“Listen, we can’t keep up meeting like this,” she whispered, her eyes darting to every corner of the woods they were hidden in. If anyone saw them together, it would be over for her more than it would be for him.

“Oh come on, Minah, no one’s going to find us here,” he pulled her into his arms, giving her the smile that made her melt. She sighed, trying her hardest to keep her composure, and pulled herself away from him, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Tae, your father would have me killed, you know that, right?” she raised a brow at him, making him pout at her in return.

“You don’t think very highly of my dad, do you?”

“I’m a member of the Rebels, Taehyung. I don’t think highly of anyone in control of this corrupt government,” she looked away from him.

Minah grew up her whole life taught that anyone from the government (The Privileged, they were known in her community) was a bad person. They and their families were not to be trusted, ever. Her father started teaching her and her brother to fight the moment they could walk, in anticipation of the nearing uprising from the Rebels. Anything near her could and would be used as a weapon if she needed to. The older she had gotten, the more she realized that, yes, the Privileged weren’t the best people to be with. She began to see the inequalities and the wrongdoings of the government and was soon a vocal advocate for the younger rebels to step up and take a stand against the government.

And then she met Taehyung one night, 2 years ago, in the very woods that were hidden in now. She would go there as an escape from all her training. Now, saying “met” was an understatement though. She bumped into him, actually, and almost broke his arm in fear that he was going to kill her first.

“Hey, ow, ow, come on, I give up I give up!!” he yelled in pain as Minah had him pinned to the ground, knee on his back, pulling his arm higher and higher up his back.

“Who are you and what do you want with me?” she said through gritted teeth. She had never thought that her training would come in handy at all. She mentally thanked her father for forcing her to learn every move he knew and more.

“Nothing! I don’t even know you!” she hesitantly let him go and moved away from him, watching cautiously as he stood up slowly, rubbing his shoulder. He turned to her and she was surprised to see a boy her age standing in front of her. He extended his hand to her, a small smile on his lips.

“My name’s Taehyung. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but it hasn’t been very nice so far,” he laughed lightly.

“Minah…” she took his hand in her’s and shook it, now laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“Earth to Minah,” Taehyung waved his hands in front of her eyes, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“I should’ve broken your arm back then,” she muttered to herself but loud enough for him to hear, “Woulda saved me the trouble of all these secret meetings.”

“That’s not very nice,” he smiled slyly.

“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t you dare do it,” she pointed her finger at him, getting ready to expect something crazy.

“Me?? Do something? What in the world would I do?” he feigned innocence, taking a step closer to her, his eyes full of delight and mischief.

“Tae, I swear, I will punch you,” she was now smiling, knowing now that whatever he was going to do involved running. He slowly walked towards her as she was backing away from him.

In a matter of seconds, he was chasing after her, both laughing loudly as he tried to catch her. He caught up to her and held her hand to pull her back the moment she had stopped to turn a different direction and they ended up on the ground with a loud ‘oof’ from Taehyung as her elbow landed on his stomach.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Minah had her face buried in his shoulder, laughing at what just happened. Taehyung was holding his stomach in both pain and laughing as well.

“I guess you did warn me that you’d punch me,” Taehyung chuckled, “I just expected it to be my arm, not my stomach.”

They both sat up and Minah wiped the tears that had formed in her eyes from the laughter. He was the only one who could do this to her, make her cry of laughter. Never did she think that anyone from the government had a sense of humor, or a heart. All she was taught was that they were cold and ruthless and would do anything to have power and control over the citizens. It’s not like she saw anything different on the news either. But not the boy in front of her, not the one who now had her heart in his possession.

“I know I’m handsome, but wow, stop staring,” Taehyung smirked, pushing the strands of hair on Minah’s face away from her eyes.

“Shut up,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes at him, her smile still tugging at her lips.

“Your brother won’t come looking for you soon, will he?” Taehyung suddenly looked up at the sky, noticing that the sun was starting to set. While he had a curfew as well (everyone in the country did), Minah, being a Rebel, would cause panic for her family if she wasn’t home on time.

“Ugh, you’re right, I should get going,” they stood up, dusting themselves off from the dirt.

“Same time and place tomorrow?” Taehyung pulled her into him again, this time resting his hands on her hips as she placed her’s around his neck.

