Park Soomi

I stared into the mirror, looking myself up and down while fiddling with the zipper of my dress. A breathy sigh escaped my lips as all the pent-up anxiety started becoming overwhelming. So lost in thought, I almost missed the quiet knock at my bedroom door.

"Come in," I shouted out, not bothering to turn around. From the corner of the mirror, I noticed Misa quietly enter the room.

"Hey..." she muttered. There was still tension between us as she awkwardly sat on my bed. "D-did something happen this morning? Was it another nightmare?"

I could sense the hint of concern in her voice, but I remained silent, unable to get over my anger from last night's events. Misa sighed at my hostility.

"Look, Soomi, I'm just worried about you and Jimin," she explained. I made eye contact with her through the glass and eventually gave in, seeing her genuine expression.

"It was awful, seeing him so...lifeless," I choked out, reliving the moment in my head. I could feel my breathing getting ragged, stress building up both from the horrid images and the stubborn zipper that still just won't budge. "His body was limp on the floor. There was so much blood. There was nothing I could do. But I won't let that happen tonight, no, I can't let that happen and—god, what is wrong with this stupid zipper!"

Misa didn't even hesitate, wordlessly getting up to help me with my dress. As I calmed myself down, I glanced back to Misa for the first time, finally noticing that she wasn't dressed up.

"Why aren't you dressed? Aren't you going to the party?" I asked.

"Why would I?"

"I don't know, maybe 'cause Jungkook will be there?" A bit of resentment peeked through in my voice. I expected Misa to lash back, but instead, she nervously bit her lip.

"Well, I wouldn't want to be...a distraction to Jungkook. He needs to have all his focus on Jimin," she muttered. My eyes softened at her words. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on her...

"Never thought I'd see you admit to being wrong so quickly," I quipped, a faint playfulness returning to my tone as I tried to ease the tension.

"Hey! I'm not saying I'm wrong at all. You still can't tell me who I can and can't date—" She hesitated for a moment as if struggling to let out the words. "But...I shouldn't have assumed that Jimin would be okay with all this. I'll talk to him."

"W-wait," I stuttered, quickly recalling Jimin's untold feelings, "let me talk to him first. But it'll have to wait until later. Right now, all I can focus on is that party—"

As if right on cue, there was a knock on the door before it slowly swung open. Yoongi stood at the entrance dressed up in a suit with his hair slicked back.

"You ready? It's time to go," he said. I nodded, giving Misa one last look before exiting my room to join Jimin and Jungkook. Jimin gave me a reassuring smile, probably still confused by my extreme determination to come with him tonight. But every time I looked at his face, I was reminded by that lifeless look in his eye, and any need for an explanation just seemed insignificant.

"Hey Soomi," Jungkook whispered, pulling me away from the others, "I'm not sure what's going on, but I promise, you have nothing to worry about, okay?" he reassured. I hesitated, desperately wanting to believe him but finding myself unable to.

"Please, just don't leave his side."

⋆⋅✯⋅⋆

My eyes never left Jimin for a second, watching his every movement and any person that even batted an eye at him. But it was still difficult not to get distracted by the familiar surroundings.

I couldn't have imagined that I would ever be back here in Taehyung's house. Every room, every little thing, just triggered old memories. But I suppressed all of it, focusing on my only priority: Jimin's safety.

"You doing alright, Soomi?" Yoongi suddenly asked. I turned back to him, wearing a faint smile.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I was about to turn back to Jimin when he spoke up once more.

"Are you hungry? I could get you something. Or do you want a drink?" Yoongi's persistent questions caught me off guard. In fact, he had been acting awfully strange this whole evening. Just a few days ago, he wouldn't even look me in the eye, but now, it was like he had to break the silence any chance he could get.

"Umm, I'm okay with getting my own drink," I responded before making my way to the refreshments table as Yoongi trailed closely behind.

