"The first daughter has escaped through the north wing! I repeat, the first daughter is on the run! Block all the exits and make sure Kim Jinhee does not leave the premises!"

"Shit! They have found out!" Namjoon cursed out of panic.

When we heard the rushing footsteps of the presidential guards echoed and trailed behind us, we began to run down the huge hallway of the north wing in our fullest speed, hoping we could reach the limo belonged to Jimin's family at the entrance.

In spite of being breathless because of the constant running, I found myself looking at Taehyung, who was now having my cold hand secured safely in his warm and protective one, as if he never intend to let me go.

Taehyung tightened his grip on me when he noticed the look I was giving him. His eyes looked at me ever so sincerely, so earnestly, as if those enthralling eyes were telling me to trust him, to believe in him, that he would do whatever it takes to save me from this evil palace.

"I'll try to hold them as long as I can, you guys keep going north!" Hoseok suddenly said as he stopped himself from running any further. With the little distance that formed between us, I turned to look at him in surprise, and I almost slowed down my speed but Hoseok shook his head firmly, telling me to keep running.

"Taehyung, we're counting on you to save Jinhee from this fucking mess. No matter what happens, don't ever let her go!" Yoongi shouted as he decided to stop running and stand next to Hoseok. They smiled at each other before they looked at us for one last time, letting out a confident smirk. Then they fixed their coats and turned their backs on us.

"Come on, Jinhee. Aish, those hyungs!" Taehyung ushered me while cursing lowly under his breath. For a moment, he was holding onto this pained look as his eyes were getting a little teary, but he quickly rubbed it away before he pulled me even closer to his side. I glanced at him and saw the determination fired in his brown eyes became more visible.

With the unceasing adrenaline rush, we kept pushing our legs to keep running away in the quiet hall, but it didn't hold too long until we heard the same energetic footsteps of the presidential guards, or maybe more like military soldiers since they all came under the command of General Kim.

But with the continuous footsteps of the guards, suddenly, I felt something strong gripped inside me. If they were here, means they have passed through Hoseok and Yoongi... What happened to the both of them?

I bit my lip subconsciously as I was starting to get restless at the thought of Hoseok and Yoongi getting injured. Oh God.. Please... Don't tell me they were hurt because of me...

"We'll stop them at all cost! You better bring Jinhee to where she truly belonged, Taehyung!" This time it was Jimin who had his step halted along with Jungkook. They quickly slipped off their ties and bandaged it around their hands, getting ready for a battle.

"No, I don't want you guys to get hurt!" I cried out as tears started to flow down my cheeks. Because I was so worried about Hoseok and Yoongi, the emotions were suddenly all beyond me, weakening me. I pulled my hand from Taehyung and stopped running, refused to leave Jimin and Jungkook behind.

"Noona, go!" Jungkook yelled, frustration was written all over his face because of my stubbornness at this critical moment of life.

"Jinhee, we have to get you outta here!" I heard Jin shouted behind me as he begged me with his kind eyes.

"But... Hoseok and Yoongi oppa..." I shook my head and cried out helplessly.

Huffing out a soft sigh, Taehyung decided to approach me and clasped my hand with his again. His genuine eyes were looking at me pleadingly, seriously, "No one can hurt Bangtan boys, Jinhee. Not when this time, it's involving you."

It was a wonder that only with those meaningful words, he managed to convince me with this runaway with him. I looked at Jimin and Jungkook with a sad gaze before I forced myself to tear my eyes from them and decided to continue running away with Taehyung, Jin, Namjoon and my best friends.

We kept running and never looked back until a few minutes later, our eyes finally caught the sight of the supposed limo. We were about to take a step towards it, when suddenly the presence of the military guards alerted us. Hastily, they took their positions in surrounding us, leaving us with no route to escape anymore.

Taehyung, Jin, and Namjoon quickly stepped forward and shielded us the girls as each of them looked so damn serious while holding out their possessive hands around us.

"Let my fiancée go, and you'll all be safe. Just because you're some rich kids, doesn't mean we won't go rough on you." Kai suddenly dispersed out from the middle of the group as he eyed us with his solemn face, but more specifically, he was looking directly onto me.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but we have always liked to play it rough. So, bring the fuck on, bastard." Taehyung replied with much animosity as his sharp eyes penetrated into his enemy with every ounce of anger. I guess his anger just doubled when he heard Kai decided to address me that way.

"If you said so." Kai simply said, and swiftly, he took out his gun and aimed it straight to Taehyung, suddenly making everyone startled in their spots.

