Promise (Ateez au)

Chapter XI

Yunho had quickly dismissed the ravenette, only wanting to talk to Wooyoung for now. Seonghwa didn't know what to think about all of this. It was just too much for now. Everyone was acting so weird all of a sudden, as if everyone knew what was going on except him. He never knew what was going on though ... They never cared to tell him.
He was so lost in his mind that he didn't notice he almost walked into someone until he heard his voice.

"Hey, are you alright?" The deep voice of the redhead could be heared, bringing Seonghwa back to the present.

"I'm .. fine, Mingi. I'm always fine." He answered, not in the mood to talk about what's on his mind.

"You can always talk to me, okay? I'll listen. No matter who or what it is about. Even if you just want to complain about the weather or if you're not feeling well, I'll be here. Okay?" Mingi said, worry in his voice. He wanted Seonghwa to pull him in a room and hear his beautiful voice speak to him, no matter what it was about. He just wanted to hear his honey-like voice. He wanted him to remember.

"I think it's better if I just go check up on Hongjoong. Knowing him, he probably did something stupid again." Seonghwa waved away the invite, still not in the mood to talk.

"Can you .. not talk about Hongjoong for once?" Mingi whispered, making it hard for Seonghwa to understand what he said, but he still did.

"What?" The ravenette asked in disbelieve. He was sure he didn't talk that much about the silver-haired male.

"Nothing, Seonghwa." Mingi's voice sounded almost annoyed and it made the younger's blood boil in anger.

"Why are you annoyed all of a sudden? I should be the one who's annoyed, because that's clearly what you're best at, annoying others. You are being so obsessive over me. You are angry whenever I spend time with my boyfriend. Why? What gives you the right to act like that?" Seonghwa questioned. He wasn't actually angry at the older. He just wanted answers. He needed answers.

"Your boyfriend? Really? Is that what you call him now? Fuck, I feel cheated on." He rolled his eyes, pushing himself past Seonghwa.

"What do you mean?" The ravenette didn't understand a single bit about this. Cheated? He wasn't cheating to his knowledge. Were Hongjoong and Mingi- No, that was impossible. They hate each other.

"Nothing. I mean nothing." Mingi pulled his arm away that Seonghwa unconciously had grabbed.

"Wait, Mingi. At least answer me. If you want me to know the truth, then tell me! Because I can't remember!" He was sick of everyone hiding everything from him, and then getting mad because he didn't know. It was so tiring. He knew there was something between him and Mingi, but if the redhead wasn't going to inform him on it, he would never know what it is.

"I love you ..." The redhead mumbled, making it unable for Seonghwa to hear.

"What did you say?" He was hoping so hard he would repeat himself. It was important for him to know. He had to know what he said.

"I love you, for fucks sake! I, Song Mingi, am in fucking love with you, Park Seonghwa! Are you happy?! Are you happy now?!" The younger didn't know what his face looked like in that moment. He only knew he was very confused. What did he mean with love? Were they together? Was that what he meant with getting cheated on? Was he himself cheating? Without receiving an answer, Mingi turned around, clearly trying hard to not burst out in tears. Seonghwa didn't want to hurt his feelings, but he was just too confused to react. He watched how the older ran away. And even after he had vanished around the corner and he heard the bedroom door slam closed, he stood there. His mind was a mess, hundreds of questions running through it. But one was the most prominent and frequently returning. Why? Why was Hongjoong making it look as if they were dating, while they clearly weren't? What was Hongjoong planning?

He decided to finally check up on the oldest, carefully opening their bedroom door. He wasn't even surprised to see him passed out on the ground, the syringe still in his hand. It hasn't been the first time and it wouldn't be the last time he would see him like this. It had something to do with Yunho, that was for sure. Because every time they had an argument, he used the syringe.
Seonghwa carefully took the syringe and put in on the table before trying to put Hongjoong on the bed to lay down a bit more comfortably. It wasn't as easy since he was still half a human and did get out of breath easily, whilst the full vampires were also a bit heavier than humans.

"Don't ... Don't go." Hongjoong grabbed Seonghwa's wrist, just when he wanted to leave the room again. He wasn't feeling comfortable enough being alone with him in this state.

"Hyung, I-" The ravenette tried, but got cut off by the silver-haired man. That was when he realised he was sleeptalking.

"Yunho, don't leave me alone. You promised ... You promised you would never leave me. You can't just break that promise, Yunho! No! Yunho!" His eyes opened so quickly, that Seonghwa didn't even have the time to pull away. Hongjoong's eyes were filled with fear, something the ravenette didn't get to see much.

"It didn't work ... Why didn't it work?! You. What did you do?!" The sudden outburst caught Seonghwa off guard, making him run away as quickly as he could. He had to get out of there. Now.
He just wanted to close the door behind him, when it got opened again with much more power, and he felt himself getting pulled back in.

"What did you do? Why? Why did you do it, Seonghwa?!" The ravenette was used to getting yelled at by the older, but this was worse than any other time before. He didn't understand, like usual, and it didn't look as if Hongjoong was going to explain.

"I didn't do anything, Joong. I just-"

"Don't call me that. There's one person who can call me that, and that person obviously isn't you." He stated, before turning his back on the frightened younger. He knew what was going to happen. He always did the same thing whenever he got angry. He was going to take that stupid syringe and make him fall asleep, performing some sort of 'surgery' on him in the meantime.

"You know what happens when you talk back to me. If you didn't do anything, who did? You messed with it, and you'll pay for that." Like Seonghwa expected, he had taken the syringe already.

"I just found you passed out on the ground. I thought it would be more comfortable for you to sleep on the bed, so I placed you there. I didn't touch any of your weird substances. I wouldn't dare to touch it, since I don't know what it is. Maybe it could kill me. I wouldn't know. So what makes you think I messed with it? Maybe you messed up yourself because you were in such a hurry." He wished he had shut up before letting all those words slip out, but it was too late. He couldn't stop himself from finally standing his ground, even though it was the worst thing he could've done. No one had the right to talk back to Hongjoong, not even Yunho. And for some reason, Yunho had more rights than anyone else here.

"You know what, let's change it. You deserve to suffer. So you better pass out because of the pain or else you'll have to sit through it. I'm tired of you thinking you can say whatever you want, Seonghwa. You're so annoying!" He had went to the other side of the room, opening a drawer and pulling out a needle with some suture thread.

"J-joong, what are you-" Seonghwa's voice was trembling in fear, but he knew it was too late for him to run away now. He could scream for Mingi, but he wouldn't get here in time so it didn't matter anymore.

"Don't call me that." The deadly glare he shot in the ravenette's direction, meant enough. "You never learn, do you? I'll make you shut up, if you can't learn when to shut up. It would be so nice if you finally shut up for real."

Seonghwa closed his eyes, trying to keep in the screams of pain that wanted to escape his mouth so badly when he felt the needle go through his skin. But luckily for him, he did pass out fairly quickly. For now, he could skip the pain.
But the reason for his pain ... Was probably so the older would forget about his own pain for a while.

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Hi! Happy palindrome day everyone! 🎉🎉🎉

I decided to keep this book based on Seonghwa and Yunho's pov most of the time, with some flashbacks and all. I hope that's okay for you, because I think it's impossible to not make it too chaotic if I don't limit myself on two characters.

I hope you liked this chapter and see you next week!