________

•••
"I'm learning to live without
you and I still haven't
decided if that is a good
thing"

-Avdicy
•••

________

Cassia's POV

Living with anxiety wasn't easy. Cassia felt like she had been dealing with the mental illness ever since she could remember even though she knew she hadn't always been suffering from it.

The times anxiety was just another foreign word to her were so long gone though, that they seemed like nothing more than a distant, blurry memory. Almost like an illusion.

Some days were good, others not so much.

On some days the smallest crowds could feel suffocating, going out in public becoming a challenge.

Some days Cassia got paranoid about being followed or people watching her every step. She called them grey days in her head. Days her anxiety was bad. Days her past followed her like a shadow, clinging to her, weighing her down..

Sometimes even breathing could become a challenge, socializing absolutely impossible. Ever since she's been with Taehyung those days, the grey days had been occuring less and less. Now that Jungkook was back it had gotten even better.

It wasn't about being with other people, sometimes Cassia could feel the most lonely in the biggest crowds, it was about the security they brought with them. The trust Cassia had in them.

Taehyung, Jungkook, Jin, Yoongi..

In a way they were her light, of course they couldn't fully fight off the darkness, the dullness of grey days but that only made Cassia appreciate good days even more.

Today was a good day. They were walking through the city, hand in hand, Cassia was even skipping a bit, a certain giddy sprung to her step, through crowds of people, Paris dipped into loud noise, traffic, chatter, yet Cassia walked as tall as ever. No anxiety, the world was in colour.

Taehyung noticed, he smiled down at the grinning brunette. "You're gonna be terribly disspointed once we get to the interview. It's gonna be pretty boring, I'm afraid"

"I don't mind" Cassia mumbled, head tilted up to look at the baby blue clear sky.

"You sure you don't wanna go explore the city a bit? I'll be a few hours" Taehyung said.

Marla was walking ahead, talking on the phone in fluent French.

"Hmm I actually wanna listen to what you have to say Mr supermodel" she nudged his side, blue dress twirling as she took big steps to keep up with his long legs.

When Taehyung noticed he slowed down a bit. "Have your legs recently gotten shorter or how come I've never noticed how slow you walk?" he laughed. Cassia let out a loud gasp.

"Why are you constantly bullying me, oh my god. I'm sorry we can't all be giants with insanely long legs!" Cassia huffed, taking even bigger steps but still only barely able to keep up.

"You could also just carry me, as long as you stop throwing me over your shoulders like a sack of potatoes I wouldn't mind being carried" she added.

Taehyung snorted, cocking one eyebrow up. "Of course you wouldn't mind being carried, I don't call you princess for nothing"

Cassia stopped walking, mouth hanging open in disbelief. She had to stop a smile from taking over her face.

Instead she crunched up her face into a cute, over exagerated pout. "Why are you being so mean to mee!" she cried, stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest.

Taehyung tilted his head back, laughing. "Here we go again"

Out of nowhere he dashed towards Cassia, arms stuck out to grab her and pick her up again. Cassia let out a high pitched scream and darted off ahead, almost running over a startled Marla that was still on the phone with clients.

Taehyung might be a faster runner than Cassia but this time her height served her as an advantage as she easily dove under people, pushing past them or ducking under couples holding hands.

Taehyung's tall frame on the other hand had much more trouble moving past people and he soon fell behind, giving Cassia her chance to escape.

She triumphantly jumped onto a park bench and raised her fists up into the air. "I wiin!" she chirped out as Taehyung finally caught up to her.

He shook his head, an amused smile playing on his lips. "You win" he agreed, slightly out of breath.

Watching the short girl jump down the bench, blue sundress flowing in the wind, caramel hair falling down in waves over her shoulders and a beaming smile playing on her lips, making her hazel eyes sparkle with joy was victory enough for Taehyung.

Seeing Cassia happy was all that mattered to him.

If only he knew..

Oh if only he knew what the day still held for them. If only he knew, he would have turned the other way, grabbed Cassia's hand and ran..

