260721 - fashion neurosis with bella freud on instagram: RM is a South Korean rapper, songwriter, music producer, and the leader of pop royalty BTS.
His discography includes solo mixtapes RM (2015) and mono. (2018), as well as solo albums Indigo (2022) and Right Place, Wrong Person (2024), which showcase his remarkable versatility across genres. BTS have released ten studio albums since 2014, are among the world's best-selling musical acts, and have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards worldwide.
As a creative powerhouse and avid art enthusiast, RM is renowned for crafting profound lyrics often inspired by various art forms. He has an extensive personal art collection with a focus on both contemporary and antique Korean art, and is curating an exhibition with SFMOMA for late 2026, pairing Korean artists with Western ones.
His flexible and philosophical approach to music and ability to push creative boundaries with cutting-edge collaborations has led him to work with a diverse range of artists, including Erykah Badu, Anderson Paak, Lil Nas X, Mahalia, and more.
In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and RM discuss Stendhal Syndrome, Rick Owens, and the mantle of leadership. Launching tomorrow, 22nd July.
— chapter summary | The truth is finally out, that you've been holding one of the missing pieces of the puzzle the whole time while Yoongi has been trying to keep you in the dark, hidden away from reality that could've hurt you. But is this offering enough to coax Yoongi to tell you more, to share more of the secrets he's been keeping from you, so you can finally let each other in?
— title: Carousel | pairings: Min Yoongi x female reader | genre: CEO!Yoongi, Arranged Marriage!AU, smut, angst
— ratings & warnings | +18 / M for mature; involves delicate themes related to arranged marriage, talks about family legacy, family betrayal/drama, mention of major character death, mentions of car accidents, talks about grief.
— word count: 5,792 words
— story masterpost: Carousel | ⤎ previous chapter | next chapter ⇢
— chapter drop date: July 20th, 2026 | main masterlist | mailbox | feedback | ko-fi | patreon | series taglist
𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚕 𝟸𝟾. 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚍
The tension in the room feels heavy.
Yet this is also the first time in a while that you can finally breathe easily.
It feels like the weight has been lifted off your shoulders once you’ve shared your story with Yoongi. About the way Jinyoung had manipulated his way to win your father’s trust and into your life, about his betrayal, and the secret you uncovered after his death. But at the same time, the silence that follows makes you feel apprehensive about how to continue this conversation.
“So,” Yoongi speaks after the silence stretches, “You found out that he’s been altering the data himself.”
“Yes, I did,” you answer in a small voice. “And that he was stealing money from—”
Your father.
Your family.
Your throat feels tight. And so does your chest, as you recall the way your father always boasted proudly about Jinyoung—his achievements, the fruit of his hard work, and how he managed to assist your father during troubled times. You still remember how happy your father was about your engagement. How excited he was to involve Jinyoung in every plan he had for the family's and the company's future.
The pain and anger you felt over his betrayal, the emotions you had after uncovering his secret, had left you with all these questions that kept haunting you.
Did he make a move on you solely as a distraction, to stop you from uncovering his sins?
Did he know that you were watching him closely, suspecting him of having despicable intentions against your father?
Was it all pretend—the warmth he shared, the love he made you feel, and the tender way he took care of you?
And these unanswered questions had led you into your hunt for the truth. It led you to here, accepting Yoongi’s hands in marriage, hoping that it would take you one step closer to answers.
Yoongi rises from his seat and walks over to the pantry, returning with a bottle of rum.
“It’s early, but I figured at least one of us might need this.”
His comment draws a small smile on your face. You nod, and he gently pours a knuckle's worth of rum into a shot glass and slides it across the table. He pours another for himself, and right after he closes the bottle, he tosses the drink down his throat, groaning deeply at the taste.
“Forgive me. This is all a bit much for me to take,” he says, returning to his seat. He brushes his palm across his jaw, his entire body tense, yet he manages to control his emotions with a sigh. “His betrayal against your father’s company aside, how did you find out that he had also set a target on your back?”
