I still remember the first time I met Taehyung, just as if it was yesterday.

He was a skinny, young kid with a big, toothy smile and an awkward haircut that bordered a buzzcut. He missed a tooth or two and he always spoke so loud, as if he was afraid the world wouldn't hear him.

I still smiled as I remembered his shouting on our first meeting. It was one of my most precious childhood memories, something that I held on to as to my own dear life.

It was the summer before I was about to start school and I had worn my prettiest yellow sundress to go the park with my aunt from Seoul. I still remembered her cutting, interesting accent, and big gold hoops as she sashayed around and eventually, calmed my whining by buying me ice cream.

While she was talking on the phone with someone else, I had skipped on rocks, feeling the sun warm my skin as I lapped at my vanilla cone ice cream.

It was sweet and the cone was crunchy and tasteful, just like I liked it.

But, when I accidentally slipped on a particularly slippery rock, I fell and with me, fell the precious vanilla ice cream.

Immediately, my lip began wobbling and I began to sob about my ice cream. My aunt was too busy talking on the phone, so she was not paying attention to me, but someone on the opposite side of the playground was.

" Yah! Why are you crying?", he shouted as he ran up to me, his lanky limbs awkward and jagged.

I looked up at him, feeling annoyed, yet embarrassed at the same time.

"Go away", I told the strange boy, still with my knees on the ground as I lay bleeding.

He looked confused at my words and without any further comment, he picked me from under my arms and seated me on a rock.

He then kneeled down to look at my knees, taking out rocks that stuck to the bloody skin.

" You shouldn't talk to a guy that's older than you like that", he informed me thoughtfully, yet it had an air of haughtiness to it, which made me mad.

" How do you know you're older?", I asked him, raising my brow.

At that, the boy blushed like a tomato and pouted, shaking his head.

Suddenly, I felt bad for making him embarrassed so I attempted to make amends.

" My name is Nam Haeju", I told him "I'm six years old"

At that, he smiled a mischievous smile that reminded me of villainous heroes from my bedtime stories.

" I'm Kim Taehyung and I am seven years old", he replied, leaning down to stick out his tongue.

I huffed at his remarks and attempted to grab at his ear, yet he escaped from my grasp, running away.

" Yah! Kim Taehyung!", I yelled, trying to catch him, but he wouldn't let me. He ran and ran and ran until he reached the end of the road. Then, he turned around and smiled.

Do you remember the big, toothy smile I was talking about?

Yeah, it was that smile.

It might have been the moment that I had fell in love with him. Completely and utterly.

We went to school together, sat next to each other, ate from the same plate and cried the same tears.

For the longest time, I was so sure that my heart belonged to him and he belonged to me. Everything fit, like pieces of a puzzle.

But, all changed as soon as his mother passed away.

He ignored me, shunned me and kicked me out of his house. I still remember soaking and shivering in the rain right outside his house, screaming for him to open the door.

Yet, when the door opened an hour later but it did not reveal Taehyung. It was a girl clad in a tight red dress with smudged lipstick. I recognized her as Lee Soohee, the prettiest girl in our grade.

The strap of her dress was hanging Low on her shoulder and she walked peculiarly down the street.

I was not unfamiliar with the concept of . After all, at that time I was about fourteen years old and it had dawned on me as soon as I saw her.

While I had been calling for Taehyung, for our friendship of nearly ten years, he had been with another girl.

That felt like a thousand daggers digging into my back, draining me of life and energy.

Questions such as 'did he really think that low of what we had?' or 'did he ever love me at all?' attacked my mind like a swarm of bees.

But, things have gotten worse when we came back to school.

I learned that he was now part of BTS, the dangerous group of guys consisting of Namjoon, their de facto leader, Seokjin, the handsome, but a deadly playboy, Hoseok, a master manipulator that hid behind a mask of kindness, Yoongi, a cold-hearted bastard who didn't care enough to destroy lives, but was more than capable of it, Jimin, a rich boy who drowned himself in alcohol and affections of other girls and Jungkook, the ultimate destroyer of all girls' hearts, a true Casanova in his right.

I did not understand how Taehyung fit into their odd puzzle of heartless monsters. To me, he was everything good about life. Happy, careless and humorous. He didn't play with girls' hearts, he didn't manipulate, he didn't bully.

At least that's what I thought until he slept with Sohee and countless other girls and made me the target of his bullying.

It all started at the first day of tenth grade. Ahran had just discovered that Yoongi cheated on her and all my energy went into helping restore herself, as did Hani's. But, I had never truly forgotten Taehyung. I had planned to bring him back to normal, I already forgave him inside my own head and was ready to approach him.

But, as soon as my feet stepped in through the school doors, my good intentions crashed into nothingness. I was hit with eggs that smeared my school uniform and hair, followed by some screeching girl pouring flour over my head.  I was humiliated, it was hard to breathe and I could barely see because of the tears in my eyes.

As I was scrambling to find a breath of air or a clear sight, my bag was torn out of my hands, it contents now on the floor.

And in the midst of it all stood Taehyung, his arm around a new girl, someone whose name I couldn't recall that well.

But, his eyes were emotionless, glassy and his smile was cruel and full of lies.

That was the moment when I gave up on him. When I lost my battle against the new, monstrous Taehyung.

A large part of me blamed him for it, but the small part of me still loathed him the Bangtan Boys feeding his grief and alternating who he was at heart.

That's why when they approached me at school, I felt nothing but hatred for every single one of them.

