Chasing Butterflies

The Beginning of the End

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The tuxedoed man shouted loudly over the chatter and pointless conversation that were going on in the ballroom.

"Welcome to Dongdae Central Hotel!" The man straightened his shirt cuffs before he continued.
"The game tonight is No Limit Hold Em. The bets are now closed and we are ready to begin. Players, please take your seats." The man straighten his bow tie and took his position at the dealers spot.

Jimin glanced down at Izzy, who was pressed tightly to his chest with Jimin's hands clasped around her waist. They were gathered at the corner of the ballroom; Namjoon's foot was tapping anxiously against the marble floor while the younger boys were speaking quietly to each other and casting glances around the massive room.

"We have to go," Jin put a comforting hand on Jimin's shoulder and another on Izzy's. Jimin nodded slowly, there was a far off look in his tired eyes that Izzy didn't like. He drew a deep breath and looked down at her.

"We won't be far, but just stay right here, stay where we can see you, alright?" Izzy stared up at him, and she saw how exhausted Jimin was. The skin beneath his chocolate eyes had darkened and their spark was now just a dim glow. So with a barely-there twitch of the head, she nodded.

Jimin's hands slid from her waist and the boys slowly inched away from her. Namjoon was the first one to sit at the game table, he still looked anxious and Izzy wished desperately that she could do something to fix it. Once their leader was seated the other boys followed after him. Their heads hung low and six sets of eyes were darting around the room, they were nervous; Izzy had never seen them nervous. Yoongi didn't follow after the rest though. He stayed right beside Izzy, leveling his steady eyes on her. His hand found hers and squeezed. Izzy's watery eyes jumped up to look at him.

"I'm not going to tell you that everything is going to be okay, because I don't know that it is," he whispered hurriedly since everyone at the table was waiting for him to fill his empty chair.
"But we're going to take care of you. Just give us some time," there was a sick feeling in his gut, like something bad was going to happen tonight. And he needed to assure Izzy that they could handle whatever the night decided to throw at them. Because even though she took too long in the bathroom and she made their laundry smell like flowers, she was still their Izzy, she was like a little sister to him, she was family. They were a family—a messed up, PG-13 version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where the evil queen was actually an evil boyfriend—kind of family. But it was all they had and they would take care of each other. Yoongi had to let her know that.

Izzy's clammy fingers squeezed his hand back. She would take care of them too, as best as she could.

Their joined hands fell and Yoongi turned away and swiftly walked to the table where he took his seat. His face was a stone mask, just like the others. Every single person at that table was stone-cold and ready for a game that could cost then hundreds of thousands of dollars. The tension in the room hung heavy over everyone's heads like a giant bubble ready to burst at any second.

"Sorry I'm late!" The heavy wooden doors to the ballroom burst open and a man in a sleek black suit strode in like he owned the place—because he did.

"Somebody clear a seat, I'm playing tonight," Yongkyun smirked at the shocked faces of the players at the table. Nobody shifted a muscle.

"Move!" The second he screamed a balding man in a dull blue suit scrambled up from his seat and the tense bubble in the room had effectively burst.