Taehyung's P.O.V

We all sat in awkward silence at the restaurant Jimin had taken us to. I thought we were headed to practice, but instead we'd pulled into the lot of an unfamiliar food place. I ordered japchae without a thought. Not realizing my mistake until Jimin gave me a glance.

"That's V's favorite food," he commented with a smile. "But I guess cousin's tend to like the same dishes."

I gave him a half-hearted smile before digging in. He had been bringing up the word "cousins" a lot more than what seemed necessary. But I decided to ignore it. Nabi ordered plain noodles, and I tried not to give her too suspicious of a look, praying Jimin wouldn't comment.

"Plain...? I guess your stomach really is bothering you." But he did.

We both shared a look, not responding to Jimin. Act like nothing's wrong. I tried to tell her. But that was a difficult task to accomplish with mere facial expressions. We ate in silence, while Jimin made random comments every now and then, obviously trying to make conversation.

"This is pretty salty," he said at one point. "Guess we should have listened to Jin." Sighing when no one replied.

Needless to say, it was the longest hour of my life. I was so relieved when we agreed to leave for practice. When we arrived at Namjoon's house, our usual practice meet-up, I hopped out of the car and began heading around back; we always went through the back door, since our practice room was in the back. I stopped suddenly when Nabi coughed. I wasn't supposed to know where I was going. Casually turning my head, I pretended to be taking a look around. Thanks, Nabi.

"Come this way." Jimin walked by me, giving me a strange look.

Nabi came up to me and, we walked behind him.

"Thanks," I whispered to her.

She shrugged in reply. I frowned, getting annoyed with her quiet attitude. We walked through the back door to where everyone had already gathered.

"Of course you're together, why else would you both be late?" Suga frowned in annoyance as we walked in.

"Uh. Who are you?" Jungkook noticed me first.

I sighed, annoyed at seeing my friends act like this.

"Nabi. I'm V's cousin." I gave a slight bow to them all.

Nabi was quiet next to me. I elbowed her arm. My arm.

"Oh, uh. Jimin invited her to watch us practice," She explained carefully.

"Jimin. You know that's not our thing," Namjoon said.

"I know, but--"

"We can make an exception for Tae's cousin," Jin insisted.

He gave me a warm smile, which I tried to return. But I was still so uncomfortable with being treated like this. So it probably came out as a grimace.

"You can sit next to me." Jungkook patted the spot next to him.

"I think she would be more comfortable sitting next to someone she knows more," Jimin disagreed.

"Well, Nabi, I guess you should sit next to me then," Hoseok spoke up.

Namjoon brought a hand up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Just sit wherever so we can start." He glared at the quarreling members.

I grabbed Nabi's/my arm and sat in the closest spot. Next to Jungkook. I pulled her down beside me.

"Okay. Then let's begin."

For the rest of practice, the band had to start over at least fifteen times before Nabi started getting it. She barely scraped by with the song. At first she was so quiet no one could hear her, then when she added more volume, she stumbled across the lyrics, until Namjoon would yell "stop! Just stop!" and they began again. The whole practice was a mess, and everyone knew is was V's fault. But it's not me. I whined in my head as Junkook went through the chorus with her again. By the time they'd finished, Nabi looked like she was about to cry. Everyone left in a huff, including Jimin. So we had no ride home.

"Oh, Oppa, how are we going to get home?" I asked to Nabi, significantly louder than necessary, hoping Namjoon would pay attention.

"Uh. Um. I guess we could walk," replied Nabi, in a normal tone.

I nudged her, hard, with my elbow and jerked my head to Namjoon.

"Oh! I guess we could walk!" She said louder.

"Fine!" He threw up his hands. "You could of just asked!"

We drove to my house in more silence. The whole way there, I prayed that he wouldn't bring up the horrific job Nabi had done with the song. Luckily, he didn't. But a new problem formed as we watched Namjoon drive off into the night.

"So. What now?" Nabi asked.

