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21. Tell Her

The door flung open and Taeyong angrily marched down the hallway. Yuna flinched as the door slammed against the wall from the force in which he opened it with. As he emerged from the hallway, he didn't even look at her, but instead went right past her, into the room slamming the door behind him. She glanced at the others who had followed in behind him and for some reason, they avoided looking directly at her.

"What happened?" She asked as she stood up. "Is he hurt?"

"No, but..." Jaehyun's face revealed concern as he searched for words to explain- something that Yuna had come to know was unusual for him, who always seemed calm and peaceful. Without waiting for any explanation, she moved to follow Taeyong into the room. "Yuna, you probably shouldn't-" The door clicked closed behind her as she disappeared behind it. "...go in there." He finished. He rubbed the back of his neck as he and the others sat down and waited.

Taeyong sat on the bed with his face buried in his palms. Yuna noticed the blood soaked on his sleeve and the light spray across his torso. She rushed to him and knelt in front of him.

"Taeyong? Are you ok? What happened?" She pried his hand away from his face and raised his sleeve looking for an injury. "Where are you hurt?"

"It's not mine." He slowly pulled his arm from her grasp and watched her eyes change from worry to confusion and then her shoulders raised and fell from her sigh.

"You scared me for a minute." She sat back on her heels and rested her forehead on his knee.

He grasped her shoulders and guided her to sit next to him on the bed. His expression worried her. His eyebrows knotted together and his jaw was clenched. A lump formed in her throat as she waited for some kind of bad news.

"I don't want to lie to you, Yuna. I have been doing it to make you feel less worried, but I know you're not stupid and that keeping you in the dark is not going as well as I hoped. I don't know what your limit is, so tell me...how much do you want to know?"

That was a question she often asked herself. Was it better to stay shrouded in cluelessness for the sake of her mental wellbeing or better to be fully aware of what was happening in order to better protect her physical wellbeing? She had not yet drawn a line in this blurry and unfamiliar territory. This time, though, as she watched a battle being waged behind Taeyong's eyes, she knew it was not only about herself. What she knew could matter to his sanity and peace of mind as well. In some possible scenario, it could matter to his safety too.

"How much should I know?" She asked cautiously.

"He looked at her, a little surprised by her response. He had almost expected her to want to know everything. Still, there were difficult things he had to tell her, even if it wasn't everything. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasped his fingers together as his gaze fell to the blankness of the floor.

"They know your name. It seems like they know all about you." He said, intentionally keeping his eyes down to avoid her gaze. He didn't think he could continue if he could see fear spark in her eyes. "It's bigger than I first thought...something that will become a war between families. They've picked me out as a threat and have put a price on my head, but..." He rubbed his forehead as if to stifle the natural reaction of his thoughts to stop the conversation here. "For the man in the alley it's personal, so you're his target. There's more about him that I don't know yet, but from what I heard today...it's not good." There was a long, drawn out silence as he waited for her response.

"Ok." She said calmly.

"Ok?" His head shot up to look at her. "Just ok? That's it?"

"What should I do in this situation, then? Cry? How will that help? Run? To where? Hide? I am already here. I know you are already doing everything you can to solve the problem. Maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet or maybe I'm just weird, but I feel safer here than I would somewhere else. Yes, I'm scared. This is definitely scary, but what else can I do but trust you? But while I am here safe and protected, you will be out there where they are looking for you too. Who will protect you and keep you safe?"

"That's not something you should worry about."

"Why can't I?"

"Because I've protected myself so far and problems like these aren't new to me. Plus, my family is bigger than what you see here. If they care about their livelihood, they'll protect me. You don't need to worry." His palm pressed against hers, matching up their hands before intertwining their fingers together.

"But I will, anyway." The fingers of her other hand grazed his cheek and pushed the hair back from his eyes. "Promise you will keep yourself safe too, ok?" She smiled. To him that smile felt like he was being held underwater and was suddenly free to break the surface; taking a breath after narrowly suffocating to death. Relief and comfort and freedom. A breath of life giving air that filled his lungs and fed his body. He nodded back to her.

His eyes followed her as she stood and pulled him up along with her.

"We will be ok. We'll figure it out." She still held the smile as she began to unbutton his shirt. "But first you should take a shower." He watched as her fingers smoothly and gracefully swept over each button, unfastening them and exposing the pale skin underneath.

"Does it scare you to see me like this?" He asked as she made her way down his shirt. He wondered how she, who was innocent and pure, could have such a calm reaction to seeing him in this state.

"I have seen plenty of blood in my life. My house was like a makeshift hospital at some point, you know."

"That's not what I mean."

She let out a small laugh before pulling his opened shirt down over his arms. She gently pushed him into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"Well, my parents always told me if I play too many video games and watch too many scary movies I would become like this." She said on her way out. She gave him a wink and closed the door behind her.