•Lust of Innocence•

The morning was greeted with a few drops from the dark clouds that turned into a drizzle and soon transformed into a downpour. Usually on days like this, Nari preferred to stay home and accompany herself with a good book and some tea. She would drop all of her obligations for a day such as this one and lounge around because rainy days gave her absolutely no motivation to do anything and she would much rather be a couch potato than study her ass off to the point where her brain would feel fried.

It had been a week since the date Nari had with Jimin and even when she was immersed in her own daily routines, the memories would enter her mind and have her smiling to herself. The same could be said for the orange-haired man and he was eager to spend more time with her. He was persistent, however, she had her studies to attend to and unfortunately, her and Jimin could not meet again that whole week.

The weekend rolled around and the brown-eyed woman had a consistent feeling of guilt at constantly denying Jimin despite how understanding he was being of her schedule. Although it was a rainy day and she wanted to stick to her usual routine when there was a sudden downpour, she wanted to somehow make it up to Jimin in whatever possible way she could. While drinking her cup of coffee, Nari was scrolling through her phone and thought she would give Jimin a call to discuss a suggestion that crossed her mind earlier that morning.

Finding his contact icon, she tapped it and put the phone to her ear. A few rings later, she could feel her mood slowly plummeting. It wasn't too early in the morning so she had only assumed he would be awake, but perhaps she was wrong. A small smile of relief approached her lips when she heard the other line pick up.

"Hello?" Jimin's morning voice sounded through her ears, which had a slightly deeper ring to it and therefore made her flustered.

Clearing her throat a bit, the brown-haired girl replied, "Hey, I didn't mean to wake you. I can call another time if you-" he cut her off quickly and said, "No no no, I'm glad you called. What's up?"

She heard him yawn and lightly chuckled to herself at his urgency, "Well... I've been feeling a bit guilty lately. I don't want to give you the wrong idea that I don't want to see you again because frankly, I really do," it was almost as if she could feel Jimin smiling on the other line and she awkwardly coughed and continued, "Uh, what's your schedule for today?"

The man let out an exhale, thinking about his duties for the day before replying, "I have to work at 2 but I usually go in a couple hours early to help prep. Yoongi-hyung works himself too hard and I like to help him." She internally scoffed at the mention of that demonic man's name but she shrugged it off and thought to herself for a moment.

"It's a rainy day so I figured I could bring over some lunch to cheer you up and maybe we could eat together at your workplace before you have to start working. If you think you won't have time, I understand." Nari gulped in anticipation for his answer. She wanted to be persistent with him like he was to her, but she didn't want to seem desperate at the same time.

There was a pause and Jimin cheerfully replied, "I'd really love that. Come by at noon," she smiled at that and then asked, "What do you like to eat?"

He immediately responded, "Anything is fine with me... but I don't like mangoes," he whispered the last part playfully, causing Nari to lightly giggle and reply, "I'll keep that in mind. See you soon."

They bid each other a farewell and she hung up and put her phone down on the couch. A grin graced her lips and she picked up the pillow next to her and put it on her face, letting out a muffled squeal. Taking it off of her, Nari placed it back in the correct place and sighed, "What is happening to me?"

•••

It was as if the rain was never ending to the point that all of the water could fill a whole lake. The girl ran out of the restaurant, trying her best to cover the plastic bags filled with boxes of food while the droplets covered her form. Unlocking her car, she hopped in and placed the bags on the passenger seat and sighed. Her hair was drenched and she had to ring out strands to make it drier. She cursed at herself for procrastinating buying an umbrella which just made her regret being lazy in such a simple matter.

Pulling out a pocket-sized double-sided mirror from her purse, she examined her face and sighed in relief at the fact that the rain didn't completely mess up how she looked. With that, she drove out of the restaurant and to the club.

By the time she pulled into the parking lot, it was a few minutes past noon and she saw Jimin and his unmistakable orange hair waiting outside of the club under the overhang with a black umbrella in his hand. She felt her heart begin to beat faster at the mere sight of him as she hesitantly grabbed the bags of food and opened the car door, preparing to once again get soaked and ruin her somewhat current stable appearance.

