TWENTY

Today the sky was clear and the air warm. Some would say that it was the perfect weather, not for Nari. She had just gotten out of school so she was sweating heavily due to the burgundy uniform.

Her head kept replaying her conversation with Taehyung. She wanted to tell him, she wanted to tell someone. Unfortunately she couldn't.

      As she continued to walk through the streets of Namjoon's neighborhood she contemplated on the kiss she shared with Jungkook.

    The way he held her. The way his lips molded with hers. The way he touched her as if she was a small flower that he did not want to break. He drove her crazy.

    Both had not said any words outside of school. When he called her for tutoring purposes, that is all they did. She noticed he had distanced himself from her.

    She wasn't called up for another mission after what happened. That is, except today. After school ended, Jimin had called her to tell her that they requested her again. She was going on another one of their "missions".

    Her phone began ringing as she kept waking, she was receiving a call.

    "Hello."

     "Are you coming or not?"

     "Jimin, I'm on my way. Why are you asking?"

     "We changed the place."

     "What do you mean?"

     "We're going to Jungkook's house instead. He didn't want to come to the meeting so we are going to him instead."
 
    She let out an involuntary sigh. Out of all the houses available, it had to be his.

    "Nari."

    "I'm almost at Namjoon's house."

    "I'll pick you up."

     "No–no way! I'm not going on that motorcycle."

    "I have my parents' car today again, silly."

    "Fine, I'm close to the bus stop."

     "Okay, I'll see you in a few."

Jimin arrived faster than she had expected. The car was a recent model. It was the fanciest car she had ever seen.

"Get in loser, we're going shopping!" Hye shouted from the backseat. Namjoon chuckled as he held his girlfriend's hand.

      Jimin had motioned for her to open the passenger seat.

      She stayed silent as she settled herself on the seat.

     "Hello." she mumbled.

     "Why are you so shy today?" Jimin asked her as he drove off.

Hye patted her shoulders, "Yeah, there's no need to be shy with us! We don't bite."

Nari nodded and stayed looking at the passing houses.

      "What is the mission?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.

Namjoon sighed before speaking, "You'll know when we get there."

       Another abrupt silence filled the space. Nari could hear Jimin drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. Her eyes stumbled upon Hye placing her head on Namjoon's shoulder as he kissed her forehead. She had watched them through the rear view mirror.

      Hye's eyes were looking at Namjoon adorably. She really loved him. They must've been through a lot, yet they are still strong above all those hardships.

     "We're here." Jimin announced as he parked the car in front of the house Nari had secretly begun to love.

The house or the boy who lives in it?

She got out and waited for the others to do the same. She felt as if her heart could come out of her mouth in any second. The nerves were killing her.

     He hadn't spoken to her since their last tutoring session which was on Monday; today is Saturday.

     5 days without any exchange words. Sure, there'd be hugs and forehead kisses but no words were said. They still had to keep up the act.

   She was overthinking it, a little too much than the normal.

     Have I done something? Is this about the kiss?

     Hye opened the door and Nari was behind her. Once they stepped inside they were greeted by the boys. They said their casual hello's while Jungkook was serious.

He had comfortable clothes on. A dark green snapback adorned his head. Meanwhile, a grey hoodie and black basketball shorts covered his body.

"Nari!" Taehyung exclaimed as he sat down next to her on the living room couch.

She smiled, "Hi, Tae."

Jungkook was looking at her. She knew he was looking at her. She decided to let it slide, he'd done this a few times so she was used to it.

The nine teens sat on the couches in the gigantic living room. They waited for Namjoon to begin speaking but he wasn't.

"Kookie!" an unrecognizable voice shouted from upstairs.

She saw Jungkook roll his eyes, "What?" he shouted.

From the top balcony where the bedrooms were, a girl with long brown hair and pale skin appeared. Her face resembled Jungkook so much.

"Can I go to my friend's house for a sleep over?" she asked as she leaned on the railing.

Jungkook chuckled, "Ask mom, not me."

She had finally met his sister. She looked the same age as Ara.

"She's in her office and I don't want to disturb her." the girl whined.

"Mina, it's very simple. Knock on the door and say excuse me–" he replied with an annoyed.

She scoffed, "I'm not stupid, Kook."

The boys all chuckled at the sibling interaction.

"Ask mom." he responded.

"But–"

Jungkook turned his head so that he was looking at her from below, "Ask our mother."

"Aish–" the girl stomped her feet as she entered another door.

"Love you!" Jungkook shouted and the only response was the door closing abruptly.

"I can't believe that she is 15 now, just yesterday she was 11." he mumbled.