I felt my heart dropped in panic because I didn't think Kai would go that far in stopping us. At that moment, I began to fear him as he looked like he would do anything just to stop the boys from taking me away.

While Taehyung, he didn't look a bit petrified at the sight of the gun, he just smirked and took a few slow steps forward until the gun was aimed exactly on his forehead.

"You think I'm afraid of this thing?" Taehyung asked as he mocked Kai with his significant smirk.

"I'm serious, Kim Taehyung. If you don't plan on letting Jinhee go, then I won't hesitate in any second to kill you first." Kai spat as he put more pressure on the gun, pressing it against Taehyung's forehead.

I felt my heartbeat rushed beyond me as I was so scared of Kai's words, and when he began to exert more pressure onto the trigger, attempting to shoot Taehyung to death, I quickly took the decision to act upon it.

"Wait, Kai!" I found myself shouting in terror, at the same time, catching the attention of Kai and Taehyung.

"I'll go with you... Just don't hurt them, please." I begged as I stepped forward, but Taehyung quickly seized me by the wrist before I could go any further.

"Jinhee, what do you think you're doing? I said I'll protect you!" He insisted furiously as he pulled me closer, rejecting the idea of handing me over to Kai. His passionate eyes were looking intently into mine as he looked a bit disappointed that I decided to back down from this fight.

"No, Taehyung... I can't do this. It doesn't feel right to have you guys hurt just so I can escape from this place. You guys mean so much to me... I'm sorry to get you guys involved..." I told him as I cried out helplessly. I tried to pull my hand but Taehyung still refused to let go.

"Jinhee, please, trust me–"

I froze in my spot as Taehyung's words were suddenly cut off because someone hit his head from the back that almost instantly, he passed out in front of me. I slowly brought my eyes down to see Taehyung who was now lying unconscious on top of the thick snow — motionless, disabled, and lifeless. For a static moment, I just stared at him with widened eyes as I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

It was as if everything was moving in slow motion, I saw Jin and Namjoon were being knocked over too, while Soojung and Suzy were already unconscious in the holds of the guards. And before I realized, I felt a jolt of electricity zipping through my flesh, making me dizzy and all my senses numbed that I slowly surrendered to unconsciousness.

✿ ✿ ✿

I slowly opened my eyes, and welcoming my view was the elaborated ceiling of my fancy bedroom. I quickly sat up from the bed and scanned my surroundings, just to find the presence of that particular someone who I badly wanted to confront with.

I tried to stand up from my bed, but because of my reckless decision, I felt my head throbbing at its worst. I pressed my temples and slightly groaned in pain.

"Jinhee-ssi, you need to rest." Kai walked over to me and held my shoulders, trying to help with my unstable conditions, but I quickly slapped his hand away.

"What did you do? Where are the boys and my best friends?" I confronted him with a serious gaze. I realized I wasn't in my gold dress anymore. I was now in my nightgown and I guess the press conference has long ended when I was still in my unconsciousness.

"They're fine. Don't worry, I have sent all of them home–"

Slap!

"I told you I will follow you! I begged you not to hurt them! But why do you have to be so heartless and hurt the people that I loved? I don't care if you're hurting me, but hurting the boys and my girls means you're getting into my bad side! I swear you're not getting away from this, Kim Jongin!" I yelled out infuriatingly as I sent a dark glare at him.

Kai slowly turned to look at me as his expression naked of any emotion. He was still calm, though I could see his cheek had a visible red mark from the strong slap that I planted.

"My duty is to protect you, Jinhee-ssi." He said in a low tone, his expression was solemn as his eyes fixated on me.

"From what? You should protect me from the devil itself — my father, because he's starting to control me like a puppet again!" I continued shouting out in livid as I couldn't find myself to calm down whenever I saw him near me.

Because what he did to Taehyung, to the other boys, to my girls just stayed intact and vivid in my memory that I couldn't look past it until I made sure I had done my vengeance for them. I wanted to hurt him so badly, but no matter how much I invested my energy on hurting him, Kai just wouldn't budge from the hits, which his calmness only made me furious as the second passed.

"If only you could look at the bigger picture, Jinhee-ssi.." He spoke out meaningfully as his warm eyes were silently pleading me for an understanding. At that moment, I might have noticed the hidden meaning behind his words, but because of my burning rage, I overlooked past it.

"What else that you want me to look at when everyone around me is just a cruel and heartless person! The President, the First lady, and now, you are also one of them." I pointed out plainly as my chest heaved up and down in angry rage.

