⚠️ HEAVY DISCUSSION OF NONCONSENSUAL SEX, UNDERAGE SEX AND TRAUMA ⚠️

TAE POV:

The leers don't recede when I stagger out, back protesting and screaming with agony where a cane had whipped against my back, had rained down blows against my legs to sweep the floor from underneath me. But I refuse to let them see just how deep the agony ran.

Didn't let them have the satisfaction of seeing that beyond the wounds littering my body, their words, their actions, their deeds had scoured deep untreatable wounds that wept blood and roared with an agony to avenge, to make it even, even as my body staggers, stumbling against (Y/N)'s side. Feel her body steady mine, arm wrapped around my waist and her concern expressed by the tightening curl of her fingers and the shuttered breath, the wavery whisper of my name as she draws me alongside her; uncaring of the blood that stains the simple cotton of her dress.

And when the officers make a scathing comment, throwing slurs and slander at her, my body tightens, coils up with a rage that is accompanied with a thrashing, growling need to tear them apart from limb to limb for talking to her like that.

"I'll remember the next time that a whore's loyalty amounts for something." A dark sneer and leering eyes dismissing her, dragging her through filth and rather than answer she tugs me closer to her side, the swish of her skirt reveals the branded insignia on her ankle. That marks her as taken property of Lim. The sight makes nausea well up in my throat.

For that mark. For her. All I ever wanted was to free her. Not become the reason of her damnation.

And even though my body tilts heavily to hers still my hand fumbles over my clothes, tugging out a dagger as I draw her behind me. Grit my teeth against the pain lancing at my side as I block her out of sight, widening my stance even if it's unsteady.

Feel my fingers tighten around the handle, feel the familiar weight of it pressed against my palm, twirl it and let it fly, see it cut through the air and slam into the wood at the head officer's desk. See it embed exactly where his hands had been scouring through the velvet pouch with unabashed greed. See it skim across skin and cut a deep gash before the blade shudders, shakes where it's been propelled into the wood.

Relish in the guttural groan of pain as it pierces through flesh and scours a bloody gash, see the blood spill over to stain fabric and jewels and coin. And see the raw vulnerability of a wounded animal

Blood money.

That's what (Y/N) had paid.

See his breath shudder and his body hunker with pain and feel vicious pleasure at the startled, shocked look, pain making his features twist into a grimace as he curses.

See the officer who'd opened the door snarl as he lunges forward; stopping a hairbreadth away from me when a second dagger is tugged past free and angled towards his throat; staring back with grim unforgiveness, seething at his closeness as he grinds his teeth.

Feels the press of metal unforgiving against his skin, feel the dankness of his breath against my face as he hisses.

"Take one more step... one more step towards her and I'll string you up by your guts for the rest of the town to see." I growl.

Feel the pain lance across my side, hyperalert of every single sensation, of (Y/N)'s body angled behind mine, my hand curled backwards to fist into her skirt, into her side; to make sure that none of them laid their filthy eyes on her again.

"You want to walk out of here in one piece filthy bandit?" he grits out, breath bated as if a single movement will sink the blade into the oh so fragile barrier of skin.

And it will.

One step. One movement. And I won't hesitate to slit his throat open.

And it's only the reminder of (Y/N) behind me that stops me from lunging and hurting every single one of them and ripping out their tongues for every word of filth and scorn they'd thrown at her.

"If any of you so much as look at her, I don't care if I'll get hanged, but I'll be damned if I leave a single one of you alive for daring." I seethe, eyes dark with anger and boring into his face, see a flicker of fear morph his features into cowardice when he'd been so brave to slam my face into the bars knowing full well I couldn't skin him alive for it.

"Tae stop... let's go. Please... I just want to leave." Voice shaky and pleading, still laced with tears and sorrow and a shaken quality to it that has my hand curling tighter, feel her body press to mine as she keeps her fingers looped around my vacant wrist, tugging until I draw back.

Stagger as the rushing waves of adrenaline morph into exhaustion and crippling nausea as I step away, steadied by her as she moves to flank my side.

Move past the same officer who'd commandeered the station and had leered over (Y/N), feel her press against my side, grip tightening to stop me from lunging, hand still clutching his wounded one, cradling it with a vicious, gleaming anger and rage. Furious and yet... silenced. Because he manipulated (Y/N) into handing over a fortune for a bailing price, he tried to make her pay with her body for the leisure of him and his scum.

"I wouldn't have even waited for the moment for you to get close to her before I buried this in your throat."

But I can't even relish the blanched terror, can't stand to see his face as his bloodied hand stains jewels and coins.

Soiling (Y/N)'s sacrifice, her payment.

And my head swims with the overwhelming realisation and clarity that for my freedom she had exchanged her own. Had bartered with the money she sold her flesh for and had signed herself up to be slaved by the price of her body once more by handing over her savings, by handing over the very money that cleared her debt and marked her as a free woman.

And it was all because of me.

Her body is a constant line of comfort and support, staggering alongside me as she draws me up to a carriage; struggling to manoeuvre my weight onto the seats properly no matter how much I try hoist myself up, body slumped and every limb straining with different aches and pains.

She's a flurry of movement, all accompanied with the trickle of tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes glassy and hands shaking and breath trembling as she murmurs to me, brushes my hair away from my face, cradling me so delicately, so fragilely as if I'll shatter even despite the protective cradle of her arms encasing me.

Her grief is a tidal wave, spilling out quietly but drowns me in its depths, because I caused it and I clutch at her shaking hand, throat raw from screams, from pleas for her to go, eyes glassy and the vision of her blurring, drifting in and out of sight, nausea making my stomach churn.

"Why didn't you leave... why would you give away your freedom?" I shudder out, eyes clenching shut to stave off the blurring disorientation that seems to throb and pulse outwards from the back of my head, burns a line down my neck and sears across my spine.

"I'd never leave you Tae. Whatever the cost... you're my freedom. That's all I need." Voice raw as she leans against the carriage wall, steadies my slumped figure against her, her fingers flinching as they skim across torn gashes of fabric; fingers stained red; the colour blooms across her side.

My lips clench tightly.

I love you so much I'd die for you (Y/N), but why...

And even though the cost is a life debt, though the cost was that she's sold herself right back into Lim's gnarled hands... even though she's paid the price of my freedom with an amount that can never be surmounted to, returned no matter how much interest... how much I make the officers pay back with double the bloody vengeance... she did it because she loves me.

And our love came with a damning price.

"I'm so, so sorry (Y/N)... so sorry. I'm so sorry... sorry... I'm so sorry..." I sob, voice heavy and slurred, clinging tightly to her hand, encasing her smaller one. Ears ringing and head swimming as I look at her, feel myself drowning in the misery that takes over her face as she shakes her head furiously, lips pressed thin with a hardened rawness.

