The game has just begun my dear friends, let's see how you all play ;)

XOXO

The 11 read that message over and over again, they all were feeling threatened. 

"Guys, can we talk?" Jimin asked as he looked at all of them. "Sure. At Downtown Cafe around 5 in the evening?" Jennie said as they all nodded. 

Time passed faster than they expected, or maybe they all were too lost to notice it. They all were either thinking about that creepy messenger or about the meet today. They all remembered how they used to spend all their time at that cafe, talking about weird stuff and all. They all tried to distract themselves but it didn't work. No hobby, No book, no games, nothing was able to keep them distracted from those thoughts and memories. It was like conquering their brains. 

5 PM- DOWNTOWN CAFE

Jennie was the last one to enter the cafe straight, she noticed her ten friends sitting in the very corner the minute she entered. She walked up to them, "sorry for the ten minutes delay, my mom did a whole ass interview on where I am going" she shrugged as she apologized and took a seat next to Taehyung. 

"Your mom is still the same" Jin chuckled. Jennie's mom was a single mom, her husband divorced her 5 years back, and ever since then, she has been very strict about Jennie, from choosing who she should date and what she should do, her mom wants the whole control over her. 

"Someone in this story had to stay the same. Not everyone can change" Taehyung said in his deep voice, as they all understood what he was trying to say

They all were just about to start the conversation but, like every story, someone had to interrupt. The waiter asked them if they would like to have something. They all ordered one Americano each and the minute it arrived, they thought that now they can talk without any disturbance

"Guys, I wanna say something," Jisoo said as Namjoon nodded, signaling her to continue

"The police interviewed me today, they didn't exactly tell me if she is murdered, but they gave a lot of hints"

"You want to say, that Somi was murdered?" Jungkook said leaning a bit

"Why will she die in an accident or suicide. It must be a murder" Jisoo said lightly so other people in the cafe don't hear it. 

"We still don't know Jisoo, but the hospital did a DNA test, right? We can find her sample reports in the City hospital. There we can come to know if she was murdered" Jennie said licking off her dry lip

"Hey, guys wait, why the fuck we are investigating her murder case, it's the police job. We need to think about this XOXO or whatever. Why will we investigate if she was murdered or-" Hoseok said but cut off by Rose as she said "Because we know Somi better than anyone. She was our best friend dude. We need to know what happened to her and I don't trust the police for this somehow" 

"So you want to say, we should also find out what happened to Somi?" Yoongi asked

"That's exactly what I am saying," Jisoo said leaning on her am

"Okay I get it, but what about this XOXO or whatever it is?" Yoongi asked again

"Whoever he or she is, seems to know a lot about us," Lisa said firmly 

"and Somi" Jungkook added as they all closed their eyes 

"Do you think, they know about Maria & the Barn thing?" Namjoon said raising the topic 

"Hey, no, we can't talk about that, We promised Somi, we will never talk about it," Taehyung said gulping

"Somi is gone Taehyung, and we need to talk about it, for this, for this messenger, what if they know about it," Jin said taking Namjoon's side

"Maria" Rose whispered slowly as they all  remembered that day

They all laughed a bit as they climbed the treehouse. They were so happy that it is finally complete. The famous 12 worked on this treehouse for straight 1 month, they made everything. From designing how it should be made, what furniture it may and will contain, and everything else. They took no help from, anyone, the 12 made it by themselves. They loved it, it was like a new meeting place. You may be wondering, "what? a treehouse? so childish" but it wasn't a normal tree house that consisted of children's toys and a couch. They spent a lot of money on buying special things on it. They took even weeks convincing their parents for it. As they all stood outside it. Somi grandly said, "My dear best friends, we, the famous 12, have finally completed our grand and modern treehouse" as they all were excited to see the outcome of their hard work. 

