Park Soomi

It started like a whisper, the beating of a bass so faint, it was as if each sound were a short gasp for breath. With its consistent, lethargic tempo, everything sounded like an incoherent hum.

In my pitch-black surroundings, I reached towards my face only to discover the headphones against my ears. I shot my eyes open, ill-prepared for the sudden shift. The brightness of a well-lit room flooded into my vision, and the music rose in volume through the headphones.

When I finally adjusted, my gaze immediately settled on Seokjin, who stood before me behind a glass screen. It didn't take long before my attention then fell on the control panel before me.

Am I working right now? Our last recording session? Did I fall asleep?

I forced myself to focus on the song playing, and the more I concentrated on the song, the more unusual it sounded. There was the slightest hint of distortion, a single, off-pitch note ringing in the background. The more I fixated on that note, the more piercing it got.

Soon, the music's volume and intensity escalated to unbearable heights. I snapped my eyes shut, hoping that darkness would once again drown out the music, but my efforts were futile. It felt like the music was draining my will to live, driving me to the brink of insanity. Eventually, I lost track of time, and it could've been hours, days, or maybe mere minutes, but all I could think about was being cursed here for eternity.

As I finally reopened my eyes, I noticed that Seokjin was nowhere to be found. I frantically looked around for any sign of him, but the room, along with my head, started to spin. I screamed out into the void.

But it seemed that my voice got lost in dissonance.

━ ⋆⋅✯⋅⋆ ━

Min Yoongi

A scream resonated through the house, waking me from what felt like a fleeting hour of sleep. I instantly shot up from the couch as a heavy thud followed. Not a second later, I found myself running towards Soomi's room, heart pulsating with fear and head pounding from all the sudden movement and creeping fatigue.

Various scenarios played out in my head, and I prepared myself for the worst. But my anxious, pessimistic thoughts didn't prepare me for what I actually discovered behind the door.

The bed was in complete disarray, with wrinkled sheets and pillows tossed all over the place. The comforter loosely hung off one side, leading to a groaning Soomi, who laid uncomfortably on the floor. She slowly sat upright, rubbing her neck in discomfort.

"I'm fine, Yoongi. Nothing happened."

As the alarms going off in my head died off, so too did the temporary armor fending off exhaustion from washing over me.

"When did you get back last night? You didn't come back with Jungkook."

"Ah, yeah, something came up at work," I responded, but I decided against elaborating more on the new case evidence that arrived just as Jungkook and I were about to leave. Just the thought of all those hours reading case papers made my head hurt.

"Wait, is the clock right? I don't remember going to sleep."

"That's because you fell asleep while working, like always." The memory managed to make me chuckle as I thought back to earlier this morning when I found Soomi sleeping face first on the desk. But the memory quickly retreated to the back of my mind when I noticed Soomi's restless state.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked while Soomi knelt back to the floor, eyes darting around the room.

"Huh? Yeah, I just need my phone. I don't know where I put it." She fumbled with the sheets while searching the area.

"Maybe it's still in the studio," I suggested, but, at this point, she was too preoccupied searching the floor with her arm deep under the bed to notice. "I'll go check," I muttered to myself. But just as I exited the room, a faint "thank you" came from behind the door.

I sighed as I entered the studio, but it didn't take long before I found the phone under some papers on her desk. As I picked it up, the screen flickered on, and my eyes inadvertently landed on the notifications, or at least one message in particular.

Why the hell is she still talking to Kim Taehyung?

Every part of me screamed that it would be wrong to take any more than an accidental glance, but then I reminded myself of that feeling. That feeling where my heart ached just seeing Soomi broken, drowning herself in work to mask the pain.

And so, I decided that I needed to know what he wanted because I couldn't let her go down that path again.

With my breath hitched, I began skimming the message. The more I read, the more my blood boiled. He's asking for a second chance? Is he serious?

But I guess the question I feared more was, is Soomi willing to give him one?

"Oh great, you found it." Soomi quickly grabbed the phone from me, and my thoughts continued to spiral as she dialed a number.

Is she calling him? Maybe she never saw the message. Or maybe, she's calling to tell him that she'll meet with him.

After a few seconds of silence, Soomi pulled the phone away, staring at it with furrowed eyebrows. I awkwardly stood there as she began rapidly clicking away at the screen.

"Do you have plans today? Need me to take you anywhere?" I cleared my throat as Soomi finally looked away from the screen.

"Oh, no, no, maybe later. I'm just gonna work now. You should go back to sleep. You must've gotten home late, huh?" she mumbled, staring at me with concerned, somewhat apologetic eyes.

