Chapter 11

"Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's okay to lose.
I don't. You have to be merciless."
- Magnus Carlsen

While walking down the sidewalk, Dalnim rummaged around her bag for her phone, finally closing her hand around it and pulling it out.

“'The rude girl', huh?” she mumbled to herself, a sly grin playing about her lips. “They don't even now.”

She scrolled through her contacts, stopped at a certain name and pushed the call button without a sign of hesitation. The free signal rang in her ears. Once, twice – more often than she was used to, actually.

A pang of disappointment started to spread in her guts, just as the free signal cut off and a voice was audible through the speakers.

“Hello?”

She sighed, relief replacing the sinking feeling.

“Hoseok” she called. “Already forgetting about me?”

He cackled on the other side, and Dalnim could imagine his bright face as he did so.

“As if I ever could, Dal” he assured. “Missing me, eh?”

Dalnim snorted and leaned against the wall. He was right, though. She really missed him.

“Let's hang out tonight” she suggested as an answer. “Just a few drinks. Go to a club maybe. I feel like I'm having the cabin fever. And my roommate-”

“Is she hot?” Hoseok interrupted, his voice filled with interest all of a sudden.

Dalnim rolled her eyes as the encounter with Nari came back to her mind.

“Yeah” Dalnim scoffed. “She's a bunch of burning toxic waste.”

Hoseok broke into laughter. Just hearing him made Dalnim cheer up and she smiled to herself. As she kept on listening to Hoseok spilling the beans about the girl Yoongi had brought home the night before, her forehead suddenly scrunched up, as two kind-of-familiar figures walked on the opposite side of the road.

Flame Boy and the loud one.

For some reason, curiosity sparked inside her and she pushed herself off of the wall, following them on her side of the road.

“Hoseok” she interrupted him mid-sentence. “I need to go. Meet me at the club at 11, okay?”

Without waiting for an answer, she ended the call, looked left and right and crossed the street.

Dalnim followed the two boys at a safe distance of about ten meters. She wasn't able to listen to any conversations, but she noticed how both boys talked really animatedly – moving their hands in wide gestures and laughing out loud.

A few meters farther, they stopped at a red traffic light, and Dalnim stood directly behind them, catching shreds of their conversation.

“So, are you going to compete or not?” the Loud Ooy asked Flame Boy – Jimin, Dalnim reminded herself.

“Ah, Taehyung-ah! Stop bothering” he muttered and Dalnim noticed that he got uncomfortable by the way he rolled his shoulders back. “You're beginning to sound like Jungkook.”

A deep chuckle escaped Taehyung's mouth as he dug his hands into the pockets of his jeans, leaning his head into his neck.

But he never replied.

The traffic light buzzed and Dalnim looked up, finding it green and they crossed the busy street.

By following the two boys, Dalnim found out a lot.

One of them was majoring in singing an dance, the other one in acting. Jimin had also talked about Jungkook constantly bugging him to teach him dancing and that he had given in the other day.

Both of them also expressed their worries for their friend. How he was getting worse again – worse with what?, Dalnim had wondered – and that he looked really bad lately.

Thinking back when meeting him in the cafe, Dalnim didn't think he looked back. She thought he even looked quite handsome with his sharp features, his dark hair and his dark eyes.

Dark.

Somehow that was what he was radiating.

Except for his face, which seemed so very fair against the dark circles his almond-shaped eyes.

Dalnim made mental notices about everything she heard and saw, thinking it might come in handy when her new neighbor decided to start bothering her once more.

At the next cross over, Dalnim parted ways from Jimin and Taehyung, looking at her watch and finding it later than she had expected.

When she returned to her dorm, she felt dread thinking about whether Nari was home or not. She really didn't want to confront her – scared that she just might lose control when that stupid fool would say one more useless word that would just needlessly take up oxygen.

Dalnim unlocked her door with a click, and let out a sigh of relief when she found the room empty.

As empty as it could, Dalnim cursed, considering the countless empty bottles that stood everywhere.

She plunged her bag onto her bed, slipped out of the sweater and skirt, and tapped into the bathroom, washing the day off her body. She closed her eyes against the water jet, already looking forward to getting lost in the club tonight with her best friend at her side. A small smile crept up the corners of her lips as she turned off the water and slung a towel around her slim figure.

