Phobias

Part 4

Taehyung

The entire hall was laughing. As if this was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. They were laughing, taking pictures, and throwing things at Y/n.

And I was not joining them.

Instead I stared in utter bewilderment at Y/n, not sure exactly what to think.

Namjoon and I had discovered Y/n was afraid of spiders when she was startled by a picture of one in science class last week and had quickly spread the word that we were going to prank her. It wasn't a real spider, obviously, but a realistic looking toy one, and those things being thrown at her at this very moment, those were more toy spiders. None of us had ever liked Y/n. Me, Namjoon, Jimin, Jungkook, we always thought what everyone else did ever since she first stepped foot in the middle school: she was a freak. A pathetic, cowardly freak. And we've always loved messing with her.

But if I'm being completely honest with myself, this reaction I'm seeing right now, this is pretty extreme even for her. I've never seen this before. All the color had drained from her face. She was shaking violently and it looked like she was gonna hurl. I knew she'd be scared but I didn't think she'd be that scared.

Did we go too far?

Y/n was crying. No, she was sobbing. And everyone was laughing at her. She tried to run, but Jimin stuck out his foot and she face planted, making everyone laugh harder. For the first time ever, I felt a little sick as I watched. No, this isn't funny. I felt completely horrified. There was a voice in my head, screaming at me to put a stop to this. It was telling me to help her. But I stayed rooted to the spot, staring at Y/n as she got up, shoved some laughing kids aside, and ran out of there.

Everybody immediately broke into applause for Namjoon, who grinned and bowed looking very pleased with himself. He and Jimin bumped fists and Jungkook slapped me on the back. I just stood still, staring in the direction Y/n ran.

Y/n

Humiliation. Pain. Fury. And a multitude of other emotions were running through me at this very moment. I needed to throw up. I made it to the bathroom just at the nick of time and emptied my stomach into the toilet. The breakfast that Yoongi so thoughtfully cooked for me this morning came right back up. I can't believe this. I tried so hard. I did everything I could to keep Namjoon and his merry band of thugs from finding out my worst fears. How did they find out?

The poster. I groaned and rested my head on the stall door, closing my eyes in frustration. Last week in the science lab I noticed a poster that was a close-up of a horrible eight-eyed spider and just about jumped out of my skin. Namjoon and Taehyung are in my science class. They saw. I hung my head and cried. Fuck my life.

I don't wanna go to class. I just wanna stay here and cry my eyes out. But if I don't go then the teacher will call my oppa and he'll get suspicious. I can't tell him. He doesn't look at me like everyone else does and I don't want him to. I don't want him to know. I'm a freak.

With great reluctance, I stood up and left the stall. I splashed cold water on my face and rinsed out my mouth. I look at my reflection, hating what I saw. Why is this happening? Why can't I ever catch a goddamned break?

The door suddenly opened and I jumped up, already shaking. A group of girls walked in, laughing undoubtedly about Namjoon's horrible prank. They saw me and immediately smirked.

"Look girls! It's everyone's favorite coward! Jung Y/n!" The queen bitch jeered.

My real name is Min Y/n but the thing about my cousin is he's filthy rich. He's a successful business man and owns several buildings, including this one. But there are downsides to having lots of money; and what's probably the biggest one is gold diggers. It's happened to Yoongi. A couple years ago, he had fallen in love. They dated for several months and he thought she was the one. Until he overheard her talking on the phone. Surprise surprise, she was just using him for his money. He was heartbroken and threw her out. But that wasn't it. Yoongi had always been so protective of me and my sister that he wanted to ensure we would never encounter that kind of toxicity. He wanted to make sure we had real friends not fake ones who would just use us to bask in our wealth. Which is why when he enrolled us in school he did it under his boyfriend's name (my cousin is openly bisexual) rather than our own so no one would suspect we were related. Yoongi was well known throughout South Korea and had many admirers. He didn't want anyone to ever take advantage of us.

This is a prestigious private school so everyone attending it is already pretty wealthy themselves. Being the cousin/adoptive daughter of the owner would actually make me the richest kid in this school. I'm also the kid who gets severely bullied the most by everyone. Oh the irony.

The girls were now advancing towards me. Menacingly. A whimper escaped my lips as I backed away.

"Aww, look girls, we made her scared!" The queen cried gleefully. They all started laughing. My mind was racing. I need to get out of here. But I need to get past them first. They were leering at me whilst pulling something out of their pockets. More of those disgusting toy spiders.

My eyes went huge and I immediately wanted to start crying again. It's so embarrassing getting triggered by a bunch of damn toys. But I can't help it. I see something that looks remotely similar to an arachnid and I instantly flashback to when I almost got killed by those black widows.

"Please don't..." I whimpered softly as they came closer, holding the spiders out. I can't breathe. The eyes. The fangs.

The legs. God, I hate the legs.

They crept closer still and panic rose dramatically inside me. Get me out of here! As they shoved their spiders in my face, a scream escaped my mouth. I shoved them aside and bolted from the bathroom. I could feel the toys hit my back as they threw them at me. Could hear them laughing. My face hot with humiliation I wiped my tears and took off down the hall.