My eyes go wide as I see a familiar silhouette, shifting gracefully to take a defensive stance. Two other figures surround him, one that I recognize as that hateful man that had taken him away and one with an unfamiliar, slender built.

My heart leaps with pure joy as I realize that I'm watching V. He was all that I had ever vowed to remember, all that I'd ever promised. He was so close that it felt like all I had to do was simply reach out an arm to touch him.

But even I knew that would be catastrophe.

"Go ahead," The man says, who I assume as leader of this stupid organization. His eyes glint with a dangerous light as he waves dismissively at the other shadow besides V.

"I'm allowing you your sight, Samuel. But V is blindfolded- his ability to see is limited. Now try attacking him and see what happens."

Oh.

So that was Park Samuel.

Obviously getting his spot as top prodigy stolen by V hadn't done him any well. He looks at V with a dangerous hatred, as if he wouldn't mind if he had a chance to rip him apart into a dozen pieces.

And all I can do is hope that V will be skilled enough to defend himself.

Something similar to a hiss escapes his lips, a second prior before lunging at V. His arms are outstretched, balance perfect.

I definitely didn't know much about fighting or combat, but I knew a skilled fighter when I saw one.

It wasn't just ruse that he was named top prodigy after V's absence.

But to my relief, V is better. He's gone before Samuel can ever reach him, moving with unnatural grace and animal reflexes. How he'd evaded the attack so flawlessly—

I didn't think I'd ever know, even if he explained it to me.

The leader nods with approval as V displays skill— pure skill that I had never known he possessed. I'd never gotten to see how much he was really capable of doing until now, and I was marveling.

Nobody could possibly be that fast and elegant at the same time.

In less than a minute, V has Samuel pinned helplessly on the dirt, unable to retaliate and completely immobilized. As soon as he's shown his absolute dominance over the sputtering man, he shifts off of him with one graceful movement.

And then he rips the blindfold from his eyes, revealing two dark orbs that I wasn't sure if I recognized.

They were devoid of emotion— what made human human. This wasn't the V I was used to seeing— coming here, being apart from the rest of us had undeniably changed him.

This stupid place had made him a robot, an emotionless killing machine that he'd spent his life trying to run from.

There wasn't anyone who could defeat him except for himself.

A sudden gust of chilly wind rocks my body backward, forcing me to take a single step to balance myself. It couldn't have been more than a couple inches— couldn't have been more than a minuscule shift in the dark shadows.

But V's eyes flicker.

The act is so quick that for a second, I think I imagined it, another result of my paranoia.

But when his entire body goes rigid and newfound emotion explode in his eyes, I realize that he's seen me.

His fingers twitch against his side.

I smile, unable to control myself when I see him so flustered from the cold statue I'd seen just a second ago. Clearly seeing my being here has sent him into a state of panic— his fingers had already changed from twitching to full on drumming against his thigh.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing." V answers coolly as the leader asks, noticing his prize pupil's sudden display of anxiety.

"Alright," The man claps, indicating an end to this session. "I think that's good for tonight— it's already rather dark, isn't it?"

I'm surprised to see that V heads a different direction from the rest, even though I'd expected the leader to keep a close watch on him. After all, he'd just gotten him back— and if I were him, I'd be deathly afraid to take my eye off him for even a second or two.

I take further caution to keep myself silent as I follow V, yet still he hears me.

He walks until he determines that it's safe for us to have contact before stopping, his eyes shifting to fix on my face.

The look he has makes me uncertain if I should hug him— which was the first thing I'd been wanting to do since I'd laid eyes on him.

But I must have been paranoid.

He reaches for me, wrapping one arm around my waist and the other around my neck into a fierce hug. I feel his arms fit perfectly into my curves, his large hands warm against my body—and I realize just how much I'd missed this. All of this.

"It's been years since I saw you."

I giggle.

"It's been a week, V."

He shrugs, his hands hurrying to pull down my mask and crashing his lips against mine. There's an urgency to the way he kisses me— but I lose track of myself after that once I taste him.

Mint and honey. With a slight touch of lavender— or was it like rose?

High.

That's how I am.

He pulls away, shifting to kiss my forehead. His eyes are deep with emotion, in stark contrast to the lifeless ones before.

"How did you find me? Are you alone?"

When I nod, his face freezes.

"You should not have come alone, Tzuyu. They have nightly patrols— what if you'd gotten caught?"

"I'll be okay." I smile as I press the side of my face against his chest.

"No," He stresses. "Don't come alone, not anymore. It's too dangerous— the patrols shoot at sight, don't you realize? That means they don't ask questions, they kill first—"

"I'll come with Jungkook or Jimin, then. The others would probably forbid me."

His hands run through my hair, reaching down to cup my face. My eyes are wide for approval— I didn't want him to tell me that I shouldn't come anymore."

"No. You won't find me, Tzuyu. Today was pure luck— I'm not usually out like this. And you're lost, aren't you? You stumbled upon me by accident."

He was....

Right.

He breathes out a sigh as I nod sheepishly.

"I'll take you out of here. After this, you cannot come back, understand me? Imagine if you came and got lost, without me being there. Then you'll just roam around until a patrol finds you."

"I have to come back." I say, pursing my lips. "I can't— I can't."

Bear to not see you.

"You have no idea how much I want to keep you." He breathes, fingers tracing the shape of my wide eyes.

"But I can't let you throw yourself into danger like this."

When I look crestfallen, he looks at me with a smile. How could he be smiling when he'd just said something like that?

"You know, I was planning to come see you tonight. But you got ahead of me, didn't you?"

My eyes widen even further.

"You can come?"

"Of course. There's nobody to stop me. And I make sure to never get caught."

A smile slowly splits my lips as well, once I realize what this could mean for both of us.

"But they'll punish you if you get caught!"

"They will never catch me." He assures, right hand wrapped around my waist as he leads me through the confusing underbrush. How he's managing to navigate through this maze is a mystery to me.

It'd taken me two hours to reach him and it only takes him ten minutes to get me back where I'd started.

"I'll walk you back." He says before I can ask, and I shoot him a grateful look. Even though it wasn't exactly dark anymore, I still wanted to make this last as long as possible.

Only when are we right outside the house does he pause, taking his hand off of my back. He gives me a light kiss, making my head go fluttery with butterflies as I kiss back.

"Wait for me." He pinches my nose as I look up at his shadowed eyes. "And I'll come for you."

"Soon?"

"Of course," He says, looking up into the lightening sky. Dawn peeks just over the horizon, shading his dark hair in bursts of color.

"How would you expect me to go a full week without seeing you and not go crazy?"