FATE'S GAME | | BTS FF (18+)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

KIM ISHITA

Sleep didn't come.

Even with the city outside the penthouse quieting into its midnight hush, even with the lights dimmed to a soft golden glow, I lay awake. That cassette tape felt heavier than any bullet, heavier than the gunshot that had shattered the gala.

Because it wasn't just a recording. It was a voice. Her voice.

The woman who had braided my hair, who had hummed songs I couldn't name, who had vanished from my childhood like smoke.

I pressed my palms into my eyes, as if that could stop the ache building behind them. But all I saw was her smile. The one I hadn't realized I missed until it came back to me tonight.

Kim Taehyung ......Strangely my mind is clouded about him .

For thirteen years, he had lived with the certainty that his mother was gone. Dead. And tonight, a single cassette had shattered that certainty.

I rolled onto my side, staring at the shadowed ceiling. Part of me wanted to walk down the hall, knock on his door, and tell him I remembered more. The lullabies. The way her fingers were gentle but sure when she braided my hair. The way she'd whisper, "You're safe, little one," like she needed me to believe it even if she didn't.

But my feet stayed frozen beneath the blanket.

Because what if telling him only broke him more?

I let out a shaky breath, clutching the pillow to my chest.

Our fathers weren't just rivals. They were murderers of love, of mothers, of childhoods that should have been ours.

One week later, life inside the penthouse had turned into a strange routine.

Not comfortable. Not warm. Just... strange.

Taehyung and I barely spoke unless necessary. Yet somehow, we always seemed to collide.....in the kitchen, in the elevator, in the hallways.......as if the walls themselves were plotting to throw us together.

This morning was no different.

I was balancing a mug of coffee in one hand and my phone in the other, trying to answer a text, when the floor betrayed me. My sock slipped against the polished marble, and before I could even yelp.......

An arm caught me.

Not just an arm. His arm.

His arm locked around my waist just in time, the mug wobbling dangerously in my hand.

"Careful," he said, voice low but steady.

I blinked up at him. "I wasn't going to fall."

One eyebrow arched. "Really? You were about to kiss the floor with coffee."

Despite myself, a laugh slipped out. "You've got jokes this early in the morning?"

He looked at me, something almost playful glinting in his eyes. "Only when someone insists on testing gravity before breakfast."

I rolled my eyes, tugging out of his grip. "Fine, thanks for saving my tragic demise. Happy now?"

His lips curved....not a smile, not exactly, but close enough to make my stomach twist.

And then, just as quickly, the warmth vanished. He stepped back, the air between us cooling instantly.

"Try not to make a habit of needing me," he said flatly, reaching for his jacket.

I bit the inside of my cheek, pretending his words didn't sting. "Don't worry," I murmured. "I won't."

The silence that followed was louder than the city outside. By afternoon, I couldn't stand the suffocating silence of the penthouse anymore.