Solo Ruby in the Raven's lair | Taennie ff

16

A HINT OF PAST

The members returned to the safe house, their footsteps heavy with exhaustion but their minds alert. The air was thick with tension as they entered the meeting room, each of them knowing that whatever Taehyung had to share would be crucial.

Taehyung stood at the head of the table, his expression serious. Jennie stood beside him, her presence calming yet charged with the same intensity. The others settled into their seats, the weight of their mission still lingering.

"We didn’t find Kai or his gang," Taehyung began, his voice steady but edged with frustration. "But we did find something else—something disturbing."

He placed the file he had found on the table, opening it to the pages that detailed the trafficking of children. The room fell silent as they absorbed the horrifying truth.

"This file contains records of children who were taken," Taehyung explained, his eyes scanning the faces of his comrades."Some of them didn’t make it. And among the ones who escaped, only one survived. We don’t have a name, but she’s the daughter of a man named Kim Daehyun—a name that should sound familiar to us all."A murmur spread through the room as the significance of that name settled in.

"What does this mean for us?" Jimin asked, his tone laced with concern.

"It means we’re dealing with something much bigger than we thought," Taehyung replied. "And it’s not just about taking down Kai anymore. We need to find this girl—she might be the key to everything. But we also need to be careful; this operation is more dangerous than any of us realized."

"We need to regroup and plan our next move," Taehyung said, closing the file. "This fight isn’t over, and we need to be ready for whatever comes next."

Throughout the discussion, Jennie remained focused, absorbing every word Taehyung said. But when he mentioned the name Kim Daehyun, something shifted in her demeanor. A flash of unease crossed her face, and the thought of the girl who had escaped lingered in her mind, stirring up emotions she couldn’t quite place.

As the meeting concluded, Jennie felt a surge of restlessness. She needed space to process everything, especially the unsettling thoughts that had surfaced. "Excuse me," she murmured, quickly getting up from the table. Without waiting for a response, she made her way to her room.

Once inside her room, Jennie shut the door behind her, leaning against it as she tried to catch her breath. The weight of the meeting, the unsettling name, and the thoughts swirling in her mind were too much to bear. Her heart pounded in her chest, each beat echoing louder than the last.

She moved to her bed, her legs feeling weak beneath her. As she sat down, Jennie instinctively reached for the locket around her neck—a small, delicate piece she had worn for as long as she could remember. With trembling fingers, she opened the locket, revealing a tiny photograph tucked inside.

The picture was of a man, a woman, and a small girl. Her father, her mother, and herself as a child. The three of them looked so happy, so content. Her father’s strong, reassuring presence, her mother’s warm, gentle smile, and the innocent joy on her younger self’s face—it was a snapshot of a life that felt like it belonged to someone else now, a distant memory of a time when everything was right.

Tears welled up in Jennie’s eyes as she stared at the photograph, the emotions she had kept buried for so long rushing to the surface. Her father, Kim Daehyun, had been everything to her. A protector, a guide, a hero in her eyes. But now, the mention of his name in such a dark, twisted context made her stomach turn. The image of the girl who had escaped, her connection to this mysterious and dangerous world, only added to the turmoil inside Jennie.