The Secretary

The Blood

He'd left the tablet on his desk, underneath some paper. A chill ran through him as it dawned on him that both the tablet and paper were no longer on his desk. He closed his eyes, mentally cursing himself for his own stupidity. When he opened them Y/N was looking at him, hurt and panic evident in her eyes. She shakily held the tablet out and pointed to the photo of the 16-year-old girl.

"Wh..." Her voice cracked and it was evident she was struggling to not cry. "Why is this here? What is this doing on here? Why do you have this?!" Her voice was beginning to raise and Yoongi remembered how she'd reacted when he'd hit on her back when they first met. Her behavior then made so much sense in light of what he knew now. But it also made him worried for her reaction.

"I..." Both Jin and Hoseok were looking at him and her in confusion. He faltered.

"Is this why you keep being nice to me? You think I'm some traumatized woman you can manipulate and take advantage of?!" Her eyes had gone dark and her breathing was heavier. Yoongi shook his head quickly, ignoring Jin and Hoseok's concerned looks.

"Absolutely not. No. I...." He gestured weakly. "I was trying to understand...I had questions...."

"I can't believe you, Min Yoongi. You all act so self-righteous and refuse to tell me anything about the danger my family might have been put in and here you are crawling through the gutter of my past, pulling every gory detail out from under the rocks!" She was livid and slammed the tablet down on the ground. All three of them jumped as she stood up, the tears finally starting to fall down her face.

"I wanted to understand, Y/N. You're not normal, I had to make sure you weren't a threat to us..." He pleaded, willing her to understand. She choked back a sob, her freehand absently brushing at her face, trying to remove something, her breathes starting to become shallower. "Y/N..." He tried again but she shoved past Jin and stumbled out the door. "Shit. Shit, shit, shit." Yoongi gripped his hair with his hands. He'd just spent the past eight hours getting to know her, becoming better acquainted, and he'd just ruined all of it.

"What. The. Hell." Hoseok said, scooting forward to grab the tablet. In an instant Yoongi's hand shot out and took it from him. Hoseok gave him an incredulous look.

"Yoongi, what's going on?" Jin asked firmly, before turning and looking out towards the elevator. "Nevermind, we'll talk later." He tossed his coat onto Yoongi's desk and headed to where Y/N had gone.

"I really screwed up." Yoongi said when Hoseok kept looking at him.

"What's on there? What was she talking about?" Yoongi hung his head.

"It's her background check. Jungkook reran it and did some investigating because I had some questions."

"is she a threat?" Yoongi shook his head.

"No. But she's been through some pretty messed up stuff." He sighed, finally offering Hoseok the tablet. He was going to have to tell them all everything now anyway.

-

Y/N ran into the bathroom she'd thrown up in the day of her job interview, running the water and splashing it over her face, her sobs echoing in the empty space. She couldn't believe it. No matter where she went it came back to bite her. It would always haunt her. Once evil was let loose in the world it sought you out and kept coming back and coming back....it never died....

She scrubbed her face with her palms, willing the blood to come off, willing the blood to go away...

She couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe, her heart-rate went even higher as she realized her throat was locked and closing up...she choked on a sob and gasped for air...

"Y/N?" Jin hesitantly poked his head in. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't breathe... "Y/N!" One of her legs gave out and she fell to the floor, one hand holding her throat, the other holding onto the sink. Jin bent down beside her, sliding an arm around her upper back to support her and gently grabbing her outstretched hand and giving it a squeeze. "Y/N, it's okay. Just breathe. Just breathe, okay? Deep breath. Deep breath." He pressed her into his chest, murmuring softly. He was very practiced with this, when Taehyung had first joined them he'd been young and had first lived with Jin. There had been several nights where his own demons had come to haunt him and Jin was the one who had soothed him during and after.

No matter where she went she'd never get peace. That was the only thought that swirled through Y/N's head and she felt like it was grinding her into the dust.

"I can't get away." She didn't realize she'd said it aloud until Jin gently squeezed her hand.

"You don't need to, I'll protect you." He said quietly.

Hoseok came in a short time later and sat down on the floor across from them both, waiting for Y/N's sobs to become small whimpers and her breathing to normalize.

"He's really sorry, Y/N. He wasn't trying to invade your privacy. He just saw some things he had questions about and ended up stumbling across all that." She didn't respond, all worn out from her flashback and panic attack. Jin felt quite comfortable, her warmth against him, her head resting back against his chest. He would never admit it out loud but...he was kind of glad he had gotten the opportunity to touch her like this.

Y/N took a deep breath and finally sat up, pushing away from him and leaving his arms feeling empty and cold. He shook himself. He couldn't think like that. It wasn't allowed. She shakily got to her feet and looked in the mirror, brushing at her face. Jin stood behind her, arms out slightly, ready to catch her if her legs gave out again.

"I can't get the blood off." She mumbled and Hoseok stood up too, leaning in slightly to peer at her face, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Blood...?" Jin questioned, still having no idea what was going on.

"The blood never comes off." She stared blankly at the mirror, seeing things neither of them could see.

"Y/N there's no blood." Hoseok said quietly and she slowly turned to look at him but not actually seeing him. She hesitantly motioned to parts of her face, then her neck, then some spots on her arm.

"Here. Here. Here. It's always there and it never goes away. Once it landed I couldn't get it off." Hoseok still looked confused for a moment, then realization dawned on him and a look of horror spread across his face.

"The....the...when she...it got on you?!" Hoseok didn't mind that. He'd been sprayed plenty of times by blood and seen it happen to others. But even he could fully appreciate the grotesqueness of a 16-year-old girl watching her best friend finally succumb to two years of torment and blow her brains out all over the girl watching.

Jin was tempted to ask but decided now was not the time.

"Y/N, there's no blood. You're safe. It's okay. There's no blood." At the sound of his voice it was like she snapped back into reality and the blank look vanished from her face. She looked at Hoseok, looked in the mirror at Jin, and then covered her face with her hands.

"Oh my god." She said quietly, feeling mortified that they had seen one of her attacks. Hoseok stepped away at Jin's nod, giving her space.

"Y/N." He hesitatingly touched her shoulder and she flinched, making his heart feel a little sad. "Y/N, look at me please." She shook her head. "Y/N, I know you know we have a lot of secrets we can't tell you. But there's one thing I can. Here you aren't judged for bad experiences. Here there is compassion. Don't hide. Please." He so badly wanted her to look at him but she still didn't. He sighed. "Can I take you home at least?" It took a moment but she nodded. She felt too tired to argue.