But he didn't. Taehyung didn't know that back home Jungkook was having a panic attack, his sister shaking with tears. Jin and Namjoon running up and down the house, driving themselves crazy to find a solution, to warn them. He didn't know how grey their world was and how grey his and Cassia's would soon become.

He didn't know that he wouldn't see Cassia's smile for a long time after that.

How could he have known?

Later he would curse himself for not noticing the signs, for not acting sooner, for even suggesting Cassia to wander off..  He'd blame himself for what happened. After all he had sworn to protect her.

But it wasn't Taehyung's fault. He couldn't have prevented it. So, whose fault was it?

Cassia's? Could you blame her for letting her guard down? For being a bit more careless than usual? For being happy?

~~~

He did well. Answering questions with ease, even joking with the interviewers. Cassia watched Taehyung slip back into his V persona. Professionell as always.

Marla left after another meeting with officials of the press, joining Jimin for his press work instead which Cassia understood since he was less experienced and needed the support more than Taehyung.

"Driver's gonna pick you up after this, we're going straight to the airport after interviews have wrapped up. We'll meet there, see you later, have fun!" Marla whispered into Cassia's ear before waving to Taehyung and leaving.

Cassia was excited about going back to New York, excited about seeing everyone again even though it had only been a few days.

Once they got back from Paris she'd look for a new flat, catch up on college exams she missed and go back to work at the theatre. She was excited for getting back into a routine, back to her day to day life. To spend time with Jin and Jungkook. Go for coffee with Yoongi.

Cassia smiled to herself at that thought. At the thought of going home.

Except she wouldn't.

As much as she enjoyed listening to Taehyung's soothing deep voice talk, just sitting around for hours on end soon got boring.

During a short break she let Taehyung know she was gonna get food for them and maybe walk around the park for a while. Their goodbye fell short. Taehyung only nodded at Cassia's words, quickly pecking her lips and stroking over her hair.

Cassia saw him talk to the same tall, dark haired woman he had been talking to at the GUCCI runway show. She noticed the woman's strong accent and intimidating ice blue eyes but didn't think much more of it. More business. Boring stuff.

How could such a bright, blue day turn so cruel? The sky was clear, the sun out and Cassia's head filled with thoughts of her friends and home.

She had picked up a few words of French from Taehyung, his voice got even deeper when he spoke the language Cassia thought sounded so pretty and romantic.

Pulling out her camera she snapped photographs of the city's architecture and the park she strolled through. European architecture had always been her favourite, especially the older parts of the city were stunning.

She steered clear of the Eiffel tower though. Too touristy. Although today was a good day and Cassia didn't feel anxious she didn't want to push her luck, so Cassia just gaped at the tower from afar, baffled at the beauty surrounding her.

Some day she'd have to come back, not for business but to explore more of the city and France in general. See more of the culture.

She didn't dare move too far away from the building Taehyung was being interviewed at since her phone was still out of service and the last thing she wanted was to get lost.

The weather was so nice that Cassia wanted to enjoy every bit of it, instead of sitting down in a restaurant she just grabbed two large baguette sandwiches from a café, one for Taehyung and one for herself and sat down at a park bench with her food and a bottle of sparkling water she had bought at a nearby grocery store.

Spending time by herself posed no problems for Cassia. Before she had befriended Jin she had done it all the time. Go out to eat by herself, spend time at central park by herself, go to the movies by herself, it had never been a big deal or made her feel lonely.

Besides, people watching was one of her favourite things to do. She put Taehyung's sandwich away in her bag and kept sitting on the bench for another few minutes after she had finished her food, wondering when she'd have to go back. Better safe than sorry.

Slowly she made her way back towards the building, walking a different, slightly longer route than before to kill some more time.

She didn't notice the car following her.

The sky was darkening all of a sudden, clouds turning a sluggish grey colour, a storm building up on the horizon. Cassia patted herself on the back for arriving back at the building before the first raindoplets fell from the sky.

It was oddly quiet in the building, maybe Cassia was just imagining things from being in the midst of the buzzing streets until now. Head still ringing with happy chatter from pedestrians.

