Seoul City

Ch. 5 - The Invitation

To be fair, all the Phoenixes looked intimidating. But, choosing to fight the obvious leader of the pack? It was practically suicide. Chaeyoung couldn't have been more terrified for Taehyung as she watched Jungkook approaching him with a dangerous glint in his eyes. She had to do something to stop this mess (which she didn't even fully understand how she got involved in in the first place), before her best friend got hurt.

Just as Jungkook and Taehyung had come face-to-face, Chaeyoung jumped in between the two of them and placed a small hand on each of their chests to separate them from one another. The fact that both their chests felt rock hard with muscle wasn't lost on Chaeyoung, but she didn't have time to process that in the moment.

"Listen, Jungkook is it?" She looked up at the leader of the Phoenixes, her expression softening with a hint of desperation, "there must be something else you want? Or need? There's really no reason for more bloodshed tonight."

She still had her hands on both men's chests, feeling the faint, quickening of their heartbeats as they experienced a surge of adrenaline. It was hard for her to understand why men had such a thirst for fighting and she wouldn't condone it. As a nurse, she felt obligated to prevent injuries and encourage healthy discussions instead.

Jungkook peered down at her with an annoyed expression but, if Chaeyoung wasn't mistaken, there was also a glimmer of fascination behind his dark eyes. He was giving Chaeyoung weird, half-hateful, half-admiring looks all night and it was starting to make her uneasy. Although nothing would make her more satisfied in that moment than Taehyung wiping Jungkook's cocky smirk off his face with a strong punch, the realistic part of her knew the whole thing wouldn't end well.

"You're persistent, I admire that," Jungkook observed while continuing to gaze at her, "But, now that you mention it, there is one thing I want that I think Taehyung could give me."

"And what is that?" Taehyung asked warily.

"An invitation to the Parks' charity ball next week."

Chaeyoung exhaled in relief that the fight wasn't happening. When she felt like it was safe enough to do so, she repositioned herself so she wasn't sandwiched between them but, standing next to Taehyung again instead. She looked up at Taehyung in victory but was confused to see his expression had hardened and his jaw was clenched. Throughout the entire night, Taehyung had been acting strange – showing a whole different side to himself. A colder and more confident side. Either he was a very good actor, or Chaeyoung didn't know him as well as she thought she did.

"I don't have the authority to distribute invitations to whoever I want," Taehyung said firmly.

Jungkook frowned at him in dissatisfaction before saying, "well then get me in contact with someone who can."

"Call Jimin," Chaeyoung whispered to Taehyung.

Taehyung glanced down at her, looking very stressed out before saying to Jungkook, "I can call Jimin."

"Perfect!" Jungkook exclaimed sarcastically.

Taehyung pulled out his phone and reluctantly dialed Jimin's phone number, putting it on speaker mode. Chaeyoung gulped nervously as they waited for an answer, each ring echoing hauntingly in the quiet alley. She knew he would be furious about the entire situation and gloat about how he 'warned her'.

"Tae, I told you not to call me tonight. I'm with Jennie, remember?" Jimin's voice sounded slightly annoyed on the other line.

"Sorry, Chim, but this is kind of an emergency."

"What happened?" his voice was suddenly grim and serious, "where's Chaeng?"

"I'm fine, oppa," Chaeyoung managed to say. She noticed Jungkook raise a brow in surprise at her use of the term 'oppa'.