She could recognize that voice anywhere. It was everywhere on TV to begin with. Taehyung’s father had a very uniquely powerful voice, which was where Taehyung got his deep and powerful voice as well. She was frozen, her lips centimeters from Taehyung’s while he had her face cupped in his hands. It was exactly what it looked like.

Taehyung quickly turned her face to look away from his and pretended to grab something out of her hair and threw it to the ground.

“Hey Dad, she just had a bug in her hair. There’s nothing to get all riled up about,” he let go of her as she immediately stood from the bed and turned towards his father and bowed deeply, apologizing.

“Son, I can’t have you going around flirting with every pretty girl you see. You have a reputation to uphold,” his father seemed tired, turning away from them and walking to place his briefcase on one of chairs in the room.

Minah took that time to send a glare towards Taehyung. Flirting with every pretty girl he sees? Taehyung immediately shook his head at her, mouthing to her that he would never.

His father turned back around to face them, now keeping his eyes on Minah. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.

“What are you doing still standing there? You can leave,” he took his phone from his pocket, answering it and walking out of the room after giving the both of them a suspicious look.

“You should have left when I told you to,” Taehyung muttered matter-of-factly when the door was closed all the way.

“I’m gonna leave before he comes back. Your father is as terrifying in real life as he is on TV,” Minah said, sighing a breath of relief and placing a hand over her racing heart.

“Not before I get a healing kiss,” Taehyung pointed to his lips, a pout on his face.

“You’re gross,” Minah laughed, but  pecked his lips almost too quickly in fear of his father walking in again and catching them.

“I’ll text you,” Taehyung reassured her quietly. Minah gave him a nod and rushed out of the room before anything else became suspicious.

---

Minah opened her eyes, the morning sun shining brightly through her room window. She groaned remembering what had happened the night before with Taehyung's father seeing them. She hoped that he was okay and that he wasn't questioned anymore about them. She didn't think he would be, his father seemed to be lenient with Taehyung.

“Minah, can you come out here?” Minah’s mom called out to her from the living room. Why is she home? Confused, Minah stretched, got up from her bed and walked out of her room, seeing her mother sitting on the couch, book in hand.

“Mom, shouldn’t you be at school? Are you okay?” Minah’s mother was a teacher at the only Rebel school available. Her not being at work was something to worry about.

“I need to talk to you, honey.”

This was bad. Her mom never started off a conversation with that unless she was going to lecture her about something serious. Even worse was that she didn't go to work in order to have this certain talk. Did her mom notice that she had left in the middle of the night? Did she know anything about Taehyung? She tried to clear her mind and smiled at her mother, sitting down next to her on the couch.

“Sure, Mom, whats up?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

“How do I subtly say this?” her mom wondered out loud to herself, placing a hand on her chin and squinting her eyes at Minah, who laughed nervously.

“Just say it, I guess?” she suggested. Seeing her mom’s calm expression, maybe she didn’t know about her and Taehyung…

“You’ve been seeing someone for a while now, haven’t you?”

Minah let out a muffled cough, her eyes wide. Had it been that obvious recently that she was in a relationship? I guess 2 years was long enough for them to notice something, she thought to herself.

“I...Mom, where did that come from?” Minah tried to laugh it off this time, hoping her mom wouldn’t pry any more.

“Don’t try to play it off, hon. You stare at that phone of yours with the biggest smile on your face. When you get back after your ‘time alone’, it’s as if nothing can ruin your happy mood. Your brother’s tried to annoy plenty of times and you’ve brushed him off instead of giving him even a look of annoyance,” her mother crossed her arms across her chest. She was going to get an answer out of her daughter.

“You took a day off of work to ask me about this?” Minah tried to deflect the question with her own, but the look on her mother’s face told her she’d better answer her. And quick.

“Okay, okay...yes, Mom, there’s a boy...and we’ve been together for a while now…”

“And how long is ‘a while’ exactly?”

“Probably about one and a half years?”

“And you were planning on telling me…?” she let the last syllable drag out a bit, waiting for an answer.

“I don’t know…it’s kind of a hard situation...”

“Because he’s a Privileged?”

Minah’s breath caught in . How did she know? Her heart began to race as she thought of all the times she was with Taehyung and if there were any suspicious noises or things that ever happened. But how in the world would she even pinpoint that kind of moment? They were together almost every day, in the woods, of all places. There were always strange noises in the woods.

“Wha-” Minah breathed, at a loss for words, “n-no, he-he’s not a --”

She didn’t know what to do. If her mother knew about them, did her father know too? Her father would kill her. He would find Taehyung and kill him. He would never allow her to be with a Privileged, hence why they had kept their relationship a secret from their parents.

