turning page ▶️ jongsang

◀seven▶

♬ matryoshka - 3racha ♬

「seems like you're curious what's inside me, then shed me away, do whatever you want.」

the sounds of hongjoong's old piano filled the household for days, yeosang hasn't touched a piano ever since san left but ever since jongho enthused about it, telling him that he'd like to learn again, he just felt a surge of inspiration. 

his hidden talent especially surprised hongjoong as one night he came upon yeosang tuning the upright piano that has since become a display in the small library, used as some sort of shelf for the overflowing books.

"do you reckon he's beginning to be himself again?" hongjoong asks seonghwa as they stood on the threshold of the room, just watching yeosang lose himself as he played pachelbel's canon, eyes closed as his fingers moved along the cream keys 

"perhaps," seonghwa smiles, wrapping a hand around hongjoong's waist as they continued to listen to yeosang.

but the soft music was interrupted when yeosang pressed rather loudly and angrily on to them, that's when seonghwa grew worried as they smell fresh blood that has been spilled

it was one thing to just be enticed by the smell of blood but when it's spilled, it makes someone who lives off of it go into a frenzy.

yeosang stands up from the chair and tried to exit the room, eyes dark as he felt the hunger, he was stronger than seonghwa and hongjoong as the taste of human blood that lingered in his system.

his fangs were bared as he tried to snap at seonghwa but the taller was not having it, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, pulling him into his chest as he cages his arms around him, causing them to both fall to the floor 

"yeo, yeo." hongjoong cups his face, trying to calm him down as he thrashed in seonghwa's hold "it's okay, you're stronger than this." he reminds, talking sense into him.

the way yeosang's face became softer was a good enough sign for hongjoong that he has calmed down, his tight body became lax as well causing seonghwa to loosen his grip 

"i-i'm sorry," he immediately broke down after he realized what had happened, he immediately clings to seonghwa as apologies left his lips 

"you haven't been away from human blood as long as us, we understand." hongjoong says, sitting down on the floor next to seonghwa who was trying to soothe yeosang from the intense emotions.

"sweetheart, how about you go with hongjoong to feed," seonghwa suggests, sitting him up and wiping away his tears, yeosang nods and he takes hongjoong's hand, leading him out of the scene, leaving seonghwa to sigh exasperatedly but he still has faith in yeosang, much like how he had faith in hongjoong in the past.

"baby fangs, why didn't you say you were hungry, huh?" hongjoong had an arm around yeosang's shoulders as they walked to the forest, yeosang shamefully looks at the ground while they continued to walk 

"i didn't wanna bother you and seonghwa," he earns a flick on his ear upon saying it "you're not bothering anyone, you're part of our fucked up little family now." hongjoong kisses his temple before catching yeosang off-guard and throwing him over his shoulder 

"i can run by myself!" yeosang bangs his fist on hongjoong's back much to no avail "ah yes, you've basically destroyed part of this forest just by bumping and tripping on plants and trees." 

༻✦༺

after spotting a few deers here and there, yeosang was fully fed, hongjoong fed as well despite not being really hungry but he just wanted to accompany yeosang.

he was beginning to feed cleanly after getting some tips from the couple "do you wanna go home now?" yeosang nods, telling hongjoong that he wanted to apologize to seonghwa for his behavior even though hongjoong told him it was okay, yeosang asks if they can just walk, a request that hongjoong took 

"i was the same as you once," hongjoong starts as he looks around the forest, remembering how he came to be as an immortal "i had trouble adjusting to animal blood which caused us to leave anyang." yeosang was curious as this is the first time hongjoong is talking about his early life 

"how did you and seonghwa meet?" yeosang asks, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants as he looks at hongjoong "i was around 22 at the time, i was invited by some friends to go to a quarry as we had just graduated, class of '05, so we were celebrating," hongjoong relays 

"i didn't know how to swim so i just stayed in the sidelines while they were cliff diving." yeosang felt his bittersweet feelings and he tried to connect the dots as to how the story possibly ended 

"as the night progressed, during a campfire, some of them got drunk and basically pulled me up from where we were all sitting," the half mortal's eyes widen and he holds on to hongjoong's wrist, as he tried to manipulate his emotions into something more positive but he was blocked off 

"i told them i couldn't swim, tried to get out of their grips but they swung me around and the next thing i knew i was falling, hitting my head in the process and it knocked me unconscious as i fell in the deep water." despite the smile on his face, hongjoong held a sad expression 

"seonghwa found me, he smelled all the blood in the water and the next thing i knew, i felt like my whole body was burning, my veins were on fire and my heart stopped." they don't even realize that they were only a few feet meters from the house, well, they didn't go too far but it just surprised yeosang but he told hongjoong to continue 

"he had platinum blonde hair at the time and in my dazed state as i woke up, i thought he was an angel and i was in heaven." hongjoong smiles upon remembering the memory, running his hand through his hair as his eyes lingered at seonghwa who can be seen through the window of his study 

"what happened with your family? did they ever try to seek you out?" yeosang asks, opening the door and leaving their muddy shoes out on the rack because seonghwa would freak if he were to see tracks on the floor

"they did, there was a search party for me but eventually the case got closed, i haven't seen them ever since the day i went "missing", but i keep tabs on them, a few years after my disappearance i was introduced to mingi and with seonghwa's vast fortune, he posed as my friend from university and he gives them that money so they can get by and in my hopes, help them with the grief of losing a son who was just starting to live his life." 

hongjoong takes out a carton of strawberry milk for yeosang as it became a routine for yeosang to eat or drink something sweet after feeding, the blonde sat up on the counter as he waited for hongjoong to get his drink

"my older brother has his own family now, i have a niece, he still takes care of our parents, it's sad but this is my life now." 

yeosang knows the feeling of losing touch with a family member but the difference was that hongjoong was nurtured and cared for, hence the deeper connection and the pain the lurks beneath, unlike yeosang, who had to turn his back on to his last living family member.