"I-I'm alright," I replied, but I found myself clenching my teeth to hold in a yawn.

"Come on, just go to sleep." Soomi tugged at my arm, and the next thing I knew, she guided me out of the room and closed the door shut.

The moment elicited a feeling of deja vu, bringing me back to the old times when Soomi would kick me out of her studio. And with that memory, the dreadful feeling that things were going back to the way they used to emerged.

Because what if she makes the mistake of going back to him too?

━ ⋆⋅✯⋅⋆ ━

Park Soomi

Why isn't he answering me?

I hated myself for stealing glances at the phone every few seconds, unnecessarily paranoid when it was completely normal for someone not to respond to a message within the hour.

But it hasn't just been an hour, though. I haven't heard from Seokjin in a while.

With other things preoccupying my mind, I hadn't even noticed that Seokjin never rescheduled his final recording session. It felt strange, but was it enough to raise concerns? I couldn't decide if I was doing the right thing by waiting for a response or if I should've done something immediately and told Yoongi about the situation.

He just seemed so tired, though. I already woke him earlier with a false alarm. I didn't want to stress him out further unnecessarily.

Maybe Seokjin just hasn't had the chance to check his phone today...

But what if something actually happened?

The conflicting thoughts battled out in my head, and I slammed my fingers down on the keyboard in frustration.

"Hello?" There was a quick knock on the door before Misa entered the room with bags around her arms. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No." I sighed before flipping my phone face down, trying to momentarily silence the paranoia.

"Great! Then let's have a girls' day! I just bought some new nail polishes, some face masks we could wear while crying over dramas! It'll be just like high school!" She squealed in excitement.

"Why all of a sudden?" I narrowed my eyes at her. "Don't lie, things went badly with Jungkook, huh?"

"Pshh, of course not. But! You could hear what actually happened over this ice cream," she exclaimed while pulling a tub out from her bag, "while we have a girls' day! Come on, judging from that beautiful song I heard you playing before I can tell you need a break," she remarked sarcastically.

"Fine." I sighed, knowing that it was useless to try and get out of this. Before I knew it, Misa was jumping with joy and practically dragging me out of the room.

But I still couldn't help but grab my phone before leaving.

━ ⋆⋅✯⋅⋆ ━

"So, did everything really go well with Jungkook?" I asked while applying the finishing touches to my nails.

"Yeah, trust me. It went fine. We both agreed that it'd be best to break things off to not strain our relationships with Jimin," she explained with a shrug, "and this time, I made sure one hundred percent we were on the same page."

"Then what is it? The only times we go all out like this is when something happens."

"That's not true—"

"Once when your crush started dating the popular girl in school. Or when your mom kicked you out of the house for failing grades. Or when you were leaving me to move to Japan. Need I list any more?"

"Okay f-fine. Maybe it was like that in the past. But I am setting a new precedent for the future," she chirped. I rolled my eyes at her while taking this chance to sneak a peek at my phone. "And I'm starting by taking away this stupid phone," she continued, snatching it from my side as I gawked in protest. "Seriously, what's got you so distracted that you're looking at this thing every ten seconds—"

The phone suddenly dinged in her hand, and I froze as Misa's glance lowered to the device.

"Hey, it's from singer boy—"

I immediately grabbed the phone back to read the message.

"Is that what you've been waiting for? What's it say?" Misa asked.

"He umm, he apologized?"

"Apologized?"

"But that's not the weird thing," I muttered, showing her the message.

Sorry I

"It just ends like that, like he was in the middle of writing something." I proceeded to call his number, but it instantly went to voicemail.

"Did something happen?"

"I don't know, I-I haven't heard from him in a while, and I just have this feeling that he's in trouble— Do you think I'm being paranoid?"

"What! No, of course not!" she exclaimed while getting up from the bed. "What are you still doing here? You need to go see him!"

"Could you keep your voice down?" I shushed, worried that Yoongi may still be sleeping. "Besides, I don't know where he lives."

"Well, have you told Yoongi?" Misa's voice lowered slightly in volume, yet it still seemed to boom across the room. I shook my head in reply. "Then go tell him! Go, go, no time to waste." Misa pushed me towards the door, but I flinched after seeing who was on the other side.

"Yoongi?" I was confused by his serious expression, silently digging into me. Did he overhear everything?

"I-I can't let you go see him."

——
{a/n}

Working full-time has honestly been exhausting TT but I'll try my best to get the next chapter out very soon! Thanks for reading everyone!