Clandestine Vow //Taehyung X Reader | 18+

Chapter 25: Stop! Get the fuck off me!

Y/n's Pov.

Next day,

I woke up feeling exhausted but alert, my body was too drained but but mind refuses to rest. Maybe I'd slept for three or four hours—it wasn't like I could tell anymore. Time blurred here.

The thin bedsheet tangled around my legs as I sat up, pushing it aside. Everyone else in room was already awake, eating their so-called breakfast. I caught Eun-sae's eye, and she immediately handed me a plate.

"They call this breakfast?" I muttered under my breath. But I didn't complain out loud. What was the point? Complaints wouldn't bring better food, wouldn't make this place any less of a nightmare.

The room had a washroom, but no shower—just a sink and a toilet cramped into a corner. I stared at it for a moment, wondering. Do they actually keep us like this? Unwashed, unclean? It didn't make sense. If all these men want to use us, surely they wouldn't want us stinking. Right?

I bit my lip hard, almost drawing blood, to stop the questions from spilling out. It didn't feel right to ask. Not when I could see the way the others sat there, with dried tears and lost hope in eyes. I couldn't just blurt out, "Hey, when do you all get to bathe?" It felt too cruel, like rubbing salt into an open wound.

I glanced at the others. Ae-na sat on her mattress, her knees pulled to her chest, eyes staring at nothing. Jiho was curled up in the corner, her back turned to the room, pretending to sleep—or maybe she wasn't pretending.

The plate in front of me looked as unappetizing as ever—a lumpy, gray paste that smelled of boiled vegetables. My stomach growled, and I hated how desperate I felt as I picked up the spoon and took a bite. It was bland, tasteless, but it was food. It wasn't much, but it was enough to fill my stomach.

As I ate, a sudden thud startled me. My head snapped toward the sound, and I gasped. One of the girls had collapsed onto the cold floor, her plate clattering beside her. My pulse quickened, but surprisingly others were calm. Like literal calm as if it was their daily routine to see someone getting unconscious right in front of their eyes.

No one moved. No one gasped. Before I could say anything, another girl fell. Then another. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst out of my chest. And then one of the girls in her twenties threw her plate, and the crash echoed through the room like a gunshot.

The door banged open. A woman walked in, while her heels clicking against the cold floor. Five men followed her with their faces blank. The woman didn't look Korean—maybe Chinese, or... I don't know. Her chestnut hair fell on her shoulder and the mole on her cheek magnified her beauty. She had a face that might have been beautiful if it wasn't so cold. Her Korean was perfect, though, and she walked like she owned the place.

The men didn't waste any time. They picked up the unconscious girls and walked off. I wanted to say something, to ask where they were taking them, but the words wouldn't come. My throat felt like it had closed up.

"Who is she?" I managed to whisper to Eun-sae.

"She's the one who gives our updates to the boss," she replied without looking at me.

"Updates?" I frowned. "About what?"

Eun-sae didn't answer. She was too focused on the girl who had dropped her plate. The girl was sitting stiffly on the floor, trembling as the woman approached her with a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Niya, darling," the woman cooed, crouching down and holding out another plate. "What's wrong? Aren't you hungry?"

Niya turned her head sharply, glaring at the woman. "I'm not eating," she said through clenched teeth. "I don't want to go there."