cherry blossoms || ot7 [#Wattys2017]

[begin]

Jimin breaks out of the stupor first. He looks around at his hyungs as they all tense up and appear pale. Yoongi especially looks paler than usual. He shakes his hyung's shoulder and asks, "W-who was that?"

Yoongi gulps and opens his mouth. He tries to make a sound but nothing comes out of his throat. His mouth feels dry and his throat constricts and tightens.

"The Rancher," Hoseok whispers and eyes the two men looking out of the window through the blinds before they revert their attention back to what's happening inside. "In all of my years, I wouldn't have imagined him coming out in broad daylight."

"Uhm, did you guys ever check out the store's name?" Seokjin taps on Namjoon's shoulder and points towards the ice cream parlor.

"Fuck. I forgot that this man owns a fucking ice cream franchise! Out of all the places to get ice cream, why'd Taehyung choose to go there?" Namjoon growls and places his head in his hands.

"I don't care if he owns all of Korea! We need to get in there and get Taehyung." Jimin leaps up from the bench. "He probably locked the door and that's why he's got those men looking out the window from time to time. Where else could we get in?"

"Well, there's usually a front entrance for the customers and a back entrance for the workers to use to throw the garbage out. However, if I were The Rancher, I'd have both of those doors guarded inconspicuously. So those two entrances are a no go," Namjoon reasons methodically. "But I think there might be one way to get in." He points to the roof. "There's definitely going to be people blocking the door, but we can go through the vents."

"How're we gonna get onto the roof without them noticing through the windows, genius?" Yoongi retorts.

"Easy. We'll use the store next door. The door to the roof is usually in the back. We'll casually 'go to the bathroom' one by one, but we'll just go to the door that has access to the roof."

Seokjin smacks the back of Namjoon's head. "Idiot! You probably need authorized access to get up to the roof that way."

The two continue to bicker until Hoseok says, "Why don't we try scaling the side of the building?"

"How? With what?" Seokjin turns to face the younger boy and smacks his head as well for his stupidity.

Yoongi points to the side of the building next to the parlor. "Why don't we just climb the fire escape, walk across the roof and jump to the roof of the ice cream parlor? There's really not that big of a gap between the two. In fact, the space between the two buildings isn't even big enough to put Jimin through it."

"Hey! That's—"

Namjoon cuts Jimin off. "Yoongi, that's actually a brilliant idea."

Jimin drags Yoongi by his arm. "Well then, what're we waiting for? Let's get our Taehyung back!"

•  •  •  •  •  •  •

The Rancher smiles broadly as he walks towards the three guys. "Jungkook, so nice to see you again," he places his hand under Jungkook's chin and tilts his face up towards him. "Still as handsome as you were all those years ago. Too bad you escaped and I couldn't play with you." He whips his hand from underneath and slaps Jungkook's face. Satisfied, The Rancher turns to Baekhyun. "I never had the opportunity to actually keep you, but Baekhyun, you've always been on my radar."

By the look on Baekhyun's face, he doesn't know what The Rancher is talking about. He swallows his spit out of nervousness. Baekhyun struggles to breathe as he grips his thighs underneath the table.

The Rancher pulls on Baekhyun's left leg and lifts it up for everyone to see. He rips off his converse and the sock that covered up his foot. He points to the little mark on his foot; it's a little star. "You see that? That's no ordinary birthmark. That's my mark. You're mine as well Baekhyun." He smirks. "Too bad you escaped as well. Your god forsaken mother had to take you from me," he rolls his eyes but he quickly forgets everything once his eyes rest on Taehyung. "And Taehyung, we finally meet."