Dalnim felt strong. Confident, even.

She had swapped skirts with dark, ripped jeans, and flats with her beloved steel-toed boots.

With her hands stretched up high in the air, and one of Hoseok's hands placed onto her waist as they danced – she felt alive.

Truly alive.

The alcohol had put some color in her face and a smile was plastered onto her lips. The rush of the crowded dance floor made her feel more at home than any place was ever able to. As that realization hit her mid-sip, she slung an arm around her best friend's neck, pulling him a little closer to her and placing a sloppy peck on his cheek.

“Thanks for coming” she yelled over the music and he simply hugged her closer as an answer.

It wasn't until half an hour later, when both of them were sweatily letting their bodies fall into the comfortable arm chairs in the VIP section, Dalnim's chest rising and falling rapidly, thus smiling brightly like she was the happiest person alive.

Just then, Hoseok pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jeans, squinting at the display. Then he answered.

“Yoongi....mhm....I'm at the club....yes, but that's not too far away. I'll handle it....bye.”

He faced her over the table, an excited grin forming on his face.

“You in for some fun?” he smirked – and without a word spoken, Dalnim knew exactly what he meant.

Once again, Jungkook worked the closing shift at the cafe.

After his friends left – just mere minutes after that girl exited the cafe, after he made eye contact with her – he felt a little worked up.

Every now and then, rushes of adrenaline pushed through his veins, leaving him completely on the edge and restless. He didn't know what was going on with his body – but it was nothing new.

As the last customer left, Jungkook locked the door and cleaned the tables, the counter, the toilet.

It actually wasn't his work to be done – the cafe actually had a cleaning lady – but he knew after today, he wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway.

When he left the place, surprised by the aggressive gusts of wind speeding through the alleyway, it was already past midnight.

With a sigh, Jungkook dug his cold fingers into his pant pockets and set in motion. At the end of the street was a crossroad and he weighed his options.

Turn right, go home and try to sleep before classes start early in the morning-

or turn left, go through the park and stock up on beer and snacks before going home.

Without even thinking he decided for the latter, turning the left corner and strolling along the dark street. Not many cars filled the streets in the abandoned quarter he was working in – but he felt fine, the loneliness embracing him almost like a comforting hug. The happenings of the day – especially the weird encounter at the mall – left him wondering if, just maybe, he was on the verge of going insane.

Entering the park, his surroundings got even darker and the shadows he saw seemed larger and alive. The noises would have been creepy for any normal person, but having been out at night for several years now, they were familiar to Jungkook – comforting, even.

He heard the flapping sounds of bats flying through the air, leaves rustling in the bushes where stray cats would hide at the lonely sounds of his footsteps on the concrete path.

After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering around the park, stopping at the water fountain, dipping the tips of his fingers into the cool liquid, Jungkook decided to slowly head for his usual convenience store.

The ahjumma working there greeted him with a warm smile as he stepped into the small store. He smiled back at her, bowing a little, as he headed straight for the shelf with drinks. He grabbed a sixer of beer in each hand and stuck a bag of chips under his arms, then went to the cash register.

“Ah, boy” the ahjumma started, giving him a look full of pity. “You need to eat healthily. You look like you're sick already.”

Jungkook let out a humorless chuckle, giving the woman a side glance as he fumbled for the right amount of money from his pockets. “It's fine” he assured, handing her the money. “I'm fine.”

For some reason, Jungkook felt like he was trying to convince himself. Convince him that what he saw today was a trick of his mind. That the way his body behaved was normal and that everybody sometimes had troubles falling asleep.

But he knew all of it wasn't true.

“Take care” the woman said, her lips curled into a motherly smile.

“You, too, ahjumma” he answered. “Don't let the store open too long. Rest.”

With that, he headed for the exit.

The second he stepped out, a loud sound cut through the silence of the night and Jungkook's head snapped around instantly, trying to figure out where it came from. He gently placed the paper bag with his groceries down around the corner, and without even thinking, his feet set in motion, drawn to the origin of the sound.

It only took him about five minutes.