À̵͇͖̰̉͐͝ ̴̩̩̒͘͜͝b̵̩̰̞͕̓̀l̶̥͚̯̩̺͑̏̔͝o̵͈̣͇͆͗ô̴̳̫̩̚d̷̙͖̠͂͗ͅb̷̝̾ą̸̗̻̦͑͘ẗ̶̢̨̘͙̀̓h̷̡̃̐̆̀̊ ̵̨̡̢̺̞̈́̿͝í̶̥̖̬͈͛͛͝ș̵̤̯̬̅̎̌ ̷̡̡̘̱̝͆͆̋b̶̃̇̈͘͝ͅř̴̙̋è̴̡͖̮͉͘w̴̦̎̒͜i̴͔̫̟̬͛̅͌̒͝n̵͕͍̔͛̒͘͠g̶̝̞̓.̴̗̺̻̤͐̒͐͘
——

Min Yoongi

I groaned in frustration, tossing the papers in my hands and further accumulating the mess on the table. I raised my hands to my temples, a headache forming from the mix of sleep deprivation and long-term concentration.

But a loud snore quickly snapped me out of my delirious trance. I glanced over with a sigh to see Hoseok fast asleep, half of me tempted to join him in taking a quick nap, the other half determined to make progress in the investigation.

I gently pulled the sheets of paper out of Hoseok's loosened grip, hoping to scan over a fresh new page of information. But all I found was a file on the man from the night in the alleyway. It was useless. We knew his name, the fact that he had a gambling problem and was deep in debt, but no information on his contacts or possible loan sharks he borrowed from. Why did he do it? Was he threatened? Crazy? Just ready to give up? Now there was no way to know.

I flipped to the next paper: Hoseok's notes from when he contacted JYPE. But it was just another dead end. They claimed no producer had ever emailed Soomi and that they never even received her demo, but Hoseok had no luck tracing who could've intercepted the email or contacted Soomi.

Nothing adds up. What are we missing?

I was about to fall into another fit of frustration, but the front door opening interrupted my thoughts. I looked up, surprised to see Jungkook carrying Soomi through the door. By instinct, I shot up from my seat and rushed towards them.

"What the hell happened, Jungkook? Where were you guys?"

"Relax, relax. We were out clubbing."

"Clubbing?" I squinted my eyes, disapproval radiating from my entire body.

"Oh, don't give me that look. I was totally responsible. Soomi was completely fine when we left. She just fell asleep on the way back, and I didn't want to wake her up. If anything, how come you had no idea where she was? Kind of your job, isn't it?"

My expression instantly changed. I looked away, as I didn't want to admit he had a point.

"Well, don't just stand there. Get Soomi to her room. I needa go check what's taking Misa so long," he said before gently lowering her into my arms. I couldn't help feeling weird in this position, being so close to her for the first time in forever.

And yet, I couldn't deny how the warmth of her body against my chest brought a wave of comfort to my entire being.

"Oh, and Yoongi?" Jungkook said. "After that, we need to talk." He didn't say another word, and I continued up the stairs, puzzled by his request.

I gently laid her down onto the mattress, careful with my movements as I slowly pulled the covers over her. It was as if I were frozen here, my hand resting on top of the sheet as my gaze lingered on her sleeping face. She looks so...

...peaceful.

If only time would slow to a halt, worries washing away, so we could stay like this. If only all the dangers, all the complications, just the rest of the world, would disperse into dust for just a moment.

But then I was reminded of the last time I was in this exact position, sitting at her bedside, and I knew all of that was wishful thinking. Because everything wasn't okay. I made a promise that night to stay by her side, and I had already broken it countless times.

All because of a simple kiss.

I brushed a wisp of her hair off of her sleeping face as I stared, regret swallowing me whole. Should I have done something differently? Should I have stopped it before it even happened?

Should I have just told her the truth?

But then again, what was the truth? Even now, I still didn't fully understand my feelings.

The questions became a jumbled mess in my already tuckered mind as I quietly slipped out of the room, heading back down to Jungkook. The moment he heard my footsteps, he rose from his seat and approached me.

"So, care to explain what went down between you and Soomi?" he questioned. Every muscle tensed as he brought up the topic.

"What do you mean?" I replied, trying to play dumb. He let out a heavy sigh.

"Yoongi, I'm not here to rat you out to HQ. I genuinely care about you and Soomi. Forget the policies right now. I just need to know how serious this is, to hear your perspective."

