GREY

(TAEHYUNG'S POV)

The smell of cement, burnt iron and other ones that I cannot identify, fill up my lungs. The quality of air is quite disgusting compared with the natural and non contaminated one in Third Heaven. There's one more factory before the one we need to explore, but this one is operating.

Some men are dragging big and heavy boxes, others are working on different vehicles and the rest are filling up trucks. Some of the men look us with a weird expression from head to toe. I hide my hands behind my back, playing with them, but Jimin grab one and intertwine our fingers.

"We've to keep walking." He says, giving me a comforting smile.

This place looks more awful in real life. I look at the sky, the snowy clouds are covering it all. We keep walking, but the old factory is nowhere to be seen.

"There's nothing." Jimin says, looking around. "Are you sure we're in the right place?"

"Yes, it has to be here." I protest. "Let's walk some more. We've to turn to the right."

"Yeah, we've." Jimin looks at the grey wall that prevent us to keep walking. The path to the left is also blocked for a high, grey wall. Both are made with the same material, cement.

"What do we do if we find them?" Jimin asks.

"We can say we got lost and need help to go back to the centre of Seoul."

"You'll expose where we live, you can't do that. What if they kidnap us?"

"Why would they do that?"

He shrugs.

We keep our mouths closed for the rest of the walk, until the building is in front of us. It isn't as big as the other one, the materials are worn-out, some doors aren't here anymore and the ones that are still in their place are slightly or fully open.

"We need to stay in silence." Jimin whispers.

"Follow me."

I get near a big door made of metal, the colours faded away and now it's a dark brown-violet colour. I peek out and look around, the coast is clear. I look up at the walls in front of me, the glasses of the windows aren't there anymore, allowing the light to get in easily.

"What do you want to do now? Do you see anything suspicious?" Jimin asks. He's behind me, grabbing my coat from behind. "Let me see."

I step out and he opens the door fully, it screeches and I've to cover my ears considering this is one of the sounds I hate the most. He gets in and looks around and to the sides. There's nothing we can't see on the left, but on the right, there's a corner which leads to a corridor, and stairs to the other side. There's only three floors in total and some of the walls are missing. It's also relatively clean, to be honest, even though the dust still makes its way to fly around.

"It looks like they were still building it, not the other way around. What happened here?" Jimin asks, looking at the ceiling.

"I don't know."

"You didn't do any research?"

"Why would I? I only need to know if here's the people we're looking for, and nobody can't answer this question, unless we find them ourselves."

He shakes his head. "We're going to do it with the rest, it can be dangerous. We could find a mafia, or a serial killer." He panics.

"We're still more powerful than them, don't be scared."

"I'm not scared, I'm worried. I'm worried for you."

"Don't be." I ignore how my heart skips because of his last comment.

"We've to be careful, you don't know what we can fi-" Something metallic falls. The sound comes from the corridor. "What was that?" Jimin whispers, getting closer.

"I don't know. Maybe a rat?"

"Come on Tae, we need to go." He grabs the end of my sleeve.

"But I need to find them, we've to save our home and our people."

"But we can't do that if we're dead." He drags me closer to the door.

"Don't be paranoid, where's the Jimin I know?"

"Don't play with me, now go." He says sternly. "I promise we're going to come back." Another object falls, but it sounds closer.

I nod, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

I grab his hand and we run away from the place. When we're far enough, but still in the same path, I look back, expecting to see some clues or someone, but I don't see anything odd.

(JUNGKOOK'S POV)

The new appliances for the kitchen arrived this afternoon, while I was taking a nap. Namjoon did all the work, he didn't let me help him. His eyes were red and puffy, but I didn't dare to ask, and the last time I saw Seokjin was this morning during breakfast.

As soon as Namjoon left the kitchen, Yoongi came back with food and Hoseok's cake. I'm going to wake up early tomorrow and buy him a gift, I want to give him something special.

"What do you think about it?" Yoongi asks.

"He's going to love it, believe me. How did you do it?" I ask, admiring Yoongi's gift for Hoseok.

