Chapter 5: The Scale

The concert yesterday had been a success as always. The BTS members really gave it all they got. Jungkook was especially on fire throughout the whole concert. He had been all energetic after that nice nap on the beach and having kept the scale from Y/N's tail, which he had placed safely in the small little box that he bought to store his gold coin in.

He had admired the scale last night as he had taken it out in the dark. The bright glow almost woke up the others in the dorms. It had felt so strange in his hands. The sides of the scale were sharp too. The edges almost sliced his finger open.

He wondered if it would be alright to just show his hyungs the scale. He wouldn't have to tell them that the scale is part of a mermaid's tail. He could simply tell them that he found it while strolling on the beach. Then again, if he said that then he probably would have asked him when did he go to the beach and then he would have to lie, which he didn't like doing. He sighed as he sat on his bed, staring at the scale in his hand.

It the afternoon. He and the other BTS members all had a day off today. He mostly spent the day in his bedroom admiring the pretty scale. He had even taken out his sketchbook and did some drawings of the scale. He even drew a sketch of Y/N. It wasn't too detailed and it wasn't coloured... at least not yet. Since he didn't have a clear picture of her. All he had was the selfie that she took, but it wasn't that good of a picture. It had been all blurry. He was doing it mainly off of memory.

"Jungkook? Can I come in?" Namjoon asked from the other side of Jungkook's bedroom door. Jungkook's head jolted up in alarm.

"H-Hang on a second hyung!" He answered, his voice panicked as he got up from his bed and rushed to his closet. He opened it up and quickly placed the scale back into the box with the coin and hid it before shoving his sketchbook under his bed. He rushed back to his bed and flopped on it while pretending to be scrolling on his phone. "Ok, you can come in now hyung."

Soon Namjoon opened the door and walked in. He approached Jungkook and sat down on the bed beside him. He looked at the younger.

"Jungkook, can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked curiously as he tapped the youngster's shoulder. Jungkook nodded as he sat up and looked at his hyung with his big doe eyes. "I was just wondering if there's something you're not telling us." Jungkook's eyes widened a bit in surprise and he gulped nervously, thinking that his hyung knew about his secret meet-ups.

"No, why do you ask that hyung?" He asked his hyung worriedly as he bit his lip nervously.

"Well, I noticed that your swim trunks were downstairs in the laundry room, drying on the rack and there was a big puddle along with a bunch of sand underneath," Namjoon started as he eyed the youngest member with a suspicious look. Jungkook tried his best not to look all panicky, but he was definitely feeling that way inside. He knew that he couldn't lie to his hyungs, but he also knew that he had to. He had to drum up a lie and quick.

"The sand was from the last time I went to the beach which was some days ago and yesterday I decided to wash it because it was making the laundry room smell all salty," he lied as he watched his hyung's reaction. Namjoon stared at him for a moment before nodding in understanding. He sighed softly in relief.

"Ah, ok, well, you can just put it in the wash you know," he stated with a shrug.

"I-I know. I just prefer washing them by hand and hanging them up to dry because it makes them last longer, especially the colour. I don't want the colour to fade," Jungkook went on a bit of a ramble as he nervously smiled at his hyung. Namjoon nodded back in understanding once again.

"Understandable. Alright, thank you for clearing that up. Now, there's one other thing that I wanted to ask you," he began again. Jungkook held his breath, scared for what his hyung would interrogate him with next. "Why did you ask if we could do concerts on the beach? I mean, it's a great idea, but what made you want to ask that?" Jungkook remained silent for a moment. He had to tell another lie. He fought with the guilt and came up with another lie.

"I don't know.. I just thought that it might be cool to do a concert on the beach. I have no specific or special reason for suggesting it," he spoke calmly as he tried to play it off by shrugging his shoulders.

"Hm, well, alright. Oh, by the way, we're all going to go out shopping. Do you want to come?" Namjoon asked curiously. Jungkook thought for a moment. If his hyungs all went out shopping then he would have plenty of time to go down to the beach again and see Y/N, but then again if he declined going shopping then he would make his hyung suspicious. There was still plenty of time in the day to go down to the beach today, so he simply nodded. "Great, well get ready to go because we're leaving once everyone's ready."