Kai looked at me, and I saw a flicker of hurt across his eyes before he exhaled out silently and lowered his head. He didn't speak anything after that as he just stood there quietly, as if he was waiting for my next command.

"Get out of my room." That was all I said. And very gladly, he gave me a gentleman's bow before he went out of my room.

The whole night I was in my bedroom, I kept drowning myself with tears as I blamed myself over and over again, that whatever happened to the boys and my girls a moment ago was because of my own selfishness to get out of this prison. I cried because couldn't help but worried about them. I wanted to know what happened to them, I wanted to know if they were okay, and most of all, I just wanted to see them and tell them how sorry I was to get them involved into this stupid mess of my family.

And strangely, the other vulnerable part of me was feeling guilty over what I had done to Kai. I didn't know why, but my curious mind decided to ponder on the words that Kai had told me a moment ago. What did he want me to see behind all these? Why did he have to protect me? Was there any other reason other than it was only an order from my father to torture me?

It was after an hour later, after thinking and contemplating hard, and because my curiosity was getting the best out of me, I found myself approaching my bedroom door, hoping to see Kai. But a frown slowly spread across my face when I saw it was another buff bodyguard who was now eyeing me intimidatingly.

"Where is Kim Jongin?" I asked.

"He's with the President, Madame Jinhee." He replied, and I felt a slight relief that at least he gave me an answer, because a moment ago he looked like he was ordered not to say a word to me.

"I need to see him," I said firmly as I stepped out of my bedroom. The guard just nodded and trailed me from behind. Once again, I was relieved, I thought they would never let me out from my bedroom ever again after what had happened.

When I reached the President's study room, I stopped my whole intention of barging into that room like how I usually did when I saw the door was slightly left opened. I took a careful step forward and tried to listen into what kind of conversation that my father and Kai might have.

"President Kim, I need to know about the killer that you mentioned about. I'm willing to do more than just anything so that Jinhee can be safe and live happily, even it takes me to kill that killer himself." I saw Kai spoke as his expression was serious whenever he talked about me.

I felt my heart skipped a beat just as I registered Kai's genuine words into my brain. I slightly furrowed my brows as I couldn't understand why Kai was willing to go such length for me. Does he really love me that much? I frowned as I felt the sense of guilt twisted in my heart when I thought about how mercilessly I have hit him just now.

But wait. What were they talking about? Who's the killer?

The President let out a deep sigh before he began his tale. "It started from my marriage with Minhee, my second wife, which is also Jinhee's mother... We were so happy with each other, until there was this one man called Ki Woo appeared in our life."

I frowned as I was confused by their cryptic conversation. Why was the President suddenly talking about my birth mother?

I started to feel the chill covered down my spine just at the mention of my deceased mother. I wanted to say something, I wanted to ask the President, but then I just found myself staying rooted to the ground, because I was afraid of learning what was coming next.

"It turned out that Ki Woo was a psychotic man who was too obsessed with my wife for many years. When he found out that I was married to Minhee, he became furious as he decided to take desperate measures in kidnapping Minhee." My father spoke out as he clasped his both hands under his chin. His expression was unreadable, but I noticed his lips were shaking as those words escaped from his mouth.

"Everything that happened on that day appears so vividly in my memory. How Minhee was helplessly crying for help, how Ki Woo looked so mentally crazy when he said he would rather kill Minhee and die along with her. How he threatened me to immediately divorce her as he pointed the sharp knife exactly onto her neck. It was an absolute nightmare, and I lived in remorse for years because Minhee had to go through that tragic accident. She was so scared and frightened by the accident." The President closed his eyes for a moment as his expression turned dark for every second he was talking about my mother.

I bit my lip and clenched my fists as I felt my heart boiled in anger, knowing that someone was hurting my mother, and how my fragile mother was living in fear for her whole life because of that psychotic Ki Woo. I swore if I was there, I would protect her with all my life. But... my mother died because of giving birth to me, she did survive from the kidnapping right?

"What happened, President Kim? Were you able to save your wife?"

"Yes, thankfully, Minister Kim managed to stop Ki Woo from doing any further damage. After that, he was imprisoned for many years and because of his unstable mind, one of the officers reported that Ki Woo had killed himself inside of the prison." The President finally revealed, and for a moment, I felt the heavy weight in my heart being lifted away, but then... I wondered why my father still wore such a dark and gloomy expression.

"Ki Woo is dead, so... Who's this killer?" Kai asked with much curiosity.

"I thought it would be over... But not long after that, I received a threat letter from a man who called himself as Ki Joon." The President muttered heavily, and in his hand was a white letter that he slowly folded open. Then, he passed the letter to Kai. 