The knot in your chest tightens.
So hard, it feels hard for you to breathe. You reach out for the shot glass and toss the rum down your throat—slightly more gently, yet still too quickly than you used to. It tastes bitter, and the heat of the liquor stings as it slides down your throat, warming your body in an instant, making you wince.
But at least it’s enough to burn the pain lingering in your chest since the day you unmasked Jinyoung’s darkest secret.
“I haven’t been back to Jinyoung’s apartment since the night he—” Your words caught as you recall the night Jinyoung passed away, when you rushed out the door after hearing the news, never to return. You shake it off and continue, “On the night of our engagement ball, I met Jinhee, his sister. After confirming that his family wouldn’t be using the place, she handed the keys and all access to the apartment after the ball, and I began using the place as my own.”
Your little hideout.
“That’s where you moved all of your belongings after selling your old place.”
You nod, without bothering to ask him how he knew. “I figured that if I wanted to continue searching for answers, if I wanted to learn more about what secrets he kept from me, it would be best to use the apartment, where I could move more freely without anyone watching.”
“A place to turn into a safe house.”
“Something like that,” you say with a scoff, shrugging. His lips twitch into a small smile, urging you to continue.
But the bitterness in your chest flares up as you remember the first time you entered the apartment again after a while. “The place was clean, almost looked untouched,” you recount what you saw that day. "As if someone had come in to clean everything, down to every last drop of dust.”
And that was the problem.
The place was too clean.
It wouldn’t have mattered if only his family had come in to take all his belongings so they could hand over the place to you more properly. It would explain why they would take the time to clean the place. Yet most of his personal belongings remained, except for some of his valuables, which you used to see being displayed in his bedroom, along with the electronic devices he used to work.
“Except for the old computer set that he once used before his promotion, there was nothing left behind in his home office. Even when I used it to try to access his files, I couldn’t find anything. As if whoever came in to take away his things had decided that it was also necessary to clean all the data that Jinyoung kept at home.”
But that hadn’t been the only thing you had found strange.
Being in that apartment again without Jinyoung had felt unsettling. Not only for the memories, or the way it felt without him—cold, and unfamiliar—and how empty it felt, but it was also because you found the place no longer showed anything that was left of his touches, no trace of his presence, except for the fancy suits still hanging in his closet.
It made you curious, leading you to look closer.
“While I was trying to settle in, I went back to his bedroom and looked through his things that were left behind.”
And that was when you found them.
“There was a place that they didn’t touch while cleaning up the place. They must’ve missed it, since it was hidden so well.”
“What did you find?”
You lift your gaze to look at Yoongi and sigh. “A hidden compartment, right at the back of his closet.” Hidden behind his suits, you found a switch that opened up the back wall like a hidden door, revealing everything that Jinyoung had hidden from you.
Yoongi’s body tenses. “What was in it?”
“Everything that wasn’t supposed to be there.” Your breath catches, but you continue anyway. “Guns and other weapons, all in various shapes and sizes, and devices that I had never seen before. There was a deposit box and a briefcase kept in there too, filled with passports showing his photo but with different names attached to each one, and—”
Your head spins just as you recall opening the safe deposit box with the help of a locksmith you hired through Jungkook, when you found the things that turned your entire world upside down, forcing you to go down the rabbit hole of secrecy.
“There were files and photos—”
When your breath gets caught again, Yoongi leans forward to ask, “Of who?”
Looking straight into his eyes, you take a deep breath before answering, “Of me.”
Yoongi’s eyes grow wide with surprise and knowing, yet he doesn’t say anything. He also keeps his hands entwined on the table, keeping himself back to give you space until you can carry on.
“There was a folder containing copies of every single file ever released under my name. My birth certificate, medical records, school records, starting from grade school up to university, and records of all the business deals I’ve done both when I was building my own business and while I was working under my father.” You pause, feeling your whole body trembling in fear and anger.
This is the first time you’ve ever shared this with anyone.
