Sunbeam

16.

October 8, 2019

True to herself, Ari looked contentedly at the bags in her hands. These were some of the presents for the coming Christmas for some of the boys.

She looked at the already decorated trees around the driveway as she walked to her apartment. She wondered what to get for Izeul and Namjoon. What do you buy for Christmas for a man you once had sex with but you're not a couple?

Staring at the Christmas lights and almost outside her apartment, her phone rang and she hurried to see who was calling her. Namjoon?

"Hey" she picked up worriedly, he had never called her. "Come back to the mansion, Ari" Namjoon commanded from the other end of the phone.

"Why, is everything alright, is Izeul alright?" Ari looked over her shoulder, feeling chills run down her spine. "I want you" was all Namjoon answered and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tomorrow" she smiled and looked around again, why doesn't the feeling that something is wrong leave her? She looked over her shoulder again, quickening her pace. "Are you refusing to obey me, Miss Hyun?" Namjoon growled and she raised an eyebrow.

Ari was fumbling for her keys in her purse as she talked on the phone and was almost running already, just meters from the front door of her apartment building.

She nervously glanced over her shoulder. "Damn it!" she muttered under her breath, but Namjoon heard her. "Ari, what's up? Are you okay?" he asked and she sighed. "I…" she found the keys and was about to insert the key into the lock when a heavy body pressed her against the door.

Ari groaned in pain. "Did you miss me, baby?" she shuddered and turned the key, the door opened inward, allowing her to release the pressure. "Namjoon…" she squealed and ran as Hwan yanked the phone from her hands and threw it against the wall, smashing it into pieces.

Namjoon was lying in his bedroom staring at Binna's portrait when he decided to call Ari back. After yesterday's fiasco in the laundry, her little body was on his mind and kept him from concentrating.

But when she screamed into the phone and the connection snapped, he jumped up and ran for the front door. "Hoseok, Seokjin, Yoongi!" he yelled, grabbing his car keys from the hall table without even bothering to look for a coat.

"What's happening?" Jungkook and Jimin appeared from the kitchen. "I'm going to Ari's apartment. I'll wait for you there!" Namjoon ordered and jumped out, running to his car.

Ari managed to escape him up the stairs, slamming the door to her apartment and locking the secret lock. Her heart skipped a beat in terror as Hwan knocked on the door.

"Open up, baby" his snarling voice made her hair stand on end and she took a few steps back from the door clutching the bags in front of her chest like a shield.

"Come on, honey, you can't call the police now. Be a good girl and open the damn door" Hwan hits again, much harder this time. Ari jumped timidly, dropping the bags.

"Go, Hwan, Namjoon will be here any minute..." she yelled against the door and heard his laugh. "Your boyfriend won't come, baby, so open up let's make it easier on each other" Hwan laughed and she closed her eyes praying he wasn't right.

She heard the kick, the door creaked, but she held on, a second kick, she literally saw the light from the hallway filter between the door and the frame.

Terrified, she ran into the bedroom and locked herself in the bathroom. Ari crouched in the farthest corner and hugged her knees, burying her face in them and covering her ears with her hands.

But nothing kept her from hearing the loud pounding on her front door. Nor to silence his screams, which promised her unbearable pain.

Namjoon sped up, deftly dodging traffic and running red lights, not caring that he'd probably called some other accident.