Back in their apartment, Bryan crossed his arms behind his head while yawning and stretching back and forth. He then heard a door slightly creak open and glanced at Valerie.
"Hey. You're back. What did you buy?" He became surprised.
"Traditional Korean tea bag set, key chains, and a box of sheet face masks," she pulled them one by one before she revealed the last souvenirs. "And of course, the Tteokbokki snacks."
"Shit. Can I have one?" Bryan asked hungrily.
"Sure," Valerie chirped, tossing one to him.
Bryan flexed his arm to catch it and thanked her. He spins his chair around to face the computer screen as they both were currently watching intently. Their eyes began to widen at the two figures exchanging handshakes with an EXO member, who smiled deviously towards the GOT7 member.
"Is it done?"
"100% Complete. Just as you requested, brother," Jackson smirked proudly.
Valerie and Bryan went bewildered and appalled after seeing the familiar face with a serpent tattoo on his ring finger.
"No way. That's..." Bryan stammered off of his words when he cleared up the vision.
"Kai," Valerie murmured sternly.
"Him? What the hell is he plotting? Why is he going after TXT and BigHit?" Bryan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"I have the same questions as you," Valerie nodded in agreement, then they continued to watch further. However, the camera hat was hanging on the side of the wall rack, which they weren't able to see. They became a little miffed by that. At least, they have caught a glimpse of the faces of EXO and GOT7, so they decided to replay and record the whole video.
"Who would've thought that Jackson Wang is a liar?" Bryan snorted a mocking laugh.
Suddenly, the background music theme started blaring out on TV when the reporter spoke.
"Breaking news: the newest group that was formed by BigHit was last seen in the convenience store. Allegedly, TXT was entailed in dealing with some drugs and they are in undergoing investigation by the authorities. This is the first time they have a scandal," she stated monotonously while the pictures were being shown and continued on. "Police have taken them into custody, so stay tuned for more updates."
"Unbelievable. Word just got out really fast like that," Bryan threw his hands up in the air exasperatingly.
"There's more to it than meets the eye," Valerie muttered firmly. "Otherwise, things will get worse for them, especially for Mr. Si-hyuk. I mean, he's very occupied with the meetings and hasn't contacted us."
"Maybe, he's aware of the rumors that are circulating around him and the company. Probably avoiding all that false media statements," Bryan guessed as he and Valerie remained silent while watching the news and weather forecast.
Meanwhile, Hoseok, Yoongi, and Namjoon had recently called Jin and they were all chilling in the living room of his house, wondering about their disbandment.
"Are you ready to tell us what went wrong? If not, that's totally fine," Namjoon said.
"No. You're right. I think it's time that I should let you know. That's why I agreed to come and visit you guys," Jin nodded and began to think harder on his moments. "Remember the last concert we had? That was when I witnessed the three of them having an argument. Mostly, Jimin and Jungkook were the ones who were fighting against Taehyung. He was alone, trying to defend his position, so I stepped in and gave them a lecture not to speak ill of another group. I told them that it's not a competition on who gets the credit for the choreography and the song. I was always caught in between them."
"Did they listen?" Namjoon peered.
"No... Yet, I was the eldest in our group, but I'm not being highly entitled to the 'respect the older people' thing," Jin pointed out.
"Look, I understand what you've been through. We all have. They don't listen to you, they don't listen to us, then that means they have a hard time accepting defeat," Namjoon said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"That is true. I guess they're not used to giving up on the things when they should," Hoseok noted.
"But why are you always involved with them?" Yoongi's expression turned into a peculiar look.
"Because they gave me trust since they were the ones with secrets," Jin answered quietly, much to their puzzlement.
Then, Namjoon's phone rang in which he instantly started answering.
"Hello?" He greeted her.
"Hey, it's me. Valerie," she said.
"Val? What's up?" Namjoon asked happily.
"I just want to know if you're available today because there is something I want to tell you," she informed him shortly.
"Absolutely. Come to Hoseok's place. Half of us are here right now. I'll send you the address through text," Namjoon said.
"Okay. No problem. We'll be on our way," Valerie reminded hurriedly.
"See you soon!" Namjoon said in surprise as he ended the call.
"Is she coming?" Hoseok asked, grinning.
"Yep. She wants to briefly notify us about something," Namjoon said.
"Awesome because I want to invite her to my tennis tournament," Hoseok giggled eagerly.
"Heh..." Jin scoffed lightly and said. "Perfect."
"Was that sarcasm I heard?" Yoongi snorted.
"It's not. I was actually looking forward to this day to..." Jin lowered his head shyly as he trailed off of his words.
"Eat humble pie?" Yoongi pinpointed correctly with an amused smirk.
"Ooh. Jinnie's going softie?" Hoseok teased slowly.
"Shut up," Jin rolled his eyes and chuckled a little, then became sincere. "Honestly, I'm willing to give her an apology because I know she didn't mean to crash those plates on the kitchen floor."
"It was an accident and I'm sure she'll forgive you for your madness. You have extra hundreds of them, so you're good," Hoseok said.
"Valerie is a nice girl, so once she gets here, you'll owe her your explanations," Namjoon nodded curtly.
"Right," Jin sighed dully and looked up at the ceiling as the other three began to talk about a different subject of race cars.
Concurrently back to where Valerie and Bryan are, they were crossing down the streets and sprinted at a moderate pace. As soon as they reached the other side of the buildings, they checked google maps to see where they were at while Valerie received Namjoon's text of Hoseok's address, ignoring the traffic.
"We are halfway there," Bryan said.
"You're kidding me? You could've driven the rented car if only you were responsible enough to refill up the gas tank," Valerie scoffed and said. "It doesn't matter. We'll take an exercise from here."
The two of them had been non-stop running until Bryan came to a halt and stood frozen. He carefully glanced over his shoulder when he noticed that it was bleeding and cried out in pain. The gunshot echoed through their surroundings, making the others scream fearfully as they rapidly shuffled out of the harm's way.
Valerie, on the other hand, dodged the bullets as she and Bryan were ducking. Then, she peeked her head a bit and narrowed her eyes sharply towards the suspects. She straightened her posture and looked down on Bryan, saying. "You stay here!"
"Wait, Val! It's too dangerous!" He warned, panting breathlessly. He groaned at the discomfort that was occurring on his left arm, which he gripped tightly.
However, Valerie didn't hesitate and decided to go on further to chase them. She wasn't a fast runner for nothing, so she made a few turns. When she came to the empty alley, she made a high jump on the outdoor garbage bin and tackled one of the guys, but was kicked on the side of her head.
The guy bolted upright and escaped along with his friend, whereas Valerie quickly got up and attempted to grab onto their back shirts. They were nowhere to be seen.
"Shit..." She brushed her hair with her fingers in frustration.
Though, the last thing she saw on the guy's ankle was the serpent tattoo.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
