UNKNOWN POV:

I stared at the wall, a grin ripping itself across my face as I stared at the piece of artwork in front of me. The whole wall was plastered with a collage of my angel's face, so many different shots of her, all of them capturing the innate beauty that radiated out from her.

I lightly stroked the photo nearest to me, hand lingering as I traced the outline of her face, the slightly soft curve of her jaw, the roundness of her soft cheeks with the natural rosiness that always coloured them, the big soft orbs of her eyes and her lustrous hair that framed her doll face.

I scanned the montage of photos, the shrine I had dedicated to her, the proof of my love there for me to see whenever I want. Photos of her looking up at the sky, leaving the coffee shop, laughing when she's on the phone, leaning down to pet a dog, leaving her apartment block as she ruffled through her bag.

I lingered over one of the shots I had taken when the wind slightly blew her scarf loose; baring to me the necklace of purples, blues and reds decorating her throat like a collar- what a beautiful sight it was as it sat above her collarbones. I didn't intend on gifting her that but seeing her after so long and alone for once I wanted to get close to her, I didn't mean for the man to intervene, otherwise she'd be here with me right now, where she belonged.

I looked down at the text I had just sent. The game of cat and mouse now began, and I was eager for the hunt. The thrill of it all excited me.

"Soon babygirl, soon." I said, fingers lingering on her lips.

BTS POV:

At some point during eating pizza and shovelling down cake, the atmosphere in the dorm began to shift. It was unnoticeable to Jackson and Yugyeom who flocked to (Y/N), Yugyeom being drawn to her like an energetic puppy and Jackson wanting to tease and baby her, but he was no less than a puppy too.

They left a couple of hours later. The moment they left it was like a switch had been turned, all of them had picked up on the uncharacteristic behaviour of their resident joy.

"Hoseok-ah, what is it?" Yoongi asked.

"That bastard has been messaging (Y/N) again. And I want him dealt with immediately. He can't keep hovering over her life." he hissed, teeth clenched and refusing to remove his arms from around (Y/N).

"Hobi oppa its fine. Very soon he won't be. Will you let go please?" she asked but his eyes widened, and his arms visibly tightened around her waist, the very idea of separating making him panicky.

She sighed resigned but she knew the concern behind his actions.

She opened her phone and called someone.

"Hi Trace. How are you? Its been a long time, huh..." she was talking in English so all eyes fell on their leader, silently urging him to listen well and hard so they could fully grill him later about what the conversation had been about.

"Listen I need to call in that favour. I need you to fly over as soon as possible with the rest of the team." She listened to the voice on the other end, voice unmistakably male.

"Its just that he's back...calm down Trace. I contacted you, didn't I? I kept my promise. text me your flight details. Love you too, take care. Bye." She hung up and looked at the curious eyes trying and failing to disguise the fact they'd been eavesdropping even though they hadn't fully grasped the conversation.

"(Y/N)-ah, who's Trace?" Namjoon asked.

"An old friend, I met him when I did some travelling across the US." She said, not fazed at all by the barrage of questions she knew were going to be coming.

"Umm...why did you say he's back? You mean it happened before?" Tae asked, awfully perceptive and having picked up on the word.

She fiddled with the phone.

"I haven't told you the complete truth. The thing is...the person doing this all is my ex."

"What?!" their voices yelled out in alarm.

"We were together during the end of high school and the beginning of university but after he moved in to live with me, he started getting really controlling and he wanted to know where I was going, who I was meeting, and he'd get really r-really angry if I was with a friend who was a boy and then...and then...if Binnie hadn't....I can't...." she dissolved into tears as she spoke, having brought up the pain of all those memories again.

Hobi immediately pulled her into his embrace and rubbed her back letting her cry. She covered her face with her sweater, her body shaking as she tried to take control over her emotions.

"I'm sorry...so stupid...I'm fine." She gasped between sobs.

"(Y/N)-ah, don't you dare apologise for what you've been through." Yoongi's voice cut in, it was firm and harsh but when they all looked at him, they could see he was seething with fury, but his eyes were gentle and heartbroken for (Y/N).

She didn't deserve to go through something like this. She was so young, and she had already seen the horrors and ugly truths of mankind's corrupt, evil nature. She had been through an abusive relationship, survived it, gotten through it and now it was threatening to poison her life again.

They felt anger surge through them at the thought of their small, young manager being hurt, abused, physically and mentally drained, body suffering and sense of broken. Never would she ever suffer or go through pain, not when they had each silently sworn to themselves to protect her. To keep her safe and happy.

Through the rest of the hour, (Y/N) got out between sobs and moments when she settled the full extent of what she had been through, anyone could tell it was hard for her to retell her story, and not one of them had a dry eye when she was finished.

For someone to go through so much and still smile and laugh and live every day unaffected by the last required tremendous strength and will. Looking at her they all knew and thought that out of anyone they knew, she had the strongest mentality and with that she would go far.

TRACE POV:

After I ended the call with (Y/N), I chucked my phone angrily, but it hit the sofa and bounced off Will.