I glanced over to Hoseok, checking if he was still fast asleep as I contemplated discussing this with Jungkook.

"It's not serious. One kiss. Nothing else."

"Yoongi, you don't get it." He groaned. "That's not what's important. What matters is that you two are on good terms, or you know, at least talking terms. Anything else makes things more difficult. Just, what did you say to her exactly?"

"Umm, I mean...nothing really."

"Well, there's one problem," he muttered, hesitating before asking his next question. "Do you like her?"

There it was. The question I'd been asking myself all week.

"I-it doesn't matter. Whether I like her or not doesn't change anything because of—"

"Enough about work policies! Yes, they're important to follow, but what's the main reason they're there? To prevent you from complicating your relationship and potentially compromising the mission. You're already doing that anyway because you refuse to face the situation and keep avoiding her!"

I grew quiet, letting Jungkook's speech fully sink in, but his brief episode of anger quickly subsided as a small smile crept onto his face.

"Look, you don't need to tell me if you like her. And you don't have to feel like you broke policies if you do, 'cause you can't control those kinds of things. Just work it out. If you don't like her, well, you gotta at least try to get things back the way they were. And if you do? Maybe you should just tell her the truth. As the two mature adults you are, I'm sure you can figure out boundaries."

He patted my shoulder, the smile still on his face. I squinted my eyes at him, realizing that this man was many years younger than me, yet here he was handling me like a child, hitting me with advice that I probably should've figured out myself.

Despite that, though, I still held tightly onto his words.

Tell her the truth.

⋆⋅✯⋅⋆

Park Soomi

Everything was a blur.

As I walked around the crowded room, everyone's image became distorted, the sound of people's chatter distant and incomprehensible. But a consistent, loud dripping echoed through the room, piercing the white noise. I stumbled through the crowd, following the source of this sound. My senses brought me to a bright red door, standing tall and menacingly. Yet, it was as if it were luring me into its room. Hesitantly, I turned the knob.

It was a restroom, the walls a perfect, stainless, marble white. But I was more focused on the dripping sound that peaked in volume as I entered. It came from the faucet of the bathtub. I approached it slowly but froze in horror when I discovered its contents.

The faucet steadily dripped with blood, the entire tub filled with the crimson liquid.

As I stepped back from the blood, a shadowy figure caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I spun around as the person passed by me, but my eyes soon fixated on a more horrifying sight.

Jimin laid on the floor unconscious, blood pooling around the wound in his abdomen.

"No! Jimin!" I shrieked out. I rushed to kneel by his body but was terrified by the lifeless look in his eyes. I glanced back up to where the shadowy figure stood, only to see the man slipping out the door. But I managed to catch one thing before he left.

A tattoo decorating his arm—

I sat up from the bed in a frenzied panic, the image of a tattoo still freshly etched into my mind. I quickly realized it was the same tattoo I saw on the man at the club the previous night. But I couldn't linger too long on this fact or even recall what exactly happened the night before.

Because all I could think about was Jimin.

I rushed out of my room, shouting his name, knocking feverishly at his bedroom door. Few worrying seconds passed before he answered, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he looked at me in confusion. I ignored his stare, instantly embracing him tightly. At this point, the entire house had awoken, all the guys surrounding us on high alert from the commotion, while Misa wandered over in confusion.

"Soomi, what's wrong?" Jimin asked.

"You're alright. T-thank god. You're alright. I thought you might've gotten hurt—"

"Why? Did they contact you? Did you get a message?" Yoongi asked urgently.

"N-no, but it doesn't matter. Jimin, promise me you won't go out anywhere for awhile. Just stay in the house—"

"Why? What's going on?" he asked.

"Just, please, Jimin?"

Jimin looked concerned as he placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Soomi, calm down, okay? I'm fine. And you know I have an important business party to attend today. I can't miss it," he tried explaining slowly.

"B-but, then I'm coming with you. We'll come with you," I rambled on frantically.

"Uhhh, I-I don't think you'll want to come..." he responded hesitantly.

"Why?"

"Well, it's a party to celebrate our successful launch with our partner business..."

"So?" I asked, still not understanding the situation.

"...That partner is Kim Taehyung. He'll be there."

{a/n}
Surprise! Two weekly updates in a row hehe (hopefully this will become a more frequent occurrence).

Was feeling a bit more inspired since I'm excited about the upcoming chapters, so here it is! Hope you all enjoy!!