The rain hadn't stopped for hours.
It clung to the glass, making the world outside blur into ghostly streaks, but the real storm was inside.
You sat at the edge of the bed, shivering. Not from the cold. Not even from fear. But from the sound of his humming.
Taehyung was by the window, back to you, slowly rocking side to side like he was dancing with shadows only he could see.
It was a lullaby. Soft, haunting… the kind mothers sing to put their children to sleep.
Except there was nothing maternal about the way his voice curled around the words. It was… intimate. Possessive.
"You know…" his voice cut through the hush, deep and warm, "I've always been honest with you."
A lie.
His reflection in the glass didn't match the man you'd fallen for. His eyes had that glassy stillness again. No light. No warmth. Just calculation.
When he finally turned, there was blood on his shirt. Fresh. Still wet.
You didn't ask. You didn't want to know.
"You were out there." Your voice shook. "Again."
He smiled. That smile — the one that had once melted every defense you'd ever had — now felt like a knife sliding between your ribs.
"I was protecting us," he said, like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.
You stood, heart slamming in your chest. "From what? From who?"
Taehyung tilted his head. "From people who would hurt you. People who look at you in ways they shouldn't. People who think they can take you away from me."
There it was. The paranoia. The obsession. The reason he was like this.
Except tonight, he didn't look unstable. He looked… certain. Like he'd crossed a line he'd never come back from.
You backed away, step by step.
He followed. Slowly. Calmly. Like a predator toying with prey.
"You think I don't see it," he murmured, closing the distance. "The way you talk to strangers. The way you smile at them. Do you even know what that does to me?"
His hand came up — gentle fingers brushing your cheek — but the softness was a trap. Because his other hand was hidden behind his back.
"What's in your hand, Tae?" you whispered.
That smile again.
"I told you. I'm protecting us."
Lightning flashed, illuminating the blade. Not just any knife — the same one you'd seen in the drawer weeks ago, the one he said was "for cooking."
The thunder followed a beat later, but your scream was swallowed by the storm.
And that's when you realized — Taehyung wasn't going to let you go.
Not tonight.
Not ever.