"Hey, watch it bro!" he yelled good-naturedly but then got up when he saw my face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"(Y/N) just called..." his eyes lit up.

"It's been so long, how is she, where is she, oh man we need to visit her soon..."

I cut him off.

"She needs our help, she said he's back." I spat, and immediately my other brothers who were lounging around the room sat up.

"This time, it needs to be the end. He can't keep messing up her life." Vick swore.

I knew that, hell we all did, and we all wanted her to be happy. She had helped us so much even when she was going through all of that, there wasn't a single person for who we'd all drop our lives for and rush to her.

Vick already had his phone out, on the phone to secure some last-minute flight tickets to Seoul. This time we weren't going in blind, we had all the info on him, and we just needed to get this bastard.

We made a plan as we packed and left to get to the airport and this time, he was going to get ensnared in it. No way was this toxic piece of lowlife going to wander free to terrorise.

NAMJOON POV:

We all stayed in the dorm that day, too paranoid to let (Y/N) go outside, even though she insisted that she needed to go get her friends from the airport. I had already talked to Seijin-nim and asked him to get her friends instead having memorised their flight details when I had been peeking over her shoulder. Sure, she might be a bit mad but as the leader I had to take decisions that might not be agreed on by everyone, plus I was sure the boys would side with me on this one.

After she had cried in Hobi's arms, that was something I never wanted to put my poor heart through again, she was trying to manage her stress, anger and menstrual pains by busying herself. She was even worse than Jin hyung when he went into one of his moods.

It looked like (Y/N)'s outlet was cleaning. She kept doing it. After we had all eaten the cake, she rushed into the kitchen to clean, leaving every surface and utensil sparkling. She was a flurry of action moving from this place to the next, tidying up, dusting, rearranging, it was quick-paced and matched the anxiety she was feeling. Even Jin hyung looked exhausted at her cleaning with all her quick flurrying movements. Bathroom, done. Hallway, done. Living room, done.

I had to put a stop to it, before she ended up cleaning our rooms. That was dangerous territory- who knew the type of stuff she'd stumble across.

An idea sprang to my mind, and I slipped into the room I shared with Tae grabbing my state of the art, noise-cancelling headphones, the ones I had sat the maknaes down to emphasise that they were to never ever touch them under any circumstances. Scrolling through (Y/N)'s phone I chose her Disney instrumental playlist for her to listen to- I noticed it was something that calmed her and she often played it around the house early in the morning. I gently placed the headphones onto her ears, resizing it to fit her smaller head so they wouldn't slip off. I detracted the death grip she had on the duster and steered her to sit next to me on the sofa. I placed an arm around her and jumped for joy inside as I saw her lean into the touch pressing herself against my side.

She curled up against me as she finally started to relax, I rubbed small circles onto her shoulder relishing in the warmth her presence provided both physically as well as settling my frayed nerves as I waited in anticipation for manager hyung to arrive.

My phone buzzed. I looked down to see it was a text to say that he had arrived and a small warning to- be prepared. What did he mean by that?

The content silence and the drowsiness that (Y/N) had slowly started slipping into was harshly disrupted by a flurry of knocks at the door, then a series of loud pounds and then the sound of bickering. I looked at my side and realised she hadn't heard because of the headphones, he smiled at her half-lidded eyes.

Jin hyung got up to open the door, his voice mingling in with the others as he talked with Seijin hyung who didn't enter but left at the door. I could hear the other boys talking but not Jin hyung. Aish... I should've gone, now it would look like hyung was ignoring them whereas there was just the issue of a language barrier.

The doorway was suddenly filled with three towering figures- they made Jin hyung look tiny and he had the broadest frame out of us all too. Their features were strong and powerful- an imposing height, dark brown bordering on black hair with only shade differences between them. They had an olive complexion and were all well-built. I knew if I stood next to them, I would start looking short too.

They had assessing gazes, something told me that they were trained to be sharp observers, there eyes narrowed onto (Y/N)'s slight frame which was curled up against mine. I slightly nudged her, drawing her attention to me. She looked up and quickly scanned the room, her eyes falling on the doorway and lightening up. It was like a switch had been flicked, pure, sheer joy RADIATED out of her face. She jumped to her feet and ran to them, exuberance in her every movement as she all but...JUMPED INTO THEIR ARMS??!

----

The one in the centre easily caught her and swung her around, broad muscled arms tight around her waist as he laughed- a deep reverberation that filled the room. He kissed her on the forehead and set her down only for her to be swept into the arms of the one on the left. He was way more excited; he peppered her face with kisses, wrapping her tight into his hug and pouting at her when she tried to separate from him to greet the third man. The third man had an air of icy authority, his eyes despite their warm hue were chilling to look into but when (Y/N) stepped out of the man's arms to greet him, they warmed up. I could tell he was the most reserved and perhaps protective over her, he just gave her a brief hug and peck on the cheek and there was some sort of silent communication going on between them before he nodded and stepped forward.

