Back in their apartment, Bryan and Valerie started to connect the dots where they figured that each member is being targeted specifically.
"Obviously, Kai is behind all of this mess. That asshole," Bryan pointed out irritatingly and continued on. "I don't mean to over-exaggerate this, but the troubles he put us through is getting overboard."
"We need to stop him before he goes any further with the rest of them..." Valerie murmured.
"Who is left?" Bryan asked.
"Let's see. We have Yoongi, Taehyung, and Jimin..." Valerie spread out the pictures of them on the glass table.
"Why Yoongi? He never provoked anyone in his life, except defending his friends," Bryan questioned.
Valerie nodded in agreement and said. "You're right and I got a bad feeling about this one."
Bryan stared at her for a pause as they looked into each other's eyes in worry.
During that time, Sally was watching her boyfriend shoot the hoops consistently while the coach was timing him how fast he moves. She cheered for him with a few echoes in the background of the gym. There were only twenty seconds left until it reached a specific number.
“Alright! You surpassed 15 sets of balls from the cart, which only took you less than a minute. Overall, you are fantastic,” coach Milton pressed the button with his thumb in the sound of a beep, nodding impressively.
“Whoo. Thanks, coach,” Yoongi panted breathlessly as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. He places his hands on both of his hips. “What’s next?”
“Oh no, young man. I think you are done for tonight. You practiced hard enough, so you’re good to go. Are you ready for the finals?” Coach Milton asked excitedly.
Yoongi shook his head and shrugged with his hands out, chuckling. “Definitely.”
“Ah! That’s the spirit!” Coach Milton patted him on the shoulder and continued on. “I received the same response from your teammates. They told me they’re looking forward to winning another championship with you.”
“Hmm,” Yoongi said, grinning.
“Anyway, rest easy, yah? Save up your energy and we’ll meet up for our last practice in a team,” coach Milton advised with a smile.
“Sure,” Yoongi agreed and watched him make his way to the exit of the backdoors. He glanced at Sally, who was waiting for him at the bench and walked over to sit down beside her. Holding her hands, he looked at her and said. “I want to make a promise with you.”
“Go on,” Sally grinned delightfully.
Yoongi nodded and looked down, then gazed back at her eyes. “Promise we will see each other again.”
“In your final playoffs,” Sally added in and kissed him on the lips.
Yoongi did as well and caressed her cheeks lovingly without responding back.
“I have to take my next flight in two days to New York. You know how my job is, right? Every three weeks is always a deadline,” Sally explained dejectedly.
“It’s alright. I understand how busy you must have been. That’s why we both made a promise, didn’t we?” Yoongi said warmly, hugging her.
“Hmm,” Sally hummed in response as she rested her head against his shoulder on their current embrace. “I will miss you in a while.”
“I will miss you more. Anyway, shall we get going?” Yoongi asked.
“I have to meet up with my friends first, then I’ll see you,” Sally reminded him.
“Okay, tell me if you want to get picked up,” Yoongi said gently as they got up from the bench, the couple hugged each other tightly and parted their ways.
It was a clear night sky where the stars were showing. Hoseok visited him at 11:15 pm and they stood by the balcony, leaning against the deck railings and watching the view of the city. The two were discussing the issue of Namjoon posting the photos online. Though Yoongi didn’t believe their friend would humiliate Hoseok publicly.
“Somebody must have pretended to be him. You never know,” he pointed out.
“So you’re siding with him?” Hoseok scoffed, looking away.
“No… Listen, if he proves his true intentions, then that means he wasn’t the one in that account,” Yoongi said.
Hoseok grumbled dismissively. “Whatever, I’m not going to talk to him.”
“Suit yourself. If I were you, I would simply just ask further. You and I both know you can’t stay mad at him forever. Try asking Bryan or Valerie. They’re both private detectives,” Yoongi noted.
“You’re right… I guess I was a bit ignorant. I’m going to find out who’s behind this,” Hoseok agreed, slowly nodding and checked the time on his watch. He started to walk away from him and entered the room. “I’m going to head off to sleep. I have to practice for my finals as well. Goodnight!”
