Watch Out

First Encounters

I don't know how I ended up in that part of town. I knew there was gang activity there, but I still decided to take that path home anyway. I'd just finished helping out at the hospital and was heading back home. Maybe it was fate that lead me here.

As I was walking, a boy ran into me, quickly apologizing as he continued running. Was he okay? About ten seconds later, I realized that he was being chased...by two men that were clearly bigger than him. I immediately followed suit out of instinct. I know what you're thinking: "y/n, what are you thinking following after a couple of guys chasing another in the middle of a gang-filled neighborhood?" Okay my dad is the chief of police and my mom is a surgeon (meaning I know a LOT about first aid in emergencies). Secondly, I had always been the type of person to choose fighting when faced with a fight-or-flight situation.

Anyway, when I finally caught up, the two larger boys had changed cornered the smaller in an alley. Looking at the smaller boy, I noticed that he'd already been obviously hurt. He had a cut across his lip and was clutching his right shoulder with his left hand, a gun held weakly in his right hand. As I processed the scene from my hiding spot behind a wall, I began to worry. What should I do? It's two large guys who are most likely in a gang against a smaller, injured boy and an unarmed girl that's not even 170 centimeters tall.

Suddenly, I thought of an idea. Whenever there's a gang fight and they hear police sirens, they all flee so...

I got out my phone, finding a siren sound. Putting my phone on full blast, I played the sound. As I expected, the larger boys fled immediately. The smaller boy tried, but I ran to help him as soon as the coast was clear.

"It's okay. There's not actually any police. I just had to get them away from you." I got him to sit down against a wall, getting out a first-aid kit that my parents forced me to carry around to take care of his wounds. "Why were they chasing you?"

The boy was clearly surprised by my actions as he stared at me for a moment silently before replying. "I was separated from my friends, and they saw me...in the youngest and the weakest, so they took the opportunity of me being alone...why are you helping me?"

"What kind of question is that? Isn't it the right thing to do to help someone when they're getting mistreated unfairly by two people larger than him?" I gave him a slight smile as I moved his left hand to take care of his shoulder. "I'm y/n, by the way. And you are?"

"I'm...Jeongin, but my friends call me I.N." He returned a faint smile. "Why are you on this side of town? You're too nice to be from around here."

I giggled a little. "People on this side of town can't be that bad. You seem to be okay, but you're right. My mom's a surgeon, and I went to help out at the hospital. She's still on her shift, so I'm walking home."

"Alone? Here? You must have a death wish." Jeongin's entire body showed his surprise as he straightened his back and widened his eyes.

"No one's bothered me at all. The only guys I'd be worried about personally would be those two that just left." I smiled at him as I finished wrapping his shoulder with the gauze from the first-aid kit. "And you're all done."

He smiled at me as we both stood up. "Can I at least take you to meet my friends? They'll want to meet the girl that helped me."

I nodded, not even worried for a moment what kind of people this sweet boy were friends with. He didn't seem so bad. He was, in fact, quite cute. Unfortunately...his friends were not so cutesy and innocent.

After walking for about ten minutes, we came to a building that seemed to be abandoned. Jeongin led me inside. As he did, I heard an array of different voices. The first was clearly a foreigner. I could tell by his voice.

"Who was the last one to see him? I.N wouldn't just walk off like that." He sounded frantic. They must really love each other for him to sound so worried.

"Chan, I'm sure he's fine. He's resourceful. If anything, he could use that cute face of his to convince them not to kill him if he were jumped, which I highly doubt." Another voice, a much deeper one, spoke. He was also clearly a foreigner. His pronunciation was very iffy when he spoke.

Jeongin knocked on the door frame of the room the other boys were in. They all immediately turned around, smiling when they saw Jeongin then freezing after looking at me. There were eight of them. They all looked at least twice as threatening as the boy I'd saved in the alleyway.

One with hair that's clearly been dyed looked back and forth between me and Jeongin. "Who's this, I.N?"

"She found me when a few guys were chasing me..." He gestured to his wrapped shoulder. "She took care of a few wounds too..."

He suddenly seemed to be shy, which made me smile unknowingly. "I'm y/n, and I really didn't do much. I just made them think that the cops were coming."

Another boy with much darker hair walked over, lightly slapping Jeongin on the back. "Good job, I.N! You really scored. Why haven't I ever played victim to pick up a pretty girl? And to think I thought you'd always be to shy to even look at a pretty girl."

"Changbin hyung...I wasn't playing victim. She was just in the right place at the right time." Jeongin's cheeks had turned into a slight red shade. "I was jumped."

"Changbin, leave him alone. He just got back and you're already pestering him." Another boy, who had very soft facial features, put an arm around my shoulders. "Thank you for saving our maknae. He's still inexperienced, so he has a hard time defending himself."

His face was uncomfortably close to mine, making me feel a bit uncomfortable and unknowingly stutter. "D-don't mention it. He obviously needed help, so it was natural."

"Hey Jisung, you're making her uncomfortable. Give her some space." A fourth boy, the one that was obviously a foreigner with freckles half covered by a bandana, spoke up the boy who's arm was still around my shoulder. "She helped I.N, and you're repaying her by making her uncomfortable."

The boy who was presumably Jisung, moved his arm away. "Ah...Sorry. I didn't realize it was making you uncomfortable."

"It's fine." I smiled at him before turning to the other boy. "Where are you from? I can tell that you're a foreigner."

He took the bandana off his mouth and nose, revealing even more freckles and a charming smile. "Channie hyung and I are both from Australia. My name is Felix by the way."

I bowed slightly, looking at the other four boys. "And you four are..."

The largest of the boys spoken first. "I'm Woojin."

Next, a boy with a very round face. "Minho, but I go by Lee Know."

Third, a redhead with very cute features. "Seungmin."

The last of the boys was quite tall. "And I'm Hyunjin."

The first boy, who I'd assumed to be Chan, spoke next. "I'm sure you've already figured this out, but I'm Chan though some people call me Chris or Bangchan. The flirt next to Jeongin is Changbin. And the one that looks like a squirrel with a mouth full of nuts is Jisung."

I almost laughed at his description of the boy. I looked at him and observed his full cheeks. He was right. He did kind of look like a squirrel.

I bowed slightly to each of the members. "It's nice to meet all of you, but I really should get going. My mom gets off work soon, and so does my dad. They'd kill me if they found out I was on this side of town and if I'm not home when they get home."

"Wait, before you go...I lost my phone number, so can I have yours?" The dark haired Changbin grinned, his arm wrapped around Jeongin's shoulders. "Not in like a creepy 'I'm gonna flirt with you nonstop' way, even though I might. More in a 'you saved my little brother' type of way."

He clearly added the second part later. Maybe he was worried I'd say "no" to such a bad pickup line? Instead, I just laughed, giving him my phone to put in his phone number. I sent him a quick text before leaving.

They are a gang, right? They don't seem that bad...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yay! First part done! Ah...I plan to make the future chapters longer. This one is just short because it's the first, and I don't know what else to write honestly.