Y/N POV
The last thing you could remember was Taehyung's face looking down at you from the hatch inside the tank.
God... I really must be dying...
He looked so real.
I must have hallucinated the whole thing...
The pounding in your head made you keep your eyes squeezed shut.
It's not like there was much of a view anyways. The murky water and the image of Ursula's old botoxed face staring back at you didn't exactly ring bells of interest.
"Is... is she breathing?" A familiar voice rang through your ears just as you were about to succumb to sleep again.
What the he-
"Of course she is you idiot! She's not dead!" Another familiar voice replied.
At the sound of the second voice your eyes shot open, the florescent lights of the room you were in making it a struggle to make out the shadows surrounding you.
"She's awake!" A cheery voice rang suddenly.
Jimin?!
"Jagi its me! Can you hear me!?"
Your lips immediately curled into a smile at Taehyung's voice, the strangeness of the situation lost on you the moment he spoke.
"T-Tae?" You croaked out, voice rough and raspy.
Your eyes had almost adjusted when you felt yourself being pulled into a hug, arms wrapping around you so tightly you involuntarily sucked in a breath of pain.
"Kim Taehyung, be careful with her!"
The sound of the voice scolding Tae had you quickly reaching up to rub at your eyes in a desperate attempt to double check your suspicions.
"Ajumma!?"
Standing a few feet away from where you were apparently sprawled out on a bed was none other than the old grumpy bat herself.
"Who the hell else would it be!" She snapped back at you, the smile on her face completely overshadowing the bitterness of her tone.
You shifted your gaze back to the body that was wrapped protectively around yours.
Taehyung was staring at you with so much intensity you shuddered as soon as your eyes met his.
This is far too good to be true.
I must be dead
"H-heaven?" you quietly croaked out.
You hadn't meant to say your thoughts out loud, but the room instantly filled with giggles at your words.
"No Jagiya, you're alive. And safe now, I promise." Taehyung cooed.
"We saved you from that old witch, remember!?" Jimin piped up, bouncing over to sit at your feet.
You shook your head, a weak attempt at clearing your cloudy thoughts.
"W-What do you mean?" You stuttered out, the situation unfolding before you making you think so hard your eyes squinted in response.
"Don't you remember?" A small voice interrupted from the other side of you.
You spun around to see the rest of the boys looming over your shoulder, most of them perched on the windowsill.
It was at that moment you recognized the room you were now.
As if you could have missed it in the first place.
You were in your own damn bedroom.
Your eyes grew wide as you studied your surroundings.
Before you even had a chance to ask, Taehyung had launched into a lengthy and frankly over-detailed explanation on how the rescue came to be.
You nearly choked on your own spit when he explained how Hoseok and Namjoon had to sprawl their lanky bodies against the basement exit until their manager came, an adorable attempt at stopping Ursula from escaping.
Even though they had to explain your unusual situation to said manager in order to invoke their celebrity perks, you didn't really mind.
Whats a couple more people, right?
Apparently after the initial shock was over, the manager somehow 'convinced' Ursula into giving up the rights to her hotel and disappear forever.
You were reluctant to spend too much time thinking about what they really meant by 'convince', since you knew the woman well enough to know she wouldn't give up so easily.
By the way Jimin shuddered at the mere mention of it you didn't think you even wanted to know what really happened, settling on the notion that whatever it was it was all thanks to the boys and their celebrity power that you were safe again.
Not to mention everyone on the island would be better off without her.
"I can't believe she's really gone..." You muttered out loud.
For as long as you'd lived here you'd always had such a hard time dealing with her and her outrageous narcissism.
The thought of never having to see her again gave you way too much joy.
"I told you not to be so foolish!"
Soon-Ja's authoritative tone cut through your swirling thoughts like a knife.
You had almost forgotten she was standing in the room.
"Sorry Ajumma.." You replied softy, bowing your head in shame.
"No dear, I'm sorry" She shot back sternly.
Her out of the blue apology made you nearly snap your own neck to look back up at her.
"W-wha-"
"I should have been there for you and supported you." As she spoke, she shoed Taehyung off from his spot beside you, taking his place. "I never wanted you to be put in harms way. It was never my intention."
