Conflicted: Somewhere Between Truth and Lies

Chapter 4

A note before beginning this chapter the * is a note at the bottom of the post explaining things.

Aera had left the two adults and her brother to go back to the arcade to collect her bags. She walked across the arcade with a little skip. She got to meet her brother, but she didn't know how much time she would have before she disappeared again. "Hey, Boys look it's the Drag Queen.* She has come back again." The smile fell from Aera's face as she just continued towards her bags. She bent down to pick up her things from the floor when one the guys pushed her over. She landed on top of the bags with a thud. Her nail snapped, and she gave a cry out as she peeled it off. She looked up at the three guys that were looming over her. "You shouldn't be here. Your pretty much a disgrace for the way you look. Who would ever want something like this." The three of them pointing and laughing. Aera took a deep breath and began standing up. The few tears slipped from her eyes at the words they were saying struck hard and hurt. Once she was to her feet again, one of the guys pushed her again. Which only caused her to fall again to her butt. The people around the arcade didn't look over and kept doing what they were doing. No one came to her rescue, and it didn't look like they were in a rush to tell anyone what was going on either. She had only wanted to do a bit of shopping, and play a few games before returning home. Maybe even peek in the TV store to see her favorite Idol on the TV's there, but this wasn't what she had in mind. She looked over to a few people who were close, but they avoided her gaze. She dropped her head in shame and tried again to get up. She was pushed again back down. "No reason to leave now, Princess. We are just getting started."

The tears were now falling, she bit her lower lip and prayed for someone. She just wanted to escape, and her heart began to race. She clutched her chest as it became hard to breath, and the three boys began to push her around even though she was still on the ground. It felt like a growing panic attack as her eyes rolled back, and her head became still on her knees. Her long black hair began to grow short and shaggy. Her track pants busted and the seems of the legs, and her tank became snug against the chest and shoulders.

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I.N had left the Jennie and Taehyung standing speechless as he headed for the arcade after Aera. Once I.N was out of sight, Jennie turned on Tae. "So were you ever going to tell me? Hmm, was this something you were going to keep hidden from me, and you know who?" Tae had the nerve to look sheepish and blushed. "It all happened so fast, and I told you before. What if things had changed, but once the truth comes out will anything be the same?" Taehyung hung his head as Jennie stood with her hands on her hips. "That isn't the point right now, How did you and THEM, not tell me? Is there anything else you aren't tell me?" That was when they heard the commotion coming from the arcade, they looked at each other as if some nonverbal communication was going on between the two of them. They took off for the Arcade.

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I.N had been walking through the arcade towards his sister who was now crumbled on the floor and being pushed around by some teenage punks. They just didn't know who they were messing with. I.N watched with rage and horror as one guy looked like he had drawn his hand back and was ready to strike Aera who was still on the ground. Just before it landed, her hand whipped up to catch hold of it. Her head slowly rose up, and her eyes blinked like she was becoming aware of the situation. A clicking of her tongue and a push of the guys hand away. Aera reached up and ran a hand through her now short shaggy hair which caused the hair to feather back, and It stayed that way. Her eyes run over her outfit, and she shook her head. She slowly rose to her feet. She patted her eyes where the tears had run, and her head shook again. The one boy who had almost slapped her now looked at her in disbelief. "How dare you to cause my baby sister to cry. Do you want to leave here in a body bag?" The three boys looked at each other and just started laughing. The one in the middle reached out to push him, but this time Aera didn't go down instead she grabbed a hold of the guy and drew him in, kneeing him in the chest. Her elbow came down to slam into his back, and she just smiled as he went down. The second guy came in and struck her hard across the face which only had I.N at a sprint across the room. He was now looking at Minnie or Minhwan now. Aera didn't know how to fight, all she did was shop. So, this now had to be Minnie. They were in trouble if that was the case.

I.N arrived at the four boys just as the store manager did as well. Three boys laid at the feet of a guy who looked to be in his mid teen's dressed in girls pretty track clothes, that were now ripped open at the sides. "Minnie?" Jeongin asked with a question, but his voice came out firm and cold. Minnie's eyes shot up and locked with I.N's. He grinned nervously and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked a bit shy. "Do you know this guy?" The store manager asked I.N, He nodded in response. "He is my brother." The Manager shook his head. "You need to take your brother and leave the store. I will not tolerate fighting in this store." This statement only made I.N mad. "That is funny because I think my brother was being bullied first and was only taking action to defend himself, but he is the one who has to leave?" Jeongin had raised his voice. As the manager and I.N started into an argument, Minnie tried to step in and redirect his anger but came up short.

The Security of the mall came running into the shop. The manager had called them to escort Minnie out of the store, but now the group of them was being escorted out of the mall. They let Minnie stop and use the bathroom to change his clothes. He pulled on a white printed t-shirt, light brown jacket and a pair of jeans. He washed his face of all the makeup, there was nothing he could do right now about the nail polish. Once done, he took the bags of stuff Aera bought and left the bathroom to rejoin I.N as they finished escorting them out of the mall.

As they stood outside of the mall, Minnie looked at the three of them. "Who are they, Hyung?" "Is that something you should be worrying about right now? We were just kicked out of the mall for fighting." Minnie looked around as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Aera was yelling out for help, and it leaked over to me. How could I not help? Those punks deserved it for making her cry." He scuffed his foot on the ground.

Jennie and Taehyung had followed but was trying to keep up with everything that was going on. Both looked really confused and Jennie looked a bit on the angered side. "I know you were, but next time just dial it down. I don't want to have to tell your Father that you got into trouble again, do you?" Minnie shook his head. "Now, Minnie this is a friend of My Ma's. This is Jennie." Minnie bowed. "It's nice to meet you." Jeongin went on. "This is my Father. Father this is Minnie." "Nice to meet you as well." Minnie gave them both a smile, yet you could feel the awkward tension building between the three of them. Minnie stretched his arms and breathed in the air. It's so nice to be out for a while. "So, Hyung what should we do? How has school been? I thought you weren't due to be back until next year?"

I.N just laughed and avoided the questions about school. "I just got in, So how about something to eat?" The two of them grew wide-eyed, and Minnie shook his head. "Let's go!" The two took off leaving a confused Jennie and Taehyung in their wake.

"Should we follow the two of them? Seems like I.N has a handle on him." Taehyung asked Jennie. "No. We need to make sure that he gets back to the house. Just in case because they might start wondering why we let him out on his own, to begin with." The two trailed behind Minnie and I.N as they tried to pick a good place to eat. "We should try to get a hold of Bobby again. He needs to be let in the loop on this because I have a feeling that things just got bigger then what they were."

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*Drag Queen: a man who dresses up in women's clothes, typically for the purposes of entertainment.