The clouds were drifting slowly and another thunderstorm began to occur. Three hours later, everyone is headed back to Seoul where they all settled in Yoongi's mansion. Since then, another rain was pouring down until a sudden power outage had recently affected the whole country. They closed the curtains, blinds, and went to the basement to get some food and other supplies out of the storage room. Sally and Ava turned on the light lamps and placed them in each room, then went to the kitchen. They opened the canned food and big bags of chips on the bowl with dipping sauces. Afterward, they told everyone they needed to rest instead in which they acknowledged.
Jimin was texting Chia, who left the message on reading in which he became slightly disheartened. Sighing to himself, the others were playing chess and were talking about their not-so-anticipated trip.
"Our vacation was cut short for only a day," Jin said, feeling a little dejectedly.
"If it wasn't for the wildfires, then we could've been spending as much activity as we can," Taehyung nodded in agreement.
"Never would've I thought it would end up being a disaster. I was basically planning to set up the water balloons and glowing neon sticks for us to enjoy a friendly fight," Hoseok thought with a frown.
"You could've told us earlier after I finish my performances," Jin pointed out.
"Hey, don't blame me. I didn't know there was going to be a fire out there," Hoseok retorted back defensively.
"True. I mean, it could've been because of the weather or someone accidentally used a lighter," Taehyung guessed.
"Let's not come up with baseless assumptions. We should worry about whether Jeju Island is safe or not. Half of the areas are burned because of the fire," Namjoon stated.
"The news will be covered up tomorrow. As of now, we will have to wait..." Taehyung said as he read it on his phone offline and looked at them.
"How is Valerie doing? Is she doing okay?" Jin asked.
"She's fine," a familiar voice answered in a low tone of his voice, making them turn their heads on Bryan, who was standing and leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Ah, dude. What happened to her? Could you tell us?" Hoseok asked curiously.
Bryan was about to speak, but he noticed a shuffle movement from the business CEO.
"I will..." Jimin said firmly and continued on as he lowered his leg down, sitting in a proper position before placing his phone on the table.
The rest of the guys glanced at him in confusion and listened to him attentively.
"I was the one who witnessed everything that was happening around her. She was locked inside this small cabin for no reason and I've figured she was kidnapped that night," Jimin explained.
"Wait. What makes you think she was?" Namjoon questioned blankly.
Jimin looked down with his hands folded in a slanted angle. He reflected back on his moments.
FLASHBACK:
"Help me! I'm here!" Valerie cried out desperately.
"Where?!" Jimin questioned firmly.
"The side doors!" Valerie answered.
Jimin goes to the other side but sees the chains entangled together by the padlock. Instead, he climbed all the way to the roof and was trying to find the weakest spot to kick through a hole. He searched around to find one of the wooden blocks and carefully detached it from the window frame. Then, he started to smash the glass five times until it shattered noisily. As soon as he jumped down, he was coughing loudly while covering his nose and mouth with his long sleeve. Taking a glance at the smoke and fire, he yelled her name as much as possible. "Valerie...!"
"Help me..." She responded back as she was coughing hoarsely whilst lying on the floor with tears in her eyes.
Jimin turned his head in the right direction as he heard the sound of her voice and hurried himself over to her. He pulled her up in a standing position, reminding her gently. "I got you..."
Valerie was breathing weakly and looked at him as they both started to run out of the cabin that was going to collapse.
END OF FLASHBACK
Jin, Namjoon, Hoseok, and Taehyung became astonished and bewildered after Jimin explained it to them. Bryan was staring at the flower vase since he already knew.
"Who the hell would kidnap her? Better yet, this ain't even a good prank, to begin with," Hoseok thought, furrowing his eyebrows weirdly.
"Luckily, you two made it out alive," Jin said, nodding slowly.
"We did. Still, I don't know how and why she ended up there..." Jimin muttered.
"I do... But it's best not to tell and let you all be affected by the other outcome of someone. Even Jungkook understands that," Bryan thought determinedly in mind.
Then, he composed himself and walked away from the living room before heading up the staircase.
"Bryan, where are you going?" Namjoon asked blankly.
"I need to take a nap. We'll talk later," he informed without looking back at them, much to their puzzlement.
"Okay, so is there anything we can do?" Taehyung asked.
