SIRENIC || KTH

9. Time To Sleep

Kathy shivers slightly before forcing herself to walk, mustering as much courage as she can fake, she enters the seemingly abandoned warehouse which also happens to be Taehyung's base. The man who brought her here, left her outside this place and drove off without looking back.

Her shoes echo as she makes her way into the open space. There is barely anything in here, besides a few boxes stacked on top of one another against the wall. The main event is right in the middle of the place; tables and a few chairs haphazardly scattered next to each other, seating a group of six men playing a board game that seems foreign to her.

Kathy feels a chill run up her spine.

Not a single woman is seated amongst these men, and their appearance isn't help much either. Tall, muscular, some lighter or darker, and most importantly tattoos.

She doesn't want to be one who judges others by how they look, but considering the context, she is about to pee in her pants.

Despite all this, she recognizes the man in charge. Kim Taehyung is seated right in the middle, wearing a respectable suit completely untucked. He gives off the appearance of someone trying to look better than he is, but is effortlessly gorgeous. Kathy says tentatively, "Kim?"

All six men look up simultaneously and Kathy freezes. Throwing away the dice, Taehyung swaggers over to her, hands threateningly inside his pockets. Examining her with furrowed eyebrows, he tries to figure her out. His expression changes suddenly and he says, "I thought you would deny coming here."

Kathy releases an exhale she has been holding in. "I wanted to... but couldn't." She rummages in her mind and speaks of the first thing that comes to her. "After thinking about the whole situation, I decided that I'll accept your offer."

"Kathy," he speaks with a heavy voice, gruff, and with the voice of someone who's an avid smoker. "You think I don't understand?"

Kathy is at a loss for words. The other men are observing her intently, but she has nothing to say. She stammers, "What d-do you mean?"

Taehyung chuckles. "You think you will meet a man behind my back and I would not find out?"

Kathy's brain works in overdrive to simultaneously control her anxiety and understand what is going on.

"I don't know," she admits. "I don't know what are you talking about."

Mocking laughter spreads amongst the men still sitting, leering at Kathy. She feels stupid and very, very scared.

Taehyung slightly grins. "You met Kim Seokjin, didn't you?"

"What?!" She exclaims with shock written all over her face. "I mean, I did meet him," she admits, not able to stop her fingers from shaking.

Taehyung's expression turn dark as he lightly places his finger under her chin. "Mind telling me, what did you talk about?"

Kathy's breath is caught in her throat and adrenaline pulsating through her veins. She wishes she could pinch herself and wake up, be back home as if this never happened. There must still be a way out of this.

"He said that Jungkook is alive," she says, her voice high and shrill.

The mocking laughter from all of the mem erupts once more, this time with Taehyung joining them.

"Kathy, you shouldn't believe strangers so easily," Taehyung says. At this point, Kathy burst into tears. Whatever courageous front she was putting on fails her. With no one who can protect her against an entire underground organization.

"Please don't hurt Jungkook," she requests through streaming tears. "I'll do anything, anything."

Taehyung pulls her arm in less than a second, both his hands around her waist, tightly holding onto her. She shrieks and tries to turn away but he holds onto her with a viciousness. "Listen here, Kath, I don't know how to explain this to you, but your brother is dead. Stop fucking searching for him as if he is still alive, you understand?" He looks into her eyes with the ferocity of an animal.