"With my father's will, I shall kill your future generation that you had with Yoon Minhee." Kai had his brows scrunched after he has read the letter out loud. He looked up at the President as his expression now a canvas of worriedness and darkness.

While I was muted in stunned silence, my heart pounding so loudly against my chest. The future generation that the President had with Yoon Minhee... Was the killer referring to me?

"With no specific address or any other information, the threat letters kept coming to me. Those bold red letters that smelled like blood scared me every day, making me anxious thinking what's going to happen to my beloved family. So, I became desperate and helpless." The President shook his head, as if he had been living in anxiety his whole life, knowing that a dangerous shadow was chasing after him and his loved ones.

"Because of those letters, I decided to hide Jinhee in the Blue House, the only place that I seek refuge in for my daughter's safety. That's why I never let her interact with other people. That's why I have been hard on her. That's why I never let her out of my sight. And that's why I tried to marry her off to any family that could safeguard her. Because I was so paranoid that Ki Joon might take her away like what it happened to Minhee once."

"I swear on my life that I will protect my daughter for whatever it takes. I'm willing to stop acting like a father... I'm willing to accept her hatred for me... if that's what it's gonna take for my little daisy to be safe." My father slowly uttered out those words as a small smile formed in his pained expression. His teary eyes shone with too much emotion that I had never witnessed before in the evil and malicious father that I had imagined him to be.

At that moment, I turned into utter speechless as I had never seen my father acting like this. Before I knew, I was covering my mouth in disbelief as I felt warm tears slowly forming in my eyes and trailed down my cheeks. Did he act like an evil father just to protect me? He decided to throw his loving and caring side because he wanted me to be safe? That was the reason that has changed him into a cold and grim father for the whole time?

"But strangely, two years ago, the letters stopped coming to me. I didn't know what Ki Joon was thinking, but it didn't stop my paranoia from nurturing either, it was as if his silence only scared me even more. But the situation became more difficult to handle when Jinhee suddenly turned wild and rebellious towards this family. It was hard to deal with her unexpected behaviors, and I almost got a heart attack when I learned that she decided to run away from this family." I saw the President huffed out a regretful sigh as he spoke about my runaway.

"I tried to track her down and was relieved to know that Chang Wook was by her side. I trusted Chang Wook in taking care of her, and I decided to give her a little freedom as the threat letters had stopped coming to me."

I stood there quietly in tears as my mind was wondering why the killer had stopped searching for me since two years ago. Has he been killed? Or did he have a sudden change of heart to finally become a human again?

"But yesterday... the threat letter came once again." The President exchanged a dark look with Kai. He then took out another white letter and handed it to Kai.

While behind the door, I waited nervously for Kai to read the content of the letter as my heartbeat almost thumped out from my chest because of the morbid curiosity.

"There's no use in hiding them. I shall kill your family as their deaths have been set in the name of fate a long time ago, and after them, your death would be the last, Kim Jong Pil." Kai read the letter carefully, and once again, he looked confused.

"I wanted to stop running away. I wanted to stop all of these at once. Tonight's press conference was to tell him that I am ready for this fight, for my wife and my daughter. As a father of this family, I'm here to beg you, Kai.. Please protect Jinhee from that killer." The President looked at Kai, his usual sharp eyes were sad and helpless as he was begging and hoping for Kai to be my shield of life.

Kai nodded courteously to the favor of the President, but he still had a million questions painted across his face, it was as if he was baffled by something that the President had revealed out. 

"With all due respect, President Kim, I have vowed to protect her with my life. But.. what did Ki Joon mean by them? Your second wife had passed away from childbirth–"

"Minhee is still alive."

That sudden news made me frozen on my ground like a bucket of ice water dropped down my shirt. I looked at the President with my eyes dilated in utter disbelief. His words echoed in my ears like a broken radio, and it took me a moment to wonder whether this was a dream or reality. But not until I heard the President continued saying...

"After what had happened to her, I have sent her out of the country, and now... she's living her life peacefully in New York City."

»»————　A/N　————««

Another hidden truth for Jinhee and you guys to handle.

How will Jinhee react upon the news that her dear mother is still breathing peacefully on the earth?

What do you think about Kai and Kim Jong Pil now?

No matter what, hold on tight, my dear readers. We are about to reach the end of the story, and I can promise you that I'll give an unexpected ending ;)

Thank you for reading 🌹

In 2...

Much love,
lynie

♡━━━━━━━━━━━━♡

𝓣𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮𝓻

"Now I know, Kim Chang Wook. You're my step-brother, for a reason."