The Rules

Chapter 7

It was early morning and the sun was just rising, the streets were still quiet and sleepy. Ami took a deep breath in, she loved the feeling of the cool fresh air on her skin.

"What kind of job are you looking for?" Namjoon asked as they walked down the street together, "Do you have any leads yet?"

"No, that's my plan for this week is to figure that part out. I just want to find something to keep me busy until I figure out what I want to do. My aunt and uncle aren't excited about how I'm going about it, but it's not up to them." She looked up at him shrugging her shoulders.

Namjoon chuckled, "It's definitely not the traditional route, but it's good to do things that make you happy." After walking for a few minutes they came up to the lane where they had crashed into each other. Namjoon looked down and saw a broken mirror smashed and swept to the side. "Is this what you fell on that night?" he looked over at her surprised.

"OH! That was the mirror I had just bought that day... I was carrying that..." Then she noticed the wilted flowers scattered around as well and paused, thinking about that night. The pause felt too long for him and softly touched her arm, "Ami?" She looked up at him and smiled with a quick inhale, ".. it's this way..." he turned and followed her up the lane.

She put her key into the cottage with the blue door, "Come on in, I'll make you some tea." Ami entered and turned on the lights. Namjoon looked around while she was in the kitchen. It was a small space, but it was nice. The morning light streamed in the windows bouncing through the curtains. He looked at a few pictures she had on her shelf that showed a small happy family from long ago. He wanted to ask about the photo but thought maybe today wasn't the day.

He joined her in the kitchen, opened the fridge, and was surprised it was empty. "You need food!"

Ami laughed, "I told you I just moved in! I'll go back to the market today when it opens. Go have a seat and I'll bring you some tea, it's the least I can do for walking me home. It's my favorite. I brought it from London." She flashed a smile at him.

He pulled out his phone and fired off a quick text to Jin, put the phone back in his pocket, and sat down at the table, watching her get the tea ready. Even with her bandaged hand, she moved effortlessly around the kitchen. "Do you miss London?" He asked as she poured the tea and brought it over to the table. "I do a little, I miss my friends and family, but I'm excited to be back. I know when I settle in things will all work out ok, they always do." she sat back as she got comfortable in her chair.

They sat at the table, drank tea, and talked for a while. She was watching him as they talked together. He seemed relaxed and the conversation never lagged or got weird. She enjoyed their conversation and was glad it was him that walked her home. He finally looked at his watch and realized that it was getting late in the morning. "Ahh,... I need to get back..," he said, he didn't want to go but needed to get home before people started waking up for the day.

As she walked him to the door she said, "You'll have to tell everyone thank you for me. I'm sorry I didn't get to tell them all before I left. It was nice to meet some people, even though I slept through most of it."

"You know what, give me your phone before I go." he flashed her a smile. He had been thinking about how to give her his number without it being awkward. He never usually gave out his personal number, especially to people he just met, but decided to take a chance.

Ami pulled her phone from her bag and handed it to him. He turned it on and put his number on the phone, then he pushed 'call' and she heard his phone ring for just a second. Then he handed it back to her, "There, now you know people and if you need anything, please give me a call, OK?" He smiled showing his dimples, "It was really nice to meet you, and hopefully we will see you sooner than later, in better conditions of course."

"That would be nice.. and I can't say thanks enough." She was enjoying his company and didn't want him to leave, it felt nice to know someone, let alone seven new people.

He smiled at her as he grabbed his hat and headed out the door. As he closed the door he flipped the lock, so it would lock behind him.

Later that morning Ami was just getting out of a much-needed shower. The warm water felt so amazing over her body. She didn't want to get out, but once again the water heater started sending cold water through the pipes. With fresh clothes on she was ready to make the trek to the market when there was a knock. To her surprise when she opened the door, there was a delivery man with 4 bags of food.

"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong house.." She looked at him confused.

"Ami?" the delivery man read off the paper.

"That's me..."

"Looks like a special delivery was called in, this is all for you." He placed the bags down on her step, handed her the delivery slip, and headed back to his car.

"Thanks.." she blankly called out. She looked down at the paper to see who had ordered it. It just said, 'The Boys'. She smiled and took the bags inside to put them away and made lunch.

Back at the apartment.

Namjoon walked in the door and was met with a chorus of "He's back!" being yelled through the apartment. Jungkook and Jimin came running from different parts, "Where's Ami? Did she go home already?" Jungkook looked bummed as he realized she wasn't with him.

"She was up early so I walked her home and made sure she was settled. She said thank you to all of you and she will see you soon." He took off his shoes and headed toward the kitchen.

"How.. when..." Jimin was looking for answers as he followed his leader into the kitchen, "Does she live far away? You were gone for a while."

"No, she is about 10 minutes away actually. Jin, did you get my message?" Namjoon started looking for food in the fridge.

"Yup, it's all taken care of," Jin said without looking up from his computer, holding a thumbs up into the air.

"What's going on now?" Yoongi said as he came around the corner. He could hear Jimin and Jungkook peppering questions at Namjoon and wanted to see what they were going on about.

"I walked Ami home this morning, and she had NO food in her fridge.. she just moved in as she said. So I texted Jin and he put in delivery for groceries to be dropped off so she didn't have to walk back to the market today. I didn't think she needed to do that." Namjoon shared as he opened a bottle of water.

"I was going to give her my number before she left, so she had it in case she needed anything. I don't like that she doesn't know anyone here." Hobi was bummed out he missed her that morning. Everyone seemed sad they had missed her that morning, they enjoyed her company as short-lived as it was.

"Already done. " Namjoon muttered quietly, but not quietly enough. The guys all looked at him with shock, Namjoon never gave his personal number out. He wrote her number down on a piece of paper and stuck it to the fridge. Jin just smirked as he continued to work on his computer. "This is for Dr. Lee when he calls later." and with that, he headed to his room.

Later that day

Ami was looking for jobs in the local paper when her phone rang. She looked down and saw a local number she didn't recognize.

"Hello?"

"Ami, this is Dr. Lee, I hope it's OK I got your number from the boys. I wanted to check in with you to make sure you didn't need anything." She could hear this kindness in his voice as he talked to her.

"I'm doing much better, thank you. I think I'll make it after all." she laughed.

"Good, that's good to hear. Please save my number, and know you can call me anytime." Dr. Lee said. "The boys insist."

Ami was taken aback, "Thank you... I will do that...talk to you soon." As she hung up the phone she was really confused. "So now I have a personal doctor now that makes house calls??" She thought about it for a moment but then saved his number on her phone.

These last few days seemed like someone else's life, definitely not hers. She was usually a very cautious person when it came to meeting new people, but being sick forced her to depend on others, even if she didn't know them. She had to admit it felt nice to have seven men taking care of her and cooking for her. Ami tossed her phone on her table and went to rest for a while.