Fate's Little Bell

Chapter 37

 13:34. I sat fidgeting on the couch, staring impatiently at the blank TV, waiting for the bell to ring. Next to me, Jimin, Namjoon, and Hoseok were likewise bursting with nervous energy, all of us listening desperately for the doorbell. The silence remained, only broken by the occasional sound of Seokjin chopping something in the kitchen and Yoongi's steady breaths from where he lay napping on the rug. Across from us, Taehyung sat perched in an armchair, his eyes switching between watching us with amusement and patiently eying the hallway that lead to the rest of our rooms and the front door.

13:35. What in the world was taking them so long? Could they have gotten lost on the way to the elevator? Or gone to the wrong floor? Jane May had been nagging me all morning, but who was the one taking forever now?

13:36.

I stood up. "Okay, I think they must've gotten lost. It's been almost ten minutes since they said they were coming over, so clearly something bad happened."

Jimin nodded.

"They were probably just waiting for the elevator. Or maybe they forgot something and had to go back," Namjoon reasoned, though the way his knee was bouncing made it clear he was at least as concerned as I was.

"I agree with you, but it wouldn't hurt to go check. We could just wait by the elevator," Hoseok suggested, looking between Namjoon and me.

I nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."

Namjoon gave in and the four of us, followed at a distance by Taehyung, made our way down the hallway. As we neared the front door, I began to hear muffled noises and I froze. I glanced over at Jimin, Hoseok, Namjoon, and Taehyung, who had caught up with us, putting a finger to my lips. They nodded in understanding and silently (as silently as we could with Namjoon there, anyway) we edged closer to the door.

We reached the entryway and pressed our ears to the solid door, listening intently to the whispered bickering that was taking place on the other side.

"Guys, it'll be fine, we just need to ring the doorbell," Prudence insisted, her low voice coming though the door. Beside me, Namjoon grinned.

"I know it's totally scary, but they're all really nice, okay? They're just people. They don't bite."

I held my hand over my mouth, trying to contain my laughter. As if reading my mind, Prudence snorted loudly.

"Honey, I think we know from your prior experiences that that isn't necessarily true...."

"Prudence! Can you not?! Besides, I don't think Helena or Sofia will be in that kind of position... well, not yet at least." Jane May snorted softly. "And Prudence stop smirking! At this rate, your face is just gonna turn into the fuqboi emoji."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and went to my messages. Trying to multitask, I typed out "Hey, are you almost here?" and showed it to the four members standing there. They read it and nodded, Jimin bouncing up and down with excitement.

The message took a second to send, but once it did, the effect on the four girls outside was immediate.

"Oh, shit! Dang it, I knew we've been taking too long...."

One of them, probably Helena, wailed. "Let's just go back. This is too scary."

"But... then they might show up at Jin's apartment instead," the last girl, the quiet, but also super loud one, whispered.

"Ahhh! This is terrible! Can we just run away and never come back?"

"My dudes, think about it this way," Prudence started, "if we came all this way and you guys didn't meet them, wouldn't that suck? Well, guess what? We have come all this way, been through hell sticking those Q-tip things up our noses, so there is no way I am letting any of you leave without meeting the people we came to visit. Besides, we don't want to be rude."