"It was my choice Tae. Mine."

It was my choice to make because I love you. And for that I'd have sacrificed more.

The clawing horror and agony is because I know... know that just as much as I love her, she loves me... that if the tables were turned, I'd have torn down every brick of the brothel to get her back.

I still will... I'll get you out (Y/N)... no matter the price. I'll get you back if I have to burn down the brothel to rubble.

And our hands remain entangled, her shaky breaths grounding even if they tremble with tears, even if her voice strains with an agony as the carriage finally comes to a still and the doors are tugged open.

She's there even as another pair of hands steady me, draw me against him with a more solid strength. A dark curse spilling past his lips as he tugs off his cloak and curls it around (Y/N), eyes dark and stormy and brewing with a terror that made my body sag. Crumple more heavily against him... knowing that we were safe. Both of us were safe.

And let myself sink into the half-conscious haze, mind almost disconnected with my limbs; brain trapped in a loop of the station, screaming over and over for her to go, thrashing and tugging and yanking futilely at the bars, lungs burning with a rage, with an agony that cripples me, makes my body sway as I try blink out black spots from my vision.

Feel her hand cling back tighter as if she senses the turmoil, or maybe because the words are spilling out, her name sobbed and shuddered out as my body sways, stumbling before it's finally lowered onto a bed.

"Tae... baby listen to me. You're going to be fine and I am too. We'll work our way out of this." Hands cradle my cheeks, thumbing at the guilt that streaks down my cheeks and as she leans over me, her eyes burn fiercely; shiny and teary but burning with promise. With not an ounce of regret in them.

She'd do this all over again if she had to.

And the same love I'd cherished, yearned, chased for and headfirst dived into was the same love that'd become her noose.

"(Y/N)... I need to tend to those wounds before they infect." Voice soft and agonised, low and raspy with choked, unspoken words that'd spill out in their own time.

And the warmth retreats; moves to the side and another fills my nearby vicinity.

Dark brown eyes that mirror my own, a face wan and terrified and features tight and pinched. Hands careful as he bites his lip to clamp down any rebuke at the moment, to swallow the hiss as he slowly unbuttons my shirt; reaches for a blade to cut the fabric away; falling open at my sides after he peels it away from the dark stains of blood.

Dimly I remembered mocking laughter, remembered derision and several swords pointed at me, remembered the jeers and the slashes, remembered what it felt like to be kicked down, booted tips and heels slamming.

Monsters.

They were the monsters.

And I can't help the deep groan yanked out from the depths of my chest when his fingers draw the fabric away from my side, fingers scrabbling to push his away, curling on myself and feel fingers loop around my wrist and tug it away.

Hear the implored trembling plea.

"Let Jin help... you're hurt. I should get a physician... oh god Tae what did they do to you?"

My eyes blink at her; will the damning fog away from my eyes.

See the horror crumple her features further as she stares horrified at the mess of my torso; at bruising and cuts.

"It... it looks worse than it is. Do I look like the type to go down without a fight?" I shudder, teasing and lilting but voice rough and thickened.

Clinging to her tightly and letting my frantic hand rest because it's clutched between hers.

She shakes her head, lips trembling as she tries to dredge a smile from the depths of her misery, eyes watery as she blinks back tears, ducking her head to draw in a shaky breath to still her overwrought nerves.

"Not my bandit. Never." She answers.

Clutching onto my hand even as my own furls into a tight fist between her grip, back arching at the stinging sensation of alcohol doused linen being pressed to the side gash; the ugliest and deepest one, blade sinking in further than even the officer had expected, though he'd grinned as he saw my blood drip off the sword's tip; the crimson stain of his vicious pleasure.

"...fuck." I groan, twisting at the sting that seems to scour at skin and make the gash sting and burn hotter, eyes stinging as I swallow down bile, lungs feeling as if they're slowly being set alight, a hot, burning intensity that makes my breaths shudder; filled with thick smoke and compressing, constricting around the heated uneven gulps of air.

"Hold still Tae." Jin orders, but his voice wavers and his hand trembles where he continues to clean out the gash, pressing down to stem the trickles of blood, wound still open and raw. Feel the hands slip away as he tells (Y/N) to move away from the bed; that he needs the space. And feel my heart twist painfully as her trembling figure vanishes from my immediate sight, hovering fretfully behind him.

Arms curling around herself to fill the emptiness of her hands as she clutches at herself, draws the hastily drawn cloak tighter around herself; eyes glassy and cheeks pink and tearstained; tears still streaming down her face. Quiet in her agony as she trembles and holds herself together with a fierce, unrelenting pressure that if she doesn't... if she doesn't then she'll fall apart.

And my hands tremble, fidget to hold her close, to draw her against me when the searing sting makes my breath shake.

"That hurts." I hiss, throat bobbing as I swallow heavily, a guttural choked sound leaves my mouth.

"Should've thought of that before you put your neck on the block being stupid and reckless." He grits back, words blazing but eyes agonised and worried, discarding the bloodied cloth to reach for another, fingers wet with the alcohol he douses clean linen with; deftly cleaning up the small nicks where the blades had caught skin, thinner, shallower cuts that crisscross skin, feel him grit out curses stifled partially by the way he bites his cheek.

"I told you only pull stunts you can clear up after yourself."

My eyes blink sluggishly, head swimming as deep pangs of pain resonate through my skull, tongue feeling heavy to form the words.

And hear distantly the rushing thud of approaching footsteps.

Hear the ragged breaths, the shaky exhales and the quick rush of boots clacking across the floorboards before (Y/N)'s tugged out of immediate sight. Folded tightly into an embrace that swears never to let go.

Tension and relief and panic tangible in every line and curve of Jimin's body as he encases her in his arms, breaths ragged and only exhaling when she curls close, when he's holding her and knowing she's okay. Hands fretting as they flit across her frame, a darkness to the usually soft features as his hands skim across her, murmuring too quietly for words to be picked up.

And she tilts with a desperation to him, trying to meld with him as she shakes her head to his questions, tucked within his tight embrace.

See dark eyes skim over towards me, glazed with a raw anger and fury that burns far more than the alcohol, eyes blinking sluggishly as I peer at her, head craned to keep my eyes on her.

See the seething rage carve his features into hardened marble as he stares at me with venom colouring his features, arms wound tight around the woman he cradles to him, jaw clenched and lips trembling. A vengeful sheen to his eyes.

It's getting harder and harder to keep my vision from blurring, from the darkness crowding in the corners of my sight to crowd close and overcome me.