"Ok, hyung, I'll be out there in a bit," Jungkook said with a nod of understanding as he watched his hyung leave the room and close the door. Once his hyung had left his room, he let out a sigh of relief. It was a close call and he had lied to his hyung twice. It ate at him from the inside, but he knew that the more people knew about Y/N, the more her life would be in danger. He hadn't really thought about it much until now, but if everybody found out about her then she would no doubt be in science labs and having experiments done on her. He didn't want any of those things to happen.

He sighed as he stood up from his bed and got ready to go before leaving his room. He joined his fellow band mates by the door of the dorms. Once they were all set to go, they left the dorms and headed out to the nearest shopping center. Today was a nice day, so they walked to the shopping center. People on the street recognized them and ran up to them, asking for autographs and pictures, which they gladly did.

When they were finished, they walked into the shopping center. They split up into three groups: Namjoon and Jimin, Seokjin, Yoongi, and Taehyung, and finally Jungkook and Hoseok. Once they decided their groups, they all ventured off to do some shopping.

"Where should we go first?" Hoseok asked as he looked around. He slowly approached a clothing store that sold various styles of clothes. Jungkook tagged along after his hyung and started looking at the bucket hats that they had on sale. "Aish, you and your bucket hats Jungkook."

"Hey, why are you saying it like that? You have just as many bucket hats as I do hyung," Jungkook retorted as he sent his hyung a raised eyebrow before looking back at the bucket hats, "Besides, I look good in bucket hats." He took a bucket hat off of the rack and tried it on in front of a large body mirror. "Hm... see? Girls dig guys who can pull off bucket hats."

"Haha! Really? Where did you hear that from?" Hoseok asked as he laughed in amusement and the young one's joke. Jungkook shrugged in response as he continued to check himself out in the body mirror. "Are you going to buy anything besides bucket hats?"

"Yeah, I'm going to buy some more timberland boots and more white t-shirts or maybe black t-shirts," Jungkook responded with a look of uncertainty. Hoseok let out a small chuckle before shaking his head.

"Ah, Jungkook, why not buy something different for a change? You're always buying the same things every time," he stated as he pressed a pair of pants up against his own legs.

"So? Is that a bad thing?" Jungkook asked with a confused expression as he placed the bucket hat on the rack and grabbed a different bucket hat.

"Eh, not necessarily. The others and I don't mind, but I don't know how your future girlfriend will feel about you wearing the exact same thing every single day," Hoseok commented with a teasing grin. Jungkook rolled his eyes at his hyung as he tried on the other bucket hat.

"Hyung, you worry about you and I'll worry about me," he replied sarcastically as checked himself out in the body mirror. Hoseok snickered in amusement as he placed the pair of pants over his arm, so that he could look at other clothes. The pair continued looking through the store, casually holding clothing up to see if they like it. Jungkook tried on a few t-shirts and some sweatpants while Hoseok tried on a few pants and jackets.

"I'm going to buy these things, are you going to buy anything?" Hoseok asked curiously as he marched his way over to the check out counter with some of the things that he tried on.

"Yeah, this black t-shirt, this white sweater, these grey sweatpants, and this bucket hat," Jungkook answered as he followed after his hyung and struggled to carry all of the pieces of clothing in his arms. Once at the register, they both paid separately for their things before leaving the store. "Hyung, can we go to a shoe store? I really want to buy a new pair of timberland boots. Oh! And maybe a new pair of converse."

"Sigh, fine, let's go, but after that we're going to head over there," Hoseok insisted as he pointed to a store that seemed to sell electronics. Jungkook nodded in agreement to that. With that, they headed to a shoe store to buy Jungkook some timberland boots and some converse. Hoseok also tried on some boots and other shoes as well. Hoseok ended up going into the shoe store not wanting to buy anything, but soon came out with buying more shoes than Jungkook did.

"You sure you can carry all of those hyung?" Jungkook asked with a raised eyebrow as he watched his hyung struggle to carry all of the bags in his arms with amusement, "I can carry one if you want."

"Thank you Jungkook, that would be helpful," Hoseok thanked the younger one with a grateful smile, but he soon furrowed his eyebrows when he noticed Jungkook's adorable bunny smile turn into a mischievous grin. "Why are you smirking at me like that?"

"Buy me ice cream and I'll carry some bags," Jungkook instructed as he looked at his hyung with his big doe eyes.

