Author's POV:
You patted his head, a soft feeling of comfort arising in you. Being nice to him was being a comfort to you now. You weren't meant to hate others, it was just impossible.
"Hey... it's alright." You spoke again. You saw his whimpering stop as he was sleeping again.
"Well, you're a kidnapper... a mafia. It's weird, you know. Seeing someone like you crying in their sleep like this. Come to think of it, you never even smile before me... let alone cry. I mean, you're so tough and this and that, it's impossible to think of you as a human. But... seeing you like this, I realize that you're also a human. Maybe... if you apologize to me when you're not asleep, I'll think of forgiving you. Though I'm quite not sure what your apology is for... whether it's for me or not but anyway."
You spoke, not knowing whether he heard anything or not. A soft sigh of relief escaped your lips as you took your hands back. Soon, you called the doctor and fed him medicines and some food as he was sleeping again. The maids looked so scared of him as if he'd eat them so you ended up feeding him. He wasn't fully conscious, thank god.
Hours passed like this. And it was night now. You were asleep beside him as your head rested on your hands while you sat on a tool besides the bed.
You felt yourself wake up as you opened your eyes to see a face staring at yours. You jolted up, staring at the face with a huge frown and wide eyes.
"You're awake? You're okay now?" You asked as he just stared at you, his head resting against the bedboard as he was sitting quietly.
"I am." He spoke in a low voice. You nodded and said, "Your fever?"
"I don't know." He said. You frowned and said, "What? You- Gosh..." You sighed and shook your head, your hands automatically going to his forehead, checking his temperature. You saw him look at you, a look of alarm on his face. Taking your hand back, you said, "It's good now. Just warm... you might have a fever for a day or more... who knows?"
You sat there, looking down. He heaved out a deep sigh before looking at your azure blue eyes. His deep brown eyes looked tired.
"Thank you." He whispered. You frowned, quite astonished.
"Yeah?" You asked, not believing your ears but he cleared his throat, repeating, "Thank you for taking care of me."
"Right... I deserve that!" You said, a smile appearing on your face. You liked being credited for the things you did.
"And..." He spoke again as you raised a brow.
You saw him staring at you as you looked at him, confused. He examined your face for some time you saw his lips quiver.
"I'm sorry." You frowned. Were you actually in reality? Was this all true? Was he fever-talking?
"I'm sorry for snatching your freedom and kidnapping you in here when you're innocent. And I'm sorry for being harsh on you for some time, I've been guilty. But I do not bear any selfish or bad intentions so I hope you know that we're not as bad as you think and we'll release you as soon as 3 months are over."
You honestly couldn't believe what you were hearing. A part of you felt angry, another one felt sad, and another one felt happy and relieved. You had no idea. You had forgiven him even before he apologized to you but hearing the apology made you feel the need to say that it was okay and you forgave him. After all, he wasn't an abuser nor as disgusting as you thought of him at first.
"I forgave you. But don't think it means we're any good." You said. He nodded and said, "You should go to your room and rest. I can take care of myself."
"Well, I can stay. I mean, I can take care of you and then I can get some credits or ask for something in return?"
You saw him staring at you, his lips twitching. But this time, it didn't die.
He let his lips curve upward. His lips curved upward—for the first time. Not those 1 mm curves but an honest curve, a promising one.
He was smiling.
You felt like the smile hit straight somewhere in your chest. Maybe... your heart. But it was too hard to believe. You gulped and stared at him.
He looked so different. With that smile, he looked so much better. So much more humanely and much more handsome. He looked so charming, for a moment—your heart must've fluttered. The innocence in his smile was so crazy. You were staring at him, completely fazed as he noticed you and cleared his throat, looking away.
"You wouldn't get anything in return." He said.
"You okay? Did you get shot in your head..?" You asked, completely confused. He frowned a little and said, "What?"
"No... nothing. I'll go then. Take care, yeah." You spoke and got up, stumbling out of the room.
What the heck had just happened? You saw your kidnapper cry and smile for the first time. And he even talked properly to you. He thanked you and apologized to you. He was acting like a human for the first time in the 38 days you had spent with him.
You would die at this rate. Was he okay? Were you dreaming? God knew.
—Time skip
"Okay and..." You sighed as the guard finished his sentence. So, Jo went out for some important work which was related to this recent mission. And though he said it would take him a few hours, it would take 2 days. He was going to be late and he informed it through a guard. Nice.