They all were expecting to see a lavish tree house the minute Somi opens the door, but when she did, stinky gas came out as they started coughing, not much later, the gas finally died as they all entered the treehouse but they all gasped when they saw it was ruined. The couch was destroyed as color bombs were thrown all over it, their gaming electronics were lying down and the packets of snacks were all open and lay down too. "WHAT THE FUCK" Yoongi, Hoseok, and Lisa shouted at the same time as the others were taken aback. "Guys, see what I and Kookie found" Rose called as the 9 gathered around them. Jungkook was holding a bandana in his hand. "This bandana is of," Jennie said in a low monotone, "Lee Jason" Namjoon finished her sentence. "THAT SON OF A BITCH" Somi shouted as Jisoo covered her ears.

Do you know that boy who lives a few doors down from you who's just the creepiest person alive? When you're on your front porch, about to kiss your boyfriend good night, you might glimpse him across the street, just standing there. He'll randomly appear when you're gossiping with your best friends—except maybe it's not so random at all. He's the black cat who seems to know your route. If he rides by your house, you think, I'm going to fail my bio exam. If he looks at you funny, watch your back.

Every town has a black-cat boy. In Seoul, his name was Lee Jason.

"I will sue that guy. If he can ruin our treehouse, I will ruin his whole barn" Somi said in the angriest tone ever.

Somi and the others quickly climbed down the treehouse. They went to her bedroom and she said she had a plan. The thing to do, she explained, was to scare Jason. When Jason wasn't skulking around the neighborhood, spying on people, he was guaranteed to be in his Barn. He spent every other waking second there, playing with his Game Boy or, who knows, building a giant robot to nuke SNHS. "So we need fireworks. Luckily, we know just where they are." Somi grinned.

Jason was obsessed with fireworks; he kept a stash of bottle rockets at the base of the Barn and often set them off through his Barn''s skylight. "We sneak over there, steal one, and light it at his window," Somi explained. "It'll totally freak him out."

The gang looked at the Lee house across the street. Although most of the lights were already out, it wasn't that late—only ten-thirty. "I don't know," Jimin said.

"Yeah," Jisoo agreed. "What if something goes wrong?"

Somi sighed dramatically. "C'mon, guys."

Everyone was quiet. Then Lisa cleared her throat. "Sounds good to me."

"All right." Jin caved. The rest shrugged in agreement.

Somi clapped her hands and gestured to the couch by the window. "I'll go do it. You can watch from here."

The 11 scrambled over to the great room's big bay window and watched Somi slip across the street. Jason's house was kitty-corner to the Enniks' and built in the same impressive Victorian style, but neither house was as big as Ennik's family's farm, which bordered Yoongi's backyard. The compound had its own windmill, eight bedrooms, a five-car detached garage, a rock-lined pool, and a separate garden to create tents and treehouses. 

Somi ran around to Lee's side yard and right up to Jason's barn. It was partially obscured by tall elms and pines, but the streetlight illuminated it just enough for them to see its vague outline. A minute later, they were pretty sure they saw Somi holding a cone-shaped firework in her hands, stepping about twenty feet back, far enough so that she had a clear view into the barn's flickering blue window.

"Do you think she's really going to do it?" Yoongi whispered. A car slid past, brightening Jason's house.

"Nah," Rose said, nervously twirling the diamond studs her parents had bought her for getting straight A's on her last report card. "She's bluffing."

Hoseok looked over there nervously as he spoke up "Totally."

"How do we know Jason's even in there? I have a bad feeling about this" Taehyung asked.

They fell into an edgy silence. They'd been in on their fair share of Somi's pranks, but those had been innocent—sneaking into the saltwater hot tub at Fermata spa when they didn't have appointments, putting droplets of black dye into Rose's sister's shampoo, sending fake secret admirer letters from Principal Appleton to dorky Bae Joohyun in their grade. But something about this made them all just a little...uneasy.

Boom!

Rose and Jennie jumped back. Yoongi and Jimin pressed their faces against the window. Hoseok and Lisa bit their lip as Jin and Namjoon widened their eyes. Jungkook & Taehyung gasped as Jisoo whisper shouted. It was still dark across the street. A brighter light flickered from the barn window, but that was all. They all were feeling very nervous and scared. 

Jisoo squinted. "Maybe that wasn't the firework."

