trigger warning: death, suicide
His dark orbs are staring back at her, voice inaudible. His visuals stain her memory. From his jet black hair to his flawless skin, the image of him scares her. His frame hovers over her as he talks. The words, "remember my face," burn her ears. Before he leaves, his right hand man gives him a black gun. Aiming it at her, he gives her a lazy smile prior to shooting.
Jisoo quickly awakens from the dream. Cold sweat drips down her face as her heartbeat beats at a fast rate. She grabs her phone from the nightstand, and it reads 2:15 a.m. She sighs before laying back down. The same dream has been reoccurring, and all of them end in the same manner. It usually switches off between who kills her; V or the other man.
Not being able to fall back asleep, Jisoo grabs her phone and hesitantly hovers over his name. She shuts her eyes as she presses the call icon and lets the phone ring. Bringing the phone to her ear, she waits.
"Hello?" A groggy voice says, his tone asking more of a: What do you want?
"Tae, I'm hungry," Jisoo lies. "Can you take me out to eat something."
Taehyung is silent on the other line for a while before responding with, "Sure I'll be there in ten minutes."
The call ends and Jisoo gets up to slip a hoodie and shoes on. She walks downstairs and waits for his arrival. A few minutes later, she gets a text message from Taehyung stating: I'm at the front door. I don't want to ring the doorbell in case your father is sleeping.
Opening the door, Jisoo is greeted by Taehyung's tired smile. Leaning on the door frame in his pajamas, he motions for Jisoo to exit. She does so and walks to his car, his Lamborghini. They both get into the car, and he starts driving.
"So why are you awake at 2 a.m.?" Taehyung asks. "You can't possibly be hungry after attending dinner with Nayeon."
Jisoo shrugs. "Bad dream."
He quickly glances at her. Her dark eye circles sunken. "You should be getting a lot of sleep considering that your father's party is later on."
"I know."
Taehyung doesn't say anything and lets silence drive them to a small vendor near the river. They get out the car and greet the lady who owns the vendor. Quickly ordering food, Jisoo sits down at a table and focuses her attention on the flowing river.
Taehyung sits across from her and places her food in front of her. They had been together for a month and a half. Everyday, Taehyung would show up at her house and encourage her to go outside and do whatever she wanted. Days and nights consisted of Jisoo only wanting to see her friends. However, going out helped Jisoo at her father's inauguration and soon his dinner party to celebrate him being in office for a month.
Jisoo blows on her rice cake before stuffing it in her mouth. A satisfied expression appears onto her face as she chews on the soft food. Taehyung chuckles at her. He takes a stab at a rice cake and puts it in his mouth.
"I should take a picture of you like this and send it to the journalists," he says. His fingers frame her body. "Kim Jisoo, daughter of President, stuffing her face with spicy rice cakes near Han River."
Jisoo tosses him a glare. She clears her throat and tells him, "The headline later on tonight will be: Kim Jisoo, daughter of President, wears Chanel to father's celebration."
"More like: Kim Jisoo's bodyguard goes viral for amazing looks!" Taehyung fakes a gasp and plops his hand over his mouth. Jisoo rolls her eyes at him before breaking out into a giggle. He follows her giggles. Her eyes crinkle into cresent moons with her nose scrunching up, smile is ear to ear. His stomach is flipping inside out as he admires her. He softly tells her, "You should smile more often."
"Huh?"
"Your smile. You should smile more often. You look pretty when smiling."
"O-Oh." Jisoo looks down her food, a small smile escaping her lips from the compliment. She looks back at him to see him mirroring her expression. She rarely laughed or smiled around him, but when she was with her friends he would be able to see her lips curl up. Putting another rice cake in her mouth, Jisoo removes her gaze from him. "Taehyung, why did you break up with her?"
"Who?"
Jisoo rolls her eyes. Taehyung chuckles. "We're on and off I guess. I like her, but she only uses me."
She pouts at his reply and stuff her mouth. "Well you deserve someone who will give you everything they have to offer."
"And how would you know?" He asks, resting his head in his hand. "Have you been in a relationship before?" Jisoo pokes at her rice cakes.
"No," she mumbles. "But I know what I want, and no matter how beautiful that person may be, I will not let them take advantage of me." Her chopsticks point at him. "Because I'm too good of a person to let them do that to me."
Taehyung can't think of anything to respond with. He takes her words of advice into consideration.
Jisoo is happily eating her food until from the corner of her eye, she spots a black car from a far. Despite being far, she stares directly at the person in the car. Her eyes widen in horror as she sees the man in her dreams looking back at her in the eyes. His pale skin shining in the dark. She begins to choke on the food in her mouth.
"Jisoo!" Taehyung exclaims. "What's wrong?" He pats her back and hands her water.
Jisoo looks at Taehyung and says, "It's him. It's the man who took me."
"What?" Taehyung asks, confused. "Where?"
Jisoo looks back at where she saw the man. Taehyung follows her eyes, but to his dismay there's no one where she is looking. He sighs.
"H-He was there," Jisoo stutters.
Taehyung levels his eyes with hers. "Let me take you back home. You look tired." Jisoo doesn't respond and instead walks to Taehyung's car. She knew what she saw despite the time of night.
