Jimin hastily crouched beside the freezing tub and touched her head, to which she flinched, shrieking out loud.

"No, don't. Please. Don't," her dysphonic voice pleaded, and she hugged herself tighter sealing herself away from him.

Jimin's mind was taking off in all directions, and not a sane thought could bridge in. He tried to get a look at her wrist, but she was a trembling mess.

"Do-don't touch me. Don't. It's so dirty. Please. I am s-sorry. Do-ple-please." Her choking pleads were like arrows stabbed straight into his heart.

His agitated fingers ran through his clamp hair in pure hysteria. He had to get her out, make sure she was fine and safe. Attempting again, Jimin ever so gentle hold the sides of her head.

Please don't push me away, he silently pleaded.

"Look in my eyes," he coaxed, voice like cozy blankets of comforting clouds. "Just in my eyes. It's me and you."

He gradually lifted her head and closed his own eyes. Anger, concern, fear everything was crashing on his head like blue bricks. His gloomy gaze trailed on her bleeding lips, pale cheeks, and red nose. Her eyes were not ready to look at him and Jimin wasn't sure if he wanted to look in her eyes. Afraid that what they may hold.

"Open your eyes. Remember, it's just me and you."

Her inky eyelashes trickled the water like a jewel and they slowly fluttered open. And there his heart split. Bloodshot eyes were trampled in agony and horror. The beautiful green leaves drowning in sapphire marine; a painful blend. Her lips were like a flower in stormy midnight, a wilted flower.

"Jimin," she cracked, fresh tears welling her eyes, rolling down her sodden cheeks.

"Yes, it's me. It's me," he softly said, wiping the dripping blood down her chin. "I am going to pick you up, okay?"

Leona vigorously shook her head, pushing his hand away. "No. I-I am di-dirty. D-don't. I-I am sorry."

Jimin gulped the lump rising in his throat. "You are not. If you are, I like dirty. I am getting you out of here." He didn't grant her a chance to respond and gently slid his hand beneath her knees, scooping her in his arms in one swift move. The water splashed around them, over him as he carefully held her. She didn't hold him but just kept her arms around her body, protecting herself. 

He gingerly carried their drenched frames into the bedroom and delicately settled on the bed, resolving her on his lap. Then Leona's hands flew on his shoulders, clenching the fabric of his shirt. A wave of trepidation clumped his stomach in knots, not knowing if she was about to push him or want him to hold her.

The cool gust of wind blew into the fuzzy twilight room in rhythmic beats, allowing the flimsy velvet curtains to dance in soft gleam, and with a shudder, Leona threw her hands around his neck, holding him impossibly tight. Jimin didn't dare to breathe and made sure his hands were miles away from her bare skin. He wouldn't want her to freak out by any of his moves. 

Attentively, he said, "I am gonna hold you, okay?"

She quivered against him, her face slipping in the hallow of his jaw and shoulder as she snuggled her face into him. Jimin wrapped her in his arms, pulling her close, as close as he could. For a moment, the world didn't exist around them. As he said, it was just him and her. Everything was awfully quiet that he could heed the breaking pieces of the woman in his arms, her unsteady breathes and the battle she was fighting within her to keep herself together. 

All of sudden she let out a whimper, gasping hard, convulsing her head, trying to push him away. "L-leave me. L-let g-go."

He didn't.

He held her tight, not with force but with his voice, with his eyes, with his melting touch. 

"Hey," he said. He could have given that I-got-you-and-you-are-okay-speech, but that wasn't she needed. She needed home, she needed something normal. And hey was the most normal and homely world Jimin could think of.

"Hey," He repeated.

Leona clawed his shirt, embracing his comfort and whispering back, "Hey."

A part of him soothed down as she halted resisting him, and he proceeded to rub the back of her head. "Now, tell me the three things you hear." 

At the moment, Jimin could have done anything to make sure she was fine.

"Your voice, your breaths, your heartbeats," her sheer mumble retorted.

"Good." He tightened his grip around her waist, resting his chin on her head. "Tell me the two things you can feel."

"Cool air, your touch."

"Tell me the one you see."

"You."

Jimin smiled in consolation, screwing his eyes in relief. His shoulders slumped down and he allowed himself to breathe deeply, before speaking, "I am going to touch your hands, okay?"

Her head bobbed over his chest and Jimin reached his hands behind his back. His thumps placidly caressed her wrists to just make sure that wasn't the case. He filled his lungs with the whiff of mitigation, bringing his hands on her waist he rocked their bodies back and forth.

"You scared me." He whispered, hugging her tighter. "You always do."

She didn't respond but just pulled away and looked into his grey eyes. The tears sprung in her eyes, rolling down and his heart ached. It was hurting him. Her every harsh breath, every drop of tear was affecting him. Jimin gently brought his one hand to cup her face, earning a hiss from her. More tears drenched his heart. He touched his forehead to her, thumb caressing her cheek.

"Tell me. Tell me what to do," He asked. "I will do anything to get you back."

Leona shook her head, eyes painfully shut, lips bleeding and trembling as her soft cries pierced his ears and he knew that he was going to kill that person who messed her up.

"I...Jimin..kiss me, please." Her lashes fluttered open, staring at him with hope and just raw defeat. 

A lump rose in his throat and his vision burned. God, just how hard it was for him to see this woman collapsing to skin and bones in his arms.

Her tiny hand came to rest on his hand which was cradling her face. "H..he touched me. P-please take it away."

Jimin stopped breathing, allowing himself a moment to swallow his tears. He hold her waist tighter, bringing her close to him as if he would cut his chest open and tug her in. 