“Honey, look at me,” her mom’s voice broke her from her thoughts. She rose her eyes up to her mother’s.

“I can tell you right now that I am not angry with you about this; why would I be? But,” her mother moved in closer and lowered her voice to a whisper even though they were the only ones in the house, “Kim Taehyung??”

Her heart dropped hearing her mother say his name. How had she even found out about them? How would she know?

“How…” she began, still unable to wrap her head around what was happening. Not able to get her thoughts in order to ask the questions she wanted to. Her mother pulled her into a hug and a wave of emotions fell onto Minah and, suddenly, tears began to stream down her face. Was it out of fear? Relief?

“I had a feeling you were seeing someone and then last night, the way you reacted to the news about him. It made sense: Why else would he, the son of the man who dislikes us the most, be around the border? Why would you have that kind of reaction when just two nights ago you scoffed at the news of another Privileged being beat up? And why you disappeared last night,” her mother finished, but still kept her daughter in her arms, rubbing her back.

“Does...does Dad know..?” there was obvious fear in her voice.

“No, baby, he doesn’t. I won’t tell him,” Minah pulled away from her mom, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Thank you…”

“Is he okay, though? I heard on the news this morning that he was stabbed…” her mom placed a hand on her arm, giving it a light squeeze.

“Y-yeah, he’s fine...at least he looked fine,” Minah regretted the last part the moment she said it.

“Looked fine? Are you crazy?!” her mother exclaimed, “You went to see him?! How in the world did you even get in? He’s high-profile, there were bound to be at least a dozen guards at his door! You know what? I don't even want to know. The less I know, the better.”

“Mom, it’s okay, it doesn’t matter. It happened and it’s done.”

“It does matter. As much as you love him, please think before you act. Who knows what they would have done to you if you were caught?” her mom stood from the couch, placing a hand on her now throbbing head.

“I know, Mom, I’m sorry. I just, I got so scared that something more serious might have happened. I didn’t hear from him for hours and I just...had to see him," Minah looked at her hands, realizing now just how dangerous her act last night was. They stayed in silence for a few moments, not knowing what to say. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but the tension in the air was still thick.

"I want to meet him, by the way," her mother turned to her, a smile tugging at her lips, "so once he's better, you get him ready to meet me."

"But he's...against everything you and Dad stand for..."

"And you've been with this boy for almost 2 years. There has to be a reason why my headstrong daughter has stayed with him for so long. I want to meet him," she smiled, the tension in the air lifted and Minah smiled back.

"I'll let him know..." it felt so foreign to talk about him to anyone. To even utter his existence in her life to her mother gave her butterflies in her stomach. Her mother was okay with her relationship with him and that gave a whirl of happiness. At least there was one person she could speak to about him and know that it wouldn't be used against her.

---

Two weeks had passed since the incident. Minah and Taehyung were continuously texting and they were finally going to be able to see each other again. He was released from the hospital a few days prior but his mother refused to let him leave the house, terrified that her son would be attacked again. He was finally able to convince her and his father to let him leave, telling them that they couldn't keep him inside the house forever.

As hard as Minah tried to refuse meeting at their same spot in the woods, fearing that those same people would be around and hurt him again, Taehyung assured her that all would be fine and that it was just chance that they caught him that night. Minah reluctantly complied and ended up back at their spot, near their tree.

She saw a figure walking towards her wearing all black clothes, a hoodie over his head, and his hands in his pockets. She immediately knew it was Taehyung by the way he walked and the way his hair stuck out from under the hoodie. Her heart skipped a beat when he looked up and smiled his signature gummy smile at her.

"Tae," she got up, running towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "how are you feeling?"

Taehyung wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face in her neck and sighing.

"Fine, but I've missed you so much," he began rocking her side to side. Minah laughed.

"It's only been two weeks," she pulled back and he gave her a pout.

"It felt terribly longer."

They sat on one of the fallen trees, now almost attached to each other from being apart for what seemed like forever. After all, they would see each other every day; being apart for weeks felt like months. Minah hadn't told him over their texts that her mother knew about them. As they sat on a blanket on the ground, leaning on the tree, immersed in each other's presence, she felt it was time to finally let him know.

"There's something I have to tell you...I don't know how you're going to feel about it," she was resting her head on his shoulder and began playing with the rings we wore on his fingers.

"I'm sure it's not that bad, what's up?"

"My mom...she uh. How do I say this...? She...um...found out about us andwantstomeetyou," she placed her hands over her face, not wanting to see his reaction.

"Wait, I don't think I heard right," Taehyung turned his body to face her's, trying to pull her hands away from her face, "Your mother found out about us and wants to meet me?"