It's getting harder to keep still as hands deftly continue to disinfect the wounds, broken hisses and grunts of pain, eyes blurring as I look at (Y/N), see how small she looks curled and tucked away even as her eyes peer at me; glassy but bolstering.

Filled with a fierce, fierce love.

How can you still love so intensely? Why do you not hate me for costing you everything?

"You'll be fine... and... I will be too."

Somehow... somehow she had faith it'd be fine... somehow she still believed it would be... and all I wanted... all I wanted was to believe that.

And the voice that rings out, damning and enraged and broken, is one that resonates and lingers—seeps into the final dredges of consciousness as I look at Jimin and (Y/N).

"You... you did this to her, You were meant to be her happy ending... you weren't meant to trap her. You weren't meant to—how could you let your life ruin hers?" the ringing rage is the final thing that seeps into my bones; batters against my weeping shredded heart and drives itself to the hilt in a way the blades never got the chance to.

And my breath seizes around it.

MIMI POV:

She's not here.

Why isn't she here?

My eyes drift restlessly, roving across the tavern with a sinking disappointment, heart clenching abysmally with longing, with want as my eyes drift for an umpteenth time to search for the one person who is very much not here. Feel my eyes rake over the empty chair and feel my heart clench tightly; yearning to see her. But still she doesn't fill the empty seat, she doesn't materialise in front of my roving gaze and the hand that'd been restlessly twirling the long since emptied glass is taken into a larger one. Calloused fingers entangling with my meticulously smoothened ones, rough palm brushing and grazing my own.

And dark eyes that share the same simmering eagerness soften, try to silently comfort and quieten the bubbling unrest and impatience, lips curving at the corners in an inviting lilt, the faint grace of his dimples as he smiles.

"She'll be here Min. Staring daggers at the chair won't suddenly fill it." he says, voice warm and rich.

"But she's late. To her own freedom." I complain, head tilting back to loll against the wooden seat, staring upside down at the tavern's door; staring and willing hard enough will have the bustle of her skirts and her infectious smile entering, will bring my (Y/N) to me the next time that door opens.

And as I watch, stare, as it opens and brings with it a portly man, face flushed with exertion a frustrated growl slips past my lips, snarling at the unknowing man caught in the line of fire; in my burning, harried wrath.

Where is she?

"It should. If that rough bandit's keeping me from seeing my cherished because he's too impatient to keep it in his breeches I will steal her away." I vehemently swear.

Eyes raking of the poor, abysmal turn up.

Where on earth was Jin? The man fronting this celebration of our (Y/N), had been insistent to ply the night with liquor and good food and his plethora of jokes he had to make.

So where was the man in question?

Was she with him? Were they coming together? And more importantly... Why weren't they here yet?

I groan as I draw myself upright only to sag and crumple against Joon's side; weary and huffing and dying with the absence of (Y/N) here to fill the void in my heart that was carved out and moulded to the shape of her. To her smiles, to whispered words and entangled limbs. To pleasurable peaks and even safer comforts as we came down from highs, struggled and endured together in the lows.

I missed her.

I want her.

And yet time dwindles and impatience soon morphs into fear, into worry. Teeth gnawing at my bottom lip as panic thrums through me.

What if she couldn't make it? What if she was sick or injured? What if something had happened to her?

And restlessness has my heart thrumming wildly and uncomfortably against my ribs, battering to get out, body cagey with a frantic need to get up and find her.

And it's only now I realise that the usual two behind the tavern's counter had turned to one at some point. Only realise it when Kook comes hurrying over to the table from the direction of the entrance, steps harried and eyes flashing darkly, body trembling and skin blanched.

Something had happened.

"I went to Tae's place, he wasn't there and neither was (Y/N). So I went to Jin's." Breath shuddering with panic and it only serves to stoke my own and my grip on Namjoon's hand tightens, nails pressing tightly to skin as I stare at him, throat closing up.

Body already half-rising, vacant hand tugging at the front of his shirt, eyes wide and searching his for an answer he can't seem to formulate.

"Where is she? Something's happened..." I grit.

"They're both at Jin's place and Tae... he's in rough shape. And the town's buzzing with news that today... today a bandit had been caught." Voice tight.

Something had happened and from the distress and worry I can already glean from Kook's eyes, harried and fretting because his friend was hurt... because somehow he'd gotten out but clearly at a cost, hurt and beaten... the chair scrapes as I push myself upright... what state must (Y/N) be in then... alone and suffocating under seeing her love injured and suffer.

I wasn't going to let her be alone in this and Joon's hand only squeezes in reassurance, eyes dark as he reaches for his cloak.

"I'll head to the apothecary to get some tonics and herbs... officers are brutal monsters." And the grimness to his expression, the clutched tightness to his jaw doesn't alleviate the harried concern, fuels it into an anxious fire that licks at skin and leaves prickly stinging trails of heat behind. Suddenly uncomfortable and compressed in the clothes I'd chosen to wear, tugging my cloak off the chair as I rush to the door.

Hoping and willing hard that it wasn't as bad as I hoped. That (Y/N) wasn't suffering and hurting alone.

My chest is tight by the time I reach Jin's place, swinging out of the carriage and hurrying forward, a tight breathlessness that only grows when I think of how alone (Y/N) is, how she's suffering as she watches the man she loves thrash in pain. Impatient and harried, lungs burning as I push my way past people, forcing my way through to the front door, twisting and finding the handle gives way... there'd been no time to lock it.

And flinch at the blood staining the floorboards, follow it and the quiet low voice and delirious groaned protest down the corridor. Follow it to a bed chamber that reveals a figure lying limp on the bed and Jin's own hovering, hands stained and dabbing at cuts with ointment that makes him hiss and protest weakly, voice slurred slightly.

My mouth dries at the sight, tamper down the fear at the sight of bloodied cloths and my eyes drift slightly and land on her. Land on (Y/N), eyes raking over her with a feverish itch that needs to be soothed, that she's okay, body jerking forward at the sight of blood staining her clothes and skin as she hovers, a blanched pallor to her complexion and her eyes trickling with tears, lips pressed tight as she watches Jin tend to Tae.

Hands skimming across her skin, not daring to grip her too tight lest she is injured, she's hurt and I make the pain worse but she crumples towards me, sob choked and strangled as if a noose has been tightened around her neck and threatens to end her once and for all.

"(Y/N)..." voice shaky as her name spills past trembling lips, eyes raking over her desperately, hands tugging her forward and body stilling with a nauseating chill when I take in her state.

See the way she desperately clings to the cloak, hands fisted into the fabric to keep it wrapped around her but the neck of it gapes, revealing the undone corset strings, the loose state of her dress, lacings hastily tugged.

A sick horror sinks into my veins.

No. Not again. Not again.

