Blood Ink ✔️

28: Born or Bred

The house that he takes you to is old and depleting, shingles slowly escaping from their place on the roof. The door has long been caved in, and some of the windows are shattered, the ground littered with gleaming shards of translucent glass. A patch of graffiti decorates the outer wall.

Yoongi sits beside you in the driver's seat of a high-dollar SUV, one hand resting on the steering wheel. The interior is a creamy leather that lets you sink into the material like you're sinking into warm water. The expensive car is definitely out of place on a dirty street such as this one.

Yoongi's cellphone rests on his thigh, out in case any news of Jungkook's condition comes in. The pretty slants of his eyes are sad and nostalgic as he stares out the window and gazes at the old house.

It's obvious that this house, this house that's slowly but surely fading into a pile of dirty, mounded bricks, means a great deal to the man seated beside you. A gentle gleam in his rich brown eyes urges your voice to come out soft and gentle when you speak.

"Okay," you say quietly. "You've got me. I'm going to ignore the part where you just drove me all the way back into the city without a blindfold on and ask the obvious question: why are we here?"

Yoongi smiles then, a soft, ironic kind of smile.

"Trust is a two way street, Y/N," he says. "We realized that we've been asking you to trust a bunch of strangers who haven't exactly given you much reason to." He stops and looks at you, tearing his eyes from the crumbling house. "We're trying to give you reason to."

"To trust you?" You sit back in the car, locking your gaze onto a broken piece of glass that's catching the sunlight. "Tell me why we're here. I'll think it over while you do."

Like heck you'll trust them. They've kidnapped you, kept you locked in a basement, and chased you through the dark over and over again. You're like a pet that keeps trying to escape.

How could you trust them just like that?

"Come on," Yoongi says, unbuckling his seatbelt.  He hops out of the car and slips his phone into the back pocket of his jeans, motioning you to follow.

Cautiously, you do.

The two of you walk into the house with gentle steps, scared that the slightest touch will send the walls and ceiling falling into ruin.

You hop over a broken chair and bump into Yoongi's back when he stops abruptly in the center of the room.

After sending you a tiny glare, he gestures his arms out like he's presenting the decrepit room to you.

"Welcome to the house where Jung Hoseok grew up," Yoongi says dramatically.

You have to admit that you're a bit surprised. Taking a glance around the room, you turn just in time to see a rat scampering across an exposed beam in the ceiling. "This is where Hoseok lived? What happened?"

Settling his hands on his hips, your slender companion looks sadly around him. "Well, not many people were interested in buying a house where three people were murdered."

Breath catching in your throat, you stare at Yoongi's blank face and wait for him to announce the punchline of the joke.

Haha, he would say. Gotcha. I had you going there.

Except, he doesn't say that.

Yoongi's face never changes from its somber, sad expression as he watches you process the information you've just been given.

"You're serious," you breathe. Taking another look around the room, you can't help but subconsciously looks for bloodstains or human bones to magically appear on the filth-splattered floor.