{h} the butterfly effect : bts gang au

VIII.

I haven't heard one word from any of the guys of Bangtan Soonyeondan in two weeks. Even when I texted Jimin about how I told Jae that we went on a blind date, he left me on read and that was that. I haven't even seen Jungkook at our apartment which was extremely odd to me, but Jae seemed just fine so I know nothing happened between them. She has always been bad at hiding her emotions.

After sitting in my apartment all day, I decided that I wanted to treat myself to dinner because Jae was out and we have no food in our fridge at the moment. I find that it's a nice evening with not a cloud in the sky, the breeze causing whispers among the leaves on the trees and it whips my hair from one side to the other with ease.

It's refreshing to feel the warm setting sun kiss my cheeks after what seems like a whole week of rain and storms, and the usually busy street that I live on is timid with only a few signs of life, one of them being a man walking behind me. This evening is remarkably calm, catching more of my attention but it doesn't stop me from walking into the small cafe a little way's down the street from my apartment.

Once I placed my order with the very polite waitress, I take it upon myself to look around me. The light blue walls are drowning with local posters and thriving plants in which my waitress is watering while we wait for my order to be ready. Upon scanning the walls, I make eye contact with the one other customer in the cafe; the guy who was walking behind me earlier.

The eye contact with him was enough to make me feel awkward and insecure about being alone so I immediately whip out my phone to pretend to text, but before I realize it, I'm typing out a real message to fill my lonely void.

"I'm chilling out at the Bourbon Café down the road from my apartment if you would like to join, I have more questions."

I didn't have more questions for Jimin, but I didn't really have anyone else that could replace the emptiness I was feeling at the moment. Knowing it was a long shot, I place my phone on the table and wait patiently for my food to arrive. I take in my surroundings once again and look back at the man across the room from me, and then I see what he's doing which makes my heart stop.

Maybe it's just paranoia taking the place of the blood running through my veins, but his phone camera was angled up towards me. But then I hear the click that follows the action of taking a picture, and that was enough to make my anxiety skyrocket from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. He looks at me briefly and goes back to what he's doing as if he didn't take a picture as my food arrives. At this point, I lost my appetite but I pick at what is in front of me.

I check my phone, hoping for a text from Jimin, but I only see that I was left on read again five minutes ago. I grunt in annoyance to myself and begin to fiddle around on the rest of the apps on my phone because I could still feel the gaze of the strange man on me. I text Jae just to give me some sense of comfort.

"What are you up to?"

She replies no less than 30 seconds later which relaxes me.

"I'm out with Jungkook. Everything okay?"

I reply with, "Yes everything is okay, just checking in on you. Be safe!"

I finish as much of the food as I can as the waitress places the receipt book next to me. I leave enough cash to pay for my meal and gather myself up to head home. The man gets up too, and I notice that he didn't order anything. My heart skips a beat as I walk out the doors with him following me, and I go the opposite direction of my apartment. I hope he wasn't following me since I left home because then he already knows where I live, but I tread in the other direction to be safe.

The sun has almost completely set by now and I have walked about two blocks before crossing the street to walk in the direction of my apartment. He follows.

I don't know what to do in a situation like this. It's very obvious that he's following me so I keep walking even when I pass my apartment. My breaths start getting heavy when I hear his footsteps getting closer. They are so eerily close now that I mistake the wind on my neck for his breathing.

I look up to see darkness, something like cloth completely enclosing around my head and my body is being pushed into the small space between the buildings. A small scream makes its way out of my mouth before I feel an arm wrap around from behind me to cover my mouth. I struggle in his grasp, kicking and trying to throw my elbows at him but his arms are around me so tightly that I can barely move. He releases me slightly only to turn me around and I feel his fist collide with the side of my face. Licking my lips, I taste my metallic blood seeping through the corner of my mouth.

"Stay still," he growls lowly, covering my mouth again, making tears well up in my eyes that gradually run down my face that's under the sack. I yell against his hand, trying to be hear by someone, anyone, but the sound of a car stopping and a door opening just confirms my doom.

His hands release me, and before I have a chance to scream for help I'm knocked up against the brick wall behind me, causing stars to take up my sight briefly and then causing my lack of eyesight to become blurry. I fall to the ground and I can feel the small rocks on the ground rip into my jeans and cut up into my knees. I cry out in pain from not only the cuts and the punch, but my head being smacked into the wall as well.

I hear grunts and thuds and the unmistakable crunch of a punch to the nose. My consciousness is fuzzy and I can hear my blood pumping in my ears, giving me an even bigger headache.

The sack is then ripped off my head and I slowly but immediately block my face from the criminal.

"Please stop," I sob, still holding my arms up.

"Hana it's okay, relax. We have to go; we don't have a lot of time." A familiar voice coos as comforting hands grab my arms gently. My eyes meet Jimin's adrenaline filled eyes as he lifts me off the ground, holding me bridal style. I look down to see the man who followed me knocked out on the ground and Jimin's bloody knuckles. Before I knew it, I was sitting in his front seat and we sped off.

"You couldn't wait another 10 minutes for me to get there?" Jimin chuckles while cracking the knuckles on his right hand.

"If I would have known you were coming I wouldn't have left. Try replying to a text once in a while, idiot," I groan, my head pounding and my vision still blurry, fading in and out.

He ignores my comment, "I'm taking you back to my apartment tonight. We heard something on our monitors about you so we were looking into it, and that's why we went M.I.A for a bit."

I laugh as a response, laying my head on the window. Where my head hit the wall was throbbing in pain and I couldn't help but close my eyes and drift off until we made it to Jimin's apartment.