Unspoken Ties

Chapter-9 Nothing Left To Hold

"I hate you, Y/N... I hate you so much."

That single sentence carved itself into her mind, looping endlessly like a broken record, each repetition sinking deeper into her bones. The words clung to her, poisoning her thoughts, wrapping around her heart like invisible chains. She had never thought a few syllables could weigh so much, yet here she was, suffocating under their weight.

She had always known that Jungkook didn't love her. But knowing and feeling it were two different things. Tonight, she felt it in her marrow, in the way her chest ached with every breath, in the way the air around her seemed to close in, thick and suffocating.

Her fingers curled into the fabric of her dress, knuckles turning white as she tried to ground herself. But there was no ground beneath her. Only a bottomless pit of pain, loneliness, and something else-something darker. A storm brewing inside her, fed by years of silent endurance, of being treated like she was nothing more than a burden.

"Why?" The question burned on the tip of her tongue, an ember she longed to throw at him.

Why did he despise her so much?

Why did his heart beat with warmth for others but turn to ice when it came to her?

Why did she have to be the only one he looked at with such cold detachment, as if she was nothing but an inconvenience in his otherwise perfect life?

Was she so undeserving of love? So undeserving of kindness?

She was a woman just like anyone else-she felt, she hurt, she dreamed. Yet, to him, she was little more than a ghost, present but never acknowledged, existing in his world but never belonging.

Her heart clenched as she curled into herself on the cold floor of their bedroom, her knees drawn to her chest. She stared into the air blankly, the tears that had been burning her eyes finally spilling over. They slid down her cheeks, silent and unnoticed, as if even her sorrow was invisible to the world.

"Should I give up on him?"

The thought came softly at first, a whisper in the back of her mind. But then it grew, spreading like wildfire through her consciousness.

There was nothing left to hold onto. No expectations, no dreams of a love that would never come.

Jungkook would never see her-not in the way she longed to be seen.

The string that connected them was so thin, stretched so taut, that it was bound to snap at any moment. And when it did... she knew she would shatter along with it. Would she even be able to pick up the pieces of herself again? Or would she simply cease to exist, becoming nothing more than a hollow shell of who she once was?

Perhaps it was better this way.

Better to prepare herself now, to accept the inevitable, to stop yearning for something that was never meant to bloom.

"It's better to let go than to nurture a flower that will never bloom. In return, there will only be thorns, stabbing deeper and deeper until there is nothing left but pain."

Her fingers trembled as she wiped away her tears, the finality of her decision settling over her like a heavy cloak.

She would fulfill her duties as his wife.

She would play her part.

But she would erase every last drop of hope from her heart.

She would not run after someone who had never been hers to begin with.

She would let go.

"I am ready to let go, Jungkook."

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