Promise (Ateez au)

Chapter XIV

"I have nothing to say to you, hyung. It was an accident." San said, not looking at Yunho, scared he would have that judging look of his again.

"An accident? You could've killed him! You could've killed your own boyfriend, San! Why didn't you eat?" Yunho ended with a worried tone. Yes, he was angry at the younger for bringing Wooyoung in danger, but he was worried for the reason behind it. What brought him so far to not eat even though he knew he was starving?

"I couldn't ... It's so hard, hyung. I don't want to drink blood, even if it's from animals. I don't want to kill ..." San revealed, his hatred towards himself and what he is showing.

"San, you know we need it to survive. Humans kill animals too, right? To eat? It's the exact same. And I'll teach you how to drink from animals without killing them, but you need more control over yourself." Yunho explained calmly, understanding the struggle San was going through. He was giving advice, but at the same time was forcing himself to his own limits, just so he had to drink less blood. He hated the thought of it too, killing just to live yourself. But that was life, right? He should start learning from his own advice ...

"Hyung, don't tell Woo, please. I don't want him to know about my struggles. I'll never be able to get full control over myself, but I'll try to get as far as possible, as long as that means Wooyoung is safe. Please help me, hyung. I know you hate me because of my eyes, but- Fuck." San abruptly stopped, averting his eyes again. He had said too much, and Yunho realised that too.

"So it was you. Wooyoung was telling the truth. Why did you take it, San? There's nothing in there that is necessary for you to know about." Yunho said strictly, glancing over at the drawer where he hid the book.

"I wanted to know why I was like this. Why I'm so different from all of you. Why I feel so much different from you. Does it have something to do with who I was as a human? What was I like? I know that you know. I accidentally took the wrong book, I realised that quick enough. That's why I hid it in Wooyoung's jacket, so I wouldn't get caught with it. But you're smarter than I thought. I didn't read much, just about the eye colours. I never knew. Why are you keeping it a secret? It's not much of a big deal, right? Why can't you tell us about the information you found? It's a bit selfish to keep all of it to yourself. Help us, instead of making us suffer. I know you can help. You know more than you show."

"San, it's not like that. I don't want you to worry about all of it. Why does it even matter? Humans don't know everything about their kind either, right? If you have specific questions, I can help. But I don't know everything." Yunho started to get irritated because of the younger's questions. It really wasn't worth it for him.

"Who am I, hyung?" San asked seriously, a slight tone of sadness in it.

"I ... I don't know, San. I just know that you went to university because you were on your way from there when you got hit. I don't know what happened, but something happened and there is someone who can tell you more about it. But I can't help you." Yunho saw how San rolled his eyes before standing up to leave. He started to get really on the older's nerves right now. A little bit of respect wouldn't hurt, right?

"Whatever. I'm going to talk to Wooyoung. It's been way too long since I've seen him." And with that, he closed the door behind his back, leaving Yunho alone. He knew he had to talk to Mingi about all of this. San confessed what he did, so maybe he was really up to something like Wooyoung suspected. But only time would tell them.

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"Mingi, I have something to confess. It's about San and-"

"He's not who we think he is and he's planning something behind our backs? I know, I heard you talk with San and Wooyoung. It was by accident though. I'm sorry I eavesdropped. It's just that I was curious. Do you know what Wooyoung was trying to say?" Mingi confessed, earning a little shake of Yunho's head. It did make him think of the unfinished sentence again. What word could it have been?

"You don't think San ... He killed someone, right? I mean, why would he do that? He's such a nice guy." Mingi asked, a bit scared to reveal his thoughts. He obviously didn't want to accuse the younger of something he might not have done.

"I don't know, Mingi. But why would he have killed someone? I mean, there must be a reason, right? If he did, of course."

"We can either ask him about it directly or wait until something happens. Or we can just ask Wooyoung and hope he finally is willing to tell us." The red-haired boy continued, but suddenly his ears moved a tad bit, trying to find where the sound came from. Everyone was asleep right now, so why was someone still awake?

"Did you hear something?" Yunho whispered, getting silenced by the younger who was making his way to the door already.
He hesitantly lay his hand on the door handle, quickly glancing at Yunho who gave him an encouraging nod. The duo carefully looked out into the hallway, where they saw someone on the ground.
Mingi, who immediately noticed who it was, ran over to the figure, eyes widening when tilting his head up.

"What the fuck?!" The redhead exclaimed while carefully letting his fingers run over the boy's mouth.
Yunho, who had finally dared to walk closer, noticed what was the reason for the exclamation immediately. Seonghwa had to suffer again under Hongjoong's hands. His mouth had been stitched shut, his cheeks painter red by the blood-tears that were running down them.

"Hwa ..." Mingi whispered, before moving his attention to Yunho. "Help him, please." They both knew it was a matter of time. It had been so long since they had seen either of them, so they assumed Seonghwa didn't get to eat or drink much ever since then.
Mingi and Yunho didn't have to exchange any words for them to understand what they had to do. The younger immediately made his way to the front door, while Yunho carefully picked up the almost passed out boy and carried him to his room.
It wasn't going to be difficult to take out the stitches, but just whatever went through Hongjoong's head while doing that, made the blonde sick. He finally had to do something about it. He had it his way for way too long now.

"Here's the food. I brought some water with me too, because I assumed he didn't have much to drink either." Mingi lay down the dead animal in front of Seonghwa, who was finally freed from the stitches. He was obviously very hungry, being much more vulnerable to it because his body didn't know what to do anymore. It was just as much confused about the human-vampire thing as all of them.

"From now on, he'll be sleeping in your room. I'm not sending him back to that ... That monster ..." Memories flooded his mind by that word.

"Hyung, don't think about that. He never was a monster, no matter how many time Hongjoong would call him that. He's always been nice to us and was like a father to me, so don't think of him like that when he wasn't." Mingi stopped his thoughts from going anywhere and he was happy for that.

"I know, Mingi. I-I wasn't thinking anything like that. I'll always love him and would never ever think anything bad of him. He ... He was the love of my life and ... And I couldn't protect him ..."

"Who-"

"The person who died by Hongjoong's hands and was forced to bite you resulting in this mess." Mingi cut Seonghwa off coldly, the hatred towards Hongjoong was clear. He had never liked him, always getting hurt by that man. He took so much away from him, and the reason behind it was yet to be made clear.

"I ... I'll go get my stuff then." Seonghwa hesitatingly said, but seemed to realise something. "Eum, hyung?"

"Yes?" Both Mingi and Yunho said immediately, gaining an awkward look by the ravenette.

"I-I meant Yunho hyung. So ... Can you go to Hongjoong's room first? I ... Just go, please." Yunho knew better than to question what was going on and just quickly cleaned up everything after sending the duo to Mingi's room. He was a bit hesitant to go to Hongjoong's room. He didn't know why Seonghwa had been so secretive about it after all. But he had no choice, right?
But was he ready for what he was going to see there?

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I'm so sorry for not updating last week 😭
I have no excuses since I had a full week of school holiday, but I just wasn't feeling too well mentally, so I decided to stay away from the app for a while.
But I'm back and will give you two chapters to make up for it 💖

Also, I hope Jongho is resting well now so he can heal quickly 💖