The whole ride from his apartment to Taehyung's house left bile rising at the back of the boy's throat. The sickening feeling made him nauseous, and the disturbing thoughts circling his mind left his gist clenched thinking what might have happened. Every red light felt like an eternity, and the distance seemed to stretch endlessly, even though he was speeding as fast as he could.

The heavy sniffles over the phone for just a minute caused his heart to sink to depths he hadn't known before. He breathed heavily, trying to wash off the choking feeling, but the more he thought about it, the more his heart fluttered in a sickening way, refusing to accept any dreadful outcomes.

Stopping the car abruptly and pulling it to a corner, Jimin flung open the door and ran towards the entrance of the mansion. As soon as the maid opened the door, Jimin rushed in like a bolt of lightning, jumping up the stairs and dashing into Taehyung's room.

"Taehyung, what—" Jimin started, but the words died in his throat as he halted in his steps. He saw Taehyung hovering over what seemed like another person on the bed. The raven head turned towards the intruder, revealing swollen eyes from excessive crying, a red-tinted nose and cheeks, and... Jimin's heart dropped seeing the smudged blood on Taehyung's face. He stumbled forward, his own legs feeling weak beneath him.

"What happened to you-"

"Jimin, help her" Taehyung's voice cracked, barely above a whisper. "Please, help her." It was then that Jimin realized, the blood on the boy's face and hands was not his.

There, she lay limp, face pale and breaths too shallow to be heard. Everything was too much to instantly grasp the edge of their consciousness.

"J-Jimin, help me please, help me save her" Taehyung whimpered, hiccuping between sobs as his shaky hands still pressed down on the wounds. Jimin looked at the silent owner of hazel eyes, his own existence frozen in disbelief.

What... who? Is it Ji Ahn? This is Ji Ahn... Why is she... why is she covered in blood?

"J-Jimin, p-please," Taehyung screamed his voice breaking, pulling Jimin out of his trance. Jimin's own heavy tears broke free, falling down his face, the scene before him knocking on the door to his consciousness.

"H-hospital, Taehyung. We need to rush her to the hospital, now," He said urgently, shaking the raven head's shoulder.

"N-no" Taehyung muttered, his voice weak and trembling.

"Taehyung, come on, get up" The blonde insisted, trying to lift him off the unconscious girl. "J-Jimin, we can't, no" Taehyung resisted, his voice rising in panic. "Taehyung, get up!" He demanded, his voice growing louder in desperation yet the boy only whimpered more, crying harder. "N-no."

"FUCKING HELL, TAEHYUNG! SHE'S BLEEDING TO DEATH, WE HAVE TO GET HER TO THE HOSPITAL!" Jimin shouted, his voice filled with anger and fear.

"WE CAN'T FUCKING DO THAT! WE CAN'T TAKE HER TO THE HOSPITAL, YOU HEARD ME?" Taehyung yelled back, his voice breaking with emotion. The blonde stared at him, stunned by the intensity of Taehyung's refusal. "Why not, Taehyung? Why can't we take her to the hospital?"

"Because... because they'll find out," Taehyung whispered, his voice barely audible, but the weight of his words hung heavy in the air.

"Who?"

"I d-don't know" Taehyung frantically pulled and stashed items out of Venom's clothes, laying them out in front of Jimin. Six handguns along with countless daggers and bullets. Jimin's mind went blank as he stared at the collection of black and silver metallic objects.

"What is this?" Jimin's voice trembled, his mind reeling. He felt like he was hearing sirens in his head, his veins pulsing as if in sync with his racing heart. Chills ran up his spine, and he looked towards Taehyung, who was breathing heavily.

"WE CAN'T TAKE HER TO THE HOSPITAL!" Taehyung shouted, his voice echoing in the room. "If we take her to the hospital, they'll ask questions. Questions we can't answer. And, they will find her, whosoever did this to her, She'll be taken away, Jimin. We can't let that happen, I-I can't~"

"Then what do we do?"

"Fix her"

They didn't know why she had so many weapons on her, but it was clear these weren't meant for innocent purposes. The sight of the arsenal was enough to send chills down their spines, alerting them to the possibility that she wasn't just the pretty caring girl they knew. Taehyung and Jimin exchanged worried glances, both of them grappling with the same troubling thoughts.

What if she's not just a mere student? What if she's involved in something much darker?

What if she's not just a normal girl? What if she... what if she killed someone?

