Mob Ties

9

The next few days unfolded extremely quickly. After Maya and Asteria's escape, Kang Lu seemed to literally freak out. The boys' mansion was raided and blown up after Kang failed to find them there. Somehow, he had discovered the Blue Love cafe, which was also blown up. Maya was barely able to hide the children she had saved from Kang's clutches in one of the boys' last hideouts.

The battles between the two groups left corpses and burning buildings in their wake, and nothing remained hidden for too long. Kang slowly forced the newly formed group to withdraw from Seoul to the outskirts. Aunt Rin and Kami were left with the children while Maya, Taehyung and the others fought against Kang, barely surviving at times.

Taehyung watched Maya's sleeping face, which was resting on his chest. He brushed back a strand of hair and frowned at the few scratches on her cheekbones. His body also needed rest, their wounds couldn't heal before they got new ones. The last few days, he often wondered if it was really worth fighting this war, hadn't they greedy for power and territory, could they win at all, was there no way he could make Maya give up and live somewhere peaceful, abroad ,where Kang wouldn't find them.

She wouldn't agree naturally and he knew it, she wouldn't abandon her children and her team, she wouldn't turn her back on any of them. She's been fighting Kang for far too long, and she had much better reasons for doing so. And he couldn't blame her for that, but everything holy was his witness that he couldn't look at her like that, hurt and pressed against the wall. Not that she complained or said anything, but he could feel it, he knew that she felt pressured, sometimes losing hope, and he wouldn't love her enough if he didn't give her the courage to go on, if he didn't hold her hand all the way forward, no matter where he would lead them.

Maybe Taehyung would never be able to get used to the idea that Maya didn't need his physical strength, at least not constantly and completely, but she did need his emotional support and he was doing everything in his power to make sure she never felt that he supports her. And for a man like him, it was a goliath effort, while for her it seemed as easy as breathing.

How did a person who went through what she went through keep her sanity? Where did Maya find the strength to fight, rally her team and at the same time support Taehyung and his friends? How does someone break down like her and go from being a weak child to being strong a woman in his arms?

Sometimes he watched her laugh or talk to her friends, to his or to someone who crossed her path, how she smiled, how she compromised for him, how she suppressed herself and her nature to accommodate him and his desires and wondered what he had done to deserve a woman like her. Taehyung had fallen in love with her from the first moment he laid eyes on her, that furious, aggressive expression on her face, the fire burning in her eyes, the posture of her body that said she lacked resignation and had no desire to settles for nothing less than what it gives.

But here she was, in the arms of a man who had been selfish all his life, who always got what he wanted, and although he loved her from the bottom of his heart and soul, he was once again selfish, thinking only of himself and his unwillingness to lost her, risking her life sometimes with rash actions and decisions, especially during a fight, when instead of reacting logically, he suffocated her with his desire to protect her, because he selfishly didn't want to lose her.

And yet again, here she is, turning her back on herself and her desire to kill him on the spot to satisfy his selfishness and letting him act, suffering the consequences of his actions. Almost four months and he had constantly accused her of something. The only time he apologized was because of that kiss. And when she saved Astrea , he should have hugged her first and made sure she was okay, instead he had once again accused her of breaking a promise that he himself couldn't keep if it was to any of his friends, and then, instead of apologizing, he had fucked her until they both almost passed out from exhaustion.

And even then, even though she'd told him what she thought, she'd backed off again, allowing him to stroke his ego for winning an argument he'd instigated for no reason at all. All Taehyung did day after day, week after week, was take advantage of her love for him, her desire to keep their relationship alive.

"Tae, are you awake?" Yoongi's tired voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he nodded. "It's time to go, wake Maya up" Yoongi walked out of their small hotel room and Taehyung looked at her again. Was he even capable of responding to a love like hers? "Baby,it's time to go" he cooed and gently kissed her forehead, Maya sighed and snuggled even closer to him making him smile but his heart ached when her eyes opened and the only thing he saw in them, it was love and not a drop of regret that she was in his hands.

"Did you get any sleep?" her sleepy voice sent a calmness through his body. Someone who was privy to their lives might have thought that Maya had become his weakness, and to some extent she was, but the truth was that nothing could make him feel stronger than the way Maya looked at him.

"Yes" he lied confidently and she yawned, nodding. "Can we stay like this for a few more minutes?" she asked, resting her cheek on his chest again and closing her eyes. "We can" Taehyung smiled gently, smoothing the hair from her temple. "Baby?" she whined, rubbing her cheek against his chest. "You know I love you, right?" he asked and she jerked her head up, looking at him with suspiciously narrowed eyes.

"What are you up to, Tae?" she sat down next to him and her gaze pierced him. He pushed himself up on his elbows and shook his head. "Nothing, I just think I don't tell you that often enough, and in the current situation I don't have the opportunity to prove it to you" she raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly, looking at him in disbelief. Taehyung pulled her down and on top of him and cupped her face. "I assure you it's just that baby, I just wanted you to know that I love you and that no matter what happens today, tomorrow or any other day, I will always love you and be there for you" her eyes watered and he locked their lips, sealing his words with a kiss. A kiss as strong and deep, as passionate and tender as his love for her.