“Akari.” My father whispers. “Where are you?”
“Father!?” I yell. Where is he? I can’t see anything. My vision is blurry and the room I'm in is dimly lit. “Father!? Where are you?” I call.
“I’m in here.” He replies. “Follow my voice.”
“Ok. Keep talking.”
“I’m in here. Go straight for three steps then turn to the left.” I follow his directions. “I’m on the floor to the right of the door.” I look to the right and see a figure lying on the ground. I bend down next to him.
“Father?” I whisper, tears in my eyes.
“Why couldn't you save me?” He says, crying. “All you had to do was say no.”
“Say no to what?”
“Why did you not save me?”
“Say no to what, Father?”
“Go before it’s too late.”
“Father, what are you talking about?”
“Behind you, Akari.” I turn around and see a shadowy figure hover above me.
“Akari!” The person grabs my shoulders.
“Let me go!” I scream.
“Akari, it’s me.”
“I don’t care, get off me.” He stands me up and pushes me out of the way.
“You should have helped him while you could.” He holds a gun to my father’s head.
“Father! NO!” I scream and forcefully sit up, sweating and crying. I look around. My vision is fine. I switch on the light. I look at my phone. It’s only midnight. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I lay back down with the light still on and try to go back to sleep. I can’t bring myself to close my eyes. I’m scared. I hear my door open and someone walks in. I freeze. Who would be up in the middle of the night? I grab a pillow just in case.
“Akari.” The person whispers. I can’t tell who it is. The person places their hand on my shoulder and I roll over and smack them in the face with my pillow.
“Don’t touch me.” I get up and tackle them to the floor, still half asleep.
“Akari, it’s me.” Taehyung says.
“Oh my gosh! Sorry.” I get off him. “I got scared.”
“Of what? Are you ok?” He says. I sit on my bed and scoot over so he can sit next to me.
“No.” I reply fidgeting with the corner of the pillow.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t sleep.” I don’t want to tell him that I had a bad dream.
“Why not?”
“I told you. It’s weird here without my father.”
“Why are you scared?” He grabs my fidgety hand. I look at him and shrug. “You can tell me.” I shake my head and bite my lip. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me close to him. I rest my head on the front of his shoulder, placing my arms around his waist.
“I just,” I pause to take a deep breath. “I just had a bad dream.” I finish, my voice shaky. He rubs my back.
“Do you wanna talk to me about it?”
“No.” I start to cry again. “I want my father back. I wish we never went to your stupid mansion. None of this would have happened and my father would be here right now.” I pull away from him and bury my face into my knees. “I hate this. I just wanna die.” I cry harder.
“Well don’t. Some people still want you here. Like your siblings and the other Mafia members in your gang. And me.” He says. “It’s ok to be upset, but don’t say you wanna die. Ok?” I look at him.
“Ok.” I reply.
“Now don’t cry or I won’t tell you the good news.” He says, hugging me again. I wrap my arms around him.
“What is it?”
“Stop crying first.”
“Ok.” I take a few deep breaths to calm myself.
“You good?” He asks.
“Yup. What’s the news?”
“Ok. Well my father said that if all goes well on this mission, he would make you and me mission partners.”
“Really?” I ask, shocked.
“Mhm. I hope things go well.”
“Me too.” I reply. “If I can’t be with my father during a mission, I’m glad I’ll be with you. I’ll feel safer with you there.”
“I’m glad you feel the same way.” He replies. I yawn. “Do you want me to leave so you can sleep?” I tighten my grip on his waist. I don’t want him to go. I’m too scared to be alone.
“No.” I reply. “Can you umm…can you sing me to sleep?” I ask quietly. “My mother always did when I was scared.”
“I don’t like singing in front of people.” He says. “And I never have to be honest.” He did not just say that.
“Well I never cry in front of people and yet here we are. The least you can do is sing me to sleep. I don’t care if you’re the worst singer in the world.”
“Ok, but you can’t tell anyone about this.”
“I promise I won’t.”
“Ok. I’ll sing you one that I wrote.”
“You write music? That’s actually really cool!”
“Yeah, but I haven't shown anyone. So just know that you mean so much to me that I’m willing to show you this.”
“Awww! Ok!” I say, snuggling against his chest and tightly wrapping my arms around him. “What’s it called?” I inquire.
“It’s called Singularity.”
