FlOWERS WITH THORNS | K.TH

The Taraka

SILIN

"Thank you, Rin. I'm sorry for all this."

Her tight bun had come undone from the process of helping me move Taehyung back to his bed. She gives me a worried look, shaking out her dark hair as if that was the thing she was least worried about.

"I'll be fine." I assure her. "Will you— Will you please keep what you saw today to yourself?"

"Of course, my lady. I'll be nearby, just in case anything happens." She says, her voice firm.

"Thank you."

The door closes. And I turn my eyes back to the figure motionless on the bed.

I don't even need to wait too long.

He jerks awake with a labored breath. The moment his eyes fix on me, he pulls himself up to press his back against the headboard. He turns his eyes away. His hand clasps his mouth.

My name leaves his lips between closed fingers.

"M-Mistress."

I sigh.

"I already saw it, Taehyung."

He flinches. Then slowly, his hand falls away from his mouth. He looks like he's given up everything at this point. Between his parted lips, I see rows and rows of sharpened teeth. He still doesn't look at me.

My voice is quiet.

"Will you look at me?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

He hesitates. His hand slowly tightens around the corner of the thick blanket. I don't miss the way he inches it up towards his mouth, to cover it. He never answers my question.

Instead he says this.

"You have to throw me out."

"No one's getting thrown out today." I reply. "Why, Taehyung? Why are you saying this. I thought—"

"Because I'm a fucking monster, that's why."

I pause.

Then I look up. His eyes are ringed scarlet, as if he's trying his hardest not to cry. His hand presses the blanket against his mouth. Eyes fixed faraway, avoiding mine still.

"You're not a monster."

His eyes widen. Finally he turns to look in my direction.

"Do you have any idea how close I came to killing you?" He whispers, voice breaking. "Why did you have to come today, of all days? I thought you hated me, Mistress. You should've just left me alone. You don't even want to be near me."

His words are bitter.

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice the way you check up on me using your servants?"

"Leave, Mistress. It's better for the both of us. Even now it's hard for me to—"

"To stop yourself from eating me alive?"

He freezes.

The Tarakan secret. It was closely kept, until I remember it being leaked to the public that the Taraka Clan were a Clan of Beasts, that couldn't suppress the desire of consuming the ones that they loved. Even when he was older, Taehyung had always been seen standing by Han's side, with a mask over his lips.

I just hadn't realized it would change him during his eighteenth birthday.

But because of the leaked secret, the Taraka Clan had been treated as monsters. Only a week or two after, they had been annihilated by their surrounding Clans, who called them cannibals and sons of the Devil. They had already been reclusive enough, always keeping to themselves. Enough to become a target.