penumbra

Chap. 21 - Poignant and Bittersweet

San's heart ached. Wooyoung cried during the entire ride to the hospital Yeosang worked at, and the younger had to hold him for a while before the other finally felt ready to step out of the car.

At least by then it was fairly simple to transport the blood bags back home. Yeosang would first bribe the blood center transporter to get access to the supply whilst the van would still be en route to one of the hospitals on his family's name, then he'd load the trunk of the car he had taken to work with thermal boxes filled with blood bags. The amounts were never too big to raise as little suspicion as possible, but the agreement Yeosang had with his cousin definitely helped keeping things on the low.

The blonde had just been nearing his thirty five years of age when he began planning his own death. His face would always be on public circulation and people had to start noticing he wasn't aging with time at some point, so he went to his ten year old younger cousin as a desperate resort. They've had a good relationship since the young woman's childhood, and the two still remained very close. It did take a bit of patience and explaining and proving his arguments, but Yeosang told her everything. Both came to an agreement in the end: he'd take sixty percent of the family's riches, fake his death and disappear from the public eye; she'd take over being the head of the family, the remaining money and the family hospital franchise. The blonde had promised to simply stay under the radar. He'd manage whatever type of life he had now, conceal his identity in whatever way he could.

Yeosang waited twenty five years so people could forget his face enough but eventually got to work again, and it couldn't have made him happier. He truly liked being a doctor. Besides that, most of his part of the money would be invested under fake identities and his cousin would make sure to aid him in keeping a lid on the ordeals when it came to the government possibly overseeing suspicious transactions and deposits through old, solid connections the Kang family had with a handful of politicians.

It was a temporary measure as his cousin was still very much human and mortal , and Yeosang's - and the whole coven's - cover up would eventually die with her, but they still had some time. His cousin had had a daughter, so maybe in a few years they could somehow work on 'passing the torch'.

But what mattered for the time being was that they also got the help with getting away with stealing from the blood donation centers.

San or Wooyoung would help him with the loading process and transporting. His fledgling didn't know how to drive but it wasn't much of a problem, as the blonde would specifically find a way to excuse himself for the rest of the day so he could take them both back to the villa and then spend some time together.

San was happy that Wooyoung would get the rest of the afternoon with Yeosang, maybe it could help get the brunette's head off of what was going down at the house.

Wooyoung wasn't the only one hurting with everything that happened and by the way Hongjoong was pushing them both away, though. San could look tough on the outside but not only was he pretty sensitive, he actually could take things even harder than the older, only he was better at concealing his own feelings - occasionally to a point where he would explode from letting too much accumulate.

As he drove to Seonghwa's apartment, he let out a worn out, heavy sigh. Being alone at last felt like it just amplified everything that was crushing his chest.

It had been over a year since they had taken Mingi in, and the impression he had left was that of a gentle giant who wouldn't hurt a fly. Everyone in that house knew where he came from and how it must have fucked up his head, but no detail regarding his past coven was ever shared by the tall, meek vampire. Some of Yonghwan's torture methods were already well known by the residents, specially by San because of his time amongst turf wars between bloodsuckers. He himself had come from a similar background of abuse within his own coven, in his case coming specifically from his sire only.