Bile stings in my throat at the sight of the hastily undone laces, at the weighted cost behind the sight, please don't tell me you paid this price for him (Y/N).

And though a decade has passed... though we've spent a lifetime together, though we've grown together, endured, suffered and healed over the years by each other's support and love... all I see when I see her now is the past ten years unravelling before my eyes. I see ten years of growth and growing acceptance and healing disintegrate, I see the seams of a fabric far too worn for use fall apart, unable to hold itself together anymore.

I look at (Y/N) and see the broken, disoriented 15 year old who was realising for the first time... in all its unrestrained, raw brutality... the life she'd been damned to alongside me, alongside the rest of us. I see her clutch the cloak with the same trembling franticness I remember her clutching the blanket.

And it's as if the decade has erased to show me her at her weakest again. Broken for all that she tried to fix herself piece by piece.

----------

There's stunned gossip that lingers in the air in the morning before the bidding even set for tonight. The air's thick with it and the walls seem to soak the hushed whispers and muttered words and exchanged glances, seem go trap the palpable astonishment.

That today... today there'll be a debut bidding for a girl. Whispers and bets being placed, the clink of coins or small trinkets or favours being bartered and exchanged with the indiscrete press of hands and bodies against each other.

That this girl... this girl will break records. She'll fetch a price beyond Lim's wildest dreams.

And sickened by the gossip, by the gleeful eyes and twisted painted lips of surprise, I avoid it for the rest of the day, nauseated by the traditional ritual of selling the virginity of courtesans for the highest price. That whoever could afford the heftiest sum could be the one to pillage and conquer the esteemed prize of maidenhood. Whether that was in boys whose voices had yet to crack and develop a natural low thrum... where their bodies were just as soft and malleable and delicate as their female counterparts who were barely... barely settling into the teetering adolescence. It was a hungered sought after prize. It was a conquest. And only the richest conqueror could afford it.

But at night... at night it becomes a revel almost. Inescapable in how even the seasoned courtesans find themselves watching with bated breath and curiosity how much the girl would rake in tonight. The entry charge already had bought in a small sum and the large spacious, grand open floor is crammed with patrons and potential clients and wealthy... filthy rich customers.

It's sickening. And the primal charge in the air presses uncomfortably, brings added attention to the younger courtesans mingling, it has me slipping away into a corner to hide unseen and unapproachable. Safe for the night at least.

But there's one person who isn't. And when in the shadowed sanctuary of my corner I see just how young she is... how terrified she is as she's steered to the centre courtesy of the gnarled claw hooked over her shoulder, my throat closes up.

Flinching at the sight of the girl I see. Eyes wide and lips gnawed to a bruised swollenness as she fights to keep still, hands wringing anxiously into the skirts of her white dress.

It's filthy. Filthy that they're selling her with the image of the untouched maiden. Because of course she is... she's a child. The words stick painfully in my throat and sit on the tip of my tongue, breaths ragged as my arms curl around myself, embedding into skin.

And this child is subject to the swelling waves of carnal hunger as she's displayed. A fresh cut of meat they all wanted to sink their teeth into. Prices ringing up one after the other, yelled with a brutal determination that gleamed in countless eyes, men and women alike, that this girl. This girl was their prize to take.

And as the evening darkens to night, the prices continue to rocket higher, a feverish frenzy building at the tangible taste of the girl whose skin has steadily blanched and turned sickly, whose lips have been gnawed to the point that the blood swells angrily to the surface, her eyes glassy and struck with horror and drowning as she watches her fate be assigned by a price tag.

And then comes the damning. The final point of no return. When the large price spoken rings out with its cocky assuredness as the man stands. At least somewhere in his mid 30s, hair peppered and streaked with grey.

And I watch her try to smooth her face into the taught pliancy, but as he moves towards her, body towering over hers. A man whose hand goes to slip around the tiny curve of her waist, slips unabashedly to rest on the curve of her behind, a possessive touch that explores openly with the knowledge she's his. For the night she's his.

Her virginity sold. At a price that leaves the thickened air of tension and news to swell to a breaking point... as if at some point the walls of the brothel won't be able to contain its risqué secrets and inhumane truths.

And from the shadows, a weight crushing my lungs, eyes stinging I watch as she's taken away, face struck with a numbness, a disbelief that refuses her to process yet. Process properly what's happened.

And I wish with all my being that she stays numb. That she feels nothing of tonight. Remembers it as nothing but a disoriented, disconnected haze.

Will it with every breath, every heartbeat and every fibre of my being as I slip away, unable to find restful sleep when the horrors of the night still cling to me. And somewhere... somewhere down the corridors of the floor that housed the younger courtesans, phantom screams ring out. Violent and broken and pleading, strangled cries of help that doesn't come, battering at my numbed body, muffled from the cage of the bed chamber.

Please don't be you. Please be numb. And forget to feel. Otherwise... otherwise this night will never leave you.

And I can't tell if they're real or conjured by the dark depths of my haunted mind, eyes still plagued with the sight of the girl. Fragile and tiny.

Sleep evades me, teasing and toying cruelly with how it dangles momentarily in my grasp only to slip away as my body properly begins to sink and unwind. And restlessness, a deeply carved ache has me stirring from the room, steps light and careful.

Morning's dawned with the quiet chirp of birdsong and streaming rays of sunlight. It's as if nature conspires against every damned soul in here, against the girl and brings the morning after as nature's idyll.

And my feet map out the path to her chamber, stomach working itself into knots and breath tight as I move to her.

I didn't know her. But I knew the desperation all too well, knew the haunted lost emptiness in her eyes and it's the morbid sense of kinship to her pain that has me stepping forward, lie dripping off the tip of my tongue.

Draws the man... the monster away from her side but not before I see the final croon of words, hear them and shudder as if he's put those filthy lips near my skin to murmur them.

And when he leaves, when he leaves I watch her crumpled form, closing the door but not shutting it; giving her the privacy she deserves without caging her further into the prison this room had become for her. Hurry to get something to cover her bruised, marked and bare form; carefully drawing a blanket around her as I kneel.

Watch as she clutches at the end of the blankets to wind around her but the shame and humiliation are burning into her features, head ducking as she closes in on herself. How she sees herself and how she knows everyone will see herself too. Her limbs are stiff; undoubtedly screaming with agony, protesting at every movement and her fingers fumble for proper purchase over it.

Her eyes are fleeting; too terrified to linger properly, swallowing nervously.

She doesn't look cornered... she looks trapped.

And her body convulses, shudders as she hunches over, eyes tearing away from my own, my stomach twisting into echoing, nauseated pangs when she throws up, still clinging desperately to the blanket as she sobs over heaved spasms, sobs as she clings to the soiled blanket because no other lifeline, no other barrier, no other weak shield exists. My hand moves to rub up and down her back, trying desperately to be the comfort for her that I never had for me... no-one should have to go through the horrors we did.

