Taehyung left out with Hoseok despite it being 1 AM. I lay in bed with Teddy at my side, our backs facing one another. She cuddles her pillow tightly and hums faint melodies.

"Lilo?" She whispers.

"Yeah?"

"Are you awake?"

I roll my eyes playfully. "Yes Teddy."

I hear her rotate to meet my back.

"I read this manga recently... Where the lead character was young and happy but... She was pretty lost. Outside of making ends meet she didn't know what to do with her life. She was actually kinda sad... But then she met found friends, and a boy she liked, they changed her life forever. They went ice skating... bungee jumping... They really stuck together." She hugs her pillow, getting lost in imagination.

"But one day one of her friends got hurt, so she did too. It didn't matter that she wasn't the one who broke her leg, it still felt like she was the one hurt just by seeing a friend in pain. She cares about them lots... It's like, what would she be without them?"

There's a small silence before she whispers on, "You guys will always be here, right? We won't all split up again..."

I turn to face her. Her eyes are doll-like, hands still clutched onto her pillow innocently.

"You, me, Taehyung, Jimin, Winter, Jungkook, Hoseok... Even Gretch and Chrys. We should go bungee jumping sometime, like the manga."

I beam a chuckle.

"We'll go wherever you wanna go. None of us are separating again."

Her smile is extra soft. She looks down and fiddles with her pyjamas.

"I've never really told you this, since I know I can be annoying but, you're like a big sister. I'm happy you're dating Tae. You stick by him when he leaves the house, not knowing if he'll even return... And he sticks by you despite your mistakes. You guys are soulmates." Her smile doesn't fade as her eyelids get heavy and voice drifts into slumber, "I want to be like you guys someday..." She yawns.

I watch as Teddy falls to sleep, giving her a gentle hair stroke.

"And you will. Goodnight Ted."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ 🌙
—TAEHYUNG'S POV—

My eyes stay shut, the back of my head rested against the large bathtub surface.

The room is light and round which makes the abnormally slender shadows watching me stand out. They stand behind the glass with handprints pressed against it.

I slowly slip lower and lower. The water turns red the further I sink until I'm under completely and the world is flipped. The ground is hot red sand, and instead of air, it feels like I'm breathing in water, my fingers being able to slowly comb through the waves while my clothes flag behind me. The sky is red and clouds are black.

"Where...?"

"Boo." Sergio's undead form appears and vanishes in a blink.

I jolt back in surprise and look around. The people walking about are nothing but lanky, creepy shadows. A nasty blend of muffled screams echo in the background.

"No... I need to leave. Where's Lilo?"

"She's not here." I turn to see Sergio now rocking back and forth on a swing set. "She's with your mother and dog... Why would she be here? And spend another second you?"

"I—"

"That's why your pets all run away right? That's why your relationships never work out. Why your mother died. Nobody wants to be around you."

"That's not— Just tell me how to leave. I can't stay here, I need to get back to Lilo."

"No." My dad's voice echoes. "Stay with your family a little longer son. Blood is thicker than water... So why go back to that annoying girlfriend of yours?"

My walk turns into a run. I keep running until I find a way out, but all I manage to find is a puddle randomly placed amongst the hot sand.

Iʇ,s ʇoo lɐʇǝ˙˙˙ ʇoo l∀ʇǝ˙˙˙ ʎonR ɥoɯǝ Is ɥǝRƎ˙˙

I step into the puddle and when I do, slowly emerge from the bathtub. The water is blood red with bits of flesh in it, including streaks that drip down my face and hair. My lips shiver as I notice the room is now dark red and the shadows have gone.

But a huge slam sounds when my dad crashes his hand onto my shoulder, his face bloody, peeled and disfigured. "Stay with me—"

—END DREAM—

"Whoa whoa hey!" Hoseok jumps and backs his hand away.

I calm down from my flinch and look around slowly. We're in Jungkook's car, parked behind Lim's company that is almost drowned out by foggy dark skies. I guess I must've dozed off during the ride.

"You okay man?"

"Yeah... Bad dream."

"No kidding. Thought you were gonna kill me for a sec there." He chuckles and gets out of the car. I follow behind without a word.

We manage to sneak around the cameras what with our entire bodies being covered in black. It looks like there's barely any workers around this time of night.

Hoseok crouches to unscrew one of the vents open. We both crawl in without noise and eventually slip out the other end.

"You sure this is the right corridor?" I look around the dark and deserted walk hallway.

Hoseok climbs down from behind me, "It better be. There's no way I'm hoisting us both back up there."

I spot a door at our side and head over to it. There's a card slot beside the door, to which I use the key card and a green light appears.

"Too easy."

We enter the room that is large and filled with drawers, sort of like a library. Hoseok's shoulders slack, "So what exactly are we looking for?"

