Chapter 10: High Frequency
It was about three in the morning; the skies were still dark outside and the room never went past the cold temperature. Jimin remained laying over the couch as his eyes pried open for the fiftieth time that hour; something was amiss and that alone kept him up at that hour. Almost instantly, goosebumps formed over Jimin's soft skin and his body froze over the couch he was bound to all night. Instantly catching the sense that he was being watched.
It was as if millions of people and Androids gathered around to watch him as the main attraction. His body shivered underneath a blanket and was frozen in place. There was no other use of lifting a finger now, Jimin only remained in place after the fear of being watched overcame him; something he always hated the feeling of.
"Is there... someone in my house? I locked my doors... but, how...?" Jimin asked himself in his own head and wrapped his arms around his own body in hopes of protecting himself. He tried to distract his fears by speaking into his own mind to bite through the dreadful silence, but no matter how long he intended to keep this up, the chills would constantly run down his spine as if death itself counted the knobs of his spine going down and repeating back up again.
Jimin remained awake until the sun came up. Only then, the horrible feeling was gone. He was no longer being watched and now, the boy was left to gaze up at the ceiling while the sun greeted him after endless hours of torture breaking away every word he had to say in his mind. Once the chilling feeling left his body, he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep later than he expected. Not being able to wake up early and start his day like he normally would.
Eventually, he heard a knock at the door. Disrupting his rest as he quickly opened them after thirty minutes of sleep. This alone caused Jimin to let out a deep sigh and stand up instantly in hopes of telling whoever was just beyond that door, that he was too tired to even speak. Deep down, Jimin just knew it was Taehyung once again and understood that the android wouldn't stop knocking until he got an answer.
"Ugh, Taehyung..." Jimin growled under his breath and quickly swung the door open to latch his tired eyes onto the android before him.
"Good morning, Jimin! I- oh... did you get any sleep? You look very tired," Taehyung pointed out and stepped in so the cold breeze outside wouldn't come in. Once the android closed the door behind him, Jimin slouched and made his way back to the couch before he could toss himself onto it face down. "I'm going to take that as a no..."
"No, I... I didn't... I stayed up all night. It was torture, Taehyung. I... I felt like I was being watched and it just stopped not too long ago. I was only able to take a small nap," Jimin claimed once his eyelids became too heavy for him to keep open. "I don't know what it is... and I hope it doesn't happen again," Jimin continued to speak in a trembling voice that tended to drag out his words due to how exhausted he was already.
"Did you... lock your doors last night?"
"Of course I did! I get too paranoid if I don't," Jimin spoke out louder and slightly opened his tired eyes to look at the android. "The feeling never left, I'm just scared that it might happen again tonight... what if there's someone here!"
"I highly doubt there's any other living creature in the premises. The only heartbeat I can detect is yours, so I'm sure whatever it was, it's gone now. Maybe you left the curtain open and there must have been a creep looking through your window."
"I always keep my window curtains drawn shut," Jimin went on and shot down every solution Taehyung could come up with. It just didn't seem to make sense to him now; before he didn't feel this way, he was living his simple life up until now.
"Well, I'm sure that whatever it is, it's gone now. But if it happens again, call me over at any time in the night and I can make sure you're safe!" Taehyung tried his best to calm Jimin down and cheer him up. In any case, Taehyung couldn't fix most problems and would normally jump over the situation, but in this case, he was programmed to make sure the human before him was safe at all costs.
"Ah... I appreciate it, I was just... Ah, I was just so nervous and scared... and tired..."
"Don't worry, Jimin! I'm sure it's nothing. You can always call on me if you get scared. Also, I forgot to ask, how was meeting Jungkook yesterday?" Questioned the curious robot as he dropped onto the spot next to the human on the couch. Constantly keeping his distance at all costs since he was an android and all robots tended to act this way and keep their distance in respect for the people's privacy.
"It went surprisingly well..." the human answered with a yawn. "He was so kind... and... I... I didn't want to sleep..." Jimin continued on as his words dragged out further and his eyes began to close. "I should... give him my number if he comes over again today..."
"I'm glad you enjoyed being around Jungkook! This is very exciting. Now, you get to have another friend that just lives next door. Maybe instead of calling me over to save you, why don't you call Jungkook over since he's just next door? It will be quicker and I'm sure he can knock anyone down, right?"
"Yeah... I guess so... he's really tall and...ah, no... I just became friends with him. I won't... I won't bother him..." Jimin replied. Drifting away into slumber as Taehyung continued to speak; unaware that Jimin was constantly in and out of the conversation.
"Hm... if he is going to be here to protect you if you feel paranoid at night, maybe I should scan him right now just to be sure. I remember you said he was a little weird and I don't blame you. I should scan him when you invite him over!"
"No.... Don't do that, Taehyung. He's... he's an introverted type of robot," said the exhausted man as he tried to fight off his sleep just to reply to the android. "I don't think I should introduce you right now... he doesn't like being around others."
"Just like you, a perfect match, hm?" teased Taehyung. "I can wait, but he does concern me... when it comes to the safety of a human, I will have to step in."
