It had been a week since the “punishment.” They now started coming at irregular times—my tactic of counting minutes was useless. Suga was now the one to come most often. I didn’t mind seeing him. He was quiet and didn’t trouble me. Jin would come in often as well. He was the gentlest when he spoke to me. Somehow, he gave me comfort. I didn’t see much of Jimin for that week. I had no idea what he was doing, but I could only hope he didn’t come back.

       “There’s still a bruise.” I mumbled, looking at the giant purple mark. I was hiding out in the bathroom that had been filled with a few hygienic essentials. Besides my few new items, there was nothing to do besides explore the same room over and over again.

Click

       I peeked my head out to see V closing the door with a grimace on his face.

       “I haven’t seen you for a while.” I spoke softly, hiding behind the broken bathroom door. V only scoffed.

       “What, did you miss me? I didn’t come around cause, I didn’t want to. The only reason I’m here is because, the others are on a mission and they needed someone to watch you.” He sat down, leaning against the door.

       “You don’t have to watch me. It’s not like I can go anywhere.” I muttered, coming to sit down next to the food he had brought for me.

       “After that last stunt you pulled, there’s no way we could leave you alone.” He glared at me. It made sense though. There’s no way they could trust me now.

       “Well…can we talk?” I asked slowly.

V laughed, “Talk? Why would we talk?”

       “I’m stuck here all by myself. It gets lonely.”

       “That’s your problem. Not mine.”

       “It kind of is your problem. You guys kidnapped me.”

       “You shouldn’t have been snooping.”

       “I was curious!”

       “You were an idiot!” Every sentence led to us getting louder and louder, until V was screaming at me. His fist slammed into the door behind him, leading it to rattle under his wrath. “Dammit! I hate people like you!”

I was shocked, “M-me?”

       “Yes, YOU! You’re so damn annoying. I bet you had the perfect life, too! You lived in a nice house, had a loving family, and had all the money in the world! So what happened, huh? You get bored with your perfect life and decide to move to Korea to satisfy your selfish greedy needs! I bet you’re the type of girl who EXPECTS the guys to pay for everything cause you can’t be bothered with trivial things. You privilege people piss me off. You have everything handed to you through a silver spoon and never dare to blink an eye at anyone else who appears to be beneath you. You disgust me. You’re a disgusting pig!”

       I could feel the tears streaming down my face at every insult he threw at me, but it wasn’t sadness I felt…it was anger. I could feel my blood boil in my veins. Tick. Tock. My brain was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any minute. And explode I did. I threw the plate of food like a Frisbee at his head before flinging the fork along with growls of rage.

       “You think my life is perfect?” I stood up. “You don’t know a thing about me! My father died when I was only four years old. FOUR YEARS OLD! My mother was left to work two jobs to support my brother and I, but do you think that was enough? Of course not! Our house was tiny, there was never warm water, and sometimes we worked without power.” Everything was coming out of me at once, “When I was seven I decided to run a lemonade stand to raise money to buy a new doll. The neighbor boys decided to trash the stand and steal all the lemonade. My brother chased them down and beat them up, but the damage was done. I could never do a lemonade sale again. But do you know what made things worse? The money I had raised was more than enough to buy ten dolls, but mom decided to use it instead to help pay the car bill. I never got the doll.” Tears were streaming down my face. I wasn’t sure if I was understandable at this point, but I didn’t care. “I never resented my mother more than in that moment. You know what? I still in ways resent my mother! Sure, she gave up everything to help my brother and I, but when I needed her the most, she closed herself off! I was alone!” The thoughts of her depressed came to mind, replacing the memory of the doll money. I slumped to the floor, hands over my eyes as I cried. My words were jumbled, scenes I was talking about flashed before me. I never realized I held this emotion towards my mom, but even so, all I wanted to do was be held by her and tell her how sorry I was for being so selfish.

