Ignorance was never Bliss (VMIN)

Chapter-8

//Update: Please Check the author's notes. I have clarified certain things.

The sun was already dipping, casting beautiful shades of orange and purple in its wake. It seeped through the blinds of an otherwise dark apartment where two bodies were snuggled together, fast asleep.

Someone looking down at them would think that they are lovers with the way their limbs are tangled together. One of them had his face buried into the other's chest, his head rising and falling to the breathing of the other. But as your gaze moves on to the other, all fondness subsides and horror sets in.

The bulky leather blindfold secured tightly over his eyes is the first sign followed by multiple scabs of past cuts and injuries to his face. More prominent ones being on his jawline and lower lip. It is evident that he has went through years of battle and always ended up on the losing side. A forever prisoner of war. He is battered and bruised. Years of torture and malnourishment has taken its toll on him, because he looked pale and sickly. The lacerations on his wrists and neck looked an angry red even in the fading lights of dusk.

For now, he is almost free of his restraints. He almost has his freedom. But for how long? Even with his serene sleeping facial expression, his mind is fighting its own battle. Because he knows. Knows that this is not meant to last. His almost freedom will be gone and the life he has always known, that nightmare is looming around the corner.

*****

Jimin was stirring.

As he tried to get up, he faced certain resistance in the form of a pair of hands and a tail wrapped around his waist keeping him rooted. Jimin opened his eyes and it took him a long minute to realize where he was and what happened a few hours ago. He looked up at the sleeping figure of the hybrid and smiled sadly. He wriggled a little until his right hand was free from the leopard's hold and slowly lifted it to its face, grazing his fingers on the blindfold still wrapped around its mysterious so called 'bewitching' eyes. His hands itched to move to the hybrid's head and scratch its ears. They looked so fluffy lying flat, nestled in its curly hair.

He had read somewhere that hybrids do not like it when others, both humans and hybrids alike, touch their ears and tails without permission. He moved his hand back down and softly caressed its cheeks which had hollowed out from lack of proper nutrition and care. The bruises on them and along its jawline was finally fading. The busted lower lip was healing slowly too. Jimin grazed his thumb over the fading scars, trying to imagine the extend of pain and suffering that Taehyung had to go through simply because it was not human.

Not monster, is more like it.

"You're sad master", Taehyung whispered, causing Jimin to startle and retract his hand. Tae's sleepy voice was a few octaves lower than it's already rich baritone voice.

"How could you tell?", Jimin asked, as he created a little space by moving to the edge of the bed.

"Your sweet scent is withering", Tae shrugged. Jimin doesn't know what that means though he still got a faint whiff of pine.

Jimin moved closer again. As their chests touched, he looked up at the hybrid's marred face. Slowly he lifted his hand and moved them to the back of the leopard's head. The leopard allowed it, but it's breath hitched, trying hard not to get anxious of Jimin's action. Working slowly, he unbuckled the leather blindfold and held his breathe.

"What color are they, your eyes?"
"That depends master"
"Depends? On what?"
"They change color with my mood sir"

He gasped when the blindfold came loose onto his hands. No. No. No. This is wrong. So wrong.

"Taehyung", he spoke in a broken voice. "No Taehyung", tears streamed down his face. This is not what he expected.