"DON'T SAY IT'S FINE WHILE IT'S NOT FINE.
SAY EXACTLY HOW YOU FEEL.
PEOPLE NEED TO LEARN THE TRUTH
EVEN THOUGH IT HURTS NOW.
LATER THEY'LL APPRECIATE YOUR HONESTY WITH THEM."

When Seokjin stood in front of that door, he started to go through a mild panic attack. He did not know what he would see behind this door, how he would find her behind this door. He had to fight the urge to throw up and numb his fear as he recalled his conversation with the police officer about her.

Officer Dong Man collected all information about the abduction and informed him and his manager of everything in the car ride. After Baek Heesung was rescued by his men, they picked Yoon Min up forcefully from her neighbourhood when she was headed to work. They took her to an abandoned warehouse in a construction site near Han River afterwards and kept her there for almost 22 hours.

Yoon Min managed to send her location through her smartwatch. During the interrogation, she explained to the police that it was purely by chance that the kidnappers failed to notice her watch. She noted that their focus was primarily on evading the police and staying hidden. In their haste to take her phone and wallet, they fortunately overlooked her watch. She realized it was her only means of calling for help, which is why she attempted to keep the smartwatch concealed beneath her sleeve as much as possible.

Her smartwatch featured an SOS function that could transmit location information to emergency contacts or authorities. She was aware that her watch was synced with her phone, and whenever she shared her location, it would alert her phone. Therefore, she waited for the opportune moment and sent the alert while the kidnappers were occupied with a video call, allowing them to miss the notification.

Seokjin felt a sense of pride in her ability to act wisely on her own. However, his sense of joy was short-lived. Officer Dong Man then informed him that Baek Heesung was the first person to see the notification on her phone. He discovered it about an hour and a half after she had sent the message, leading to his furious reaction directed at her.

The details were chilling. Her torture persisted for a brief period as they intended to relocate, aware that their current position had been revealed to the police. But just as they were attempting to flee with her, the police team arrived and arrested all of them simultaneously.

Yoon Min was still conscious when the police found her. After taking her statement, she fainted on the way to the hospital and had not woken up since then.

Seokjin felt sick in the stomach when he heard Baek Heesung's men torture her. They didn't have the time to rape her, or else they would've done that as well. He heard they beat her up quite a lot. So he wasn't sure if he was ready to see her, he wasn't sure if he could control himself.

Nevertheless, he had to see her. So he placed his hand on the door handle and, with a deep breath, opened it and entered the room.

The sterile scent of antiseptics and chemicals filled the air as soon as he stepped inside the room. The steady beeping of a monitor punctuated the silence, each sound hammering at the fragile pieces of his composure. His breath caught when he saw her and his heart just broke.

She lay there, wires injected into the flesh of her arms, attaching her to a beeping machine, most of her skin bandaged.

Seokjin was familiar with the concept of grief and pain; he felt them many times throughout his life. But the agony of his heartbreaking, the sound of the shattering echoing quietly in his ears - was a feeling he did not want to feel.

Overwhelmed by the tidal attack of sorrow, he managed to walk his way to her bed and stood beside her. From a close distance, he could see everything he had not noticed before: she appeared thinner, paler and lifeless. Her face had deep bruising around her eyes, a swollen lip, and a cut on her cheek. She was struck repeatedly - Officer Dong Man had warned him before.

He could see the purple bruises peaking out from beneath the bandages, covering her arms and shoulders. Her wrists looked red and swollen with abrasions and visible choking marks around her neck. Baek Heesung choked her with his bare hands at one point.

The sight of her condition was too much for him. His heart could not take in the fact that she suffered miserably from the cruelty of those monsters who tortured her out of resentment and jealousy. And the fact it happened because of him afflicted him, hot tears and silent sobs pouring out of him in the next minute.

He never cried in front of her. He did not wish to either. He was her bias, her superstar, her world and her favourite person. He could never afford to be weak in front of her. But it was incredibly hard for him to hold on to that identity. Right now, beside her in this cold hospital room, he just wanted to be her lover.

His fingers trembled as he reached out to place his hand on her head. He was scared to touch her, scared that he might hurt her because she was wounded almost everywhere. Softly caressing her hair, he pressed the other hand to his mouth to stiffen his sobs. God, how could they do this to her?

A flicker of movement. Suddenly, there was a quick rise from her chest, catching his attention. As he glanced down at her, her eyelids fluttered open slowly. It took him by surprise; as he gasped lightly and leaned closer to her.

"Yoon Min," he whispered, voice rough with the strain of holding back tears. Wiping his cheeks quickly, he covered her cold and swollen hand under his big palm. He squeezed her hand lightly, the guilt wrapping around his chest. "You're awake..."

Despite her eyes dull and unfocused, her hand flinched under his touch. He did not miss the flinch; in fact, he started to wonder whether it happened due to pain or something else. But he still held her hand and whispered again, "I-I'm here. Can you look at me?"

After a long pause, her eyes found him slowly. For a moment, she just stared, her gaze searching and uncertain. Then recognition dawned at last as she exhaled a long breath, shutting her eyes again. Then she blinked slowly, her brows knitting as if processing the reality before her. Her lips parted, and unexpectedly, a tear rolled down. "I-I'm sorry," she choked out, her voice breaking. "I'm so sorry."