While it feels like you’re taking a massive weight off your shoulders by unveiling this to someone else, it also makes you feel like your world is crumbling around you once again—because talking about it like this only makes it more real.
It forces you to face the facts that you’ve been trying to ignore.
“He had been studying everything about me for years. Starting long before we both met.”
And that he was the one who posed the biggest threat to your life while he was in it.
You blink away the tears threatening to fall and clench your hands, forcing the tremble to stop. “Then I looked at the photos to see when and where they were all taken from…and I saw that at least half of them were taken while I was living away from my family, candid pictures from the days I spent building my winery business and when I was taking all those classes that were supposed to help me in making it happen.”
Just how far back did he start doing it?
“And that’s when I saw the contract they were all attached to. An agreement he signed, and notes on how he was supposed to take my life once his job in my father’s company was done.”
Yoongi remains silent for a brief moment. You almost believe that you see a hint of anger flaring in his eyes, though it quickly fades when he lowers his gaze. “Did you find any information on the people who sent him?”
“No, nothing at all.” You shake your head. “I looked, but just like all the traces of Jinyoung in the apartment that were no longer there, there were no clues about the people he was working for, or what their agenda truly was.”
The only thing you found in Jinyoung’s hidden storage was the copies of the contract mentioning SS Novelties. That was the reason why you tried to find out who they were, hoping that it might lead you to something. But your search had only led you to another rabbit hole, another secret to uncover, without finding any direct connections between those contracts.
Nothing other than the fact that Jinyoung was the only direct link between them.
“I even went around the place and tried to look for any trace of cameras, wires, anything that might lead me back to them. I dusted every inch of the apartment for fingerprints, but—”
“Fingerprints?” Yoongi snaps, completely caught off-guard. “Just how far were you planning to go to find the truth about Jinyoung?”
“I’d do anything—everything I could. I know you would’ve done the same,” you reason with him. It’s not like you have any need to explain yourself to him. Not about this matter, or what you do behind his back. But the way he reacts feels unsettling, that you cannot stop yourself from trying to make him see things your way.
As expected, Yoongi isn’t happy about it. You can see it in his eyes, even when he tries to hide it. Yoongi leans back in his seat, crossing his arms as he continues asking questions, his voice cuts deep with accusations, “And who do you suspect might have been the ones to send him to you and your family?”
“Everyone.”
Now that it has come to this, you find no reason to hide it any longer.
“Every staff member, every person related to the company, the people within the board of directors working closely with my father, clients, partners, rivals…you.” Yoongi clenches his jaw, and you know that you are threading through danger by revealing this, yet you continue, “You and your family.”
Yoongi pours another shot of rum, tossing it back before rising to his feet. Guilt fills your chest as you watch him move towards the window, looking faraway into the city, as if struggling to keep his composure. You hate that you had to become the bearer of bad news, and you can understand why Yoongi reacts this way.
Who in the world would enjoy being accused of plotting a scheme against their rival, much less to cover it with a murder? By his own wife, no less.
“Have you ever shared this with anyone?” Yoongi questions you while he continues looking out the window, avoiding your gaze.
“No, I haven’t.”
He turns around to look at you, his expression unreadable. “Not even your mother? Your father?”
You slowly shake your head. “No, not with them. I couldn’t—” You pause, then continue, “But my mother had already suspected that your family might be involved in Jinyoung’s accident even without me saying anything.”
Yoongi’s gaze remains on you as he walks around the table. He moves leisurely, approaching you slowly. Not like a predator coming to his prey, but still intimidating enough to make you feel small under his accusatory gaze. It makes you feel powerless. And undeniably guilty.
“And you believed her…because it lined up with what you’ve suspected might have happened.”
Nodding slowly, you recall the night you found your mother at the family mansion, sitting in the dark as if a piece of her soul had been lost. Her eyes were haunted, and she immediately broke into tears the moment she saw you entering the room.
