𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 — 𝟏. 𝟐
❛ are you guys
like extinct species
    or   something ? ❜

Tina flung open door of her room, but stood by the door, waiting.

She was home at last, after a stroll around her neighbourhood. She had decided to walk on the way back to home; her aunt did have asked if she should come to pick her up, it was Tina to insist that she would like to take a walk so it would be refreshing, too. The whole day she did not have any time to think or be reminded of the things she had seen in her room on the morning...imaginations or not, until her classes were finally over and she was strolling around. The thought of confronting those dolls- if those were real only- drove her to spend another unplanned hour strolling through the new neighbourhood. But when it was getting really late, she had no choice but to go back to her home.

Entering the room cautiously, Tina put her school bag on her seat by the desk. Nah, there was none of them anywhere; light from street lamps were sipping through the light curtains that fluttered softly with the wind but it barely brightened the dim atmosphere.

Those had to be her hallucination— she gave a small smile in relief and stepped inside. It was then she noticed a paper set neatly on the desk; there were some scribbling. Being curious, she picked it up to read it—

Please don't be scared again.
We are your friends ☺
We are NOT ghosts.

We? Puzzled, Tina looked around in her room, trying to make sense of what she just read- when suddenly there was these noises— her eyes hovered back to her desk and dilated in disbelief and fear at what she saw. Seven minuscule cute-but-spooky dolls....she was seeing them again! Imaginations or not, slowly and cautiously they were emerging from behind her books and copies neatly arranged on the desk, and as soon as their eyes met, all of them smiled genuinely at her. But the smiles had little effect on her- yet again she had broken into a scream at the top of her lungs. She suddenly grabbed a hairbrush and hurled at them in panic- The animate dolls scattered at once, running to save themselves and avoid the hit. But unfortunately one of them wasn't fast enough and was hit straight in the head- sending him flying and down to the floor with a thud. Tina had already jumped back and hid inside the closet, scolding her luck for having to do anything with spooky dolls and ghosts again—

Seconds later, while she was internally panicking to the fullest in fear of their attack or approach on her— they could be tiny, but she had heard there are ghost movies about small doll like haunting ghosts and stuffs and in her case, there were seven against her. Then she remembered the note she had just read.

Obviously these dolls were the ones to write the note? They had asked her not to be sacred, though.... did ghosts ever do so?? .....The scared faces of the tiny dolls when she had hurled the hairbrush at them flashed before her eyes; who ever had heard ghosts, scared of a human or when someone threw something at them? Her brows furrowed and she opened the closet door to peek cautiously.

"V!!!"
"Oh my, V!"
"V, are you alright?"
"Are you hurt?"

The minuscule TinyTAN guys had rushed and gathered around little V who had been hit. Reaching him first, Jin and RM helped him to sit up, then leaned over to check him as V sobbed, his small hands rubbing on his forehead where it hurt.

"Does it hurt too much?" Jin asked trying to get a glimpse of the spot while patting him on the head. V just nodded through his sobs.
"V! Let me see V!" Jimin, who reached last, squealed and thrashed the others away to crouch before sobbing V and focused on comforting him.
"Uh... what are we going to do?" J-hope pouted, "She's still scared of us and have started hurting us now..." He and Suga stole a glance at their back and sighed; the closet door had squeaked open as Tina tried to peek.
Jimin turned back to look at Tina behind the door when V started to calm down; Jimin's eyes evidently displayed that he was upset.

"Don't be upset with her..." RM tried to reason, "She's just scared... it's not normal for humans to meet someone like us anyways..."
Jungkook sighed realizing where he was coming from but he felt upset as well. "Well, if she doesn't stop getting freaked out at us..." Jungkook trailed off seeing Jin staring behind him firmly, realizing something was behind him, and they all followed his gaze to find Tina coming this way— and they all stiffened a little.

Tina had been listening to them and now she did not know why but she started feeling guilty. She frowned realizing she had really hurt one of them, when she only had wanted to scare them away from her; she definitely had been foolish to throw something like that. She did not notice when the fear inside her had subsided as she cautiously approached them, deciding to apologise. Her motion seemed to create momentary restlessness among the tiny dolls, then suddenly they all fell silent and motionless and watched her in alert— and it wrenched her heart even more. They were now scared of her.

"Uh- I- I am so sorry..." Tina's voice diminished in nervousness as she had all the eyes on her. "I- I really shouldn't have done that..." she bit her lips, fumbling in her mind how she should apologise properly. Her eyes met with one of them who was now sniffing. "I hurt you, didn't I?" She leaned down stopping a feet above them but he, who had been hit, moved further back to hide behind others. "Oh- Sorry, sorry-" she quickly backed off, "I don't mean to scare you... I don't want you hurt you again or anything..." she tried to chuckle but they were staring at her silently.

"Please... I'm really sorry..! I didn't mean to hurt anyone of you— It was foolish of me..... And... don't be scared of me, please..?" She looked at their eyes. They exchanged their glances and eased up a little but still they did not say anything.

