Shine Bright Like A Diamond

Chapter Four:

Gummy found herself in the lab looking at the blood sample in pure confusion.

She was not sure if there was something wrong with the blood sample she had taken or if something was wrong with the machine. Every test she had done had come back with an inconclusive result. There was no definite answer to what was wrong with her latest patient. For a second she wondered if he was even human, but not even the blood results would tell her that much. Not even when she placed the sample under a microscope. The blood didn’t move or distort like a vampires would-no this blood look perfectly normal as human’s blood would.

Round red, perfect, blood cells-all which she was shocked to find healthy and well nourished when their host was not. Looking at each blood cell, they didn’t explain the bad shape that her patient was in, or his weakly pumping heart. In a way, she could say that he was perfectly healthy on the inside….but he was skin and bones, he was dangerous pale that you could see his veins, could hardly breathe, and had a weak heart….

She thought about getting another blood sample and using a different lab as she cleaned up and headed out the door. The only sound in the hall way was that of her low heels and it was already starting to dawn. The celebration last night had lasted well into three in the morning with people getting so loud even she could heard the blasted music and their happy cries. When it had all settled, she had been glad, and one of her fellow nurses had stopped by to announce to her that the party was over and everyone had gone to bed. She could only guess that the king and his guest were all going to sleep for a good part of the day.  

Gummy shook her head at their silliness and found herself tiredly yawning, before running a hand through her hair and trying her best to keep going despite her lack of sleep. Not that she would get much sleep if she decided to go to bed now. As a nurse she was supposed to always be on duty despite the lack of sleep, and besides, this case would worry her. The worry and everything would eat at her and she would be forced to get up again until she solved this problem. It was too great to just put it down now.  

Once she reached the room where her new patient was she smiled when she found that Ji Yong’s hand was on the other male’s hand, holding it gently as he slept. Maybe there was someone out there that Ji Yong did care about. The idea of it was a little funny, but sweet. It was also something that made her want to solve this mystery even more.

For Ji Yong’s sake, she had to. She couldn’t lose this patient. She knew for a fact that Ji Yong could pretend to be detached, could seem cold, and come off as someone that didn’t care about anything other than his family, but the reality was that Ji Yong was so warm and soft. The boy had lost his personal slave in the past, had to deal with not being the only son, had lost pets, faced judgment…It had all hurt him and she had seen him cry. But Ji Yong had to cry only once, and then he’d harden his heart and would no longer let anything come near it. It took only once to hurt him, and then it was impossible to ever come near him again and expect that warmth.  

Ji Yong, she could already judge, had a fear of getting to close to someone and losing them. She knew it wasn’t a fear of getting hurt, Ji Yong was strong to overcome that, but not loss. Maybe that was why he held on so tightly to his own brothers, and parents. Maybe that is why he pushed away Prince Seven’s advancements. He just didn’t want anyone else in his life to worry about. Gummy couldn’t know, she had never really asked Ji Yong what he was thinking and she didn’t think that he would tell her even if she asked. After all, here he was worrying about a complete stranger whom she could see he was already in a way becoming attached to.

Sighing, she carefully entered the room and silently went to the patient. She pulled out a new clean syringe, and prepared it. Once more, she gently pushed the needle into the cool, slightly stiff flesh and drew blood out of the main vein, just at the bend of the man’s elbow. She watched the red dark liquid filling the small glass vile with calculating eyes before cupping it, and then taking another sample from his finger.

Once she had two new vile in the pockets of her lab coat, she headed out the door and back to her lab to make more tests. It was almost morning when she started her new testing and the other nurses were all getting up to go to breakfast and start their new rounds. She was thankful when one of the nurses, Minzy, came to her and gave her breakfast and offered her help. The puzzle that was this blood could sure use fresh eyes to look at it, because she no longer knew what to do with it.

It didn’t seem to hold any answers to how they could help their patient.

Not knowing could risk his health even more, and that was not something she was prepared for.

A bit later into that same morning, Young Bae, Daesung, and Seungri tiredly appeared with breakfast for Ji Yong who was now groggily sitting on the chair with a small glare on his face. That morning he had been woken up by nurse Bom, and she had asked him if he was alright. He had told her that he was, but she just kept looking at him with an unsure look, and not allowing him to go back to sleep. In the end, she ended up giving him a cup of blood before leaving, ensuring that he would be too awake to go back to sleep.

Despite wanting to go back to sleep, Ji Yong downed the blood to replenish himself, and was glad when he saw his brothers and Young Bae. They handed him his breakfast and he diligently ate the fluffy pancakes, eggs, and second glass of blood.

“I can’t believe you stayed here all night,” Daesung said, with amazement in his eyes as he looked from Ji Yong to the stranger in the bed. From the night before to now, it didn’t seem like the slave’s conditioned had even improved. “Prince Seven was looking for you and nearly made us spill where you were. We were glad to have escaped him this morning, but I wouldn’t doubt it that he’s going to want to ask you out as soon as he sees you”

Ji Yong grunted and glanced over to the slave, and worried about him even more wondering when Gummy was going to come and tell him what treatment he would receive. Then he noted that even if they were talking about Prince Seven, all his thoughts were centered on this stranger, and he couldn’t help but worry even more. Where was Gummy-noona?

“He looks like the living dead.” Seungri joked as he poked the gauntly cheek of the slave. “I hope he gets better. It’s really scary to have to see him like this. It seems so painful” Ji Yong hoped the same thing as he looked at the sleeping human. Young Bae pursed his lips, but decided that for once he would stay silent and not say anything that would ruin the moment. At this point no matter what he said, nothing was going to change the fact that Ji Yong had stolen this slave and was now vainly trying to prove that he could save him. 