"I don't think so. In case if Valerie remembered something, then we will," Jimin noted.
"Um... What about Chia? Does she know about this?" Jin reminded him.
Jimin gazed dully and shook his head, saying. "No. She can't be involved in this situation and she hasn't replied back to me yet."
"You two had a quarrel, eh?" Hoseok guessed correctly and chuckled, then stopped when he noticed Jimin shooting a silent death stare at him. He blurted out apologetically in a quick mumble. "Sorry."
"One thing's for sure is that Chia's been complaining about you leaving her. She's even satisfied to be with us, anyways," Namjoon explained.
"That woman is..." Hoseok was about to speak up, but Namjoon gave him a warning look not to say any word about Chia. He continued on with a sarcastic happy tone of his voice. "She's wonderful and fun to talk to!"
Namjoon rolled his eyes in annoyance at how loud Hoseok can be.
"You could've stayed with her and let Bryan and Kookie search for Valerie, you know," Taehyung said.
"Yeah. You ran so fast. It's like you're so eager to win a prize or something," Hoseok snorted a laugh, then coughed and looked away to complete the puzzle pieces.
Namjoon exhaled his breath out and clapped his hand. "I'm going to get a drink. Be right back."
"We'll finish the rounds," Taehyung said to Jin, who nodded back. The two of them were facing each other and looked down on the chess pieces before they made a move one at a time.
Jimin stood up from the couch and said. "I'll be heading off to sleep."
"Okay, have a goodnight," Hoseok chirped while holding onto shuffling the puzzle blocks on the side of the table.
Jimin waved at them and walked up the stairs, then headed down the hallway. As soon as he passed by the bedrooms, he heard two muffling voices from one of them and stopped in his tracks. He moved backward and glanced at the left side and slowly peeked into the door.
Valerie was curled up in a ball while she was sitting near the bay window.
"Why won't you tell me?" Jungkook questioned with a pleading tone of his voice.
"Because you're going to make fun of me," she scoffed.
"Val, I promise I won't..." Jungkook said.
"Well, what about you? You and Bryan probably encountered some animals in Jeju," Valerie rolled her eyes at him in irritation as she rested her arms on her knees.
Jungkook sighed with his eyes closed for a moment, saying. "Okay. I'll go first, then you go after right?"
"Fine," Valerie agreed.
"You see, your friend Bryan and I saw these groups of men and we ended up in their boss's yacht. I believe he's behind all of this mess," Jungkook explained.
Valerie glanced at him with her eyes narrowed slightly suspicious. "Who?"
Jungkook didn't make eye contact until he slowly hovered his gaze on her and answered. "Some guy named Kyle."
Valerie furrowed her eyebrows confusedly and repeated. "Who?"
"Kyle. That's what I've heard from his minions," Jungkook said.
"I see. I'm just trying to wrap my head around this, but why would 'Kyle' do this exactly?" Valerie questioned oddly.
"No idea. Bryan and I couldn't hear since he was 15 meters farther apart," Jungkook said in thought.
"Did you see his face?" Valerie asked.
"No, there was barely enough time since these men caught and fought us," Jungkook pointed out.
Valerie nodded and looked down when she suddenly remembered the flames trapping her. She began to tear up and cover her face, groaning.
"Are you alright?" Jungkook said as he scooched in and comforted her on the back.
"No..." Valerie whispered slightly. Then, she leaned her head against his shoulder, much to his gladness.
Outside of the bedroom hallway, Jimin was observing them and noticed how they were sitting close together. He gazed at them and decided to check in to see Bryan on the other side of the room as well, but he was cuddling with Ava in their peaceful slumber. Yoongi and Sally were also as well, so he didn't want to bother the young couples and thought of Chia in his mind. He went inside the empty room and sat down in bed.
Somehow, he was starting to feel despondent about how he ditched her. However, he cannot deny the fact that he had saved someone's life. Of course, it was the right thing to do and Jimin always reminded himself that.
Seokjin's dream POV
The restaurant was closed earlier at 9:00 pm where a few customers paid and gave tips to the cashiers after waving goodnight to them. Inside the huge kitchen, all the employees finished their shifts, whereas Jin was stacking up the containers and utilities back to the cabinets.
"Hey, worldwide handsome," a voice called out.