"Oh! You got a bump on your forehead!" Tina made a tiny gasp when V peeked at her, "I will go...er, get the ice...!" She fumbled to get up on her feet hastily and rushed out of the room, managing to prevent a face-flat collapse on the last second as she nearly tripped, leaving the seven minuscule boys staring after her.    

"Is it starting to get better...?" J-hope mumbled.

"It seems so," Jin replied quietly.

🍯

Although Jimin was not upset with Tina anymore, he could not help keep an eye on her as she had V in her palm, gently pressing an ice cube wrapped in a soft, thin clothing to his forehead. V sat in her palm awkwardly, stealing glance from his friends to Tina back and forth as the rest six little ones stood close by or sit before her. Tina felt awkward as well; it was so weird.

At first she got scared by them, then she somehow hurt one of these creepy-cute dolls and now she was trying to help ease his pain.

Tina decided to break this awkward silence; it was getting intolerable for her. And she could try to get her questions answered this way, so why not? But she sucked at these parts always....

"Uhm... Er, so..." Tina started, feeling more embarrassed by the seconds, "What....exactly are you? Er, no- I mean- who are you? Ahahhahaha..." she chuckled nervously noticing the nearly disapproving stares from the minuscule boys.
"TinyTAN," answered V, the only one who did not seem to be bothered being almost referred as 'what' instead of 'who'.
"...what?"
"We're TinyTAN," V answered again, his eyes starting to sparkle a little in excitement. As his pain had subsided, he had forgiven her as well.

Tina could not understand what that term meant or referred to but she did not want to appear dumb or rude, so she nodded immediately. "Right. But uh..."
"I'm V," he introduced himself getting cheerful again; he was excited and happy just like before, since she was not freaking out anymore at them. "They're my friends," he carried on with the introduction, "Jimin," V pointed to the closest one, then started pointing at the others. "Jin, J-hope, Suga-"
"I'm RM!" RM introduced himself excitedly, who already had a liking for her— being able to relate himself with her after seeing her tripping over nothing awhile ago and also a few other clumsy acts over the past two days.
V acted to frown at the interruption but continued again, "...and Jungkook."

"Hey, everyone... Oh, and me- I'm Tina," she smiled a little, trying hard to hide her flusters and not to make things awkward again. The TinyTAN knew her name, of course, but they acted as if they had learned her name only now. "Hi, Tina!" They greeted.

"Hi...!" She too greeted. She remained silent thinking they might speak, but they too remained silent probably thinking the same thing. So there was silence again, and she hurried to break the silence voicing her questions.

"So, um, where did you all come from..?" She thought this question might lead to something that she would finally understand who these dolls were but they only seemed to get completely perplexed at the question. They exchanged glances rapidly. It was as if they never had to face this question before, neither they knew the answer to it.

"...Attic??" V answered with a confused grin.
"Attic?" She chuckled in disbelief.
"Yes, we live there," Jimin nodded pointing upwards and all of their eyes followed to look at the ceiling briefly.
"But like...how did you come in the attic in the first place?"

And there was silence once again. Weird. "Never mind," she decided to try again, "So.... er, tiny tan-"

"Not tiny tan but it's TinyTAN," Jungkook corrected with his bunny smile. Jin only nudged him giving him a sharp glance.

Her eyes hovered ove the two as she mumbled, "Right.... so... what exactly is this...?"

"What...?" Suga asked her in confusion.

"What is tinytan ???" repeated Tina.

"Us!" V and Jungkook answered in unison.

"But what on earth are you guys?" She blurted and instantly regretting her choice of words. "I mean, I have never seen...anyone.... like you. Nor anyone has, I believe." She heaved a sigh and hid her face in her palms— she was a mess.

Awkward, again.

"Sorry. Forget it...." she mumbled then looked at them again, "How many are there, like you? Tiny tans?"

"Seven...?" mumbled Jimin.

"Just seven?" She was a little surprised— their words had convinced her that there were a whole big bunch of miniatures like them. "Then how about... your family??"

Yes, this had to be a good question!

"We are our family!" J-hope waved his hands frantically, making her giggle at his cute reaction.

"But your own families...?" She was once again answered with perplexed looks and faces. She fell silent, thinking of everything they said till now. "So are you guys... extinct species...or something??"

"Nooo!" Jin cutely but strongly protested, "We're not species or anything! And we are not extinct! We are less in number simply because we are unique." He crossed his arms over his chest and cutely stuck his tongue out.

"Jin..." RM mumbled with a frown.

"Okay, okay," Tina smiled throwing her hands up in the air, "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Jin winked, smiling.

She sat staring at them, left confused since her questions were not really leading her to much of the answers she needed. And they were staring right back at her. She started to feel awkward again, she did not know what to say now. She usually sucked at making friends; not like she had no friends or anything. It was just that she sucked at it in the beginning.

She fiddled with her fingers as she tried to remember how she always proceeded with making new friends. For starting, though it was more silly and childish... there was always 'what's your name' stuffs... Family and friends and like that... Then? Age..?

"How old are you all?" She asked suddenly making them a little startled. But then their faces had gone blank again and they were exchanging glances.

No. Way.