Jimin was talking to a new group of people now, shaking hands with a bright smile on his face. I observed these new faces, only finding comfort in the fact that Jungkook stood attentively by Jimin's side. With my focus elsewhere, I blindly reached around the refreshments. A sudden, annoyed shout brought my attention back to my immediate surroundings.

"Hey! Be careful with that drin—Soomi?"

I would've recognized that voice anywhere. My gaze slowly drifted from the person's drenched hand up to his face.

Kim Taehyung.

I knew there was a good chance of bumping into him, yet I was still as shocked as he was.

"W-what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here for Jimin. Umm, congrats on the successful business launch," I said while mustering a faint smile. To my surprise, his lips curled up in response, but the smile gracing his lips soon faltered ever so slightly.

I realized that Yoongi had stepped out from behind me, now standing by my side. It was at that exact moment I noticed Taehyung wasn't alone either. I couldn't help but notice that it was a different girl from the last time I saw him. A wide grin suddenly crept back onto Taehyung's face as he loosely wrapped an arm around her waist.

"I should introduce you both to my date, Minyoung. She's quite literally the best thing that's ever happened to me. I don't know what I would do without her," he gushed. I felt out of place as the two shot each other warm smiles.

"Oh, stop, you're embarrassing me." She lightly laughed. "It's nice to meet you, Soomi, and, umm..."

"Yeongki," Taehyung butted in. "He's Soomi's bod—"

"Date," Yoongi interrupted, his hand suddenly intertwining with mine. The unexpected gesture caused me to whip my head towards him in shock. "I'm her date. And it's Yoongi."

Miyoung politely nodded towards him as the smile finally wiped off of Taehyung's face.

"It was nice meeting you, Miyoung. And it was good seeing you again, Taehyung, but we have to go." I hastily said goodbye, still holding hands as I dragged Yoongi away.

"What was that?" I finally asked while letting go of him.

"I can't stand the way that douche acts with that stupid smug grin on his face! He was obviously trying to flaunt some new relationship in front of you." He paused for a moment, lowering his raised voice. "I didn't want him to have that satisfaction, and I didn't want you to get hurt."

"It's not your responsibility to worry about those things, though! I don't care about him or some pathetic attempt at making him jealous, and you shouldn't either. You know that I'm only here for Jimin!" I sputtered out, frantically looking around for him once again. "Maybe you should worry about him more too."

"Hey, hey, everything's alright." Yoongi placed a hand gently on mine while the other rested against my cheek. "Look at me. Nothing will happen."

I squinted my eyes at Yoongi, confused by his unusually touchy gestures. What's going on with him? Is this just some kind of act?

"You don't know that." I brushed his hands away. "I can't find Jimin."

"He's fine. Jungkook's with him."

"But—" The sound of Yoongi's phone interrupted my sentence. "Is that Jungkook?" I asked.

"No. It's Hoseok." As Yoongi answered the call, I watched nervously, attempting to read Yoongi's facial expressions and pick up snippets of the conversation. "Hoseok found something. He just gave me a warning," he vaguely explained after hanging up.

"I've been saying that all day! I'm going to get Jimin," I said, but Yoongi grabbed onto my wrist, stopping me from rushing off.

"But...I just don't understand why," he said with a perplexed expression. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

I froze in place from the question.

"I-it's not important right now. Please, we gotta do something," I urged. Thankfully, Yoongi didn't push it and slowly released his grip.

"Alright, we need to secure the building first. We can't let anyone else come in," he said.

But something tells me that isn't our biggest concern. I stared straight into Yoongi's eyes, a serious look on my face.

"Unless who we're worried about is already inside."

——
{a/n}
Honestly, this chapter wasn't meant to end here, but I ended up splitting this chapter into two. I will try my best to get that second half out next week so you all aren't left on a lame cliffhanger for too long hahah

As always, thank you for the support! I can't believe we hit 4K! It means a lot to me whenever you all tune in to new chapters! Thank you! 💜