Park Soomi

"You know, it sounded like she already knew before coming in." Yoongi brushed my clothes aside as he stepped out of the closet.

"You think? Shit, this isn't gonna get you in trouble, is it?" My grip on Yoongi's shirt tightened as the pit in my stomach grew.

"Hey, hey, stop worrying too much. You'll wrinkle my shirt," Yoongi joked as he grabbed the fabric from me and pulled it over his head. "It'll be fine as long as she doesn't say anything to anyone. Mostly Hoseok..."

The more Yoongi tried to reassure me, the more uncertain both of us seemed to get.

"Sure...she's not the gossip type. Besides, Hoseok isn't even here right now. She can keep a secret..."

We stood in silence as if contemplating whether or not we believed the nervous stream of words coming out of our mouths.

"Well," I continued, "it's not that she can't keep a secret. I mean, you know her, she might just, well, accidentally—"

"You should go talk to her."

"Yep. Agreed." It didn't take long before we both reached the same conclusions, and I hastily turned towards the door. "God, why did you have to throw your shirt so perfectly into the stupid lamp?" I complained while speed-walking.

"Hey, it wouldn't even have mattered anyway. She already knew."

"Yeah, yeah, well it didn't help anything, that's for sure." I reached for the doorknob but stopped when I felt Yoongi's presence close behind me. "What're you doing?" I asked, looking up at him.

He stared back at me with a confused expression.

"We can't go out at the same time. What if Jimin or Jungkook see us?" I whispered. "Damn, Yoongi, wasn't expecting a rookie mistake like this from you."

"Hey, what about you? Wasn't expecting you to be so experienced sneaking people out of your room. Do this often?" he joked in a teasing tone, but the smirk immediately wiped off his face as I elbowed him in the side.

With his face scrunched up, he backed up a few steps with his arm around his waist.

"Yeah, sure. Sneaking Misa out of the house during our high school years. Now stay here, and don't come out until I text you that the coast is clear."

He lifted both hands with a smile, as if in surrender.

"Sure thing. You're the boss."

I quickly turned back to the door and slipped out the room, feeling my heart pounding as I recounted the entire morning so far.

Damn, what's gotten into him?

But as the sound of chattering reached my ears, my heart continued pounding for a completely different reason. I turned to see Jimin, Jungkook, and Misa all in the living room.

Shit, did Misa say anything to them? Thank god I told Yoongi to stay in the room.

"Morning, Soomi. What's up?" Jungkook called out to me, causing everyone to turn in my direction.

"Yeah, Soomi, what's up?" Misa asked with a smile.

"Oh, you know, just woke up..." I responded while walking towards them. "Misa, can I talk to you for a second? In your room?" With pursed lips, Misa nodded and hopped onto her feet. Thankfully, Jimin and Jungkook didn't give us much attention as they returned to their conversation.

As soon as we entered her room, I carefully shut the door tightly before turning to Misa.

"Hey, 'bout this morning. You didn't, umm, tell Jimin or Jungkook about it, right?" I nervously questioned, and Misa's eyes instantly widened as she vigorously shook her head.

"What? Of course not. I know you two aren't supposed to be..." Misa dramatically looked around, placing her hand by her mouth as she whispered, "...doing it. You're secret's safe with me. But damn girl, when'd you become the rebel type?"

"I didn't. How'd you even figure out Yoongi was there in the first place?"

"It was the shirt. Obviously." She shrugged, but she quickly broke under my knowing stare. "Okay, so I peeked in and saw him in your bed. But hey, that's not my fault! You didn't answer the door when I knocked, and I wasn't expecting to see something I shouldn't be seeing."

"I still don't get why you were looking for me—" As my gaze wandered off to the side, I noticed a tray filled with food. But it wasn't just any food, it was all my favorite breakfast foods, from the huge stack of cinnamon toast crunch waffles down to the touch of white chocolate pepero sitting on the side.

"Oh, that? That's just, umm—"

"Breakfast in bed?" My suspicions grew as I thought back to the girl's day Misa insisted on. Either, she's buttering me up 'cause she did something horribly wrong or...

And that was when it hit me, but before I could confront Misa about it, someone was at the door.

"Soomi, are you two done? Hoseok's here. He said he has important news."

I furrowed my eyebrows as I opened up the door to see Jimin, curious to know what news Hoseok had.

But somewhere, deep inside, I felt like I already knew it all.

With a heavy heart, I silently followed Jimin and Misa down the stairs to greet Hoseok.

