Taehyung downed another glass of bitter alcohol – his fifth of the night. The cold fluid burned his throat and numbed his mind, but it could never erase the image of Chaeyoung’s broken-hearted expression from his memories. Every tear she shed was like another dagger piercing his heart. And knowing he was the cause of her pain was even more unbearable.

He wanted to protect her, to nudge her towards the right direction, towards her fate – but why did pushing her away feel so unsettling, so painful, so wrong?

As he performed his song, his heart begged him to chase after her, but his mind urged him to finish his performance and give her the space she required to clear her mind. Because, somehow, every single interaction, every secret smile, every stolen glance, hell, every breath they shared magnified his feelings and he feared that it would soon be impossible to separate from her at all. And in that vulnerable moment, they both knew they would end up in each other’s arms again and that would only make the situation harder. After all, no matter what their hearts desired, the universe had already decided they could never be.

“Listen,” Seokjin stood in front of the bar, an arm slung over a busty courtesan’s shoulders while his other hand barely managed to hold onto a wine glass, “heartbreak’s tough but so are you. And you do not need a woman to be happy when you are a strong independent man who can provide for yourself.”

Taehyung had to resist the urge to punch him in the face. Instead, he leaned across the counter to grab another drink.

“Are you really going to tell me that with all the women you’ve breezed through tonight?” he slurred as he began to gently sway in place, feeling the alcohol take effect at last.

Seokjin coughed uncomfortably as the woman slid out of his arms with an expression of utter betrayal.

“You told me I was the only one for you!” she exclaimed, and Taehyung did not feel even a smidge of guilt for the secret he had accidentally revealed.

“You are,” Seokjin reassured her after throwing a glare at Taehyung who was just watching them for entertainment purposes at this point, “… for the next hour or so.”

The woman scoffed and began stomping away, causing Seokjin to turn towards Taehyung in exasperation, “great. You just ruined a perfectly good one-night stand. Hope you’re proud of yourself.”

Again, Taehyung felt no remorse. He was having difficulty feeling anything at all at that point in the night. Now, he was trying to piece together all the events that had brought him to where he stood today, in a luxe brothel where he had just broken an angel’s heart and also where he was throwing himself a personal pity party.

The Taehyung of last year would have had the time of his life in a place like this. But that Taehyung also carried a lot of animosity and darkness in his heart – a misinformed hatred for the privileged people of the world that had somehow slowly disintegrated over the past few months and evolved into understanding and compassion. Because of her. Everything that made him feel something – whether it was joy or sorrow – had become intricately tied to her.

“Taetae!” Jimin suddenly snuck up behind Taehyung and swung a friendly arm over his shoulder, the cheerful tone of his voice irritating the dark mood that had been brewing within Taehyung the entire night.

His forehead glistened with beads of sweat and a faint pink glow had spread across his cheeks, indicating that he had been physically exerting himself. Whether that was due to an activity of a ual nature or dancing, Taehyung was not certain.

“Where is your princess?” the shorter man asked, looking around the room curiously while pouring himself a cold drink, “my – I mean, Lisa, would like to dance with her.”

“She’s not mine,” he replied lifelessly and there was a silent “unfortunately” attached to the statement that Jimin could surely detect.

Jimin crossed his arms, a stern expression filling his features, “and whose fault is that?”

“The world’s.”

Taehyung was pretty sure he was pouting but his head was buzzing too much for him to focus on any thought for too long.

“Stop being a weak ,” it seemed like Yoongi appeared out of thin air when Taehyung turned to see him perched on a bar stool looking like a happy, ruffled mess, “if you want something, you have to take the initiative. Crying about it is not going to help anyone and it just makes you look like a weak .”

“In my defense,” Taehyung slurred, definitely beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol now, “I haven’t cried yet.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes, “not the point.”

“He’s drunk,” Jimin groaned, “damn it, can you take care of him this time?”

“No way in hell,” Yoongi scoffed, “I have someone waiting for me in the other room.”

“Ooooh,” Taehyung cooed, inching alarmingly close into Yoongi’s personal bubble and in doing so actually risking death, “is it the love of your life and the light of your world, Kim Jisoo?”

Instead of smacking Taehyung, as per the expected response for his teasing, Min Yoongi remained silent and sipped his drink. He even managed to flash a distant, content smile, which although small, was almost shocking enough to sober Taehyung right up.

“No way!” Jimin laughed, nudging Yoongi’s shoulder playfully, “you guys finally confessed?”

And that was too much social interaction for one night for Yoongi as he refused to answer any of their burning questions and began walking away instead.

“I’m happy for them,” Taehyung claimed, a hand clutched to his heart and a genuine expression plastered on his face, “I’m really happy for them, Jimin. Truly, sincerely happy – “

“Okay, yes I get it, you’re happy for them,” Jimin replied with a chuckle that did not reach his eyes as he could clearly see that his best-friend was no where close to being happy.

“Where’s Chaeyoung? We have to tell her the good news,” Taehyung smiled widely, his eyes scanning the room from front to back just as Lisa quickly made her way towards them.

“About that,” Lisa interjected, her expression concerned and confused, “we can’t find Chaeyoung.”

“What?!” Taehyung and Jimin exclaimed at the same time. It was like a slap of ice-cold water to Taehyung’s drunk face, as a slow but strong sense of panic began to settle in the pit of his stomach.

“Namjoon and I have searched the entire premises, but she is nowhere to be found,” Lisa explained, her eyebrows furrowing with concern, “did you guys see her at all after she ran out of the room?”

Taehyung froze, scrambling to rummage through his memories. He was singing, then she had run out, and then he began drinking. That was all he remembered.

Without another word, he slammed the glass of alcohol down on the counter and began storming through the room, his eyes systematically darting from place to place as he tried to locate her. There was no way they could have lost her. There were 9 of them placed throughout the building to prevent just that! If something had happened to her, he would never forgive himself or the people who were supposed to protect her.

At that point, the rest of the group began to converge in the middle of the room, Taeyong and Jennie emerging from one corner while Jisoo, Yoongi, and Namjoon pushed their way through another end of the crowd to join them. Taehyung practically ran towards them, as Lisa and Jimin silently followed.

“What the is going on?” Jisoo demanded as soon as she saw him, “how could you lose THE PRINCESS?”

“And where the have you been the entire night?” Jennie snapped before Taehyung even had a chance to explain himself, “maybe you should have focused a little more on the Princess and a little less on pleasing Yoongi –”

Jisoo automatically lunged towards her in anger, but before she could swing, Namjoon stepped in between the two of them while Taeyong pulled Jennie away and Yoongi held Jisoo’s arms behind her back.

“Let us all at least try and remain calm,” Namjoon instructed in his deep, relaxing voice, “I do not think I need to remind any of you that protecting the princess is a shared objective among all 9 of us and blaming one person is neither fair nor helpful. Although it is true that we have all been distracted as of late, and neglected our primary duty, we will only resolve this issue by working together.”

Jisoo rolled her eyes but appeared much more relaxed when Yoongi finally released her.

Once Namjoon was sure everyone had c