He saw her phone lying down beside the tub.

His eyes widened and a scream climbed up his throat but never made it out of his mouth. Instead, his entire body jerked with the force of the shock, and he found his eyes open with a tremor.

He stared at her empty pillow, trying to comprehend his surroundings after the bitter taste the nightmare left behind.

"Oh, God," he whispered, "Oh my God." His heart refused to return to normal speed and he pulled himself upright and rubbed his eyes. His gaze wandered around the dark room, looking for Kazimir but as soon as he saw her phone on the desk, right where he had left it the previous night, he jumped out of the bed and grabbed it.

He instantly opened up the settings and set a passcode and then immediately tried to send the video to his phone in case anything happened but her phone had no Wi-Fi.

Thunder rumbled outside startling him and his head whipped in the direction of the window. He pushed the phone into his back pocket. The curtains were drawn but he could clearly hear the rain falling at once. He looked around searching for Kazimir, his hands shaking in their wake now.

"Kazimir?" He called softly into the dim room.

"Huh?" Her small voice echoed through the semi dark room and Jimin turned around again, seeking the source.

"What's wrong?" She asked and she sounded like she was crying. Jimin turned to the bathroom and found her silhouette walking towards him slowly.

"Just," Jimin said, "I love rain... but," he extended his arm and grabbed her hand to pull her closer, "I hate thunder."

Kazimir found herself enveloped in slightly shaking arms but the embrace squeezed a sob out of her and Jimin realized she was indeed crying.

"You okay?" He asked, mentally bracing himself for another thunder when the rain picked up force outside the window.

Lightning shone through the curtains and another deafening thunder rumbled through the sky and Jimin flinched, hugging Kazimir harder like a child.

Kazimir stood still, letting him hold her to comfort himself through his fear while she cried against his shoulder.

A minute passed and the rain seemed to have taken up a constant force, no more thunder and lightning and Jimin relaxed a little. But now that his initial fear disappeared, his senses jolted awake, mainly his sense of smell and his nostrils picked the strong pungent scent of menthol and lidocaine, mixed in with a refreshing pear-like smell.

He tried not to react too fast to the dominant scent of the herbs and fought the urge to step back and inhale in a breath of fresh air before the contents of his stomach made a return trip back up to the inside of his mouth. The scent was sickening and sharp, suppressing the fruity fragrance underneath its stench.

He slowly stepped away from her, eyeing her up and down. She had changed from her black funeral dress to a pair of gray sweatpants and an oversized cream colored button down shirt that didn't look like it belonged to her.

It looked familiar though.

"Is this Taehyung's?" Jimin asked, pointing his finger at the shirt, anger perking up with the question.

Kazimir looked down confused, wiping at her face with the back of her hand. She nodded.

"Take it off!" Jimin demanded, "Now."

"Huh?" Kazimir tilted her head to the side, still confused.

"You don't have your own freaking clothes?" He looked around the room as if the semi-darkness would give him an answer.

Kazimir's eyes went wide when Jimin started unbuttoning his own shirt, "Jimin, wha-" she began.

"You can wear mine instead. Take that one off right now." He finished unbuttoning and yanked his shirt off.

Kazimir stood frozen in place, half expecting to wake up any second now because it looked like a dream. A very appealing dream at that when her eyes fell on Jimin's exposed skin and taut muscles.

When she didn't move, Jimin threw his shirt on the bed and pulled her forward again, his hands fast at work unbuttoning Taehyung's shirt off of her, his knuckles shaking with rage and nostrils flaring.

If Kazimir knew this wasn't a dream, she would have slapped his hands away but she was convinced she was having a bizarre dream, everything else forgotten so she stood still.

Once Jimin unbuttoned the last button, he released a tired sigh. He stepped back and turned away from her.

"Take it off, please." He said softly, hands on hips, head down, waiting.

"Why?" Kazimir asked again, though she slipped it off her shoulders nonetheless.

She threw it on the bed and picked up Jimin's shirt, "You should know it's not true, the accusation, I mean," Kazimir murmured, her hands busy pulling the sleeves right side out on Jimin's shirt, "If that's what's bothering you. He's not a rapist."

Jimin's head whipped back in her direction in shock, "You have no idea..."he stopped. What was he supposed to say? You have no idea what he did or what he's capable of.

Kazimir struggled with the sleeve and Jimin's eyes ran the length of her torso, though he tried not to stare too much.