“Night night,” Yoongi clicked his tongue nonchalantly, then received a text message from Sally, who is finished. He replied back to pick her up from one of the diners. Once he headed to his car, he began to turn on the engine and drive away through the streets.
When he was near the stoplights, a ginger-haired girl caught his attention. His eyes widened slightly after he saw her flirting with another guy outside the Soho Korean & Japanese restaurant patio. He hoped it was someone else, but it turns out it was her. His stomach dropped a little, but he decided to give a call on the phone. As he did, the ginger-haired girl pulled out her phone from her purse, much to his dismay.
He closed his eyes for a moment and gripped on the wheel with his hands. He swerved it onto the right for U-turn and found the nearest parking lot to contact one of his friends. He was breathing heavily and tried to calm himself. Shaking his head, he massages his eyelids and wipes off the little tears.
When he opened the list of his contacts, he scrolled down and tapped on her name. He held his phone up as it started to ring.
“Hello? Is it okay if we meet?” He asked quietly.
“What time?” The girl became surprised.
“8:30 am at the Hangang park,” Yoongi answered monotonously.
“I’m there. See you tomorrow,” she said politely.
“Right,” Yoongi said as their call ended.
The next morning…
Valerie and Yoongi were standing a few meters apart in which she questioned in bewilderment.
“She did what?! She must be somewhat different. I know that other people started to look alike and I know how confusing it can be.”
“No, Val. I literally saw her flirting with a guy…” Yoongi reasoned out and sighed exasperatedly.
Valerie furrowed her eyebrows pitifully and said. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Have you talked to her?”
“No. Have you?” Yoongi interrogated.
“Yeah, Bryan and I were helping her and Ava packed their stuff. Then, Sally told us she was going to see you for your basketball practice. I didn’t know she was with a guy. Probably, just her friend…” Valerie said thoughtfully and pulled out her phone. “Here, I’ll try calling her.”
Yoongi nodded as they both were waiting for Sally to answer.
Valerie narrowed her eyes slightly and was starting to get impatient. She ended it and said. “That’s weird. She usually picks up in five seconds. I wonder what happened.”
“It’s fine…” Yoongi sighed, ruffling his hair back and forth.
Valerie crossed her arms and contacted Bryan. She waited for him to answer and he answered.
“What’s up, Val?” He asked coolly.
“Do you guys know where Sally is? She is not picking up her phone,” Valerie explained.
“No. I thought she’s with Yoongi. Why? Did something happen?” Bryan wondered curiously.
“Apparently so,” Valerie clenched her teeth in annoyance.
“I see. Ava and I will meet up with you,” Bryan informed and gave his phone to Ava.
“Hey, girl. Where are you and Yoongi?” She asked worriedly.
“Hangang park,” Valerie said.
“Sally is missing?” Ava questioned in astonishment.
“Yeah. Haven’t you tried calling her?” Valerie asked.
“I did. She hasn’t been picking up,” Ava explained with a frown as she and Bryan made strange looks at one another.
Valerie nodded with a hum. “Hmm. Alright. We’ll wait for you two to come here.”
“Okay, see you!” Ava exclaimed.
Valerie put her phone down and glanced at Yoongi, who was looking at the couples biking together in the parking trails. She felt contrite that they all couldn’t reach out to her, making her even more skeptical.
A couple of minutes later…
The four of them were gathered together between the trees where Yoongi was explaining his situation. Bryan and Ava couldn’t help but feel sorry for him since his girlfriend hasn’t been answering his calls or theirs.
“Man, there are some possibilities she hasn’t responded to us. First, her phone is drained out of battery. Second, she’s probably hanging out with her friend, who just happens to be a guy. Third-” Bryan was listing them out but didn’t get to finish his sentence.
“She’s cheating…” Ava guessed as her eyes were fixated on two people walking together side by side with the ice cream cups on their hands.
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Bryan asked blankly until he and the others turned around to where Ava was pointing at. His facial expression became shocked, including Valerie.
