Y/N's POV
The cold rain fell like a quiet storm, drenching every inch of her being, but she didn’t care. Her tears had long merged with the raindrops—no one could tell the difference anymore. The city lights of Seoul blurred around her as she walked aimlessly, each step heavier than the last.
She hugged herself tightly, trembling—not from the rain, but from the loneliness that never left her side.
Y/n - "Why… why does this always happen to me?" she whispered, her voice barely audible through the sound of the rain.
"I’ve lost everything because of those monsters."
Her lips quivered as flashes of that horrifying night a year ago played in her mind like a broken record. Screams, shadows, blood. The memories had sunk their claws deep into her soul, refusing to let go. She had escaped with her life, yes—but at what cost?
She had lost her family, her home… her identity.
She had come to Korea to escape, to heal, but peace was a stranger that never came knocking. Tonight, she was more broken than she had ever been.
Her eyes were too clouded with tears to notice the danger ahead. A section of the old bridge was damaged, a gaping hole silently waiting. But she wasn’t walking toward it. Not intentionally. She was just walking... away from her pain.
Until someone bumped into her.
A man, clearly in a hurry, brushed past her without so much as a glance, and the next moment—she was falling.
Author's POV
It all happened in seconds. Her fragile frame stumbled, her footing lost. The world tilted. The wind screamed past her ears.
And then—water.
The river wasn’t deep, and the fall wasn’t fatal, but Y/N’s weak body wasn’t ready. Fever had already taken its toll on her, and now, submerged in the cold water, her consciousness began to slip away.
But fate hadn’t given up on her yet.
?:"I was just driving past the bridge, tired after a long day, when I heard it—a splash, followed by silence. I looked, and to my horror, saw someone drowning."
He hit the brakes hard, the tires skidding on the wet road. Without thinking, without hesitation, he jumped out of the car and ran to the edge.
She was barely visible now, her head going under again.
He didn’t waste a second.
He dove in.
The cold river stabbed at his skin, but he fought through it, swimming toward her with every ounce of strength he had. When he reached her, her body was limp.
He pulled her out, dragging her up to the shore, gasping.
V (panicked):"Hey! Please wake up! Can you hear me?!"
There was no response. No breath.
His hands trembled. His heart thundered.
V:"I have to do it… I can’t let her die."
He tilted her head and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Seconds felt like eternity.
And then—she coughed. Gasped. Breathed.
Relief flooded him as her eyes fluttered open for a moment. Their eyes met, and in that split second, he felt something he’d never felt before.
But she fainted again.
He noticed the fever burning off her skin.
As he gently laid her back, her phone began to ring.
He pulled it from her soaked pocket and answered.
Uncle (worried):"Hello? Y/N? Where are you? We’ve been looking everywhere—"
V:"Hello, this isn’t Y/N. I’m someone who found her. Please come quickly to the bridge at XX street. She fell into the river. She’s unconscious but safe."
He hung up and looked at her pale face, brushing her wet hair from her forehead.
V (softly):"You’ll leave me today… but I’ll come find you. I swear. I don’t even know your name, but… I think I’m already in love with you."
Moments later, an older man arrived, frantic.
Uncle:"Are you the one who called?"
V:"Yes. Please, take her to the hospital immediately. She has a fever too."
Uncle:"Thank you… thank you so much for saving her life."
V (shaking his head):"There’s no need to thank me. Anyone would’ve done the same… It was just something I had to do."
V:"Are you her father?"
Uncle (pausing):"No… just someone who was meant to be there tonight."I'm her uncle
As they drove away, V stood alone in the rain, watching the car disappear into the mist. His clothes were drenched, his body cold—but his heart was warm for the first time in years.
Y/N's POV
I jolted awake, breathing heavily. Sweat clung to my skin despite the fever.
I was in a hospital room. White ceiling, IV drips, the beep of machines.
And then—
The memory came back.
The river.
The fall.
The face.
His face.
He had a tattoo on his neck… the letter V. That image was burned into her memory now.
"Who was he…?" she thought, her heart aching in a way she had never known.
"Will I ever see him again?"
Tears began to fall silently. She didn’t even try to wipe them away.
She smiled faintly through her tears.
Y/N (whispering to herself):"I think… I think I fell in love. And I’m only sixteen."
Her heart pounded at the thought. How could she fall in love with a stranger? Someone she didn’t even know the name of?
But it didn’t feel like a stranger had saved her. It felt like someone who was always meant to find her.
"Isn’t that what love is?" she thought.
"Unexpected. Undeniable. Irresistible."
But as quickly as love had entered her life… it vanished.
He was gone. No name. No number. No trace.
Just the memory of his touch, his voice, and the warmth of his breath as he brought her back to life.
And that one letter—V.
She clutched her chest, not from pain, but from something else—something deeper. A longing. A pull. An invisible thread tying two souls that fate had only begun to weave.
Somewhere out there, she believed… he was thinking of her too.
Suddenly, a glass tumbler fell and shattered on the floor, jolting Y/N awake. She sat up with a gasp, her chest heaving, heart pounding against her ribs like a wild drumbeat.
Y/N: "So... it was just a dream? That's how I met Taehyung?"
Tears welled up in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks as she held her head in her trembling hands. Her voice broke as she continued, whispering to herself like she was trying to hold on to fading fragments of memory.
Y/N: "Then why... why does it still feel so real? Why does it feel like he's still so far away from me?"
She clutched her chest, trying to soothe the ache that had settled deep within her heart.
Y/N: "And that tattoo… the one on his neck that day—why is it not there anymore? What does it all mean?"
The room felt suffocating, shadows dancing around her, echoing the torment in her soul.
Y/N: "Sometimes I feel like ending everything. I can't bear this pain anymore. What those monsters did to me and my family..."
Her voice shook with rage and sorrow.
Y/N: "I won't let them get away with it. Never. I’ll make them pay."
She screamed into the silence, the sound full of anguish and fury.
Y/N: "Aghhhhhh!"
Meanwhile, in the V Mansion...
Taehyung stood by the tall glass window, gazing out at the moonlight with a twisted smile playing on his lips. His eyes gleamed, a mix of obsession and dangerous determination.
V: "Don’t worry, sweetheart. I won’t let anyone else have you. You’re mine… only mine."
He chuckled darkly, his voice echoing in the cold, grand hall.
V: "Now… just watch. The real game begins."
He let out a low, sinister laugh that rang through the empty mansion, a warning of the storm he was about to unleash.