SEVEN

I wake up during the night, sweat pouring down my back. It's just four in the morning, and my eyes snap open to see the white ceiling in the dark.

An instinct.

I quickly shake Jimin. Because whatever it might be, my instincts were never wrong. Almost never. And right now it was sparking so bad right now that it had even woken me up.

He groans. I shake him again, the feeling in my stomach tightening.

"What's wrong with you...?"

"I have a—"

Then I hear it. A loud knock downstairs. Then whoever's outside begins pounding on the front door, yelling loudly to open up.

Jimin's eyes snap open in an instant.

"No— stay down." I say, pushing him back on the bed. Honestly he can't even get up, having only slept a few hours and he still had all that blood loss affecting him.

I peek outside Jimin's door, when a pair of large hands grip my shoulders.

I nearly scream in shock.

"T-Taehyung?"

"I think he's searching all the buildings in the area for you, Seven." He says seriously, shadows under his wide eyes. "Come follow me. Is Jimin still asleep?"

"He— He's..."

Taehyung sighs and runs a hand through his blue hair. "We need to get you hidden. Don't be afraid, though. Namjoon hyung will take care of it."

Master?!

Holy crap.

"Quick." He rushes me through the hall, opening a small door so nicely hidden I'd barely seen it. Before he pushes me in, he suddenly pulls out something and sprays it all over my body.

"W-What..."

"They have bloodhounds." He explains, and my face pales even more. "Don't worry. This'll cover your scent, Seven."

I curl myself up into a tight ball inside, slightly shaking. If I got caught, I'd be sent back. And everyone would pay the price with their lives for taking me in.

Gruff voices come from downstairs, and I stare at my hands as Taehyung pats the top of my head.

"It'll be fine. Just don't make any noise, okay?"

And then he closes the door, and everything plunges into darkness in the small, cramped space. I quietly lean against the door, listening.

"Then you won't mind if we search the house real quick, hm? With my little dog?"

"Be my guest." I hear Yoongi growl lowly as I strain to listen. "You won't find anything though. Except Jimin upstairs. That little rat is somehow still sleeping."

"We'll see."

I swallow when I recognize the voice. He was one of the men who used to laugh at me when I came out of the punishment room crying.

I hug myself tighter when I hear sounds of footsteps coming up, and low growls of a dog.

The sound of doors swinging open and closing shut echoes against my ear, and I'm so on edge that I can literally hear the bloodhounds' paws hit against the wooden floor.

It feels like an eternity until they finally give up, unable to find me.

"I guess you were right." The man scowls, probably unhappy he had to keep searching more buildings. My Master— he was still looking for me?

I stay there, curled up tightly and hugging my knees to my chest until the door finally swings open.

"Everything's fine now, Noona." Jungkook says, smiling softly. I blush, realizing how scared I looked right now. I literally was pressing a hole into the wall. "You can come out now."

Then my eyes meet Jimin, who's standing behind Jungkook. He has one hand lightly clasped around his arm, like it's nothing.

When he blinks, I quickly stare down and scramble out of the small closet. I can't even look into Jungkook's eyes because I'm so sorry— I was putting them at so much risk.

I sigh softly.

"It's okay, Noona." He pats my head, and I look at him with half-raised eyes. It was almost like he preferred calling me that now. "It's safe to go back to sleep."

Jimin silently walks back into his room, and I thank Jungkook with a light hug before following him.

I kind of feel awkward when I open the door.

Because I know he going to be angry at me. Who wouldn't be— I'd literally just endangered all the people he loved and almost compromised his entire mission in the South as an assassin.

If he told me to leave, I'd honestly have nothing to say against that.

But when I come in, he's already back down on the bed. His face is turned towards the wall, and I chew on my lip stressfully as I slip into the blankets.

I kind of want to ask him if his arm felt better, but I just keep silent.

He doesn't say anything either.

__________________________

"Idiot! Why didn't you tell me this earlier!"

Hoseok hits Jimin on the side of his head with a roll of fresh bandages, looking more pissed off than I'd ever seen him. "You need a new list of priorities, Park Jimin!"

"She took care of it anyway." He shrugs, and Hoseok glowers at him. His expression changes completely when he looks over to me with a smile, and I laugh shyly.

"Amazing job, by the way. I would've thought you'd done this a lot before— this is really good work."

I tense slightly, nodding.

"Yes— she can do an awful lot despite being a slave, hm?"

Jimin looks over at me, and I instantly freeze up. But Hoseok thankfully comes to my rescue, slapping him again with the bandages on the head.

"You— you stupid idiot. Stop talking. For real— one day I'm just going to find you dead on the floor because you didn't want to wake me up."

Jungkook watches them intently, before tapping me on the shoulder.

He points at his wrist. "Noona, can you help me too? I got hurt right here, and it feels a lot worse than Jimin hyung's."

"What?"

My look of worry turns into amusement when I find a small scratch instead of anything I'd been expecting. It's already mending, and I laugh as I playfully fling his hand away.

"Jungkook— this is nothing."

"See? It's better when you smile, you know." He says, and I blush slightly as he pinches my cheeks, forcing them up into a really bad smile. I soon tug my face back with a small protest.

"Right, V hyung?" Jungkook says, and I let my eyes widen slightly. "Agree with me."

"Who's V?"

"That's me." Taehyung smiles, shaking out his blue hair. "V is my assassin name."

"Then what's your assassin name?" I ask Jungkook, and he wrinkles a face.

"I'm just Jungkook. Boring, right? I tried asking for a better one, but it was all they would give me. And Taehyung gets V."

"What about Jimin?"

"Just Jimin." Jungkook shrugs, then pulls me close, pointing at the men all sprawled out sleepily on the floor or the couch. "Yoongi hyung's Suga, Hoseok hyung is J-Hope. And Namjoon hyung's name is RM."

"RM?"

"We don't talk about that." Namjoon blushes, pressing back into the couch. "And Jeon Jungkook, I'm kicking you out of the building if you keep laughing."

"Yeah. That's it."

Then a wooden ladle comes out of nowhere, and I yelp and burst into laughter as it hits Jungkook right on the side of his face.

"Ow!"

"Do I get no respect in this house as the eldest?!" Jin shrieks, looking pissed off as he comes closer to retrieve his ladle. His expression turns flat when he lifts up the ladle, and I have to stifle my giggles when I realize it's cracked.

"See? Your head is as hard as a coconut."

"Hyung! Your name's just Jin! You don't got to be so salty—"

Jungkook quickly sidles behind me, gripping my shoulders and lifting me in front of himself. Was this rabbit really using me as his shield?

"No food for you today, you coconut." Jin says sassily, ignoring Jungkook's small whimper as he taps the wooden ladle on his palm.

"That's what you get for under appreciating me."