It is more than expected that as soon as the single word leaves his lips, a merciless knife pierces through the muscles of his beating heart, shooting a agonizing feeling through every single nerve of his body. Perhaps the latter was already aware–aware of the pain building up within the younger through the years, a destructive and corrosive pain eating his insides day by day. The question blossomed by the shattered glasses against a dark wooden floor found when the other walked into his apartment and a lie was put over the surface in order to hide the reason behind it, but as expected, Suho knew him better. So it came when their gazes met, the tone of his voice filled with sorrow, distress. Yes, everything was wrong and Baekhyun has gotten way too tired to sugarcoat it for even a second longer.
A moment or two goes by before a the glass in his grasp simply shatters, small strings of a velvety blood starting to flow down the perfect lines of his delicate hand. “Everything is fucking wrong, Suho.” By now, he’s angry, not at the other but at himself, the pace of a once steady heartbeat now increasing as the seconds go by, the hot blood boiling within thick veins. “My parents are dead because of me. My brother hates me–he barely even looks me in the eyes. I am part of a corrupted Hunter Society that keeps sending their little puppets after me to test my boundaries.” And so his grip tightens, small pieces of a sharp glass piercing through the thick flesh of his body because he doesn’t feel–nothing comes when he’s being ripped apart. Absolutely nothing. “What am I, a toy? Do they think it’s funny? And I don’t have Zero. The one person who could keep me in tracks–he … I lost him. I lost him and I got no one else in this fucking messed up world.”
To voice out thoughts hidden under seven golden keys, exiled for so long is quite weird, different from when played over and over again within his thoughts; sharing is caring, they say, but what is there to share when there is nothing left? “So you ask me, Suho, what is wrong … everything. Everything is wrong.” For a moment, something burns over the palm of his hand, thought the feeling is soon washed away by the broken glass falling from his grasp, the scent of blood being all too familiar and somehow tempting–vampires, bloodsucking creatures, doomed to live and fade into darkness. Never did he ask for this, never did he know it would be so hard, so lonely and most of all, so painful. Apparently, some people do get what they deserve, Baekhyun just happens to be one of them.
Knowing him for almost all his life would take Joonmyeon in such a state. The beating of his mind, telling him to do something to take care of the younger, he knows him long enough to see the pain lingering in his eyes, not to mention the agony-stricken mindset that he accumulated through the years of friendship.
They were sitting, side by side, like they would always position themselves in grief and sorrow. Baekhyun became his right hand, the person who he could trust more than he trusts himself, simply because he saw the real Joonmyeon before things persisted, before Ying happened, before Kris even started a way between territories from another. He wanted to erase the memory from the younger’s head, out of habit of taking care of people, but then again he knew that he needed that to grow further, to step forward, to move on, and of course, to learn.
With the mention of his brother, and the sight of the blood that was cascading down on Baekhyun’s hand, he somewhat lost it. The image of his brother in his head is inexplicable, not to mention that their friendship was tarnished in such situation where he required to be a king, more than a friend; he betrayed him, and he doesn’t know if he could still have the heart to forgive, although yesterday’s encounter was more than enough for him to see that the man mention was a little sincere with his actions, but Joonmyeon doubts him still. “It’s all in your head, Baekhyun.”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?” Family, it’s what made life interesting and worthwhile. For Baekhyun, it’s Zero, and for Joonmyeon, it’s Joohyun, and his most trusted friends; Zero was once in, but he needed to make sure that the league is still fit for him to see. “It’s all in your head that you’re alone, which is a little dismounting. What am I, a fraud, a nemesis? The funny thing is, you and your brother are the same. Why do you both think like every single thing on earth had forsaken you? Look around, you have a long way to go. Having dead parents sure does take toll on you but it doesn’t mean that you can’t start all over again.” It’s what he told the other man with the same, identical face, Zero, who had a feud with him a few while ago. The betrayal is still fresh in his head, and he couldn’t even see the sense of wondering why, he’s a vampire hunter, and he should have killed Joonmyeon the minute he saw him but they built something more formidable, something strong, with the sense of familiar comfort—they built a family of their own, despite their recognizable differences.
“Everything might be wrong.” He trails, taking his time on taking the younger’s hand on his, wiping the blood stained skin with a piece of clothing. Tongue swiping across his lips as he stares back into the distance where the city lights prevail.
Joohyun is still with Kris, and he’s there, drinking with his best friend (in his defense, he needed the break); all he needs to do is to hope that everything would be back in place, and he hopes nothing but his wife’s safety.
“But it doesn’t mean it’s the end. Finish your drink, if there’s still to sip. We have to get back in finding Joohyun. Drama hours are over, we have to get back on track—and fast.”