He heard the door open and saw Valerie standing with a sweet smile on her face. She was walking and wrapped her arms around him lovingly as he did as well.
"Why are you up so late? I thought you're sleeping?" He asked confusedly.
"Well, I've figured you're working up so late, so I decided to help you out," Valerie chirped.
"You're so cute," Jin said, laughing as he pinched her cheeks adoringly. Then, he held her face close to him as the two leaned in for a passionate kiss.
Jin subconsciously turned his body to the right side with a smile on his face. His eyes were moving around and snored whilst continuing the vivid dream.
Later on, at past midnight, Jimin came out of the bedroom and headed to the kitchen to eat the snacks on the countertops. He sat on one of the stools and drank a glass of water.
"Can't sleep?" A familiar voice guessed, startling him from behind.
"Kookie," Jimin said surprisingly.
"Chimmy Hyung. How's my buddy?" Jungkook asked, grinning a bunny smile.
"I'm good. Is everything alright?" Jimin raised his eyebrows curiously and put the bowls in the sink while facing his back on him. He raises up the tap once the water starts to run and washes them with soap.
"Yeah. In fact, I'm doing fantastic. Valerie and I talked some things out, therefore giving us mutual understanding and trust for one another," Jungkook stated contentedly.
"That's great," Jimin said impressively with a nod and was scrubbing each of the bowls.
"By the way, I just want to make sure that nothing happened back there, right?" Jungkook queried.
"Kookie, I assure you I'm happily engaged to Chia. There's nothing wrong with being friends with the opposite gender," Jimin stated, chuckling in amusement.
"Since when are you friends with Val?" Jungkook questioned in skepticism.
Jimin tilted his head up as he paused for a few seconds, then replied casually. "During the Spring Gala Fest. She and I settled our differences, especially Bryan."
"Oh, right. That event. I didn't know you invited her-" Jungkook understood as he shrugged.
"Not only her! Bryan as well!" Jimin said sharply with a smile, clinging to the bowls loudly.
Jungkook's eyes widened in shock at how he raised his voice and gestured to him carefully. "Woah, Hyung. I was just saying. I already know you guys are friends now. You could've told me that Valerie was going. I should've asked her out on a date."
"Well, you were busy making an album, remember?" Jimin recalled.
"Nevertheless, I would've been there partying with her on the dance floor. Oh well, next time I will," Jungkook grinned and took a sip of beer from the bottle.
Jimin nodded and glanced over his shoulder with a reassuring smile. "You will get your chance."
"Yeah, I will. For now, I'll see where this friendship is going to lead us to. Then, I will ask her to be my girlfriend," Jungkook said determinedly.
Jimin nodded coolly and turned on the tap to wash the bowls before placing them gently on the dish rack. The two began to chat about their current jobs as they laughed and joked. Once they became a little drowsy, they decided to go back to the bedrooms and doze off.
Namjoon's dream POV
After class ended, Valerie was collecting the test papers from each of the students' desks. She shuffled them and organized them in a neat pile. She handed them over to Namjoon, who was checking the assignments, and took them from her hand.
"Thank you, Val," he nodded at her.
"You're welcome. You seem too occupied in this, Mr. Kim," Valerie crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows impressively.
"That's me and my job," Namjoon said determinedly as he continued to look back and forth on the papers without making eye contact. He mumbled to himself with uncertainty. "Not sure if that is the correct answer."
Valerie sighed and came beside him, saying. "Here. I'll help you. What's the question?"
"Which English explorer was executed in 1618, fifteen-years after being found guilty of conspiracy against King James I of England and VI of Scotland?" Namjoon read monotonously and continued on. "One of my students answered William Pitt, but it's-"
"Sir Walter Raleigh," both of them said gleefully in unison. They suddenly turned to look at them and burst out laughing in amusement.
"Ah. That was funny. I mean, this kid does have artistic skills. He practically drew it all over the bottom page," Namjoon tried to control his laughter.
Valerie was shaking her head and shrugged. "Maybe he probably read it wrong or he just needs to learn more about it. If only you talk a little bit slower because sometimes, you talk fast, Mr. Kim."
She poked him on the shoulder teasingly, whereas Namjoon held his hands up defensively. "Alright, Ms. Nown. I'll take your word for it."
"Hmm," she hummed in response and then they looked into each other's eyes and their lips. Both of them leaned in closer until they started to kiss.