"She's 15? Like Ara?" Nari asked out loud.

Jungkook only nodded.

No wonder he told her that he understood her struggle with Jimin flirting with her sister.

      His family had just gotten back from a trip.

"Okay! Let's begin." Namjoon said as he took out some papers from his book bag.

Laying them on the table, his hands found a pen that Hye gave him.

"We are going tonight to Red Fury." he responded.

Nari furrowed her eyebrows, "What?"

"A friend of ours is waiting for a package," he paused, "it's our job to deliver it."

"Wait, she's coming?" Jungkook asked motioning to Nari.

Jimin nodded, "Of course she is." it was true, she was going.

After all, she's part of them now.

In an instant she saw his eyes darken. Her heart stopped as she saw him take a breath before continuing.

"No, she isn't going." he answered.

All of the boys groaned, "Come on, hyung! She agreed to be one of us so we have to bring her with us now." Yoongi reasoned.

"Bring her with us, to an underground fighting match?" he shouted but was shushed by Hoseok who nudged him to be quiet.

His family couldn't hear, or else they'd question them and their secret would be uncovered.

"Underground?" she asked but was interrupted by Jungkook.

"She could get hurt," he turned to Jimin, "Jimin, you out of all people know that a place like that isn't the right one for her."

"She is capable of defending herself, I know that for a fact." Jimin answered.

She smiled, he was remembering the day when he asked her out. Sure, they were in pre-school, but she still told him to leave her alone.

She can defend herself.

"Hyung–"

"We'll be taking her." Namjoon ignored his pleas.

"Namjoon–"

"You convinced her to stay, she's your responsibility." he finished.

"Listen–"

Namjoon pointed his finger at him and continued speaking calmly, "From now on it is your responsibility to keep her safe, end of discussion."

Strangely after Namjoon scolded him, he remained silent with an unknown expression on his face.

Nari felt a hand pat her thigh, she looked down and found Taehyung's large calloused hand.

"Nothing will happen to you as long as we're with you." he smiled at her.

A smile spread on her face and she nodded to Taehyung. Their friendship had become stronger since the day of the bathroom incident. It felt as if she had known him for years, instead of weeks.

"All we have to do is wait for our friend to fight and then we'll go outside to give him the package." Namjoon began explaining in detail.

They all nodded as they continued listening closely.

"We'll leave at 6 to arrive there at 7 since the fight begins at 8." Namjoon told them.

"Oh!" he paused as he remembered something, "no masks tonight, we don't need them."

Nari nudged Jin who was on the other side of her, "Isn't that violating your 'mask at all times' policy?"

"We don't wear masks when we deliver packages to our close friends, clients yes but not with our friends." he explained in detail to her.

She nodded.

Then Namjoon spoke once more, "Jimin, you can take Nari home. We're already settled."

Jimin nodded and twirled the keys on his hands before telling Nari to follow him.

"Hold on." she felt a hand turn her around and drag her to the patio.

      Jungkook, she recognized his touch in seconds.

Jimin was nowhere in sight but she saw that Jungkook still held her wrist.

A giant blue pool was behind them. They stood in front of one another. Once again, no words were said.

"You can't go." he told her.

"Jungkook, I'm going. I have to." she responded.

He sighed, "I meant, you aren't going."

"I am. It was an order, you and I both know that you can't disrespect the boss' orders." her voice was wavering.

Just having him standing there, talking to her, was making her lose her mind.

        "You can stay here, he won't notice–" he ignored her but she interrupted him.

"Look, I'm doing this to help my family," she took a step closer, "so I'm going."

Without a second look she had ran inside. She left him standing there, shocked. Does he think she is a damsel in distress? If he does then she isn't. Sure she hadn't showed her other side until now but something sparked in her.

She stomped towards Jimin and dragged him to his car, "Take me home."

Jimin stood with a smirk on his face, "What happened?"

"Nothing!" Nari whined before stepping inside the car, putting her seatbelt and her hands on her face.

The orange haired boy started the car and drove in silence.

"He doesn't want me to go." she answered after a few minutes.

"Because you could get hurt?" he asked.

She nodded feverishly, "Yes. I'm still going."

"Just know that not only will Jungkook be on the look out but so will I." his hand squeezed her's as a sign of assurance.

"Thank you, best friend." she smiled at him.

Her heart skipped a beat knowing that these boys were slowly becoming special people to her. Sure, she sometimes wanted to shout at them to bring them into their senses. Shout at them to leave all of this and start fresh. But they've been helping her, step by step, day by day.

Nari was beginning to trust them; trust them with all her heart.