The Siren's Song

Chapter 112- unreeling decades

TAE POV:

I find (Y/N) staring at the photos on the wall of my studio, find her unmoving from where I'd left her, setting the cups down before walking over. Arms looping around her, feel her sink against me slightly and find a lost searching gaze in her eyes as she stares at the photo of her. Hidden behind a camera.

I wondered how long it had been engrained into her... how long it had taken to become second nature to hide her face from cameras, to hide herself from being captured, from being compared to a likeliness that history contained of her.

"I wonder what you saw Tae. Why you wanted to see the person behind the lens." She murmurs.

"Because I confessed that day because I wanted to always know the person behind the lens. I've always wanted to know just you." I murmur, feeling her hand drop to my intertwined ones, looped around her.

"And... did I match your expectations? Did you find what you were looking for?" she asks.

I shake my head, feeling my heart clench at the way she says it.

"I got more than I could've ever dreamed of. I got an entire new world with you. I'm in love with the person I see now, have now."

Feel her turn in my arms, eyes soft and silently thoughtful; fingers carefully grazing the side of my face before she cups my cheeks.

Her eyes have always been the most expressive part of her. The very part of her that always wanted to share, to speak but could never quite find the strength to.

I see a stronger version of herself now.

I see her stronger despite everything she's endured and everything that's opened up, I see her fiercer than ever despite having seen those same eyes glassy with tears as she opened her front door, crumpling with relief as she burrowed close and clutched at me.

"You're okay. You're okay." She murmurs, tears damp against my skin, fingers feverishly skimming my face, checking for a chill that wasn't there, hand drifting to settle against my chest; against my heartbeat, my hand looped around her wrist. Anchoring her there.

Letting her chase the comfort she needed, that she was chasing, her head resting against my shoulder.

"I'm okay. I'm here." I soothe, lips brushing against her temple.

"You fell into the waters. You... you were drunk on siren allure. And I—it was almost too late." She says shakily, fingers stretching across fabric, chasing the thudding beat, curving closer to it.

It hurts that I can't understand... can't remember the pain she does. That I have no memory of it, remember nothing about chasing the siren song, nothing about being tugged towards them. I remembered only the blinding panic welling up as she fell through the waters, the surging, crippling fear as I rushed to the boat's edge. Saw Jungkook dive in after her, eyes red and stinging with salt, hair plastered to skin and eyes filled with a misery.

Sinking again into churning waters and sobbing on the deck when he couldn't find her, body trembling with cold and fear and worry. Because she'd vanished. She'd vanished and none of us could find her.

Now we knew why. Knew that that the same day she'd gone and saved us, that day she'd intentionally twisted to push Namjoon out of the way and fallen into waters herself. That day had marked a whole twist that we'd remained blissfully and woefully ignorant of.

I hold her tighter, feeling her trembles turn harsher, her breathing shaky, still clad in pyjamas and guide her hand down, under the fabric to settle against direct skin. To feel my pulse thrum under her palm and fingertips, her hand splaying across my chest.