Namjoon was groaning peacefully against his pillow, snoring so loudly. Nonetheless, his arms were dangling on the side of the bed. Beside him was Hoseok, who was also in a deep sleep.
Hoseok's dream POV
Valerie spiked the ball over the net back and forth until she twisted her ankle. She cried out in pain, much to his shock.
"Oh no, Val!" Hoseok gaped his mouth and made his way over towards her. He bent down and asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"
Valerie's crying face turned into a smirk and screamed with a humorous laugh. "Psyche!"
She stood up and poked him on the tip of his nose. She started to run on the other side while she was being chased by Hoseok.
He dropped his jaw and made a funny angry expression on his face. He tackled her on the ground field. Both of them ended up laughing and stopped for a moment to stare into each other's eyes. They slowly leaned in after Hoseok was gently brushing her hair away from her face, till their lips met.
Hoseok was smiling from ear to ear and sighed dreamily on his pillow before his mouth was opened subconsciously.
At 1:30 am, Bryan and Valerie headed downstairs in the kitchen and were solving the case quietly. The Macbook laptop was opened, whereas the rest of the document sheets were spread out on the counter. Both of them listened to the voice messages that Bryan recorded on the yacht when he was hiding in the closet.
"You better make sure that she doesn't get away next time. Otherwise, your ass will be the one getting fucking incinerated and disposed of... Now, go find them!"
"Sir, what are we going to do then?" His second subordinate asked in concern.
He sighed tiredly and faced the landscape of Jeju Island after the fire was burnt out by the heavy rain. "For now, we will retreat and move onto the next procedure. Hmph. That Park Jimin... The guy is starting to drive me insane. No matter. Soon, he will be the one to suffer."
Valerie exhaled a long breath and facepalmed at this. She placed her hands on her hips in exasperation. "What an awful bastard. To think he would go this far..."
"Val... The guy that was targeting you was-" Bryan didn't get to finish his sentence as he got interrupted.
"Kai," Valerie gestured her arms out in conclusion.
"Wha-? How did you know it was-?" Bryan stammered peculiarly.
"Come on, Bryan. Do you obviously think I didn't know that? I know he was going after me because his friends are incarcerated. Not to forget that Jungkook actually thought it was kyle. I mean, there's no one in this city named Kyle unless there is someone with that name," Valerie scoffed, crossing her arms.
"He probably misheard it," Bryan shrugged and continued on. "Anyway, shall we confirm this to the police station? I also have taken photos of him and the rest of his henchmen, including the weapons."
"Alright, let's see," Valerie urged him on as they turned their attention to the computer screen, viewing the evidence, and began their research.
At around 3:30 am, she slept on the couch and dropped her phone on the carpet in the living room.
Bryan was blinking his droopy eyelids every five seconds. He kept on yawning while he was saving the files to his hard drive. He lazily grumbled and rested his elbow with his hand under his chin. He didn't notice the fridge opened, then slammed it closed, startling him to glance at the person holding the water pitcher.
"Oh, Jimin. Anything alright, bud?" He questioned clearly, rubbing his eyelids back and forth.
"Hmm. I'm just a little dehydrated. That's all," Jimin said as soon as he drank the glass.
"I see that," Bryan pointed out.
Jimin was holding it and began to walk away until he heard him speak up, yet softer.
"Say... You and the others may be wondering why Valerie's suddenly having a trauma, but I supposed I don't mind telling you," Bryan thought.
Jimin slightly looked over his shoulder and insisted as he faced him. "Go on."
Bryan sighed tiredly and looked at sleeping Valerie on the couch. Then, his eyes gazed back at Jimin, who raised his eyebrow at him. "Just so we are clear, you cannot tell anyone about this, neither to our friends. I'm the one who's closest to her since she trusts me. Valerie is usually an open book towards me, but I'll only say this once to you..."
Jimin nodded slowly in response. "Okay, so what is it? When I was with her, her hands and her whole body were literally shivering. Why is that?"
Bryan glanced around carefully, then gazed at him straightforwardly to answer. "She has pyrophobia. A fear of fire..."
Jimin became stunned while he was staring at him incredulously. He didn't bother to bombard him with questions, so instead, he looked at Valerie with a frown on his face.