“Ok. Go ahead, I’m listening.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m not gonna judge you.” I reassure him.
“Ok. Here goes nothing.” I take another deep breath. “Mueonga kkaejineun sori Nan mundeuk jameseo kkae Nasseoreum gadeukhan sori Gwireul maga bojiman jamel deulji mothae”
Taehyung’s POV
“Me too.” She says. “If I can’t be with my father during a mission, I’m glad I’ll be with you. I’ll feel safer with you there.” My face goes red and I’m speechless. I never thought she’d say anything like that to me. She’s not really the romantic type of girl.
“I’m glad you feel the same way.” I play with her hair. She yawns. “Do you want me to leave so you can sleep?” She tightens her grip.
“No.” She replies. “Can you umm…can you sing me to sleep?” She asks shyly. “My mother always did when I was scared.”
“I don’t like singing in front of people.” I reply. “And I never have to be honest.”
“Well I never cry in front of people and yet here we are. The least you can do is sing me to sleep. I don’t care if you’re the worst singer in the world.”
“Ok, but you can’t tell anyone about this.”
“I promise I won’t.”
“Ok. I’ll sing you one that I wrote.”
“You write music? That’s actually really cool!”
“Yeah, but I haven't shown anyone. So just know that you mean so much to me that I’m willing to show you this.”
“Awww! Ok!” She says, snuggling against my chest and tightly wraps her arms around me. “What’s it called?” She asks.
“It’s called Singularity.”
“Ok. Go ahead, I’m listening.” She says. I take a deep breath. “I’m not gonna judge you.” Her words calm me.
“Ok. Here goes nothing.” I take another deep breath. “Mueonga kkaejineun sori Nan mundeuk jameseo kkae Nasseoreum gadeukhan sori Gwireul maga bojiman jamel deulji mothae” She starts crying.
“Is it that bad?” I say. She chuckles a little, still crying.
“No. I love it. It just reminds me of my father.” she says.
“Well do you want me to stop?” I ask, concerned that she won’t sleep.
“No. I love the song. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.” She replies.
“Ok.” I continue singing to her with very few voice cracks. I comb my fingers through her hair and I feel her breathing getting choppy. She’s crying again. I keep singing anyway, rubbing her back. As I reach the end of the song, I feel her breathing even out and her body relaxes. I think she’s asleep. I continue rubbing her back for a little longer. I don’t want to wake her, so I’ll just move when she shifts positions. I sit there waiting for her to move. Five minutes go by. Then five more. I yawn and start nodding off to sleep.
End of Taehyung’s POV
I wake up to Kimchi pawing my arm for attention.
“Ugh. Why'd you have to wake me up, Kimchi? I was sleeping so well.” I sit up and startle when I see Taehyung laying beside me. I thought he went back to his room after he sang me to sleep last night. Aww poor thing. I stole the blankets from him, He’s probably cold. I move some of the blanket on top of him and he shifts positions, snuggling it. Aww he was cold. I pick up Kimchi and place him in my lap.
“Isn’t he the best? He sang me to sleep in the middle of the night last night.” I whisper to Kimchi. I pet Kimchi and then lay back down, curling up into a ball. I’ll try to go back to sleep.
I guess I fell back asleep because next thing I know Taehyung’s shaking me awake.
“Akari, I’m really sorry for waking you up, but Kimchi’s biting me and won’t let me touch him.” He says. I sit up and look at Taehyung.
“Aww I’m sorry. Kimchi no.” I try to grab him, but he hisses at me. “Hey, stop it, Kimchi.” I finally grab him and pry his mouth open. “No biting.” I set him on the floor and softly spank his butt. “I’m so sorry. Lemme see your arm.” He holds out his arm and there’s two bleeding bite marks on his arm. “Wait here.” I say. I get off the bed and walk to my backpack. I pull out a first aid kit and walk back over to the bed where Taehyung is sitting. “Ok. I’m going to have to wipe your arm with this disinfectant wipe.”
“Ok. I’m ready.” He holds out his arm. I open the wipe and gently dab it onto his arm. He immediately pulls his arm away.
“You gotta let me do this ok?” He nods and holds out his arm again. I carefully wipe this arm and he groans in pain. “Ok, I’m done.” I grab a band-aid, open it up, and place it over the bite. “There you go. All doctored up.” He smiles at me.
