hoodwink -- bts

chapter sixteen [flowers]

Awkward was an understatement to say the least. Not just that the entire room was awkwardly quiet, but the tension rose so thick, even more so than the night before.

But it had only been a matter of a few hours.

I was shaken awake by someone in the early morning as I had accidentally fallen asleep in the hallway right outside Jungkook's door. The exhaustion had been too unbearable, and in the small amount of clothing I was given, I was lulled to sleep by the chilly night air.

The awakening was unpleasant while my neck was stiff and I was quite embarrassed that Jin had shoved me out of the way to carry Mi-na into another guest room where he had tended to her wounds. Luckily, she was still conscious, though I'm not sure how.

She had lost plenty of blood.

My eyes seemed to go in and out of focus, my head nodding off slightly towards the plate of toast in front of me. The urge to quickly sleep once more was beginning to become overpowering, but somehow had cleared their throat, snapping me from my messy thinking.

'How is she?' Taehyung supported his chin on one arm adjacent to the table. His eyes remained glued to the glass of water sitting in front of him.

'She's, well...recovering I suppose. Granted that she's still alive, I think that's a good sign.' Sighing heavily, Jin picked at a pile of orange peelings on the maroon shaded table cloth.

I kept my gaze low, fidgeting in my seat and wondering how I was still even functioning without any caffeine and from the events of the night before.

'So, what's your reasoning this time? A guest comes to our estate but doesn't even last a full day without being injured. What was it?' Clearly directing his remarks towards the youngest member, everyone remorsefully tilted their eyes to look at Jungkook sitting on the opposite end of the table alone.

His face was covered by his hands, head lowered and hair a mess. No matter how I tried to rationalize his thinking, I couldn't find myself to sympathise with him, especially after what he had said last night.

The comments stuck in my heart and replayed over and over in my mind as I cringed mentally at the vulgarity and savagery in his actions. Nothing he did was justified. He deserved everything coming his way.

'Why don't you ask her? Not like you're going to believe me anyway...' Mumbling into his cardigan sleeve, Taehyung gripped a butter knife in his right hand tightly, leaning in closer to the table.

'I'm sorry, repeat that one more time, please?'

'Nothing, sir.'

'You still haven't answered my question. Why did you do it?' Each word was coming out in a harsher tone, his calm exterior was slowly crumbling away.

Jungkook gave no answer, instead he lowered his hands and stared down at the table. Intently waiting for the next comment, my legs shook underneath the coverage of the cloth. Someone was bound to explode, meaning someone else was going to get hurt.

'Good, very good.' Turning his head towards myself, I froze in place.

'Ji-U, how are you feeling this morning? I imagine your body must be aching this morning.' The fake sweetness coating his voice had myself treading over the fact that he was speaking directly to me.

'I-I'm fine, thank you.'

Minji twitched uncomfortably on my left, turning the page of the magazine she had been reading through the heavy atmosphere. She slowly leaned away from me, leaving me in the same spot with just myself for support.

Everyone was giving me a questioning gaze and my face had turned a nice shade of ballerina pink.

By this moment, Jungkook had also gazed up at me, though it was more of a type of somber glare if one existed. I decided to rile him up a bit more.

Turning to my right, I nudged Jimin who had been busy constructing a list of some sort. Alarmed he quickly looked up at me through curious lenses.

'Hey, Jimin. My arms and legs are so stiff, would you like to come out on a walk with me through the woods?'

'Sure, but why are you asking m-'

'Ah let's go now, before the sun rises too high. The winds will start to pick up soon.' Taking hold of his arm, I dragged him up from the seat and bowed respectfully before leaving to the front door. Jungkook and Taehyung both looked up, disbelief and a twinge of perhaps jealousy was present in their gazes.

Without grabbing a pair of shoes, I opened the door and slammed it shut behind us both, finally releasing his arm and walking on my own towards the rest of the heavily forested areas.

'Ji-U, what's going on? What happened?' Stopping me, Jimin gestured back to the large wooden manor, completely oblivious to my motives.

'Sometimes, I get sick of seeing both of their faces. I'm absolutely mortified by whatever Jungkook did last night, and I'm slightly disappointed in Taehyung for not exploding like he should have.' Angrily, I met his eyes.

'Any more questions, or would you rather ask them yourself? You're free to go if you want, I don't care anymore.' Briskly, I turned and continued on my way in the grassy path, feeling the wet morning dew on my bare feet.

Catching up to me, Jimin walked besides me, smiling.

'I can't let you wander around alone, you'd get lost and I'd be blamed for it.'

Rolling my eyes, I veered off to the right and to what seemed to be a grove with a large stone alcove covered in greenery. Trees hung tall while sunlight seeped through the branches in the morning air.

'I want to show you something, it's a bit of a walk from here. Follow me.' Taking hold of my arm, I lurched backwards and yelped in surprise, changing direction and curiously walking after him. The call of a few birds rang clear in the crisp atmosphere, a brook babbled by somewhere beyond a line of tall pine trees.

The trees slowly began to clear out, opening into a meadow abundant with different variation of flowers. I took in the clear azure shaded sky and mountain range surrounding the large field. A few squirrels watched us from the trees, running along the thick trunks.

Each flower was bunched with many other types; reds, violets, yellows, oranges, white and even a few midnight blacks.

Stopping abruptly, I crashed into Jimin's back and peered around him at our final destination.

It was a grave, littered with flowers and letters that had been damaged from water and the earth around it. The mound was neatly formed in front of the stone, and I squinted to read the print on it.

'Kim Sae-Bin

-in memory of-

-rip-'

The date was carved up and unreadable now.

'Who-'

'She was Taehyung's sister, and my lover.'

I was mortified, looking up at him in shock. The look in his expression was clouded, muddled with emotion I couldn't even comprehend.

'Then who is Mi-na?'

He met my eyes with a melancholy frown. 'That's Jungkook's real sister. Jungkook is at fault for incest.'

-

lim kim makes got me feelin' a type of way

so does 'q&a' by seventeen ft. ailee(?)

btw-house of cards by bts could potentially fit this chapter, but i think whalien 52 could too

idk

hope you enjoyed!-

-elise