"What do you mean Jungkook?" Taehyung glanced at him with his brows knitted. But in an instant, his orbs flashed a glisten of hope.

"You mean..." Jungkook nodded as Taehyung picked up the hint.

The swamp of people was pushing each other forward, making me a human sandwich between them. The only thing that held me like a grip was Jungkook's hand wrapping me around from one side and Taehyung covering me from the other side so I wouldn't get squished.

Both of them were protecting me from either side. I felt safe even though we were far away from safety. Jungkook staying beside me was a great strength, his presence was enough to convince me that I would survive this tragedy somehow. I had to be strong.

Jungkook shifted his gaze to me.

"Y/n, wait here till me and Taehyung find something to break the gates. Don't go anywhere, stay right here...got it? " he said, carefully stroking my fallen hair and tucking one bang behind my ear.

"I'll stay right here" I assured him with a nod.

Even for that slight moment, he was hesitant to leave me. That kind of a man he was. The concerned look on his face my heart clench with agony. But my inner strength stood against the misery.

Jungkook let go of my hand after gazing at me for a good minute. As I felt the absence of his warm hand, my mind flooded with apprehension. Taehyung glanced at me and gave a light squeeze on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll be back soon" he smiled before disappearing with Jungkook, merging with the crowd.

I tiptoed in the direction they went until I lost sight of their heads. The harsh forces pushing me from behind made me collide with the person in front of me even though I tried to avoid it. It was impossible to stay still.

"Miss, Miss" I heard a squeaky tiny voice talking from behind me.

I quickly turned, noticing a small figure of a woman standing behind me. A man, who I assumed was her husband was wrapping his arm around her with a concerned face. What caught my attention most was the infant she was holding.

My eyes softened as I saw the newborn in her hand. As I turned she glanced at me with hope.

"Miss, is there any sign of them letting us go?" she talked in a foreign accent but her English was clear. Her words made me drenched in anguish, the hope and innocence clattered in her voice made me reluctant to answer.

I smiled.

"Don't worry, they are going to let us out soon, anytime now" I tried to console her. I was trying to console myself further.

She smiled at me happily and turned to her husband, explaining to him in their language what I said as he looked at her. I understood that he could neither talk nor understand English. Her words made his face lit up.

He quickly put his hand inside his overcoat and pulled out a small bottle. He then offered it to me saying something that I couldn't understand cheerfully. From his gestures, he was urging me to take it. I glanced at his wife with a questionable expression.

"It's to make your body warm, it'll protect you from the cold dear," she explained to me. I thankfully took it and sipped from it. It was a strong alcohol. I felt it burning down my throat as I gulped down.

"Thank you so much" Before she could reply, a loud voice shattered the air, gaining everyone's attention.

"What do you think you are doing!" I heard the voice of the officer yelping.

I stood with my fingertips to get a glimpse of what was happening. I was pretty sure it was Jungkook and Taehyung.

"Well, we are breaking through, you mother fuckers!" Taehyung's raspy voice was filled with sarcasm.

I saw the big axe in his hand. The buzz of the crowd started converting to a huge noise of chatter. A few men in the front enthusiastically joined Taehyung and Jungkook who were trying to break the lock of the gate.

"Captain?" one of the two officers seemed to recognize Jungkook as their captain. His voice was coated with amusement seeing their captain was the one who stood in the first line and was going against the orders.

Jungkook completely ignored the two men and continued hammering the chains with a loud cling sound while the rest of the people paused with dumbfound as the officer called him "Captain" in a timid voice. Nevertheless, Taehyung didn't even flinch, he seemed to acknowledge what was happening.

"Captain Jeon, you can't do this, these were the orders given by Captain Smith-" Jungkook shot a death glare towards them, making their sentence cease in the middle.

"I am no longer obliged to follow the orders nor to command" his voice rasped at them, orbs glistening with flares. The crowd went silent for a moment.

"Captain Smith intends to save these people, so I'm not going against the orders," his words provoked the others. They cheered aggressively and quickly joined Jungkook and Taehyung, using all their strengths

The two officers hopelessly shared glances, not knowing what to do. Even though Jungkook was no longer their Captain, they still had respect for him and hence they knew what they were doing was not the right thing to do. They were going against their heart, flooding themselves with guilt in deep.

Yet, they stood quietly.

A huge cracking sound was elicited as two men charged towards the gate that was halfway broken down, carrying a long strong bench. They slammed towards the gate with all their force, successfully breaking the chains down.

The people applaused happily as their barrier was taken down.

The herd of people bolted towards the exit, pushing each other hurriedly, passing the two officers who were in a hopeless attempt to halt them. But of course, two against the hundreds of people was practically a failure.

I tried to cope with the blizzard and make it towards Jungkook through the others. As the crowd started moving, I lost my balance and I was dragged along.

"Jungkook! Jungkook where are you !" I exclaimed as I couldn't find where he was.

"Come on move!" a sudden hand gripped mine. I was caught off guard as I saw a stranger holding me, dragging me towards the exit. Through the stampede, he tried to take me out. But I couldn't go without Jungkook.

"No wait!" I tried to shrug away his hand. But his grip was too strong.

"If you don't keep moving, you'll die" he snapped back at me, pulling me along with him. His behaviour irritated me. Even if he was trying to help he was dragging me away from Jungkook.

"Let go of me!" I pulled away my hand harshly, making him jerk away. He glared at me, fuming with anger.

"What's the matter with you!" he barked at my face, tightly gripping me from my shoulder heftily swinging my body towards him.

But the next minute one of the running people slammed right into us making him lose his grip on me. As his body spun away, his hand reached to hold me from the necklace I was wearing to maintain his balance. As a result, it made me yank towards him.

Due to the sudden force, the chain of the necklace broke, releasing its weight from my neck. The pendant Jungkook gifted me, along with the remaining silver chain it had, flew away from the man's hand. As the bond between us broke, I fell on the floor, colliding hard against it.

"No!" I yelped trying to get up on my foot. But due to the herd of people running through I couldn't get up. I almost got crushed when someone pulled me up before the crowd could stomp over me.

"Y/n!," Jungkook tightly hugged me, lifting me from the ground.

Boy, how glad I was to see him.

"Jungkook!" I cried out. I hugged him back insanely. I couldn't tell how relieved I felt after seeing him again.

"We have to go, now," he hurriedly said, holding my hand.

I quickly looked for the pendant, but it had already disappeared in the crowd. I gave one last glance before darting towards the exit with Jungkook. I let out a sigh, knowing that I couldn't spare any time to look for it.

While me and Jungkook ran through the crowd, the black swan stayed there, lying down on the floor.

As the water gushed in, it sank into the deep Atlantic.

It was gone, forever.

That was the moment I lost the most precious thing he had gifted me. In the present, that was what I was after. The sunken memory that recalled the thrones of the past.

I was again, running after the past in the present...

It's been a while. So now you guys know how she lost her precious pendant. I wish I could update frequently to keep the steam up, but unfortunately next week I have exams.

But after that, I'll update it day by day.

Hope y'all enjoying the ride.

See ya ❤️