Sempiternal: •Broken• || Book 2#

13. Urgent need for a breather

Namjoon wipes his face with a damp towel, tucked into the store's bathroom. Being a store with so many clothes to offer, he preferred to change instead of being left with clothes full of blood and dirt. He looks at himself in the mirror for a moment and thinks to himself that fortunately, everything went well.

The one who fell was him and not Hoseok, who was very close too. He pours water on his hair to make it back and notices that in the mess of the bathroom, there is a bag with personal hygiene items. Among them, a scissors. Namjoon feels his head well, cuts the knots, indifferent to leave some uneven areas. They are not too noticeable. Not to say that they are parts of his hair that were brittle, weak from the dyeing a year and so long ago.

Namjoon smacks his lips and pulls his hair forward to continue trimming. In the end, it looks relatively good. Namjoon also grabs a couple of bobby pins to keep the rest of his hair out of the way. Namjoon pats his face and pulls his cheeks.

He'd like to feel good. I'd like to feel like he's doing some things right. From learning to stand up for himself, going the right way. A lot more than frankly in his mind, they end up falling down.

We're on the right track.

But you're taking forever.

He already know how to defend himself.

You don't really know, you just react and luckily, you've been able to do it.

He look a little better.

You look worse than you've ever looked.

He's going to take them to the airport and get Jimin out.

What good is that going to do? You've already let them rape and abuse him for a year.

He's been able to take care of all of you.

That's not true, if he had, none of them would cry so much at night.

Namjoon licks his lips and purses them, looking at the cut hair in the sink. He wants to do more. He wants to accomplish everything and he can't. Even if it's unfair to himself, he doesn't realize it. He wants so much more. To achieve so much that the horrible situation goes unnoticed until they come to save them.

Busting his head over his supposed incompetence is something that will go on and on in ending up holding back the urge to cry so that they continue to see him as strong, to be the strongest one here so that no one feels unprotected. He rubs his face again and lets out a deep breath. He will be able to do it. He has to force himself to do it.

~ * * * ~

"We can sleep in that hospital." proposes Jungkook looking out the window, bored in the back seat of the jeep.

"In a hospital? That sounds like a horror movie option I don't plan on taking." grumbles Jin with his hands on the steering wheel.

"Maybe it's safe and maybe there are people there "says Namjoon before yawning. "Having more options to go back to once we have Jimin never hurts." he proposes and Jin gives him a look, unconvinced of his offer.

"It's a hospital "Jin insists. "Hospitals must be full of people like that because that's where they took bitten people without knowing how dangerous it would be" he relates and Namjoon gets no way to refute him. It's a reality. He would rather ignore it. "Apart from the streets, that's where the most danger is."

"It's already too late. We have to look for a place to sleep. Where are we going to go?" argues Jungkook impertinently. "Maybe there's jelly in there." he mutters, sticking his cheek to the window, his greasy hair combed back.