Before she could even allow her feet to hit the ground, Jimin was by her side and making room for her to fit under the umbrella. He noticed the three bags of food in her hands and said, "Let me grab those for you." Before she could deny his offer, he took the bags from her hands and she lightly blushed at that gesture. They began walking together into the building. By the time he reached the door, he rung out the umbrella and closed it while Nari voluntarily pulled opened the door for him, since his hands were already occupied.

He set the food on the bar and turned to look at her, taking note of her appearance and saying, "You're drenched... stay here and I'll get you a towel." She shook her and said, "I'm fine, really."

He tsked at that and said, "You'll catch a cold. Stay here." Nari watched as he walked away and followed his figure until he disappeared around the corner. Peering around the place awkwardly, she heard movement from behind the bar and turned her head to see the mint-haired man enter with bottles of expensive drinks in his hands. He froze the moment he met her eyes and he gave her a glare. Nari looked away from him and fiddled with her fingers.

Before Yoongi could question her as to why she was even present in the club, Jimin jogged back in with a towel in hand and he approached her, holding it out to her, "Here you go..." she shyly took it and began drying her hair while the orange-haired man saw Yoongi and smiled while holding up his hand, "Ah, hyung."

Yoongi gave him a small nod before averting his eyes back to Nari and glaring at her, then taking his leave to the kitchen. Jimin rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly at the tense atmosphere before focusing his attention on the girl in front of him and saying, "Shall we?" She smiled and nodded, helping him grab the food and following him to a nearby table.

"Why did you get this much food anyway?" Jimin chuckled as he set it on the table in front of him and started opening the boxes, only to be greeted with traditional Korean dishes.

Nari was helping him gather the napkins and disposable chopsticks when responding, "Just in case anyone else wanted some food," he smiled to himself at that and looked at her when responding, "You're really considerate, ya know that?" The brown-haired girl looked at him and they shared a moment as they stared at each other.

"N-Nari?" A familiar voice sounded in her ears and she looked away from Jimin's eyes and grinned when she saw the younger man questionably looking at her, "Hey, Jungkook." He returned her grin and the orange-haired man scoffed and said, "Don't let Jungkookie fool you. He's not here for you, he smelled the food and came running."

Jungkook glared at Jimin and said, "That's not true, hyung. I like conversing with people just as much as you do..." Nari couldn't help but chuckle at the younger man's attitude towards his senior and she looked at him and said, "Help yourself, Jungkook. There's plenty here."

He tried to hold back his smile at the thought of eating food while Nari and Jimin took their seats and responded, "Maybe just a few bites..." Jungkook then approached the table and inspected the food and said, "Wah, this looks so good!"

Jimin watched Jungkook and leaned close to Nari and whispered in her ear, "He's so distracted he forgot to stutter in front of you." She turned to him and gave him a playful disapproving look at his comment towards the maknae. Nonetheless, they began eating and shared small talk with one another for a few minutes before another presence graced themselves in the room.

Jungkook paused with food stuffing his cheeks and looked towards the other man and internally groaned once the man exclaimed, "Wah, I knew I smelled food!" Nari distinctly remembered the man as the other stripper that worked with Jimin. He was tall and very handsome, she even caught herself staring at him in awe at his appearance as he slowly approached the table where the three of them were stuffing their faces.

"Jin-hyung," Jimin exclaimed and motioned for the older man to come towards him. He held up his chopsticks with a piece of Korean-styled beef between and said, "Try this." Jin bent down a bit and let Jimin feed him the piece of food, which Nari actually found very cute. It was obvious all of them were close with one another.

While Jin was chewing, it was as if he was critiquing every distinct flavor within that one piece of beef and once he swallowed, he said, "Good flavor, good texture, but I assure you all I can cook better than that." He gave Nari a wink afterwards and he bowed to her slightly, "I don't believe we met yet. I'm Jin."

Nari stood up and gave him a 90 degree bow which Jimin thought was too formal of her but he let her proceed nonetheless and she said, "I'm Nari, it's nice to meet you." The tall man clapped a few times and pointed at her, "Ah, I've heard so much about you from Jiminie. He won't shut up about you!" Behind the girl's back, Jimin was motioning for Jin to keep his mouth shut but lucky for him, Jungkook spoke up.

"Stop it, hyung. You're embarrassing." Jin sat down next to to the young man and exclaimed, "Yah, I basically raised you and this is how you treat me?" Jungkook put down his chopsticks aggressively and stared at his senior before responding, "I don't recall that."

