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

Chapter 125: Breached, but Not Broken 🔥

Joonie stands at the counter, sleeves rolled up, hair damp from the quick shower he managed to squeeze in before breakfast.

He glances up at me, reading me instantly.

"How's he holding up?"

"Like a soda can you accidentally dropped but haven't opened yet."

He smiles, but it's faint.

"Yeah. I figured. He hasn't slept more than four hours in days."

"He only drinks coffee now. Refused to let me sneak chamomile into his mug last night."

"Monster," Joon mutters, nudging a banana toward me. "Eat."

I take it, but I'm not hungry.

"It's the silence, isn't it? It's too... calculated. Whoever did it knew exactly how to spook us."

Namjoon leans against the counter.

"It wasn't a random message. It was a strike at every bond itself. They didn't want to steal the data. They wanted to plant doubt."

"You think it worked?"

Joon shakes his head.

"Not for us. But maybe for someone out there, it did. And they're watching now to see what happens next."

Later that day, we gather in the cinema room. All eight of us.

Well, seven and a half.

Jimin's still curled against the armrest of the couch, half-asleep from dance rehearsals, but present.

The press conference video is now playing in the background-muted, but visible. This was a rerun that the team decided to do in order to make sure that the information is out there for every user.

Videos of this are also out in every media platform possible as well as headlines from every media outlet out there.

There we are. Dara in her sleek gray suit, hair tied back, voice firm but respectful.

Me beside her in my soft navy blouse, shoulders squared.

Our heads bowing deeply.

Yoongi can't look.

Tae is the first to break the tension.

"Okay, I know it was serious, but can we talk about how hot Noona looked in that blouse? Like CEO-noona stepped on us emotionally."

"I second this," Kookie says immediately, poking his head up from where he's laying across Hobi's lap.

"If LoveMap collapses, we have Noona's fashion career to fall back on."

"Thank you?" I blink.

"Also, Dara's suit? Unreal," Hobi adds.

"She looked like she was about to fire every board member and walk out to found her own empire."

"She kind of has that energy," Jimin mumbles, stretching. "Like... elegant rage."

Joon chuckles. "Elegant rage. Band name."

"Dibs on drums," Tae grins.

"Yoongi," Jin oppa says gently,

"I know seeing Y/N and Dara bow was hard. But that wasn't failure. That was leadership. It showed integrity."

"They shouldn't have needed to," Yoongi mutters.

"Neither should you have to carry it alone," I say quietly.