Minah nodded, now looking at him through her fingers. She dropped her hands from her face when she saw the wide smile on his.

"You're happy about this?" She was shocked at his reaction.

"Of course I am! Your mom wants to meet me? I mean, come on, weren't we talking about this before? What they would do if they found out about us?" Taehyung was talking fast, excited that there seemed to be some kind of progress, a good change in their relationship.

"We were, yeah, I guess you're right....it is kind of exciting!"

Minah had been constantly thinking of all the negative effects of her mom knowing about them. Her dad could be next to find out. Her brother could find out. Taehyung's dad could find out. It was then that she realized the effect he had on her. He always gave her hope, whether it was for something simple like doing well on an exam or more serious matters such as these.

She spent the next half hour telling him how they were found out and what she and her mom talked about. She told him how her mom was now rooting for them and that was enough to throw him into a fit of giggles.

"Can I meet her now? Does she work? Can she come today? Later today, maybe? No, no, don’t do that, that's a bad idea, I’m not ready."

"Taehyung, oh my gosh, calm down," Minah laughed at his mixed excitement.

“Let’s do tomorrow, I think I’ll be ready tomorrow. Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually going to meet your mom and she’s the one who wants to!” he pulled her into a tight hug.

“How do you think…your parents would react if they found out?” Minah asked quietly. She had never really thought to ask that question. It had never even crossed her mind that their parents could possibly find out about them in the first place. Now that her mom had noticed, she was terrified of the thought that his parents might notice something too.

Taehyung pulled back from her, thinking about her question. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it, furrowing his eyebrows and pursing his lips as he dwelled on the question.

“I don’t know...I think my mom would be okay with it, but my dad is a different story. Don’t tell anyone you know this, but I heard my mom talking to her friends once, when I was a kid, and turns out she had a Rebel boyfriend before my dad,” he had a smile on his face, “they weren’t together as long as we’ve been, but it’s something I can use to convince her if she ever found out.”

“You’re going to blackmail your mother?”

“Hey, blackmail is too harsh of a word,” Taehyung joked, smiling widely at her.

“Some filial son you are,” Minah shook her head at him, quoting the reputation he had in the public eye.

“Ah, I have a request and you can’t refuse it,” Taehyung exclaimed, changing the subject.

“Depends what it is,” Minah said but Taehyung was already starting on what he wanted to say.

“As my strong and athletic girlfriend, I request that you teach me how to fight,” Minah’s eyes widened as Taehyung nodded to himself, as if approving his own statement, “I was thinking about this in the hospital, I should know how to fight. You won’t always be there to protect me,” he smiled coyly at her.

“You have a good point there,” Minah began to think about it seriously. It would be good for him to learn how to fight. It was going to take a while for him to actually apply anything he learned with her, but at least she could teach him a few basics; a few moves that could save him from ending up in the hospital again. It was the least she could do for him since he was always coming on to Rebel territory to meet with her.

“So it’s settled? You’re teaching me?” Taehyung pumped his fist in the air with joy.

“Sure, why not? We can start after you meet my mother,” Minah smirked, realizing that he had forgotten about meeting her the next day when the color drained from his face.

He put his face in his hands and made an unintelligible sound, leaning into Minah’s shoulder. She placed her arms around him, laughing at his reaction.

“You’re going to be fine; just be yourself. She wants to know why I’ve been with you for so long and once she sees your personality, she’ll know why,” she felt her cheeks flush and was glad he wasn’t looking at her, embarrassed by her own words.

They were never the mushy type, but she wanted him to know how she felt about him. Even though he knew she loved him, she’d said it many times before, she wanted him to know the little reasons why.

Taehyung tried to push back, wanting to look at her, but Minah continued to hug him tightly, this time, she was the one who had her face buried into his shoulder. When he was finally able to pull her back, he had the biggest grin on his face while her’s went redder.

“Oh you’re so cute when you’re embarrassed!” he pinched her cheeks lightly and then pulled her into a hug, pressing his cheek onto her’s.

“Stooop,” she whined, still embarrassed but now giggling.

Crack. “Damnit.”

“Who was that?” Immediately, Taehyung and Minah were on their feet, looking into the direction of the noise. Minah had subconsciously taken out the pocket knife she carried with her for protection, ready to do any kind of damage needed.

They heard rustling nearby and turned their attention to the person who began to walk out from behind the tree a few feet away from them. He was in jeans, a black sweater, and had on a backwards snapback. How long had he been there? He looked young and from how calm Taehyung was, he seemed to know him. He pulled Minah behind him, shielding her from the boy’s sight.

“Hey, punk. So this is where you’ve been running off to, huh?”