The Gift

Chapter 8: The Trunk

You jump up in bed just as six armed men wearing ski masks come charging into the room with guns drawn and pointed at you and Taehyung. You have only a second to question who these men are and what they can possibly want, when one masked man yells out, "He's here!"

"Good," says a voice from outside in the hallway and then you hear his steady footsteps walking toward you, it's like you're on an executioner's block and the executioner is coming toward you.

The air seems to leave the room as a man in an immaculate suit walks into the room. He looks like he just walked off a runway in his stylish suit and not out of the 3 feet of snow that you know to be outside your house.

You thought you were safe! That you hid well enough that no one knew you were there, but it seems they always knew Taehyung was here and waited for their right time to pounce.

"Kim Taehyung," says the bad man.

"Chairman," Taehyung says simply and you work hard to keep your expression blank as you wonder how Taehyung knows the guy's title... does he remember?

"You've been a real annoyance," says the Chairman in a thick accent that matches Taehyung's... he must also be Korean. The Chairman sighs warily as of dealing with a wayward child and not the Idol that you're sure this guy kidnapped. When his eyes flick to spearing you through with a condescending gaze, your cringe as he laughs. "A woman. I should have known. It's always a woman, isn't it?"

The men in the room chuckle, but you flinch when the Chairman reaches to touch your face, but Taehyung slaps the other man's hand away. Two masked men lunge forward and capture Taehyung, stopping him from touching the Chairman again, who continues to study you like you are a fascinating ant.

"Leave her alone!" Yells Taehyung pushing against the men restraining him like a wild animal as the Chairman caresses your chin. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Oh... but she does," says the Chairman. "She lied to my men. She sheltered and hid you... She's done so much to try to protect you and I'm going to guess that you will do anything to protect her. So she comes and if you act up like before... it's not you who will suffer, but her. Then what kind of protector will you be?"

When the Chairman settles into the accent chair by the window, you feel a frisson of terror race up your spine. He's too casual, too comfortable, too sure that he's won. And if he's won doesn't that mean you've lost? He sits like he's an audience member while you and Taehyung are on a stage.

What's he going to do to us? You ask yourself, heart beating so hard against your chest that you're afraid you might pass out.

You've never felt fear like this before because you never knew fear like this existed. You've lived a pretty sheltered life in comparison to... this, your current reality where you're in bed in just sweat shorts and a dozen men are in your bedroom pointing guns at you.

"Come on Sweet Stuff, off the bed," comes the gruff order from a large man wearing a ski mask.

Taehyung lunges forward, putting himself between them and you, but there's no use. Many of them versus one of him. Two burly masked men tackle Taehyung to the ground.

"Come on, girl," says the masked man in front of you.

This is a nightmare of the most terrifying proportions. If there is one thing you know about being in the hands of criminals it's never to be taken to a second location but as they wrap your wrists and ankles in duck tape, the fear quadruples. Your heart thunders and the blood rushes to your head when the biggest goon picks you up and carries you outside like you weigh nothing.

You're unceremoniously dumped into the trunk of a car, then Taehyung is shoved in there after you. You're both curled into yourselves, making your bodies as small as possible, but with a man almost 6 ft tall it's a tight, tight fit.

"Get comfy, Kids," the burly, still masked goon that carried you out says as he slams the trunk on top of you and suddenly you're bound and gagged in the trunk of a car heading to god knows where.

This could be the literal end of your life. The literal end of Taehyung's life and you don't know what to do. No! There's absolutely nothing you can do hogtied in the back of a car as you are.

You suddenly have Harry Potter flashbacks, realizing that in this situation you are not Harry but Cedric Diggory. "Kill the spare," you can hear The Chairman saying with a careless shrug. You know that you're not important that no one at HYBE even knows who you are, why would they pay the ransom to get you back?

You're starting to breathe heavy, your panic growing, as the reality of being bound and gagged in a trunk hits you. You're going to die! But you don't want to die. You're too young to die... a soft hand slips into yours and your mind stops racing.

You open your eyes and in the dark interior you can barely see more than an outline of Taehyung but it's enough. His warm hand wrapped around your hand steadies you. Your heartbeat slows. Your breathing calms.

He can't do anything else. He can't speak, he can't get you out, he can't save you, so Taehyung does the only thing he can... he holds your hand and it's such a little gesture, a small token but the most important because with his hand in yours, the world shifts as you remember that you may be in danger but you're not alone and here in this moment it means everything.

You stay like that for a long time as the minutes and miles pass by. As you get farther away from home and safety, driven in the back of the trunk, holding Taehyung's hand as you face the dangerous unknown, together.