"Where's Yoongi?" Hoseok asked as we all gathered together.

"I checked his room. He wasn't there," Jungkook answered.

"Oh, he texted me saying he'll be out running errands for a bit," I calmly lied, though I was sweating on the inside. I could sense Misa laughing internally though her face didn't give any indication of it.

"Whatever. I can catch him up later," Hosek said with a shrug. "Well, I don't wanna bore you all too much, so long story short, I just closed the case with Mr. Kim this morning. We found damning evidence against the guy Taehyung killed and located accomplices who all confirmed he was behind everything. Jungkook, Yoongi, and I will be leaving by the end of the day," Hoseok explained with a smile.

But it seemed Hoseok was the only one smiling, as the rest of us took the news with solemn expressions.

"Wow, I never really thought 'bout the day you were gonna have to leave," Jimin muttered to Jungkook. Jungkook wordlessly pulled Jimin into a hug. At first, it felt heartwarming, seeing the scene before me but as their embrace lasted a few seconds longer than it probably should've, suddenly things grew awkward.

Jungkook seemed to try and pull back, but Jimin's hold visibly tightened.

"You know this doesn't have to be our last goodbye, though, right?" Jungkook said. Jimin quickly pulled away with a forced cough.

"Duh, of course, I knew that," Jimin muttered, clearly embarrassed. It grew quiet, the two just fiddling with their fingers and tapping their feet. It was like watching two kids trying to confess to their crushes, and I had to hold back a laugh at the thought.

"So...wanna play video games?" Jungkook asked, and just like that, it seemed like everything returned back to normal.

"I mean, if you want to get your ass whooped again, then sure," Jimin replied, already making his way towards the stairs.

"Cute, but I think you and I have a different definition of ass-whooping," Jungkook shouted, speed walking to catch up with him.

"Hmm, months later, and I'm still not used to that." Hoseok was the first to speak once Jungkook and Jimin were out of sight. "Well, I'm not staying any longer than I have to. I'll be off then."

"Oh, well...thanks for all your work. I guess this is goodbye." I made an attempt at a polite goodbye, but I wasn't sure what the right words were.

"Perhaps not, sweetheart. Maybe you'll be seeing me in your dreams?" Hoseok smirked.

And I guess things never do change. Why do I even try with him?

"Frankly, it would be a nightmare if you ever appear in any dream of mine," I retorted.

"Still counting on it," he said with a wink. Before I knew it, he was heading towards the door. Even though he couldn't see it, I was rolling my eyes at his back.

"Umm, Soomi?" Misa mumbled as the door closed shut. "Since we're on this topic, I need to tell you something—"

"How soon until you leave?" I interrupted, and Misa's eyes subtly widened in surprise. "Come on, breakfast in bed? Girls' day? I should've figured it out sooner. You do this every time you leave."

"I just didn't know how to tell you..."

"Misa, I said it last time, and I'll say it again. You don't have to make a big deal 'bout leaving every single time. 'Cause I know it's not gonna be the last time we see each other."

"I know, but after the first time—"

"Things are different now. Come here," I said while pulling her into a hug. As I reassured Misa, I knew I couldn't blame her for having a difficult time breaking the news. The first time she ever left it was during a rough point in my life, and she had a hard time letting go, too.

But things are different now. Everything's different.

As we pulled away from each other with the same solemn smiles on our faces, my phone began vibrating in my pocket.

"Shit, I forgot about Yoongi," I muttered when I read the caller id. "Hey, Yoongi, sorry for not texting you. Everyone was in the living room, and Hoseok stopped by," I explained as soon as I picked up the phone.

"Is Jimin still here?" Yoongi abruptly asked.

"Uhh, yeah, why?" I asked, confused by the random question.

"I just got off the phone. We found Jimin's stepbrother."

My breath hitched after hearing the unexpected news. I never imagined they would ever find Jimin's brother after all these years, unaware of his existence. A mix of emotions rushed over me, and I wasn't sure whether I should be happy for Jimin or worried.

But as Yoongi's shaky sigh resonated through the phone speaker, the feeling of dread and fear of the unknown overshadowed any hint of joy.

I could feel Yoongi's hesitation screaming painfully in the silence, eating away at my sanity. I desperately wanted to know, and yet, I feared the truth itself.

But the bliss of not knowing couldn't last forever.

"He's dead."

——
{a/n}
Classes start again tomorrow, but I'm glad I at least managed to finish this chapter for y'all! Also, thank you for 8k reads, and hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

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