Red Rush

[1]

Laila finished up making her last cup of coffee for the day. She called out the name on the cup and gave it over to the customer. "Enjoy your drink!" she said as she handed it. A few seconds after the customer left, Laila breathed out a long, tired sigh.

"Well, that's the last of 'em," she said, dusting off her hands and turning to face Youngjae, who was taking off his apron. She took her apron off, too, and hung it up, then walked over to the door and locked it. Laila pulled down the metal cover over the door and flipped a switch. The cafe lights turned off, only to be replaced by multi-colored neon lights which instantly brightened up the room. Parts of the framed pictures on the wall lit up, highlighting features that weren't previously visible.

Across the room, Wendy took down the menu boards that hung on hooks above the bar, revealing the neon sign behind it that had begun flashing when Laila flipped the switch. She moved her attention over to the bar counter, right behind the neon sign, and pulled on an iron handle hanging above it. Three rows of shelves, fully stacked with alcoholic beverages, came down. Youngjae opened up the shelves behind the counter to reveal even more drinks. Next to him, Laila quickly emptied the glass display case, filling it with drinks and covering it up with wooden slates that fastened to the wall so that it matched the rest of the counter.

As she did that, Wendy walked to another corner of the wide area. She briefly slid her fingers across the bottom part of the wall, as if feeling for something. When she seemingly found what she was looking for, she hooked her fingers in a nearly invisible notch carved into the wall and pulled up a part of the wall. It revealed a large door covered in a dark red, velvet material.

"Hey, can you open up without me later? I have to prep for a race later," Laila said. "Yeah sure," Youngjae replied. "Okay, see you guys later." She walked out the door, waving goodbye to the others. "Good luck on your race!" Wendy shouted from the stairs. "I'll meet you there!" As Laila walked out, she greeted Johnny who was walking into the bar. "Hey Johnny," she smiled at him. "Hey Lai, got a race?" he asked. She smiled, nodded yes and waved him goodbye.

✯~~~🌌~~~✯

Laila stood at the designated starting point, waiting for her opponent, Rosé, to show up. Chanyeol, Rosé, and Namjoon appeared with bad news. They informed then that they spotted police headed to the highway they were racing on. Hearing this, Laila's face soured. "But I haven't raced in two weeks," she whined. "Can't we move it to another spot?" Namjoon sighed and stated that all the other spots either had police patrolling or were already being used. Suddenly, a man with red hair came running towards them with a look of worry visible on the young man's face.

"NAMJOON!" he yelled as he came running towards their group. It was Hongjoong, the leader of one of the newer racing teams. He explained how he saw a couple of cops arrest Taehyung, a member of Namjoon's team. "They came up to him and started questioning him. They also checked his car and found an unloaded gun in it." Namjoon silently cursed at how foolish his member was to carry a gun around.

"Then, they took him to their car," Hongjoong went on. "I heard them saying that an anonymous source had told them there was someone around the area driving a stolen car and the source described the car Taehyung was driving," he explained. After the boy finished his story, Namjoon got into his car and drove off to the police station, telling the rest of them to go back to the club.

After arriving at the club, they were greeted with even more bad news. Seonghwa told them that there were no races that night due to police patrolling and blocking off all the empty streets. "At least we're getting a plenty more customers than usual," the bartender joked. "Then do you need some help back there, Hwa?" Hongjoong offered, starting to walk over behind the bar. Before he could enter, Wendy pulled his arm back, stopping him. "Nope. If you were back there, you two lovebirds would be flirting instead of working," she said. "Anyways, Taeyong should be back soon enough to help you out." Hongjoong and Seonghwa both frowned. Laila and Wendy led the group upstairs and into a room with a large table surrounded by plenty of comfortable chairs. Already seated in a couple of the chairs were Youngjae and Irene.

After they all took a seat, Laila started talking. "So apparently, the cops seem to be more aware of us now," she started. "This past week, they've found out about over 8 races. And it's only Thursday. Luckily, very few racers have gotten caught." For a few seconds, she looked around the room expectantly, waiting for someone to speak.

The silence was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. It opened to reveal Namjoon, who walked in with Taehyung in tow. "I bailed him out," Namjoon said abruptly. "Huh, that was quick," Baekhyun chimed. "I have my ways," Namjoon replied.

"Anyways–" Laila started speaking again. "–we need to find out who's been sneaking info to the police."

"We all know everyone pretty well, though," Wendy said. "There aren't too many racers around here. Not to mention, who would rat us out? We all make good money from the business." After she stopped talking, Namjoon started. "Exactly," he agreed. "I don't think anyone is stupid enough to do that. They make money out of this and it gives them a rush. Why would anyone want to give it up?"

Next, Irene spoke. "Maybe they weren't just in it for the racing when they started. They could've planted themselves as spies," she said. "But who would do that?" questioned Chanyeol. "We ourselves recruited most of the active racers."

"Yeah, we already knew many of them before we recruited them. If not, then they've been around for a pretty long time, like all of us," Baekhyun said. Everyone in the room kept thinking. Many of the reasons they could think up all had contradictions. They were all stumped. Since no one knew anything, they decided to end the meeting. All of them went back down to the club and they enjoyed the rest of the night.

✯~~~🌌~~~✯

End of chapter one! What do you guys think of it? Sorry if there's any mistakes. Anyways, thanks for reading!!😊