Chapter 8

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The morning of the fanmeeting, and everything leading up to it went normally. Since we had done a few of them in the summer, it was almost a sequence, a routine for how we got up early in the morning and got ready individually until we headed to the company building so the boys could rehearse songs they were going to perform, if any. Sometimes they had several songs, and sometimes they didn't. It really depended on what type of fan meeting was scheduled, and where it was going to be. If not to practice songs, the boys usually went there anyways for makeup or preparations with one of their managers.

This day was one of the days we'd gone to their dance studio to practice a choreography or two, and then the boys warmed up their vocals. I spent that time doing research on how much of our address 'scandal' had still been circulating through social media. It was slightly amusing to me, because a lot of pictures that had been getting around were of random houses that I'd never seen and people were claiming they'd gone to our house and taken a picture. 

Along with that, many people insisted they had our address and would post pictures of a random one, which made me laugh every time I looked closely and realized they'd edited a picture. In the hour or so I sat waiting for the boys that morning, I'd been able to come to a comfortable conclusion that our address wasn't in too much danger. I felt confident the company would deal with the problem, if they hadn't completely done so already.

Not only was that comforting, but I hadn't been seeing so many mean comments or death threats around lately, which was why I was feeling especially safe that particular morning. I wasn't too worried about anything scandalous or eventful happening, even though later on, I'd realize I was wrong about that.

It was almost noon and the boys were almost dressed and ready when Sejin came to talk to me.

"Sujin, I still want you coming up to the stage with me today." Ever since the problem with Suhee, none of the boys, nor Sejin, had trusted staff to watch over me. I'd been told to come up to the stage during fanmeets, and to stay with Sejin when we were at award shows. This had been a little inconvenient, considering at some awards shows, there was lots of traveling backstage when we followed the boys around and made sure they got on their lifts and entryways on time. Having an extra person didn't always make the company officers happy, but we'd managed to do it each time. Sejin had told me it wouldn't have to last for way too long, but it had been a few months since the whole event happened, and Sejin was still being over-protective.

"Okay." I grabbed my phone and a snack. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and the meeting would go through lunch time. The boys were adjusting their mics and finalizing their makeup before we were off and down the endless halls to find the stage. I kept myself next to Sejin until we entered backstage and the boys headed off. I gave Yoongi a small wave as he headed up the stairs to meet the roaring fans, and in return I got a smile before they were all off.

Sejin and I watched the boys from very far off from the stage, behind where any fans could see us, but we still got a view of the large stage and the swarming fans filling the seats in the auditorium. The boys went on with their schedule as usual, but my attention was drawn away from them when a couple of security officers came running to Sejin and I with urgent news.

"Everyone here went through security but our detectors stopped responding in the middle of our check. It wasn't until a few minutes ago that one revealed a suspected forbidden item being snuck into the meeting, and we think someone in the audience might have it."

Sejin glanced at me before raising a brow. "And what's the-"

Before he could ask, a loud, echoing 'pop' noise sounded through the stage, followed by a few high-pitched shrieks. Where Jin's voice had been filling the speakers as he cracked a joke to the fans, there was only silence.

"Uncle," I said, grabbing Sejin's arm.

"A firearm," one of the officers said. Immediately, Sejin left my grasp. He headed towards the stage.

"Stay here, Sujin, stay here." As he ran up the steps and entered the stage, my heart started pounding as I realized what was really happening. A few voices from the fans started to echo. Panicked ones. Sejin grabbed the arm of Yoongi and prompted the other boys off the stage. I wasn't willing to sit and watch. Another loud noise sounded, and Jimin and a few of the other boys ducked as more ARMY's screamed. Seeing the boys suddenly so close to danger, I couldn't help but run up to the stage myself. I needed to see if they were okay.

I kept going until I was on the stage. Taehyung grabbed my hand, but I wasn't going backstage until I saw the rest of the members coming. Namjoon was heading back. He was the last of the members. I got a glance at the now chaotic scene of the audience. There were young girls running in every direction, some starting to cry, but all with wide eyes and panicked voices as they ran to the exits. I couldn't see anything threatening, but I flinched as the deafening noise sounded once more before a sharp ding of something hitting metal right next to my right ear. I looked to see the source of the noise, and noticed a small hole going into the large screen that was set as the background for the meet.

