guilty because V was out there, wounded, and I was in the mansion of the gang that put the bullet in him, and frustrated because I knew there was nothing I could do about it.

They didn’t check up on me the whole day, so I decided that they were busy. Or they knew I was upset with them. Whatever. Just gave me more time to think about what happened. Which was V getting shot. So yeah. I kept thinking about V. There were times when my mind drifted back to that one time I had supper with him, how he looked with the moonlight hitting his face… and then I would snap out of it because it was neither the time nor place for those kinds of thoughts.

It was getting late and I was getting tired playing mind games with myself so I should just call it a day.

But then there was a knock on the door.

I opened the door and it was Suga and I just had to smile. I didn’t get why, maybe I was just hard-wired to never have ill feelings towards him. Even when he picked me up at the café, even when I was in that confused, semi-deranged state, I still managed a hug when he showed up.

I am such a lost cause.

“Someone’s here to see