Tina sighed and sank her face into her palms.

Then what? Hobby? Doesn't seem like a good idea...

Favourite colour? Yes..?

"Er... what's your favourite colour?"

Everyone except Suga seemed to be okay with this question whereas he was squinting his eyes and pursing his lips which now looked like a third bracket— so cute! She did not understand that Suga had already realized that she was kind of awkward at making new friends, seeing her questioning silly things. But he answered along with them anyways.

"Pink, definitely!"   "Black?"   "Purple!!! And Gray, too!"   "Mine is Green!"   "White."   "Blue... and black."

"Then... What about...your hobbies? You do hav-" she was interrupted by a cute-frustrated Suga.

"You have run out of topics, haven't you?" He laughed, making her ears turn red.

"Suga...!" Both Jimin and RM nudged him and shook their heads making an eye contact with him but Suga had found her awkwardness cute and funny, and could not help his giggles.

"Alrighty! You go on then— Suga, was it?" She blurted flushing red, "My turn ends. Why don't you say anything? Or ask me?"

Suga's smile faded and he pouted. "I didn't mean to offend or embarrass you, Tina... I thought it was cute..." he pouted more.

"As if," she rolled her eyes mimicking his third bracket smile, before a real smile slipped in her lips and he was relieved that she was not upset at him.

"Tina???" Aunt Cass's voice came from downstairs, "Dinner is ready, sweetheart. Don't be late."

Tina glanced at the door then back at the TinyTAN. "I need to go...."

"Yes, you should," Jin nodded and added sweetly, "you do need to eat."

Tina smiled at him, then slowly got up on her feet. She stared down at them; she was not sure if she wanted to see them in her room after dinner.... she had had a tiring day and who knew what awaited her the next day... she would need to have a good rest to take in anymore embarrassments.... but she did feel good to talk to them. And they were completely harmless, too...

On the sideline, J-hope was still cheering for her cutely, "Eat more and more and faster you will grow!"

"Where will you guys be...after I finish my dinner..?" She asked.

"Waiting in this room," Jin replied.

"Yes! We've so much left to talk about!!!" V cheered.

"We haven't talked about yourself yet!" Jimin joined V's enthusiasm.

"And about your first day at school!" Jungkook sounded excited as well.

Tina was a little surprised how they knew it was her first day- then she figured they could have heard her aunt announcing it week all along. But she realized she was not getting rid of them any soon, and definitely not tonight. Not like it was a bad thing-she was not sure....neither was she earnestly wishing like that. She was simply unsure of what was to happen with her and them or how it would turn out in future.... or what to do with them. But then a little concerning thought came to her, "What if someone else comes in here before I do? ...Do my aunt or cousin know about you?"

"Right now.... you're the only one in the house to know about us," replied Suga.

"We can hide somewhere until you come," RM suggested, who seemed a little excited as V, Jimin and Jungkook were. Tina sighed quietly, "Alright... Suit yourselves." She opened the door and cast a last glance at them.

"Uh...and... Don't get me in any trouble, please?" She whispered in plea, then slowly closed the door behind her.

TinyTAN gaped after her being mildly taken aback. Suga turned around to face the rest with squinted eyes and cute scrunched face. "Why- She thinks we will get her in trouble?" he pouted.

"Is she annoyed at us..?" asked Jungkook, his face overshadowed.

"No, may be she is just tired," Jimin reasoned, "First days can be tough, right?"

"Yeah, may be," mumbled V.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she's annoyed at us, though," Jin shrugged, "I mean, it's not like our attempt at a good first impression didn't fail."

"And it is really unlikely that we will not get her in trouble..." J-hope chuckled somewhat nervously, "Basing on our previous times..." Everyone grinned sheepishly at this point.

"Okay, let's hide now," RM reminded them and they all rushed to hide again.

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AUTHORS NOTE
𝖶𝖾  𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾  𝗒𝗈𝗎  𝖾𝗇𝗃𝗈𝗒𝖾𝖽  𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 !  𝖨𝖿  𝗒𝗈𝗎  𝖿𝗂𝗇𝖽
𝖺𝗇𝗒  𝗀𝗋𝖺𝗆𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗅  𝗆𝗂𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾𝗌,  𝖿𝖾𝖾𝗅  𝖿𝗋𝖾𝖾  𝗍𝗈  𝗉𝗈𝗂𝗇𝗍
𝗈𝗎𝗍!  𝖠𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝖾𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗌𝖼𝖾𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗈
𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖺𝗉𝖾𝗇, 𝗀𝗈 𝖽𝗋𝗈𝗉  𝗂𝗍  𝗂𝗇  𝖺 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍. 𝖶𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽
𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝖺𝖼𝖼𝖾𝗉𝗍 𝗌𝗎𝗂𝗍𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝗊𝖾𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗌. 𝖫𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 !

✧ 𝗣 𝗟 𝗘 𝗔 𝗦 𝗘 𝗩 𝗢 𝗧 𝗘 𝗙 𝗢 𝗥 𝗨 𝗦 ! ✧

𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗔𝗬!

Assalamu alaikum!
19 October, 2020