Her entire left shoulder was covered in white gauze, both her elbows and the area below the right collar bone. One large gauze covered all the ribs on the left side under her breast, which Jimin tried not to stare at but her black bra lured his eyes in. Black lingerie had that type of hold on him and he swallowed and forced his eyes away. All her gauze and bandages were the same color and type, dotted and off white and Jimin figured they were the source of the scent. Another beige bandage went around her palm.

A similar smaller beige colored bandage covered the area above her belly button and Jimin's eyes wandered further down where her sweatpants hung low on her hips, revealing the waistband of her black underwear and Jimin tried to stay focused.

Normally, he would have reacted like any other man would, but this time, instead of the usual feelings of wanting and exploring, her exposed skin made him queasy, knowing what she had to go through because of it or what she had to endure when forceful hands scarred it under their filthy fingertips and all Jimin could see were the invisible blood stains from the wounds she had no idea she was carrying.

He snatched the shirt from her hands, startling her, and yanked the sleeve out before draping it around her shoulders.

"Put your arms in," he demanded. Her audible wince while moving her left shoulder didn't go unnoticed by him.

"What are all these bandages?" He asked, tugging both collars forward until her face was inches from his. He buttoned the top most button before proceeding to the second one.

"They're antiseptic patches. For pain relief." Kazimir whispered looking away from his perfect skin and perfect scent which was in perfect contrast to hers, "The scent will fade away little by little. I can do this myself." She grabbed the shirt from his hands and buttoned the third button before Jimin grabbed the shirt back, shaking her hands away.

"I'll get used to it," he said, "It's just scent."

Kazimir's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach at his words, memories flooding back of all the things and all the times it was more than just a scent.

"Why's this one different?" Jimin asked, bringing her back to reality. He looked at the beige bandage before buttoning the next button, concealing it. He figured out enough to know all her bandages were strategically placed on joints or bones, except the beige one.

He caught enough from his conversation with Naomi that Kazimir had something wrong with either her bones or joints.

"That... I don't know. It's a cut, I fell off the bed in the hospital. I think. I can't remember. But I know I got it from the hospital."

Jimin's hands froze. He remembered the bloody sheets from the hospital. He dropped the fabric from his hold and looked up at her, "How'd you fall?" He asked, his head turning left and right, looking for something in the room until his eyes finally landed on his black suit jacket draped on the back of the chair at the desk. He grabbed it and put it on before sitting down on the edge of the bed, his shaking hands buttoning it up.

"I am not sure. But I know I fell," she said, walking to the other side of the bed and laying down with a tired sigh. She was exhausted beyond believe, "The pain took its toll," she murmured, "They gave me strong sedatives and I fell asleep. I remember falling off but nothing else."

"Are you sure?" Jimin asked, getting in bed too, too scared to hear her answer. His hand instinctively went to gently touch a bruise on her neck, "Do you remember how this happened?"

"I don't need to. I could aggressively pull a shirt over my head and marks appear. I bruise easily, it's a side effect."

Jimin ignored the part about it being a side effect and went straight to the point, "Did you aggressively pull a shirt over your head then?"

Kazimir's eyes spaced out in thought, staring at nothing, "I am not sure. I don't remember," she murmured.

"You didn't answer my question, what else do you remember?"

"I remember calling Mrs. Kim. She..." she stopped talking and Jimin looked up from her neck to her eyes to see her struggling with tears.

"Kazimir," Jimin said her name as a way of comforting her before pulling her to his chest and holding her just as her cries began again.

"Is she really gone? For real?" She sobbed into his chest.

He didn't understand how to answer the question so he nodded. Her hand fisted on his jacket and another cry escaped her.

"You weren't at the funeral service,"Jimin said, pulling at a loose string on the pillow behind her head, "Were you close to her?"

His question made her cry harder, "I wish I was closer," she sniffed, "I can't believe I didn't try harder to love her more. There was so much I could have done better, so many words I could have spoken better, but even though I didn't, she still accepted my lack of affection and my silence with open arms. I should have at least tried to love her."

Jimin wanted to look at her face but knew he couldn't make eye contact now, "I am sure you did your best."

"I did my worst. She deserved a better daughter. I didn't even call her mom enough times. I've never once told her I love her, ever. I should have at least tried to tell her I love her even if I didn't mean it, at least to make her feel like I wasn't ungrateful."

Jimin cautiously put his hand on the top of her head and patted gently like she was a child but his hand froze upon touching her damp roots.

"You showered?" He asked abruptly.

Kazimir shifted to look at him, surprised, "What?" She sniffled through her tears.

