chapter 0: chase
location: new york city, ny

Yoongi was the first to leave.

Early in the morning, the day after his graduation ceremony, he took the bus across the city. Then, he got on the subway, sitting in the way back. When he got to the Bronx, he got off the subway and went to the train station. He spoke with the man in the ticket booth, bought a ticket, then took a train headed north.

Jimin was the next to depart.

He got off his internship shift at WNYC Public Radio, but instead of going back to Columbia University, he took the subway across town. He went to Grand Central Terminal, bought a ticket, then caught a train headed north to the same place Yoongi was headed.

Seokjin was next.

He had spent all day at a photo shoot, smiling for the cameras. The photo shoot director didn't know a thing. When he said goodbye to Jin, he didn't know this was the last time he would ever see the budding model. Jin smiled, thanked him for his time, and went to go buy a ticket.

It was easiest for Jungkook to get away, but he had to be careful.

As he was a freshman, he had to make sure that he didn't raise alarm by leaving campus. His visa was still good for summer study, and he was scheduled to begin a job in two days. Once he didn't show up, all seven boys knew the jig would be up. So he left everything as if he was going to come back for it. Since he even had a computer, he left his copy of Doom running, to give the illusion that he would soon return.

Taehyung left the next morning.

He packed up his saxophone and had just enough time to take it back to the apartment. He placed it under his bed, said goodbye, and then had to dodge the NY1 reporters on his way out. They were busy asking questions, wondering if he could be a person of interest considering model Kim Seokjin, who lived with him, had gone missing.

Hoseok had to leave later than most everyone else.

He still had a dance class to teach downtown, and right after it, he grabbed his bag and water bottle. One of the other dance teachers tried to stop him. Some of Hoseok's housemates, after all, had just disappeared without a trace. Wasn't he worried? No, Hoseok said, it will all be okay, and he left, just like that.

Namjoon was last.

"Do you know anything about this?" his professor asked him, holding up a copy of the New York Post. On the front page were three missing men: Yoongi, Seokjin, and Jimin. "They live with you, right?"

"They do," Namjoon said with a nod.

"You know something, don't you? I knew there was something I couldn't trust about you. Right from the start."

Namjoon stood up from his chair. "I will not be shown this level of disrespect by a professor," he said in clear English. "Not to me, not to my father, and not to my father's company." And with that, he picked up his briefcase, and he left.

Each boy had a backpack full of three days worth of clothes, basic food supplies, and other personal items. They knew what they were doing was wrong, that it was against the law. They knew that if they were caught, they would be arrested, deported, or worse. But they didn't care. Their family was being torn apart. This was the only way they could keep it together.

Even if it meant they had to be on the run.