       “You shouldn’t feel that way towards your mom.” V muttered. “It sounds like she did everything she could for you.” I looked up at him through tear-stained eyes.

       “You should be grateful you had a mother.” V was looking off towards the window. His expression told me he was in pain. “My father died when I was about eight. I remember him always coming home late, but just in time to tuck me into bed. I remember the loving looks my parents would give each other, and I remember hiding my face whenever they kissed. When my dad died, my mom acted like it never happened. We moved to a smaller house and she continued to work at the preschool. I remember trying to ask her about dad, but she would never talk about him. She almost acted like he never existed. It made me angry. One day, when I was twelve, I lashed out at her. I told her I hated her and that I wished it was her that had died. She didn’t cry in front of me. Instead, she made me dinner, hugged me, and told me that she loved me.” Tears were b V’s eyes. “That night, I saw her crying in her room, over a picture of my dad. She said, “My love, I don’t know if I can do this anymore. Life is so hard without you. Our son keeps asking about you, but I can’t bear to talk about you. It hurts too much. He told me he hated me, today. I don’t blame him. What should I do?” I walked back to my room feeling guilty. I never felt so horrible. When I woke up the next morning, mom acted like nothing happened. She smiled at me with the same amount of love that she always has. Because,” V looked at me, a tear was threatening to fall, “No matter how much you hurt your mother, she will never stop loving you. A mother’s love is stronger than any love out there.” I wanted to hold him.

       “V…”

       “Mom took me out for dinner for my thirteenth birthday. We didn’t have the money to do so, but she didn’t care. She took me out and ordered all my favorites. Far more than I could ever handle. I remember that being the happiest moment in my life. Then…we walked home. It was late. I was holding my mother’s soft hand. We were stopped by a hooded man. He was screaming to my mother to give him all our money. I was scared and helpless. Mom gave him everything she had in her purse. You know what that bastard did? He shot her anyway! That ing bastard killed my mother even after she cooperated!” His tears were streaming down his face as he yelled. “My mom grabbed my hand and told me that I was the sign of her and my father’s love. She apologized for never talking about him. I tried telling her how sorry I was. I tried telling her how much I loved her…but I don’t know if she heard me before she died.”

       “V…I’m so sorry.” I was crying with him now. “She must have heard you V. Like you said, a mother’s love is the strongest kind of love. She probably already forgave you before that.” V was silent. His expression was unreadable and his body was still. The only sign of life was the tears that continued to leak from his eyes. V got up quietly taking the broken plate with him.

       “If you get the chance to see your mom again, tell her you love her. You’ll regret not telling her otherwise.” The door closed softly behind him, and I was left there heartbroken. I was heartbroken for myself, but mostly for V. I could see why he was always so quick to lash out. I had no idea what he had to endure, and my heart ached to hold him and tell him that it was going to be ok, but I knew it was too late. V had chosen his path a long time ago.

       It had just reached midnight when I heard the boys come through the door. The only reason I knew it was midnight was because I could hear the brand new clock upstairs chime. Their feet shuffled and I could muffle out a few voices, but they were speaking too softly for me to grasp words. Just then Jimin opened the door. I was laying on the floor surprised when I saw him. He had a frown on his face, the bags under his eyes gave it away that he was tired.

       “Hello sweetie. Were you sleeping?” He asked as he sat down, leaving the door open to shine some light in here.

I shook my head no, “I haven’t seen you since...I haven’t seen you in a while.” He chuckled at my change of words.

       “I’ve been rather busy with some things. I would have come sooner, but I couldn’t find time. Taehyung is rather quiet.”

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, “Taehyung?”

He snickered lightly, “I forgot. We’re still going by code names. Taehyung is V’s real name. Don’t tell him, I told you.” I sat up in surprise.

       “His name is Taehyung?” Jimin nodded, humming. Sleepiness was coating his face.

       “He seemed pretty troubled when we got home; like he had been crying.”

       “I-I didn’t make him cry!” I defending myself. I was afraid I was going to be punished again.