Arriving at Jisoo's front door, Taehyung's hands are tucked in the pockets of his sweatpants. His hair sweeps across his forehead due to the light wind. "Sleep well, Jisoo." He ruffles her hair, and she weakly smiles back.
"You too," she whispers before closing the door. She quietly rushes to her room and plops onto her bed. Face in her pillow, she lets her tears escape.
Jisoo definitely saw him, and he was looking back at her with his dead eyes. Paranoia eats her alive as she sits in silence, wondering if he followed her home. If he's going to break into the house and kill her in her sleep despite the many security that surround the house.
Jisoo plays with her glass in her hand. Everyone at the party only commented on how impressive her father is and how lucky she is to be his daughter. She slaps her glass of champagne onto the table. "I'm going to the bathroom," she says.
"I'll walk you there," Taehyung tells her.
"No, stay here." She points at him like a dog.
Before he can stop her, she's already walking away in the Chanel she said that she would be wearing. The dress is stops mid-thigh. It's a baby pink that flatters her very well. He watches her leave the ballroom until he can't see her.
Jisoo looks at herself in the bathroom mirror one last time and then exists. As she walks down the hallway in order to get back to the ballroom, she hears mumbling coming out of a closed room. Curiosity kills her as she lightly places her ear against the cold door.
"I've done all that I can to help you guys," a voice says. It's her father's voice. She leans closer to the door.
"Thank you," another voice she recognizes says. Her heart almost drops at the sound of his voice. His clear voice haunted her dreams every night, and now she's hearing it again.
"It's my pleasure since you helped me win."
"I guess our business here is done. However, I must say you must have no heart if you willingly plan your daughter's kidnap to benefit yourself." He chuckles. "Let me ask you something: What made you do it?"
"Always have your goal in mind," her father says in a monotone voice.
Jisoo heart is pounding against her chest. Her own father planned her kidnap and didn't tell her. That's why he didn't want her to report the face she saw to the police. He used his own daughter as a publicity stunt in order to win the election. More importantly, how did her father get someone like him to pull this stunt.
Jisoo slowly backs up from the door and stumbles for balance. Her body backs up into someone's chest. That person holds onto her. She looks back to see Taehyung. He walks her back into the ballroom and seats her in the back.
"Are you alright?" He asks, crouching down in front of her.
Jisoo tries to clear her glossy eyes. She responds with a white lie. "Yeah. I'm just kind of tired."
"Would you like to go home?"
"Yes," she nods.
"Let's tell your father first."
"No!" Jisoo says. Taehyung looks at her, confused. "I mean he's probably busy talking to important people, so we shouldn't bother him." He nods understandingly.
"You're right. Let's go."
Jisoo flips through the t.v. channels. Nothing interests her. Looking at her phone, she realizes that her father is probably home from the party since it's past midnight. Throwing her blanket off of herself, she gets off her bed and wanders to her father's room. Knocking on the door, she gets no reply so she enters his room. She looks to her left to see if he's in bed. When she doesn't see a body, she makes her way to his bathroom. Turning a few times, she can see her father in the bathtub from the corner of her eye.
He's fully clothed, so Jisoo curiously goes over to look at him. She falls to the ground, tears already in her eyes. His left arm is hanging over a pool of blood, wrists slit. He's in the suit that he was wearing at the party. Jisoo crawls over to her father and strokes his hair before moving her fingers to his neck. Not accepting the truth of no pulse, she cries while hovering over his lifeless body. Now she has no one.
"Miss Jisoo we have contacted your father's team and informed them," a police officer tells her. "As of right now your house is a crime scene. Do you have anywhere else to stay?"
Jisoo nods, not looking at the officer. Her whole body is numb with pain.
"Would you like an escort?" The officer asks. Jisoo shakes her head, telling him 'No'. "Ok, we will contact you tomorrow for more." She nods.
What more can they ask? She asks herself. She doesn't even know the answer to his death. Why would her father commit suicide during the peak of his life. This what he had always wanted, and she heard him say it himself. Unless his death wasn't a suicide.
After finishing talking to police officers, Jisoo grabs her keys and drives to a place she knew well. Pulling up in valet, she's greeted by familiar faces. Running past everyone surrounding her, she gets on to elevator floor. The elevator closes and reopens to a familiar floor. Jisoo slowly paces herself to the door. Before she can ring the doorbell, the door opens and she's met by the same pretty girl. She smiles at Jisoo.
"Taehyung!" She shouts. "You have a visitor." And like that, she leaves.
Taehyung mumbles something as he walks over to his door to see Jisoo standing in front of him. "J-Jisoo what are you doing here?"
Jisoo doesn't say anything. Tears flow down her face as she throws herself onto Taehyung. Both of her arms tightly wrap around him. Bringing her into his house, he lets her stain his shirt with her tears. He knows why she's crying since Yoongi had told him after everything had been done.
Taehyung lets his left hand rest on the small of Jisoo's back as he steadily pulls a small knife out of his pocket with his right hand. He nears it where her heart is, but stops when he hears her choke out some words.
"You're all that I have left," Jisoo manages to say. Taehyung falters with the knife in his hand. Her words hit his heart. What Jisoo had told him previously echoes in his mind: "I will not let them take advantage of me because I'm too good of a person to let them do that to me." She was right. He places the knife back into his pocket, and his hand moves to her head. He strokes her hair while she cries against him.
"It's ok," Taehyung tells her. "I'm here."