Ok I lied, long chapters are back for now coz I wanna keep this story under 24parts. You don't mind, right? :3 Heads-up: emotional rollercoasters begin from here 💜

—TWO WEEKS LATER—

Waking up to noises downstairs, I head to the foyer and see everyone getting ready to leave. My eyebrows furrow.

"Wait where are you all going?"

"Groceries." Winter zips up her jacket. "The fridge needs serious restocking."

"I'll drive." Jungkook picks up car keys from the coffee table. I look to Taehyung who stands beside Hoseok, "You're going too?"

"'Nah, just Jungkook, Jimin and Winter. Hoseok and I need to head back to KimTech. My documents are there, I don't wanna make any more slip-ups with outdated information."

"Has Yoongi been onto you?"

"Can't tell... When he visited he was questioning why we were all living in this house and why we attended the party, so maybe? It's why I need these documents so I can work out a way to solve this whole thing."

"Right." I frown. "So I'll just be here alone."

He rubs my shoulder with a tilted head and smile, "Don't sulk. We've been practically shoulder to shoulder for three weeks now. Just, take some time to yourself and relax while we're gone. I'll be back before you know it."

I'm warmed by Taehyung's toasty smile and hand that rests on my shoulder... But I can't help that feeling that he's keeping something. His hand has finally healed but every time I tried to bring up his injury he either got snappy or changed the subject.

I stroke his wrist and nod weakly. "Okay. I'll find something to do."

"Good. I'll see you later, love you." He pecks my forehead before heading out with Hoseok.

"And if anything goes down while we're gone..." Jungkook takes his new baseball bat that he's oh so proud of from behind the flower pot. "Call us so I can put this baby to use."

"Why waste your money on that thing?" Winter sighs hopelessly.

"What? Ever heard of protection?"

"I could ask the same. Come on let's go." She pulls him away. Jimin spares me a friendly wave behind them.

I wave goodbye to everyone with a forced smile and sigh behind the now closed door.

I guess some time to myself wouldn't be too bad... Aside from the fact that I've spent an antisocial two months in prison.

Since the weather is nice, I decide to change into a bikini and sheer robe, then lay on the hammock in the backyard and read a book under the sun. I would watch TV, but I'd rather not be constantly bombarded with pictures of my own mugshot.

The golden hour rays feel so warm on my legs, it's like summer rolled around early. With a turn of the first page, I sigh and let my mind wander each word.

—AUTHOR'S POV—

Winter pushes the trolley down the aisle, her chin drawing lines as she eyes the rack of frozen pizzas in thought.

She finally grabs a stack of pepperoni ones and drops them in the trolley but Jungkook quickly scoops them back out.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Getting Hawaiian."

"What? Jungkook no pineapple on pizza is gross." She reaches for the box but he retracts.

"What are you talking about? Every pizza needs pineapples on them. We're getting these ones."

"Ugh no we're not just put it back!"

"What's the big deal? Just get both. I'm sure it won't damage Taehyung's credit card." Jimin rolls his eyes and chuckles, rolling up beside the couple with an armful of food for the trolley.

"It's not about which we'll eat Jimin, it's about principles. Hawaiian pizza is and always will be the best pizza."

"Okay now you're trying getting on my nerves."

Jungkook flashes a dorky bunny laugh and sends fluffy kisses to Winter's cheek, to which she scrunches her nose and tries to hide her ticklish smile. "Okay gosh we'll get both just get off me idiot." She then pushes him away and takes out her phone.

"We should be done soon. I'll text Lilo and let her know we'll be home in an hour."

—ONE HOUR LATER—
—LILO'S POV—

My eyes flutter open, but the only thing I can see is black. Pure blackness.

That's when I realize I fell asleep with the book over my eyes.

"Guess the sun drained me more than I thought." I slowly sit up and fluff my hair from the nap. The sun's still out and beaming, not much time passed I think. I then hear something in the house that sounds like a door or cabinet closing. The others must be home.

I walk to the conservatory and slide the glass door before entering. The noises grow the closer I get, coming from the kitchen.

With my hand still fluffing my hair, I yawn, "Hey did you guys get any snacks? I'm starv—"

My face and body turn to stone once I'm stood under the kitchen doorway.

A man in all-black, gloves and ski mask freezes from rummaging through the drawers, Taehyung's papers littered all over the room.

Our eyes lock.

Nobody moves for a solid three seconds...

