I need you like a heart needs a beat.

■•●•■

I groan when I feel the sunlight on my face, my eyes feel irritated by the unusual feeling.

"Urgh, it can't be morning already," I mutter. It feels like I only fell asleep 10 minutes ago.

But why did that incident flashed inside my head and at a time like this?

I lay there contemplating whether to force myself up as my levels of consciousness slowly increases. Finally when I realise what is happening around me, I throw back the cloth that is giving me its warmth as I frantically look around.

Did something happen when I fell unconscious?

Did anyone find the stone or most importantly is the cage open?

Are my friends safe and free now?

"Thank god you're alright."

The awfully familiar word rings inside my head as I force it to work properly. But when I do, I stop myself from doing anything rash.

"Jin?"

"Yes you idiot. Why did you do that?" He comes in my front and wraps his arms around me.

"Do you know how much, specially I was worried?" While squishing the hell out of me, he retracts back and looks at me with his eyes roaming around my body— to check if I am safe and uninjured.

"Are you feeling hurt anywhere? Are you really okay?"

His questions never stops as I keep repeating that I am all fine. Rather I am completely normal like I've been born again. No sense of tiredness is there and..

"Taehyung's worried, so worried that he is going to slash Slake's head from his neck but we have somehow gained control over him. Though, I don't know for how long."

"That kid.." I murmer.

"He ain't at fault Pepper but you are. Do you even now what happened to you?" He asks with a tone so serious, as if my dad's soul has entered his body.

I force myself to sit against the wall as I feel my hair in a frightful mess. I do have a pretty bad condition, I think.

My hands and skin colour looks weak and pale, someone can actually consider me a corpse. I won't be scared or hurt if even Taehyung jumps away from me because that's how any normal person will react after seeing me.

I look like someone who is on the verge of dying because of a chronic disease and is barely able to live.

"You had poison in your body. And that type is the deadliest one," Jin sighs while rubbing the back of my hand. He looks up at me and brings my hand towards my face.

"There were two holes here— a bite to be more precise."

"I know," I confess. "And thanks to those bites, you all got out of there."

"But that doesn't mean you've to put your life on stake, Pepper!" He whisper shouts but the anger he has within himself is coming on surface.

"But you said we will be together even if it costs us our life," I give him a dorky smile with my voice so soft that I even think he isn't able to hear it. I wait for his response but when he doesn't for a while it is confirmed that he didn't hear it.

"I am going to inform Taehyung about you."

With that he scurries out of the room, not even waiting for my reply which makes me anxious. It looks like he doesn't want to talk about anything and fears if I will ask about the current situation.

I don't think Slake and his men will just go away after seeing that the cage is open. They want the stone which isn't still there. We only happened to open the cage and all of my friends being out there with those people is freaking me out.

Jin is the only one who was with me and now I'm all alone in this freaking room with anxiety getting the best of me.

I shouldn't have let Jin go away. I should've stopped him right then and there and asked about everything that happened during the time when I was unconscious.

Stupid me.

Why do I tend to get everything right when the moments have already passed away?

"Pepper?"

Taehyung.

He is here.

But I am not able to look at him with the same courage. I feel like a kid who just got caught for doing something she wasn't supposed to do.

Surely, he will ask me if I know the consequences of the deed I did that I shouldn't have done.

Well, but it is too late now and my mind isn't in it's best state to think about a lame excuse this soon.

Only one word.

Doomed.

I am doomed.

"Look at me," He growls.

Shit, he is quite angry.

And I can't do anything to cool him down when I know its entirely my fault.

"You knew that such a thing would happen if you touch the anaconda's head, right?"

I did but I didn't.

"You knew you will be in danger. Right?"

Sadly, I did.

"You said those words because you thought you'll probably die after that."

I'm guilty.

I'm so sorry.

"You gave me that hug and thought that was your last moment with me. Right?"

Everything he's saying is right.

Every single word coming out of his mouth is as sharp as a knife and bitter as a truth. I can't help but close my eyes from the growing helplessness inside my heart.

But his last words drops my heart into a black hole.

"You never relied on me, right?"

That are the words that I never want to listen.

It breaks my heart to the extent that I can even feel it stop beating for a second.

My instant reaction to his words are wrapping my arms around him, into a tight embrace— burying the side of my face into his clothing. I feel heavy lumps forming in my throat as my tongue feels sticky in my mouth.

"I love you and won't ever stop doing that. I trust you even more than I have ever trusted someone in my life, Taehyung. Please don't say this, just please don't."