Jimin shook his head, “I know you didn’t. The last time I saw Taehyung cry was at his mom’s funeral. That was also the day I saw Taehyung break someone’s nose.” Jimin giggled slightly from the memory.

       “You must have known V-I mean Taehyung, for a long time.”

Jimin nodded once more, “Yes. I’ve known Taehyung since middle school. I remember the day he came to school. He was always so chipper. He was eccentric and loud. No one dared to make eye contact with him…well…except me. Shortly after, his smile disappeared. Rumors spread that his mother died. He avoided everyone after that. Then one day, I offered him an animal cracker. I didn’t realize that those were special snacks his mom and him would share, until he started crying. That was the first time I ever saw him cry. We stuck with each other ever since then. We joined BTS together as well.”

       “BTS?” I questioned.

       “That’s the name of our group. It’s what we’ve always called ourselves.” He shrugged.

       “So, Taehyung joined BTS cause his mom died?” I suggested.

       “Kind of. That was part of it, but he mostly joined because of his aunt.” Taehyung never mentioned an aunt. Jimin must have saw my confusion because, he continued, “With no parents, Taehyung was forced to live with his aunt. She was a . Taehyung wasn’t allowed to hang out with me past 8pm. He did all the cooking and cleaning for her selfish , and he even had to get a job. I hated that woman. Taehyung did, too. One day she went too far. She called Taehyung’s father worthless and his mother a . She wouldn’t stop with the insults and Tae…well…”

My face was white, “Well what?”

       “Nothing...short time later he moved in with me, taking the few things he still had. During the move, he discovered some letters that his mother had written to him, but the stupid hag had kept from him. Tae hasn’t looked at the letters to this day. He has them stashed in his room, but he never has opened them. I think he’s afraid to see what she wrote. He’s afraid that he’ll disappoint her.” Jimin looked sad talking about it. “Don’t think bad about Taehyung. I know it may not seem like it but he’s a good person. We’ve all gone through our own personal hell.”

       “You’re asking me to dismiss the fact that you guys are murderers and kidnap people.” I wheezed out, shocked from what I was hearing and confused from what I wasn’t.

Jimin scolded, “You act as if we go around picking victims off the street to murder. We kill those who want to kill us. If we can avoid it we do, but sometimes it is inevitable. Killing is just part of the job. We have standards though. We don’t off anyone deemed innocent. This is just a matter of revenge on him.”

       “Him?”

Jimin tsked, “I’ve said too much already. Anyway, the only reason I told you this was because, I could see on Taehyung’s face that he told you about his mom. I figured you might be interested in how he got into BTS.”

       “You didn’t really explain how, though?” I pointed out.

       “He got in to find his mother’s murderer and end him.” Jimin’s expression was dark.

       “I-I see…” So much information was thrown at me. I didn’t know how much more I could handle. Jimin chuckled, rubbing his eyes.

       “I think you’ve heard enough. Just…don’t think bad of Taehyung. He was really close to his mother, and he’s gone through a lot. Like I said, we all have.” With that he got up. I didn’t realize I had stood up with him until I saw the smirk on his face.

       “W-wait, Jimin, how did you end up joining BTS?” I received no answer, rather, I received a pat on the head.

       “I find myself wondering that, too, sometimes. Sleep well sweetie.” He kissed the top of my head then left, locking the door behind him.

I slept that night thinking about Jimin and Taehyung. I was puzzled by what could have possibly happen between the time Taehyung was living with his aunt and living with Jimin. The more I absorbed the info, the more I felt bad for Taehyung. No one is going to come out of an environment like that, and be normal. His aunt was an awful human being, and his mother sounded like the only sound anchor Taehyung had left.

       I made up my mind. I wasn’t scared of Taehyung. I didn’t think of him as a bad person. Rather, I felt sorry for him. He fell down a path he shouldn’t have.

Poor Taehyung.