| Antidote | Poison 2nd Book |

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟡

The next few days were especially rough for Hongjoong. The wound that had finally closed was ripped open once again, and it felt as if it were hitting him harder than the first time. He couldn't bring himself to eat, he couldn't even sleep either. Yeosang tried his best to be there for him, assuring that he had everything that he needed and that he was at least somewhat comfortable. Yet, he could only do so much, his attempts at cheering him up were to no avail.

Hongjoong was confused, broken, and completely lost all over again.

His senses slowly came back to him, awaking from the two hours of sleep he had managed to get only after crying himself to sleep. Eyes swollen and incredibly bloodshot, they slowly opened, taking in the surroundings of the bedroom.

Rolling over onto his other side, Hongjoong expected to find Yeosang sleeping beside him, but all he saw was messy, empty sheets and a single piece of paper lying on the pillow beside him.

Hongjoong reached out a hand, taking the piece of paper in between his index finger and middle finger, and bringing the note to his face so he could read what was written on it.

𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒖𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑. 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕.

𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖.

                                                ~ 𝒀𝒆𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒈

Hongjoong let out a soft sigh, setting the note down onto the sheets of the bed before slowly sitting up in bed. His messy, unwashed hair draped over his eyes as it fell down into his face. He brought his hands to his face, rubbing his puffy, irritated eyes with a soft whine. He threw the sheets off of his waist, scooting out of the bed and plopping his feet onto the ground. Grabbing a fluffy, crimson-colored robe from the lounge chair beside the bed, he slipped his arms through the sleeves and tied the robe around his body.

Making his way out of the bedroom, his feet made small tapping sounds as he walked down the grand set of wooden steps leading to the ground floor of the home. Vernon, who was sitting on one of the loveseats placed in the foyer, looked up from the book he was reading to see the smaller male coming down the steps.

"Good morning, Hongjoong. I know I'm not Yeosang, but I know how terrible you've felt lately so I offered to take care of you while he went to work. I hope that's alright." Vernon said with a subtle smile.

Hongjoong paused for a moment when he reached the foot of the stairs, lifting his head to peer through the curtain of hair in his eyes and looking at Vernon. "Thank you... But I'm fine, at least for right now. You can just relax, Vernon..."

"But, sir-" Before Vernon could protest, Hongjoong turned and made his way down the hallway that led to the kitchen. He didn't want to push him, so he decided to do as he said and just leave him be.

When Hongjoong had gotten into the kitchen, he grabbed a single glass from the cupboard beside the kitchen sink, then proceeded to fill it up with water. He made his way over to the center island, climbing up onto one of the bar stools with a deep sigh.

He brought the glass to his lips, grasping it with both of his hands and taking small sips of the water at a time. He could feel his emotions start to build up once again, taking over him like a curse with no way to break it. Hesitating with the glass against his lips, he shut his eyes for a moment to try and choke back the overwhelming feeling.