Cassia had just made her way up the stairs and down the hall to where Taehyung was being interviewed when she noticed that the door stood wide open, room empty.

A loud car honk was heard outside. Cassia froze in her spot. Had they already wrapped up? Where had everyone gone? She turned to ask one of the tech workers what was going on when a woman with glasses and a clipboard pressed under her arm tapped her shoulder.

Cassia recognized her from earlier. She worked here.

"Miss they are waiting for you" she spoke in broken English. "Your driver is outside"

"Thank you so much" Cassia bowed her head and rushed back down the flight of stairs, jumping into the back of the familiar black car that had been driving them around all week.

For how long was she gone? How come Taehyung left without her?

Buckling herself in Cassia stared down at her phone in utter annoyance. No service, no internet, nothing.. Just her lockscreen picture of herself and Jin smiling up at her.

The driver was the same guy as usual, he didn't talk much, the radio was softly buzzing, providing a background noice to the car that was dipped in silence.

Cassia kept her eyes on the road with nothing else to do. This wasn't the way to the airport was it?

"Excusez-moi, monsieur, but where are we going?" Cassia nervously leaned forward.

The driver wearing dark sunglasses sent her a short glance through the rearview mirror.

"I am only following orders, mademoiselle" he spoke and Cassia leaned back into her seat in defeat. He hadn't properly understood her. Without Taehyung she suddenly felt vulnerable.

When the car came to a halt someone opened her door for her. A black haired woman was brightly smiling at her. "Follow me, mademoiselle"

Cassia blankly stared at her, she didn't recognize the woman's face. She was started to grow a bit irritated now. Where were Taehyung and Marla, why had no one told her anything?

But they were gone when she got back to the building and their usual driver had picked her up like Marla had said. Was she just being paranoid because Taehyung had left without her?

"Where's Taehyung?" Cassia asked the woman as she got out of the car, worriedly watching the car drive off. Her last sense of security gone.

"V I mean" she corrected herself. "Is V inside?" she asked again, offering the woman a small smile. No reason to be rude to her she was just doing her job.

The woman nodded, walking ahead of Cassia. She had nothing left to do than follow her inside. She hadn't been to this part of the city yet, nothing seemed familiar.

The building was just as cold as it looked from the outside. Tall, blank white walls, long marvel corridors, minimalistic art work, a few offices.

The woman stopped in front of a steel door. Cassia suddenly noticed her suitcase out of the corner of her eye, staff were pulling it down the hall along with other suitcases and bags.

"May I?" the woman had her hands outstretched for Cassia's bag.

Although seeing her suitcase here made her feel much safer Cassia still felt a bit uneasy about the whole situation.

"I'd rather keep it" she answered, pulling her bag closer to her chest.

The big smile on the woman's face didn't drop instead she nodded understandingly. "Of course" she said. "But I have to ask you to hand me any electronical devices you carry with you, it's against security"

What good was a phone without service?

"Alright" Cassia agreed, handing the woman her phone. She just wanted to see Taehyung.

The woman opened the steel door for Cassia and let her walk inside. The office was large and equipped with a set of black leather couches and a wooden coffee table, a crystal chandelier was hanging from the ceiling, curtains closed.

"Have a seat" the woman smiled. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No, thank you" Cassia weakly smiled. She felt like a kid that had done something wrong and was waiting for the principal to scold them. Cassia's eyes darted to the security guards standing at the door and next to the windows.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Um, could I please use the bathroom for a moment?" Cassia asked, trying to keep her face neutral and not let the panic she was feeling show up on her face.

"I'm afraid you can't leave this room, Miss" the woman spoke. Cassia stared into her brown eyes, wondering what suddenly seemed different about the woman.

Something was off about her but what? Only when the woman spoke again and excused herself out of the room did Cassia notice that her broken English was gone. Her eyes widened at the sudden realization, nails digging into the arm rests of her seat. Cassia felt her throat close up.

The woman had spoken to her in fluent Korean.

___________

A/N: Day two of updates✅

Hope you enjoyed this my loves! Don't forget to vote and comment, thank you all so much💕

[2/7]

All the love,

Umi xx