Jin widened his eyes in disbelief at the younger one's comment and raised his voice when saying, "You don't recall all the times I have fed you?" Nari was watching the scene, trying to suppress her laughter while Jimin kept eating as if their bickering was an everyday occurrence that he was used to. Jin continued, "Yah! I can't even calculate with my fingers how many times I have treated you to a meal!"

Before Jungkook could come up with a snarky response, Taehyung and J-Hope ran in the room from backstage as if they were having a race and Taehyung yelled, "I smell food!" Jimin facepalmed himself and sighed, embarrassed at how his co-workers were acting right in front of Nari. Little did he know, the girl was enjoying all of this and hadn't laughed like this in such a long time.

The orange-haired man glared at them and said, "Someone bought this food with their own money. Respect that, come on guys!" Taehyung's chopsticks were halfway in his mouth when his friend said that and he looked around for a moment before questioning with a startled look on his face, "Who bought this again?"

Jimin motioned towards the woman next to him and Taehyung grinned with his box-like smile and exclaimed, "Oh yeah! The girl! Hi again!" He went back to stuffing food in his face before she could even reply and Jimin got up and slapped him on the back of the head, "She has a name!"

Taehyung glared at his best friend and softly pushed him away while still chewing. Using a deeper voice than usual, the taller man responded, "I know her name... geez." Jimin gave him one last glare before his eyes caught Namjoon's behind the bar and he was simply watching the scene before him with a scowl on his face that basically emphasized 'I'm-so-done-with-everyone's-shit.'

Namjoon decided to keep to himself as he had a book open on the bar table while he wiped down some glasses and continued reading. Hoseok eyed Nari weirdly for a moment and she didn't waste any time in noticing. Once they locked eyes, he looked away from her and lowly said, "Sorry for staring. You're just not the type of girl I expected Jiminie to date."

Nari's eyes dilated a bit in shock at the man's sudden rude comment towards her and she instantly looked down at her lap. Jimin was a bit taken aback too and felt Nari nudging his arm lightly, letting him know she needs to excuse herself to the bathroom for a moment. He understood she wanted to do so out of embarrassment of what his hyung had just said and he gave her a sympathetic smile, nodding.

Once she was gone, Jimin quietly leaned forward, "Hyung, what's your problem?" Hoseok realized the severity of what he had just said and due to his self-realization, he widened his eyes and held up his hands while raising his voice and saying, "I didn't mean it like that, I swear!"

Yoongi entered behind the bar where Namjoon's attention was averted from the book to the 5 men across the room from the sudden exclamation. The mint-haired man began helping the younger man wipe down glasses and coldly scoffed, "That girl is gonna tear everyone apart, I can just tell. Not to mention she's keeping everyone from their prep-work."

The pink-haired man eyed his senior and shook his head disapprovingly and sighed while replying, "You need to set the past aside, Yoongi-hyung. You'll hurt Jimin if you keep acting coldly towards her," Yoongi looked at the taller man for a moment but then averted his attention back to the younger ones and Jin, whom were eating and quietly arguing. Namjoon secretly saw how his hyung's cold expression changed to a blank one and he put down the wine glass and closed his book.

"Our lives consist of each other," he started and the older man turned his attention to Namjoon while he continued speaking, "We want to look out for one another, but letting past issues arise will turn a normal situation into a complicated one. There's a line that needs to be drawn when it comes to our involvement in each other's private lives. Life is much too short to be full of hatred, hyung." Yoongi shook his gaze away and gave Namjoon the cold shoulder despite knowing that every word the younger man said was undeniably correct. The tall man was known to be smart about life in general, his ideology and outlook was just consistent to the way he lived. He is extremely intelligent and Yoongi could never deny that nor his advice.

•••

"I'm sorry, you what?"

The manager shut his eyes for a brief moment, leaning back against his chair and facing the wall that held all old photos and letters of when the building was first made. He stares at them as he meekly replied, "There has been some recent changes of events, so to speak. Money needs to grow off the alcohol and the poles, and frankly that doesn't happen as often anymore as it did in the past..." he said, "So, as the man of this establishment, I will use the biggest of my strategies to make BigHit Entertainment...well...a big hit again."

Namjoon exchanged glances with each of his coworkers beside him, eyes searching through the confusion of the conversation. "And what kind of strategy are you proposing, sir?"

