The rain had stopped hours ago, but the streets still glistened under the dim yellow streetlights, puddles rippling with the occasional sigh of wind. The night felt thinner now, emptied of the frantic pulse that had filled it for weeks. The storm inside you had burned itself out… but the ashes were still warm.
They said he was gone.
Not missing. Not in hiding. Gone.
You had seen it yourself — the last look in his eyes, that strange mix of tenderness and madness, the way his lips had curved in that faint, almost apologetic smile before everything went red. It was the smile of the charming side of him, the Taehyung who could have been everything if his mind hadn't been a battlefield.
And then… the other side. The one that had whispered in the dark, the one that had painted your nightmares in blood. That side had stared through you in those final moments, as if it was relieved to be ending everything.
Now, the house was quiet. Too quiet.
The broken glass had been swept away. The walls no longer trembled under the weight of his voice. The shadows felt thinner.
But his presence hadn't vanished entirely.
You found yourself standing at the window, hands curled around a mug you hadn't touched, eyes locked on the faint outline of the city beyond. You could almost imagine him walking down the street below — not the monster, not the fractured mind — just him. Kim Taehyung. The man who had once pulled you under an umbrella and laughed as if the world could never touch you.
That memory hurt more than any of the screams.
A knock at the door made you flinch. Just two soft taps.
For a heartbeat, your chest froze. But when you opened it, it was only the detective — the same tired eyes, the same clipped voice.
"It's over," he said, as if the words would bring peace.
You nodded, but said nothing. Because peace was a lie.
That night, you went to bed and stared at the ceiling until your vision blurred. You thought of every moment — the warmth, the horror, the split between love and fear — until the lines between them melted into one. He was both. He would always be both.
And now, he was nothing.
When dawn came, you stepped outside and felt the first sunlight in what felt like years. The air was cold, but it was real. You walked away from the house, not looking back. There was nothing left there for you — no ghosts worth keeping, no answers worth finding.
The world felt heavier without him.
But it also felt safer.
Somewhere, in the quiet spaces of your mind, you still kept that one memory — the real smile. The one he gave you before the madness took hold. You knew you'd carry it forever, even if it cut you open every time.
Because that was the truth no one else would ever understand:
Kim Taehyung was the most beautiful tragedy you had ever loved.
And now, that story was over.
Completely.