"What else could it have been?" Jin said sarcastically. "A gun?"

Then Lee's German shepherd started to bark. The eleven grabbed one another's arms. The side patio light snapped on. There were loud voices, and Mr. Lee burst out the side door. Suddenly, little fingers of fire leaped up from the barn window. The fire started to spread. It looked like the video Jennie's parents made her watch every year at Christmas. Then came the sirens.

Rose looked at the others. "What's going on?"

"Do you think...?" Jimin whispered.

"What if Somi—" Namjoon started.

"Guys." A voice came from behind them. Somi stood in the great room doorway. Her arms were at her sides and her face was pale—paler than they'd ever seen it before.

"What happened?" everyone said at once.

Somi looked worried. "I don't know. But it wasn't my fault."

The siren got closer and closer...until an ambulance wailed into the Lee driveway. Paramedics poured out and rushed to the Barn. 

"What happened, Somi?" Taehyung turned, heading out the door. "You've got to tell us what happened."

Somi started after him. "Tae, no."

The others looked at each other; they were too afraid to follow. Someone might see them.

Yoongi crouched behind a bush and looked across the street. That was when hee saw the ugly, jagged hole in Jason's Barn window. he felt someone creeping up behind her. "It's me," Somi said.

"What—" Yoongi started, but before she could finish, a paramedic began walking out of the barn, and he had someone in his arms. Was Jason hurt? Was he...dead?

The famous twelve, inside and out, craned to see. Their hearts began to beat faster. Then, for just a second, they stopped.

It wasn't Jason. It was Maria. His sister

Several minutes later, Yoongi and Somi came back inside. Somi told them all what happened with an almost-eerie calmness: the firework had gone through the window and hit Maria. No one had seen her light it, so they were safe, as long as they all kept quiet. It was, after all, Jason's firework. If the cops would blame anyone, it would be him.

All night, the girls cried and hugged and went in and out of sleep. The boys got teary too and were questioning themselves. Yoongi was so shell-shocked, he spent hours curled in a ball, wordlessly flicking from E! to the Cartoon Network to Animal Planet. When they awoke the next day, the news was all over the neighborhood: someone had confessed.

Jason.

The twelve thought it was a joke, but the local paper confirmed that Jason had admitted to playing with a lit firework in his barn, accidentally sending one at his sister's face...and the firework had 

Blinded her

Somi read it out loud as they all gathered around her kitchen table, holding hands. They knew they should be relieved, except...they knew the truth.

The few days that Maria was in the hospital, she was hysterical—and confused. Everyone asked her what had happened, but she didn't seem to remember. She said she couldn't recall anything that happened right before the accident, either. Doctors said it was probably post-traumatic stress.

SNHS held a don't-play-with-fireworks assembly in Maria's honor, followed by a benefit dance and a bake sale. The gang, especially Jin and Jennie, participated overzealously, although of course, they pretended not to know anything about what had happened. If anyone asked, they said that Maria was a sweet girl and one of their closest pals. A lot of people who'd never spoken to Maria were saying the exact same thing. As for Maria, she never came back to SNHS. She went to a special school for the blind in Gaganam, and no one saw her after that night.

Bad things in Seoul were all eventually gently nudged out of sight, and Jason was no exception. His parents homeschooled him for the remainder of the year. The summer passed, and the next school year Jason went to a reform school. He left unceremoniously one clear day in mid-August. His father drove him to the SEPTA station, where he took the train to the airport alone. The twelve watched as his family tore down the barn that afternoon. It was like they wanted to erase as much of Jason's existence as possible.

Two days after Jason left, Somi's parents took the twelve on a camping trip to the hills. The twelve of them went white-water rafting and rock-climbing and tanned on the banks of the lake. At night, when their conversation turned to Jason and Maria—as it often did that summer—Somi reminded them that they could never, ever tell anyone. They'd all keep the secret forever...and it would bond their friendship into eternity. That night, before they zipped themselves into their 3 tents 1 for girls, 1 for the boys maknae line, and 1 for the boys Hyung line, cashmere hoodies up around their heads, Somi gave each of them a brightly colored string bracelet to symbolize the bond. She tied the bracelets on each of their wrists and told them to repeat after her: "I promise not to tell, until the day I die." Each of the twelve squeezed hands. Despite the dreadfulness of the situation, they felt lucky to have each other.

