Darkness Ethereal | K.TH

I'm Coming

"Tzuyu!"

A firm hand finds my waist in the darkness, and I nearly gasp in relief as I feel V's familiar figure.

He's trembling.

My entire body stiffens as I realize that his fear was acting up— his fear of darkness. A silent curse echoes on my tongue as I desperately fumble for my phone.

Found it.

The screen comes alive to life, and only then do I realize just exactly how doomed this entire situation was.

My battery percentage reads a pitiful one percent.

But with the temporary light, V's trembling ceases. He then quickly searches his back pocket, coming out with the familiar metal cylinder.

My eyes go wide.

"How do you... have that now?" I exclaim, and he clicks the switch on. The bright shine from the penlight comes to life the moment the screen of my phone descends into darkness.

It's dead.

"I carry this around everywhere I go," He mutters as he searches the room. "I don't— I never leave the house without it."

Warmth fills my heart at his words, and my cheeks grow slightly blushed as I quickly turn back. This definitely wasn't the time to be acting like this— we're trapped in a freaking storage room, for heaven's sake!

"Here it is."

"Whoa!"

The lights above come on all of a sudden, and V quickly apologizes when I slap both hands over my eyes.

"I'm sorry— I should've given you a warning. Are you okay—"

"I'm fine, V. Don't worry about me," I hurriedly assure, humiliated that I was acting like I hadn't seen light in ten years when it'd just been like three seconds.

"Is it locked?"

"Yeah," He mutters, giving the door a hard tug before motioning for me to move back from him.

And then he slams his foot onto the door.

"V!" I yell as I rush to him, my eyes wide with shock. "What did you just do?! Are you hurt?"

"It's locked," He sighs, as if he hadn't just crashed his foot into a metal-reinforced door. "This is a storage room, so I think maybe one of the professors would come—"

"Kim Taehyung!"

His lips instantly press together as he looks at me, his slanted eyes wide with surprise. I would've laughed if the situation wasn't so serious.

"Is your leg okay? Are you sure it's not broken?!"

The surprise in his eyes replace with warmth, and a ghost of a smile dances on his lips. "I'm fine, Tzuyu. Do you still have your phone with you? Maybe you could call—"

"It's no use," I sigh, glaring at the darkened screen. "It's dead— it went black right after you got the penlight on. Do you have your phone with you?"

"No," He sighs, finally giving up from trying to force open the doorknob. "It's back in the classroom— which right now is probably full with confused students."

Momentary silence descends in the storage room before I break it, unable to get my mind off of what I'd just witnessed.

"Is this why you've been acting so weird for the past few days?" I ask, recalling how stressed he'd seem to be. "You should've told me, V."