The silence that followed was suffocating. Jungkook stood there, panting, his chest heaving as he tried to steady himself. His eyes were locked on the ground, the weight of what had just happened pressing down on him.
Y/N, too, stood still, her heart pounding in her chest. She had just come face-to-face with the reality of the world Jungkook was trying to protect her from. It was real. The danger. The darkness. And now, she was in the middle of it. She was no longer just a bystander.
"You can't keep protecting me, Jungkook," she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of this world. I'm afraid of losing you."
Jungkook looked up at her, his eyes full of turmoil. "You don't understand what they'll do. What they'll make me do to keep you safe."
Y/N took a step forward, her eyes never leaving his. "Then let me help you. Let me fight with you. We'll face this together."
Jungkook's expression faltered, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he allowed himself to hope. But just as quickly as the hope appeared, it was clouded by doubt.
"I don't want to drag you into this," he murmured, his voice low and broken. "I don't want to see you get hurt."
Y/N reached for his hand, her fingers trembling as she took it in her own. "You don't have to drag me anywhere. I'm here because I want to be. I'm here because I love you."
The words hung in the air between them, heavy with the weight of everything they had been through and everything they still had to face.
And as they stood there, holding each other in the moonlight, the storm that had been brewing for so long was finally about to break.