Time's Fortoken

1: Acknowledged

      Strong hands from a weakened will pushed hard against the metal frame, activating the waiting roller. Thunk! Thunk! Clink! Namjoon groaned, and released a long-held sigh. Finally, the last poster was done. "God, I hate printing."

      Yoongi shrugged as he moved to scrub the press clean. He muttered something under his breath, but Namjoon ignored it; he always ignored it.

      J-Hope got up from his desk and offered Namjoon a hesitant smile. "Ah, it's better than not having anything to do, right? At least here we have a chance to progress, to move forward."

      Namjoon bristled at his words. "I suppose, but by how much? If we had only stayed in South Korea, we would have been able to keep our old lives..."

      The room fell silent. It would have lingered for an uncomfortably indefinite amount of time if it hadn't been for J-Hope clearing his throat.

      "Namjoon-ah, it's getting late. Why don't we all have a drink, hmm?"

      Namjoon shrugged, but nodded slightly. J-Hope smiled. He opened the mini fridge and started passing out beers to the rest of their small family, well, at least to the ones in the room. Some more reluctantly than others, they all sat in a circle on the floor. They really weren't a sight for sore eyes. Taehyung slouched in his seat, staring at his hands and a pout on his lips; his beer would probably stay unopened on the floor. Jimin had forsaken his chair and elected to sit on the floor, his knees pressed against his chest. Every so often, J-Hope knew he heard what could only be Jimin's soft sniffle. Yoongi may have been present physically, but he wasn't there mentally. His unfocused gaze left J-Hope wondering where the boy's mind had taken him now...but he had a few ideas. Jungkook sat in the circle, but faced away from the group. Although he disassociated himself from the group, he still made his presence known when he slammed his bottle down ground after every sip. And Jin was- oh, right. Jin was gone.

      After a moment of silence, Jungkook broke the silence. "She-"

      Namjoon growled. "Jungkook-ah-"

      "She wasn't a bad person, hyung."

      "Jungkook, she betrayed us! She's the reason we are being forced to live this life of poverty!"

      "She did not!" the younger spat back. He whipped around to face the older, hate dripping off his every word. "This is all part of her plan, just like it has been since the very start!-"

      "Forget it, Jungkook! She's gone. She abandoned us. Every single truth she told was a lie, a perfect lie. One so perfect, that we should have seen it coming years ago."

       Taehyung shuffled his feet and straightened his back slightly. "That's not true, hyung," he said.

       Jimin audibly sniffled and looked his leader in the eyes. "Yes, hyung. Listen to Taehyung-ah. Sh-She loved us a-and-"

      J-Hope held his hand up to stop Jimin from letting his tears fall. "What Jimin-ah is trying to say, Namjoon-ah, is that Taehyung may have at least a crumb of a point."

      Namjoon grunted and folded his arms. No one was going to break his stubborn will...or so he thought. Yoongi leaned over slightly and lowered his voice to a whisper: "You might never acknowledge her name, but don't you dare refuse to acknowledge her presence."Namjoon's eyes widened at his hyung's words. They were harsh, blunt, ...yet undeniably true. He sighed- Namjoon hated when his hyung was right. 

      After a quick swig of his beer, Namjoon came clean. "Alright, so this woman in our lives existed, but you have yet to prove that her existence was a positive one. Otherwise, I'll be forced to believe that she wasted our youth, ...and squandered our hearts." 

      The faintest trace of a smile blessed the features of the others. "Fair enough,"J-Hope said. "So...does anyone want to start?"    

Who is this mystery woman? What happened between her and BTS?...And where is Jin?! Keep reading to find out...