Feel her body tremble weakly under my touch, feel how small she pushes herself to become, trying to vanish from the space of the room itself.

"I know this'll never be enough but I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry that that man won you. I'm sorry you're stuck here. I'm sorry you're in the same drowning boat as me. As all of us. I'm sorry your life is sold away too." voice shaking and quiet, knowing full well she's just as trapped, just as confined, just as lost. That yesterday only marked the beginning of the rest of our lives until the ever growing debts over our heads cleared.

And the sorry is meaningless, it can't reverse time, it can't undo the past, it can't free her. But even so... even so I'm sorry. That she's stuck too. That our paths entangle with the same grim future that awaits us, stretching infinitely ahead of us.

And leaning close, body half-angled over hers I can feel just how small she is; how young and terrified she is and how her body had seemed swallowed up by the man's presence last night; his towering frame making her seem even more slight, more fragile.

She didn't look sixteen. She didn't look like the customary age to begin the bidding. She was young. She was younger... I knew it. But I still prayed I was wrong.

"How old. How old are you? Listen... How old are you?" urgent and pleading.

Please let me be wrong.

The words slowly filter through, her eyes glazed with tears and an empty disconnection that rings panic bells through my head, see the sluggish movement as she focuses on the shape my lips make as I speak, as if she can't even connect to the sound of my voice properly.

"15. 15..." she answers, hollow and quiet. Empty.

The ice seeping through my veins turns into large shards that drive inwards; burying themselves to the hilt. It makes my lungs clench tightly, constricting painfully around nothing; struggling to draw in air to calm the burning roar of agony and anger simultaneously carving their way through my insides.

"Name... what's your name?" I ask, see the same emptiness, the hollowed out look and the sluggish comprehension as I repeat the question.

Spine tightening at the sluggish slowness of her answer as if grasping onto the answer is too hard.

"(Y/N)... name... (Y/N)."

"(Y/N) my name... my name's Jimin. I'll look after you from now on. You're not alone okay, remember that. You're not going to hurt alone again. I'll get you help. I'll make sure you're okay. I can't believe they did this... okay, it's okay. You're okay." I murmur, a mantra trying to soothe and dispel the nauseating clench of my stomach as I talk to her, see her knuckles whiten from how tightly she continues to grip the soiled blanket, refusing to let go.

And I try coax her to stand, slowly trying to get her up from the hard floor and see her legs buckle, feel her body crumple to the ground and sink down alongside her, see her struggle as she wills and pleads and begs for her body to cooperate, to move properly. Crying out at the pain radiating through her body as she sobs, begs.

"Jimin please... make it stop. I don't want... It hurts... make it stop. Please Jimin. Make it stop."

And I can't. I can't make it stop, I can't ease away the pain.

So I hold her, hold her to me, arms winding tightly around her small frame, clinging to her desperately and with far too much force but she sags against me. Sags against me and sobs against my skin with broken pleas for an out that none of us have or can afford.

And until we can buy back our freedom we'll earn with the only way we know. With our bodies.

And it's hours, hours later when she's asleep in my room instead of hers; bathed and dressed in clothes that hung far, far too big for her and asleep. Asleep with exhaustion. She'd tired herself out with tears, sobbing in the private bathing chamber Jin had quickly moved her towards; steered her with flitting hands that hadn't properly settled on her skin, assuaging her trembling flinching form.

He wasn't the eldest of the post-appointment carers, he wasn't one of the elderly, detached figures who cycled through post-care as if it was a chore.

Jin was still fairly new, still learning the trade. But he had a comfort that went beyond the care and tender carefulness he worked with. And when he'd seen (Y/N), his skin had turned blanched and his eyes had burned and yet he'd tried as much as he could to tend to her without directly touching her, trying to ease away the aches with tonics and herbal pills but in the end she'd sobbed, cramped and aching and pleaded for him to help numb it.

Had fallen asleep not too long after as the two of us redressed her; my eyes burnt permanently with the memory of how bruised and marked and mauled her body was, with how a man at least two decades older than her had done this, had left her body crumpling and folding in on itself.

I couldn't save her, couldn't somehow make the nightmarish hell we were living to vanish. But I'd do anything and everything to make sure I never saw the same haunted emptiness in her eyes and to chase away its lingering phantoms.

I'd pay any cost to help her heal and survive.

And as she sleeps, my fingers brush over hers that remain curled in the blanket, keeping it tucked against her.

And maybe the two of us would survive together.

(Y/N) POV:

There's safety and temporary reprieve in his arms, but they cling and hold onto me with the vow of never letting go, of never letting me leave.

There's hurt and agony and pain in the fierce crushing grip of his hug trying to fuse and meld me to him, trying to hide me within him, trying to make the world beyond the safe cocoon of his hold vanish.

And I grip back just as tightly, burrowing against the familiar scent and feel of his clothes and skin against me, cling tightly with shaking hands at him to tug him impossibly closer and feel him become the barrier, the shelter the cloak couldn't be.

But my head turns, turns as it rests against his chest and chases the wild acceleration of his pulse thudding furiously behind the cage of skin, flesh and bones, holding onto the sight of Tae; throat tight and clenched, closing in on itself as I look at how beaten he looks, body sagged and crumpled against the sheets. Surrounded by bloodied cloths and tonics and herbs that I couldn't even begin to filter through, breath shuddering at how his own head is craned to hold my gaze.

A storm of emotions drowning the weak flicker, tired and aching, of his eyes as they hold mine, trying to bite down the flinch as he dredges the corners of his lips up. Shakes his head slightly, trying to dispel the nauseating flood of tears and relief that continue to batter at my insides; throat raw and eyes damp.

He's okay. He's alive. He's safe.

Everything's worth it.

"Baby... when you didn't show... sweetheart what happened?" he asks, voice agonised and raw, trembling as he looks at me, coaxes my face to tear away from gazing at Tae and towards him instead. See tears welled up in his eyes and catching on his waterline, brimming with a grief that shows he's shattered. Imploring me to say something different, something that's a far, sharp cry from what he's pieced together. His hands tremble, one curved around me and the other moves to brush away tears that just won't stop trickling down my cheeks with a feverish, scorching heat, burning trails across skin and dripping onto my clavicle, the exposed slither of skin where I'd tugged my corset open.

Reminding me that I didn't have another story to tell Jimin, I didn't have anything to tell but the truth. That even though it cost everything, it was a price I'd pay willingly over and over.

That Tae was that person for me.

That if I'd been freed and he'd been... dead, the thought wracks my body with violent tremors, it wouldn't have been a life at all. Definitely not one worth living. That for the cost of his life, freedom was a very, very small price to pay.