Without a word, I make a run for it. He sprints after me.

A yelp escapes my mouth as I dash through the foyer with my hand desperately clawing for the stair railing. I breeze up the first few steps when the hem of my robe is pulled, but I slip my arms out of its sleeves in a lightning flash. Leaping another step, the man grabs my right leg and harshly yanks me down.

"Agh!" My chin hits the step painfully. I spin onto my back and get punched in the face but I kick him hard in the stomach and he stumbles back.

My gaze falls onto the flowerpot behind him to spot the bat that stands behind it. I try to run past him but he quickly pins me to the wall with a slam and buckles his hands around my throat. Second by second my airways become narrowed in his grip. I gasp for air desperately and try to pry his fingers away while he raises me higher and higher up the wall. A smirk grows behind his ski mask.

"...Ckkk... Uckkuk..."

My eyes begin to roll back when the front door swings open.

"Oh shit Lilo!" Jungkook, Winter and Jimin instantly drop their bags. I can't see them, my vision becoming overtaken by light, but then I'm suddenly dropped and holding my throat as I choke for air. Winter smashed a vase over the guy's head.

It doesn't keep him down though. The man gets up in an instant and Winter's eyes widen when he knocks her out.

"Hey! Nobody makes my girlfriend scream but me!" The intruder grunts when Jungkook swings a bat to his spine. Before he can swing again, the man grabs the end of the bat and thrusts it into Jungkook's stomach before whacking both Jungkook and Jimin in the head.

"No!" I've barely caught my breath when he looks down at me and grins, ripping off his mask and raising the bat.

With a sharp gasp, I dodge the bat from both sides and let it smash into the furniture. Finally he swings it over my head with two hands but I stop the wood in my palms and it turns into a seesaw-like pushing battle. My teeth grit.

Over time his strength becomes too much and I let out a scream of strain—

"What the fuck?!" Taehyung and Hoseok run over to us. As if it were nothing, Taehyung grabs a fistful of the man's hair from behind and throws him to the floor before pounding his face repeatedly.

Punch after punch, he continues to clench his teeth and go ham on the man until he's down for sure. Winter holds her head and cringes with pain, barely being able to prop herself up on one elbow. Same goes for the boys. Taehyung just continues to punch him harder and harder.

"Tae he's down! He's down!" Hoseok tries to pull him away but he shrugs him off and keeps going until there's blood coating his knuckles. His eyes suddenly have such a dark tint to it.

My eyes now bulge with worry. "Taehyung stop he's had enough!"

"He's had enough—"

*Crunch!*

"When I—"

*Splat!*

"SAY HE'S HAD ENOUGH."

"Taehyung no stop please stop!!" My screams come out more like desperate cries. His face is splattered with blood when I wrap my arms around his torso and finally manage to pull him back. I feel his stomach sink and inflate against my arms as he catches his breath. His eyes don't leave the man for a minute, nor does everyones but mine that are too filled with tears. Silence fills the foyer.

"Is he...?" Jungkook trails off.

Hoseok squats down beside the unconscious, red and blue-faced body to press two fingers to his neck. He looks up at Taehyung. "Dude..."

My arms slowly let go of his waist, eyes fluttering with tears and mouth shaking agape.

Taehyung backs up with his eyes blinking uncontrollably. "I'm sorry I... panicked." Suddenly his eyes roll back and he falls limply, catching himself by landing on one knee.

"Taehyung!" I kneel beside him.

He holds his head and groans with clenched teeth before trying to push me away. "I'm okay. It's a headache."

"But your nose is bleeding." I point. He touches the spot and groans again.

"Let's get you lied down. I'll get some water." Jimin reels Taehyung up by the arm and leads him to the living room.

Hoseok, Jungkook, Winter and I are left to look down at the body. Winter notices the distanced gaze my eyes have on the floor and stares before muttering an, "Are you okay?" With a tear in my eye, I give her a faint nod.

"So what happens now?" Jungkook asks.

"Well it's not like we can call the cops, or ask this guy how and why he found us." Hoseok looks around in thought.

"Do you know how he might've got in?" Winter asks.

"Hmm, did you remember to reactivate the alarm after we left Lilo?"

Oh shit.

"I..."

"Okay new rule. Alarm stays on 24/7 and nobody stays in this house alone. Ever. For the meantime, we need to figure out what to do with this."

"This is the part where we drag him out to the woods and bury the body right?"

