TAQ | vk ✔️

[50]

50| punishment

KIM TAEHYUNG

"You are too late. A half an hour!" Bogum yells angry. I look down a bit intimidated. I'm standing in front of the man that used to mistreat me, hurt me, and mean the world to me. I have no idea how to feel and especially now that he starts yelling at me.

"I'm sorry", I say softly. "I fell asleep." "Do you think I care about your sleep?! We are working with a schedule. I expect you to do as we say", Bogum growls and I quickly nod. "I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again", I say and he scoffs as he walks my way. "I hope so", he says and gestures me to leave. "You're dismissed. I let someone else do your job as you sit in the prison for your punishment. Hyukjun, bring him there", Bogum says and sits back behind his desk. I want to protest but Hyukjun gestures me not to as he leads me out of the room.

"I told you to go to him in an hour", he says a bit annoyed. "Now I get a warning too." "I'm sorry, my king for I have failed you", I say sarcastically and bow. He growls and pushes me against the wall. "Now is not the right time to act sassy, Taehyung. But don't worry, after your punishment I'll give you one myself and show you who's in charge", he says and starts pushing me towards the cells again.

On our way I see Eunbi talking to someone on the other side of the hall. We make eye-contact and I try to sign her I'm fucked. A small nod tells me she understood before I go down into the basement.

I didn't make any more eye contact with Hyukjun, feeling my hands shake as memories of Bogum and I float through my mind. It makes me feel like I'm suffocating like air is been taken away from me. I'm in the same house as him, with a lot of people who wouldn't hesitate to kill for this man.

"Don't be scared, Tae", I look up to see Yerin in the cell on the other side of the hallway. "H-How did you know?" I ask, trying to calm myself. "I feel it when someone is afraid. I can smell fear", Yerin sighs. "Why are you scared?" she asks. "Bogum", I say softly. "What he did to you before was just an act. He is not interested in giving you any special attention right now so you don't have to be afraid", she smiles a little. It helped a bit, knowing he's still an asshole but probably not in that way.

"How come you're here?" Yerin then asks. "I fell asleep and was too late", I mumble. "This is my punishment." The girl chuckles. "Let's just hope Eunbi is fast enough."

I look at her. "Doesn't it hurt? Seeing her with someone else?.

"She doesn't remember us together."

I frown at that. "She does." Yerin looks t me and smiles sadly.

"But the feelings she has for him are real to her too because of the spell. They'll go away once you too get your full memories back", she says.

I look at the dirty ground, sinking down anyway, and sit on the hard surface. I felt a bit disgusted for just some seconds before I found my peace with it.

"You miss him?" I look at her again.

"A lot."

"What does your wolf say?" Yerin asks and I shrug. "Not much. He's not satisfied with the distance between my mate and me. But it only makes me more motivated to do this right", I answer.

I push my finger on the ground next to me, ignoring the softly stinging feeling of the little rocks on there. "I hope Eunbi will come back soon", I mumble and hear Yerin hum in agreement. "I hope so too. With the antidote", Yerin says.

It took Eunbi the whole day, but once the moon lit up the sky with the help of hundreds of stars, I heard soft footsteps coming closer. I move towards the iron bars and see the Alpha girl rush our way.

"Tae!? I drank it already. I remember everything", Eunbi says immediately as she sees me and hands me a little bottle, "drink this." I do so as I watch the girl opening Yerin's cell and almost jumping on top of her.

"I'm so sorry, Yer. I love you so much", she cries out, hugging her closely as tears leave her eyes. It was such a sad scene, seeing tears rest in Yerin's eyes too. Of course, it hurts to see your loved one with another.

"It's okay, baby", Yerin smiles and pecks her lips. "We have to go now. Now that it's dark", Yerin says and brings Eunbi and I nod. Eunbi gets me out of my cell too. "Hold my hand", Yerin says and I do so, frowning confused as to why but before I knew it we're standing outside, wind in my face and heart almost standing still from the shock. "Don't do that again", I murmur and hear the two girls giggle. "I'm sorry, Tae. Next time I'll warn you", Yerin says.

"Come on. We take one of their cars", Eunbi says and starts running away. Yerin and I follow her. And now let's go to Jeongguk.

JEON JEONGGUK

"And?" I look up to see Seokjin. I sigh softly and nod.

"He is my mate."

"Wow... so Yuju isn't?" Namjoon asks a bit shocked. "But why did you think so in the beginning?" Seokjin asks. "I don't know. Honestly, I still feel the mate bond with Yuju. One of them is fooling us and I'm not sure who", I sigh out.

"I found out about Yuju's plan", Yoongi interrupts. We all focus on Yoongi now, waiting for him to go on. "She wants the rose, she needs that vampire princess to harness it cause she herself is not able to do so without getting fried on the inside", Yoongi says. He stands up, "I trust Jimin. I have no idea why, but Yuju is calling too much with other people about this, it seems like she puts a lot of effort behind this so why not brainwash everyone. You know she used magic before."

"What?! You know she wanted to do this", Seokjin asks. "She wants to take the rose?" "I mean she does talk about it a lot", I murmur deep in my thoughts. "Listen, Jeongguk", my brother growls out angry, and grabs my shoulder. "She is not getting any access to the rose. If you give her permission I'll no longer speak to you." I roll my eyes. "It's just a rose-" "It's not and you know it too. Or this poor girl with die in a painful way or Yuju will be so powerful she is unstoppable", Seokjin says. "I don't care about that girl and calm down I won't give it to her", I say.

"Guys!" We look up to see Jiminy rush in. "Hey can I borrow Jeongguk for a second?" he smiles and grabs my arm to drag me along. "The fact we had a talk doesn't mean we're best friends", I grumble and pull my arm out of his grip. "Don't worry, I don't want to", Jimin smiles.

I want to reply but when I look up and see a guy stand there everything around me seems to fade. I kind of recognize him but I don't know who he is. My wolf seems to know pretty well though.

"Jeongguk?" the guy gasps, tears rolling down his cheeks and it was all I need to get hit by a wave of memories and anger to arise in me.