"Oh, my dear child. My poor, poor child," was what she said when she held you tightly in her arms while you cried, when the tears wouldn't stop flowing, just as the cracks inside your chest kept growing deeper and deeper. Then, before you even had the chance to breathe and let go of your grief, to force yourself to gain strength so you could get through the motion, she began filling your head with her beliefs.
"It was them. They've done this before, and now they've done it again. Now they're hurting my baby. They did this. They killed Jinyoung. The Min family killed Jinyoung.”
You close your eyes, hoping that it could help you forget the way she looked back then when she said those words. "Yes, and for a moment, I felt relieved knowing that I wasn't crazy, so I ignored every other possibility of what may have happened and who might've been involved," you shamefully admit.
Did you, at some point, believe that Yoongi and his family might have been the ones responsible for Jinyoung's death?
Yes, you did.
But only because you needed someone to blame for what had happened. You even ignored the voices in your head that refused to believe otherwise—that the Min Family had nothing to do with it. At least, not Min Yoongi. Until your research began showing you other facts that no longer supported your mother's theories.
"I don't blame you," Yoongi says, right as you are ready to apologize for having doubts about him. "I would've suspected everyone around me if I had been in your shoes. It couldn't have been easy for you."
“No,” you choke. You didn’t expect him to understand, or to show you this kind of compassion, after finding out what you’ve been suspecting him of doing. Hearing the gentle way he speaks to you cuts deeper than the way his anger does. “No, it wasn’t.”
His jaw clenches. “Was this the reason why you accepted my proposal and agreed to sign the marriage contract?”
You look him straight in the eye and admit, “It was part of the reason.”
“And was it also the reason why you agreed to join hands with your mother in her plans to bring us down?”
“No! I never said I ever agreed to do it.” You jump to your feet as you speak your truth.
“But she did try to involve you in it,” Yoongi continues to accuse you. “What is she after?”
“I don’t know—”
“Stop covering for her!”
“I don’t know!”You snap. “My mother, she—” Anger flares inside you from having your voice unheard. Yet, just as quickly as it rises, your anger easily wanes the moment you take a deep breath. Neither of you would solve anything, and this talk wouldn’t go anywhere if you let your emotions take over, and he needs to hear the truth.
Your truth.
Everything that you’ve kept to yourself and what has been eating you up inside.
“My Mom has always had her secrets. Things she keeps to herself. It’s always hard to determine what she is thinking.” Sighing, you try to swallow the bitter truth that has been clawing at your chest—that you may not have known your mother as much as you had thought. “But I know that she holds some resentment against your family. Specifically, your grandfather.”
Vengeance.
Yoongi may not be someone who would trouble himself with such matters, but he can’t say he is a stranger to it.
He has never been one to dwell on revenge, no matter how many times others have wronged him. Yet he has met enough people who devoted their lives to it—people who built themselves around old wounds until vengeance became the only thing keeping them alive. More often than not, his own family had been the reason.
The Min name has left too many enemies behind.
That's why he knows, with quiet certainty, that there isn't a single part of you capable of carrying that kind of hatred.
He never saw it when you first agreed to this marriage arrangement. He doesn't see it now, either—not when you look at him with hope you never bother to hide, or when happiness quietly finds its way into your eyes each time you lean into his warmth.
He wants to trust you.
No…that isn't quite right.
He already does.
He only needed to hear you say it yourself.
“I told you, I never agreed to be a part of her scheme and do…whatever she’s planning for you.”
The more you try to explain yourself, the heavier the guilt settles inside him.
He never intended to corner you like this. Never intended to make you feel as though you had to defend yourself. Because the truth is, he had never truly believed you were capable of becoming your mother's weapon.
Even when the evidence suggested otherwise. Even when your movements seemed to follow her directives. He had trusted the person he knew over the picture everyone else tried to paint.
What unsettled him wasn't the possibility that you'd betray him. It was everything you refused to let him see.
The secrets. The risks you kept taking alone.
How was he supposed to protect you when he didn't even know what you were fighting?
