The runaway bride

Chapter 24: Hope is a dangerous thing.

Yoongi opened the door and nudged her with his shoulder to get inside. She took a deep breath, petrified of what she thought she might find inside. Nothing had prepared her for what she actually saw. There were three rooms in total. In the first one she saw her recent paintings. Yes, she paints. Victoria paints when she is upset, when she is angry. That was her only escape from the turmoil she felt inside, only way she could manage her own feelings. Her manager told her she sold the paintings, he didn't say to whom. She got close to the latest one. In black, she saw her signature.

She draw the painting after she signed the marriage contract. The sky was dark, a hand lingered form above. A girl was swinging on a swing that was linked to the hand above. She was smiling, not caring that the sky was dark. A bright light spread from her chest like a ray.

She was in awe. "Why?" She turned her attention to the man behind her, who watched her as she trailed the painting with her finger.

"You said I don't know you. It may be true. But I see you. I know your desires, your thoughts, your heart and soul. I may not know who you are as a person, but these paintings speak for themselves. I didn't manage to buy all of them, just some." He shrugged as if he was telling her about what he ate a day before.

Victoria shook her head and walked into another room, which again, held captive a couple of her old paintings. "You think this is redeeming yourself?" She asked. She tried hard not to allow herself to feel. It will only make her cry. Her feelings were already exposed. She didn't need to be more pathetic than she already was.

Yoongi shrugged. "It's not about redeeming. It's about finding out the truth. You don't need me. You don't need my money." He took a deep breath. "Yes. You gave me your all. But why? What did I do to deserve so much from you?"

Victoria smiled. "Nothing much." She admitted. "You didn't really do anything. You just took. I'm actually waiting for you to grow tired of it. What more can I possibly left to give, when you have taken everything already?" She raised her eyebrow. That was the question that burned in her mind. "What would you take when there is nothing else to give?"

Yoongi smiled and got closer to her. He caressed her cheek, then traced the side of her neck with his finger until he stopped on her exposed chest, above her heart. A shiver ran through her spine as he looked at her with an emotion she had never seen in his eyes. Lust. Desire. Warmth.

"Maybe there are some things that I don't want to simply take. Maybe, there is something I want you to share willingly."

"And if I'm not?" She asked in the same soft tone he used.

"Then I'll steal it." He smirked. "It can go either way really. With or without your willingness to share."

His finger was tracing now the edges of her shirt. Victoria rolled her eyes and slapped his hand away. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I always want the things that are out of my reach. Because I strive for more. I want to see how far I can go."

"And if you lose everything in the process? What will you do then?"

"I'll rebuild my empire again. From scratch. I'm not one to give up when there are so much more things I wanna do before I die."

"Funny how one can lose everything and not break. Hope is a dangerous thing Min. At the end of the day, we can only count on ourselves." She said with a sigh.

Her words made no sense to him, but it made to her. She knew everything about rebuilding oneself, again and again. She was still amazed that she didn't break. She dragged her feet to the next room, where in the middle was exposed the only painting that ever mattered to her. The first one she ever did. She was amazed it was sold, it wasn't even that good, but she was feeling empty without it. She poured all her emotions into that drawing. Loneliness, heartbreak, desire to cease to exist. She didn't paint with her hands, she painted it with her soul. That's what made that particular canvas so priceless. It was a piece of her exposed soul, and now Yoongi saw it. He was a witness to the pain that took a permanent residence inside her heart and soul.