“I couldn’t have a better doctor.” He says. Just then, Sakura walks in.
“Sorry, did I interrupt something?”
“No. Just come in.” I say.
“Why is he in here so early?” She asks. Taehyung and I look at each other and smile.
“Because, none of your business.”
“That’s not proper grammar.” she teases.
“Whatever. What do you need?”
“Well I came in here to tell you that Mr. Kim already notified the other members in our gang that we were combining. He also bought our house. So we’ll be leaving here in about ten minutes.”
“Already?” I whine. “But I’ll never see my secret spot again.”
“It’s ok. I’m sure Mr. Kim has plenty of those in his backyard.”
“Yeah but not as special as mine.” I pout.
“You’re being such a baby and embarrassing yourself in front of your BOYFRIEND.” I roll my eyes.
“I’m not embarrassing myself. Also tell Mr. Kim that we’ll be down shortly.”
“Ok. But hurry.” She walks out the door. Taehyung and I both laugh.
“Well that was awkward.” I say.
“I know right. You’re not gonna tell her that I slept with you, right?”
“Right. We’d never hear the end of it.”
“Do you need help taking all your bags downstairs?” He asks.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Of course.” He says. We gather all my bags and take them downstairs. Then Taehyung goes back upstairs to grab his bag and Kimchi.
“I’m sorry that it had to end this way.” Mr. Kim says to me. I shrug.
“That’s ok.” I don’t really like Mr. Kim. There’s just something about him that’s….off. But it’s just me and him in the lobby.
“How are you doing? You know after your father?” He asks.
“I’m fine.” I say.
“That’s good. I’m really sorry about his death.”
“Yeah, me too.” Taehyung hurry back. This is really awkward.
“We never found his body. I’m not sure what happened to him.”
“Ok.” Is all I reply. He’s freaking me out.
“How’s it going with you and Taehyung? I know how much he likes you.”
“Uhhh good I guess.”
“Well it was sweet of him to sing you to sleep last night.”
“Wait, how did you know that?”
“Sakura told me.” He says suspiciously.
“She didn’t know.”
“Oh. I mean Taehyung told me.”
“He said he wasn’t gonna tell anyone.” I back away from Mr. Kim. “What’s going on?” I back into something. I turn around and see Taehyung.
“Hey! Are you ok? You look like you just saw a ghost.” He looks concerned. I turn back around and Mr. Kim is gone.
“Uhh. Yeah I’m ok. I could’ve sworn your father was just in here talking to me.”
“Yeah I heard him talking.” He shrugs. “Here’s Kimchi.” He hands Kimchi to me. “I’ll start putting your bags in the car.”
“Ok. Thank you.” As Taehyung walks out, I look around the room. Mr. Kim shows up behind me.
“Don’t say anything about what just happened.” He demands.
“What do you mean? All we did was talk.” I say confused.
“Just don’t. I’ll find out if you do and there will be consequences.” He says, getting into my face.
“Akari, do you want to keep your backpack with you?” Taehyung says walking back inside. “Woah what’s going on?” He asks after seeing Mr. Kim in my face.
“Nothing, son. I was just telling Akari something.” He lies. I can’t believe he’s lying to his own son. “Your siblings are already waiting outside. The rest of your gang members will be transferred to my mansion in a few days. This house will remain under my control until further notice. Ok let’s get going. You must prepare for your mission.” He says, walking out of the room.
“What did he actually say to you?” Taehyung asks.
“He told me not to say anything.” I say as we walk to the car.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. You ask him. He gives me the heebie jeebies.” I shudder.
“Yeah he’s like that sometimes.”
“What? Creepy and demanding?” I say. Taehyung laughs and grabs my hand.
“It’s ok. He’s always like that.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Well then tell me what he said.” Taehyung stops at the door.
“Ok fine. But you can’t tell him I told you. And I’m only telling you this because I trust you.”
“Ok.” He says. I lean close to him and whisper in his ear.
“He somehow knew that you sang me to sleep last night. And slept with me. He also threatened me if I told anyone”
“He what!?” I put my hand over his mouth.
“Shut up. You have to act like you don’t know anything.” I say, walking outside to the car. We get in and it’s dead silent.
“Why is everyone so quiet?” Taehyung asks.
“Because I have a headache.” Mr. Kim says. “Let’s go now.” He tells the driver.