Safe With You | Yoonmin

Chapter 12: A Friend, A Promise

| Taehyung |

- 12 Years Ago -

Young Taehyung skipped along the village path, a book under his arm and an empty lunch sack swinging in grasp. The sunshine sent his shadow rippling along the cobbles.

It was early afternoon, and he was just returning home from a lesson in reading and writing at the temple.

As he neared a side street Taehyung came up short, hearing the sound of taunts and laughter. Naturally curious, he peaked into the alley and saw several young alphas and a beta gathered in the shade behind a house, near the door of a root cellar.

He recognized Ryu Sejin, the pack Alpha's son who was a few years older than him. And he recognized several other boys that his brothers had warned him to avoid.

The boys were congratulating one another and jeering at someone within the root cellar, rapping on the door and taunting.

"We've caught ourselves a rogue!"

"What do you think the guards will do with him?"

"I heard that they feed rogue pups to the mountain lions."

"What are you crying for, you little freak?"

Taehyung's eyebrows drew together angrily. He'd seen these same wolves bully other children his age before. He was about to run to get help from his brothers when he heard Ryu Sejin say, "Let's leave him here. This is getting boring."

There were murmurs of agreement from the others.

Taehyung quickly disappeared back around the corner. He stepped onto an empty porch and loitered for a bit, waiting until he was sure the older boys were gone. Then he darted back into the alley, toward the root cellar. It was latched from the outside.

He lifted the wooden latch and pulled open the door, peering into the cellar. There was a rickety wooden ladder leading down, down into the darkness.

"Hello? Is someone down there?"

No reply came, although he thought he could hear the sound of someone crying.

Taehyung hovered over the opening, debating with himself.

It looked scary down there.

Little Taehyung imagined the spiders and other creepy things that might be living down there.

He shuddered.

Creepy crawlies aside, there was someone down there who might need his help. He knew that his brothers, Seokjin and Namjoon, wouldn't be afraid of this dark cellar. They were brave alphas. And little Taehyung wanted to be brave like his brothers.

Taehyung knelt down and carefully maneuvered himself onto the ladder. He climbed down into the void, counting six, seven, eight steps. The smell of potatoes, herbs, and something sweet greeted him as his feet touched the cold dirt floor.

It was too dark to see, so he closed his eyes tight and counted to ten as Seokjin had taught him.

After his eyes adjusted, he could barely make out a boy huddle between the wall and the ladder, with his arms wrapped over his head. He could still hear the boy sniffling.

"Hey," he said, "They're gone now. It's okay."

The boy looked up, and Taehyung gasped at the eyes that met his. One pupil was dark, the other was clouded grey. And the boy's hair was completely silver, almost white.

It was the omega boy, Jimin.

Everyone in the village knew the story of Alpha Ryu saving the omega, and all of the children were curious about him. The omega had tutors, like the pack Alpha's son, so he didn't interact with the other pups much. Taehyung had seen him only a few times at the temple.