I'd rather him alive and living and healthy than not having him at all. That the start of a new chapter... a new book of our lives together was not going to come at the price of my happy ending being stolen, I'd rather live the same story until I had no more breath. That even confined in the same life I'd been living, I was happy to love him, see him, be with him. That it was but a thorn in our side. And one I'd let embed deep into my skin and tear at flesh and weep blood but at least Tae was here, he was in front of my eyes, and he was going to be okay.

"Tae... I had to get Tae out." I whisper, voice shaking and trembling, quieter because the last thing I wanted was for his pained expression to twist with agony. I could see the cost suffocate him but I refused to exchange one noose for another. I would... would absolve him of that guilt.

And silently his eyes hold the burning, heartbroken agony. See furiously shining eyes darken as they drift downwards, lips pressing tight as he shakes his head. Tries to dispel the thought from his mind.

But there's more and like always he just knows, face crumping. Soft features marred with grief.

"(Y/N)... what did you do?" Voice cracking with misery.

And though freedom had been but a fleeting taste, the feelings, the love I have for Tae is far, far stronger, permanent and endless.

I simply did what I had to do.

My lips dredge up at the corners, trembling as I smile at him.

"What you told me to have strength to do... chase my happy ending."

And Mimi's face shutters, agony scours every line and curve of his body, shatters the ever strong composure and disintegrates it to rubble right before my eyes.

His grip tightens as if he's terrified I'll slip away, as if this feeling is only temporary to be in his arms and as full comprehension dawns on his voice, a choked, wounded noise leaves his throat.

Because at some point my happy ending had shifted. It wasn't freedom, it wasn't a new start, it wasn't simply leaving the brothel... it'd shifted to a person, my happy ending orbited around my person, my someone... At some point I'd learnt my happy ending was Tae. And to save him, to have him alive was a given. Was something I did in a heartbeat and I'd do so quicker even if I had to again.

And I can feel the shudders wrack my body, can feel the way his grip intensifies in response, desperate to not let go and even though he folds me away, keeps me tucked safe in his arms, in the refuge of the space that is entirely Mimi, my eyes remain fixed on Tae.

Clinging to Mimi with the tightness I want to cradle Tae with, eyes watering at the flinched groan as his eyes flutter, slowly losing lucidity in them, no longer thrashing and hissing as much against Jin's painstakingly careful touches.

And in the cocoon of his arms, trying to ease away the nervous shudders that wrack my frame, another presence draws my eyes away.

Body sagging with relief at the sight of Joon hurrying forward, crumpling heavily against Mimi with an overwhelming sense of profound relief that makes my legs buckle. Steadied by Jimin with a whispered curse, body immediately righting mine and drawing it against his.

Breath wavering as I cling tighter to Mimi but move to draw myself away, to stagger towards the sight as I watch the grimness tighten Joon's jaw, see the shadowed anger and concern mar his gentle eyes and his hands steady as he opens the small kit and tugs out herbs and tonics, clean bandages and gauze.

Feel my body tilt desperately towards the sight of the two of them tending to Tae; his skin gleaming with perspiration and eyes fluttering as they fight for the final dredges of consciousness, peering at me with a loose curved smile and tearstained cheeks that quietly dampen with his guilt no matter how much he tries to swallow it down.

"Joon... help him. Please... just make sure he's okay." I plead, throat tight as I try tug myself free to get to the bed, feel the firm curl of arms banded across my back; heat searing through the fabric as Jimin's own breath wavers. As if he physically can't bring himself to let go.

And Joon's eyes rake over the two of us, tries to loosen the clench of his jaw with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes, subtly examining me too.

Because never have I heard such venom pour past his lips, such unbridled rage that threatens to suffocate in its intensity. Never has Jimin ever lost control to this extent.

"You... you did this to her, You were meant to be her happy ending... you weren't meant to trap her. You weren't meant to—how could you let your life ruin hers?" corrosive anger scours and makes my skin feel raw, as if the anger is directed towards me even if his eyes pin and glare at Tae.

"Mimi no... I'd pay the price over and over... but I was never going to leave him."

Clutching at him as I see Tae go still, see how the pain drags him under the lull of rest and reprieve, ache to go close to him but see how the other two are quietly clustered close, flinching away at the sight of Joon threading a surgical needle to stitch him up.

Burrowing away because I don't have the strength to see.

And Mimi doesn't have the strength to let go.

And he draws my body back, sinking down with me, clutching at me with the same tightness I remember from a decade ago, with the same vows and promises in his eyes and tears silently trickling against my skin.

-----------

"(Y/N)... baby we can get out of here... we can be safe, we can leave." He pleads, voice shaking as he trembles, clutching tightly at me, eyes rimmed red and puffy, voice raw and body curled close to mine.

"We can... we can vanish, we'll go somewhere you'll be safe... (Y/N) I can't and won't let you stay to suffocate here." His voice is an aching rasp, lips trembling as he begs, pleads for me to listen, to vanish with him.

And it would be so easy to. It would be the happy ending we always whispered and shared under sheets or entangled together, vanish and start a new life together.

But there'd been no Joon and no Tae then.

And I would not ruin his happiness.

I shake my head frantically, throat tightening as tears spill afresh, stinging my eyes as they splash against my cheeks, stain and mar his skin with the ugly taint of grief.

"Your life... you're not throwing your life away Minnie."

His face holds rage and hurt, a steeliness to the tight jaw and never ending misery in his eyes.

"Joon can... we can pack up and leave now... we'll be gone before Tae even realises... baby I vowed to keep you safe and I'll do whatever it takes." Voice tinging with desperation, with harried impatience, eyes flickering to the bed.

Checking to see if Tae's regained conscious, to see the other two occupied to tending to him.

His eyes blaze with a vow he intends to keep to his final breath.

I grip at his shirt, breaths coming out ragged as I shake my head.

"No... no...no... I can't vanish."

"I can't... Mimi I won't leave Tae."

The tight bruising grip of his hands implore wordlessly. His body shakes, writhes with the agony that mirrors my own as I slump, feel my legs buckle, tired of holding myself up, tired of pretending I was anything but broken.

Feel his grip move to steady me, cradling me to him; head tilting desperately when my hands shake as they reach for his face, fumble to brush away hot tears that angrily spill over.

"(Y/N) you'll suffocate in there, you'll die before you get out... I won't lose you."

"Mimi I made the choice knowing the costs... and Tae... I would give it all up for him again in a heartbeat."

Anger and resentment makes his face twist and harden, his grip turn desperate.

"Not like this... our happy ending wasn't like this... I can't live without you."

It was never meant to be like this but it is.