My throat hurts saying every single word, I don't know how to express myself. Even those bottled up words seems to find their way outside my heart and reach him.

Then softly clasping his jaw with two fingers, I bring his lips to mine. For a second I try to pull away, afraid it is a forced one for him. But to my surprise he doesn't retract back. He stays perfectly still and passionate during the kiss.

So I give in.

He is so gentle with me, never putting any type of aggression in the kiss. Although I know he can when he wants to but he stays like that because for my sake. Even though I will happily give in but I won't ever force him.

Bringing my fingers towards his brown and silky hair, I pull him towards me, more and more as time ticks by. All the actions now performed by me as now I am the dominant one and him being a recessive.

At times I feel his lips molding into a curvy smile but the second I feel how aggressive I am being with him, my cheeks flushes red with embarrassment.

Minutes earlier he was so angered by my rash act but now all lovey dovey and forgetful about what I did.

It is good, I'm not complaining at all though.

"Don't you dare think you're forgiven," His voice turns back to being cold, making my inside shiver from the sudden change of tone. No matter how dominating and appealing he is looking right now, I should maintain my cool.

Soon I wrap my arms around his neck and attach our foreheads with each other.

But then I scrunch up my nose, the awful smell intriguing my nose as I open my eyes. 

"Taehyung, you should take a bath. You smell like garbage," My horse voice says as the boy scoffs but nuzzles more.

"Looks like your nose got impacted as a result," He pinches my nose and giggles.

"Okay, tell me the status," And by that he already knows what I am talking about. There is only one thing that matters now. He sighs and closes his eyes.

"They're still outside, waiting for the religious stone."

"We need to find it soon,"

I hum and close mine as well. He wraps his arms around the small of my back and pulls me close towards him.

"Check your pocket," He tells me while keeping the cool in his voice.

It is totally neutral. Just a slight bit of excitement over how I will react to the situation.

Slowly, I retract one of my hand back in the back pocket of my jeans only to find something hard poking down there.

Still with closed eyes, I frown.

It was never there at first place. I don't remember keeping such a thing ever.

I don't have any type of weapon or anything which is hard and brittle like this.

So what is it?

Something Taehyung is giving me?

Oh no.. is it that stone which he gave me on my birthday?

He found it and is now returning it back to me. You are worse Pepper.

"I am so sorry Taehyung. I misplaced it during our journey. I didn't realise it till now, I am so sorry I-"

"Wait wait. Are you talking about the one I gave you on your birthday?" He interrupts me as I look down and nod with tears brimming in my eyes.

"That is still with me stupid!" He laughs as he throws his head back, controlling his laughter.

"But isn't this thing a stone too?" I raise my eyebrows as he nods with a small grin visible on his face.

"Correction— religious stone."

My inside twists in excitement at the very word he stresses on. The thing we are waiting and searching for, for days is now all safe in my hand.

But it looks like a rather normal stone. If placed in the pile of normal stones, I will clearly be confused over which one is real.

But the main question is how come this is inside my pocket? I don't remember finding one when I was in that anaconda room and I don't even remember looking at this before I fainted.

"When I caught you and tried lifting you, something hard grazed my arm and when I checked your hand it was this stone you were tightly clutching on even when you fainted. I was quite shocked but relieved that finally we found it."

"But shouldn't we give it to Slake?"

I ask him. But something inside me twists, to halt whatever I am saying.

Why?

"I just don't feel like giving this to him," Taehyung replies while nuzzling his face inside my hair. The feeling is too fluttery that for a second I even forget the situation we are in.

"But why?" I ask him. He remains silent as I continue.

"Why does my heart tells me not to give this to him too?"

"That's because now that we have got the real gem, we don't want to give it to someone who doesn't deserve it. Even if we crazily searched everywhere for this small thing but now we finally know it's real value."

As much crazy as it sounds, that is true.

It is true, now that we have finally found the stone, we don't want to give it to anyone and want to keep it safe with us.

"You guys need to give it to me."

Shit. Its Slake.

"He's coming."

I bite my lips anxiously. Taehyung grabs my hand in his which contains the stone and gives it a little squeeze.

"How far?"

"May be 5 minutes."

Taehyung pulls me behind him, his type of style when it comes to protect me.

But the second Slake enters the room, he pulls out his hand in front of us and motion us to hand him the stone.

"No!" I shout the single word with so much pressure that I doubt if I'll be able to speak another word for few minutes.

"Oh really?" He guffaws and wipes the sides of his eyes. He raises an eyebrow at me.

"Give it now."

"Fight me," Taehyung challenges as I tightly clutch his arm in my hold.