Stigma Love's Algorithm [ A BTS x Reader Poly ]

Chapter 93: The Stand & the Shadow ⚠️

Tae smiled-not with amusement, but steel.

"You can try to confuse my timeline. But I lived it. You just read about it."

A low gasp echoed.
The judge banged the gavel again.
The defense regrouped, trying again.

"Mr. Kim, didn't you once refer to Mr. Choi as 'family' in a previous interview?"

Tae didn't miss a beat. "Yes. The way hostages learn to thank their captors."

Even the jury blinked.

Jin oppa didn't react-but I saw the slight curve in the corner of his mouth.

The defense tried one last time.

"And is it not true that your statements today contradict some of your early written statements?"

Tae's voice dropped, low and heavy with truth.

"I contradicted myself because I was terrified. Because I thought I'd never be believed. But fear doesn't erase the truth-it delays it. You're hearing the truth now. And I'm not afraid of you anymore."

Silence fell again, thicker this time.

Yoongi exhaled shakily, brushing his knuckles over his mouth.

Joon reached for Yoongi's hand and held it, steady and grounding.

I rested a hand on both of them, silent threads of comfort moving between us.

Tae kept going.

By the time he was done, the silence was absolute. Even the defense attorney looked a little hollow.

And across the courtroom, Mr. and Mrs. Choi sat frozen.

He looked smaller than ever. She looked haunted. But neither of them could meet Tae's eyes now. Not anymore.

He had taken it back.

All of it.

Jin oppa stepped forward slowly, placing a single hand on the table.

His eyes never left Tae.

"No further questions."

When Tae returned to our side, he collapsed into Yoongi's arms.
I kissed the top of his head.

Namjoon wrapped around both of them like a second spine.

Jin oppa came down a moment later, slipping his hand into Tae's without hesitation, their foreheads touching in a breathless exchange of pride and heartbreak and everything in between.

We were a mess of limbs and whispers and quiet sobs.

But we were here.

We were whole.
Even with the pain.
Even with the fracture left behind by the one who wasn't with us.

Jungkook.

The ache of his absence was a shadow we couldn't shake. But it didn't erase the light we still had.

Yoongi pulled me into his side. Namjoon pressed a kiss to Tae's temple.

Jin oppa's fingers threaded through Tae's like they belonged there-because they did.

And when Tae whispered, voice hoarse and breaking, "Did I do okay?"-

We all answered at once.

"You were perfect."
"You were so brave, a fighter."
"You were everything."
"You were you."

________________________________

Taehyung had told his story.

But he wasn't the only one who had suffered in silence.