"We become the monsters we're most afraid of."
---
"Jimin," she breathed out. "You're allowed to touch me."
His plump lips slightly parted as a gasp escaped him. "I-" he exhaled, his fingertips slightly grazing her cheek.
"I'm someone else tonight...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Aera stared at her reflection in the mirror over her bed. Something felt off. She looked the same, but it seemed like there had been this big irrevocable shift somewhere inside of her, like a cord being cut. Why am I feeling like this?
The hoot of a nearby owl could be heard through the open window.
Around ten minutes had passed since Jimin had stepped out and had headed to his room to wait for her there. She had told him that she'd join him there after taking a quick shower, desperately needing to freshen up.
A cold shudder ran across her body and she tried to fight it back. The same ominous feeling she had felt many times before crept up in her chest, a silent danger looming around the corner. At this moment, what she was experiencing was very much similar to her dream.
She shivered, feeling as if invisible hands would clasp at her any second now. There was a slight swoosh of the air and the curtain hanging over the balcony door swung slowly, like being lifted by unseeing arms.
Unwittingly, she whipped around, slightly frantic. Calm down, it's just the stupid wind.
Straining her eyes to make out something outside in the darkness, she drew in a sharp inhale. Nothing but complete silence followed, and her lungs deflated with relief. This dull presence she felt there with her must have been a figment of her imagination. She was imagining things now, absolutely not in the right head space apparently.
Then something in the darkness moved.
Suddenly there was a loud clap that cracked through the air, like a bird flipping its wings. The curtain moved again.
"Who's there?" her voice came out faint and hoarse as she took a step back towards the wall.
There was buzzing in her brain as she searched for something to defend herself with out of the corner of her eye. There was a very subtle sound of footsteps on the floor, peaking her panic.
A dark silhouetted figure glided from underneath the curtain, appearing at the balcony door.
The horrified shriek that she was about to release got stuck in her throat as her eyes slowly took him in.
"You." She whispered quietly, taking a deep breath in. Her hand reached for her phone on the cupboard.
"Please don't," his plea threw her off-guard, showing a side of him she had rarely seen. "I'm not here to hurt you, I promise." There was no sign of the usual mockery or malice in his silky voice.
Aera was definitely startled, but surprisingly, she wasn't scared.
"You've escaped." it wasn't a question as much as it was a statement. In the gloom that reigned the room, his lustrous black hair incredibly resembled the wings of a raven.
"How are you?" Yoongi deflected, putting one foot in front of the other and sliding his hands into the pockets of his black jeans.
Flashbacks from that night of her uncle's funeral flooded her mind. The night Yoongi had swung by her penthouse to check in on her and she had rejected him. This seemed like some kind of an absurd deja-vu, although the amusement flickering in his dark eyes was absent now.