A mixture of confusion and shock flooded him. "No, Yoon Min, d-don't say that," he said, desperation seeping into his tone. "Why are you apologizing?"

He could see her struggling, not just with the pain from her injuries, but with something deeper-something that carved guilt into the lines of her expression. She rasped, the sound of her voice a thin, fragile thread, "I-I put you in a tight situation. They wanted to hurt you...through me. I am very sorry..."

Seokjin's chest tightened, a flash of guilt and surprise lighting his eyes. He should have known she would blame herself. "Don't say that. Don't you dare say that, Yoon Min. It wasn't your fault. You were targeted because of me. It was my fault- I didn't tell you about Baek Heesung, I didn't inform you that he made a threat against you. I should've told you everything. It was my fault. They kidnapped you to get revenge on me. "

She shook her head weakly, the movement barely shifting the strands of her hair. "Y-You don't get it," she whispered. "If it weren't for me, they couldn't have controlled you. You wouldn't have been in that position. You wouldn't have been forced to make a choice. If I didn't exist in your life, they couldn't have threatened you. I put you at risk of losing everything you have-"

"Yoon Min, stop!" His voice broke. He had no idea why she was talking like this. "Look at yourself." He pulled his hand back and gestured to the cuts and bruises on her skin. "Look at what they have done to you! You were almost choked to death! Don't you feel even a little bit of pity for yourself? Don't you understand what I am going through right now, seeing you like this and being reminded that it all happened because of me? Because I could not protect you? You were attacked only because of me. Because they knew you are important to me. Because they know I care for you!"

His anger took the best of him and he lashed it on her. Why did she always act like this? Did she think it was awesome to blame herself for everything? Because it clearly wasn't. Feeling the familiar sting of tears he couldn't hold back, he walked and stood a few steps away from her bed.

A painful silence settled between them. After a few minutes, he heard Yoon Min whispering behind him, "W-While I was under their captivity, Baek Heesung kept saying things I can't forget."

Seokjin turned around, ears perking up. Her voice trembled, barely holding together. "He said I was nothing but a distraction in your life. That you pitied me and couldn't get rid of me. He said that I was stupid for thinking you like being with me, for thinking someone like me could ever be important to you. He said I was just a greedy, selfish woman who did not know where she belonged."

His heart clenched when her eyes, shadowed by exhaustion and pain, met his own. "I-It's true...I d-don't know where I belong. I thought I belonged with you because you are the only thing that makes me happy and alive. But I forgot for a while that I don't deserve you. I'm only going to bring trouble to you as Baek Heesung said."

The room seemed to close in on him, pressing down with suffocating weight. The idea that she had been tortured not only physically but also mentally, that Baek Heesung's cruel words had burrowed so deep within her heart that it threatened to destroy her confidence and their love- was an unseen threat. Baek Heesung made her question her worth and her place and her entire existence and brainwashed her quite cleverly. The urge to kill him just intensified.

"No," he objected, his voice thick with emotions. He stepped towards her bed again and upon reaching her side, he leaned closer and cupped her face carefully. She flinched, the movement subtle but unmistakable. Her eyes shone with guilt as she met his gaze. "Listen to me. Everything he said was a lie meant to break our relationship. He wanted you to doubt yourself, to doubt us. And you are not going to make a fool out of yourself by thinking that you're not important to me. Because you are and I've told you this many times. Don't believe his words, Yoon Min."

"But he was right, wasn't he?" She forced herself to continue, tears falling. "Look at what happened because of me. You were forced to choose between your career and me. I can't breathe, thinking I was the reason you almost lost everything..."

Her voice was so soft, yet each word felt like a knife to his heart. He wanted to kiss her and shut her up, but he knew it would only make things worse. He tried again, "My career means nothing if I have to lose you to keep it. How can you possibly think my career could ever matter to me more than your safety? More than your life?"

Her gaze wavered, filled with conflict and pain. Then she murmured, almost as if confessing a truth that left her hollow. "It shouldn't be..."

Seokjin's chest ached at the cold distance in her words, an unseen wall forming between them. But before he could say anything, she closed her eyes and moved her head slowly out of his hands, a silent refusal to continue. A silent surrender. He felt it then, the shift in her heart and the weight of what they had both lost in that single moment.

Panic swelled within him, sharp and suffocating. It wasn't just guilt that made her like this; it was something deeper, a shadow that hinted at the thought that maybe she didn't deserve him. He could almost hear the unspoken words hanging between them: Maybe it's better if we don't continue this.

The idea struck him like a blow. He could see it now, the distance she was building as a shield, the fear and shame convincing her that she was nothing more than a burden to him. His heart wavered, swallowed by the walls that were rising between them, walls she was building to protect him and perhaps to protect herself, too.

The room then felt colder and lonelier, and for the first time, he feared that the battle they now faced wasn't just against the marks left by Baek Heesung but against the scars that ran far deeper, the ones that might keep them apart.

☆THE FAULT IN OUR STARS☆

THANK YOU FOR READING
╚»★«╝

A/N: Whoa, I did Not want to post this on Jin's birthday but here I am...
Happy Birthday to the brightest star in the constellation of my life, Kim Seok Jin. I wish him all the joy in the universe💜

Also, Yeontan's death wrecked my mental health more than it should have. May that little angel be happier wherever he is🤍