•𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬•【√】

✵CHAPTER 9✵

I close the album. I'll look at the rest of the pictures later. I move to close the lid. Here it goes. There is the slightest wobble, like something in the lid is shifting. I remember this. I know what to do. I reach in my pocket and grab my knife, using the blade to pry into the seam where the top and side of the lid meet. It comes apart, the false top falls away, and a little leather journal slips out and into the trunk. Finally.

~~~~~

"Minhee? You still with us?" Namjoon's voice brings me back to reality. I must've dozed off at the kitchen table. I'm actually surprised I didn't fall over, my elbows propped up on the wood, my face in my hands. I try not to look guilty, maybe they'll think I just spaced.

"Yep, yes, Sir, absolutely," Not at all.

"So what d'you think?"

"Um, sounds good," He raises an eyebrow skeptically, "Sounds... bad? I'm lost."

"Minhee, now is not the time for zoning out," Taehyung shakes his head as he rummages through the cabinets. I ignore him, tracing my thumb along the patchwork of scratches etched into the old kitchen table.

"Movin' here. I know the ghosts've been drivin' you crazy every day, and it'd be nice for everyone to be under one roof. Things have been too quiet lately," He stands to pace. I think he's worn a path into the floor of every room in the place. Quiet isn't exactly how I'd put it. I've known these guys for a month now and there have been four, count 'em, four throw downs with the Unit. That is ignoring the car chase when I met Taehyung and the incident in the parking garage. Namjoon has kept me benched on all four occasions. I don't blame him. I've gotten a pretty good handle on my shield over the past few weeks but I could still loose my cool and blow everyone to Kingdom Come. Also I suck at actual fighting. Like really, really badly. Jimin has been trying to teach me, and I've improved when it comes to dodging and deflecting blows, but actually striking back is not pretty. Crap, Namjoon is still waiting for an answer.

"I can't move here. What about my family? I wouldn't get to see them."

"We wouldn't hold you captive, Minhee, you could visit however often you want."

"Actually moving here? I don't know, Joon. You guys are swell, but-"

"Swell? and she said 'skedaddle' the other day," Taehyung snarks from behind a box of crackers.

"And you said 'munch time' not ten minutes ago. Leave my vocabulary choices alone, Dude," I'm unsure if he caught my sarcastic use of his favorite word. It's a bit difficult to insult him, even jokingly. Words just don't seem to sink into his brain.

"All that aside, I'd like it if you'd consider movin'. Just temporarily."

"I'm more focused on finding a new job right now. Unemployment sucks, and need I remind you that before all this I was fully employed?"

"That job had been compromised," Damn his logic.

"And you hated it there," How he can enunciate through a mouthful of crackers is mind-boggling and gross.

"I did not," Lie.

"Yeah, huh. You told Jimin last week."

"What?" I turn on Jimin, sitting silently in the corner reading the newspaper.

He gives me a confused look, "You didn't say it was a secret."

"Alright, kids," Namjoon rubs his temples as if we're giving him a headache, "Just promise you'll consider it, Minhee. I really need to get upstairs. I'm behind on a project."