CYPHER | BTS

12: MAFIA WAR

- T W E L V E -

April 29, 2020
Wednesday
12pm

📍Santa Clara, California

༺❀༻

Choi June

I fell asleep.

I don't know when or how, but I did. I managed to sleep peacefully without interruptions or nightmares or traumatizing flashbacks. With how much sleep I've lost within the past day, I really needed it.

But I'm awake now, keeping my eyes open as I listen to murmuring voices outside. We're still at the warehouse because Seokjin is adamant on having Yoongi and I rest for a day before our five hour drive to Los Angeles tomorrow. I'm glad he said it, because I needed to sleep.

I'm in one of the private rooms in the infirmary, the door cracked open slightly. It's dim in here, the light from the hallway creaking in through the door. I don't know what time it is.

After I took a shower yesterday, I knocked out right after changing. I didn't speak to Yoongi. I didn't even look at him. I don't know if I'll eventually talk to him, but one things for certain:

I'm not speaking to him anytime soon.

"I need the both of you to explain what happened in exact detail." I hear Namjoon's faint voice from outside the room. I know he's talking to Yoongi, who is still busy recovering.

There's a beat of silence. "Okay, but... I don't want her to relive it. Until she's ready, she'll tell you. But for now, just take my word." I shut my eyes again. "June and I were sleeping in the same bed. Don't get the wrong idea, I... I just had a nightmare so I had to sleep with someone. But I woke up to a car door shutting. Keys jingling. Murmuring voices. I got up and peeked outside the window. When I saw them, I woke June up and we rushed out of the motel. I broke a window and we ran to the roof."

A pause. A long one. "I... I told June to go to the car and that I'd meet her there. I told her... that she was a burden so she'd get angry and leave... because I knew she wouldn't otherwise..." He sighs. "I was managing fine fighting off those guys, but there were two of them and one of me. They shot me—not to kill me but to wound me. Apparently, I screamed. I didn't know I did."

"They talked to me. They told me that Milo fucked them and their boss over. They didn't spill much information, because they didn't plan to kill me. They wanted to take me back to their boss as leverage. I don't know their name, but the mention of them brought on a aura with those two men that I've seen before. It was fear. They were so scared of their boss. Just like we are with ours."

"This is a mafia war, Joon. I-I don't know what they wanted with us. Maybe they just wanted to taunt us; to scare us into submission. It worked, and I fucking hate that it did, but at least we're not the dead ones."

"June came back for me. She killed one of them. I was bleeding and... so fucking helpless. I watched her get thrown around and punched and kicked and..." He releases a breath. "He wouldn't stop saying how pretty she was. He ripped her shirt a-and unbuckled his belt—"

"It's okay, Yoongi. I get it."

A sniffle sounds, and my heart aches. "There was a moment when I just watched like a fucking idiot. She was screaming and trying everything to get away from him, and it was like I was a little boy again, watching my mom—"

"Yoongi, it's okay."

Yoongi takes a deep breath. "It took me maybe ten or fifteen seconds to realize the gun was right next to me. Right next to me and I didn't even do anything. I shot him.  I was so angry at him. I wanted so badly to shoot him a hundred more times, but then I saw June crawl away from him, blood on her ripped shirt and sobs leaving her lips and I just..." He sighs again. "All that anger at him was gone and projected right onto me."

"I could've prevented it all. I was so angry at myself, Joon. So fucking angry."

"I know," Namjoon says softly.

"What happens now?"

"Now, we drive back to the penthouse. We pack our shit, we convince Manny to have us drive to LA a day early, and we rest cause we deserve it. You deserve it. June too." I hear Namjoon stand. "Tomorrow, I'll tell Jimin to skip the basics with June. I'll tell him to train her harder, better. She's a target of The Nabi now, who I am one hundred percent sure are the ones coming after us. They know she exists. She—as well as all of us—are in more danger than we know."

"Why, though? Why do they want us? Why not just go to Milo directly?"

"I don't know exactly, but if I had to take a good guess, I'd say it's because we're valuable assets. Milo needs us just as much as we need him. If we—the biggest rock band in the world—die, Milo loses a lot more than we think," Namjoon explains. "If The Nabi get their hands on us, we're nothing more than blackmail. I think you're right, Hyung. This is a mafia war, and we need to inform Milo right away."

༺❀༻

April 29, 2020
Wednesday
8pm

📍Los Angeles, California

༺❀༻

Choi June

We arrive in Los Angeles a day early.

I leave behind my fear, my anxiety, my curiosity, my trauma, and my feelings back in Santa Clara.

I don't care anymore.

It's hard to care when every single time I do, I'm shut down again and again.

No more.

༺❀༻

END OF CHAPTER TWELVE