Drip. Drip. Drip.

The sound of droplets falling one after another entered Yoongi's ears. The kind of sound that could keep you awake all night with the mere force of its persistency. It persevered, heard more than the soul than by the ears. This could only mean one thing.

He was alive.

His skeletal fingers started moving barely, his bruised wrists and the metal around them alarming him vaguely of the fact that he was restrained.

If someone ever said there isn't a person alive in this world who doesn't fear being trapped, that someone would be deadly wrong. Not a muscle constricted in Yoongi's body as he realized he couldn't move his hands. He didn't fear being trapped in darkness for he'd taught himself to thrive in the heart of blackness. There were scarier things in life for him and this wasn't one of them.

The looming, impending feeling of doom entered the space around him. A pair of eyes, one jet black and the other of bloody scarlet hue emerged from the darkness.

"Happy to see me?" JB's corrupt smile spread on his pearly white face. "Brother?"

He was stunning, even Yoongi could note that much. He wondered what type of price his soul had paid for his appearance to turn out so ravishing. If JB wasn't surrounded by an aura of devilishness, one could easily mistake him for an angel. One of doom, that is.

Yoongi grunted, his face a picture of detached aloofness.

"Where is she?" he asked flatly.

"She's safe," JB informed him politely, putting his cane in front of him and leaning on it. "That's all the information you need for now."

"I want to see her."

"It's gonna have to wait," JB said condescendingly.

Jaw tightened, Yoongi graced him with one of his most menacing looks, glaring up at him from under ruffled bangs.

"I'm afraid that's not an answer I can accept."

"And what are you gonna do?" JB let out a blood-curdling laugh. "Fight me? I wonder how that one's going to work out for you. You're not in a position to make requests, brother."

"I would very much appreciate it if you stopped calling me that," Yoongi grumbled threateningly. "I've gone my whole life without you."

"But aren't we family?" JB feigned heartache, his lower lip trembling. "I thought this reunion would mark a happy occasion for the both of us."

"I don't think of you as family, Jae." Yoongi uttered.

Hearing his real name out loud evidently struck a nerve in JB and his face screwed with disdain. For a second he just looked like a child who yearned to be accepted in a village that constantly rejected him.

"Jae is dead," the scarlet-eyed man spat. "He died the night I realized I wanted power more than I needed love. He wasn't fit to survive in this cold and hostile world. I go by JB now."

"What did you do?" Yoongi asked quietly, his eyes enlarged slightly and voice faint.

"You don't wanna know," JB sneered and there was a hateful edge to his voice, like he was deeply irritated. This was in stark contrast with the theatrical, mocking persona he had carefully crafted for when he was in front of other people. "Selling your humanity is never pretty."

"You murdered your own mother."

"As I said, it's never pretty." JB shot back harshly.

Calmly, Yoongi stared forward as if the mental image of that horrible story didn't bother him. JB was no mystery to him, he could see straight through that venom of a human being. He'd just outright murdered an innocent woman whose only sin was to love a man as heartless as him. He respected no rules and invaded people's minds shamelessly, using their deepest secrets and weaknesses against them.

He encouraged violence and abuse, turning it into a street theatre for the masses. He was the poisonous fruit of a filthy affair, corrupted by immorality and greed.

Most notably, he'd violently killed the only person who truly loved him despite of the way he had been born. His own mother.

Somehow harming one of the few sacred things in life made him even worse than the world's biggest villain. It was no wonder he craved bloodshed and created chaos whatever he did. He was the type of disturbing evil people read about in books and never believed would exist. It made him into someone who seemingly was unafraid of anyone or anything. He almost seemed inhumane.

"What do you want?" Yoongi growled, shifting on the ground.

"Ah, yes," JB snickered, glancing down. "Forever avoiding the subject."

Then he advanced closer, dropping to his knees gracefully and sitting down on the ground right in front of Yoongi so that he could be on his eye level.

"The question, brother," he spoke, making Yoongi's gut turn despite how clearly he'd stated he didn't want to be called that. "Is what do you want?"

JB rested his chin on top of his knuckles, offering Yoongi a thoughtful look. In his eyes a flame of intrigue was twirling.

Yoongi scoffed, making JB arch a brow.

"Well for starters, I'd like to have my hands free."

"Done." JB snapped his fingers immediately and the chains around Yoongi's wrists disappeared.

The black-haired man hissed, rubbing the reddened skin where the metal had touched, a little bit taken aback of how quickly JB had obeyed.

"This is to show you that I have no ill intentions towards you," JB explained.

"I want to see her. Take me to her."

