Blood and Devotion | Woosan (English version)

3 - Make a wish

FOUR YEARS BEFORE THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Wooyoung watched San blow out the candles on his 16th birthday, his eyes closed, focused on his wish.

By now he was a teenager through and through, no longer a little boy. Fortunately, though, he had kept the characteristics that made him so dear to Wooyoung.

They were celebrating alone in San's room, illuminated by the soft and warm light of his lamp.

"So, are you ready for your present?"

San looked at him with eyes that sparkled. He may have been a teenager, but he still had the enthusiasm of a kid.

Wooyoung pulled a black lacquered box out of his pocket. San took it gently, as if afraid that the content was fragile. He opened it and his eyes doubled their size.

"Wooyoung...you...you didn't have to spend so much money on me!"

Wooyoung had gifted him a simple, black bracelet with a single ruby in the center. It was a family heirloom that he had kept covered in dust in a drawer for two hundred years. It reminded Wooyoung a little of himself. It pleased him that San was wearing it.

"I didn't spend any money on it. It's an item I've been keeping for... a while."

San held out his wrist for him to fasten it. Wooyoung placed the blood-red gemstone on his pulsating veins, closing the bracelet around his wrist.

"It looks good on you. Do you like it?"

"It's so beautiful, thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"Don't take it off."

"I won't. It's the best gift ever!"

Wooyoung smiled, softened.

"Now... we have to do that," San said, rummaging through his backpack.

Wooyoung rolled his eyes. "Do we have to?"

"You promised me!"

San had never drunk in his life and had asked him on his 16th birthday to join him in this first experience. Wooyoung hated alcohol to death. It tasted disgusting and that taste wouldn't go away for days. He also did not understand San's compelling need to try drinking.

"Don't make that face, I already told you, it's a—"

"A rite of passage, I know, I get it. Let's get just do it then."

San excitedly pulled the bottle of vodka out of his backpack. He looked at Wooyoung for a moment, as if to ask his approval, and seeing his surrendered gaze, took a sip. He immediately coughed.

Wooyoung burst out laughing. "Disgusting, huh? To think you wanted to try it so bad. You should trust me more."

San closed the bottle again, setting it aside as if it had personally offended him. "But why do people drink this crap?"

"People do so many stupid and senseless things."

San blushed, nodding. Who knows what he was thinking.

"Wooyoung... speaking of stupid things... do you want to know what I wished for earlier?"

Wooyoung had a bad feeling, but he was dying to know.

"You shouldn't tell me. Or it won't come true."

Unfortunately, wishes did not come true either way. However, San seemed convinced otherwise. That was why Wooyoung adored him.

San shifted his crossed legs, moving from the bed frame on which he had rested his back, getting on his knees in front of Wooyoung.

He put his hands on Wooyoung's face. If Wooyoung's heart could have beaten, it would have missed a beat.