Lying to Survive

Chapter 13

Crap.

"You know Y/N, Hoseok?" Jungkook asked.
"Yeah, we've met before. What are you doing here?" He asked you.
Crap.
"I work here." You said, hoping and praying that he wouldn't remember that you told him you were eighteen.
He gave you a confused look. Your breath caught, guessing what was coming next. He would say that you told him you were eighteen and your lie would be exposed. They would immediately question you and see you as a threat. At best, you would get fired and be practically unable to complete your assignment. At worst, they wouldn't believe whatever lie you were about to make up, become suspicious, guess right about who you were, and you would be tortured and held for ransom, but your father doesn't take back hostages, so you would be left die.

Let's just say the panic made your mind work a little faster.

Speaking of lies, which one would you tell? Would you tell Hoseok you lied to him for some random reason or would you confess to lying about your age because you were "desperate for a job and please don't fire me I have nowhere else to go and I need this money".

It took you the longest two seconds in the world to think all of this before Hoseok voiced his thoughts.
"Y/N, I thought you told me you were eighteen. You're not old enough to serve alcohol."
The boys all looked at you. Your stomach churned but you flashed a small smile, pretending to be embarrassed.
"Sorry about that, Hoseok. I am twenty-one, don't worry. I just didn't want to tell you my real age since you know, stranger-danger."
You, Jungkook, and Taehyung laughed, but Hoseok didn't. He kept a suspicious and perplexed look on his face.
"Wait, why would you tell me you were younger than you actually are?"
Just let it go, Detective Jung, jeez. And also, what kind of freak remembers details like this from a one time meeting, a month ago?!
You nervously laughed but kept up your shy and embarrassed charade.
"Wow, this is so embarrassing." You covered your face with your hands for good measure. "I thought that if you knew I was eighteen, you would think I wasn't old enough to get hit on by you."
Hoseok raised his eyebrow, obviously still confused.
"I thought that the only reason you were talking to me was because you were trying to flirt with me." You explained. "I thought if I told you I was younger, you would leave me alone."
It was Hoseok's turn to look embarrassed.
"Oh, uh, I wasn't trying to- I didn't mean-"
You laughed and your heart rate began to slow down.
"I know. Sorry Hoseok. No hard feelings?"
He awkwardly chuckled.
"Yeah, we're good."
"Okay so, moving on..." Taehyung said.
"Right, what was that I heard about a tattoo?" Hoseok continued.
"Y/N's thinking about getting one." Jungkook said.
"Uh no, I'm not sure yet." You interjected. "It was just a thought I had. A really small one. Plus I don't even think I could go through with it. I'm such a baby when it comes to pain."
"Well, what do you want and where do you want it?" Hoseok asked.
"Hoseok works in a tattoo parlor, so he's kind of an expert on these things." Taehyung said.
"I don't know what I want. I'm not even sure that I want one."
"Well, here's my card, in case you do. Just ask for me and I'll help you out."
You thanked him and took the card. Just then, Namjoon came out from the back.
"Hoseok," he said. "what are you doing here? I thought you were out of town?"
You took note of the way he said out of town, guessing that he didn't mean what he said.
"Oh, I was, but I couldn't really find that thing I wanted to see, so I just came back."
Namjoon nodded understandingly. Yeah, that was probably all in code. You would have to sort out what it could mean later.
"Anyways, it's getting late." Namjoon said. "You guys have cleaned up enough, thanks. Remember that we close earlier tomorrow. You all can go home." You all grabbed your stuff. Namjoon asked Jungkook and Taehyung to stay back for a bit. They were probably going to discuss whatever Hoseok told Namjoon. You said you had to run to the bathroom quickly before heading back home. You waited until you heard Namjoon's office door close to come out. You walked to the front and opened and closed the door to make it sound like you were gone. Then, you snuck over to the hallway and tried to listen in on the conversation.
"Hoseok." You heard Namjoon say. Silence. "I'm glad you're safe." He continued. You heard shouts and someone falling onto the couch. Namjoon told the boys to get off. They argued that they missed him.
"So, let's get down to business. Did you find anything?"
"No. There's no traces of anything. I could barely even tell she exists in the first place. I was at the house for a week. Nothing happened. One car left the whole time I was there and they came back with groceries. They're obviously on lockdown for the time being. I looked in what we decided was her room and it looked like it had been abandoned for years. I checked all around town and there was nothing. Nobody knew anything about any transactions, deals, or rentals. The latest record I could find was when she was ten and she went to the doctor's office. That guy probably gave us false tips to get us off of their backs."
"They couldn't have been false tips. The guy's name is Antonio Y/L/N. He proved to us he was related to them." Jungkook said.
Your eyes widened. That was your uncle.
"And you're sure, Hoseok? About everything?" Namjoon asked.
"Absolutely positive. The whole thing took me a week but I spent the rest of the time double checking. There's nothing."
Jungkook cursed. Namjoon sighed.
"We'll keep an eye out for her or anything suspicious. Jungkook, go with Yoongi to talk to Antonio tomorrow. We need to straighten some things out."
"I just don't get it." Taehyung wondered aloud. "It's like they completely erased her existence. How are we going to find her? We don't know anything."
"We know that she's alive." Namjoon told him. "That's all we need."

You slowly backed away from the door. They knew about you. They were looking for you. Your uncle sold you out and now you had mobsters after you. You crept out of the back door and sprinted away from the building. Once, you got far enough you stopped and tried to collect your thoughts. Your mind was going a mile a minute. There was no way you could possibly sort through all of this. You got to your apartment and began looking through your bag you had brought with you from home. You smiled victoriously once you pulled out what you were looking for.

Your journal.

While you were hastily packing the night you left, you stuffed your journal into your bag. The journal was empty, like all your other ones, because nothing interesting ever happened to you. You don't know why, but you took this one with you. Maybe part of you thought it would be useful.

Well that part of you was right. You picked up a pen and hastily scribbled down everything you could. After you were sure you had gotten every little detail down, you decided to write down every other interaction you had had with the boys, all the way back from when you had first met Hoseok a month ago. And you would keep doing that until something made sense, even if it killed you. Literally.

You fell asleep that night with a journal under your pillow that was full of conversations and a head full of worry and paranoia.

[A/N]

I'm not dead. Here's chapter 13!
Psst I also post imagines on @/btsimajins on Instagram sooooo k that's enough shameless self promotion for today.

~A.S.