Taehyung's dream POV
After he finished his saxophone riffs, everyone else applauded for him, including Valerie, who was smiling at him proudly and giving him a thumbs up.
"Thank you, all. This has been a wonderful evening and hope to see you again," he said with a curt nod.
The announcer stepped on the stage and said. "We will now have an intermission."
Some of them settled down in their seats, whereas the others decided to order their extra glasses of drinks.
Taehyung walked down the ramp and saw Valerie approaching him with her hands hiding behind her back.
"So did you enjoy your day out?" He asked.
"You could say that, but I did enjoy your performance," Valerie wrapped her arms around him and gave him a long-lasting kiss.
Taehyung fluttered his eyelids open and smirked. "Why don't we go to the amusement park? I'll give you a present."
"Sure," Valerie grinned happily as they held hands together and excitedly walked out of the Tang Bar.
Taehyung's face was pinched up and kept on snoring while he was dreaming about his date with Valerie.
Besides him, Jungkook was sleeping soundly but wasn't the type of person to snore like the rest of his hyungs.
Jungkook's dream POV
He was in a swan boat while the canoeing person was paddling the rivers. From there, he was facing Valerie, who was admiring the fireworks lighting up in the sky for their date. He couldn't help but smile at her beauty and took her hands gently forward.
"Val, I know this is so sudden, but I was wondering if you would give me the honor and be my girlfriend," he stated.
Valerie became surprised as her eyes were glistening radiantly back and forth, saying. "Yes, Kookie."
"Really?!" He asked giddily with a grin.
"Yes, you silly bunny," Valerie said, giggling and rolled her eyes at him shouting for joy.
"Woohoo! We're officially a couple!!" Jungkook said, bumping up his fists in the air. Then, the two of them made eye contact intensely without letting go of their hands. He became the happiest guy and moved in closer to her lips before she reached his.
Of course, Jungkook tilted his head sideways and lowered it down serenely.
The next morning came when the sun became bright once again and cleared up the cloud in a blue sky. Bryan passed out on the kitchen counter with his MacBook automatically shut into a sleeping mode. He definitely had been working up all night to arrange the files in the folders and copy them in the hard drive. It wasn't an easy task for him, but he was glad that he finished it.
A sudden delicious aroma smell was coming from the stove and his nose was beginning to itch, causing him to wake up.
His eyes were a bit blurry, then he blinked twice to see Valerie and the girls cooking up their breakfast meals. He stretched his arms out and watched them flip the pancakes from the frying pan with an intriguing look. He didn't want to bother them as they were talking casually and discussing their schedules.
"My boss says that his next set of projects is coming. We will be coming up with a new concept of what we should wear in the summer, along with the makeup brand that anyone will use," Ava explained.
"I have to edit the pages of the newspapers and the deadline is in 3 weeks," Sally pointed out.
"Really? Who reads newspapers? Everyone uses the internet," Ava said.
"Yeah, but not for the elders in my neighborhood. The information online is not always accurate," Sally explained reasonably.
"I agree on that. What if our technology goes down? We always need to be resourceful and practical of that," Valerie said thoughtfully.
"Okay, old-fashioned girl," Ava giggled.
"I am too, you know. You're more likely a modern vogue," Sally gestured herself to her as they started laughing.
Valerie shook her head and grinned while she scraped the pancakes off the frying pan, then placed them on each set of plates.
She turned around surprisingly just to see five men walking groggily and yawning. "Oh, you're all awake! How's your sleep?"
"Hehe..." they laughed nervously and raised their thumbs up in response, much to her puzzlement.
"Uh, okay. Well, we made pancakes, so you can take them and eat with your heart's content," Valerie said smiling, then she noticed how they sat down on the table silently. She furrowed her eyebrows perplexed and wondered. "You guys seemed a little flushed and too quiet."
"They probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Ava guessed jokingly.
"No... We're just a little fatigued because of the games we played," Jin answered.
"I see. Well, I guess it's a bit early in the morning, but in a good way," Valerie advised, then turned her back on them while she and her friends continue to cook.
Bryan raised his eyebrows at them blankly and heard footsteps coming from the living room. He saw Jimin plopping down on the couch and turned the TV on. Yet, he noticed the same way he was feeling like the rest of them. 347Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLiOxPQrIo0
