*Quick announcement! The Korean in this chapter is from Google translate, so accuracy may be subjective. See author's note for translation. Carry on :) *

[Amani]

It's now official. My mom works for BTS. For a while I didn't think she was going to, but she surprised me by signing with them. I still couldn't believe it though, even a whole week after she started and was continuously going to them. Every day me and my sister would ask her questions. How was it? What did you do? What did they say? What were they wearing? What are they like? And a million other questions that I won't bother mentioning, because it's not like we ever got an answer to any of our questions. No, all we got was a bland look and, "The contract says no disclosure girls..."

UGH! If I had a penny for every time I heard that response, I could afford Iphones for all of Korea. Eventually we gave up asking question altogether (which I think my mom was secretly relieved by) but it didn't stop me from wondering about everything that went on every time my mom went to tutor them.

In fact, it quickly became a consuming obsession that try as I might, I could not stop wondering about every possible thing that could have been happening. I felt pathetic truly. Before I even realized it, I had fallen way deep into an abyss of obsessive speculation and I couldn't make it stop. It was wreaking havoc on my life and that wasn't cool. I felt frustrated with myself.

To make maters worse, I would occasionally see my mom texting different members from her phone at various times of the week and I ached with the need to catch snippets of their conversations and know what they were talking about, but my mom was diligent about keeping to her end of the contract. The few times I tried to snoop (yes I snooped what else was I supposed to do huh?) I found nothing. God, I was burning alive from curiosity. How I survived remains a mystery to me.

One thing that I actually didn't care for about my mom working for Bangtan was that she would often times have to go to them at two and three in the morning. She never stayed for more than two hours, but still. And even though they were nice enough to arrange a private driver to pick her up and drop her off, I still worried about her when she'd be out so late. I'm an extremely anxious person, so it was doing my anxiety no good for my mom to be out that late without one of us to accompany her.

Between obsessing over my mom's work life and stressing out about her safety, I was a total mess. And I still couldn't meet Bangtan. Can you say torturous hell on earth or what?

But there was a silver lining on the horizon. It wasn't all bad news. My mom took me and Maya out to one of the hottest malls in Seoul after receiving her first weekly pay check. For the first time ever we got a taste of the rich life and man was it sweet. I could definitely get used to it. I even momentarily and blessedly forgot all about those boys for once.

"Okay girls I don't have that much time before I have to go to work so let's not take too long," my mom said as me and my sister stopped and ogled at every single thing in just about every store in the mall. We tried to be quick, we honestly did, but asking a girl to be quick when shopping is like asking a fly to not follow the light...it's inevitable even for girls like me who prefers to be in and out.

We were still shopping when my mom's phone went off. She gasped when she saw the time.

"That's the driver telling me he's on his way, girls we have to wrap this up now!"

"He's almost at the house?" I asked nervously. I wasn't quite done shopping.

"Yeah we have to hurry up!"

We rushed to the check out which was jam packed with people in every single aisle. This was fantastic, we were never getting out of here in time. My mom must've had similar thoughts, because she called the driver and told him to pick her up from the mall. Almost 30 minutes later we finally emerged from the mall, bags in tow.

"Amani, you and Maya are going to have to take a cab home," my mom said while walking towards a parked car, a slick jet black BMW with expensive looking rims and tinted windows. My mom rode around in that? She had it made bro.

"Take a cab? Alone?!" Maya protested frantically. I was right with her.

"Ummie I don't know anything about this country. I don't even know where we live," I added. She couldn't send us alone, anything could happen to us. "You have to come with us," I told her.

Ummie sighed as she looked at the time on her phone. "I'm already very late, I can't come with you guys. I have to get going."

"But Ummie! I don't even speak Korean!" I pleaded with her.

"Please Ummie no don't leave us..." Maya emphatically added.

"What if we get lost?!"

"What if the guy is a pervert?!"

"What if he tries to kidnap us?!"

