❝𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗪𝗕𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 & 𝗖𝗜𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗦. ── 𝗠.𝗬𝗚✔️

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↳ ❝🍓 [chapter 01] ¡! ❞🚬

"UGH, DAMN IT!" Eva jumps at the sudden, startling slam of the car hood as Namjoon leaned against it. Engine problems were nothing new to him. It's been stalling like this for about a week now and it always took forever to get it to start back up. It wasn't like his car was old or anything of the sort. The battery was just shit and often gave out at the worst of times. Such as now.

Eva pulled her jacket tighter around her to protect herself from the chill breeze that washed over her. The sun was setting and the sky was painted in shades of tangerine and pink lemonade, just a few minutes and those beautiful mixtures of colors would give way to utter darkness and twinkling stars. It would draw out the horrors of this neighborhood and put them on display for all to see.

"It's okay, Joon," Eva told him, looking out at the sun slowly disappearing behind the horizon. "I can just walk home before it gets too dark. My house isn't that far." She thought she could make it. She had a good 10 minutes before it got too dark. The streetlights we're on as well. As long as she stays in well-lit areas and walks fast, she should be able to get home far before it gets too dangerous.

This neighborhood wasn't very forgiving of mistakes, but she's made the walk before and she got home just fine.

Namjoon was a bit uneasy about the idea. He was aware of what kind of neighborhood they lived in and how a girl like Eva, small, pretty, vulnerable, could get hurt. His lips pursed, eyes shifting anxiously to look around them. They were alone on the street, standing in front of the closed community center they worked at. "I don't know...It's dangerous out here, Eva. You could get hurt."

"It has to be better than sitting out here and waiting for it to get dark. If I leave now I can make it home in time." She had only recently moved here. Even was still untainted by the true ugliness of this little section outside the Central City. She was ignorant, optimistically so.

"Eva-"

"I have a shortcut." She offered. "Though the park. It cuts like 5 minutes off my walk. I can get there fast." Namjoon falters a bit, unsure of whether to let her go. The longer she stays, the less time she has to get home safely. He knows how dangerous the park can get at night. Gunshots don't lie. That's where they go to settle old feuds and they don't care who gets caught in the crossfire. Children have died because of their carelessness, mothers grieve for years over their lost children, thinking of all the "what if"s until they simply can't bear it anymore. And just like that, two lives they've claimed forever.

"Go fast, run if you have to. Don't stop for anyone and if you see some sketchy dudes in a group, you walk the other way, understand." Namjoon looks down at her, taking hold of her shoulders to drive home his seriousness. He took her home every night for a reason, to make sure she wasn't one of those people with shoes strung up on the power lines.