“As much as you drive me crazy, yes,” she pulled him down and gave him a kiss.

There wasn’t a specific moment that Minah could pinpoint for when they had actually started being in a romantic relationship. All she remembered was that on that first day they met, he hadn’t told her who he was and they began meeting regularly for weeks at the same spot. She assumed he was a Rebel, no one from the government nor their supporters would ever step foot into Rebel territory. It wasn’t until she and her family were watching the news one night and she saw him sitting next to his father, the right-hand man of the President. She vowed to herself that she would never see him again, but the next day, as much as she told herself not to, she found herself in the woods, waiting for him to meet her. When he did eventually show up, she had punched him, not necessarily feeling betrayed for they hadn’t known each other long enough for those feelings, but definitely hurt from being lied to.

He had reassured her countless times that day that he meant her and her family no harm. That he wasn’t going to go back and tell anyone where she lived. He had only wanted to get away from his family and friends and be somewhere he wasn’t known, somewhere he could be alone. And maybe that’s when she had realized that she felt something towards him because as much as she told him to not expect her to meet him, a Privileged, every day anymore, she would still end up at their meeting spot and he would always be there.

When he had kissed her a few weeks after that, she thought of punching him again, a thought that seemed to continuously cross her mind, but instead she let herself be consumed by his lips and his hands, just like now.

“I should really go,” she murmured, pulling away from him and he rested his forehead on her’s. The sky was a mixture of orange and red as the sun began to almost disappear from the sky, only being seen through the trees.

“Yeah, before it gets dark,” Taehyung sighed, but neither of them actually let go of each other to follow through with their words.

It felt especially hard for Minah that night to leave him. All she wanted was to be in his arms and in his presence, but there was no way she could ever take him home or introduce him to her family. She didn’t know what they would do to him, particularly because his father was one of the powerful leaders against the rebels.

“Okay, okay, I’m leaving now,” she said and began to pull away from Taehyung, who scrunched his face in dislike and interlaced his fingers with her’s so that she wouldn’t leave yet.

“Would it really be that bad if our families knew about us? I mean, would they intentionally hurt us knowing our feelings towards each other?”

“I honestly don’t know,” she started to swing his hand back and forth, “I’d like to say they wouldn’t, but this fight between the two groups has been going on for decades. I doubt that just because the two of us love each other, it would change anything at this point,” Minah shrugged.

“Does this mean we’re Romeo and Juliet?” he grinned at her.

“You’re so cheesy,” she shook her head at him, “I hope we’re smarter than them and don’t get ourselves killed for stupid reasons. Like you not letting me get home before curfew,” she looked down at his hand holding her’s and then back to his beaming face.

“Fine, fine, get home safely,” he pulled her into a hug and kissed the side of her head before letting her go.

“You too; I’ll see you tomorrow,” she waved at him and began walking home.

---

Back at home, Minah had already gotten into her pajamas and was sitting on the couch with her family, watching TV before going to bed.

“Breaking News! Kim Taehyung, son of Kim Youngchul, was found on the border of the Rebel’s camp, severely beaten. No one knows what could have caused this to happen or why he was even near the Rebels. We are still waiting on more information from this sto--”

Minah quickly grabbed the remote and changed the channel. Her mother gave her a perplexed look. These kinds of stories on the news were common, Rebels beating up the Privileged that came near their camp, and Minah had never reacted this way.

“Something wrong, honey?” she asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“No, nothing...it’s just...I don’t like seeing that Privileged are getting beat up by us Rebels...it doesn’t, you know, help our fight that we’re nothing like them…” Minah stammered, “I’m just gonna go to bed…”

She immediately went to her room and closed the door, leaving her parents confused at her sudden change in attitude. Going straight to her phone, she checked if she had any texts from him. Nothing.

How badly was he injured? Who did this to him? Did they see him walking around to get back home and jumped him? Did they....did they see her and him together? Threatened him?

So many questions began running through her head. She wanted to leave and go to him, to see if he was okay. The hospital was on neutral territory anyway so she wouldn’t be in any actual harm. She could go in a few hours when no one would be around. She’d been in the hospital countless times and knew her way around it as if it was her own home. She could sneak in and out very quickly.

