Pandora's Hope

Hope in Numbers

There's police tape everywhere around the outside of the apartment. Namjoon greets Hoseok and Nari as they reluctantly approach the front door.

"Are you two ok?" Namjoon asks noticing the apprehension on their faces as they step inside.

"Yeah," Hoseok says. "Just a few cuts on me, but we're both ok."

"That's good to hear," Namjoon says with a reserved smile. "I think you did more damage to him than he did to you. But anyway...I'm glad you two are ok. We're almost done with our work here if you want to go inside." He steps aside letting them go through the doorway.

Hoseok is finally getting a good look at the damage around his apartment. With the sun coming up he can see how much blood is all over the floor. He can see how bad Leo smashed his tv, and there's definitely no use trying to save the couch.

Nari is near tears again at the sight of the disarray from their nightmare. She barely wants to be in there right now and Hoseok can tell. Namjoon tells them he can refer them to a cleaning crew that can help take care of the mess. They appreciate it, but right now even that isn't enough to get the fresh taste of trauma out of their mouths.

Hoseok decides to pack some of their essentials and check in to a hotel for now. They have no energy to do anything when they get there but find it difficult to fall asleep. They simply lay in the bed quietly holding each other tight until they finally drift off a couple hours later.

He isn't sure how long he was asleep but when he opens his eyes again the sun is shining brightly through the window. Nari isn't next to him anymore but he can hear her rustling around in the bathroom. After a few minutes of her not emerging he gets out of the bed to check on her.

She's standing in the bathroom wrapped in a towel staring at herself in the mirror. It's clear she's been crying, likely while taking a shower.

"Are you ok?" Hoseok asks softly.

She turns and looks at him a moment before silently nodding. The look on her face isn't very convincing though.

"Are you sure?" He asks stepping closer to her. He reaches his arm out to hold her but he notices how she grabs her towel as if she's afraid of it falling off. "What is it?" He asks knowing she's hiding something.

She doesn't move at first, only looking at him through her swollen eyes until he reaches for her towel again. She doesn't try to fight, she knows it wouldn't work anyway. She just lets him remove the towel to reveal the bruise that's formed on the side of her stomach, right across her small baby belly that's only recently become noticeable.

"Why didn't you let them check you out at the hospital?" He asks.

"I didn't think it was so bad," she says hanging her head. "I thought I was fine. When I woke up it was sore so I thought I'd just let the warm water run over it. That's when I saw how bad it looks."

"Riri," he says inspecting her closer. "You should get looked at. What if it's more than this? What if it hurt Hope?" He doesn't want to panic, but the sight of such a bruise, knowing how hard Leo pushed her into the overturned couch, has him worried that Hope may have taken too much of the hit.

"That's the thing," she says grabbing his hand. "I cried and cried thinking something may have happened to Hope. I thought what I would do if that was it. If Leo succeeded in ending my pregnancy." She pauses trying to control the next wave of tears threatening to fall. "But when the water hit me, hit Hope, I could feel Hope move." The tears in her eyes are welling rapidly as she looks at Hoseok.

"You could feel Hope move?" He asks trying to understand.

"Hobi, babe," she says cupping his face in her hands. "Hope moved. The water hit my stomach and our baby moved." Her tears begin to fall and her lip quivers. "Just when I thought I may have to tell you that our baby was gone, I felt a kick."