I Want the Headline

16

It had been three weeks.

Three weeks since you had last saw Jungkook.

After speaking with Taehyung and discovering that Jimin had wanted to kill you, you had done what you did best. And that was run by Jungkook's arm and trust that he'd handle everything.

Only, he hadn't.

As soon as the words, "I'm scared, Jeon" had left your lips, Jungkook was screaming at you, veins bulging as he repeated his rant from earlier. You had recoiled, deathly afraid of Jungkook's rage and the amused look Jimin was sending you from the corner of the room. Perhaps Taehyung was right and Jungkook was going to kill you. When he had stepped towards you, hands raise you darted to the door, Jungkook close behind. Instead of grabbing you to drag you back to him, though, he had pushed you through the doorway Rushed from the room, Jungkook had forcefully dragged you back to the Waiting Room, shoving you through the door and disappearing out of sight.

And the Waiting Room was where you had been since.

It had given you plenty of time to think on Jungkook's words and realize how right he was. And how horrible you felt. You had considered Jungkook your only friend here and you had been hurting him this whole time. You didn't want him to die trying to protect you. You never would've wanted that. So you promised yourself that you would never have him protect you again. If you couldn't handle yourself, then you deserved to die; Jungkook shouldn't have to put his life on the line for someone like you. He shouldn't be obligated to. Jungkook didn't deserve that, his life was tough already. You would handle yourself.

And you quickly realized how utterly weak you truly were.

It had never occurred to you how savage women could be until the new arrival had come. Decorated with fresh love bites and a wicked grin, she had entered the room by storm; adorned in only a flannel.

The same exact flannel Jungkook often wore.

Her name was Areum and she had quickly taken an interest to you, often wondering aloud why Jungkook only came for her at night and never even mentioned you. After dinner each night (which food was provided to the women by their men. Areum never went hungry and in some odd form of pity, she'd give you whatever she didn't eat since Jungkook had yet to provide for you), she'd strip bare (if removing the flannel counted) and happily tell you the origins of each new mark. Dribbled between the confessions were low jabs to your own appearance. You were sure her verbal assault was to instill jealousy in you. Most likely in hopes that you'd demand Jungkook to see you only to be rejected and for her to laugh at you.

But her stories only made you feel more lonely than you already were and made you wonder if Jin was alright. And most important, if Jungkook was happy with her.

After the sixth night of you calmly listening to her stories she had suddenly lashed out at you, her nails scraping against the skin of your temple in some crazy attempt to gouge your eyes. A few of the other women had stepped in and you were truly grateful. Until Areum had suddenly collected them under her belt. They would now sit quietly and pretend not to notice when Areum would take to trying to stick her hairpins through your hands or pull your arm behind your back. When that had happened, the others had stopped helping and the only way to get Areum to stop physically hurting you was to cry.

And so you cried every night.

You cried through the torture and you cried through the insults and you cried as she gleefully told you how she and Jungkook often laughed at the things she did to you. And while you were hurt, you weren't angry. You said you'd handle yourself and since you couldn't..well that was an obvious sign that you weren't supposed to live for much longer. You bitterly wondered if you'd cry yourself into your grave.