"There is no way, XOXO can know about it, only we know about it..... and Somi," Jungkook said as they all remembered that

"Right, they definitely know nothing about it," Lisa said in a confident tone, even if she wasn't confident at all. The minute Lisa finished her sentence, all their phones rang, notifications of texts. Their face changed as they looked at each other. They all took out their phones, their hands shaking as they struggled to open them. They all looked at each other the last time before opening it

Oh my poor friends, lemme correct you. I know everything. Poor Maria lost her eyesight because of you all but anyway, don't doubt me, cuz I know every single thing you are hiding ;)

XOXO

Yoongi shivered. It had to be a bluff. Whoever this XOXO was, XOXO couldn't know everything. Not about The Maria and the barn Thing...and certainly not about the secret only Yoongi and Somi shared. The night of Maria's accident, Yoongi had witnessed something that his friends hadn't, but Somi had made him keep it a secret, even from the rest of the gang. Yoongi had wanted to tell them, but when he couldn't, he pushed it aside and pretended that it hadn't happened.

But...it had.

That fresh, springy April night in eighth grade, just after Somi shot the firework into the barn window, Yoongi ran outside. The air smelled like burning hair. He saw the paramedics bringing Maria out from the Barn.

Somi was next to him. "Did you do that on purpose?" Yoongi demanded, terrified.

"No!" Somi clutched Yoongi's arm. "It was—"

For years, Yoongi had tried to block out what had come next: Lee Jason coming straight for them. His hair was matted to his head, and his goth-pale face was flushed. He walked right up to Somi.

"I saw you." Jason was so angry he was shaking. He glanced toward his driveway, where a police car had pulled in. "I'm going to tell everyone."

Yoongi gasped. The ambulance doors slammed shut and its sirens screamed away from the house. Somi was calm. "Yeah, but I saw you, Jason," she said. "And if you tell, I'll tell, too. Your parents."

Jason took a step back. "No."

"Yes," Somi countered. Although she was only five-four, suddenly she seemed much taller. "You lit the firework. You hurt your sister."

Yoongi grabbed her arm. What was she doing? But Somi shook him off.

 He glanced at his barn and then toward the end of the street. Another police car slowly rolled up to the Lee house. "I'll get you," he growled to Somi. "You just wait."

Then he disappeared.

Yoongi grabbed Somi's arm. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," Somi said, almost lightly. "We're fine."

"Somi..." Yoongi blinked in disbelief. "Didn't you hear him? He said he saw what you did. He's going to tell the police right now."

"I don't think so." Somi smiled. "Not with what I've got on him." And then she leaned over and whispered what she'd seen Jason do. It was something so disgusting Somi had forgotten she was holding the lit firework until it shot out of her hands and through the barn window.

Somi made Yoongi promise not to tell the others about any of it and warned that if Yoongi did tell them, she'd figure out a way for Yoongi—and only Yoongi—to take the heat. Terrified at what Somi might do, Yoongi kept his mouth shut. He worried that Maria might say something—surely Maria remembered that Jason hadn't done it—but Maria had been confused and delirious...she'd said that night was a blank.

"XOXO knows everything. We are fucked up" Hoseok said slamming his fist on the table. "Guys, let's just first figure out if Somi was murdered or not. Let's make a good plan and meet tomorrow?" Rose asked as the others nodded. "Sure, where and when though?" Taehyung asked looking at others. "My place? My mom and dad are going to a business party tonight? At 7? I have football from 5 to 6:30" Jungkook proposed the idea. "Sounds good," Jennie said as they all got up from their seat and were about to leave when their phones rang again. They all looked at each other again, almost tired of this shit as they opened the message

You are playing Detective-Detective? Okay, I will play too and the rules will be mine ;)

XOXO