"Nuh-uh," JB shook his finger, resembling a mother that refused to buy ice cream for her child. "Not like this. I meant to ask what do you want out of life?"

Thrown-off, Yoongi's brows furrowed as he stared at JB. He didn't expect this conversation to take this kind of turn.

"Do you want to forever be the fool in love with a woman he can never have? The loser who has his affections constantly denied?"

"This is not how..."

"Always second place to Park fucking Jimin," JB threw his hands in the air dramatically, rolling his eyes with exasperation. "I mean, come on! Who wants that? It must hurt so fucking bad, doesn't it?" he asked sympathetically, placing a palm on top of Yoongi's hand with feigned kindness and caring.

"No." Yoongi denied, retracting his head as if he'd touched something hot.

"I don't believe it. You try so fucking hard to protect her and yet she's always all Jimin, Jimin, Jimin," JB mocked, mimicking a talking mouth with his hand. "You literally walked through fire for her. I mean, give me a break, am I right? I refuse to believe you're not even the least bit hurt. You had her first, didn't you?"

For the first time, Yoongi's heart constricted painfully.

"Didn't you?" JB rushed to step in, having sensed the subtle but significant shift. "It's just not fair. She was supposed to be yours. She loved you first."

All of a sudden Yoongi felt so overwhelmed he had to look away. JB's words were starting to trigger something inside of him, something ugly and dangerous.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" JB repeated, tilting his head to the side. His large eyes swimming with comfort. "No one knows what it's like to be you. To feel what you feel. To know what you know. To be who you are. No one. No one puts themselves in your shoes. They don't care how fucking difficult it is to keep all those emotions inside and never let them show. All they know is how to hate you without bothering to see the man behind the mask. The little boy who did everything to please his father and craved the love of a mother whose suffering turned her cold and emotionless."

The lack of other sounds made Yoongi very aware of his own heartbeat all of a sudden. He felt a little bit light-headed, and he never felt that way.

"Being constantly hated sure is a burden, right?" JB said in a whisper.

"It's a burden I carry with me." Yoongi gulped, gathering every ounce of strength to keep his composure.

"And what hurts the most must be to be so constantly overlooked by her. You always watch over her and she never thanked you. You did so much for her and she never acknowledged it. You were the one who taught her how to love. You are the one for her. No one can take that away from you. Who gives a damn about some stupid prophecy? You were the one she was supposed to end up with. Not some damn bodyguard she knew nothing about some years ago. You've loved her since the moment you saw her and no one else can offer her what you can."

Affronted, Yoongi ran his fingers through his hair in a slightly frustrated manner.

"It must be so hard," JB gave a half-smile. "To not show any of your anger or woe. I'm so sorry."

"It's the path I've chosen," Yoongi murmured. It had become like a second skin to him and he couldn't take it off.

"Then leave it," JB said softly. "Just leave it. Take a different path. It doesn't have to always be this way. Why should you always conceal what you feel? Just don't do it anymore. Feel."

Emotions ran high within Yoongi and he bit his lip. His chest pressed with hurt left unspoken. JB's words were like medicine being injected into his veins, coursing through his system, and they were bringing an odd feeling of relief like painkillers.

"Just face your truth... brother."

Something snapped in Yoongi, irreversibly. It had been the first time someone understood him, truly understood him.

"I feel, okay?" he breathed. "I feel and it's fucking hell."

"What do you feel?"

"I feel like shit. I just wish she'd finally see me as something different than a monster." He said in between shaky breaths.

"Perhaps it wasn't always like this." JB crooned, his eyebrows dipped slightly.

"No, it wasn't," Yoongi admitted. "She loved me. And I fucking miss it. I fucking miss the time when we were together. Before everything went into the gutter. Before..."

"Before Jimin?"

The name pierced through Yoongi's chest like a bullet. His eyes quivered and he looked up to meet JB's orbs.

"Yes."

"Allow me to let you in on a secret, brother," JB leaned closer, lowering his voice. "You can have her again."

"What do you mean?" Yoongi asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You can have her again."

"No," there was some ounce of common sense left in Yoongi. "No, I don't want to hurt her. Or anyone else."

"Who says anything about hurting anyone?"

"Then what?"

"You just have to wait. Give her a chance to let herself love you." JB stated chillingly convincing.

"How is that going to work?" Yoongi sneered, still untrusting. It occurred to him he sounded desperate, but did he have anything else to lose?

JB scratched his neck lazily, a devious smirk making its way to his lips.

"You just need to let me help you," he said finally. "What's it going to be, brother? Do we have a deal?"