Billionaire's Bargain || Kim Taehyung

Woes of a Silent Flower

Blue. Green. Yellow. And Jungkook.

***

Kira groaned, her voice reverberating within her seemingly empty body. Her eyelashes were clammy with sweat and she struggled to pry them open. A part of her didn't want them to open. She was sick of what she saw. The numbing pain on her wrists confirmed that she was still there, waiting to see and feel it all again. Fresh cuts and throbs proved a testimony to their barbaric artwork. Thirty hours or maybe more since her last attempt at escape. The goldish yellow lights seemed to pierce her eyes harder each time she opened them. This time, it adjusted itself onto a new figure.

Jungkook.

Her already haywire thought process malfunctioned into a chaotic frenzy. She was unable to distinguish between reality and hallucinations. With the light shadowing some of his features, she was unsure of the realness of his presence. For a split second, she was back again at the serenity of the meadow. His sculpted smiling face in white tunics proved alarmingly different from the version in front of her. He wasn't smiling; rather, it was hard to decipher his emotion altogether. His tousled black hair matched his equally black t-shirt, leather jacket and a pair of jeans.

Unlike the meadow, Kira had no intention of keeping quiet. She put her efforts into getting him to notice her as she croaked his name out. He didn't seem to hear her at first. She spoke up again. This time, she could see the subtle shift in his demeanour. Why was he standing there like that? Why was he just staring at her? Why wasn't he helping her?

Hours ago, Kira had nearly walked out victorious but that single moment of hope had been an illusion. The next thing she remembered was waking up in one of the larger rooms she had passed by. They had learned their lessons. Her wrists were now tied taunt with ropes onto makeshift poles on either side. She kneeled while her ankles were tightly bound together. There was an absence of a gag but it was understood that it went useless on her. For she gulped down even the harshest of pain, determined not to give them the joy of watching her scream. It turned out that her captivator was Lee Youngjin; M himself.

He wanted her to be the catalyst that forced Taehyung into an Ultimatum: the choice of a second life. He had to turn over his company, give up the entirety of his properties and essentially flee the country - never to be seen again. Kira had pointed out that they'd broken up months ago, rendering her a useless leverage. Much like Kira, M was convinced that it was all part of a bigger game; a meek attempt at deceiving him. But unlike Kira, his optimism on the matter was unparalleled. He'd talked to her, pursuing to mentally break her. The manipulating conversationalist in him shone out. What she considered to be an impenetrable mind of hers slowly started to diminish in the absence of a sound physical health. She had started to consider her blackouts a boon, a means of escape from what she heard, saw and felt.

But now as Jungkook stood patiently in front of her, she had enough flicker of a hope to be at the least, curious. Kira hadn't seen him in months and she had wondered why he, of all people, had appeared in her 'dream'. Surely, seeing a friend bound up ought to evoke some sympathy. Of all the times she'd known him, she'd never considered the option of him hurting her. At least not the Jungkook that played cheerfully with her. But this Jungkook was different. A ghost of someone she thought she knew. She knew he'd seen her; she knew that he understood her desperation and yet, she couldn't fathom the coldness in his eyes.

"Do you like your gift?" she heard M speak.

Jungkook's gaze shifted to the voice that emerged behind her. He took a step forward, accepting the light to accentuate his features. He tilted his head and furrowed his brows in doubt. "I thought you promised him you wouldn't hurt her if he arrived."

"And yet, I don't see him anywhere." The voice behind her replied. "I'm getting impatient of waiting. Maybe this would send him a reminder."

"I'm surprised he hasn't showed up. I guess that means she's mine." Jungkook drawled.