"We go--oh. I don't know."

"Um. Well...I think you--" She paused, chewing her lips.

I scowled at her.

"If you keep up that habit, my lips are going to be completely shredded when I get my self back," I said.

"You need to sleep at my house," she finished.

"But I--I can't!" I argued.

She was right, though. If I slept in my own house, my parents would freak out. And if she went home...well, I didn't know what her parents would do. But they probably wouldn't appreciate some boy sleeping in their daughter's bed. With the absence of the daughter.

"Well...how am I supposed to get there?" I asked.

"I'll give you my address. Use the bus." She rubbed her arms, it was getting chilly.

So we went inside. Nabi wrote down her address and, I grabbed money. We also exchanged phone passwords, despite her dismay. It had to be done, though. We had each others phones now.

"Tomorrow, we meet at the library at seven," I said as I stepped onto the front porch.

"Okay." She began closing the door.
"Wait!"

"What?" I turned.

She looked me up and down with a nervous expression.

"Just...I know it's gross, but don't change your clothes," she said. "I repeat. Do. Not. Take. Off. My. Clothes."

I was surprised at her firm tone of voice.

"Yah! I'm not a pervert! Don't worry!" I held up my hands in front of me. "The same goes for you!"

Nabi's P.O.V

I watched V walk down the lonely street until he'd completely disappeared. I stepped back inside, feeling quite anxious. His house was quiet and dark, I suddenly missed my mom and my cramped room. Blaze! I suddenly remembered. I dashed up the stairs to V's room, luckily recalling where it was. I grabbed the phone from the bed, where I had left it that morning.

But as I held it, I remembered that I didn't know my phone number. Which meant I would have to wait for V to text or call me before I could contact him.

"Aish," I huffed and threw myself onto his large bed.

My poor fish. I prayed he had enough sense to care for my pet. And what was he going to say to my mom? I laid there, my brain buzzing. And my stomach still hurt slightly. Suddenly the phone I still held in my hand began to hum. I sat up and glanced at the caller Id, it was one I recognized.

"Hello?" I answered softly.

"Okay. You can change your shirt. And maybe your pants. But only pants! Don't go any farther than pants! And I don't know why you were so worried about giving me your password. What could I possibly do on a centuries old flip-phone?" V's voice was actually comforting.

Well, my voice. And usually people hated their voices.

"I'm actually relieved that you called," I admitted.

"Huh? Why?"

"Listen, I need you to give a spoonful of fish food to that fish on my desk," I instructed.

"Got it...so can I change my shirt?"

"NO!" My hand flew to my mouth.

I stared at the door, waiting for someone to come flying through.

"Don't worry, my parents are heavy sleepers," V said, obviously realizing why I'd gotten so quiet.

"Don't you dare remove any article of clothing. I don't care if it's a sock. Everything stays on," I said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, okay. I liked you better quiet," he muttered.

"Goodbye." I wondered if he could hear the scowl in my voice.

"Night," he replied.

"Oh. One more thing!" I said quickly.

"What?"

"Just...be careful around Jimin. Better yet, stay away from him," I replied quietly.

"Why? You jealous?" I could practically see his smirk on my face.

"No! Haven't you noticed him acting...strange around you?"

"All of them are strange. No big deal," He yawned.

"Just try to avoid him. Good night." I hung up the phone, not caring to hear his reply.

While I added my number to his contacts, a text came.

"7:00 sharp!!! Dont 4get!!" It said.

I frowned and put the phone on his side table, without responding. I tried laying over his covers for a bit, but then getting too cold, consented to one layer of blankets. It was just too weird to be lying under the same covers of some boy. But not as weird as hearing my own voice on the phone. That was weird. Almost eerie. I decided to tell him to only text from then on.

After, who knows how long, my eyes drifted shut. And although part of me knew I was going to still be in this huge predicament in the morning, the other part wished so greatly for it to just be a dream. A nightmare.