We were panicking now. I've never made it a habit to take taxis alone without my mom or one of my brothers. As Muslim girls we were always chaperoned and yet my mom was trying to desert us in the middle of a foreign country. This was just not acceptable. My mom sighed, long and heavy.

"Okay let me call your brother."

"What good would that do us?" I scoffed, "No doubt he's gonna say he can't come."

Ummie ignored my barb against her son and dialed my brother Ismael while we stood guiltily in the parking lot next to the waiting driver.

"Hello?" I heard my brother's voice float over from the other end of the call.

"It's your mother, I need you to come get your sisters. I'm running late for work."

"Right now? I'm in the middle of a match."

Really how typical. I rolled my eyes in irritation. He's the embodiment of dependability that boy is.

"Yes come get them now."

"Fine," was his irritable reply.

Every instinct I had told me this was a bad idea. I listened with lead in my stomach as my mom gave him directions to the mall and where we were currently stationed.

"Gotta go, love you." She kissed us briskly and just like that she was gone.

And we were alone....at the mercy of Ismael.

"I can't believe she left us," Maya said dismayed.

"She didn't really have a choice," was my somber response. We really felt vulnerable out here all alone. Despite my thoughts to the contrary, I hoped against hope that our brother would show up soon.

Minutes ticked by and my brother still hadn't arrived. I checked my Infinix Hot Pro for the time and saw that we'd been waiting for an entire 45 minutes. What was taking him so long? Beside me, Maya was tapping her foot anxiously. This was becoming ridiculous.

"Where is he? Why is he taking so long?"

"I'm gonna call him." I speed dialed his number, all the while watching the people come and go through the parking lot with paranoid eyes. Which one of them was secretly a psychopathic abductor? My imagination began to take off in a very unhealthy direction. Before the call could connect, my phone powered off.

"Uh oh," I proclaimed. This was bad. "I think my battery died." I tried to turn it on and got nothing.

"Let's use yours Maya."

"I don't have cell service." She shook her head regretfully.

No battery and no cell service. The ominous feeling in my gut grew deeper. I fought to steady my nerves as I felt close to a panic attack.

"What are we gonna do without a way to contact anybody?" my sister asked, frantic. I took a deep breath for control.

"Let's think alright. We can figure this out if we don't freak out."

I scrambled my brain for solutions, mainly to keep myself from panicking about our current dilemma.

"Let's wait a few more minutes for Ismael. If he doesn't come in ten minutes we'll try to get home on our own."

"But you don't know how to get there Amani..."

"Yes I know that Maya, but we can't stand out here all day either!" I snapped. My sister let out a strained sigh and instantly I felt bad for snapping at her. "I'm sorry Maya. I just want us to get home." I hugged her and we waited together in silence for the next ten minutes.

*            *           *

By now it was an hour since my mom left and so I finally decided it was time to do something besides just stand here. I steeled my nerves, took my sister's hand and walked out to the main road with the intentions of hailing a taxi. At this point it couldn't be helped. God protect us I thought, and hailed a cab. The driver in the front seat was elderly, very serious looking and looked like he tolerated no nonsense. It probably doesn't make any sense, but I felt a lot better about getting in his cab than I would had if a young, openly friendly guy showed up. Grandpa seemed safe as far as I could tell.

"Bismillah. Here goes," I muttered, climbing in after my sister.

"Daesanguen meuosinga?" (1) the cab driver said to us in Korean. I swallowed hard. I had no freaking idea what this guy was saying, but because I'm not a complete idiot I assumed he was asking us where we wanted to go. But that was the problem...I didn't even know! I sat there blankly despairing over the futility of what we were doing, and when I didn't answer, grandpa got irritated.

"Daesanguen mueosinga? Naneun modeun il ieobs seubnida!"(2)

"Uhh..." I began weakly.

"You go where?" he finally asked in barely recognizable English. He must have realized we were English speakers. I guess because "Uhh" is a very western expression maybe?

Some inspiration came to me then. "Maya you have those pictures of our house from the outside right?"

