old cigarettes | min yoongi

lxv.

the next morning, jin-ae and suga came back to visit. after hearing about your chat with hyeon last night, jin-ae insisted on coming with suga, even though you said that she might not like what she hears when hyeon arrives. jin-ae sat on the edge of your bed, playing with the sheets in an attempt to form words.

neither of you said anything until the door creaked open, showing hyeon, who had a leather bag draped over his shoulder. "are you guys ready?"

"yeah, we're ready." suga said, giving your hand a final squeeze before turning around to face hyeon. "and sorry about before, by the way."

hyeon waved his hand dismissively. "don't worry about it." he wasted no time in taking a seat next to suga and pulling out various pieces of paper from his satchel, laying them out on your bed where everyone could see them. "first off, i have several photos of previous things that have been on the news that were all dohyon's doing, along with the plans to support it." he indicated several pieces of paper on the bed. "among them, nari's... attempted murder. secondly, i have detailed floor plans of the gang's hideout, which includes rooms that i didn't even know existed, so who knows what could be in them. thirdly, i have several testimonies detailing things that dohyon has done to several people." he gave a wiry smirk. "i'm the one who gave all of said testimonies, but they don't need to know that."

"wait, wait, wait. why would dohyon attack nari? what motive would he have?" suga asked. hyeon looked back and forth between you and suga, waiting for you to say something. "what?" suga raised an eyebrow at him.

you bit the inside of your lip, working up the courage to say something, to explain. they would think ill of you, you just knew it. there was only one way to fix this.

tell half the truth.

"well... i think i know. back in high school, dohyon had a very major and obvious crush on me, but it wasn't like one of those school boy crushes, it was like... it manifested into something uncontrollable. he started making excuses to follow me home from school, take photos of me. after a while, he started hanging out with this bad crowd around school that did drugs and shit. when he was hanging out with me, hyeon and another girl we were friends with, he didn't even try to hide the fact that he was trying to start a gang. he was really obsessed with destroying the government and creating chaos. it was scary. it all boiled down to one particular day... the day he finally decided to confess. well, more like ask me to be his girlfriend since he already knew that i knew he liked me. when i refused, something... shifted. he just shrugged, walked away, and stopped stalking me, but i couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't the end of it. and now... i guess we all know that wasn't the end of it."

after you finished, there was silence.

"... why didn't you tell me that dohyon was... doing that to you?" jin-ae said in a small voice, looking down at the floor.

"i thought it was my burden to bare. you were going through your own thing, so i didn't want to give you even more to deal with." you didn't look at anyone, resorting to fiddling with your sheets. "i had an opportunity to stop all of this, and i didn't. i'm sorry."

"you think we would blame this on you?" suga said, his voice shaking slightly, which made you look up. you couldn't read his expression very well because tears were blurring your vision. "he was literally stalking you, so you did the right thing by refusing him. you had no way of knowing what would happen, so don't blame yourself, okay? just because a psycho wants you doesn't mean he gets to have you." he leaned over and gingerly brushed away the tears that had slowly started to cascade down your cheeks.

jin-ae leant forward to take your hand. "a man is not entitled to you, and it isn't your fault if you say no to someone. you should have gone to the police if he was stalking you though, maybe they could have fixed it before all of this had happened. but it doesn't matter now. you're still alive and we're going to get dohyon in jail now, so stop fretting about the past. we're all here for you, remember? you're not alone."

"you never walk alone, remember?" suga said, cracking a smile as he reached over to hold onto your other hand.

you sniffed loudly. "... did you just make a pun?"

"i was sharing a room with jin earlier," he sighed, "it must be contagious."

hyeon cleared his throat. "if we add your reports of him stalking you and make a formal campaign against him, it should be enough for the police. they need so much these days, it's honestly exhausting. would you like to come with me to the police, or do you want to stay away and let me handle it, nari?"

"i'll leave it to you." you wiped a stray tear from your eye. "i'm going to trust you again. please... don't abuse that trust. i don't think i could do that again."

"no problem. i'll leave you guys to it, then." with that, hyeon left the room, leaving the three of you in silence, save for the occasional sniffle.