"Please," her big turquoise eyes glistened with more tears as she dwelled for him to suck in her pain. 

"I am sorry. I wasn't there." He apologized and ever so lightly placed his lips on her forehead. Her body shook her a loud cry as she aggressively threw her arms around him, crying it all out. Jimin held her, tightly, protectively, lovingly, and respectfully. Her cries intensified with every gentle pat on her back, and he made sure to get it all out of her. 

He didn't know how long he held her, but when she stopped crying he knew that he still wasn't ready to let her leave. He felt complete. Holding her in his arms gave him an overwhelming feeling that this is what he was missing in his life. 

The peace lasted for merely thirty seconds cause his phone began buzzing out loud. The sound flinched her badly and Jimin let out strings of curses, trying to get his phone from his soaked pockets.

When the phone stopped moaning, the air around them shifted. He could feel the change in the aura as Leona's grip over him slacken. 

"Leave me." The fragile pleads were now evolved in that infamous icy and spine-chilling command. Flabbergasted, Jimin peered down at her, only to collide with her frozen bloodshot eyes. The turquoise briny eyes abandoned all the emotions, the warmth, the pain, and now they were the dark sea; dangerous, venomous, and mysterious.

Leona grabbed his hands around her and peeled them off of her body. The second later, she was on her feet, away from him. Jimin never so felt dumbly confused or lost in his life when he felt at that moment.

"Get out, Jimin," she demanded, raising her head high, straightening her shoulders, and adjusting the long doused wisps. And that's when he knew, that the dark Rapunzel was back.

He just felt that the alcohol was rubbing off his mind, making him see impossible things, but deep down he was aware that it happened. That she broke, she cried, she wanted him to comfort her, even if it was for few minutes.

Standing, Jimin's eyes snapped on the crimson patch on her arm. So, the blood was dripping from there.

"Didn't you hear me? Get out, now," she fused, trying to pull on her strong and glacier facade but now he couldn't be a fool.

"Firstly, I am not going anywhere. Second, stop with this act cause I saw you falling apart. Third, I am going to ring a doctor so please take a warm bath and put on some clothes," He said, looking dead in her eyes, hoping that she would let those walls down again and talk to him, allow him to hold her for a bit long.

Leona seized a step closer to him, her face abating in a scowl. She no more appeared delicate, fragile, someone in need of home and affection.

"I am very tired right now, if I say I will kill you, I will. Just leave me alone and get out of my house," she snarled.

How can you be such a great actress?

Dismissing her, he ambled into the bathroom, turned off the faucet of running taps, and let the slight reddish water drain so he could refill the tub with hot water.

"Jimin, leave! Just leave!" Leona boomed from the doorway, her voice breaking as she coughed harshly.

Again overlooking her, he walked past to her wardrobe and swing it open. Black. Not a single fleck of any color. Sighing, he looked for a sweatshirt or t-shirt but he felt her nails digging in his arm and she yanked him off the wardrobe. 

"I don't get why it's you and always you who gets to witness me like this." She dragged him to the door and pushed him out. Their eyes locked for a second sending shivers down his spine.

"I guess you must be happy since you saw me falling apart. You wanted to know right what I am hiding? Why I am running? Why the hell I am like this?" Leona's voice pierced through the still. She grabbed the hem of her saturated sweatshirt and hauled it over her head.

"What the heck? Le..." Jimin was going to blast at the moment because she was half-naked in front of him, but when his eyes decked on the myriad scabs on her body, he dissolved.

The pearly skin had old eroded slashes streaking her alive past. There was a scar running from her right breast to the angle of her waist. A tattoo was doing a modest chore overlaying it. There was another discoloration near her navel, then a new seeping one on her arm. 

She ripped open the box of rotten memories, permit him to take a glimpse, and then crashed the door on his face, leaving him in an abyss of unsought anguish.

His heart was aggrieved at the sight of her stigmatized skin. He couldn't get what was getting him so mad, why his nerves were bursting with her tears, why he could feel her pain, why he wanted to collect the shattered pieces of her and put them together and complete the masterpiece that she is.

He just wanted to. The reason behind his undefinable feel for Leona could be figured out later.

His fist battered on the varnished timber. "Leona, you better don't do anything stupid and open this door." 

The acknowledgment was her lull. He was startling, mind fluttering to all the feasible ways she could hurt herself. He was convinced that there prevailed a knife near the fruit basket and the thought alone annihilated him.

"Leona! Open the door dammit! I will break it, I swear I will!" He banged so hard that his knuckles burst and the painting hanging beside the door wall, splintered down.

Blood smeared on the wood, and his body shook with tremor. Jimin was aware that Leona is far more than adamant than him. So, he spoke about something he never thought he would tell her.

"I remember you." He closed his eyes, panting and reminiscing about that day. The day when he first saw her. 

"12th March 2017, the day I saw you."

The young girl with those immensely beautiful eyes, trapped over with a crazy mass of eyelashes. She smiled, making the galaxies envy those flawless dimples popping on her cheek. There was something in the way she move, that reminded him about the ocean. The silvery seashore sand in the veil of her long dress hugged her slender figure. There was a gleam of determination, sprinkles of life, a flicker of happiness in those emerald orbs. That was the real Leona. The first celebrity crush Jimin had.

"I was in a florist shop, and you were on a grant stage in front of thousands of eyes. God, you were so beautiful. I saw you on the television and I was so envious of that cameraman. Just merely for ten seconds, you were in front of my eyes, and after five damn years, I still remember you. May the world forgot you. But I remember you, Leona."

Is this the reason enough for you to not hurt yourself?

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