What May Change [Min Yoongi FF]

Chapter 18

"What the hell are you doing here?" Yoongi exploded into the hallway, looking more than a little worse for wear. He clearly hadn't slept the night before.

"I don't think you're in  a position to be asking 'what the hell?' right now. That's my question. And why are your phones all disconnected? We thought you guys were gone. Is anyone hurt? What the fuck happens if the police find you guys?" I erupted with endless rapid-fire questions, unable to contain all of my fears from spilling out. I was angry. I was terrified. 

Yoongi took in a deep breath with his eyes closed. A voice came from across the living room.

"It's okay guys, you can come out. It's just the girls." It was Namjoon.

Yoongi opened his eyes and stepped toward me, taking my shoulders gently. 

"You guys can't skip school, its suspicious. You've never skipped school and to have the first time be after a seven member gang incident occurred, when you just so happen to involved with one? It points to us. We're taking every precaution. Revolving which members go to school the next few days so we're not all gone, but laying low so if someone showed up expecting us, they wouldn't find all of us. We'd appear more separate, and even if one of us gets taken in, they don't talk about the others no matter what. We have this covered Whimsy. Go back to school and act like you just skipped first period because you woke up late. You can climb the fence in the back and sneak in." He informed. 

"Not til I know what happened!" I shouted back. 

There was a hefty sigh as Namjoon came around the corner, revealing himself. He was limping. 

"What the hell happened to Namjoon?" Soomin asked, eyeing him worriedly. The rest of the boys filed in and beckoned us to the living room. 

"Namjoon hyung's dad," I'd never seen Jimin look so melancholy. It appeared Jungkook, Taehyung, and Hoseok were missing, they must have been the ones at school. 

"He wanted us to hurt him much worse. I said it'd kill him. Tried to reason that a dead man can't pay his debt. He gave the order and we didn't follow through. I gave the order not to follow through." Namjoon explained. Jin passed him an icepack and squeezed his eyes shut tight, as if he was still seeing what happened in his mind. "I'll be fine. It's not a break, most likely."

"Most likely," Yoongi echoed, looking very unsatisfied. 

"We already talked about this. Doctors mean bills and questions. We can't afford either right now. We already agreed to put the money towards flowers for the family." Namjoon chastised, his tone final. 

"None of this was supposed to happen!" Yoongi yelled. 

"Well it did." He retorted. 

"Isn't there some way out?" I pleaded. "Some way away from your dad's business? Does he really need YOU to be the successor?"

Namjoon sighed irritatedly. "Even if I'm not the next mob lord, there's no way out of this life. The only thing I could do would be to kill him and HOPE the rest falls to pieces without leadership, disregarding the many opportunities within his organization for the next biggest guy to rise up and take over, making me- and all of us- target number one."

"Does he really deserve to live, with the things he does?" Yoongi questioned. 

"Do you want to know when my father was the most proud of me in my life Yoongi? It's when we made Taehyung's dad disappear. I want to live my life at peace. A person can only have so much blood  on their hands before- I don't want to become him!" He screamed. 

"It's out of the question. But there's other options, Joon. We can ask him to put us on the jobs where we just turn a blind eye when illegal shipments come in." Jin reasoned. 

"Would you be able to live with yourself when those shipments are scared, young, foreign girls?" Namjoon seethed. Jin looked down, ashamed. "I didn't think so. It's all the same."

"We could run away," Jimin piped up, so low it was almost unheard. 

Namjoon seemed tired of the debate. "Jimin-ah, aren't you tired of running and hiding? You have dreams, plans. Yoongi is supposed to become a boxer. Hoseok and Taehyung want to go to college. Jungkook could do anything he put his mind to. We'd have to flee the country. And where would we end up? Working day in and day out to scrape together enough to afford a shack over our heads in some other gang's neighborhood in a much worse country. We'd get stuck in that life. It's not fair to make you all pay, when some of you will be able to pay your dues now and go on to do whatever you really want after school." Jimin sunk down into the couch, and Yoongi squeezed his shoulder supportively. 

"We need some time to really think through our options before we make a decision." Namjoon said finally. "I think that's enough for today. You guys should get back to school, we'll be here when class lets out."

We nodded solemnly, though I felt rage at being sent away. Yoongi met me at the door, while Soomin and Eunji continued on without me. 

"Whimsy-ah...I never expected any of this to happen...you and me, I mean. It makes things more complicated but...for the first time in my life, I see a future worth living. I just want to thank you...for caring." I fought back tears as I threw my arms around him in a big, encouraging bear hug. As I started to leave, he called me back again.

"And Whimsy, when things settle down a little...let's go on a real date soon, okay?" 

I smiled brightly and kissed him. 

"I'll see you after school." He said.

"I'll bring your homework," I replied sassily, reminding him of his promise. 

"Of course," He laughed, pressing his lips to my forehead and giving my hand one last squeeze as I took off for school. 

We'll find a way through this no matter what, I promised myself. 

No matter what.