Marionette | BTS ✓

7

Mari stiffens on her small bed when she hears someone approaching the basement door. When the door opens, however, she is greeted by someone other than Jimin.

"Who are you? Can you help me?" Mari asks, standing up so fast that her chains bite into her wrists and ankles. She ignores the stinging pain as her heart pounds in her chest.

"Jimin had to run some errands, so he's asked me to keep an eye on you," the man says, eyes soft as he takes in the sight of the bruised, fragile girl in front of him.

Mari slumps back down onto her bed, pulling her knees to her chest as she rests her head on her knees.

"Is he feeding you?" The man asks tentatively as he pulls up a chair next to her bed.

Mari ignores him.

"Look, I know I'm one of the bad guys in your eyes," the man says, sighing. "Just know that I kind of owe Jimin my life, and I really can't let you go. He's very attached to you."

Mari slowly lifts her head to look at the man. "You owe him your life, so you're letting him get away with kidnapping?"

The man sighs. "Jimin and I were out to lunch one day. We walked out of the restaurant when a car came speeding down the road, running a red light. At the last second, Jimin pushed me out of the way. I was supposed to be hit by that car, but he took the impact instead. He hasn't been able to walk since. After the accident, he started taking girls and turning them into his puppets. You walked into my salon that day talking about dancing and his eyes lit up."

"Your salon," Mari says, frowning slightly before a thought pops into her head. "You were that hairdresser doing his hair that day. The one who looked scared of Jimin."

The man sighs. "Not scared. Just... worried. You're not the first girl he's done this to, and it has never ended well before."

"Oh," Mari says, looking down at her chains.

"Your name is Mari, right?" The man asks.

"Yeah," she says quietly. "But Jimin sometimes calls me puppet."

The man sighs. "I'm Taehyung."