You were going to take care of your injured kidnapper for 2 days now, nice.
You looked at Azure who was sleeping in the living room and sighed, sitting beside her.
"He apologized. And thanked me. And talked softly. I'm wondering if I'm dreaming or something. What's with him?" You asked yourself with a frown on your face.
Suddenly, you heard a noise coming from Taehyung's bedroom. You got up and walked inside his bedroom to see shattered glass on the floor.
"Oh my..." You shook your head as a few maids immediately entered. They went out again and came back, starting to clean.
You just stood there while Taehyung was sitting there, staring at the floor.
"I wanted to get some water." He spoke. You sighed and added, "You could've called me or someone else?"
You saw him raising a brow and spoke, "Well, Jo is out for some work he said. He will be out for 2 days and I'm asked to take care of you."
"You don't have to."
"I know right. I don't have to. But I should since he asked me. And I'll also rip off benefits from this, it's useful, you know." You raised your brows, a smile on your face. He just stared at you, looking down.
You suspected that he was slightly smiling but looked away as the maids were walking out of the room.
"Make sure to wear slippers." You said as they all nodded. You smiled and carefully walked to the bed, taking another glass and pouring some water from the jug. Handing it to him, you shook your head and said, "There."
You saw his mouth open a bit, but it closed again as he took the glass from you, quietly drinking the water.
"Who would've ever imagined this day would come? You're relying on me right now." You muttered, keeping the glass back as you sat on the bed, near him. He just stared at the glass before looking at you and asked, "Is this what you wanted?"
"Huh?"
"You hated to be dominated by me. Isn't this what you wanted?"
You thought about his question. Was he right?
"Not really... I mean, I hate being dominated by you but not like I wanted to see you injured and crying in your sleep or something." You said, shrugging. You saw his face turn a little confused as you immediately regretted letting yourself blurt out unnecessary details.
"I mean... you probably had some nightmare, you just looked really sad. That's all. It was unexpected I guess."
You saw him look down. He sighed and said, "Forget anything you saw. It's unrelated to you."
Another sigh. But this one was from you, not him.
He looked at you, slightly frowning as you spoke, "Honestly, kidnappers can never be on good terms with their hostage. But trust me, you also know that this situation is different. You're just keeping me here for a necessity but it's not like I'm being seriously abused or anything... though the first 5 days of eating grass were hard. But, I do get luxuries and I'm getting more freedom every day. I'm not justifying your actions, you're still horrible and disgusting but still... I don't think we need to be so distant whatsoever. Like- me and Jo are nice friends, actually and being like that is better than getting replies like the ones you give me. You don't need to share anything with me, not like I'm exactly curious about those but like... you can just share some stuff, you know. It'd make me feel a little less awkward because you all know almost everything official about me but I barely know a thing about you."
You saw him staring at you with a quiet and soft look in his eyes. His eyes looked tired and calm.
"There's nothing pleasant to know about me."
"I mean, that's quite assumable."
You heard him sigh. Your reply kind of deserved a sigh. You gulped and chewed your inner tongue as you heard him speak,
"My life isn't like yours. You can forgive people, befriend them, and move on with your life. But mine is stuck in this hole forever. A hole of revenge and unjust activities. There's no way you and I could ever be anything more than kidnapper-kidnapped and there's no reason for us to be. You can survive here just fine without interacting with me."
"You're good at pushing others away, honestly. Not like I'm interested in trying." You said, shrugging. But honestly, you would've lied if you said you weren't interested at all. You were—a lot. Honestly, being with him kind of intrigued you. You wondered how he was brought up, raised or who raised him, how he earned money and how he was so good in this field of killing with that 'weirdly' cold yet nice attitude. And much more. But it was weird to be interested in someone who was your enemy, right?
But his next words, yet again, felt sad to you. Somehow, he was right. But still, you felt sad hearing his words. As if he was abandoning you as if he was already telling you that you didn't belong here. After telling you that you belonged here a week ago, he was saying this.
"It's better that way. Because in exactly 1 month and 27 days, you'll be out of here, in your world. We won't have to meet ever again. The only thing I want you to do is to forget everything here and forgive us or you can resent us all your life as well. So, you don't need to force yourself to know more about me or be on good terms with me."