RIPPLE | P.JM

27

SEVEN

Taehyung wraps his arms around me. And I scream, I just keep screaming into his chest as the door closes shut. I keep yelling, doing anything to drown out the chittering. The clicking.

My voice is torn.

Something brushes against my the skin of my ankle, the back of my neck. Then it's gone, replaced by Taehyung's hand as it wraps around my head, pressing my face harshly into his chest.

He tries to lift me, burying me in his arms and legs. But it's everywhere, and they find space.

I can't.

I start babbling like a toddler, crying so hard my entire body rocks with rough sobs. There's no thoughts in my mind, how could I when I couldn't even think in the first place?

Taehyung's holding me so tight it's cutting off my breathing.

I want to die.

My body's hypersensitive, and I feel everything. And when my screaming fades away into hoarse rasps into Taehyung's shirt, I can then hear everything too.

"S-Seven."

I tremble, curling into his body until mine feels like it'll break apart.

"I'm going to make you faint."

My eyes flash wide open. The relief that pours into me next is greater than anything I've ever felt— the harsh feeling of the edge of Taehyung's hand against my neck, the darkness that spills forward.

My head slumps against his shoulder.

_________________________

TAEHYUNG

I can't breathe, even when I'm out.

After an hour, the door had clicked back open. An hour— a fucking hour.

Seven's still unconscious, her weak body limp against the cold floor of the cell. It makes me furious, that they could've done this to her.

I could still remember her scream into my chest until her voice broke in all the places.

Then she shifts, and I instantly get to her side as her eyes shudder open. Her gaze is empty and blank as it looks over me, the dark ceiling, and the walls.

She doesn't say a single word even as she slowly sits up, tucking her body into herself.

Her expression scares me.

"Seven?" I whisper, but she's still silent, staring at the floor. Her gaze won't even move, and I can't catch a single emotion even with all my training in reading them.

I try for the next thirty minutes, to get her to say something.

"Seven, please." I say, my voice exhausted. "Please talk to me. Are you okay? I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for bringing you into this..."

She doesn't even blink.

Not even when I start crying, helpless tears streaking my cheeks. It was happening again. I'd been ruthless and stupid, and I'd repeated my mistakes just like last time.

Last time with Jimin, and this time with Seven.

She won't talk.

She won't talk at all.