"I...I'll be right back, just don't let her lose more blood" Jimin rushed towards the door, fingers tapping fast into his cellphone.

"J-Jimin don't leave I'm scared" Taehyung whimpered.

"I'll be here, trust me" and he dashed out slipping past the doors. The raven head leaned close pressing his forehead to the unconscious girl's temple as he felt her soft shaky breath becoming faint and fainter with every passing moment.

"Ji Ahn," Taehyung whispered, his voice barely audible over the sound of their shared anguish. He leaned in close, his breath ghosting over her ear as he spoke. "You know that I love you, right?" His words trembled with emotion, each syllable heavy with the weight of his feelings. "And I promised you I will never leave you." Tears streamed down his cheeks. "Please, keep your side of the promise and stay"

The moisture fell from his eyes tapping against her temple as it slid down to join the ones that escaped her closed eyes. It felt as though their tears were the only connection binding them together, the silent acknowledgment of love too profound for words.

______________________________________________

It wasn't long before Jimin returned, just like he promised. The first thing he did was drop the heavy medical bag over the chair and lock the doors to the room. He swiftly rushed towards the bed and shook Taehyung.

"Get off of her" The blonde handed the bag to the raven head, who wordlessly began unpacking its contents. Breathing deeply to steady his nerves, Jimin finally opened his eyes and focused on the task at hand, sitting on the chair beside the bed as he hovered over her prone form. He grabbed a pair of scissors and carefully cut the straps of the undergarment that secured over her skin, peeling it away from the blood-stained back of the girl. With Taehyung's constant press against the wounds, he had saved her by a mere inch from death's claw by bleeding to death.

"J-Jimin, she is gonna be f-fine, right?" Taehyung's voice was strained from the weight of his emotions, the tears still threatening to overwhelm him. Jimin remained silent, his focus solely on pulling the metal bullets out of those wounds.

"Jimin, please, t-tell me, please" Taehyung implored, his voice trembling with fear.

"TAEHYUNG, don't make this more difficult for me, please" he pleaded, his own frustration and worry evident in his tone. The words hung heavy in the air, causing Taehyung to break into fresh sobs as he watched the girl's face lose color second by second. "Look I'm trying, I want her to be okay as much as you do, we have to make her fine yes for that I need you to stay strong, she needs you to stay strong for her. Please get yourself together and help me! She has to be fine... For us. For you but she needs you to be her strength she needs you to help her yeah?" Taehyung nodded slowly.

"What can I-I do?" Taehyung mumbled gazing at the face of the unconscious girl while Jimin could see evident pain flowing down his cheeks.

"Grab me the tweezers"

Finding the bullet, the blonde seized it pulling it out chunking a strand of flesh along with his shaking amateur hands. The mouth of the wound oozed more blood. Jimin shivered watching the deadly metal poison in his grip and stashed it away in the disposal dish leaving the metal clanking. He proceeded to stitch the wound close, remembering every practical class he had taken so far.

Oh God, Please make it work!

It was a huge struggle but he succeeded in binding the two walls of skin leaving the stitches digging past the swollen flesh to hold it together.

Taehyung continued to wipe the blood off of her body meanwhile treating smaller scratches and bruises along the way. It was then that he realized a patch that dissolved into her skin covering the upper half of her spine. The more he dapped the rubbing alcohol against it, the more it separated from the skin. Taehyung scratched the skin gently grabbing the edge of the patch and ripping it off the pale skin. What it hid underneath left the two freezing in their skins.

A snake carved in the skin swallowing the upper half of her spine sat gracefully from the nape of her neck down to the middle of the bridge of those bones. The raven head dragged his index over the inked skin while he looked confused.

"When did she get... a tattoo?" He mumbled leaving Jimin peeling his eyes off the fierce animal glaring back as if it hated the idea of being exposed.

"It's a very old tattoo Taehyung, it's not new"

"What do you mean it's not new?"

"I have tattoos, I know a new one when I see one, this is ages old"

Taehyung peered shocked at Jimin. "B-but I never saw it before, I swear..." He trailed off as his mind began to process the many what ifs. Silence enveloped them, with Jimin hesitant to suggest that she might have hidden it from the raven head, the boy was obviously unwilling to accept that she must have kept him in the dark about this. Both were caught in a web of disbelief and unspoken fears, their trust in her now hanging by a thread.

"Th-there must be a reason right?" He whispered questioning but found no answer.

