"I'm fascinated by everything you do. Your smile, your touch, your laughter. Believe me or not, I have spent my entire life waiting for this moment."
"Was I in your dreams?"
"I rarely sleep. My mind has this scary capability of being dark and twiste...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I pulled over in the mansion's driveway, panting heavily with every breath as I yanked the police car door open and flew forward. I have no fucking clue how I didn't crash it with my erratic driving.
My lungs and heart kept pumping, but it felt like someone had inflated all of the oxygen from the universe. My right leg felt numb and I had no idea how I was even moving it. I ran for the front door, clutching on the door knob, and barged in, catapulted by a rush of panic.
I somehow managed to knock down some of the vases decorating the vintage cabinet as I dashed to the dining room, "Taehyung?" I shouted. "Mom? Anyone?"
I didn't wait for an answer and instead ran upstairs, my sweaty palm slipping as I gripped on the staircase railing. My throat as dry as sandpaper, I kept having the intrusive feeling that some phantom arms would clasp around me any second. I felt sick to my stomach, like an erratic rabbit being hunted down by a larger predator. This was my body and brain in full survivor mode and it was nothing but pain.
My feet slipped outwards as I rounded the corner and headed for the guest bedroom. With each footfall, a jarring pain shot through my leg. I flung myself against the cream white door and pounded my fist against the wood violently.
"Tae? Taehyung!" I screamed, my voice coarse like fragmented rock. My clumsy fingers wrestled with the doorknob, uselessly.
In no time, the door flung open and he appeared.
It felt like the gates of heaven had opened before my eyes as his gaze fell on me, as if in that moment our souls made a bridge. His eyes wandered my form, mud smeared on my sweaty face and a giant blood stain on my knee.
"Valerie?" he rasped, the baritone of his voice reverberating through my bones as he slid a strong arm over my shoulders.
Within a flash, I found myself safe in his embrace, the hug of gentle arms that give me space to breathe. I was as a butterfly yearning for the cocoon, to be safe within walls, protected.
"Oh god, Valerie." The low rumble of his voice was comforting as it wrapped around me and carried me to a world where sound was the power that could change everything wrong in the world.
He pulled away just a bit so that he could peer in my eyes. His thumb grazed my lower lip, removing a little blood stain tainting the skin.
"What happened?" he asked softly, a look of shock plastered on his face. "I got so worried when you weren't answering my calls."
Eyes glazed, my voice came out thin and distant, "Tae... something horrible happened."
"What?" he questioned, moving closer with those gleaming eyes that looked so deeply into my own. I could see how worried he was by the way his jaw tightened and released and the way his Adam's apple bobbed up and down with a thick gulp.