"Don't worry about it, he's harmless. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done so already. He's been here all day yesterday..."
"Well, I don't know about that, you can't trust someone that easily. If anything, what if he-"
Just before Taehyung could conclude his sentence, the android suddenly flinched as he placed his hand over his right ear and closed his eyes tightly. With the sudden flinch and the way Taehyung swiftly raised his hand to his ear, his coat rustled and managed to catch the attention of the sleepy boy on the couch.
"Taehyung? Are you alright?" Jimin asked so suddenly and watched Taehyung's blue eyes bounce around as he kept his hand over his own ear. The android refrained from responding as his gaze kept bouncing onto every object in the living room until his eyes locked onto the human sitting up from the couch.
"There... there... seems to be something.... Interrupting my sensors...." Taehyung spoke with pauses in between his words as Jimin only tilted his head and looked around. "Is there... is there any...devices... other than your phone and... laptop?"
"Um... not... not that I know of-"
"Any devices I... haven't... registered into... my system...?" Taehyung asked once again and kept his hand over his right ear while he kept a disturbed look on his face. "Any at all... Jimin? Please... tell me..."
"No, I promise!" Jimin continued once again, yet Taehyung only continued to look around desperately until he began to walk towards the door. "Taehyung!"
"My sensors are picking up... an ultrasound frequency... from multiple devices... I can't detect them... I... I have to leave. I will call you soon..." Taehyung replied and quickly stepped out of the house.
"Then, I'll meet you outside!" Jimin replied quickly and rushed to throw on his coat along with his snow boots at the doorway, but just as he walked outside, he noticed Taehyung running as far as he could until he was able to remove his hand from his ear and look back at Jimin from a block away.
Seconds after Taehyung stopped running away, Jimin listened to his own phone ring. With the sight of Taehyung standing a block away, Jimin looked over at the caller ID on his phone and noticed that Taehyung was calling him from afar.
"Taehyung, are you okay?" Jimin said into the phone and pointed his body to the direction where he could see Taehyung's figure.
"I was picking up a high frequency in your home and it was starting to fry my database...Did you get any new devices?"
"No, I told you, I didn't and if I did I would let you see it before I activate it. Taehyung, maybe you should get this checked out..." Jimin suggested as he watched Taehyung place his hands on his own hips from afar. "What if there's something wrong with your sensors?"
"My sensors are fine! They were just picking up a high frequency..."
"But I don't have any new devices with me and I don't think that could be the answer. What if there's something really bad going on inside of you?"
"I'll be fine..."
"What if... they take you away too and deactivate you?" Jimin panicked and continued to look ahead where Taehyung stood from afar. "I don't want to lose you too..."
"Ah, Jimin, you won't lose me! I'll find it out on my own. I'll be fine. For the meantime, I guess Jungkook will have to make sure you're okay for the night. I just hope he doesn't face the same issue I have...Get some rest and when you wake up, invite him over to see if he can handle it, I won't see you today until I can make sure my sensors are fine..."
"Okay... I'm sorry, Taehyung."
"Sorry? You have nothing to apologize for. But, please check around your house... there shouldn't be a reason why my system is behaving this way. The fact that the frequency didn't stop until I ran further and further away is what concerns me...promise me you will look for something?"
"I won't be able to hear it, but I will try my best. Good luck..." Jimin replied and yawned once more as he hung up and watched Taehyung turn around and walk further away. "How can that frequency reach so far? It made him run a whole block away but... when he first got here he was perfectly fi-"
"Hello, Jimin," a deep and intimidating voice called out to the human. Within seconds, Jimin felt a chill rush down his spine until he quickly turned around to face Jungkook standing before him. Wearing nothing but a thin grey sweatshirt and matching sweatpants to go along with his black boots.
Jimin's eyes locked onto the android before him; watching him stand with a straight posture as he rolled up his sleeves to expose more of his fake skin and arm tattoos despite the cold temperature that surrounded the two.
"J-Jungkook...."
"You shouldn't be out here in the cold with just a coat and boots... it's almost negative two degrees here, you could get sick."
"I... I didn't realize it-"
"You look very tired as well... are you alright? Did you even sleep?" Jungkook asked as he guided Jimin into the house just so he wouldn't stand out in the cold for that long. "You shouldn't be so careless..."
The concern embedded into his raspy voice was enough to warm Jimin up inside, yet, his blue eyes were as cold as death on the outside. Jimin only allowed the android to guide him into the house before he reached the couch and sat down; continuing to look away constantly while Jungkook stood before him and awaited his gaze to lock onto his just like yesterday.
"I... I just couldn't get any sleep last night..." Jimin confessed and leaned back on the couch to see Jungkook tilt his head and continue to look down at him.
During this moment, Jimin was about to ramble on about the feeling of being watched completely overcoming him the night before, until he realized that Jungkook wasn't covering his ear nor did he show any indication of a high frequency messing with his sensors like Taehyung faced. Jungkook remained standing there with nothing affecting him at all and that alone left Jimin to question so much more about him.
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