Blood and Devotion | Woosan (English version)

4 - Forever

THREE YEARS BEFORE THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Wooyoung was at the airport. San's mother had asked him the favor of picking him up when he returned from summer camp because she and San's father were still on vacation. The sun hurt his eyes even with the black glasses he had always on.

How they had teased him, Hongjoong and Yeosang, when he had asked Hongjoong to borrow his car.

"From phenomenal predator to driver." So funny.

Finally he saw San. His hair was long, he could tell he hadn't cut it in a long time. He had done a single platinum highlight on his dark locks. He looked good. He looked like he had grown.

"Wooyoung!" he shouted excitedly, running to embrace him.

Wooyoung returned the hug cautiously. It had been more than a month since they had seen each other; Wooyoung had already become unaccustomed to holding a human being without drinking his blood.

"What did you do to your hair?"

"Do you like it? My roommate did it for me."

"It looks good on you. Did you have a good time? Did anything happen while you were gone?"

"It went very well, actually! But it would have been nicer if you had been there."

"I would have been out of place among you kids, don't you think?"

"Maybe."

Wooyoung took the bag from his hand, putting it into the car. A long journey under the sun awaited them. How wonderful.

"And what about you? Did you miss me?" asked San. "What have you been doing in my absence?"

"Yes, I missed you," too much, "I was worried about you. I didn't do anything much, though — I've been with my brothers."

San nodded, thoughtful. Wooyoung had noticed earlier that his voice was beginning to become warmer, less childish; he couldn't wait for him to speak again to make sure it wasn't just an impression.

"Look, Wooyoung. I know that your brothers are older than you and I'm just a kid to them, however, I kind of regret not ever seeing them. You spend a lot of time with my family, but I've never even been to your house. How come? Are you ashamed of me?"

"Don't start that again."

"If you don't explain things to me, it's normal for me to have to ask several times."

Wooyoung sighed. The reflection of sun on the cars around them was giving him a migraine, and San was no better.

"If I don't explain something to you it's because I can't and I don't want to. Just let it go, for once."

"...Are you alright?"

"I have a headache. Please don't talk."

San fell silent, turning away, resting his forehead on the window. Wooyoung did not want to offend him after a month of separation, but he did not know how to explain him that he did not want to take him to his home because he had an underlying fear that he would not make it out alive.

Wooyoung had always tried to keep Hongjoong and Yeosang separate from San. In the sporadic times they had seen each other, nothing much had ever happened, of course. The two vampires, over those years, had learned to respect his relationship with San. They still did not understand it, still found it dangerous, still could not get how Wooyoung could spend all that time with a human without feeding from him even once, but... they respected it.