“I had to play along and make her believe that we both share the same goal. That was the only way I could gain her support. It was the only way I could get through with our wedding.” You lower your gaze and let out a soft chuckle. “She was set on stopping it from happening, thinking that I was only going to risk my own life by getting involved directly with you and your family and by accepting your hand in marriage.”
Yoongi clenches his hands. His anger had subsided a while ago. He had suspected that the grief you felt from Jinyoung’s death was what led you to it—to risk everything to avenge his death.
Had your mother seen the same thing and thought that she could use your grief to manipulate you to follow her?
A pawn.
That's what your mother had reduced you to. Just another piece to move across the board.
The same way his grandfather had once done to him.
That was what he believed until you admitted knowing more about Jinyoung’s secrets than you let on.
“I had to make her believe that I was only doing this for revenge, to get closer to you so I could find a way to hurt your family from the inside,” you continue with a bitter smile. He almost laughs, because at some point, he almost believed it too. “All I ever needed was answers. That was all. That was the reason I took this risk.”
Yoongi lets out a slow breath. His shoulders loosen for what feels like the first time since this conversation began.
This...
This was the answer he'd been waiting for.
Because if revenge was never your destination, then perhaps there was still time.
Time to keep you away from whatever had been waiting in the shadows long before either of you realized it.
“Alright. I get it,” he calmly says. And it pleases him to see that his words somehow put you at ease.
But this time, Yoongi is the one who needs answers. “You said your mother seems to have some sort of a grudge against my grandfather. So is he the real target, then?”
You tilt your head. “You don’t seem too surprised.”
Yoongi lets out a chuckle. No, he isn’t surprised that you would bring up his grandfather.
After all, the man has always been the center of everything from the very beginning. The catalyst of all the events that have unfolded over the past five years. Including the event which led to his brother’s fall from grace.
“I may have a lot of faults of my own. And I’m not the only one in the family who is willing to do anything for the family’s sake and for the success of our business,” Yoongi admits. “But my grandfather is a whole different matter.”
His mouth tastes bitter as he says this. Just as bitter as the bad memory from the past that comes rushing in.
"He lives by a different set of rules," Yoongi says, bitterness coating every word. "He looks at everyone around him as though they're pieces to arrange however he sees fit."
A humorless smile crosses his face. "My grandfather would betray his own blood if it served his purpose. He's done it before. More than once."
His gaze lowers as he is deep in thought. "If our fathers truly had the kind of connection which you've suspected in the past... I wouldn't be surprised if he was the reason it ended."
You nod and begin to look back, wondering if there had been any signs you missed. Anything that may have hinted at your father’s deep connection with your now father-in-law. “I don’t remember my Dad talking about yours in a bad light.”
“Mine neither.” He tries to smile, though it feels stiff. “I suppose the same can’t be said about how your parents think of my grandfather.”
“It wasn’t so much through words. But you’d be able to feel it if you’d been there with them,” you answer after a brief pause, shaking your head.
“My Dad rarely speaks about your grandfather except for anything related to their rivalling business moves,” you slowly recount. “My Mom stays by my father’s side from time to time on his business trips, but I don’t think she ever truly involves herself in the business unless she’s needed during important decision-making. But that’s only because she’s one of the main shareholders. She rarely makes any comment directly about the people my father works with or against.”
Yoongi nods.
He had always known your mother was one of the company's principal shareholders, but he had never understood how deeply her influence reached until her recent movements forced him to look closer.
Unfortunately, the deeper he dug, the less he found. It was as though everything about her life before marrying your father had simply...vanished.
“There’s always a different tension coming from my parents whenever your grandfather’s name is brought up. Whether it’s during a work meeting or a passing conversation,” you add, while looking back, “even if they try not to show it.”
A small smile lifts across your face. “You probably noticed it too during our wedding day. It was quite hard to miss when we were sitting with them at the reception dinner.”
Yoongi knows exactly what you mean.
