𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 & 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐡𝐞𝐦 || 𝐉𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐥 (𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐈𝐈)

5.3 - Jeonghan

Goosebumps are like a dance as they pop along my skin.

"Seungcheol... What. Was. The. Job?" I grit through my teeth.

He chin tilts up, ever so slightly. "To kill the guy who killed my brother."

A ringing starts in my ears, and I want to scream. Betrayal is like a stab to the chest, and my fingers clutch the fabric of my shirt, squeezing tight, as if it could relieve the pain.

"You would kill me for a brother you didn't know?" I whisper, being able to feel my heart actively shatter. I get we weren't together. I understand we didn't end on good terms. I realize what we had then may have meant nothing to him.

But it meant everything to me, even when we weren't us.

An evil glint enters his eyes, traveling to his lips, quirking up slightly. "I wanted to kill you for sleeping with my blood."

I swallow over the lump in my throat. "You would kill me?"

He puffs out a laugh. "I would kill you for many reasons, Jeonghan, most of all for sleeping with Hyungwon."

I tremble, and he smirks before it drops, and a blankness washes over his features. "I was going to make you suffer for sleeping with my family. It's what my father wanted. Even though Hyungwon was a bastard and was never considered part of our family, he was still my father's blood, and that was a betrayal in his eyes. You fucking him was a betrayal to me, so the anger was there. The need to kill you. Though, seeing you changed that. It always did, Jeonghan. I can't just pull a blade across your throat and think I can call it even. You're Jeonghan. My Hannie."

"Why did you keep going with it?"

He moves his hands from his chest, leaning forward, curling his fingers around the back of my head. His fingers burrow into my hair, and he yanks me forward. His breath is warm against my lips, and he grips me tightly. All I'm able to focus on is him. He is my life. He is my world. No one else exists when it is the two of us together.

"Because you deserved to serve a little penance for letting someone else slide between your legs," he growls, his eyes narrowing. "You know, Hyungwon always fucking hated me and my father. You think he went after you because he liked you? No, he knew exactly what you were to me. He knew you were mine, and he tried using that against me. To get to me." His fingers wrap around my throat, and he squeezes as his upper lip curls, baring his teeth at me.

"But you should've known better. You never should've slept with him, Jeonghan. You're mine. You've always been mine."

I narrow my eyes at him, wanting to dig my nails into his wound.

"You were gone, Seungcheol. I'm not going to stay a fucking nun forever. You left me."

He growls, squeezing me as he pulls me forward, until our foreheads knock together, our skin melding, heat against heat, crackling tension against sharp anger. We're both on edge, both hurt, both of us vengeful.

"You're alive for a reason, Jeonghan. I could've killed you, that first night. As you jumped the fence, you wet body sliding against the rods as fear leaked from your pores. How easy it would've been grab you in my grip and plunge my knife into your stomach, watching you paint the cement patio with your delicious, bright red blood. I wanted you dead, Jeonghan. At that moment, I wanted you dead."

My breath shudders from my chest, and I realize the truth to his words. I didn't feel a crackling heat between us.

I never once felt a lust or connection in that moment. All I felt was hate, an absolute need to spill blood.