"Mmm... I have a less Hollywood idea." Hoseok looks at the backyard and pulls out a lighter. "But it's not gonna smell pretty."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ 🌙
—NIGHT—

"How are you feeling?" I ask softly. Taehyung wipes his nose with his sleeve as he enters the bedroom and walks past into the bathroom, "Good."

I frown at the quick response. He leaves the door open to give me a distant view of him in the mirror, shaving his sprouting beard. I chew on my lip in debate of whether I should say something or not.

Things have been awkward between Taehyung and the house ever since his outburst this afternoon. None of us know what to say...

"Taehyung... Why did you faint?"

He just continues running the razor over his skin, "Not sure."

"Well people don't just faint, there has to be a reason right? Are you not sleeping enough?"

The last time I saw him sleep, he woke up with a bloody fist.

"I sleep all the time, you're just never awake first." He forces a chuckle.

"So you always wake up with a bloody fist too?" Sarcasm runs through my question and his face hardens to stone.

Taehyung then walks over to the bed with a towel ruffling over his face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"But I saw—"

"Wait shh shh!" I'm suddenly hushed by his finger and bouncing damp bangs. His eyes scroll to the side before his head follows. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what...?"

"Barking. It sounds like... Like Yeontan."

"What?"

"You can't hear it?" He asks seriously and I just shake my head slowly. "I swear I can hear Yeontan. Or, m-maybe it's Margo..."

"Taehyung..." I shake my head, "Do you know how that sounds right now? I think you need some rest..."

"I..... You're right. Sorry, forget it." He shakes his head and switches off the lamp. The room turns to darkness as he slips in the sheets beside me. He doesn't wrap me in his arms and snuggle into my hair like usual, but instead kisses my forehead with a simple, "Night."

A frown pulls on my lips as I get into bed next to him. "Night," I mutter faintly.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ ☀️

The next day is sunny like the last. The others are inside loudly playing video games while I sit by the pool in deep thought...

"I'd kill for you."

I remember that bumpy ambulance ride in which I held his hand so tight, and he stares at me with polar eyes...

"And I'd die for you."

That gut wrenching feeling of losing the first person to ever show me genuine love... Seeing him possibly lose his life to save mine. It's just as painful as watching him take one to save mine.

In prison, I would sometimes have nightmares about that night. I would see his face battered in blood like the car crash, wondering if he was in a situation like that again without me even knowing, since he never called.

And now that we're back together I wonder... Was it worth it? Was him rescuing me worth living like this?

Shooting someone from afar is one thing but... Beating them to death with your own two hands... The same hands that hold me at night... What sparked that kind of outrage? I mean I begged him to stop but he pushed me away and drowned in his own anger.

...I don't know anymore. He's acting so different. And everytime I ask about it he gets defensive.

Do I just respect his wishes and ignore this?

I just wish he'd talk to me.

I chew on my lower lip, a tear threatening my eye.

I've watched him have a melt down, get shot, we crashed a fucking car together, and I witnessed him almost lose his place in this world. I've been through it all. So why is he so persistent on keeping secrets?

"Alright, what's up." Winter exhales casually, sitting beside me.

"H-huh?"

"You've been sitting here for an hour. You can tell me if something's bugging you you know."

I look back at the blue horizon blending perfectly into the pool water. Part of me is unsure if I should say anything, but I know if there's anyone I can talk to, it's Winter.

"...Something weird is going on with Taehyung."

"Well he hasn't exactly had the most normal life."

"No, I mean weird weird. Last night he thought he heard Margo. This morning he claimed he saw Li..." My eyes look down distantly. "And worst of all, yesterday I watched my boyfriend kill someone. With his bare hands. It was so scary... That look in his eyes, it's like something came over him. I've never seen him like that before. Well—"

I look up in thought and flashback to that horrible day when Taehyung threw my necklace in the pool. That fiery gaze he had in his eyes.

"—Maybe once. Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?" I bury my face in my hands.

"Whoa, chill for a sec. You love Taehyung and he loves you, that hasn't changed. He's just not him right now. You need to remember things'll get better once this mess is over. Okay?"

I chew on my lower lip when she repeats, "Okay?"

"I... I don't know Winter. I swear he's different... You don't get it."

She falls into a frown when I stand up and walk back inside the house.

I go into the living room, quietly passing Hoseok and Jimin on the couch to retrieve the house phone and then going upstairs.