There was not much to say about the wedding reception, but it would be impossible not to notice the tension brewing at the dinner table where the bride and groom’s parents were seated. The situation was unsettling, and it was obvious that your mother had been the one most affected, seeing how she kept drinking her wine throughout dinner—as if she were desperately trying to wash away bad memories instead of celebrating her daughter’s wedding.
And that tension didn’t quite fizzle out even after his grandfather had left the ceremony. As if even the traces he left behind were too potent for anyone to find peace in his absence.
“It wasn’t until we started talking about our wedding day that my mother began talking openly about your grandfather,” you continue. “But she never clearly spoke about why she despised him so much. She would keep going on and on about how untrustworthy your grandfather was and how I shouldn’t trust you.”
“Because she thinks I’m no different than him,” Yoongi says, to which you nod.
“The answers that you’re looking for,” Yoongi continues, subtly changing the topic. He has heard enough about the possibility that his grandfather had a hand in all of this, and now he needs to understand more about what you’re truly after.
“You’re not just looking into Park Jinyoung’s death, are you?”
You take a long, deep breath before answering, “I want to know…” You pause, shaking your head. “No, I need to understand what really happened. If that car crash wasn’t just a simple accident, I want to know who was behind it and why he was targeted.”
Your voice trembles as you speak. But the moment you start opening up, you just can’t seem to stop.
“I want to know what he’d gotten himself involved in, and how he was—” You stop yourself when your throat tightens, almost like you are breaking apart on the inside. Then, with a small voice that’s almost like a whisper, you slowly add, “I need to know if everything was ever real.”
There it is.
For a fraction of a second, Yoongi can see it. The grief you’ve spent so long burying beneath determination. For the first time, he understands that none of this began as revenge.
It began with love.
“Sweetheart…” He murmurs, as he holds himself back from reaching out to you. To hold you. To catch you when he can see your world is falling apart, yet again, as you relive all the pain.
Before he can say anything, you lift your chin. That fragileness he saw in you disappears when you look into his eyes to say, “I also wanted to know the reason why my mother resents your family so much that she feels wary of you, even though she’d known you for as long as I have.”
You let out a sigh. “She had watched us grow up together, so why…”
Once again, you pause, as if the question itself is weighing on you. “What did your grandfather do to have her so afraid of him when she met him at our reception dinner?”
Afraid was not the word that Yoongi would have used to describe the expression he saw on your mother’s face at that wedding reception dinner.
In his eyes, your mother had appeared like someone who was wounded so deeply that being there at the family dinner table had been too much for her to handle.
Just like you, he now feels the same need to understand everything. Because while your mother hadn’t been the only person who had shown the same emotions when it came to his grandfather, it pains him to know how much it directly affects every single decision you’ve made until it reaches this point.
Yoongi closes his eyes briefly. “I wish I had all the answers…”
“I knew it wouldn’t be easy from the start. That’s why I had to do everything that I’ve done so far to get them,” you cut him off before he could say more.
But Yoongi isn’t happy to hear this coming from you.
Thinking about it only makes him angrier—at you, the situation, and most of all, at himself. He couldn’t react properly each time he received reports about your movements. About everything you do, the places you go to, and the people you see to get what you are looking for.
And it’s making him feel powerless. Because it makes him feel as if he would never be able to reach you the moment you might need him the most.
"So you chased buried secrets on your own," Yoongi says quietly, though the calm barely masks the anger beneath it. "You kept walking straight into danger without telling anyone."
His jaw tightens.
"How could you think that was your only option?"
"Because I had no one else to trust!" You snap, and it silences him—his words, his thoughts.
Your words hit him harder than he expected.
"Not even me?"
You look at him, hands clenched at your sides. With a deep, resigned sigh, you painfully confess, "Especially you.”
Yoongi lets out a bitter laugh. “Of course,” he sighs, closing his eyes briefly. “Was that before or after you decided to think for yourself instead of blindly believing your mother’s theory?”
