skin and bones | min yoongi | *HIATUS*

5« white paneled houses and bones in his closet

Yoongi's insane claims left me angry, suspicious, and most of all, confused.
But the undeniable intrigue remained.
What does he know about Sam?

So I ultimately stumbled after Yoongi, his ringed fingers tightened around mine as he hobbled like an old man. Millions of questions ran through my mind, branching off into a million more.
The first one sort of blurted out of my mouth, sounding less than inquisitive.
"Hey, how do I know you're not a serial killer or something?"
Yoongi scoffed and responded without turning his head, "Daniella, what good would it do me to kill someone who's basically already dead?"
His blunt statement left me dumbfounded.
He's not too far from the truth.
Twenty steps of awkward silence later, I made a more lighthearted attempt at conversation.
"By the way, my name is Dani. Not Daniella."
"You told me your name was Daniella, no?"
"Well, it is, but I go by Dani."
With a quick glance back at me, Yoongi did a quick inspection before replying matter-of-factly,
"Daniella suits you much better."
I sighed. This guy was selfless and kind one second, and a blunt jerk the next.
Instead of opening myself up to another barrage of truth bombs, I kept quiet, admiring the blooming trees along the cobbled street we walked.
We passed serene brick buildings that were probably decades old, sweet paneled houses, couples walking their dogs, all of it just giving me an overwhelming sense of peace.
It was rare that I went out besides to go to work; I'd forgotten the effect nature had on me. My favorite part was the smell of fresh grass and cool wind blowing my bangs out of my forehead. It never failed to put me at absolute ease.
Yoongi didn't seem to be too fond of the outdoors, staring directly ahead and keeping any thoughts he had to himself.
"This is such a beautiful day, huh?" I said, putting in my best effort to stay optimistic. I wondered if perhaps it was a bad idea to follow this guy. Even if he did know Sam, that didn't mean he was going to be my secret to healing.
"I guess," Yoongi replied nonchalantly.
I laughed, "You guess? This is one of the most beautiful cities in Penn-" my words came to a halt as my stomach lurched and I plunged into the pavement, my vision spotting again.
"Shit!" Yoongi darted to the ground to support my back with his hand, something he seemed to be doing a lot lately. "You okay?"
"Peachy," I replied with a sweet smile, blinking slowly as I regained my eyesight. "My sugar is lower than I thought. Don't worry, I just might be a little slower."
"Hey, hang on a second," He gently hoisted me to my feet, his hands delicately pressing against me as if at any moment I would break. His random spurts of kindness were giving me whiplash, but at this point I wasn't complaining.
"Do you mind if I carry you?"
"Huh?" His silly request brought an amused smile to my lips, and I suppressed a giggle.
Yoongi's eyebrows dipped sternly.
"Hey, I'm serious. I don't want you to black out again."
I eyed his body up and down, pondering what kind of muscles he hid under that sweatshirt. My eyes then traveled to my own body.
You're hardly eighty pounds, Dani. It doesn't matter if he's strong or not.
Just accept his help. It's not every day you meet someone half as considerate.
"Um, I guess you can. If it helps you sleep at night."
Yoongi carefully lifted me into his arms, holding me as effortlessly as if I were a baby. It felt strange how close we'd already been to each other on multiple occasions despite having just met.
"Christ Daniella, how on earth did you get so small?"
I bit my lip and looked down into my lap.
"Sorry.."
"Don't blame yourself, just remember that you're a person too. You wouldn't want to see someone else suffering like that."
I tilted my head up to admire Yoongi. "What happened to make you so kind?"
He scoffed and rolled his eyes, but a smile creeped itself onto the corner of his lips. "It doesn't take a kind person to have empathy."
Yoongi came to a sudden stop at a turn in the sidewalk. There was a path leading up to a small, white-paneled house. It seemed incredibly owned, considering the withering window panels and chipped paint. Nonetheless, there were flower pots sitting at the front of the porch and sprouting beautiful sunflowers and lilies. It wasn't what I expected, but it was certainly homey.
"Here we are." Yoongi carefully let me back onto the ground, but his arm lingered around my waist a moment longer than necessary.
"This is your house?" I sputtered, still not believing my eyes. Yoongi seemed like someone who would have a modern bachelor pad or something, not a grandmother's dream.
"Yeah I know, it's old. But I've lived here my whole life, and Jeongguk loves it too much to leave."
"Jeongguk?"
"You'll see. C'mon."
Yoongi opened the screen door, and then a chipped wooden door, for me, and then followed behind.

And the first thing that hit me like a truck was the overwhelmingly familiar smell.
Like a hospital.
Someone here was sick.

"Oh god, Yoongi.."
He pressed an apologetic hand on my arm and ran the other through his sleek hair.
"Sorry, I guess it was probably a bad idea to play the pronoun game."
"Ya think?" I was too shocked to speak above a whisper.
"I didn't mean to upset you... If you want, you can wait on the porch while I make you some ramyeon."
"Ramyeon?"
"Ah, ramen. Sorry, I forget sometimes. We speak Korean most of the time here."
"No, I understand. I'll have a seat outside."

There were two white wooden swings with old-fashioned cotton cushions out on the porch, and a nap seemed incredibly inviting after the overly eventful week I was having. I sank into one of the benches and was just fading into sleep when I heard the screen door open. I lifted my eyes the slightest bit, expecting Yoongi with a bowl of ramen.
But instead, there stood a much smaller, younger boy, with wide, curious eyes and a round nose. He had wild tufts of curly brown hair sticking in every direction, and was wearing a white t-shirt that basically swallowed his whole body.
What stood out the most, though, was his unhealthily pale skin. Unlike the beautiful melanin of Yoongi's, this boy was ghostly, and where his plump lips should've been pink, they were milky. This led me to believe he was the reason for the smell, the reason Yoongi knew who Sam was...

Besides a bit thicker of an accent, the boy's voice was weak and innocent, with a sweetness in it that told me he was most definitely related to Yoongi.
"Excuse me, are you Daniella?"

I assumed this was the Jeongguk that Yoongi kept speaking of, but in my mind, all I saw, all I heard, was Sam.

~~~

{a/n} that's right, we're getting tween-kook. I know, time to unleash the waterworks. Not that you care, but Jungkook is my bias so I'm gonna be sobbing every time I write a chapter with him in it because he's so soft and sweet but also incredibly ill and I just can't handle it. I hope you enjoy the book so far, and that you liked this cute little walk scene between Daniella and Yoongi. I think their dynamic is building rather nicely and can't wait to see where it goes.

If you liked this chapter, I always appreciate a vote, comment, or even a share if you really liked it :)

As always, happy reading!

사랑해,
-라나