Blood Ink ✔️

06: Risks

It's pleasantly cool outside when you start to head home, the sky beginning to dim in the late afternoon light above the city's smog.

Even though Seoul isn't the most beautiful place on the planet, you love it.

The people - the culture - those are the things that make a city successful, and Seoul has both in abundance.

You leave the tattoo shop walking tenderly, waving goodbye to the friendly workers that have wrangled you into a lunch appointment later in the week.

Hoseok wiggles his fingers through a cloud of smoke originating from Yoongi's lit cigarette.

Jimin blows you a kiss.

Stepping gingerly, you attempt to not disturb the bandages underneath your too much as you move.

The walk through the city isn't the safest one; in fact, the area in which your apartment building lies prompts the utmost caution when walking through it. Especially since the sun is starting to set, making the streets dim. As you go, the streetlights flicker on in preparation for the night setting in.

You shiver and walk a little quicker, uneasy.

When your father took you from the real world and kept you locked up in that figurative, lonely tower of social isolation, he was doing more than simply protecting you from the world he lived in every day.

You don't know how to do anything.

You have no experience in the real world, and you have no clue what to do in dangerous situations.

It's one of the main things that plagues your mind every day; if something happens, what will you do?

The sheer irony of the only daughter of one of the most powerful men in Busan not being able to defend herself is laughable at the least. Your entire existence, at this point, is a joke.

Hiding from the only people who've ever cared for you.

But you want to.

You have to.

This is the only way to be free, to have your own life. You have to stay hidden and off of your family's radar for now, and maybe forever.

It's the only way.

The longer you walk in the direction of your apartment, the more you feel like somebody's watching you. You continuously glance over your shoulder, keeping an eye on the darkened, empty sidewalk behind you.

As you get closer to your apartment, your sense of unease lessens until your shoulders relax and your step is confident and sure.

The apartment complex you live in is run-down and in bad condition, concrete walls crumbling just as much on the outside as they are on the inside, but it's cheap enough to pay for with cash.

On top of that, your roommate here let you move in on the spot, and the room is under her name.

It's the perfect place to hide.

Said roommate barely acknowledges you when you enter through the creaky door on the second floor. She's got in a pair of earbuds as she wanders by, going into her bedroom and closing the door without speaking a word to you.

It's fine, though, and your relationship with her fits your needs. The less she knows about you, the better.

You head to your own room, making it across the tiny common area in three steps and through the kitchenette in two. Your room is small and barren, only a few of your most precious possessions littering the old chest that's serving as your clothes storage.

You packed light when you left home, bringing only a few valuables and the cash you swiped from your dad's safe.

But, again, you aren't striving for comfort at the moment. You just need to lay low until your family stops looking for you.

Speaking of family...

Pulling out your new pre-paid cellphone, you hover your fingers over the dial pad and bite your lip.

How curious are you about the activities of the men bringing you to lunch in a few days?

Your cousin, Jisoo, is the only one you can possibly trust with a call. She can simply run a quick background search on the name Jeon Jungkook, then tell you everything you need to know.

But she could also get caught.

It's a risk you aren't sure you're willing to take yet.

After much consideration, you shake your head and turn the cellphone off without calling anyone.

Jungkook and his friends are probably just some low-level drug dealers that got tangled up in something bigger than they expected.

Your father is probably only tracking him for information.

Either way, you need to be careful about getting involved with those boys. If, by any chance, they are important enough to land in an interrogation with your father, then you don't want your name coming up by chance.

That could ruin everything.

Yes, this lunch appointment is the last time you should see the workers from BB's Tattoo Shop. As kind and handsome as they are (excluding a certain black-headed killjoy), they might bring your entire cover crashing to the ground if you get too close.

Sigh. Too bad.

That Jimin has to be one of the sexiest men you've ever met, and sweet-but-gorgeous Hoseok makes your tummy sparkle like you just downed an entire bottle of champagne.

It's a thrill to be around the gorgeous men, a new experience that's slightly addicting. You've never had this attention before. The two of them are dangerously sweet.

Still, your mind can't help but remember Jungkook's black eyes trailing over you, and his melodic voice in the midst of a reluctant admittance.

No. It's not just you.

You shiver at the memory, then shake your head and force it away.

Those men are no good for you. What you should be focusing on is finding a low-laying job and staying out of the way. Alone and safe is better than company with a possibly-dangerous outcome.

Determined, you nod to yourself and slump down on your bed, staring up at the water-stained ceiling above you.

Alone is better. Alone is safer.

Just live as you've always been, Y/N.

Alone.

But even then, as you drift to sleep that night, your dreams are haunted by pearly smiles, soft voices, and flashing black eyes.

[A/N]
Unedited
Kind of a short chapter, but you got a little hint of background so no regerts 😂
If anybody has any fanarts or punk edits of the members, I'd love to see them! DM me on Twitter @pocketbangtanWP
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