He dipped his head briefly.

"Hello, I'm Vick and these are my brothers Will and Trace. I'd say nice to meet you all but I'm afraid its under rather horrible circumstances." He said in near perfect Korean.

We all gaped at him.

(Y/N) giggled; it was a tinkling laugh.

"Vick knows quite a few languages. He works for the FBI." She explained.

The maknaes eyes lit up, recognising the agency as one that featured in many crime dramas in the US. At least communicating wouldn't be a big issue.

The other two brothers looked like they were slightly following the conversation; they weren't as fluent it appeared.

"We're not staying for long; we've got to go set up but (Y/N) I swear that this bastard won't get another chance to terrorise you again." Vick spoke up, his eyes had descended into such a fury, that I could practically feel the rage and hate radiating off him.

"I've done a background check on him from the last time, it looks like his symptoms are getting worse. But after the psych evaluation we did on him, he's completely aware and conscious of what he's doing despite knowing he's in the wrong. That's one of the worst types you can get." Trace said, slipping into an authoritative voice as he stated facts.

"I'm going to be your personal bodyguard (Y/N) whilst we're here. You know the deal, and don't even try and get outta this one sweetheart." Will warned, his words underlined with warmth and concern for her.

They stayed for a while longer, talking out protection details with us but as much as (Y/N) insisted they remained firm that they were here for her and to solve this problem once and for all. Their priority was her safety, the boys were all pleased with that. She needed to be put first.

After the main details had been ironed out, the atmosphere slightly shifted into a calmer one.

The men had insisted on keeping (Y/N) seated in between them, Will's arms casually draped around her waist, fingers darting out to tickle her, occasionally pressing a kiss to her cheek or to her clothed shoulder.

"So (Y/N)...wanna go climbing?" Trace spoke up, a fierce competitiveness shining in his eyes.

She groaned and rolled her eyes, whacking him on the side and scoffing as he groaned in mock pain.

"Trace just admit you lost." She said to him, who huffed in return.

"I didn't lose! Why are you so scared to go against me? Why, can't win against me? Too scared that I'm better than you?" he goaded her, and it worked, the same competitiveness streaking her eyes as she glared at him.

"Oh, you're on Trace. And I'm going to show you, once and for all. Guys do you wanna come?" her voice turned from harsh and spitting fire to soft as she turned to the members.

"Are you sure we won't be intruding?" Namjoon spoke up, ever the mindful one.

"Nah, no worries man. (Y/N) will just lose in front of a larger audience." Trace piped up.

The men could all practically see the steam blowing out of (Y/N)'s ears as she stood up.

"Bring it." Her usually sweet gentle voice replaced with a burning desire to beat him.

(WHOO HOO! BRING IT BOYS! EH OH, I'MMA FIGHT BRING THE PAIN OH YEAH! WILL SHE WIN/LOSE? TBH, IF I MAKE HER LOSE AFTER THAT I'LL NEVER LIVE IT DOWN! SO...DIFFERENT POVS, NEW CHARACTERS, PLOT IS MOVING FORWARD! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE, I DON'T KNOW IT'S A SLOW MOVING PLOT BUT BEAR WITH ME, IT'S GONNA START GETTING GOOD- IT HAD TO HAVE SOME FLUFF, AND I REALISED I'VE MADE IT SEEM LIKE (Y/N) JUST HAS MALE FRIENDS BUT SHE'S FRIENDS WITH BOTH! JUST HAVEN'T HAD A GIRL FEATURE AS MUCH COS I DIDN'T THINK IT WAS NECESSARY MUCH TO THE PLOT! SHOULD EVIL GUY FT. IN THE NEXT CHAPTER, LET'S SEE! I HAVEN'T GIVEN HIM A NAME PARTLY BECAUSE I HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF ONE XD! ANY NAME SUGGESTIONS?? HMM...WHAT ELSE? THE BROTHERS HAVE HISPANIC ORIGINS FROM THEIR MOTHER'S SIDE AND THEY'RE ACTUALLY FROM ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOK SERIES HAHA, IT WAS A WHIM TO ADD THEM IN! LET'S SEE HOW THE PLOT GOES....)

THANK YOU SO MUCH, WE'RE AT 11K (CORRECTION- 12K AS I WAS ABOUT TO UPLOAD!) READS NOW! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING AND I LOVE AND WANT TO THANK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, WHO HAVE BEEN SILENTLY OR PUBLICLY SUPPORTING ME, IT MAKES ME SMILE AND LAUGH SEEING ALL THE COMMENTS AND LOVELY MESSAGES. EVERY COMMENT, VOTE AND READ MAKES ME SMILE- AND THEN BE JUDGED FOR LOOKING MAD GRINNING AT A SCREEN!

YOU GUYS MEAN SO MUCH TO ME! BORAHAE READERS! 💜💜

Stay healthy, happy and I hope you have something to do to pass the time. I pray that this pandemic ends soon and that everyone is strong and united during this time.

BORAHAE ONCE AGAIN GUYS!! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3