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"Wow," JB scoffed. "That is some very ill-timed gesture of selflessness."
"Taehyung!" Aera immediately flew forward, her midnight dress gliding behind her and giving the impression that she was floating. She latched onto his upper arm. "You do not have to do this! Don't do this!"
With much more force than she anticipated, he yanked his arm off.
"Let me go."
"Over my dead body!" she was unrelenting, rooting her much shorter form in front of him.
"Move!" Taehyung glared down at her, both hostility and brokenness swimming in his distressed orbs.
"No!" Aera snapped back, her chest heaving.
The both of them shot forward almost instantaneously, with her trying to shove him to the side but he gripped at her wrist and jerked her back. Somehow he pulled her back and stood in front of her, blocking her way. Aera sloppily tugged at his arms and tried wrestling him to step in front of him again, the whole thing turning into an unexpected scuffle.
With fearless determination, Taehyung pushed her shoulders back, making her topple backwards.
"WHY are you being so fucking stubborn?!" he barked menacingly, his tongue poking out to coat his pale lips. "Didn't I tell you to LET ME GO?!"
Aera could not determine what hurt more – the animosity laced in his voice or the tinge of despair creeping in his dark onyx orbs.
"There has to be another way!" she breathed, struggling to talk as if her vocal cords were constricted.
Their gazes locked and he stared her down, his nostrils flaring. He took a step towards her as she fell under his arresting scrutiny.
Taehyung shortened the distance between them until they were chest to chest.
"Do not make me use my Power to debilitate you."
His low threat lingered in the air as Aera's pupils enlarged with the shock. Her face slumped. He kept on staring at her, stoic and unblinking.
"That's what I thought." He scoffed, turning to start walking right into JB's deathly embrace.
Within a flash, Aera leapt forward and stood in front of him again.
"Do it," she demanded firmly. "Do it, then. Use it!"
She challenged him, breathing heavy and uneven. She was fiercely unreasonable and devastatingly headstrong.
"Use your goddamn Power on me, Taehyung!" Aera almost cried. She whipped her arm frontwards. "I will fight. I will not be silent. I will fight for every single one of your lives, especially for yours!"
Thrown off-guard, Taehyung gaped at her. He had no idea why his heart was so broken, rejecting the love swirling in her hazel hues. He averted his gaze vacantly and resumed his walking away. There was only one way to prove himself useful.