Yoongi narrowed his eyes and stepped to the front, calling her name out boldly. “Sally?!”
Sally stopped talking to the guy and glanced at him and her friends. She gaped her mouth in puzzlement and froze. Her eyes were glistening back and forth towards them, who were giving her displeasing stares with their arms crossed.
“Yoongi… Val, Ava, Bryan… What are you doing?” She laughed nervously.
“We should be asking you that question,” Ava gritted her teeth, clenching her fists.
Yoongi shrugged and shook his head perturbingly, asking. “Sal… What’s going on?”
Sally stared at him neutrally and gulped her throat. “Um… I…”
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” Ava sneered, but Bryan signaled his hand to not interfere in their personal matter. She looked at him annoyed and crossed her arms silently.
Yoongi waited for Sally to speak up, but she was lost in her words. He gestured his arms out and glared at her. “Well?! Are you at least going to explain where you went off to? You told me you were going to meet up with your friends. Why did you lie to me? Wasn’t I good enough for you?”
Sally stared at him livid and explained shakily. “That’s not true. I needed to find-”
“A fun distraction?” Yoongi guessed.
“No, I-” Sally was about to answer.
“Then what?!” Yoongi demanded as he approached her.
“I needed to find assistance from the gift store since I wanted to surprise you once you win the basketball championship… I couldn’t tell my friends because they would spoil it for you,” Sally said, shuffling her feet back and forth.
“We wouldn’t. Friends trust and keep each other’s secrets, Sal…” Valerie said softly with her saddened eyes at her.
“Just to clear the air, Sally and I have no intention of having a relationship. She decided to give a call and I was the only assistant she can find in the store I’m working at. I’m one of the planners and I worked with different clients,” the guy with the round glasses explained formally.
“Then, why didn’t you answer the calls?” Yoongi asked.
“I turned off my phone into silent mode,” Sally answered.
“You said you wanted to get picked up from the diner last night,” Yoongi mentioned.
“I did, but I was waiting for you. You never came…” Sally said.
“Because I saw you flirting with him,” Yoongi snapped.
Sally’s eyes widened in shock and narrowed her eyes slightly at him in irritation. “That was only a practice. I only planned it to do it with you, not him.”
The nerdy guy with the rounded glasses nodded in agreement, much to the others’ realization.
“Looks like we had some sort of misunderstanding. Right, babe?” Bryan looked at her in the corner of his eyes.
Ava huffed and sighed in defeat, saying apologetically. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry I assumed you were cheating on Yoongi.”
“Yeah, sorry about that, Sal,” Valerie pursed her lips.
“It’s fine,” Sally rolled her eyes and opened her arms out to hug them.
The girls came to an embrace, then let go of each other.
Sally turned around and approached Yoongi, who was looking down in melancholy. She held his chin up to look at her and assured him softly. “Boo… You know, I wouldn’t cheat on you, right? I would never hurt you. I know that there are some days and nights, you feel blue because you haven’t seen your family for a while. That’s why I thought of cheering you up and I’m sorry I had you worried.”
Yoongi stared at her as his smile was slowly forming in his lips. “I forgive you.”
Sally grinned and leaned in to kiss him sweetly. The two wrapped their arms around each other as they stayed for a few minutes, making their friends smile at them.
They weren’t aware the camera took a photo of them from their close distance. The man in a black jumpsuit contacted his boss, saying. “Sir… Unfortunately, the plan didn’t work out.”
“Then, do something about it…” He growled angrily.
“Got it, sir!” He answered firmly and ended the call. He jumped down from the tree and moved immediately.
Four hours later…
Later on in the afternoon, Valerie and her friends went to their apartment while Yoongi and Sally drove back to his mansion.
They stopped in front of the yard with their eyes widening in horror at the words written in red graffiti.
“Give up your state title or your girlfriend dies!”
Sally covered her mouth with her hands, stepping back and screamed loudly. But Yoongi wasn’t afraid as he clenched his fists in frustration, thinking of hiring tight security.
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