Chasing Butterflies

A Deal Is A Deal

Tension hung so thickly in the ballroom that it was actually a struggle just to inhale a decent lungful of air. Izzy stood pressed to the wall at the corner of the room while staring at her scuffed shoes, not having moved from her spot since Jimin walked away. Her mind was still consumed by the words he'd said to her. I'm in love with you. Izzy bit down on her lip to keep from smiling in this tense atmosphere. Her life and freedom were hanging in the balance and yet she was smiling; the situation was just slightly insane.

She was shocked out of her thoughts when an angry businessman slammed his fists onto the table and growled in frustration. He wasn't the first one to have done so.

The game was in full swing. A dozen players had already folded or lost out. The losers littered the edges of the room with bitter expressions plastered on wrinkled faces. The smart few who had folded were only sticking around so they could collect their winnings checks from the dealer once the game finished.

Jungkook and Namjoon stood on either side of Izzy, they had folded within a few minutes of each other. Apparently they already won more than they put down and didn't feel comfortable leaving Izzy alone in the corner of the room when Youngkyun was there—their words.

The remaining players sat perfectly still. Some—like Yoongi, Taehyung, and Youngkyun—had impeccable poker faces. Others—like Izzy's father, who was sweating bullets and glancing nervously at his cards—did not.

The dealer turned over another card and several men at the table groaned, but Izzy wasn't focused one them. Her attention had been snatched away and the wind had been effectively stolen from her lungs.

At the far end of the ballroom, wearing a pale violet dress that hung too loosely on her small frame, stood Cassie. With the way her back was pressed against one of the decorative columns, her hands wrung nervously in front of her, and her head hung low, Izzy almost hadn't recognized the girl whose floor she'd slept on for over two weeks.

"Cassie," she mumbled quietly enough to avoid disturbing the silence of the room.
"What?" Namjoon whispered back, ripping his eyes away from the game table to look at Izzy, who glanced up at him with confusion in her mascara-smudged eyes.

"Cassie is here."
"Cassie?" His eyebrows furrowed. "The one who's dating Jae?"

Izzy nodded absentmindedly. Her mind was too distracted at the moment. If Cassie was here, that only meant one thing. And that thing was sitting at the game table with a handful of cards.

"Jae—" Izzy's breath hitched in her throat. How had she not seen him earlier? Perhaps it was because he'd traded in his usual outfit of nothing but wrinkled boxers for a slate grey suit and for once he didn't look completely high off his ass.

"Jae is here?" Jungkook's jaw clenched and he started towards the table, only to be stopped by Izzy's fingernails digging harshly into his arm.

"Kookie no. Don't do anything—"
"He hurt you!" Izzy flinched at his sudden shout.
"We've got enough to worry about right now," she mumbled. "Don't do this here, Jungkook. Please," she pleaded with him, laying one hand on his chest and stepping into his path. Jungkook tore his furious glare away from an oblivious Jae and turned to girl who had grown to be one of his best friends.

"I want to kill that guy," he growled lowly to her.
"Not now, please." Jungkook heaved a sigh and nodded reluctantly before taking a step back. But his stiff shoulders never relaxed.