CEO's Orders

31 a man's greatest downfall

TRIGGER WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENCE SUCH AS HARASSMENT, KIDNAPPING, ATTEMPTED MURDER AND ASSAULT. IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE PLEASE SKIP THIS CHAPTER OR READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. 

"And then after he said.. after he said that if I won't agree with him he would come after my family. But still I said he was being absurd until he suddenly took something out of his pockets. It was a cookie with blueberry cream filling and when I saw the wrapper it shocked me.. The cookie that he ate came from our shop then when he noticed that I realized he laughed and told me to reconsider his offer.. And I.. I should have listened.." Mori sobbed in between the lines of explaining. Me and Taehyung, Namjoon and Jungkook were gathered in the kitchen while we listen to Mori's side. I've been crying since she started talking about how Ji Dok tried to stab her or how that bastard tried to burn her hair. 

"I-I'm sorry..." That was all that I could ever say while I reached for her cold hands. She shook her head trying to smile even when her tears never stopped streaming. "N-no, it's okay.." She reassured me, her stares resurfaced the guilt that sunk beneath my gut. 

"Mori, it's fine, you should not force yourself to talk about the matter if it still makes you uncomfortable." Namjoon at the other side of the table said calmly. But Mori shook her head once again and continued.

"So.. when I escaped that night to go check my family.. I was too late. The shop that my mom saved six years worth of money was burning in front of my eyes. My mom.. mom was at the side crying on the ground while people around my neighborhood gathered around and showered the shop with buckets of water in hopes of killing the flames. So I ran to my mom to comfort her.. but then she suddenly screamed my brother's name. When I looked at the shop... that's when I saw my brother.. ho-holding the porcelain jar where my mom kept the money from the shop and.." She sobbed again and we were quiet not because we didn't care nor we felt lucky but  we ran out of words to say. 

"His back and his left arm was covered in burns... but he just ran towards us like nothing happened to him and hugged us. The next next day, Ji Dok acted like he didn't do anything. But when work was over he asked me once again about his offer and that's how he held me captive in his apartment. He never told me about Eunseo, all he said to me was that he needed me to be his partner in some shit. I wasn't aware it was about Eunseo until one time he left for work and I managed to untie my hands off the table. I tried to escape but the door seems to be locked from the outside.. So when.. I.. went to the other rooms.. that's where I saw it. " She gulped looking at the boys. They seem to know about what she saw except for me. 

"S-saw what?" I looked at them hesitantly. Taehyung sighed and held my hand.

"Look.. I think we need to give her some time--"

"Taehyung, she needs to know." Namjoon suggested. Taehyung sighed again, stressed obviously. We glanced back at Mori and then she continued. "When I went inside the room, I stepped onto something like a cardboard box. I turned on the light and for a minute I couldn't breathe. There were a lot of pictures plastered on the wall and some reached at the ceiling. Pictures of you, Eunseo." She seems like she was gonna cry again while my mind went into a sudden burst of hysteria and just vanished into nothing. My mind was blank. My breath was beginning to shallow while Taehyung hugged me lightly patting my back. 

"T-That's why I'm sorry Eunseo, I should have asked what he was up to." Mori stood up from her seat, came to me and hugged me. But as if my body lost all of its senses that I didn't even feel Mori hugging me tightly. Everything was confusing and everything was numb. My eyes were shaking and my view turned hazy, the familiar ocean-like taste entered my tongue. "It's my fault it's my fault-- it's.. why am I still alive-- I-I almost killed M-Mori, h-her family...because of me--!" Shaking, someone abruptly pulled my arms and embraced my cheeks towards them. "No don't blame yourself. You didn't do anything wrong--you.. please... don't.. it's not your fault." Taehyung pleaded but seeing him like that made my guilt surge quickly to the palate of my mouth. This extreme guilt that settles like a bile makes me wanna throw up all my blood but it would not be enough to make anyone feel better nor satisfied.