{h} the butterfly effect : bts gang au

VII.

"Caught in a lie~
Pull me from this hell,
I can't seem to be free from this pain
Save me, I am being punished."

Jimin's drunk singing voice fills my ears after V and I walk him out to the car after talking about their gang. For someone who is in the cities most wanted list, he doesn't seem to act like it.

"Jimin, duck your head," I say as I try to get him into the backseat of the car, but he isn't having it.

"I can't, I hate being in the backseat," he wines while his head bobs due to intoxication. I sigh, moving him out of the way and sitting myself in the back seat. He then climbs in after me and closes the door. "Alone."

With that last remark, I realized how sleazy his drunk-self was. Taehyung climbs in soon after, starts the car, and drives in the complete opposite direction from which we came.

Jimin pretends his fingers are a running person on the window, him making his finger person jump as objects passed by. "Where are we going?"

"Just driving for now, just in case someone follows us. It's better to be safe than sorry," Taehyung replies to me in a deep raspy voice. I take a glance at the clock which says 4:48 a.m..

Upon noticing the time, I realize how tired I was from sleep deprivation, but I refuse to fall asleep in a stranger's car. Jimin seems to abandon his running finger person's quest and is now sleeping on the foggy window.

I look at the way his face seems to appear less stressed. The crinkles in the corner of his eyes have smoothed out and his plump lips are opened so slightly. His hair is spread messily across his forehead just asking to be brushed out of the way.

But I'm not gonna do that.

Taehyung makes a quick sharp turn, causing Jimin to lift from his previous position and fall directly on my lap and he doesn't move.

"Hana buckle up," Taehyung says as he shifts gears and accelerates. Instant panic causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.

"What's going on? Are we being followed?" I ask, demanding an immediate answer.

"I think so, just hang on," he mumbles, making another sharp turn. I turn around to see a black car just behind us. The windshield is black, shining from the lights on the tall buildings of Seoul. The streets always have people on them, but for some reason tonight there wasn't a soul.

My heart begins to race, my fight or flight instincts begin to kick in as I stare at the car behind us. Taehyung continues to speed ahead, swerving from one lane to another. I turn around to the sleeping Jimin whose head is on my lap, wondering what would happen to us if the person in the car behind us caught up.

"Oh thank god," Taehyung breathed, slowing the car's speed and pulling off to the side of the road. I look behind me and the car is no longer there. He was paranoid this whole time.

I now see his weakness.

By the time we got back to my apartment building, the sun has already begun to shine its way over the horizon, but it only lit the atmosphere into a dark blue.

"Take it easy, alright? Sorry for scaring you with the whole car following thing," Taehyung sheepishly shrugs.

"Is that one of your weaknesses?" I refer back to our conversation at the bar, looking into his open window from the outside.

He doesn't say anything for a second. He hesitates before saying, "We'll be checking up on you soon. Goodnight, Hana."

And with that, he pulls away and I make my way up to my apartment where my bed awaits. Little did I know, it would be weeks before I see any of the Bangtan Boys.

Before I knew it, I was unlocking my front door and it felt as though I floated here due to how tired I was. Jae has no remorse for my tiredness as she screams from across the room as I walk in.

"Where the fuck were you, why were you with Jungkook's friend, and why wouldn't you be back before dawn?" She is holding the note that I left beneath my pillow. I had no idea she would be up this early so once I came to terms that yes, I would make it home alive, I was going to dispose of the note completely.

"We just went out is all, it was sort of like a blind date and we just got carried away with the time," I lie, looking down at my feet with hopes she will buy it.

"Then why were you scared that you wouldn't be home, huh? What the hell were you guys doing?" Jae's face is red and I can tell by the way the paper is crumpled in her face that she is seeing red too. I sigh, plopping myself down on the couch to take my shoes off.

"Like I said, it was sort of a blind date and I wanted to leave something just in case something didn't go well," I say, knowing everything that is coming out of my mouth might as well have come out of my ass. Her face slightly softens, but I can tell that she is still upset.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" She asks.

I slightly hesitate, "Well I didn't want you to be weirded out that I was going out with your boyfriend's friend. I wanted to wait to see where things go before I told you."

Jae sighs and plops down on the lazy boy to the side of me, putting her face in the palms of her hands. She sits there just for a moment before looking back up at me and says all in one breath, "I woke up a few hours ago and I couldn't fall back asleep, y'know? So I went in your room to see you not there so I freaked out and looked to see if you left your phone in your bed and that's how I found the note and I was just so worried that you got yourself into trouble and I don't want anything bad to happen to you because I wouldn't know what to do without you."

"It's all okay, Jae. I'm home safe and sound, that's all that matters. Now, I'm extremely tired so I'm gonna try to get a few hours of sleep." I throw my shoes towards the front door while getting up from the sofa. As I walk towards my room, I turn around. "I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you. Wake me up if you need anything, okay?"

She sighs, "Sleep well, fuckface."

I crack a small smile while opening my bedroom door. "Will do, shithead."

Immediately upon entering my room I plop myself on my bed, welcoming the comfort of my mattress and my blanket. I bring out my phone from my pocket to send a quick warning text to the boys, notifying them of the idiotic lie I told my best friend. Once I type it all out and send it, I go over it before I drift off into a pretty deep sleep, exhausted from the night I encountered.

"Due to Jae finding out who I was with, I told her we were on a blind date. Spread the word to Jungkook to play along. Thanks Jimin."