•

Sooyoung agreed to drive me to the SM building because she didn't want me to drive with my state of mind.

When we exited the dorms together. There were already reporters outside awaiting us when Sooyoung drove out of the parking garage. Multiple camera flashes went off as I covered my face with my hands.

"Taeyeon! Taeyeon! Taeyeon!" They yelled, their cameras and microphones viciously strike against the glass.

"Soo..." I glanced over at the driver's side.

"It will be fine." She graced me with a patient smile that contrasted the look of panic swirling in her eyes.

Sooyoung thought for a few minutes before her hands gently rested on the center of the steering wheel.

Her attention falls on her hands then she smiles to herself.

She added pressure and the horn blasted. The reports retracted back away from the car. Sooyoung put the car in drive and managed to leave for the company building.

Once she got into the parking garage. I got off the car. I didn't have any plan on what I was going to say to the company board. Or if it was going to amount to anything. All I know is that I have to try. I have to try for Baekhyun and myself.

I make my way to the elevator so I can get to where the company board always has meetings about contracts, scandals, projects, and money.

There are barely any SM employees walking along the hallways but most of them seem busy with tasks.

A calloused palm seized my wrist without warning. I try to look over my shoulder at the person but I was tugged the opposite direction from my path. The front of my feet press into the ground to resist the tug until they back me into the wall. I come face to face with none other than Minjae.

My heart jumps into my throat. I can't shallow away the thickness. He looks around the corner then Minjae tugs me until he manages to get me outside the building away from any people.

What was he doing here? What was he going to do? How did he know I was going to be here? My thoughts raced with questions.

My eyes wondered about trying to find Sooyoung or anybody else but there was no one.

"Get in." He opened up the car door in front of me. "Please..."

"I just want to talk..." He explains, something unfamiliar lurking in his eyes. "Let me talk to you." Minjae's voice softens and his shoulders fall from their usual strong composure.

I bite the inside of my cheek. I feel the tug of war between mind and heart brewing making me hesitant to move forward or backward.

"Please, Taeyeon." Minjae's voice broke slightly.

"It's suppose to be me and you."

"Who you are as person to yourself is more important than what anybody else can say."

"I don't love Girls' Generation's Taeyeon. The one I love and know is a young women from Jeonju name Kim Taeyeon."

Even now I want to forget all the bad memories. Even now I can't tell which you is the real one. Even now the love and the hate has me trapped in a web of you.

I nod and a lips tug upwards. He closes the car door once I'm seated in the vehicle.

Minjae quickly enters the driver's side. The engine roars to life and he drives out of the area before I have the chance to second guess myself.

The direction he's heading in already a hint at where we are going.

We sit in silence the whole way to the apartment building.

I start to wonder if there was really going to be a talk at all. "I wanted to talk here if that's alright." From the corner of my eye I see him glance over at me then he gets out the car and opens the door for me.

We end up inside the apartment that I used to call our home. A place that was meant to be a haven instead of a hell.

It was noticeably not the same as I had left it that night. The dishes unclean and the trash over filled. Dirty clothes covering the previously glistening floor.

In the living room, the only light besides the one from outside was Minjae's laptop. The blue light revealing a crack in the TV screen that I bought for us to enjoy together.

The laptop dings when a notification displays in the corner of the screen.

"We appreciate the article you sent to us." I read to myself under my breath. What article?

The message eventually disappears showing an open document. My eyes widen at the words typed on the screen. I place my hand over mouth slowly walking back. No. No! It can't be.

Minjae comes back into the room. The shock still on my features.

"Taeyeon?"

"You had a hand in the article..." I mumble. His presence nears me after some time. He abruptly brushes his fingers along my expanse of my cheek. I lift my gaze up at him, there wasn't a hint of regret.

I move away from his touch. He drops his hand back by his side.

"I would lie for you." He did this on purpose. Made an article about me, him, and Baekhyun, sold it to an online gossip site. He reached out and wrapped his fingers around my wrist.

"I would go as far as to hurt someone for you." His voice darkened. "If it meant you would never leave me."

Minjae leaned in close as his short nails dig into my wrist. "I love you so much." He breathed out. I flinched at the coldness lacing through his words.

You don't love me.

You love to control me.

When Minjae tries to kiss me I turn my face away from him. Dodging his kiss for millisecond until he forces my face forward. His entire hand latching onto my chin.

He immediately crashes his lips onto mine in a sloppy aggressive kiss. I shove his shoulders with my hands. He finds my both my hands and restrains me from moving with his strong grip.

Minjae's tongue invades my mouth after he forces himself in. I can't help the pain that stabs my heart when he forces his hand inside of my pants.

I squeeze my eyelids closed trying to think of a way out of his hold. Minjae's lips graze my teeth and I take my chances.

I pierce my teeth into the flesh of his lower lip. He jolts from my sudden move. He backs away from me, touching his now bleeding lower lip.

I don't hesitant to slap Minjae across face. The surge of anger, regret, betrayal, and hurt translating through the red mark on his skin.

He doesn't move an inch, staying in the position the slap placed him in. Minjae's jaw visibly clenches before I come face to face with the fire ablazed in his eyes, an unfathomable blistering rage sending my nerves into fight or flight mode.

"You have to leave." My mind screams at me. I try to go to the apartment door.

A humorless chuckle rips through the air stopping me in the few steps I've taken. My blood begins to run cold and freeze from within.

I glance over my shoulder and Minjae is standing there with an ominious, unreadable expression on his features. I hear several clear clicks of metal resound in the room like a clock ticking seconds away. My eyes follow the sound to a lump of metal held tightly in Minjae's right hand. His thumb is peaking out of the inner part of the object. He lightly caresses the small device that releases the fatal spring of fate. The end of the metal buried in the fringe of his hair just above his ear. My eyes widen once I realize the gravity of situation.

"If you walk out that door..." He whispers dangerously low that it is as if he's talking to himself. He tightens his stance.

"I'll end both of us." He affirmed, the weight of his words pressing down on the sensitive trigger his index finger remained on.

•

This conclusions this long dramatic chapter. Are you surprised, frustrated, curious, or afraid? How do you feel about Taeyeon's actions? Do you think Minjae was the mind behind the article? What do you think of Minjae pulling a gun on himself?

I might switch point of views for the next update to show the extent of the situation with Minjae and Taeyeon. I know this isn't a jolly update but Happy Holidays, my lovely readers. I hope you guys are enjoying the holidays with family and friends. 🎄

Also EXO's winter album is gold. SM is hard working for the winter. First Taeyeon now EXO. Best way to end the year.

- Jiselle 🌸