The Hunt

20

"Did your family do a lot of training activities when you were a kid?"

Jimin's question caught me off-guard. I was expecting another silent car ride.

"Yeah." I shifted in my seat as the houses we passed became less and less opulent and more average. "My father started us young."

"What did he have you do?"

Is he trying to get to know me? What the hell is going on?

Are we bonding right now?

"Mostly it was tracking. He'd bury our toys in the garden and make us find them. Sometimes he'd dump us in random parts of town and make us find our way home. You know, basic stuff..." I trailed off.

Jimin snorted. "That's not basic stuff. That's cruel."

"Did your parents give you any training?" I wanted to keep the conversation going, not that I was particularly interested in the topic. It was just slightly less awkward than complete silence.

"Not really." Jimin glanced over at me as he stopped at a red light. "One time, during a camping trip, my grandfather insisted on training JiHoon and me how to track. He showed us a few things, like looking for footprints, or signs that an area had recently been disturbed. Showed us how to use the sun to estimate time of day, and which direction we were heading. But, on the second day, he took us into the woods to told us to find our way back to camp."

"My father made us do that every camping trip. I hate camping."

Jimin ignored me. "We got lost, and ended up going in the opposite direction of camp. We slept under a pine tree, and JiHoon cried himself to sleep. They didn't find us until the following afternoon. My grandfather never took us camping again.

"That's when JiHoon and I really became close. He was my best friend."

"How old were you when that happened?"

"He was seven. I had just turned eight."

"That's really young."

"Yeah." Jimin pulled the car into the driveway of my little rental house. Turning off the engine, Jimin looked over to me, "We need to find JiHoon's killer. He deserves justice."

The serious look on Jimin's face had me frozen in my seat. I could see that he wanted to avenge his murdered cousin.

I just nodded, not sure what else to do.

Glancing at my house, then back at me, Jimin unbuckled his seat belt. "I'll walk you to your door."

Deciding not to fight him on it, I unbuckled my own seat belt and exited the car. I hadn't left the porch light on, and the moon provided very little light.

Jimin walked beside me along the path leading up to my front door. He stumbled on the uneven concrete, his shoulder bumping mine before he righted himself.

As I blindly tried to fish out my keys, a light suddenly illuminated the contents of my backpack. My head snapped up to find Jimin holding his cell phone in flashlight mode above my bag.

"Thanks," I mumbled. His act of kindness caught me by surprise. I half expected him to say something insulting as his brief moments of kindness up to that point had all been quickly followed by him acting like a dick.

"No problem," Jimin whispered in response.

I located my keys and quickly unlocked the door and reached inside to turn on the lights in the living room.

I turned around to face Jimin. "So, should I meet you at the coffee shop at a specific time? Are we sitting at the same table? Or should I pretend not to know you?"

"Let's meet there at 8:00. I think pretending not to know each other will be awkward, so we should just sit at the same table. I'll try to get there earlier and pick a table with a good view of the shop." Jimin rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He was restless. He probably wasn't sleeping much due to the stress of the whole situation.

"Okay, I'll be there at 8:00. Let's get some rest," I gave him a weak smile and patted his shoulder. "Good night, Jimin."

"Good night."

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I started this story a month ago after having a bizarre nightmare in which I had been kidnapped by BTS. The dream was actually pretty terrifying, but I wrote it down and decided to use it as inspiration for a story.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has been reading and enjoying this story! I appreciate all of you and am truly overwhelmed by the support and feedback this story has received! Thank you all!!!