With still no text from Taehyung a few hours later, she quietly got dressed and snuck out of her room window. The best part about being rebels was that all of their houses were one story and sneaking out was the easiest thing to do.

She was dressed in all black, trying to camouflage with the dark night and almost too soon, she had reached the hospital. The only problem in her way now was: what room was he being kept in? She had become close to a few of the workers there, maybe they’d do her a favor? She took her chances and walked inside. With their curfews always being enforced, she had to act as though she was sick enough to be in the hospital in the first place.

“Minah?” one of the workers questioned as she walked to the front desk. Minah almost sighed in relief to see that her friend was on the night shift tonight.

“Please tell me you can do me a favor,” Minah didn’t have any time to sugar coat her request. She had to see if Taehyung was alright as soon as possible.

“Sure, what is it?” the girl in front of her was now wide-eyed seeing the urgency on Minah’s face.

“Please, you can’t tell anyone, okay? Nobody. Not one soul that I came here tonight to ask you anything. Promise me, Seoha.”

“Of course, Minah, I promise I won’t tell anyone. What is it?” the girl was now almost scared to hear what Minah wanted to ask.

“What room is Kim Taehyung in?”

“What?”

“You heard me, I’m not saying it again. Please tell me,” she knew it was a long-shot. Even with them being friends, there was no way she’d give that kind of information to a Rebel.

“Minah…why…?”

“Please just tell me. I won’t tell anyone you told me and you don’t tell anyone I asked you this. I need to see him,” she was pleading at this point.

“I….324….please be careful, whatever you’re doing. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Thank you so much. I owe you, I really do,” Minah began to walk quickly to the elevator and went straight to the 3rd floor.

Her heart began to race as the elevator doors opened and she saw men standing in front of his door. Of course there would be guards there. How was she going to get in? She started walking out, she’d figure out how to get in soon...she just had to get closer. All too quickly, she was pulled into one of the rooms, a hand on .

“I don’t know why in the world I’m helping you get in to see him, but now you really owe me big time,” she heard Seoha’s voice, letting out a breath of relief.

“Don’t do that! I could have hurt you,” Minah whispered, turning around to see a nurse uniform in Seoha’s hands.

“Put these on. He needs to be checked on by a nurse every 30 minutes to see if he’s okay, his father’s orders. Just walk in like you know what you’re doing and no one will say anything. He’s alone in the room right now. Hurry.”

Minah quickly changed and walked out of the room, putting on a stoic face as she made her way towards his room. Her heart was racing again as she neared the guards. They quickly checked her before they opened the door for her to let her in. The moment they closed the door, she ran over to him, hoping he was awake.

“How many times do I have to tell you all that I’m fine--” Taehyung’s eyes widened and he sat up quickly, “What are you doing here??” he had his hand on his side.

Before she knew it, there were tears streaming down her face as she began to touch his face and body as if he were made of glass muttering who did this to you and how dare they hurt you and are you okay over and over again. She saw his hand on the side of his stomach and froze. Had he been stabbed?

“Tae....” she sat on the bed, her legs feeling weak.

“Minah, what are you doing here? You have to leave now; how did you even get in here?” Taehyung placed his free hand on her cheek, speaking softly.

“You never texted me; I didn’t know what to think so I came here. I had to know if you were okay. Did they stab you?” she whispered the last part, placing her hand over his.

“I’m okay, please you have to leave. The things my father was saying, I don’t want him to find you here, please leave,” there was desperation in his voice.

“Who did this to you? Did you see their faces? How many of them were there?” Minah ignored his pleas. She had to find out who was responsible, she was going to make them pay.

“I didn’t see them...it sounded like at least 3 people. Now, go,” he emphasized the last part, hoping she would leave before anyone came in.

“I’m going to find them, if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Don’t be stupid, nothing good is gonna come out of it. Just let it go. I’ll text you as soon as they give me back my phone, okay?” he reassured her, wiping the tears from her eyes. She nodded, pouting at him that he was being so stern against her doing anything. She couldn’t blame him though, she would do the same thing if she were in his position as well.

“You better heal quickly or else I’ll find someone else to hang out in the woods with,” she smiled as he scoffed at her statement.

“There’s no one else like me,” he smirked, pulling her in for a kiss.

It would only make sense that at that moment, the door would open.

“What the hell is going on in here?!”

Damnit, she thought, its over.