"I think so."

"Show it to him."

We showed him the pictures of our house. It had two other houses on either side of it and you could also see the street and a bit of the surrounding environment in the background. The driver looked at the pictures then back at us impatiently.

"This where? Many houseu this one...dangsineun jangnan?!" (3)

"I'm sorry but this is the only reference we have," I told him meekly. He grumbled some more words in Korean, shaking his head all the while. To our relief he pulled off, but I still couldn't shake my sense of foreboding.

We rode around for what felt like hours. I held on to my sister's hand and silently prayed that serious grandpa wouldn't turn into psycho-abductor grandpa. The worst part about it all was not being able to tell if we were going the right way. All I could do was pray to God that he'd keep us safe and see us home.

Finally we came to a stop in an unknown neighborhood. Nothing about the area looked familiar. I looked at our cab fare and sputtered when I saw the price. Was this guy serious?! All of that money and we still weren't anywhere near home. Grandpa told us the fare with an unfeeling stony expression that said "pay and get out."

So grandpa wasn't a psychopathic abductor but he was a manipulative old fart. I should have expected no less. Feeling at a loss and close to tears, I paid the old scumbag and got out with my sister.

"This isn't were we live." she protested as we stepped out.

"No, but old bones over here isn't going to help us." I sighed, feeling weary and strung out. How were we going to get home? We had no working phone to call for help, no way to tell anyone where we were, let alone the fact that I had no idea where we were in the first place.

In this very moment, the first since my mom left us at the mall, I suddenly felt very much stranded and very much afraid. The panic attack came and this time I couldn't stave it off.

"Oh my god Maya we're lost!" I said between gasps. That was the last thing I should've said. On the spot my sister started to shake like a leaf.

"I wanna go home...I don't wanna be out here! Why did we leave? We should've just stayed and waited for Ismael!" she expressed, clearly upset. She had a point. Why did we leave? That was the stupidest decision I've ever made in my life so far and I usually make good decisions, but this one however was as far from a good decision as I've ever made before.

Feeling desperate to fix the situation, I tried to power my Hot Pro again, hoping religiously that it would power on. To my utter relief it came on and started ringing immediately. My heart sped up as Ummie's name flashed across the screen.

"MAMA!" we both answered, half sobbing and half shouting.

"WHERE ARE YOU?! ARE YOU BOTH OKAY?" WHY DIDN'T ANYONE ANSWER THE PHONE?!" she demanded in a frantic torrent. We could hear how worried she was.

"My phone died and Maya doesn't have cell service," I answered one of her inquiries.

"But are you okay? Where's your sister?!" she demanded further.

"She's right here with me. I don't know where we are...Ismael never came to the mall so we got into a taxi and...."

"WHAT! WHY??! Your brother searched the entire mall looking for you and your sister! He called me darn near loosing his mind!"

Now I really felt stupid. Sometimes I ended up making things worse in efforts to fix a situation.

"Kim Sejin is on his way to get you and your sister. We need the name of the street. Do you see a street sign anywhere?"

I looked around for a street sign and saw one across the street. Me and Maya rushed to it as if it were a lifeline and read it out loud - Sajik Ra 3 gil 23. Jongno district.

"Okay stay where you are. Your brother and Sejin are on their way."

We did as we were told. We stayed right under the street sign, looking around at everyone and everything that passed us. Did we look as much of a target as I felt we did? Somehow I think we did because not a moment after I had that thought than a group of girls in leather jackets approached us were we stood.

"Oooh look, pretty bags. I wonder what mall they got this stuff from," one of the girls said to the others in Korean.

"I bet it's stuff from Sephora, or maybe Victoria Secret," another said.

"I don't care where it's from, I want what's in them," the first girl said, eyeing our bags. I didn't know what they were saying but I didn't like the way they were crowding us and looking at our stuff.