Instead of going into my own room, I enter the guest's and lock the door. My eyes narrow and heart beats as I stare down at the phone, slowly and hesitantly dialling each digit.

With a shaky hand, I raise the phone to my ear and wait...

"Lilo? Is this you??"

"...It's me mom."

"Oh thank God! Your father and I have been trying to reach out for weeks! Do you know the worry you've given us?! You're all over the news! Where are you??"

"I... I can't tell you. But I'm in safe hands. I just... needed to hear your voice. I miss you mom. I want this all to be over." A tear streams to my cheek.

"Well come home so we can see you!"

"No I can't come back yet. I shouldn't even be calling you, but I thought I'd let you and Dad know I was okay. And to ask if his you're doing."

"Well your dad lost his job."

"W-what? Why??"

"Well having a daughter who's a wanted criminal doesn't exactly back up the resume." She takes a pause, "It's because of this boy, isn't it?"

"...W-what boy?"

"The one you have Christmas photos with in your room. It's him, right? What's happened to you? This isn't my Lilo... This boy has changed you."

"Mom what are you talking about? Of course I'm still Lilo. He hasn't done anything to me, I'm still the same."

"You're behaving recklessly! Causing mayhem to the city all for what? Some teen crush?"

"Mom he's not a teen crush you're just an irresponsible parent!" My voice raises and I find myself leaning back in realisation.

She sighs, "As your mother I am asking you to stop hanging around this person... Please. Are you really going to choose a crush over your own family?"

My lips tremble. I now notice that I'm sitting on the floor with hunched back and a tear sinking into the rug.

I love my parents, but they were hardly there for the moments I needed them most. I went through being kidnapped, stabbed, hospitalised and arrested. Would they even know that?

"Lilo?"

"I'm sorry mom... *sniff* I'm sorry, but I can't exactly choose my parents over him when my parents were never around to begin with."

After a nerve-racking silence, she exhales in disappointment.

"If you're not going to listen to us, then there's no reason your father and I should support you. You clearly have your own goals set in mind and that I can't change. I just wish they weren't so selfish... Good luck with your life. I hope you'll grow out of it." She hangs up.

My head lingers at my ear for a moment, letting the rigid buzzing play before my arm slowly falls and the phone rolls onto the floor.

Tears flow from my eyes but I press my face into the bed sheet to cushion my sobs so no one will hear. They don't need to know about this. Nobody needs to know. And from there, I continue to quietly cry.

—AUTHOR'S POV—

Jungkook makes his way upstairs, turning right and heading for Taehyung/Lilo's room. He thought he should probably check on his friend after all the drama that went down yesterday.

His footsteps come to a halt as he approaches the door that has been left open by inches. With a gentle push, he opens it wider.

Taehyung sits at the end of the bed with his head low far enough to hover over the small table. With a sniff, he throws his head back, shakes his bangs and releases a breath, his eyes shut and mouth open. White powder coats his nostril.

"Dude what the fuck?!"

Taehyung's eyes bulge when he jumps up like a spring. He sniffs and wipes his pink nose with his sleeve violently. "It's not what you think—"

"Yes it is!" He storms over to get a clearer view of the white dust that litters the table, as well as the credit card and rolled up dollar bill.

"Tae... You're on coke?"

"What? No I..." He looks down at the table and sighs. "I swear it hasn't always been like this. This is only my second time—"

"So?! I know I'm not the most mature one in this house but even I see the problem with this! Whatever you're going through surely this can't be the answer." He then whispers, "What would Lilo think if she walked in instead of me? Huh?"

Taehyung's jaw clenches as he turns to the side and his lips tremble at the thought. "I-I don't know..."

"Whatever's wrong, talk to us bro." Jungkook's eyes water. "I won't let you sit here and turn into a crack head. You're what's holding this team and Lilo together. Remember, she's hiding in this house for you. For the mean time—"

Jungkook picks up the clear little bag of coke and Taehyung flinches. "N-no don't—"

"I won't tell anyone, but I'm throwing this out until you get yourself together. It's for your own good dude." With his lips pressed and a head nod, Jungkook leaves the room.

Taehyung watches the door shut with glassy eyes and brings his sleeve to his nose once more, frowning at the white powdery smears. He then throws his head back and tuts his teeth, wondering how he could do such a thing.

With shut eyes, clenched jaw and a tear streak, he sits back on the bed and holds his forehead in his palms.