“Even if I no longer trust her theories, that doesn’t mean I can easily start trusting you. Not when I still have no idea what kind of secrets you’re still keeping from me.”
You refuse to look away as you say this. You want to see him deny it. “With my mother’s resentment against your grandfather and what happened with your brother, it’s harder not to question if things aren’t really connected to you.”
Yoongi tilts his head. “What does my brother have anything to do with this?”
You don’t give him an answer right away. For a brief moment, it seems as if you are debating whether or not to answer.
“Years ago, when your brother was taken into custody over the embezzlement case, I saw him on the live reports. I saw what he was trying to scream out to everyone, and the way he looked to the camera as if hoping someone would listen,” you start, while Yoongi can’t help but wonder where this is going, until—
"It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” you add, and he realizes that you are quoting his brother—all the nonsense he was spouting when he was taken away. “He kept saying that, over and over again.”
Yoongi clenches his jaw. He remembers that day, no matter how hard he tries not to think about it. He doesn’t enjoy reliving it, much less hearing this coming from you. “And you thought I had a hand in what happened to him?”
“I don’t know,” you scoff, throwing your hands up. “I didn’t know much about the relationship you had with your brother, but learning what happened between you, your brother, and your ex, I couldn’t help but try to connect the dots until I could find something to prove me wrong.”
“And did you?” He asks. “Did you manage to connect all those dots? And you made connections between me and my brother’s crime?”
You let out a resigned sigh. Slowly, Yoongi can see the anger in your eyes being replaced with defeat. “All I know is that everything seems to circle back to you.”
“Including Jinyoung and his accident,” Yoongi concludes. “Do you still believe that now? That I’m somehow involved in Jinyoung’s contract to take your life and then his death?”
“I don’t…” You shake your head and exhale deeply. “I don’t know anymore, Yoongi. I’m not even sure if I’m looking at the right places to know the answers.”
“But what if I am the one responsible? What if I had been the one who sent Jinyoung to kill you and to put your father’s company down?” Yoongi calmly asks, though he isn’t sure if he would like the answer you’ll give him.
“What will happen next? Will you do it? The scheme your mother plotted to avenge your pain?”
You seem hesitant to answer. But he can see the wheels in your head turning, working hard to play all the scenarios he’d given you.
“Yes, then I would do it,” you finally say. Though your words lack conviction when you add, “everything that my mother wishes for me to do. I would take you and your family down without any doubt. Without even batting an eyelash.”
“Is that so?”
Yoongi grits his teeth. He can feel his frustration boiling. Yet he tries not to show it.
Right then, for another split second, your mask slips. He can see what you are not telling him. He can see your true feelings, which are written clearly in your gaze.
“But you won’t do it,” he says, finding calmness as he slowly steps forward.
He gets close enough until he can hear the slight hitch in your breath when you notice him standing right before you. He studies your face for a moment, his eyes looking deep into yours.
“You’re not going to do it, are you?” He gently asks. “Why? What is stopping you?”
At first, you give him no answer. But he can feel your walls slowly crumbling down. So he keeps pushing. “What made you start second-guessing everything?”
When silence falls, the distance between the two of you suddenly feels unbearable.
Before he can stop himself, Yoongi reaches up, his palm settling gently against your cheek. Just so he can feel you.
You don't pull away. That alone loosens something painfully tight inside his chest.
“If you have been suspecting me for so long, what made you stop?”
At his gentle voice, a sigh escapes you. As if something inside you finally slips free. “Because, before last night, I still couldn’t decide if you truly were the one pulling all the strings from the shadows, or if you were once also a target, just like I am now.”
His heartbeat quickens. Yet he remains calm. “So which one is it?” He asks. “Who am I? Am I the other target, or the enemy?”
You briefly close your eyes and tilt your head, leaning into his touch.
“Whichever you are doesn’t matter.” You open your eyes, showing calm resolve when you look at him.
"Because I know..." you whisper, your voice barely holding together. "That somewhere along the way...you became part of the reason I was marked as a target."
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