Jimin's hand fell from her head and he looked away at the ceiling. Even though he knew it would have been useless working up the courage to ask her to pay a visit to the hospital for a post rape check up, he fell asleep with a dust-like speck of hope that she would have agreed. But that entailed explaining why Jimin needed her to get checked up in the first place.

A strong pang ripped through his heart thinking about the reality of the matter. She was abused once and then again by not one, but two men, in the same night, one after the other, and she had no idea. Jimin's fist clenched around nothing, wishing nothing but to rip the memory out of his head and go back to a life where he didn't need to carry a burden this malicious and heavy. A secret he didn't know he should keep or expose. Kazimir's phone in his pocket burned a hole in his flesh, urging him to take a fast decision.

"I hope she's in a better place now," he murmured. He couldn't look at her so he gently placed his hand over hers but as soon as he did, he couldn't help but imagine the same hand fisting around Taehyung's collar, trying to push him away.

"I hope so too," Kazimir sobbed, "Tae must be ripped apart."

Jimin flinched away from her, taking his hand with him as if her speaking the name so lovingly electrocuted him.

Kazimir looked at him and his body language and another sob made it out of her, "I didn't mean to accuse him, it slipped out in a moment of weakness. Don't judge him for something he didn't do, you have no idea how much I am suffering right now knowing his mom passed away thinking of him as something he's not." She turned away from him and buried her face in her hands and cried into them.

Jimin turned away from the ceiling and pulled himself upright and sat up against the headboard before letting his head fall into his hands. He was hanging from a very dangerous cliff and didn't know what he needed to do in order to not only save himself from the burden without hurting her, but also to make sure she knew what had happened under the veil of the night.

"Cry all you want," he whispered, "I hope it makes you feel better. And when you're done, please," he laid back down and leaned his forehead against the back of her shoulder, "Please," his heart thumped in his chest, "Let him go."

He pushed away from her shoulder and his hands came up to lightly grab the back of her head and he placed the gentlest kiss on her damp hair, "I can't love you," he murmured, his heart breaking apart, "I don't know how, I don't even know if I want to, I don't even know if you want me to, but there's so much more I can give you," his arms wrapped around her figure, pulling her to his chest, "so much more of what you need right now. Fuck the writing deal, fuck everything, let me just hold you and kiss all your wounds better," he kissed the side of her head enticing a sob from her, "Let me be the listening ear, the shoulder you cry on," he turned her to make her look at him and his eyes fell on the bruises on her neck, "Let me be the miracle you've been praying for."

He leaned forward but just as his lips were close enough to kiss her forehead, she faced away.

She turned her back to him again without a word and buried her face in her hands again and cried into them. Jimin sighed but let her be, he understood her reaction.

"You don't have to accept my kindness and gentleness, but I'll still offer it," he said lowly, "And maybe, just maybe, the least it could do is make you understand that being offered kindness is the mere proof you were being ruined."

She sobbed into her hands and Jimin wanted to hold her but his arms stayed by his side this time, contemplating whether he should leave her alone for a few minutes or not but a crackling thunder roared through the sky and he couldn't help but leap forward and envelope her tightly, burrowing his forehead into the back of her neck.

"Thunders are the worst," he murmured through a shaky breath.

She didn't respond but she didn't push him away as well so Jimin held her close, his heartbeat hammering into her back, and her cries echoing through his head, the rain dulling both sounds into a melody of unrhythmic sad love songs.

Kazimir stared at Jimin, his sleeping face mere inches from hers. He looked in peace and she couldn't help but wonder if Mrs. Kim looked the same, in peace, free of trouble and free of pain.

Her initial anger at the older's death dissipated away giving way to worse emotions and her insides churned with anxiety. All she could think of was 'what now.'

Mrs. Kim was her only anchor in the world, though she might have never admitted it out loud to anyone. As far away as she was from Mrs. Kim, she couldn't deny all the times the older chose to stand by her side and offer her more than just a roof above her head.

Jimin stirred in his sleep and changed his position, turning away from her and Kazimir stared at the back of his head now.

Her hand moved to gently grab a few strands of his hair between her fingers, loving the way the soft texture tickled against her skin. It was a small warm pinch of butterflies that radiated from her stomach all the way to her heart and up to her cheeks.

She let go of his hair and turned to stare up at the ceiling, bringing her hands up to touch her cheeks, which, to her surprise, were warm.

Let me be the miracle you've been praying for, his voice resonated in her mind and she covered her face with her hands, a feeble attempt to convince herself she was not affected by the words.