—--------------------------

"Is the bath ready?" Jimin asked, carefully holding the girl wrapped in a towel, ensuring the blood drip stayed intact. Taehyung nodded and began to strip off. In the bathtub, he slid into the warm water while the blonde gently placed the girl on his chest, mindful of her stitches. Taehyung supported her, making sure she didn't sink fully into the water.

"Will you be alright to handle her alone?"

A silent nod was all he got in response.

"Okay, if you need help, I'll be just outside the door. Call me if you need anything," said Jimin, patting the silent boy's shoulder before exiting the bathroom.

With the door closed, Taehyung focused on the girl, limp in his embrace. Carefully, he removed the towel from her body and tossed it aside. He gazed at her face, his mind storming with questions and complaints, words feeling like thorns cutting his throat to be on his tongue. As he gently ran his fingers through her hair, Taehyung pondered if this person in his arms was truly his Ji Ahn, the girl he fell in love with, or if she was someone else entirely. A look alike.

"Who are you?" For the first time, he questioned her identity yet it was just a mumble with a heavy sigh afterward since he didn't get anything in response.

Dampening his hands in the warm water, Taehyung gently caressed her face, wiping away the remnants of dried blood.

The crimson traces gradually dissolved, tinting the water.

He continued to cleanse her skin with tender strokes, yet those haunting thoughts only clouded his senses. Taehyung wrapped her in a towel and called out, "Jimin?"

"I've written down the dosage and timing for each medication on the box to make it easier for you. But, you'll need to be very patient with her. She might behave a little off due to the pain she'll be feeling or the effects of meds I injected her with, when she wakes up, okay?"

Taehyung nodded slowly, his gaze drifting back to the pile of guns and daggers on the floor. Each deadly weapon was marked with a single letter, "V." Jimin followed his gaze, taking in the sight of the ominous metal. He sighed deeply, the weight of the situation settling heavily between them.

"Taehyung" Jimin placed a hand on Taehyung's shoulder. "Let's not overthink, I am sure she has a reason" Jimin grabbed the raven head by his both shoulders rubbing soothing circles on his shoulder blades leaving the boy to let go of a breath he held captive that even he didn't know of.

Easy said than done but again what more could be done as the right solution to this situation?

"Let's not let this consume your thoughts," Jimin said, trying to sound reassuring. "It'll only lead to unnecessary stress and worry. Maybe what we're thinking isn't the reality. Perhaps she has no real connection to these things, right?" Despite his words, doubt lingered in his voice.

Oh, how naive! Such angels they were, consoling each other with so many maybes yet they didn't know deep down what a twisted demon they just saved.

Could this turn into a really big mistake they didn't realize they were making? Would they end up feeling sorry about it later?

Would Taehyung regret saving the honey-eyed girl? Could it be the rabbit hole of his life where everything would turn upside down?

Might it just end up being a choice he wishes he hadn't made? Or will choosing love turn out to be the right thing to do?

Amidst the whirlwind of emotions, bitter truths, and untold confessions looming on the horizon for the raven head, one question eclipsed all others, would he ever discover her true identity?

And if he did, would his love endure, all that comes in the way? Or would he wither away with it? Would he continue to cherish her, to hold her dear to his heart, even as the Ji Ahn he once perceived as innocent revealed her contrary nature?

"Heard me?" The former shook the latter lightly breaking him free from the chains of his thoughts and looked towards the boy for a response. Taehyung sighed.

"I don't know Jimin, I feel so betrayed- what if I have been kept in the dark all along, Jimin I-"

"I know, it's hard" Jimin cut him off before his torturous thoughts progressed. "But Taehyung at the end of the day she is the person you love and you are the one she loves. In the end, she's the love of your life right you can't let other things come in the way of that"

His eyes lingered on the unconscious existence in his room, her serene presence and gentle breath captivating his attention. In the end, she's still my Ji Ahn he thought, his conviction unwavering.

In the end, it's about 'us,' not just 'me' or 'her'

Love, steadfast and unwavering, pulsed through his veins. With a nod to Jimin, the raven head leaned in, being enveloped in a tender embrace, a sympathetic smile gracing Jimin's lips.

"In the end, everything will be alright as long as we're together," Taehyung whispered, his gaze fixed on Ji Ahn's peaceful form. "In the end, we'll find our way back to each other" he vowed silently. "I just wish this nightmare ends soon"

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ℑ𝔶𝔞𝔫𝔨𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔳𝔬𝔱𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔡𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔰.
𝔜𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔟𝔢𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔡 𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔯
𝕍𝕍

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