Claw's Bridge(Discontinued)

30. Nothing

"Lana," I called out. The brunette looked at me from her conversation with Kita. Her lightened expression turned hard when she saw me. She spoke a few words to Kita before walking away. I frowned at her behaviour. Jimin said she missed me, so why was she walking away from me? I jogged after her. "Lana."

"Yes, Nighter?" she asked.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing you can help with. Now if you excuse me, I have to go help Jisung," she said. I pursed my lips, not even feeling anything when she walked away from me. I knew it was going to happen. I knew she would stop talking to me once she found her mates.

I walked to my allocated room, deep in thought, and a little crestfallen. I closed the door behind me and slumped down on the bed. I took a deep breath, trying to contain my emotions. Too much happened, and I wasn't able to cope with it. I closed my eyes, focusing on grounding myself.

I did the finger exercise, touching my thumb to all my fingers except the ring finger in rhythm. I sped up with each round. Every time I messed up, even by double-tapping a finger, I made a fist and opened it to restart. It was a weak exercise, took too long to ground oneself or break out of their panic state, but it did work eventually.

Unfortunately, I had done the exercise so much, that my fingers moved on muscle memory. It didn't work. I didn't realize that someone had entered my room until I heard their voice over my shaky breaths.

"Describe your room. It will help," Seokjin whispered, lying down beside me.

"I-I don't r-remember," I mumbled. My panic increased "I can't remember."

"That's okay. It's okay. I'm going to pull you close to me, the bond will help you calm down," he said in a soft voice. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him after I nodded in consent. I fisted his shirt and pressed my face into the crook of his neck as he rubbed my back with one hand and played with my hair with the other. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"N-no," I muttered.

"Are you sure? Do you want someone to be with you for the rest of the day?" he asked.

"How did you know?" I asked him, completely ignoring his question. "How did you know I needed to calm down?"

"Yugyeom told Jimin that you didn't seem like you were feeling well, Jimin telepathically told us. I came to check on you," he replied. I hummed, slightly relaxing his arms. I was still tense, and extremely furious at myself for letting my emotions get to me.

"I'm sorry," I apologised. I hated letting my guard down out of desperation. I was desperate to stop my intrusive thoughts.

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault," Seokjin comforted. "Just focus on your breathing for now, you're still in a mild state of panic. Taehyung's coming, his voice should naturally gain your attention."

I hummed into his neck. I wasn't comfortable with how the bond made me dependent on them for such things. I appreciated it, but I wasn't comfortable with it.

I felt a dip in the bed before arms wrapped around me. "Nighter, how are you feeling?" Taehyung asked. Seokjin was right, Taehyung's voice was distracting. Seokjin slid out of bed and walked out of the room, while Taehyung pulled me closer to him.

"Alright," I replied. "I don't like this. I want a break."

"How about... I take you out for some fresh air?" he asked.

"There's somewhere else I would like to go. I need some answers," I said.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked. His breath hit my nape, sending shivers down my spine.

"To the merpeople."