cherry blossoms || ot7 [#Wattys2017]

[I NEED U]

"You son of a bitch..." Jimin scowls as he attempts to approach the hyung who broke Taehyung's heart, but Baekhyun holds him back. "You have a lot of nerve for doing what you did to Taehyung! He's never going to trust you nor will he ever want to establish a relationship with you."

"I know I messed up, but can you let me explain? Please?" Jungkook walks towards him with his hands outstretched to show a sign of surrender. There's no tricks up his sleeves, just him.

Jimin purses his lips. "You've got half an hour cause I still have to do some major grocery shopping."

"I already have that arranged." Jungkook cocks his head to the side, indicating to Jimin to check in the kitchen. He cranes his neck over the counter to see bags full of food.

"How did you...?"

"Taehyung was complaining how there wasn't food in the house the other day," Baekhyun explains.

"Anyways, I'll try to fit as much as I can in about two hours. That's a reasonable amount of time to be at a grocery store, right?" Jungkook bargains.

"You get an hour. No more than that," Jimin crosses his arms in front of his chest and plays along with the haggling.

"Fine. One hour. I'll see what I can do..." He taps his chin with his finger. "So I'm guessing you've heard from Baekhyun over here how I was kidnapped to be part of the sex trade," he shudders. "Well, after a certain checkpoint, you get branded as someone's property." Pulling the collar of his sweater a bit, a star enclosed in a circle maims the skin of the man in front of Jimin. "This man who was taking me in branded me for life as someone he'd keep in his house like a pet," he spits out with disgust, "and I'd have to obey his commands basically. However, he didn't have the money at the moment to pay the salesman in full, so they kept me in custody with all the other boys. That's where I met Namjoon, Hoseok, and Yoongi.

"I instantly bonded with these boys and being where we were, it felt like I could just tell them anything. So I told them what I was planning to do that night and that we needed to escape. I've tried on several occasions to escape myself, but with three extra brains, we could devise a foolproof plan. I refused to let this man keep me in his house and so the four of us escaped. We were like fugitives for weeks, taking scraps from garbage cans, sleeping in alleyways and cardboard boxes, and even working in a restaurant for decent meals and pay.

"One day, a couple noticed us starving on the streets and they decided to take us in. The husband is actually the CEO of the company we work under. They fed us and treated us like we were their own children. They practically raised us to who we are today. It's not like I didn't try to talk to Taehyung and see Taehyung because that'd be a lie. I tried; I really did, but I didn't realize that the man who branded me was looking for me. As I got older, I realized that he branded me so that if I ever escaped, he could find me again. He has a photo of me and although I've grown older, I'm still pretty much the same as I was thirteen years ago.

"Look, what you don't understand is that this man is very dangerous and I didn't want him hurting Taehyung, so I tricked Baekhyun over here into thinking it was an espionage job, but then I asked him to interact with Taehyung. I saw in his resume that he was an actor and that worked to my advantage. I told him to read my profile and Taehyung's during the leading years of this meet-up in the cafe.

"I wanted my brother to know that after all these years, I'm still alive and well, but I couldn't expose myself to him because I knew that'd lead to him telling our parents and they'd report to the police to close the case. Then one thing would lead to another and next thing you know, my family is dead because of this man who's been chasing me for most of my life.