The contract with Death! M.YG× Reader

Sticks and Stones

Even if I hadn't seen the place where his family worked, it was obvious just by the way Yoongi dressed that he did not come from money. The fact he wore no-brand jeans when the majority of the guys in our grade stuck with the Fifth Ave designers or ridiculously expensive vintage shops was a good indicator he was here solely based on his academic achievements. No wonder he'd snarked at me about being a rich girl. He had to work his butt off to be here, when people like me and Mark could just coast on by. I felt a little ashamed.

"Can I help you?" Yoongi said to Mark, sounding like he'd rather be doing anything but that.

Mark ignored Yoongi as he took a seat beside me, pulling my fries across the table toward him. "So we missed you at Dong wook's party last weekend, Y/n."

"Partying isn't really my thing," I said, keeping my attention fixed on Yoongi. I wasn't sure if he was about to deck Mark in the face or storm off in a huff. He was clearly uncomfortable, perched on the edge of his seat.

"Shame," Mark said around a mouthful of fries. "We're all kind of sad we haven't seen you around lately. Chaeyoung said it's because you've been spending all your time with Min here."

You've got to be kidding me, I thought in disbelief. Mark wants to talk to Yoongi about me? Why did he even care? I had a sinking feeling Mark was just looking for an excuse to get under Yoongi's skin.

Yoongi leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's hardly my fault. Take that up with her, Ritter."

"You know, I have to hand it to you, Min," Mark said, now looking over at Yoongi. "You must be something special if you can get a girl like Y/n here. She's not exactly in your league, bro."

"Oh, I'm well aware of that," Yoongi said dryly. "Is there any particular reason you feel the need to share this bit of information with me, or do you just get some kick out of wasting my time?"

Mark shrugged again. "Yeah, but I also want to offer you some advice too. You know, since I'm such a nice guy and everything."

I opened my mouth to tell Mark what I was going to do to him with the rest of my sandwich if he didn't shut up, but the look Yoongi shot me made my words die in my throat.

"And what's that?"

"Well, me and the guys have all been talking about it," Mark began slowly, "and we were thinking—you know, since your old man is in prison and everything—that you're probably going to wind up there one day too, so it'd probably be best if you left Y/n alone. You know, like can't come within two hundred feetalone. Pretty little thing like her couldn't possibly—"

My face felt like it had burst into flames. I didn't know what he was talking about, but this had clearly gone way too far. "Would you just leave him alone? Seriously! Could you be more of a jerk, Mark?"

Mark stared at me with wide eyes for a few short moments while I sat there, short of breath, flushed with color. I couldn't look at Yoongi. I was afraid of what his reaction would be. The last thing I needed was for a dumb idiot like Mark to throw Yoongi off, disrupt the progress I'd made over the past week, however minimal that progress might have been.

"Well, I really think that answers your question," Yoongi said, surprising both Mark and me. "Bye now."

Marm shoved back from the table and stood, slamming his hands down, leaning toward Yoongi. "Just think about it. Might do you some good."

I took a deep, steadying breath and looked up at Yoongi, bracing myself for his reaction. He was looking at me with nothing short of contempt.

"Look, Yoongi, I—"

"Don't ever speak for me again." His eyes were blazing as he glared at me. "You may think you just did me a favor, but you did the exact opposite. I can take care of myself. So I'll thank you for keeping your nose out of my business. The same goes for your idiot friend Mark."

He didn't give me the chance to say anything in response before he left the cafeteria. People standing nearby automatically moved to give him a wide berth and he quickly disappeared from sight.

Maybe I had jumped the gun, shouting at Mark like that, but how could I have not when he'd said such terrible things? Yet now I was fairly certain Yoongi was never going to want anything to do with me ever again. And could I really blame him? Hanging out with Yoongi was already opening him up to more scrutiny at the hands of jerks like Mark. That wasn't helping my case any. It was his perfect excuse to stay as far away from me as possible, and I could kiss being friends good-bye.

During the rest of the day, I kept running what Mark had said during lunch over and over again in my mind. The more I thought about that conversation, the sicker I started to feel. Mark said that Yoongi was going to end up in prison "like his old man." How could I have missed something as important as the fact that Yoongi's dad was in jail?

That statement alone raised more questions about this entire situation than I thought I had the capacity to handle. I wanted to believe Mark was just making it up, but there was no mistaking the look that had come over Yoongi's face when he'd said those words. Mark had touched a nerve with Yoongi, and he knew it.

But at the very least, I now knew which one of Yoongi's secrets I had to uncover next.