rivals | taejin

XVIII

"We're stopping her, now."

Jimin stopped right in front of the pair, surprising Taehyung, who looked at them with terrified eyes.

"Taehyung! We've been looking everywhere for you! The profesor wants to talk to us about our group presentation." Jimin babbled, letting go of Seokjin's hand and stepping towards Taehyung. "We're going to steal him from ya." he said towards the girl, who had a serious face.

Taehyung shook his head, "No! No! I-I...I have to talk with her first. Please tell the professor i'm busy at the moment and will go at another time." he said, pushing Jimin away.

He looked at Seokjin with distressed eyes, "And you! You shouldn't be here! You-You!"

"Oh, so this is the infamous Kim Seokjin, correct?" the female said, her voice deep and raspy. Her hair flowed in a long ponytail, her sharp eyes cutting Seokjin into tiny pieces with her gaze.

"That's me." he said, nodding slowly. "And you are?"

"Delphine." she replied, nothing more but a mumble.

Seokjin nodded, "Well, I guess you've heard about me? From who?"

"My, you don't know? Since your arrival, even now, you're the talk of Olympus. It's nice to finally meet you face to face." she said, stepping closer and closer to Seokjin with every word she said.

Taehyung stopped her right before her fingers touched Seokjin's shoulder, his eyes filled with fear. "I said i'm not going with them, so let us go elsewhere. I will meet them at a different time."

Seokjin wanted to tell him another excuse, but she smirked and interrupted him, "Sure. Let us go then."

She looked at Seokjin again, gave a side smile, and started walking away. Taehyung looked back at both of them. "Guys—please hurry and i'll meet you back at my dorm later. D-Don't leave until I arrive, okay?"

When the two didn't reply, he grew desperate. "Okay?! Are you two listening?! Don't leave my dorm!"

"Fine, calm down, but if you don't come back in less than an hour, we're leaving and coming to find you, got it?" Jimin said.

Taehyung nodded quickly, "Yes." he said and ran to catch up with Delphine.

Seokjin sighed as he saw them get further away. "Did you also notice how he was shaking the entire time?" he whispered.

"You'd be stupid not to notice that. Something bigger is happening right under our noses, and we have to stop it."

***

"Y-You! What were you thinking? You almost touched Seokjin." Taehyung roared, looking at Delphine with enraged eyes.

Delphine laughed, "I've never seen you so worked up, Taehyungie. Is that why Athena wants to get rid of him? Because he has so much power and control over you?", she sat down on a rock, staring down at him.

Taehyung clenched his jaw, "I'm doing what you want, and you have to keep your end of the deal. Or I will—"

"You will what? Tell you mother? Well, too bad, it seems she won't listen to a single word you say. If anything, she'll take him out herself. She would've already but, for reasons which I will not say, she is deciding to play things like this."

"You're both monsters. You tricked me into doing this! If this weren't the case, I would be happy with him. Even if I wasn't with him, i'd be much happier just seeing him and having him by my side. But you ruined it."

"Wasn't me; i'm just following orders."

"Well, you're part of the problem."

"Shut up already." she took a small glass container from her side purse, "Here, drink this. It's today's fill."

"So you're just going to force me to continue drinking these? Aren't they deadly?"

"In exchange for Athena controlling you, you can be rest assured that your dear Seokjin won't get hurt. And yes, they're super deadly. I'm sort of surprised you aren't dead yet."

"And she's still giving them to me. Does she really not care enough for me? Not even a bit?"

"Seems not." Delphine sighed, "But talk about your mommy issues with someone else, because i'm not the one. Anyways, i'll see you in a few days for the next dose." she said, getting up from the rock and beginning to walk away.

"Wait." Taehyung said, stopping her. He drank the elixir quickly, feeling the liquid course through his veins. "Now with this, how much of me does she control."

"I'd say about thirty percent of you. She can control what you say perfectly, at the very least. Soon enough, she'll control your movements. And by the time you've drunk enough of the elixir, she'll control your emotions, too. Only then, will you be able to ensure Seokjin's happiness and well-being, right?" Taehyung gave no reply, to which she laughed mockingly, walking away.

***

Taehyung walked back slowly to his dorm, the words Delphine had said to him stuck in his head, repeating in a constant loop. He shook his head. The thing he needed to do now, was get Seokjin out of his dorm and safe.

He opened the door and was greeted with the other two sitting down in the living room. He sighed, "Why do I have to hurt you in order to keep you away?" he thought to himself, looking at Seokjin's face.

"So, are you going to explain—"

"Leave."

They stayed silent. "What?" Jimin asked, "You made us wait for you to return and now you're telling us to-"

"I said, leave." Taehyung repeated.

Jimin glared at him, "We're not. Not until you explain what the fuck is going on."

"Nothing is going on! How many times do I have to repeat that?!" Taehyung screamed, "Fuck off already! Leave!"

"Taehyung—", Seokjin started.

"You are the root of the problem! If you hadn't been born, things could've gone differently. If you hadn't come here! You just had to mess things up! Leave now, I don't even want to be in the same room as you."

Seokjin got up silently, shaking his head, "I never thought i'd be hearing these words from you, Taehyung."

Taehyung remained silent, Seokjin brushing past him and exiting the room.

"You're just making things worse and worse, Taehyung." Jimin said, disappointed.