“What the hell?” V moved to look at him in disbelief. “Are you for real?”

Suga paid no attention to him as his eyes were still fixed on me. “I know you’re in a tight spot right now, and we’d be more than happy to help you out, but we can’t do that within these circumstances, so we suggest you listen to us and do as we say.”

All three members of Cypher were seated on the other side of the table. Well, there was also the ex-member, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but in that chair. It felt like I was at court, and at first I thought I was acting as the witness, only a by-stander in the mess. But it turned out I was the defendant, and I had just been given a sentence for a crime I didn’t commit.

“Basically you want me to be a gangster,” I clarified.

“Depends. Under Cypher’s guidance, you could easily become whatever you want to be.”

“Wait wait wait,” V rushed out, “so you want him to go underground. And you want to take him from us?”

Hoseok huffed out a laugh. “Well, he wasn’t yours to begin with so I don’t see why you gotta get so emotional.”

V narrowed his eyes and I could tell he was mentally stabbing Hoseok in the face. Or just about to.

I was fully aware that I was the topic of the conversation. So it wouldn’t be bad for me to throw in my input on this whole custody thing going on at the table.

“He is ours!” Jimin butted in. Of course he had to in. “We took him so he is ours,” he pointed out and looked at the three gangsters like it was such a simple concept anybody could understand.

“But can you guarantee his safety?” Suga countered.

“Well--! I…” Jimin trailed off and turned to V in hopes that he would be able to answer. V merely shook his head and looked down at his empty plate.

Before V got together with Jimin and Jungkook, he was doing business with Cypher. That much I knew. But I never asked him why he left, or how long they were acquaintances for. I guess I thought it wasn’t my place to ask about his backstory. I mean, who was I to stick my nose in his business?

 I didn’t have the right to ask such personal questions.

I was taken, kidnapped. And they were figuring out what to do with me. Where to keep me.

Truthfully, I would’ve been fine being under V’s care, but Cypher wanted me. Not for ransom but for permanent keeping. They wanted to keep me for themselves.

It was weird that even though the meeting was arranged to discuss about my wellbeing, I felt like a total stranger who accidentally barged into someone’s family meeting.

Because this wasn’t just about me. There were some other problems they weren’t telling me.

Hoseok pointed an accusing finger to the red-haired boy. “You amateurs can’t keep him safe even if your lives depended on it.”

That was a particularly low blow to the group, and I was expecting Jimin to just launch himself across the table and strangle the guy  for what he had said, and V would get in between the both of them for some reason.

The boy opened his mouth like he wanted to say something but thought against it. His eyes met mine and he gave me an apologetic shrug. A shrug.

Was he not going to deny it?

Namjoon must have seen the distraught look on my face because he said, “There’s a reason why we insist you stay here with us, Jin. Your little gang with V here, will only get you in much more trouble.”

I groaned as I pinched the bridge of my nose. I knew where this was going. I knew what they wanted me to do.

“So you’re telling me I need to choose whether I want to stay here or with them? Is that it?”

“Actually you don’t have a choice.” Hoseok smiled, which earned him a loud smack on the head from Namjoon.

“Don’t listen to this guy. Of course you have a choice. I just don’t want you making the wrong one,” he said, eyeing V in the process.

“But I don’t understand…?” I searched his face, trying to understand just what he meant by that.

“You see that squirt right there?” he pointed at Jungkook who was sitting next to me. “Notice how quiet he’s been ever since we started this meeting?”

I turned to Jungkook and only then did I realize just how small he looked. His shoulders were slightly hunched over, trying to avoid my eyes. His hands were on his lap and wouldn’t lift his head to look at anyone.

The leader nodded to Hoseok, and as if on cue, the other man lifted up his arms as if he was about to drop the punch line. “He’s the reason you’re in this goddamn mess!”

I stared at the both of them, then Jungkook. “Huh?”

Namjoon crossed his arms and settled into his seat, just about ready to doze off. He was getting tired. He knew who was going to win this fight. “I’ll spare you the details, Jin. For now. But what you need to know right now is that if you keep hanging around that kid, there will be a very powerful, very dangerous mob coming for you to take you out.”

My hand reached up to my neck, rubbing it lightly. I knew what that meant. I’d seen enough movies to understand that taking me out wasn’t something I should look forward to.

At this rate, and under these circumstances, I would be crazy not to accept their offer.

And I could tell the others thought the same. Apart from V, who still appeared to be totally off guard by the sudden preposition, the other two were relatively quiet. I was at least expecting Jimin to put up some sort of fight, try to make me stay.

Instead, he was just sitting there, playing with the band aid on his cheek. Before I could poke his side to get his attention, he suddenly looked up and said, “We think he should stay here.”

A chorus of “Huh?!” was heard from V, Jungkook and myself.

He turned to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Princess, if you know what’s good for you, you