"There's a store not too far from here. I can go tomorrow with you, if you want."

"No, thank you. I think you're the right person to give him something like this."

"What do you mean?" Yoongi asks, turning his head to look at me. He stops tidying up the refrigerator.

"Nothing." I smile. "Let me do it, go and hide it before Hobi sees it."

"Good idea." He closes the drawer, where he put carrots, leeks, cucumbers and some tomatoes.

Everything's in perfect harmony in less than five minutes, as Yoongi was almost done. My mouth starts to water as I imagine all the delicious food the guys are going to cook the next two weeks.

I open the TV at the same time someone opens the door. I turn myself to look at them. Taehyung and Jimin are taking off his coats, two bags on the floor next to them. Before they turn around and see me, I hide myself as much as possible on the sofa, even though they're going to see me once they get into the living room.

"We need to tell Namjoon what we saw." Taehyung says, his voice getting closer.

"We didn't see anything, we hear something." Jimin reproaches.

"It's the same. We're going to tell them tomorrow."

"Not tomorrow." I say without thinking.

They turn around. It looks like they didn't notice the voices coming from the TV nor someone - me - sitting closer.

"I mean," I clear my throat. "Hoseok's birthday is tomorrow, and I thought we could enjoy the day together, chilling and having fun." I look out the window.

Taehyung scares me now, I don't know anymore if he's going to yell at me, comment something inappropriate or just ignore me. But much to my surprise, he doesn't.

"He's right. We're going to wait till Saturday." He says.

"Okay." Jimin says.

We stay in silence for a few moments, but it feels like an eternity. "I'm going to buy Hoseok's gift tomorrow morning. Do you have something?" I say, hating the cold atmosphere. They shake his head, in synchrony.

It still feels strange to be awkward around them, we used to be best friends, until my hormones and I ruined everything.

"Oh." I mumble.

"There's no way he's going to find it." I hear Yoongi's voice from the corridor. "Oh, hey guys." He says to the boys. "Where were you?"

"We initiated our first mission and I think we find something." Taehyung says, doing tiny jumps.

"We're going to explain it tomorrow, today's not the day, nor tomorrow." Jimin says, sitting on the other sofa.

"What are you talking about?" Hoseok sits next to me. He's wearing a black beanie, a black hoodie and black sweatpants, which are way too big for him.

"Jimin and Taehyung found something." I say.

"We're going to tell you on Saturday." Taehyung says.

Hoseok frowns and rest his chin on his hand. "Why not now? I want to know."

"I'm hungry, let's make dinner. Did someone buy something delicious as I said?"

"We won't need to buy anything else for the next two weeks." Yoongi says. "Let's make soup, I bought vegetables and chicken broth."

(SEOKJIN'S POV)

I took a long shower before Yoongi called me to eat dinner with them. I didn't know how much I needed this kind of warm food, the weather isn't the only cold air around me. Everyone was there, everyone was there except Namjoon.

They didn't ask questions and I didn't do any kind of explanations, I didn't need to. I'm grateful they respect our privacy, but I'm not quite sure how long I'm going to be able to keep up with this lie.

After all, Namjoon is the one I love the most.

(JIMIN'S POV)

I wait in front of the bathroom, my nails touch the wall gently, creating its own melody. I didn't go to the other one on purpose because I need an excuse to see Taehyung before he goes to sleep.

"Sorry, did you wait for long?"

His hair is fluffy and he looks adorable with his grey matching outfit. If we were still dating, I would have stolen this sweatshirt and fall asleep in it, I would feel his scent as he would hug me closely towards his chest.

"No, just for a few minutes. Are you going to sleep now?"

He nods. "But maybe I look for that factory on the internet."

"Oh, yeah, you should. Tell me if you found something tomorrow."

"I'll. Good night, Jimin."

"Sweet dreams, Tae."

He nods one last time and disappear closing his room's door. I stay still, my back resting on the wall, as I hear the steady 'tick tack' of the old clock above me.