"Dang, Sujin, move!" Namjoon prompted me in a loud voice before practically throwing me down the stairs.

My hands were shaking as Sejin grabbed my forearm.

"Did you not hear me tell you to stay backstage?!"

As soon as I realized he was angry, I glanced at the members. "I wanted to know if they were okay-"

"They're fine, but you- you could have-"

"Chill, Manager," Yoongi said, though his voice was shaky.

"Let's go, let's go," Hoseok mumbled, grabbing my other hand.

"Where?" I asked. He was starting to look sick. His hand was shaking with sweat as it clung onto mine.

"Just- away, go," he ushered.

"Sir, boys!" one of the officers that had been there called. "Come."

Sejin nodded and we all followed them to a closet in the corner of the backstage area. The officers grabbed a set of keys from their pocket, opened the door, and motioned for us to go inside.

"Here?" Jungkook asked.

"We can lock you inside, we need you to go somewhere secure until we know the threat is gone," said one of the officers

"Lock us inside? We're supposed to trust you?"

"Jungkook, I have one of the keys, I'll come back for you."

"You're not going to come with us? How are you going to stay safe?" I asked.

"I have to make sure the fans get out safe. Please, just get inside." I looked back to the closet and the boys were beginning to fill in.

"No, no please don't leave, I don't want to lose someone else-"

"Sujin, I need you to stay alive."

"I couldn't live without you."

"It's better for you to live without me than not live at all."

With that, he pushed me gently towards the door as the officer grabbed his keys.

"Come on, Sujin, your uncle will be okay," Jungkook said. He placed a hand on my shoulder, urging me inside.

"No. No! Sejin don't go!"

He pushed me farther, and Namjoon grabbed my arm. "Come on."

"No, Sejin wait!" I screamed as I was pulled into the room. "No, please, please, please!"

I watched through tears as my uncle closed the door and a click told me it was locked. I was locked inside, and my uncle was on the outside. I was safe, but he was vulnerable.

"Dongsaeng," Hoseok whispered, grabbing my hand and leading me to a spot on the floor where I collapsed. I could feel all the boys silently watching me as I covered my eyes with my arms and cried, pulling my legs into my chest. I was so scared. For us. For me. For the one member of my family that I had left. It was all too scary to be real. How had such a normal day become violent so quickly?

"Okay, is everyone okay?" Namjoon asked, ignoring my quiet sobbs. "Sujin, are you okay?"

"Just shaken up, it seems," Hoseok said as he rubbed my back. "You're not hurt, are you?"

I didn't answer.

"Hey, please answer us, kid. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

I managed to speak, "I-I'm not hu-rt."

"What happened?" Jimin asked. "I didn't see it, chaos just erupted and.. I didn't like what I saw."

"What you saw?" Jin asked. I looked up slightly because his voice sounded way too far away. All attention went to him, and I realized he'd been the only one who hadn't said a single word since we gathered. He slightly laughed, and I noticed a few tears welling up in his eyes.

"Hyung?" Tae, who was sitting next to him on the floor asked. "Jin hyung, what did you see?"

Jin shut his eyes, tight. He tensed and then crumpled into a ball before letting out a small wail. My heart started beating even faster as I realized something was terribly wrong. We all watched him in silence until he opened his eyes and tears streaked down his cheeks, pooling at his chin. "They got one. They got an ARMY."

It felt as though a flash of cold energy zapped me, traveling through my heart where it squeezed and ended at my hands and feet. Everyone was silent. I could tell they were holding their breath. Even my sobs stopped for a second.

"W-what do you mean?" asked Taehyung, though I was very sure he knew exactly what his elder had meant.

"They- they were s-shot- ah!" Jin groaned, hugging himself with every ounce of energy he had. His knuckles where they grabbed his legs turned white. We all glanced around at each other, shocked.

"No," Yoongi whispered. "No, no! They can't just do that! Who the heck do they think they are?!"

"Yoongi-" Namjoon said before gulping. The terror I knew was welling inside of him was prominent on his face. I started to feel dizzy as I really thought through the situation.

