1 is Greater Than 7

Burnt Bridges Part 2

Shownu POV

I woke up the next morning to a bunch of noise coming from down the hall. Instead of waking to the usual pleasant scent of her american breakfast dishes, there was a burnt stench left lingering in the air. As I move through the hall, I realize all the noise is coming from the kitchen. Before I even enter I start to speak, "Taliah what in the world is...going..on."

My words fell short as I raised my eyes to see not 1 girl, but 4 grown men frantically trying to put out a pot on fire. I sighed a heavy sigh and walked over to the cabinet, pulling out a bag of flour and tossing it over the whole lot of them. The little stream of water coming from the kitchen sink was not gonna do anything to help a grease fire. "Just what the heck are y'all trynna do!? Burn down the whole building!?" I yelled.

They took the time to wipe away flour from their eyes and out of their hair, some in more shock than others. "What the...Look at this mess!" Jooheon exclaimed. "Oh my..., IS THAT MY GOOD POT!? YA! Someone explain!" Kihyun demanded. Looks like I wasn't the only one who got woken up.

Wonho just sighed, "We all couldn't sleep last night and ended up waking up early. We wanted to make a signature "Taliah" dish since we missed her already, but as you can see...we failed."

Kihyun was flabbergasted, "Failed!? This is more than failed. You crashed and burned. Literally. You could have at least waited for me to wake up so I could help out. Gosh. I understand missing her but you also still need to be alive and breathing when she gets back!!"

"Okay, okay. That's enough." I said. "I'll just order breakfast, and in the meantime, we can all come together and clean up this mess. Changkyun can you grab the cleaning supplies?" He left to grab what we needed to clean, but returned with his arms filled with products. "What's all this?" I questioned. "Well..." he began, "I didn't know exactly which cleaners we use in the kitchen so I just brought all of them." Then he gave a sheepish smile. I just pinched the bridge of my nose and let out another hefty sigh.

When we accompanied Taliah to the airport, I told her that things would just return to normal now that she's no longer here. I think that I really expected it to be like that, because I refused to acknowledge that she actually made an impact on our lives, and on mine. Now I can see that it was just wishful thinking. I hope these two months go by quickly, for all our sakes.
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So I won't say the days have flown by so far, but at least half of Taliah's tour is completed. With our own comeback coming up shortly, it's helped keep all of our minds occupied. The dorm seems so much emptier and colder without her, and I will surprisingly admit...I miss her. A lot. I think she even invaded my dreams once. I'm trying to keep up a wall, but I feel my barriers between me and her breaking one by one...and she's not even here. I've actually done quite a bit of soul searching in her absence and I'm starting to think that, that may not even be such a bad thing. The fact that she's touring with nothing but men still makes me uneasy, especially since she's with that one. Ugh, hurry home Taliah. For the first time in 5 years, I'm waiting.
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Taliah POV

If it wasn't for this terrible jet lag I'd be a lot more enthusiastic about being in Bangkok right now. We are halfway through our tour list, and it's been AMAZING. The food's amazing, the staff is amazing, the fans are amazing, and I'm pretty sure I gained at least 10 lbs in the last month but concerts nearly every night tend to burn a lot of calories. I've even had the chance to do some shopping, and of course I got gifts for the boys: a new hoodie for Shownu with a bear nozzle and shades on the front of it, a new gaming keyboard and mouse for Minhyuk, a deluxe pack of Thai ramen plus a new water bottle that's also good for protein shakes for Wonho, a dope headset for Hyungwon to use while DJ-ing, a mug that had a bee on it and says Joohoney for Jooheon, the latest version of Fallout for I.M., and last but not least, a brand new Japanese knife set for Kihyun since he likes to cook, but in all honestly, I probably bought it more for me.

I've spoken to the boys on FaceTime a few times since I've been gone; they're a hot mess, but they're my mess, and I miss that mess. Surprisingly Jooheon is very clingy when it comes to calls and texts. Like, he will legit, get mad at me if I don't answer or don't respond right away. I never expected to see such a side of him. Of course Hyungwon and I.M. message me a lot. Shownu even sent me a text once! However, since we never really had a good history, it was mostly awkward, but I still appreciate the effort.

Also, another thing that surprised me is Yongguk. Dealing with him has not been as hard as I thought it was going to be. There's a part in our choreo where me and Yongguk end up facing each other inches apart. The lights dim, I disappear, and the rest of B.A.P comes back out to finish out the night. At first, it took every ounce and fiber of my being not to run away or push him away, but now, I feel myself slowly starting to relax and trust him again. He's actually been very conscious of my personal space and the alone time I need after being surrounded by man-children 24/7. I've really appreciated that.

I've also been posting updates about my tour on social media and I am more than happy to say my followers have been steadily increasing! Although there are many negative comments that roll through, the joy I receive from those who say they love the quality of my voice or those who love how dope I look while dancing, quickly crowds them out. I'm getting closer and closer to being able to make it my own soon! All of a sudden, I got a set of chills that went down my spine. I've been getting those more and more lately. It leaves me with such an uneasy feeling, like there's a storm coming, and it's going to have no mercy on whatever stands in it's way.
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No One POV

*[redacted] Penitentiary*

A lone soul in a guard uniform walks toward the unguarded back gate, slinging a duffel bag over their shoulder. Another lone soul is waiting just outside the gates leaning against a rickety old truck. They look up from underneath an old baseball cap and shoot a smug smirk at the approaching figure.

"You look good," they start, "Too bad I can't say the same for the corpse you got that uniform off of."

"I didn't kill him Cole." the other lone soul responded.

"Oh?" Cole questioned. "Have you gone soft on me?"

"Of course not, but he was just too much fun to get rid of."

"Right. 'Fun'. Just be careful your fun doesn't get us caught."

"Oh don't be such a Debby Downer Cole," the lone soul said, "I wouldn't do anything to risk my long awaited reunion. Now come on, let's go. We can't risk hanging around here for much longer."

They both hop in the truck, Cole on the driver side and the lone sole in the passenger seat. "Did you look into what I told you to?" the Lone Soul asked.

"I did." Cole replied. He reached above his head, grabbing some papers from between the visor, and
passed them to his right. "What you want and what I want are more linked than you realize."

"Oh? How so?" the Lone Soul questioned.

"Check the plane tickets." Cole said, "They're in the same place, but that also means we need to talk about some things."

The Lone Soul ignored the latter half of Cole's statement and pulled the plane tickets out of a white envelope. When they saw the destination, all they could do was laugh.

"...Seoul? Well, well, I guess it has been 5 years hasn't it?"