sorry this was late. my hand is swollen and i'm going through doctors and tests to find out what's wrong. also, exams are starting next week, so i'll have to study a lot, so i'm not sure when next part will be up. sorry!

The next time Minseok faced Luhan, he tried to ignore him.

Luhan’s words were still echoing in his head from the last time they’d talked and Minseok would prefer it if he could avoid any topic or even word exchange with him. He didn’t want anyone to make him question his situation, he didn’t want anyone to mix in his horrible state, his life. He’d long ago accepted that there’d be no way out.

And if there was, it’d be the darkest path Minseok would ever have to walk down.

However, it seemed opinions were not mutual and as soon as Minseok found Luhan sitting in the living room over a book as he stepped down the stairs, his attention fell on him. Minseok, having nothing to do, walked outside the back and into the garden just for the sake of calming his mind. The green scene helped him relax, forget a bit. And gave him the solitude he was so in need of.

“Minseok?” Minseok heard behind him but he didn’t turn. He already knew it was Luhan who was stepping closer and closer to him. “Are you alright?”

Minseok wanted to snort, laugh mockingly, reply with a snarky comment but he knew it would be better if he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want Luhan to mess with his insides and make him see how he actually was. So he just straightened his shoulders, took in a deep breath before answering a steady; “I’m fine”.

Luhan came to stand by his side, glancing at his face once before ahead. Minseok could see how the muscles of his jaw popped out as he gritted his teeth in what Minseok guessed to be some kind of irritation. Luhan’s face was far too stone-like for him to ever be sure.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Minseok could almost hear the answer coming from Luhan; because I heard you scream last night. Minseok knew Luhan knew. But it didn’t help him at all. He wasn’t even proud of where he’d been thrown in. He didn’t have a lie to cover up what happened to him every other night. And Minseok was sure Luhan knew that as well, and thus never asked what he seemed to want to ask.

Maybe it was just his fantasy, Minseok reasoned. Maybe neither Luhan nor Kris and his fiancé had heard him. But then again, more times than not the door would be forgotten open or at least a bit ajar, and Minseok shuddered how his screams must have traveled the silent corridors at the dead of the night.

They knew. All of them knew. But they never asked, never interfered, never questioned.

Yet, they still knew.

They were the last of his hope, the little form of hero he was in need of, but they never came for him.

Minseok felt a lump in his throat and was quick to excuse himself with a husky voice. He heard Luhan’s surprise as he fled the garden but he ignored it. He was so ashamed of himself that he just wanted this month to pass and the wedding to take place. And then, he’d be left to his fortune alone.

He’d much prefer that than having everyone, but no one at the same time.

***

The next morning he woke up, he felt even worse.

Jitae had come back home drunk again, so much intoxicated, and he was angry as well. From what Minseok managed to figure out, he’d lost a small fortune on a few games of poker. It was Minseok who paid the bills as if it was his fault. And this morning, he noted how the door had been forgotten ajar once again. It did nothing in making him feel better.

There was this servant again, trying to bring him back to reality from his sleep, trying to cover the bruises and tend for the wounds, trying to make him feel better. But it did little to help Minseok, and he knew the servant was aware of her actions being futile. It wouldn’t help heal his insides, nothing would ever do.

By now, he’d even learned the name of the servant, and would often bid her farewell using it. But never a greeting. He was always too tired, covered by the blankets and crying his misery away when she’d come in and take care of him. He hadn’t really expressed his gratitude yet, and he wasn’t sure if she was doing it on her own or if she did it because her master would be in need of a new canvas by the fall of night.

Whatever it was, it was nice to have someone help him out with the aftermath. It made the loneliness disappear for an hour or so.

“Sir, mr Luhan gave me this for you,” Sohyun hesitantly revealed a small box from the inside of her pants’ pocket.

Minseok slowly frowned and with caution took it in his hand, thanking her lowly.

“I wish you a good day, sir,” Sohyun bowed deep for him and Minseok nodded his head. He waited for a couple seconds until the servant was gone and the door was closed before opening the small box.

A gasp fell from his lips as he found a small pendant of a black rose lying in between the curls of white gold chain. He could recognize such expensive jewelry and he was sure the rock was of black onyx, parted and covered in white gold lines to form each of a rose’s petals.