"I'm going to be sick," Hoseok groaned, and Jimin, who was sitting on the other side of him from me scrambled to grab a bucket sitting on one of the shelves in the closet. We let him be sick for a moment before taking a moment of silence to get our individual thoughts straight.

The lights above me in the closet room seemed to spin as we all sat in there, together, but quiet. I ended the silence, because there was something inside of me threatening to tear me apart if I didn't say it out loud. "I-I'm scared, I'm scared! Not just for me. How could this happen?"

Jungkook scooted closer to me from across the room, seeing Hoseok wasn't going to be of much help to me at the moment. He wrapped an arm around my balled up figure, and I leaned into him. He was warm and his arms were strong around me.

"I want Sejin. I want him to come back" I continued to cry as Jungkook started circles with his thumb on my back. I shut my eyes as hard as I possibly could.

"Calm down, calm down," he told me. He pulled me closer, tighter.

A lump seemed to lodge deeper into my throat. I couldn't talk anymore, and I tried not to cry. The members took my silence as an okay to talk.

"Who saw what really happened?" Jimin asked. "If you don't mind-"

Namjoon cleared his throat. "I heard the first shot and I instantly knew what was happening, I just didn't know how to react."

"Was it really a firearm?" Jungkook questioned his elder.

"Yeah, yeah, it was. How it got past security, I really wonder."

"Se-" I tried, but my voice got caught in my throat. "Sejin."

"Sejin what?" asked Taehyung.

"Knew. Sejin knew."

"He knew what?"

"The g-un."

"Sejin knew there was someone with a gun? Now, that doesn't make sense, Sujin," Yoongi said. "Wouldn't he have done something to stop it?"

"You're not suggesting Manager was a part of this, are you?" Jimin asked.

"Only-only before. Right before... right before... shots." I struggled to get it out.

"Was he about to warn us?" Namjoon asked. "I noticed he was up on the stage really quickly."

I didn't want to speak again so I nodded.

"This has never happened before, so why now?" asked Jungkook, who continued to hold me. I could feel his voice box vibrating over my ear and he swayed slightly as he rocked me.

"I'm pretty sure it's happened before, somewhere, to someone," Namjoon said, "but even though we've been seeing the death threats around recently, I didn't think it'd go this far."

"No one did, hyung," Tae said quietly. My tears began to slow, as did my breathing. I settled into Jungkook's side even more. Talking about the situation was helping distract me from worrying about Sejin. "Are you going to be okay, Sujin?" he then asked me.

I wiped my eyes and opened them for the first time since I'd shut them. "I'll be okay... As long as my u-uncle i-s."

"He'll be okay, I promise," Namjoon said. I nodded and sniffed before taking a good look at the closet we were in. We all were able to sit comfortably in a circle on the floor, and there were metal shelves along each wall with cleaning and extra stage supplies. There was one bright light bulb at the top, but it lit the room surprisingly well.

"I really never saw this happening, ever," Jungkook said after a small silence.

"To this extent?" Namjoon asked him. "No. But, I think we all saw something brewing inside some of the sasaengs."

"I just can't believe someone went through with it."

"And that it's the first time a security guard hasn't found a threat before it became real."

"Hyung," Jimin said, "This changes everything. I don't even trust us to take care of Sujin anymore. I don't trust the house. Especially because we know people have been on to us recently."

"I think Sejin should take Sujin for a while."

At the mention of my uncle again, I started crying harder.

"Because he will make it out alive, Sujin," Taehyung added.

Jimin nodded, "Your uncle is strong. He's going to help the fans and he's going to come back to you. And after that you can go spend some time with him."

"I'm scared for you," I mumbled. "I'm scared."

"Don't be," Yoongi said.

"We're idols," Namjoon added. "It's in the job description. We'll make sure people are more aware of situations like this so they don't happen in the future." He sighed. He seemed to be lightening the situation with his words. "But boy, am I going to need a break after this."

My heart started beating slower and my tears stopped flowing. Sitting there with all the members around me made me feel a certain safety I never felt before. It was helping me.


I hope everyone is staying safe and happy. I know you hear it all the time but wash those hands!

And please vote if you enjoyed :D

Love you!

-Rose 

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