midnight blues · kth

|fourteen|

-Between the chaos-

-

The last of the day's clouds floated by as the stars twinkled to life in the gradually darkening sky. Imani found herself sprawled between the flowers, fruits and vegetables in the rooftop garden of Val's Place. A borrowed blanket and pillow comforted her body as she watched the end of their fifth day in hiding unfold. 

They had fallen into somewhat of a routine in the hidden haven they temporarily called home. Every morning they'd have breakfast with Val in her kitchen, then Taehyung would take his leave to either contact Yoongi or do god knows what, while Imani would help Val with whatever chores or sometimes paperwork the older woman could find to occupy her. 

They'd reconcile at lunch, and then separate again until dinner, usually cooked by Val who mostly refused help from either of the pair, claiming that she was a renowned chef and that she loved cooking for others. They didn't argue, instead, they received every meal with gratitude and ended them with praise. 

Val really was a terrific cook. 

As for the two of them… they had developed a tolerance for one another. They weren't the best of friends however, they were oddly comfortable enough to coexist peacefully. Although, most words shared between them simply revolved around updates from Yoongi along with discussions of emergency plans and precautions should something go wrong during their stay or departure from Val's. 

They had reached a silent consensus, a peaceful acceptance of the shift that had undoubtedly taken place after the incidents of their first night at Val's. 

She sighed, falling into the memories that had her gut swarming with tingles as the butterflies fluttered about as well as creasing in awkwardness as she cringed hard enough to get a headache. 

Her mind should be elsewhere though, what with the city being in complete disarray at the recent events she was involved in. There were news reports on every channel alerting citizens to stay inside and be vigilant of the 'rebel group' raining havoc across the towns, propaganda that her mother undoubtedly had a hand in creating. 

Imani had seen so many bulletins, one of them even capturing the moment she had thrown the grenade from a street camera, however, fortunately for her they had yet to see her face and identify her. 

The cops she and Taehyung had faced seemed to be silent on the matter, once again the work of Jae not wanting her daughter to ruin the family reputation.

They only interviewed the chief from his hospital bed, his retelling of the story was far more exaggerated as he explained that there had been at least ten different men who had ambushed him and his officers and Imani couldn't help but laugh when she had seen that interview. 

The media never failed to amuse her, always twisting their stories to the will of whichever elite had written them a check. 

Unfortunately though, not every citizen found the reports amusing. The chaos that the media had caused flared up in the form of the raging mass hysteria that rampaged throughout the cities. In her opinion, the damage that the news outlets caused was far worse than the few men they bruised and a damaged road. 

Besides, they had not walked out of that situation unharmed either. Each of them were sporting bruises of their own and Imani was grateful for the few days they got to spend recuperating and gaining their energy back to be on the move again. 

Speaking of bruises… 

Her mind inevitably trailed back to her partner in crime once again. The memories resurfaced and she snapped her eyes open, staring up at the inky sky wondering if the stars could see her torment.