He didn’t like it.

If there was something he’d learned through his life was that expensive gifts never came from the bottom of the heart. They always hid a hint of intention or emotion, manipulation, and Minseok was not fond of that when he was married and Luhan was also his husband’s son. Gold didn’t come cheap, and a custom work was twice as costly. He wasn’t even sure of Luhan’s motives at this moment.

This whole ordeal made him stand from the bed, pain surging from the underside of his feet to his nape, and he hissed lightly. He quickly threw some clothes over himself and walked out of the room with sore steps. He should have just stayed in bed, maybe hope of death, until he had healed at least a bit. But his mind was elsewhere right now.

The stairs turned out to be a challenge and when he finally managed to reach the ground floor, he looked around for Luhan. At this hour, he should still be somewhere nearby. After checking the living room and finding no one, he headed for the back garden out of instinct. There, as he expected, he found Luhan staring at the small stems that had started peaking up from the soil. Before the elder could notice his presence, Minseok threw the pendant amongst the garden, right next to one of the seeds he’d planted a couple weeks ago.

“Wha—“ Luhan started but when he looked at Minseok, he found him steaming of anger.

“I don’t need any gifts from you, Luhan,” he hissed and Luhan gaped for a second there, lost. “Don’t spend money on me when we’re nothing but strangers.”

“I thought you’d like it.”

“Well,” Minseok glared at the pendant and then back at Luhan. “I don’t.”

He didn’t want to admit to himself that he lied, because he did like it, the pendant, the thought, the fact it was Luhan’s gift. But he also knew he was in no position to accept a gift from him when he was married to his father. The less interactions between them, the better it’d be for both of them, the less trouble they’d face, the less problems it’d cause.

So he walked away with a confident pace although his insides broke and he had to force himself inside the residence before he shot back and grabbed the pendant again.

Luhan only bent to get it off the ground, dusting the soil away from the stone and letting a sigh into the weak wind. Then, he pocketed the jewelry in hopes of giving it to Minseok again sometime in the future. He didn’t want to accept defeat when he always got what he wanted.

Maybe a childish way of thinking, but Luhan was far from giving up yet.

***

It’s easy to stoop so low that you start feeling pity for yourself and the sickness is too strong because someone else out there has it better.

Minseok started to feel this jealousy whenever he saw Kris with his fiancée. The smiles, the light caresses, the once in a while kisses they’d share when they thought no one would notice. How she radiated happiness and Kris himself shined with proudness whenever they were standing by each other or in the same room. There was something in the way they’d look at each other that made Minseok envy them and their relationship.

It’d gotten to the point he’d just cry himself to sleep because he pitied himself and the pit he’d been thrown in. At this point, he’d take walking into a cave with hungry bears over spending another night at this mansion. And as enticing at it was, he wasn’t even allowed outside the property.

One night the door banged a little too hard and Jitae staggered in heavily drunk. Minseok wiped the sleep from his eyes and let them adjust to the darkness and the hall’s weak light. The man’s appearance was all over the place, his hair flying in different directions and his clothes stained. Minseok slowly sat up, knowing that pretending to be asleep would not stop anything bad from happening. It’d just prolong it, and at this point, Minseok preferred to get over with it. The faster he faced his drunk husband, the faster he’d be able to sob himself to sleep.

“Jitae?” he asked softly and the man mumbled something in return, which Minseok didn’t pick up. “Are you drunk?”

“Who gave you the right to talk, ?!” the man yelled back and Minseok squirmed a bit in his spot. Subconsciously, he tugged the blankets over himself to cover his body a little more than what they already did. “Always talking when no one asked you to,” Jitae ranted as he slowly and carefully made his way to the bed, door once again forgotten and Minseok felt sweat drops run down his temples. Once again, the door inviting everyone in and at the same time no one, sharing what was about to happen with all the rest residents staying at the mansion.

Down the hall, his screams would echo again and Minseok started trembling. He felt over-exposed and although he should have gotten used to being heard loudly hurting, it never made it any easier to face any of the servants or their visitors in the face the following morning. Especially when his eyes would be red from crying and his neck would be painted in purple from the chocking tendencies Jitae often placed upon his skin.

His heart beat fast, so much so Minseok was hopeful for a second that he’d collapse from a heart attac