"I don't really know. Something that can help our case, whether that be exposing Jaebum or helping Lilo's conviction."

"Then let's snoop around."

And we do just that. Being mindful to keep hushed, we raid until Hoseok signals me over.

"What is it?"

"I think I found a safe."

"Really?" I take a closer look and he nods excitedly, "There's probably some important shit in here. All we gotta do is crack the... Oh."

"What?"

"Dude, you're never going to believe this."

"What-what-what?" I repeat through clenched teeth, getting frustrated.

"It's a 21-digit-code."

"20... What? That can't be right."

"Look for yourself! 21 digits. How in the hell are we supposed to figure that out?"

"Okay... okay we just have to think. Surely this isn't a simple birthday, but a code for something. Or someone."

"Like that monster loves anyone enough to make them the code."

"I don't know... He has this henchwoman, Seulgi, who died in the warehouse explosion. He seemed to like her."

"You think that could be it?"

"Maybe, but I don't know how that would fill up 21 digits."

"It's gotta be some kind of code... binary maybe?"

"Orrr..." My fingers loosen from my chin. "A QWERTY keyboard."

"Dude!" He smacks me on the shoulder with a gasp before googling an image of an old Nokia phone.

"I've got it. Okay so Seulgi would be... 77777348... wait no, 77777388..."

"No you added too many sevens. Let me do it." I take the phone.

"7777338...5554...444."

"But that's only 15 digits. Maybe she has a last name?"

I shrug. Hoseok starts looking around the room for something that can help us out.

He combs through the drawers and finds a paper with a list of records.

Hoseok smacks the paper with the back of his hand. "Found it. It's Kang."

"Kang? So Kang would be... 552,664."

"Put that together and that's 21..." Hoseok and I look at each other and he shrugs. "It's worth a shot."

I nod and squat down to the keypad once more.

"552664777733885554444..."

My jaw falls.

"It's open."

"Shut up! What's inside?" He rushes to my side. I take out the small item between my fingers...a USB chip.

"Aw what? All of this for a stupid chip?"

"Hey, there has to be a reason for this to have been locked away. Let's take it home and see what's inside."

"Cool. Hey, before we go..."

I slow into a halt and look at him with my bag over my shoulder. Hoseok gives me a devious grin. "We should totally trash this place."

"No way. We'll get caught let's just go home."

"It'll be fun... That bastard deserves it—"

I clutch my temple to fight off the sudden migraine, my head twitching to the side.

"Ok dude something's definitely wrong. Why do you keep—?"

"It's nothing it's just, headaches! Let's just go Bogum."

"Bogum?"

I freeze in place and swallow. "I meant Hobi. Let's go Hobi."

—POLICE STATION—
—AUTHOR'S POV—

Yoongi sits at his desk late night, stamping together news articles with pins and strings. His fingers can't keep away from his chin before he ruffles his hair and takes another gulp of beer. Having to work on a case that took more than a week to solve was bugging the heck out of him.

"Late night again, Min?" His co-worker chuckles.

He ignores him, making the co-worker lean against his desk.

"What's this case you're working on, hm? This the uhh, teenage girl murderer thing?"

"Something's off..." His head shakes, "So this girl just breaks out of prison, leaves a trail of crashes on the motorway and disappears from the face to the Earth? No one knows where she could've went?"

"Maybe she's closer than you think. Didn't you visit her old boss the other day? What did he say?"

"Kim Taehyung. He's the son of Kimtech, yet clueless as far as I know. It makes no sense."

"What if he's lying? What if he's protecting her?"

"Why would he protect someone who killed his dad and uncle?"

"Hey, I'm just saying... He was her boss for a year. Maybe they formed a little bond. He could be covering for her. But what do I know?" He helps himself to a gulp of Yoongi's beer bottle and walks away hissing. "Yah, later Min."

Yoongi keeps his elbow on the table and fingers pinched at his forehead, his eyes scanning around. Then his phone rings.

"Yes?" He groans.

"Officer Min? This is Bonnie Hanson. You said to call if I needed anything."

His eyebrows raise. "M-Mrs Hanson. What can I do for you?"

"Oh I'm terribly sorry for calling so late. I think you'll be pleased to know that Lilo called me the other day. I... I think I know who my daughter is with."

"Really?" His eyes widen, lips slightly parted.

"Yes. We can talk about it in the daytime. My daughter needs to stop this reckless behavior, so I'm willing to tell you what I know."

"I... That would be great. I'll be over soon for further questioning then. Goodnight ma'am" He hangs up rather abruptly and leans back in his desk chair with a hand under his bangs. His eyes search the room in confusion as he tries to process what just happened.

