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“Nani?”

“Jimin,” she whispered into the darkness of their new bedchamber.  “This is the last time I can call you that, isn’t it?”

He grimaced.  “Yes.  I keep forgetting.”  He faced her across the tiny room as she turned to look at him.

“You’re now Jihun.  And I am Nari.”  She frowned momentarily.  “How did he know to choose a name so close to my own?”

“He just penned the documents a few minutes ago.  After meeting you.”

“Ah.  I see.”

He smiled at her then.  Tenderly.  “Your new name means lily.  Did you know that?” 

She shook her head.  “It’s beautiful.”  But it’s not mine.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered then as he watched agony spiraling across her face.

“What for?”

“That I had to steal your name.  And your identity.  And that you’ve lost your home.  And your family.”

She choked back a sob then.  At the mention of her family.  She was thinking of her baby sister again.  And missing her.

“But it’s not your fault,” she whispered.  “You didn’t bring me here.  You’re just trying to protect me.”  She cleared her throat.  “I’m sorry you had to leave your family too.”

He was chewing on his lip again.  He sighed.  “Nan—Nari, please, lie down on the bed.  Before you fall down again.”

She glanced sharply up at him.

“Jungkook told me.  Your legs collapsed.  You’re exhausted.  Get some sleep.  I’ll return in a little while.  I need to speak with Jin.  Plans must be made.  Before daybreak.”

She nodded, but truly she had no desire to be left alone.  She was almost afraid to lie down on that bed in this cold room.  A fire had just been lit; it hadn’t enough power yet to heat the whole room. 

But another part of her was eager to close her eyes.  Hopeful that she’d awake in her own bed.  At home.  Of course, if she did, she’d never see this boy again.

“Jimin,” she harrumphed.  “Jihun.  Wait.  Come here.  I—I’m afraid that if I sleep, I’ll leave this place and awake at home.  So…I want to say goodbye to you.  Just in case.  I…thank you for all you’ve done for me.”

He crossed the room towards her and reached out to tug her close to him.  His arms embraced her, and she buried her nose against his shirt.  Inhaling his scent once more.  She hadn’t been able to identify it before.  But now it communicated itself to her.  It was cloves.  A most comforting scent.  Its essence just like the man himself.

“Nani,” he whispered.  Taking advantage of the moment to speak her true name once more.

She glanced up at him, and he bent to brush his lips softly across hers.  Completely stilling her.  Pure pleasure flowed through her at that butterfly touch.

“I don’t know what to wish for,” he murmured then, his lips now a hairbreadth from her own.  “For you to be sleeping peacefully when I return…for my own comfort.  Or for you to find your way home again…for yours.”

“Oh, Jimin,” she breathed.  And lifted her face to embrace his mouth once more with her own.

This time, his lips clung to hers.  Until a knock sounded on their door.  It was followed by a hushed voice calling, “Jihun?”

Jimin sighed as he drew away from his bride.  “I will return.  Sleep, Nari.  The morning will come too soon.”  He paused another moment.  “I would have hoped that your first birthday spent with me – your sixteenth one – would have been the sweetest sixteen you could experience.”  He grimaced.  “But instead, I made you flee for your life.”

“No, Jimin, you didn’t.  You helped me to flee for my life.  And you protected me.  But,” she thought of the kisses she’d just experienced, “you did manage to make it the sweetest sixteen of my life.”  She gave him another quick peck on his lips before she turned to sit down on the edge of the slim bed.  “I’ll be waiting for you, Jihun, when you return,” she promised.

He gazed at her for a moment before slipping out into the hallway.  Leaving Nani quite alone in that chilly room. 

—

“Jin,” Jimin greeted his friend in the corridor.

“Not Jin.  Jong.  And you need to meet the rest of the gang.”  He drew Jimin down the hallway and into the front room once again.  He gestured towards Jungkook.  “Meet your friend, Jungho.”  He glanced at Hobi and offered, “That’s Hohun.”  Yoongi was next.  “Yoonseo.”  Finally, he tossed his hand out towards Namjoon, who was seated on the floor, a fresh bandage affixed to his arm.  “Namgil.  And Taeho.”  He met Tae’s eye for a moment.

Jimin simply nodded.  “So…what’s the plan?”

“We’re going to split up in the morning,” Jin explained.  “Jungho and Namgil will travel together.  Towards the west.  I’m planning to travel with you and Nari.  Northward.  The other three will venture towards the northwest.”

“So,” Jimin queried as his gaze touched each of his friends, “this is it?  We’re splitting up.”

“It’s for the best,” Namjoon insisted.  “We’ll be harder to find separated.”  He frowned.  “Truthfully, I’m not sure Jin – Jong – should travel with you at all.  You have a wife.  And a new identity.  No one will take a second look at you.  I think Jong and Taeho should take to the road together.  And Yoonseo and Hohun should go elsewhere.”

“So…pairs then?”

Namjoon nodded.  “Don’t you think we stand a better chance of evasion if we’re in smaller groups?”

“Or we’ll be easier to annihilate,” Tae voiced his concern.

“The king’s army is too vast for any of us to resist.  Even if we all stay together.  And if we do, we endanger the girl,” Jin chimed in.

Jimin nodded.  “Nari and I will leave tomorrow morning.  Alone.  Just as you suggested, Namgil.”  Namjoon’s new name sounded oddly on his tongue, but Jimin shrugged his shoulders.  What did it matter?  Come the sunrise, they’d go their separate ways.  Most likely, they would not meet again. 

“We’re all decided then?” Jin quizzed them.

Tiredly, they all nodded. 

“Good luck to you all,” Namjoon offered the group a fond farewell.

A moment later, they all headed for their rooms.  To get a little shuteye before the sun woke them.