"Wha-?! Jungkook! You- aish, fine! I'll buy you an ice cream when it's lunch time. Now help me with the bags," Hoseok commanded with a sour look as he shoved a few bags towards the young one, who giggled in amusement and smiled victoriously before carrying his hyung's bags. Together, they went to the electronic store and started browsing around. Jungkook looked at the speakers and gaming sections while Hoseok looked at the laptops and phone sections. Neither of them ended up buying anything though, so they left the store and checked the time.

"Hyung, it's lunch time. Let's meet up with the others at the food court," Jungkook suggested as his stomach grumbled hungrily. Hoseok nodded in agreement as he took out his phone and messaged the others to meet the two of them at the food court. Namjoon messaged back saying that he and Jimin were already at the food court while Taehyung texted back saying that he, Seokjin, and Yoongi were on their way to the food court. "Oh and hyung, don't forget, you're buying me ice cream~."

"Ha, Jungkook I doubt I could forget since I knew that you would remind me of it," Hoseok muttered with a look of slight annoyance. Jungkook snickered at that as they walked towards the food court. They spotted the others waving to them from a table and walked over to them.

"Hey, what did you two buy?" Seokjin asked curiously as he tried to peek into their bags.

"We bought clothes and shoes, what about you Jin hyung?" Jungkook asked curiously as he snatched away Seokjin's bags and opened up the bags.

"Hey! Jk! Be careful with those!" Seokjin protested in alarm as he smacked Jungkook's arm playfully. The younger one hissed a little in pain at the impact, but continued to look through his hyung's bag.

"You got a Mario plushie hyung?" Jungkook asked as he took the mario plushie and squeezed.

"Yes, I did, what's wrong with that? Also, stop squishing him so hard, all of his stuffing is going to come out," the eldest mentioned as he snatched his mario plushie away from the grabby hands of the youngest before holding the plushie firmly to his chest.

"Sorry hyung," Jungkook apologized as he set his bags down before turning to Hoseok, "Hyung, can we get my ice cream now?"

"Don't you want something more decent to eat first?" Hoseok asked as he quickly took a selfie to post to Twitter before looking back at Jungkook.

"Hm, alright, but you're still buying me that ice cream," Jungkook insisted as he stood up.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Don't worry, you'll have your ice cream," Hoseok said as he rolled his eyes and sighed. Jungkook grinned as he walked over to a food stand and started ordering some pizza.

"Hoseok, how'd you get roped in into buying him ice cream?" Yoongi asked curiously in a whispered tone since Jungkook was only a few feet away and he didn't want the young one to hear.

"I had too many bags to carry, so I was struggling to hold all of them. Jungkook offered to help as long as I bought him some ice cream, so I agreed," Hoseok explained briefly with a small sigh. Yoongi shook his head disapproving. "Plus, it's hard to resist his doe eyes..."

"Don't worry, we all fall for them too," Yoongi mumbled back as he patted Hoseok on the shoulder. Hoseok sent a small smile back as he sighed a bit before standing up and going to order some food. Once they all had food, they sat and ate. They each showed each other what they bought and chatted about their afternoon in the shopping center.

By the time they were all done eating, it was practically dinner time and it was time for them to head back to the dorms, so they threw their remaining garbage into the trash. Then grabbed their bags and started heading to the exit.

"Ah, wait! Hobi hyung, you still need to buy me ice cream," Jungkook stated as he noticed an ice cream place just before the exit of the shopping center. Hoseok sighed as he reached into his bag and took out his wallet. He took out some money before handing it to the youngest, who smiled happily and rushed over to the ice cream.

"Jungkook, wait up!" Jimin, Seokjin, and Taehyung yelled out after him as they rushed to keep up with him. The four of them lined up at the ice cream shop and started ordering some ice cream. Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hoseok all remained where they were, waiting for the others to come back with their ice cream.

"We have ice cream back at the dorms, I don't understand why they need to buy ice cream," Namjoon mentioned with a sigh as he sat down on a bench. Yoongi and Hoseok sat down with him.

"They're the maknae line, what do you expect?" Yoongi asked as he rolled his eyes and yawned, "I hope they don't take forever, I'm tired. I'm in need for a nap."

"What about Jin?" Hoseok asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh, alright. They're the vocal line then, what do you expect?" Yoongi asked slightly correcting himself, "When those four are put together, all hell breaks lose." Namjoon and Hoseok chuckled in amusement and agreement to that.

