ALL BARK NO BITE | SADISTIC BEAUTY SPINOFF

Chapter 48

~ 320 F, La Grande Maison, Haenan Acropolis: Apartment Complex, Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Wookyung wanted to look at him one last time. Maybe a hurried glance before he turned away, or maybe a simple exchange at the door... if they were even capable of greeting each other goodbye after everything that had happened. This departure, by all means, was as bitter as could be. He heard Minho's footsteps retreat, moving towards the door and knew that this would fade out soon too...

The door clicked open and Wookyung instinctively turned his head, longing to steal him back, childishly unwilling to stick to a decision made in good sense, be it a blessing or curse, in his struggle, he caught a glimpse of Byun Minho, locking eyes with him for a moment right before he hurried out of the door... his eyes moist, cheeks mottled... Wookyung hated how he had tainted his beauty...

With shame... fear...

And sadness...

Hearing him run down the hallway and struggle with the lock for a while, he wished to see him to the door, to help open the knob but his head had started to hurt. In his insistence to be by Minho's side, he had forgotten to take his painkillers. As he ambled to the door to see him off against his own wishes, his wound began throbbing greatly, from the stress of his own actions with the general pain.

He walked to his nightstand, scrabbling for the medicine but he couldn't find it. Sensing that he was running out of time, he left the room, out to the hall, crossing the rooms and seeing the door to his apartment ajar. As he decided to chart the path down the building and out to wherever Minho had gone, he clutched the edge of the door, steadying himself against the fading narcotics in his system.

But he promised him...

He promised to not make his decisions for him anymore. He said he won't pursue him... he couldn't just do as he pleased anymore. Wookyung slung back against the door, swaying in place. It sunk in finally that Minho had run away upon seeing him... he was horrified at the sight of him... at what he had done to him. This time, he was not being torn away from him. This was his own doing, his mistake.

Wookyung stood vacant by the door.

What difference would he make by running out to him again looking like a mess...

To someone who willingly pushed him away for good...

"Aahhh..." Wookyung doubled over, grabbing his head where it had started to burst with pain. He barely made his way back to his room, again searching for the pills, in the drawers, under his pillow, lost somewhere in the sheets. "Haha" Wookyung started laughing... the universe decided he had to hurt him more at this moment. He gripped the sides of his nightstand, wondering what to do next.

He couldn't have gone far. Wookyung turned to his record player, reeling occasionally, going completely still when the wound on his head hurt too hard, incapacitating him. He managed to find the vinyl he was looking for, smiling weakly he carefully placed it on the platter, setting it in motion and increasing the volume until it blasted. Making his head harder. Wookyung walked back to entrance.

He wanted to stand in wait, prepared to hold him just like he asked... if he'd want to come back after all but he felt his body weaken. He had overexerted himself beyond a point of no return. In the backdrop of the dead singer's cheery yet melancholic voice, his legs gave out and he dropped to the floor in front of the open door. It was easier this way. His head hit the floor and he lay there in wait.

He had told Minho that he would run right back but he didn't believe it. He wasn't the first or last option to him, and after he ruined things between them, making him feel unsafe and unloved, why would he want to run back? Wookyung started thinking of every time he saw Byun Minho and fell in love with him a little more. The first time? When he saw him enter the second-hand book store...