FORCED MARRIAGE WITH BROTHER IN LAW

chapter 43

The hospital room was filled with an air so heavy, it felt suffocating. Y/N lay motionless in the bed, hooked up to IVs, her body battered and bruised—physically, mentally, emotionally. The six members of BTS stood around her, their faces pale, guilt weighing heavily on each of them. Kittu sat beside Y/N’s bed, her face tear-streaked, her hand gently holding Y/N’s.

The guilt was suffocating. Each member of BTS knew they had failed her, watched her silently suffer for so long. And now, here she was—broken, but still clinging to life—and they couldn’t undo the damage they had allowed to happen.

Jungkook stood closest to Y/N’s bed, his fists clenched at his sides. His voice, when it came, was soft but filled with regret. “How could we let this happen? How could we have been so blind?”

There was a long silence. Kittu wiped her tears, not knowing what to say. Every word felt so inadequate, so empty.

Jimin’s voice broke the silence, thick with emotion. “We saw it. We saw the bruises, the fear in her eyes. We saw how she would shrink away, how she would avoid us… But we didn’t do anything. We stood by and let her suffer, thinking maybe it was none of our business.”

It was true. They had all seen the signs. They had all known that something was wrong, but they had never acted. They had always kept their distance, convincing themselves that Y/N wasn’t their responsibility. They had told themselves that maybe it wasn’t as bad as it seemed, that maybe it was just something personal. They had been so wrong.

Kittu’s voice cracked as she spoke, barely above a whisper, “I told her to stay. I told her that things would get better... that she needed to be strong. I encouraged her to endure it. I thought if she just stayed long enough, things would change.”

Her words hit hard, as if she was the final piece of the puzzle they had been unwilling to see. Kittu had been Y/N’s closest friend, the one person she had leaned on. And yet, even she had failed her.

“I told her I would help her,” Kittu continued, her voice breaking. “But I didn’t. I stood by, watching her suffer, thinking I was helping. And now... now she's like this.” She motioned to Y/N’s fragile form in the bed, her face crumpling with regret.

Kittu turned to the BTS members, her eyes desperate. “Why didn’t any of you stop it? Why didn’t any of you see what was happening?”

The question hung in the air like a heavy cloud. None of them had an answer. They were all too guilty, too ashamed of how they had watched from the sidelines, too paralyzed by their own fears to stand up to Taehyung—her husband, her abuser. They had all seen the bruises, heard the raised voices, and watched her retreat into herself. But they had done nothing.

“I should’ve spoken up,” Jin said quietly, his voice thick with regret. “We all should’ve. She was our friend, our family... and we let her suffer. We let him hurt her.”

The silence that followed was deafening. No one knew what to say. How could they fix what they had broken?

Kookie, his hands trembling, stepped forward. “We should’ve done something. We should’ve gotten her out of there.”

Jimin’s voice was thick with guilt. “We could’ve taken her in, offered her help, told her to leave. We should’ve been the ones to step in and protect her.”

“We were too busy being his friends,” Jungkook said, the anger in his voice clear now. “We were too loyal to him to see what was happening to her.”

The truth cut deep. BTS had always known Taehyung’s temper, but they had failed to see the extent of it. They had stood by, thinking it was none of their business, thinking Y/N would handle it. But now, as they looked at her, broken in the hospital bed, they realized how wrong they had been.

Kittu continued to cry quietly. “I failed her. I told her to stay, told her things would get better. But I wasn’t there for her when she needed me the most.”

“We all failed her,” Jungkook said, his voice low, full of regret. “We all saw it. And we didn’t do anything.”

Kittu leaned down, her forehead touching Y/N’s hand, her tears soaking the sheets. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. I’m so sorry.”

The room fell silent again, the weight of the guilt hanging over them all.

Kittu wiped her eyes, her voice barely a whisper. “She deserves better. She deserves to be loved, treated with respect, not like she’s nothing. I should’ve told her to leave, I should’ve helped her.”

“We should’ve all helped her,” Jin added, shaking his head in disbelief.

The guilt was unbearable. But as the silence stretched on, the reality settled in. They had failed her. They had failed to protect her when she needed it the most. And now, the woman who had stood by them, who had quietly endured pain and suffering, was lying in a hospital bed because of them.

They had been too blind, too selfish.

But the most painful truth of all was that they had let her down in the worst possible way.

And now, there was nothing left to do but make sure she was never hurt again. They would protect her from this moment on. No matter what it took. No matter who stood in their way.

They would make sure she never had to suffer alone again.