Especially Min Yoongi.

" We need to talk to you", said Kim Namjoon, the leader of BTS, with his hands in the pockets of his uniform, still playing the part of a good student.

I glared at all of them, cursing at myself from letting myself get separated from Ahran and Hani.

" No need to glare like that, princess", Jimin chuckled, swinging back his head to caress his own hair, now dyed a pitch black colour. " We're here to talk about Taehyung"

As soon as he uttered that sentence, I felt myself back up from them, only to discover that I've been cornered. Cursing once again, I sighed and nodded, seeing no other choice but to let them speak.

" What do you want?", I spat at all of them.

Jungkook smirked devilishly, knowing full well the effect that it had on others, probably expecting me to fall in my knees.

I only glared back, seething with absolute hatred.

It was only Seokjin's voice that broke me away from sending curses in their direction.

" Taehyung was not himself lately", he explained, sounding genuinely concerned as he furrowed his brows.

" When was he last truly himself?", I yelled at them, feeling more and more suffocated by the presence of the six boys.

I was trying to avoid anything related to Taehyung in order to escape from the suffocating feelings that I had for him. Them reminding me of him was not helping in my case.

Yoongi sighed, rubbing his temples, looking at me tiredly.

" Yah, Nam Haeju", he called my name, sounding utterly exhausted. "Taehyung was always a little off the rocker and out of control, but lately, he just started doing some crazy . He gets drunk and goes to the bridges by the River Han and walks on the ledge to test faith. He sleeps with other guys' girlfriends, knowing full well he'll get beat up. He gets in fights with guys twice his size and bruises himself to the point of rib breakage. It hurts us to see him like this"

I felt my heart beat fast as I thought of Taehyung bruised, drunk and in danger. It ached and squeezed as if urging for me to find him, make sure he was alright, treat him, take care of him.

But, my mind knew full well that it was a path of clear destruction. Taehyung was my destruction.

" Why are you telling me this?", I asked them, putting on a mask of indifference to hide my growing concern.

Hoseok was the one who laughed, clutching his stomach, looking genuinely amused at this twisted situation.

The rest of BTS just stood stone-faced as they watched him crumple in laughter, Jimin cursing as he kicked at dust.

Then, after Hoseok recovered, he looked me right in the eye, a light flickering within it.

" Oh, you really are stupid aren't you?", he murmured at me, his eyes crinkling into a smile again. " It's because of you, Haeju. All of Taehyung's crazy behaviour is because of you"

I shook my head, getting even more confused as I noticed that none of them were denying it.

Letting out a small laugh, you tried to clarify the situation.

" Taehyung... he hates me. He loathes me. Why would he get in danger for me?" I asked them as if it was the obvious thing ever, which it was.

His drunk kisses meant nothing to him. And I was not a fool that would assume that his lust in an intoxicated state meant that I became the love of his life. Taehyung has done things with other girls far more dirtier than a few kisses, yet not one of them stayed.

Jimin, who looked more annoyed than anything, sighed and looked up at me with an expression that read 'are you really that stupid?'.

" He's upset because he can't have you. No, he can, but he refuses to for some ty excuse along the lines of 'I'm not worthy'. What he is doing is distraction. From you. Always you, Haeju. Do you never see it?", he hissed out, his eyebrows shooting up.

I felt my heart grow heavy in my chest as tears sprang up, blurring my vision.

How cruel could they be?

" Is this a prank?", I whispered, my lip wobbling from approaching hysteria.

Namjoon, who stood the closest, looked genuinely pitiful as he watched tears fall down my cheeks.

Jungkook looked around, probably uncomfortable about a girl crying in front of him.

" It's not a prank", Seokjin explained, looking a tad bit guilty as he watched me crumble. " We need your help. We need you to talk to him"

I was about to respond, only to be interrupted as I saw two figures approach the corner I was trapped in.

Ahran and Hani, both looking tremendously furious stomped towards me, ready to fire bullets.

The boys, who stood to face me, hadn't noticed them yet, which did not remain a fact for long.

" Who gave you the right to corner Haeju like that?", Ahran asked them in an icy tone, one that had intimated countless others for most of her life.

The Bangtan Boys all turned around and I watched as Yoongi's eyes grew wide, something burning bright inside them as if someone lit a candle within his pupils.

Ahran's eyes shifted to Yoongi's only for a second, yet I felt her entire body tense as she fought a war within her.

Hani, on the other hand, looked calm, yet intimidating at the same time.

" You shouldn't mix with others' business like this", Jungkook informed them, looking smug.

Hani scoffed, looking outraged by his mere words.

" Haeju is our friend", Hani seethed. " Her business is our business. So, do as I say and get out of the way"

Jungkook raised his brows at her, rubbing his lower lip with his thumb, looking far too intrigued for any of us to be comfortable.

" Whatever you say, sweetheart", he responded, clearing the way for Hani.

She approached me, her expression concerned and protective and put her hands around my shoulders, guiding me out of the corner.

Ahran waited for us and gave me a soft smile as she put a hand on my back.

But, as we were retreating, Hoseok screamed out for me.

" Think about it, Haeju", he called out. " It's for the sake of Taehyung"

These last words were what hit me into a stupor. Even if it wasn't true, even if Taehyung didn't do all these crazy things because of his desire for me, I still had a chance of saving him.

As his old friend, a person that loved him.

" Stop", I told Ahran and Hani, who looked at me with wide eyes. " I need to go talk to them"