I can't unwind time, I can't get Tae out, I can't change what's happened. But I don't regret it, I don't regret it.

And his head tilts to mine, rests close as he shares the same painful shudders of breath, hearts raw and lungs burning mercilessly.

And there's defeat and hurt and pain that tears at me, voice a shuddered, unrestrained yell, every word scouring at skin and leaving it raw.

And my heart weeps for every single dream crumbling in front of my eyes.

But all for one. For one dream. It was worth it.

"But I've lost you Fei. I've lost you and it's all because of him. Can't you see you're trapped...can't you see that everything... everything is ruined?"

No.

No.

No it's not.

No.

But the raw visceral hurt in his tone tears me apart. And yanks down every barrier, every crumbling wall, every line of defence until I'm battered, bruised and raw in front of him.

His cry yanks at everything in me, from me and leaves me feeling as if every word has driven inwards, wedged deep into flesh, leaving me convulsing and pleading for reprieve.

Voice weak and quiet.

"He's worth it Mimi... he always will be... and... I chose this... it's not ruined it's not... it's just changed..."

But already I could feel the weighted press of painted talons sinking into flesh, could feel the noose of collars around my neck and the merciless phantom touches of countless others.

My head swims with nausea, eyes stinging and aching.

Feel my body slump, swaying as I try to straighten, lips failing to even tug upwards at the corners.

Feel the sobbed pleas against my skin as he steadies me.

And feel the world ripped away from under my feet.

--------------

At some point the fierce, unrelenting grip and the silent press of tears against my skin become something I'm only distantly processing; head compressed with an overwhelming surge of thoughts, trying to shut out and banish the constant thrashing growls of Tae's voice, the sobbed yelled pleas for me to turn away and the burning carnal hunger and greed in the officers' eyes. Flinching and pressing tightly to Minnie when in my mind their fingers are the one to harshly yank the corset strings open, their hands are the first to make the move, threatening to do exactly what they hissed out.

To make him watch as they used me.

The nausea churning my stomach stays as an ever present painful lurch and twist of knots making it harder for me to breathe, shallower breaths as I curl against the comforting familiarity of Jimin's body encasing mine.

At some point the two withdraw, at some point the silence becomes a lull that attempts to soothe the crawling unrest that has my skin thrumming with a tautness, nervous as time dwindles and the bandaged form sleeping on the bed is still, torso patched up and skin coloured with painful bruises that seemed to make the ragged breaths even more painful. There was a bandage around his head too, where the back of his head had stained my fingers red, had felt the throbbing lump where something sharp had slammed into skin, had made his curls matt with blood.

And Jin looks like these past few hours have aged him, weary with a fatigue that makes his bones slump as he sits on the edge of the bed, slow, lethargic movements as he draws the bloodied cloths and bowls of water to the side, hands trembling now that the adrenaline slowly wears off, now that Tae's sleeping off the injuries, body resting.

The pain medication Joon had carefully eased down his throat between moments of hazy awareness has coaxed him into a deep slumber and as I see him approach Minnie, whose hands surely have left their nervous, anxious, raging brand across my waist, have slowly eased away.

Only to turn to Joon, eyes rimmed with red and lips trembling as he allows Joon to hold him close, allows him to whisper shakily that this can't be happening.

And slowly, feet sluggish and staggering, I climb onto the bed beside Tae, every movement careful and fretting, drawing my body close and hovering, not daring to curl against him when he was so injured; when the crisscross of bandages and gauze covered the stitches; the bloody array of gashes but didn't hide the mottling purple tainting his usually honeyed skin.

I allow my fingers to stretch out, brushing back damp curls from his face, trailing gently across the tearstained cheeks, leaning to brush my lips against skin, heart clenching tightly.

For one moment it had been a beautiful dream Tae... and that was enough for me. It still is enough for me.

"I was always terrified that one day... one day you'd get caught. I always waited those nights I knew you were out... waiting for you to drop by to see you were safe." I whisper, confiding to him, and aching for him to know... that all that matters, all that ever mattered with every visit, with every growing feeling was him.

It was never the trinkets or the pretty gifts or the money.

It was Tae who'd become my salvation, he'd become my happy ending.

And I wouldn't exchange him for anything.

There's misery and confusion lining Jin's eyes as he reaches out to take my hand, wincing when I flinch at the bloodied state of his fingers but feel the unwavering strength and comfort as they entangle with my own.

I stare disconnectedly at the blood marring skin, cling back tighter and feel my voice as if from afar.

"I didn't... I could only think of you Jin. You always know what to do."

"He's going to be fine. A bit roughed up but when is he not..." voice light and wavering, cracking as he tries to be positive but there's only the same horror searing through his eyes that are mirrored in my own.

Except he doesn't know exactly what happened.

But he's put enough together from the moment I'd left him in the square and when I'd arrived with Tae in tow, bloodied and half-conscious, staggering under lugging his weight alongside me.

He'd seen the empty pocket, the undone laces and the bloodied state I'd bought Tae back in.

He knew the cost. And his eyes gleam with both misery and grief and unwavering gratitude and indebtment.

And his hand holds mine with the same unspoken thanks.

I stifle a shaky sniffle at his words, throat raw and eyes sore, feel the heaviness on my head and the loose disconnection of my body as if the two have separated themselves from each other.

His eyes drift to the cloak I still keep myself tucked into, wrapping myself in it further, vacant hand drawing it tightly shut over my front and the other intertwined with his, Tae's face lined with pain and a rawness that even rest can't erase.

"(Y/N)... I know what price you paid. And that's a life debt I will repay sooner than you think." Jin murmurs quietly, thumb brushing over my knuckles in an unconscious affectionate gesture, voice wobbling but eyes earnest, gleaming eyes vowing to erase the rubble of my life and world falling apart around me.

My fingers curl tighter, shaking my head.

"No debt Jin. I've had enough of those."

Dispelling the nausea that was welling up with steady waves once more.

No more debts. No more.

The one I knew I'd sold myself back into would have me walking back into Lim's greedy claws once more, and this time... this time when they sunk in, they wouldn't let go.

"All I want... all I want is Tae. I love him." eyes tracing his face with my eyes, slowly letting my hand fall away from the cloak to continue brushing through curls; feeling the slow deep breaths fan and ghost along my wrist, wonder if I imagine the slight tilt of his head turning to me, tilting to the touch.

But underneath the firm resolve, there was a helplessness, a tight noose closing in around me.

I just didn't know if I'd make it out of the brothel alive this time.

I didn't know if after learning how happiness tasted, how it felt... if I'd be able to cope with the crushing loss of knowing it'd forever be limited.

That my age would eventually decrease my value and that'd make me worthless.

