By The Crest

❃1❃

TW: CAR ACCIDENT, MENTIONS OF BLOOD, AND SLIGHT CHARACTER DEATH. (READ AT OWN RISK)
‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

A tear slipped down Wooyoung's cheek. His eyes were focused on the book in front him while his hand was busy shoving the ramen he had bought to his mouth.

It was nearing midnight and the male sat in a convenient store reading a story that he randomly picked out at a local bookstore in the mall. At first he just bought it to pass time and had thought that it would be another cliché romance novel. - at least to what he understood after reading the back sypnosis of it - But he found himself falling over the moon with its unique storyline and its charming characters. Especially since the main protagonist of the story, coincidentally, had the same name as him.

Like a teenager addicted to a video game, he was addicted to the book and he continued reading whenever time allowed him.

Woououng got weird glances from the teen behind the cash register for tearing up over a book but he didn't mind it. Only minding his own business by reading the novel in his hand where he sifted through its last three pages. The novel was a bl fantasy romance novel that incorporated the theme of destined soulmates in it. Even though Wooyoung had already saw the theme a handful of times, the book he has in particular was the best one he has ever read.

The novel's title was 'The Wounds of The Heart'. And currently, it would be Wooyoung's fifth time reading it.

In the story, the male protagonist came from a ducal family that was known for their successful textile industry. According to the story and like the rest of the people in their lands, a crest will one day appear on the character's body. The crest being the male protagonist's key to finding his own soulmate with the matching colour and design of the crest. As the character was on the lookout for another person with the same mark as him, the story fast forwarded to the time of the Imperial Prince's Birthday Banquet. The prince was described as a man with a heart made out of ice, a ruthless warrior like the devil himself, and a face that people believe that it was hand crafted by the gods themselves.

However, as the male lead already knew of the rumours that circulated around the royal, he proceeds to go to the banquet in search of his own lover. And at the party, despite the many red flags and sirens that were going wild in his head, the protagonist had fallen in love with the prince. It was at that part of the story that the male had abandoned his crest and destined soulmate and began going after the prince.

His personality had changed because of it. The greed of wanting the prince all to himself, the jealousy when he saw the royal being surrounded by other people, specifically the brave women who dared to flirt with the man with the goal of possibly being the next Imperial Princess or just to get in his pants, and the anger when all of his attempts to get the royal's attention were failing.

There was also part of the novel where it explained on how the prince got his personality and status. Wooyoung's tears didn't stop for an hour when he first read the tragic past, he also got nightmares because of how real it felt to him. Sympathy had found a place in Wooyoung's heart after he had come to terms on how and why the prince got his scary reputation from the people.

The prince only craved for love, yet all he got was pain and suffering. That's when Wooyoung had understood the meaning of the novel's title.

Wiping the last tears away, Wooyoung sighs as he cleans the mess in front of him. Throwing the ramen cup with the chopsticks in the nearest trash bin, he clutches the book with his left hand and heads to the exit. The store's chime signals his leave as he steps out into the cool summer night. His walk back to his flat was about 20 minutes away, so he busies himself with going over the book's plot line or try to remember if he had some leftover homework that he needed to do.

His eyes looked straight ahead in case he would run into other people who also took their nightly walks or in case he ran into a pole. He barely noticed his calm surroundings. The warm yet cooler wind that would pick up every once in a while, the streetlights that gave the street its soft orange glow, and the few cars that passed by with their engines that created some white noise that came and went.

Just as Wooyoung reached the pedestrian crossing, the led man on the pedestrian light was already green with 20 seconds on the timer. Wooyoung continued his walking on the striped pavement. The male was deep in his head with thoughts that he trusted his own feet and internal GPS to guide him back to his flat. However, he was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice the car that was coming straight at him.

By the time Wooyoung heard and turned to the vehicle's honking he was already in the middle of the street. The man in the car tried slamming on the breaks but it wasn't working. Wooyoung stared at the on coming car out of shock. He was a literal deer caught in the headlights as his body stayed bolted to the ground with where he stood.

Until, he felt his body being punched out of all of its air. The impact of the car was able to send Wooyoung onto the hood of the vehicle and he eventually rolled on top of it like a ragdoll. The man in the car had swerved a sharp right from shock of hitting someone over, and because of the sudden turn, the car wasn't able to grasp on the road properly, making it tip on its left side too much before it fell on its side and slowly falling on its back.

Wooyoung now laid on the concrete road, his body felt like an actual cinder block with how heavy it was. The book that he carried was several inches from his hand. Glass from the car's windshield littered around him, his skin was dotted with bruises and scratches with shards in the mix, and on his left temple that touched the skid-marked road, blood began to pool on the ground. The crimson liquid mixed with the asphalt as Wooyoung basically inhaled the metallic and burnt smell.

Everything felt numb to him.

His consciousness fought to stay awake. The tears that fell down his face held no hidden emotion in them. Wooyoung could hear other people on the scene of the accident. Some were horrified, some were still dressed in their evening clothes, while some tried to call an ambulance for help.

Wooyoung tried to fight back and to stay awake, to stay alive at this point. Yet, he knew that he had already loss a lot of blood and his chances of survival even when the medics had arrived were very slim.

So he succumbed to the hands of death.

He felt tired from fighting to stay awake. He wanted to feel at peace for once.

Before he could completely block the world arround him. Wooyoung thought back to the book that he had with him. Coincidentally, the 'Wooyoung' from the novel also had a death scene. The reason was that he died at the hands of his very own soulmate.

The prince.