—TAEHYUNG'S POV—

Hoseok sits at the desk in his room behind the computer with me leaned behind. The screen casts a blue light on our faces amongst the darkness.

"You find anything yet?" I ask.

"Nah... Well, just a bunch of old recorded phone calls but nothing to free Lilo."

"Keep looking. There'll be something."

He nods and continues to open each file. More recorded conversations of drug shipments and deals play until Hoseok comes across one that's unlike the others...

"Tae, looks at this one."

I sit up from the bed and re-approach the screen, "What about it?"

"It's an .WAV file, whereas the others are MPEG-1 audio layers... Basically mp2's."

"Open it."

Hoseok clicks twice and after some buffering time, the audio plays.

"—Look I know it sounds crazy... But hear me out."

"You know better than to ask me of such things, Sergio."

My eyebrows knit at the sound of the man's voice.

"If you loan your weapons to Carmine, he's agreed to lay off your business plans permanently. No more manipulating your consumers, all he wants is some weapons."

"And why would I hand over weapons to my own enemy? Huh??"

"Because you have a son- An innocent child! Can you really afford to put him in more danger?" He asks and there's a rustle, as if the other speaker is ruffling their hair. My eyes widen when I finally understand the conversation.

"Look, I like this no more than you but I'm just looking out for your family man. You should do it..."

Hoseok turns in his seat to look at me.

"I can turn it off you know..." He reaches for the mouse but I stop his hand.

My dad sighs before finishing with, "....Alright. If this'll keep those bastards away from my son then—"

"Honey who are you talking to so late? Why are there bottles everywhere?"

It's then that my eyes narrow and body freezes. My jaw clenches the tightest it ever has at the sound of the voice I haven't heard in eleven years.

I could ask Hoseok to turn it off, I could pause it myself. But instead it's like I've become paralyzed.

"Sergio, I've got to go. The Mrs is awake."

"Honey I said who were you talking to? Why are you telling them you'll hand over your weapons??"

The microphone thuds, signaling that my dad had put it down but infact, the call had not ended.

"It's still recording..." Is all I could mutter. Hoseok looks at me with parted lips as the audio plays on.

"Huh? Answer me! Why are you saying that you'll hand over your weapons to Carmine?? He's your enemy, have you not forgotten??"

"You think I don't know that?! If I don't, he plans to attack our home! I can't let him hurt our son can I?"

"Then we'll move! But there's no way in hell I'm letting you do something so stupid. He'll just attack us anyway!"

The argument continues the escalate from there. One by one their voices raise until my dad lashes out completely and I can hear nothing but my mothers screams, along with bangs and thuds. Slowly her voice dies out and is overtaken with my father's heavy breath. Tears have filled my eyes.

And they begin to fall when I hear the next voice—

"Mom?! MOM! W-what did you do to mom?!" A nine-year-old boy runs into the room screaming.

"Y-You... You HURT HER!!" Smashing glass takes over the audio before sounds that I don't even have the stomach to describe. Just... Splats and screams and... Gurgles. A combination of the most hideous noises.

My fingers immediately click the mouse to close the audio. There's a long silence in the room.

"I didn't know what it was... Sorry." Hoseok whispers.

My eyes don't shift from the mouse and I swallow thickly.

"Save it. We'll look into it more later. When the cops see this at least they'll know that Lilo is 100% innocent. And that my actions were only in defence."

"So should we call Officer Min and confess?"

I stare into the table and shake my head. "...Let's give it a while. I want to spend more time with you guys and Lilo."

"Of course." He nods. I lazily slap a hand on his shoulder and bid him goodnight before leaving the room.

I can't believe it... Thats why Sergio knew to come over. He heard the whole thing.

I guess Carmine made him record the conversation to prove that my dad agreed to it, and the weapons weren't just stolen.

Since Teddy and Lilo are sleeping in our room, I get a pillow from one of the cabinets and head downstairs, but before I step down I see Sergio sitting at the end of the hall with crossed legs.

"Stop staring at me." I grumble.

"Funny, huh? After everything I've done for you... I took you in as my own son and what do you go and do? Kill me."

"If you hadn't called that night my parents would still been alive."

I turn back towards the stairs, but he's suddenly appeared right in front of me.

"And if you hadn't shot me Chrys wouldn't be depressed right now." He snaps back and my jaw tightens.

"Just because you lost your dad... Doesn't mean she has to feel that same pain."

I ignore him and toss my pillow onto the living room couch, then enter the kitchen, all the while ignoring Sergio's taunting glares and whispers.

Crouching down to the lowest cabinet, I pull out the small snow-filled bag and exhale. I haven't touched it since Jungkook caught me... But...

Everything's been too much.

So I pour the powder onto the counter and sniff.