This Day | Gyuhao (Threequel to Youth & The Aged)

- 24

| Chapter Twenty - Four — Long time no see, Sunshine |

Sunoo can't sleep.

It's currently 4 in the morning, and he's struggling to get comfortable.

Each position he ends up in feels agonizing, that horrible, wretched scrape of his thoughts keeping him up constantly, never letting him rest.

He hasn't slept a wink.

So, he gets up, finding no other reason to try and fall into a slumber he so desperately craves. It's worthless.

He begins packing his things.

The trip to Japan was just 4 hours away after all. Around 8 o'clock in the morning was when they'd leave. He hasn't packed at all, not one bit, so he finds himself thanking his insomnia for forcing him to do this.

It's only when the zipper of the last pocket is closing does he get the scare of his life.

"Sunshine," There's a man. It's dark, just the little pathetic nightlight in this room the source of light, but Sunoo can see him leaning against the doorframe, one arm above his head, "God, you haven't aged a day."

That voice.

Sunoo feels sick.

His gun is on the surface of his dresser, just a few feet away, but before he can even make a move to retrieve it, the guy's shaking his head and clicking his tongue, beating him to it and taking the weapon away.

"What do you want?" Sunoo squints, trying to identify the stranger, "If you're part of who I think you are, I suggest you leave."

"What will you do, tell on me?" The guy chuckles, grinning brightly. The light reflects off the shine of his teeth.

"You don't want to mess with me." Sunoo warns him, gaze hard.

"Or what?"

Sunoo slips out his lucky revolver from the pocket of his hoodie, aiming right for the stranger's head, "Because I always tend to carry a spare."

The guy just laughs, giggles, "That's something I always loved about you."

Sunoo swallows, body tensing.

"Don't you remember me, Sunoo-yah?" The strange man steps into the little light illuminating through the room, that face.... that cold, darkened face that Sunoo hasn't seen in so long finally casting before his eyes again. His body weakens, arms quivering. The man takes notice, "Ah, I still make you so nervous. I love that."

"Heeseung." The name tastes ripe when Sunoo calls it out, his tongue going near numb.

Heeseung nods, dark hair framing his face as it falls to halo around it perfectly, "That's me." He shrugs, standing on his toes, arms clasped behind his back, "Jesus, I haven't seen you in so long. How's my boy doing, hmm?"

"I'm not your boy." Sunoo tries to ignore the lump in his throat.... tries to ignore the genuine panic bubbling in his chest.

"You used to be." Heeseung rakes his eyes up and down Sunoo's figure, "Don't you remember?"

Sunoo gulps, clocking the gun, "I said don't fucking mess with me."

"Come on, Sun. I just wanted to see you. You know I'd never hurt you," He grins, "Anybody but you, don't you get it?"

"You're a cold, self centered, obsessive, manipulative son of a bitch, and I don't have time for more of your games," Sunoo scoffs suddenly, "And how the fuck did you get in? We have this place surrounded."

"Apparently not surrounded enough." Heeseung hums, "I'm like a snake, Sunoo-yah, I slither past anything in my way."

Sunoo grits his teeth, "Leave and maybe I won't shoot you."

"Ah," Heeseung chuckles, leaning back against the door. Sunoo gulps thickly as he watches it close, "We both know you'd never lay a finger on me. I mean too much to you."

"Fuck off." Sunoo shakes his head, "We ended a long time ago."

"Did we?" Heeseung hums, cocking his head to the side, "I don't recall it being mutual. In my head, we're inseparable."

"Well, your head is fucked up." Sunoo swallows, taking a deep breath, "Now get the fuck out of here while I'm asking nicely."

Heeseung just ignores him, acts like he's not threatening him at gun point, "You goin' somewhere?" The taller asks, eyeing Sunoo's suitcase, smirking when he notices Sunoo's demeanor change, "Come on now, sweetheart, you can't get away that easily. Not when we're this close."

"This close?" Sunoo repeats, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"All this talk about wanting me to leave, but here you are, encouraging a conversation." Heeseung smiles like he's giddy off his favorite cocaine, "God, I love you."

"Answer me."

"What happens when they find out?"

Silence.

Sunoo feels his chest cave in.

"Shut up." He spits.

"What happens when your former identity is revealed, Sunoo-yah? Hmm? What happens, then?" Heeseung's words feel like gunshots. At this point, Sunoo's surprised he's still standing upright.

"They won't ever know." Sunoo's been careful, so fucking careful all these years, he couldn't have the truth spilled by this piece of—

"You're even thinking about me in your head right now." Heeseung sighs like he's head over heels. Sunoo merely rolls his eyes, "Unfortunately, I have to stay silent. The others have a plan for you all."

"A plan?" Sunoo's breath hitches when Heeseung grabs the doorknob to leave. He finds himself stumbling forward, gripping the taller man's bicep, "What are you saying?"

Heeseung smirks like an idiot upon feeling Sunoo touch him, sinking into his hold, "That I'll do anything to keep you safe." He pinches Sunoo's cheek, the boy too shocked and terrified to even react, "Your friends are in for a wild ride though. I'd warn them if I were you."

Sunoo blinks back tears, hand slipping from Heeseung's shoulder, "You can't hurt them. Please."

"But baby," Heeseung tips forward, lips grazing Sunoo's ear, "Jungwon wants us to."

A bombshell.

Sunoo's lips part, and all he can do is stay quiet. He doesn't know what to say. All the wheels in his head are moving at an all time high, the gears working around wires in his brain like there's no tomorrow.

He doesn't even register Heeseung leaving, only feeling the tingle of the man's lips on his forehead and seeing a mere flash of the diamond on the back of his neck.

Sunoo drops to his knees, cupping his wrist.

He'd hidden it for so long.

It couldn't end this way. Not from somebody as worthless as Heeseung.

Sunoo shivers, staring at the floor like it's his worst enemy, chest rising and falling at a pace he didn't know was possible.

After an hour of hyperventilating and freaking out on his bedroom floor, Sunoo eventually crawls back to his bed, slipping underneath the covers and shivering from anything and everything except the cold.

He cradles his wrist flat to his chest, trying to burn off the former diamond with the pain of his heart, eventually and finally finding it in himself to fall asleep.

They couldn't know.

They couldn't ever know.

Sunoo tells himself that each time he notices the cherry tattoo underneath his ear.

He's with Carmine now.

Not Amaranth.

Not anymore.