You stared incredulously at her as she shook her head and placed a hand on the top of your head.
The action should have irritated you, being all patronizing and all, but you couldn't get past the underlying meaning behind it.
She really did care about you.
When you thought you had been abandoned by the one person you trusted on the island you felt lost. You couldn't imagine what you would have done if the boys weren't there.
Because then you'd truly be alone.
"I promise to tell you everything I know, if you promise to stop telling every damn person you meet about our secret!"
The giggles that erupted around the room at her sudden outburst helped mask the blush that was definitely appearing on your face.
"Sorry.." You mumbled back, a smile appearing involuntarily on your face.
In the midst of the dramatic retelling and skits that Jimin and Jungkook began performing following Soon-ja's apology, you couldn't help but lock your gaze with Taehyung.
He was lingering above Soon-ja as if he was ready to pounce the moment she left her spot beside you.
The woman in question must have felt the intensity in the air around her since she quickly and suddenly got up, stalking over to stand near the doorway.
"Well boys, I think we should leave these two alone for a moment," She called, narrowing her eyes at the group sitting by your window, "Take me to lunch. I'm hungry and you're buying!"
Without skipping a beat, Jin had sprung to his feet, taking Soon-ja by the hand and escorting her out of the room. Faint sounds of food recommendations could be heard as they exited into the hallway with the rest of the boys following suit.
Since when did they become so close? You thought, amused.
In the midst of the strange situation playing out in front of you, you hadn't noticed that Taehyung had already taken the vacant spot beside you, staring at you like you might break at any moment.
"Are you... okay?" You asked, half amused by the boy's sudden fragility.
Taehyung hadn't even blinked in the last 30 seconds you had kept eye contact with him.
Is he broken?
With a slight wince from the pain in your body you brought your hand up to his face, waving it in front of his eyes in an attempt to snap him out of his trance.
Before you could retract your hand, something caught a hold of your wrist.
Taehyung's eyes began to well up as he froze with your wrist in his grasp.
You studied him carefully as he slowly dropped your hand back to the bed before lacing his fingers through yours, a single tear rolling down his cheek with such grace you almost cried yourself.
"I-I thought I lost you..." He murmured, his cracked voice barely reaching a whisper.
You felt a lump forming in your throat as you noticed the pain that was now apparent behind his words.
"I'm right here" You whispered reassuringly, your thumb tracing the back of his hand in a feeble attempt to comfort him.
"You were so... lifeless... I held you and it- it was like you weren't there.."
You sighed deeply, the tears now rolling freely down his cheeks making your heart ache to make him feel better.
"Taehyung I-"
"I need to tell you something." He interrupted, cutting you off before you had a chance to speak.
You eyed him as he anxiously bit at his lip, looking around the room like he was suddenly nervous about something.
"Wh-What is it?" You squeaked out, the uncertainty in the air wavering in your unsteady voice.
Taehyung took a deep breath, closing his eyes momentarily before he opened his mouth to speak again.
Your heart pounded in your chest at every word.
"I... I don't have much experience... which is probably pretty obvious. A-And I know it seems fast..."
The butterflies swarming your stomach made you completely tense up as you waited for him to finish what he was trying to tell you.
Because you already knew.
"But.. I know how I feel, I know in my heart what I'm feeling is real. So undeniably real and especially after today I can't bear to waste another second of you not knowing what that is."
By now Taehyung had moved closer to you, his eyes staring down at you intently as he spoke.
You were floored by the sudden confidence that flooded his tone, the stammering nervous boy from before gone in the blink of an eye.
You swallowed hard as he inched closer to you, his nervousness seemingly being passed onto you now, with every bit of your gaze captured in his as he spoke directly into your soul.
"Y/N.... I love you"
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//A/N//: Hey guys I know I'm being super inconsistent lately and that's mostly because I really don't want to give you all a shitty chapter so I keep putting it off but... yeah... I'm really sorry and I'm genuinely going to try to update more frequently! The support I've received on this book is unreal (and frankly, undeserved) and I feel so damn blessed!
Love you all!
Sisi