Jimin side-eyed Jungkook, whom had been hiding behind Yoongi even while failing miserably, due to differential body heights and whatnot. Jungkook was almost terrified at the idea of losing his job over how many times he couldn't be professional while speaking to women or being strategically well in and out of the kitchen doors most work-nights. The fact that he can only do so much without panicking in a place where people can literally beat him to a pulp over the slightest flaw makes him feel indecisive.

"All of you must admit the place hasn't been looking sharp since our last inspection, calculated to be about three years by the end of next month. It needs to be fresh, modernized and add some new faces...maybe even remove some old faces. However, we're low on workers and entertainers and I appreciate my scrawny men and how hard they work," He refers to the seven boys with a large waving hand-gesture and a proud grin, "So no one is leaving."

Yoongi frowns when he hears he had been deemed as "scrawny", but managed to wipe it off when Jin pats his shoulder for comfort. Taehyung and J-Hope almost heaved a long sigh of relief when they were assured no one was being released from the workplace. Jungkook didn't want to waste any time being relieved whatsoever, because it only meant that he was motivated to do better than his best. Afraid, but determined. As for Jimin, the ever-so respectful guy he was, rose his hand as if he were back in grade school.

"When are these renovations going to begin? Will the club be closed down until it's finished being remodeled or are we able to still work?" Anyone could have noticed the worry in him just by looking at how his hand trembled in the air as he lowered his arm. He wanted to prepare money to pay his rent and bills, save for transportation and food. Save enough on the side to get Nari nice subtle presents.

Namjoon crossed his arms and lowered his head in sympathy for his companion after witnessing the suffering in the latter's expression. Time ticked constantly for Jimin and he wanted to be ahead of everything before it catches up and eats him bitterly to pieces again.

"Soon, I hope," the manager sat up from his chair, "But no need to fret. This past week was so busy for all of you that we made enough to cover two month's worth of paychecks so that you kids don't have to see your wallets empty while reconstruction takes its place. I made sure of it."

Taehyung wrapped his arms around Jungkook and J-hope's necks, pulling them closer to his side. "We'll work hard, sir!"

Jin paused as the men mumbled thank-you's and words of genuine praise to the heavens. He scratches the nape of his neck, "If I do recall, you mentioned adding new faces. Without having to ask millions of questions, who will be working with us if you plan to hire? Of course we want to welcome new people and have them trained well before they're officially on the job, so I'm just a bit intrigued at the thought of BigHit becoming a bigger facility."

"Good ear, Ginger." the manager refuses to correct himself, "We, as in the entertainment community founders and I, only want one worker so far, preferably a female stripper, but that idea will be set aside. We're most likely going to drop it since male strippers are the new frenzy during this term. There are some volunteers that I'd personally like instead to help organize and clean before and after work hours here inside the building, so do recommend me some willing to stop by. There are always some young ones wanting credits and that 'rounded-being' type of college material crap that universities love to accept."

Namjoon takes in the new information piece by piece, slowly understanding what was going to be distributed in the next upcoming weeks. "I don't see anything wrong with having volunteers helping us out. It's a good strategy, sir. I support it."

"Of course you will, Salmon-Head."

"It's only a matter of time until renovations begin," J-Hope jumps in and engages into the conversation, "Let me know when we can talk about the DJ setup. I've got some kickin' technology updates of my own that I'd like your intake on." He clasps his hands together with a huge smile. The manager nodded his head and points to the door, "Now all of you scramble home. The rain will pour harder and it's almost dawn. Shifts are over."

All the employees sauntered out the door by the order, but Taehyung frees his grasp from his two friends, staying still in front of his boss' desk as the door behind him shuts. The elder stares at him with a puzzled look, realizing he was still there. "What is it, kid?"

Taehyung rocked on his feet as he grinned at the man before him, "I have a proposition for you."

•Lust of Innocence•

•••Hi everyone, thank you so much for reading this chapter and hopefully not forgetting about this book! Milly and I both had school and since summer vacation is approaching, we will be able to update more regularly. A partnership can also be a bit time consuming, so we hope you can bear with us throughout this story.

•••Thank you guys so much for giving love to our story! I really love your feedback and it gets me motivated to write more chapters with Ashy!

•••To also make up for it, we will include our highlighted conversations while we worked and got distracted while writing these chapters.