That eventually... eventually I'd be earning scraps and the debt would remain stretched out infinitely.

Hopelessness thrums and pulses in my veins, a sluggish weighted realisation that our story wouldn't get to have it's new chapter, it's new beginning, the pages would just forever remain tainted with the endless loop that had been my beginning, my middle and end.

The brothel was my life.

And it was time I would have to accept that once more.

------------

The body close to mine stirs, slow and hazily, fingers skimming out and stretching across the sheets, nudging against me and slowly... slowly move to curl around my waist, broad palm settling lightly on where I vaguely remembered blankets being drawn over me.

There's a pained grunt, a swallowed curse stifled only partially and the slight rustle of movement. The shaky exhale of breath against my neck and the quiet rasp of my name, quiet as if he's uttering it to himself, fingers painstakingly light on the curve of my waist.

"Don't... don't wake her. She barely got convinced to lie down."

Voice sharp and tight and weary.

I knew the voices, knew them and slowly move, stirring and feel both of them still, feel the fingers at my waist gently brush circles with a trembling nervousness- wondering if he had the right to.

But the touch brings more comfort than he'll ever realise and I feel my body curve towards the source of warmth in front of me, eyes sluggishly blinking and trying to flutter open, feel his arm band around me in response; keeping me tucked against his side, drawing me against warm skin and the brush of bandages.

A soft, alarmed sound bubbles from the depth of my throat, even hazily registering that he's hurt but the arm draws me closer regardless, a shaky plea brushed against my temple until I'm pressed against his side and another hand draws the blankets back up, a gentle affection I will always be able to place.

"Sleep sweetheart." The voice coaxes and the hand curled around my side rests heavier; a grounding weight.

The hand and the warmth of Tae's body silently coaxes it too.

----------

The same warmth isn't there when I wake and panic surges through my body as I scrabble upright, breathing ragged and lungs screaming, eyes bursting open and fingers uselessly fumbling across empty sheets.

But the blood-spotting, the rumpled state of them... he was here. He was here. He got out. So where was he?

The body that'd been slotted behind me quickly curls behind me, hand brushing against my side, voice raw and hoarse but trying to soothe the franticness that surges up.

Can't hear him over the ringing in my ears.

"Tae... where is he... he got out, where did he go?" voice choking on the sobs that tighten my breathing, make it painful to get the demand out.

"(Y/N) breathe. Breathe... sweetheart calm down." And for once... for once since I've ever known that voice it doesn't bring me the comfort I need.

"He's... where is he?"

There's a grunt of pain and a hissed curse, the small commotion towards the doorway has my head snapping up, eyes stinging as I spot him. See his fingers clutch against his side in a tight grip as he staggers forward, the honey warmth of his skin leeched away.

Grim determination, disbelief and anxiousness etched deep into every feature, mustering every semblance of strength as he moves forward, barely noticing Jin's arms steadying him quickly- hurrying forward to right his teetering balance.

My hands tug frantically at the sheets, disentangling myself from them, surging forward when he leans against the poster of the bed, clutching at; sweat pearling at his hairline and breath a raw groan.

His arm bands around me with the same feverish intensity I curl against him with, burrowing against him, forgetting the bandages across skin until he lets out a soft hiss but his grip tightens; keeping me pressed against him. Other hand shaky as it skims over me, brushes over my hair, cups my nape and slips down to flit across my spine and settle against the low of my back.

Relieved groan against my skin as he clings to me, tucks me against him, shaky exhales of my name as I wrap my arms around him, duck to press my head to his shoulder, tired of the wet stinging tell of tears but cling to the solid warmth of his body, breath shaking.

"(Y/N)... (Y/N)... you're okay. Baby you're okay." Voice ragged and shaking, clutching me tightly to him, uncaring of his injuries, his wounds as my hands curl around him, his name sobbed out as I clutch at him.

"Tae... Tae you vanished." Voice raw and body curling to press entirely against his, unwilling to let go, trying to let the horror ebb away, to let myself know he was right here.

His body is hard, heated lines against me, flushed overly warm and the glistening gleam of sweat pearling on his skin makes it gleam with a feverishness.

There's blood spotting his side as he grunts, tilts to grasp for purchase on the wood of the bed and yet he draws me close, clutches me to him, bodies half-entangled in their desperation to be close, close, closer. Hand curling tighter when I try move back, refusing to let go as he buries his head against the crook of my neck, breathes me in, hand cradling my nape.

"I'm here... I'm here... you got me out remember?" voice agonised and raw, trembling in its rough rasp as it brushes against skin, burying close as if wishing to meld the two of us together, fuse limbs and flesh and bone together until the racketing wild pulses of our heartbeats settle and entangle together. Calmed by the indivisible closeness of hearts pulsing together as one.

His breaths are wavery caresses against skin, trembling with exertion and distress and his eyes are damp against the skin of my neck.

"(Y/N)... you won't go back. I won't let you."

But I have no choice. I'm Lim's property again.

The rough growled demand shatters that thought of mind and banishes it away.

"You're not going back. Over my dead body." He hisses, voice laced with fierce determination and venomous resolve that dissipates when I flinch, voice dropping softer to murmur an apology into skin, curling tighter around me, uncaring of his injuries as he clings to me.

"He's right (Y/N)... you're not. I've seen a decade do its damage, I won't watch you wither away in that hell-hole." Jin's voice is firm and level, eyes sharp but still radiating with concern and worry, leaning over to gently thumb at the tears threatening to spill.

"No more tears sweetheart. If we need to steal you away then we will."

And the words are ones that burn in Tae's glassy eyes as he nods, in Mimi's eyes; full of heartbreak and promise, curling against Joon.

My tethers.

That even as I was falling apart would hold on to me.

And never let go.

(AND THERE WE GO!! VERY ANGSTY FEELY CHAPTER! LOTS AND LOTS OF HURT FROM MINNIE—HE NEVER EVER WANTS TO LET HIS BABY GO, WANTS TO HIDE HER AWAY F O R E V E R EVEN IF IT HAS TO BE FROM TAE!! BUT!! BUT~ THE ANGST REACHES ITS PEAK AND NOW IT'S TIME TO MAKE THINGS BETTER!! IT'S TIME TO FIX THINGS! @Midiiplier—I WANT HUGS NOW! I CRIED MYSELF OUT THIS CHAPTER! AND TAE WILL NOT LET HER GO!! TIME TO RESCUE HER! THIS CHAPTER MADE MY HEART HURT WRITING! AND WE GOT TO SEE JUST HOW MUCH MIMI AND (Y/N) MEAN TO EACH OTHER! ENJOY, TAKE CARE AND STAY SAFE!!)

Borahae! 💜💜💜

PurpleQueenie <3