"Thank you," Jungkook thanked the worker, who passed him his ice cream. He took a big bite and savoured the delicious chocolate flavour that overwhelmed his taste buds. The sweetness and chilliness of the ice cream made him happy. As he ate his ice cream, he walked back over to the rap line, who were casually chatting away. "Thanks for paying for my ice cream hyung."

"Yeah, you're welcome Jungkook," Hoseok responded with a small sigh, "Are the others almost done?" Jungkook glanced behind him at the other members of the vocal line, who were all having their ice creams handed to them by the workers of the ice cream shop, before looking back at Hoseok and nodding slowly.

"Oh, by the way, do you want this locket? It came in a set of 2," Namjoon stated as he held up a locket necklace. Jungkook stared at the locket necklace, examining the colour and design before shrugging and giving a nod.

"Why are you giving it to me though?" He asked in confusion and curiosity.

"Because Yoongi and Jhope declined it. If you don't want it then I can just ask the others," Namjoon explained curtly.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I'll take it. Thanks hyung," Jungkook thanked Namjoon as he took the locket necklace from Namjoon's hand. He didn't know what he was going to do with a locket necklace, but he probably could use it at some point in the future. He gently placed it into his pocket. Just as he did, the other members of the vocal line all approached them while licking at their ice creams.

"Alright, let's head back to the dorms now," Namjoon insisted as he stood up along with Hoseok and Yoongi. They all nodded as they headed out of the shopping center and started walking back to the dorms. Jungkook held his shopping bags in one hand while gently holding onto the locket necklace in his other hand. He looked at it. The locket was a bit on the small size. He didn't know exactly what he could put in it. Perhaps small pictures of his band mates or his family.

When they arrived back at the dorm, they all went to their rooms to put their shopping bags away and all of their things that they bought. Jungkook opened his bedroom door and walked into his room. He placed his shopping bags on his bed and took out all of his new clothes and shoes. He folded his t-shirt, sweater, and sweatpants and placed them in his drawer.

Once he was all done putting his new things away, he pushed the bags into his closet. His eyes then landed on the small box that contained his little treasures from his encounter with Y/N, who he had forgotten he had met until he saw the box just now. It reminded him of the fact that he originally wanted to go visit her, but chose to go shopping with his hyungs instead.

He carefully grabbed the small box and opened it. The shiny gold coin and the dazzling purple scale. Both of them shimmered in the box. He smiled, his eyes staring and watching in awe. It was truly a sight. It was just too bad that he couldn't share it with his hyungs. Maybe one day, maybe one day it would be a story that he could share with his hyungs in their older years and when they're retired from being idols. For now, he would keep it a secret from the others and instead keep it close to his heart.

As he continued to admire the contents of his tiny treasure box, he looked at his other hand that still held the locket necklace that Namjoon had given him. He looked at it then looked at the inside of the box before his eyes widened. The scale was small and it was the perfect shape to fit in the locket of the necklace.

He carefully opened the locket and took out the scale. He gently placed the scale into the locket and closed the locket tight before securing it around his neck. He smiled, seemingly proud of himself for coming with such a brilliant idea. He could see the shimmer of the scale through the small crack design of the locket. It looked really beautiful and the fact that the locket design was a heart shape made it even better.

He held the locket in his hand gently, but closely. His gaze went to his window where he could see the outside and the sea. The waves were crashing against the shore and the sun was still shining brightly. He wondered if Y/N was there, waiting for him to show up or if she had shown up early and decided to give up, thinking that he wasn't going to show up. Then again, he wondered if she was going to come later. Either way, he was debating whether to go tonight.

"Jungkook, we're going to start making dinner now. Come help us," Jimin insisted as he opened Jungkook's bedroom door a little bit and poked his head inside.

"Alright hyung, I'm coming," Jungkook responded with a nod of understanding. When he agreed, Jimin nodded and walked off down the hallway towards the kitchen. Jungkook sighed as he clutched the locket before placing it out of sight in his shirt. He walked towards his bedroom door. He glanced over his shoulder at the window one more time. He had decided not to go to the beach today. He would tomorrow though. Y/N was going to have to wait until then to see him, if she had even wanted to see him at all. With one final glance, he stepped out of his room and shut the door before walking towards the kitchen to help his hyungs make dinner.

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Hey everyone!

So, here is another chapter! I hope you all liked it!

Anyways, please vote and comment if you liked this.

Stay tuned for the next chapter coming out soon! :)