Much to Taemin's dismay, the knock didn’t come as quickly as it had before, while he was waiting for Naeun to finish refreshing herself in the bathroom.

She had been in there for almost twenty minutes already, and if he wouldn’t know any better he would have assumed that she had managed to escape the cottage.

Too bad, the bathroom didn’t have any windows.

After another five minutes, he had enough and knocked on the door himself.

‘Hey, it’s time to get out.’ he growled, hoping to sound as menacing as possible which he knew was probably hardly the case.

‘I’m s-sorry I-‘

‘Something wrong?’ he cut her off, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom door.

‘I-I…I’ll be right out.' she stuttered more, sounding really awkward.

Taemin rolled his eyes at the thought that he was having a pointless conversation with a girl that had locked herself up in the bathroom.

‘Hurry!’ he grumbled back and started tapping his foot impatiently against the floor.

Glancing at his wristwatch again, he noticed that another ten minutes had gone, which was really starting to irritate him.

Yes, he was trying not to be a jerk to her, but shouldn’t she at least appreciate it enough not to push it with him?

‘Ok, what on earth are you doing in there!?’ he hammered his fist against door once more, losing his patience.

‘Min, I-‘

‘Spit it out already!’ he fired back, cutting off her ramble immediately.

On the other side of the door, Naeun felt herself blushing hard, the embarrassment settling deep inside her bones, as she helplessly tried to come up with the right words that wouldn't compromise the last scrap of dignity she had left.

It was already degrading enough to have been kidnapped, restrained and held hostage but telling him this was plainly humiliating.

However, he was also the only one who could potentially help her, so there was simply nowhere to get around it.

‘I can’t come out.’ she stammered, her voice sounding uneven.

‘Why not?’

Taemin was met with silence from the other side of the door.

‘Naeun, why not?’ he slammed his hand against the door again, as if to make a point.

Naeun still didn't respond, frustrating him.

‘I swear, if you don’t tell me now I will-‘

‘Because, I’m on my period.’ she finally confessed, blurting out the words, and now holding her breath as she waited for his reaction.

This time the silence was imposed by Taemin himself, as he was seriously at a loss of what to say.

Clearly, it was normal for girls to have periods, but him having to deal with it?

Now that was something he had never expected to happen.

‘Min, you still there?’ Naeun asked insecurely.

his dry lips, the bouncer cleared his throat before managing to stutter out a reply.

‘Yeah. I’m still here. Ehm, so what do you need exactly?’ he lifted his right hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb, hoping that the action might help him to focus.

~

It was against the instructions he was given by his boss, but Taemin left her alone at the cottage anyway, locking her inside the bathroom and driving to the closest 24h supermarket to get the necessities.

Though, standing there in the aisle labelled as ‘female hygiene’ in front of shelves and shelves, stuffed with millions of products, was beyond embarrassing for him.

When he ended up having to ask a customer advisor what to get since the choice was too big, he felt like runnng.

When the seller put the small package in his hand, he nearly dropped it and stormed out.

And when he walked up to go the cashier to pay for the stuff, well, that was when he truly almost died.

Getting back to the hideout, he kept muttering under his breath, cursing at himself for being such a kid at accomplishing a task as easy as this one, when he’d managed to literally kidnap a girl before.

He left the bag with the things in front of the bathroom door, knocked twice and went back to the small living area, taking out a can of beer he’d stored in the mini fridge while letting Naeun get ready.

After a while, she’d called him then, letting him know that she was done, and like always, he opened the door himself, re-adjusted the blindfold on her, and finally led her back.

As Naeun sat on the mattress, she spoke quietly, more tired than usual, after all th