•𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝟏•
Outside the towering glass windows of a penthouse nestled high above Seoul, the rain Poured relentlessly. It painted the city in shadow of blue and grey. Thunder rumbled in distance, low and hallow, echoing like a warning.
Inside, A men tossed in his sleep.
His perfect styled hair clung to his forehead with sweat, his face no longer calm, cold mask the world knew. Beneath the layers of wealth, tailored suits, and boardroom power... he was just a boy—
trapped in the nightmare of a night he didn't remember.
Yet his body did.
"Don't—please—don't tie me—!"
A scream tore from his lips in his sleep, choked and terrified.
He couldn't see their face. But he could feel it —the cold roughness of the rope around his wrists, and the ache in his chest, the metallic stench of fear. His young voice cried out again.
A flash of lightning lit up the room.
Taehyung shot up in bed, gasping. He clutched his chest, heart racing like it wanted to tear out. The sound of the rain felt too loud, too close—like it was pressing against the windows to drag him back.
His breath came in ragged waves.
Why again? Why now?
For years, he had these dreams. Bits and pieces. Screams. Ropes. Darkness.
But never the full memory.
The doctors had said his trauma blocked it out. That it was his brain protecting him.
But some nights—like tonight—it broke through.
He stepped down from his bed and went to take a shower. Water streamed down his perfect body as it flowed gently over him.
But only one thing was running through his mind:
"Why does this nightmare come to me every single night? And why can’t I remember anything? And every time I try to recall… my head starts to ache."
That's all he was thinking while he was showering.
After taking a shower, he comes out of the bathroom and lies down on the bed, but sleep doesn’t come to him. So he takes a sleeping pill from the table beside the bed… and finally falls a sleep.
Rain fell like a lullaby outside the small window of her one-room apartment. Not the kind that comforted—it was the kind that made memories ache.
A girl sat on the edge of her bed, her knees hugged to her chest, a blanket draped over her like a shield. The room was dim, the only light coming from the streetlamp outside flickering weakly through the glass. Drops tapped against the window like soft knocks from the past.
Her ankle throbbed faintly again—an old wound, long scarred but never forgotten.
She reached down and gently touched the mark. It wasn’t deep anymore, but the memory it held was. Being tied. Being afraid. And yet… still having the courage to fight.
"You’re a sin. You took my wife from me."
Her father’s voice echoed in her mind, cold and sharp. She’d heard it since she was ten. Blamed for simply being born.
After her mother died, her father changed. The world changed. And Yn learned early how to survive in silence—how to cry without sound and how to smile when her heart didn’t feel like it.
She stood up quietly and walked over to the small counter where she kept a half-filled cup of instant noodles. Dinner. Again.
“One more shift tomorrow, and rent’s done,” she whispered to herself, trying to find comfort in small victories.
She takes a deep breath, and after eating her food, she falls asleep.