"Look we don't speak Korean. We can't help you guys," I said to them none too kindly. Behind me my sister took hold of my arm and was holding on to it tightly. She was frightened by these leather clad females and that was enough for me to take a stand.

"That's okay. We don't want help. We want your stuff," the first girl said in perfect English.

"Excuse me?" I asked perplexed by her boldness. The goats had the nerve to laugh.

"You speak English right? You know what I said. Hand the bags over and walk away nicely...that way you wont get hurt," the first girl said, baring her teeth...which were yellow by the way.

It was designed to make me feel scared but all it did was make me feel disgusted and angry.

"Hell no. What do you think this is? A movie? You're not getting my stuff lady," I said as dismissively as possible. Like hell she was getting the stuff my mom worked her butt off to buy us.

"Wrong answer little girl," the girl said and pulled out a knife. My sister gasped at the sight of the gleaming steel.

Unlike her words, the knife scared me. This girl was insane. I was frozen for a second until the goat made a move for us. I didn't think, I just reacted.

"GET BACK MAYA!" I screamed, and threw the bags in the girl's face. She fumbled and I took advantage and went for her knife. I didn't know what to do, I've never fought before so I did the only thing I could think of...I bit her hand as hard as I could.

"YAH!!" she yelled and let go of the knife. The other girls around her made a jump for me. I swung wildly with the knife in a back and forth motion. I tasted blood in my mouth and hoped vaguely that I wouldn't catch aids now. I kept swinging in a wide arch, all the while telling Maya to get away.

I don't know if she did, but the next moment another girl pulled out a chain. Oh hell I thought, and tried to dodge as she swung in my direction. I just barely managed to keep the chain from smashing my face.

"GET HER!" The first girl screamed as she clutched her bloodied hand. The girl went for the swing again. I cringed as the chain came for my face a second time, unable to move anywhere except in the street where cars zoomed by.

I braced myself for the blow and found myself instead being yanked sideways. My eyes flew open to see Kim Sejin with a pistol in his hands. He fired a shot and the girls all ducked and ran at the sound of the gun going off. Even I jumped.

"Oh goodness that thing is loud!"

"Are you alright?! Were you hurt? There's blood on your mouth!" Sejin shouted, holding onto my arms and nervously peering into my face.

I gagged at the reminder. "It's not mine. I bit the other girl's hand." Sejin gave me an unreadable look.

"You are sure you aren't injured?"

I nodded my head yes. Just then, Maya and Ismael came and grabbed me in a hug,

"I was so scared Amani, I thought they were going to hurt you!" Maya said, clutching me in a tight hug. And I had been scared those girls were going to hurt her. I was more than relieved she wasn't hurt...someone would have needed to had died if even a scratch popped up on her. No one messed with my sister.

"Thank God we're both okay," I said. Thank God indeed. I shuddered to think about what could have gone worse tonight. I looked at Ismael who said nothing, only gave me a bottle of water so I could rinse my mouth. Did I detected remorse? Maybe.

"Your mom has been very worried over you girls, and apparently for a good reason. Let's get going."

"Are we going home now?" Maya asked.

"Actually your mom wants you to guys to come to her. At this point I think this is a good idea."

I shared glances with Maya. My already rapid heart went from my stomach, to my throat and back to my chest again. She didn't have a dream, but Maya was right, we really were going to meet BTS. Who would have thought it would be under these circumstances, but hey I'm not complaining.

We gathered our scattered things and got in the car to go see the idols of my dreams.

Excuse me while I go die for a second. I'll be back to tell you what happens next in a moment...

________________

A/N:

It's me again hi! I hope this story has been entertaining so far ^_^ 

We're now approximately a third of the way through this story HURRAY! 

Please don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT. I want to hear from you :) Also don't forget to add this to your reading list for new chapters. Stay tuned and as always thanks for reading <3

Translations:

1. To where is your destination?

2. To where is your destination? I don't have all day!

3. Are you kidding me?!

P.S: I have no knowledge of the Korean language, so don't sue me please XD

See you in the next chapter!