He just didn’t understand why Ji Yong was trying so hard though- or even going to such lengths for this stranger. From the looks of it, neither did Daesung and Seungri. Yet even they feared that he would die and make Ji Yong cry. They didn’t want Ji Yong to hurt and cry, because a crying Ji Yong was a heart breaking sight.  They never liked it, and preferred to see him smile. Not that Ji Yong had smiled much in the past few years, but at least he had not cried.

He at least seemed content.

“He’ll be just fine,” Daesung suddenly said in a cheery voice, trying to convince everyone “Ji Yong saved him after all!” he praised and Seungri nodded his head with enthusiasm. “He has to live now,”

“You’re right,” Ji Yong smiled.

Just as the conversation was going on convincing Ji Yong that the slave would live, the slave seemed to take his last breath, and his heart stopped. The beeping sound of his heart was replaced by a flat line that caused them all to jump and turn to look at the slave. Ji Yong even dropped his breakfast as he stared at the flat line in panic.

Gummy was in within seconds, rushing to the patients side and called in other nurses whom all worked to help her solve what was wrong. She tried hard to find a way to stabilize the salve, and even tried to revive his heart. It was all in vain, and in the end a nurse had to stop her desperate attempts at bringing the slave back. Gummy dropped her head, feeling like she failed both her patient and Ji Yong. She hated it when a patient died under her care! “I’m sorry, there is nothing more we can do,” she said in a strained tone.

“Time of death,” another nurse solemnly called, “Eight thirty in the morning”  

“No,” Ji Yong whispered, shaking his head. He even shrugged off Young Bae’s hand that had been placed on his shoulder to offer comfort. He didn’t want comfort. He wanted…

Daesung was shocked, and Seungri couldn’t understand it, as he began to cry. The slave was dead. They had tried their best to save him and he had died.

“Let’s get him moved to the morgue,”

“No,” Ji Yong repeated as the nurses dispersed to leave the room and make arrangements to moving the body to the morgue. He couldn’t understand, why was everyone else accepting the fact that the slave had died. No, Ji Yong could not accept it. He shook his head, he had to do something. There was still something that he could do!

He needed to do something-and then an idea entered his mind.

He swallowed hard, the idea itching just at the back of his mind.

Gummy turned to them, “I’m sorry,” she sadly whispered, but was shocked when Ji Yong suddenly rushed forward, pushing her out of the way, and pressed his palm on the slave’s chest. Gummy and Young Bae gasped in shock, although Daesung and Seungri were not sure what was going on. “G-dragon-ssi, don’t!” Gummy hissed, but backed up when a white light flittered from the palm of his hands and to the slaves chest. A barrier was created around him, pushing them and keeping them away.

“What’s going on?” Seungri and Daesung asked, scared for Ji Yong.

“Ji Yong, are you crazy!” Young Bae hissed, as he fought hard to reach for Ji Yong and pull him away, but the barrier just pushed him right back “DON’T! OR YOU’LL BOND YOURSELF TO HIM!” he hissed, panicked. “IF HE DIES YOU’LL END UP HURT FOR ETERNITY! YOU’LL SUFFER- DON’T!”

Ji Yong didn’t care. He was going to offer some of his life to the slave and he was going to help him live! He was going to give him another chance. So Ji Yong poured the best of himself that he could into this moment! The desire, the itch, and the grip that had him by the edges of his heart, to the very tips of his fingers-it was something he found he could not deny.

Don’t do it, Ji Yong!! 

Suddenly, the white light blinded them, shining brightly with life and the sound of a beating heart suddenly sounded so clearly throughout the room. Ji Yong’s eyes widened slightly when he saw a red vein suddenly spread around him and the slave, pulsing as it traveled from the slave’s body, pulsating, towards him, pulsing through him. It seemed to attach itself, enfolded completely to their skin, tying them down together like a ribbon of palpitating blood. Heads, hands, fingers, wrists, elbows, forearms, chest, waist, hips, legs, knees, shins, feet, toes… Ji Yong shivered at the intensity of it, as he felt himself become locked and gripped into something he didn’t understand and the flat line once more had a heart beat-a stronger heart beat.

One he could really hear….

Ji Yong! Ji Yong, Can you hear us!!

Ji Yong shivered, the surge of power wrapping around him was too great.

His eyelids became heavy and he was sure that there was frantic screaming all around him. He was sure someone was calling his name as well, but his focus was on the sound of that comforting heart beating. It lulled him into a strong security, and pulled him down, into sleep-Because, suddenly everything went dark.

Everyone watched as Ji Yong fell limply over the slave’s body, fast asleep. He looked the same, and all, but they were even more shocked when the heart beat monitor started again, and the slave they had saved was alive once again. In fact, it seemed as though he had more color in his skin, and a normal heart rate. The thin body also looked even healthier now, and more filled.

“What just happened?” Daesung asked, looking confused at the pained expressions on Young Bae’s and Gummy’s faces. What had Ji Yong just done?

“Nothing, let’s just get Ji Yong back to his room,” Young Bae shakily said as he moved to grab Ji Yong, but gasped when his hand was zapped with a powerful amount of electricity.

“Not yet,” Gummy said, moving in close but not touching “He just bonded himself. He’s going to need to be more stabilized than he is right now, as well as some time with his bonded person before he is allowed to be moved or touched by anyone else,” Gummy contemplated the situation. She feared what the king would have to say about what had just happened. She knew no one was to blame, but this was all such a mess.

Ji Yong had taken a leap at something that could end up scarring him for life. There was nothing that they could do now, nothing. Not until Ji Yong woke up and he decided to do something about the situation. They hoped that he would wake up before the king came down stairs searching for blood. They would be all dead if something had happened to the precious crowned prince!

“Ji Yong.” His brothers all whispered and Young Bae could not help but blame himself for not being able to take better care of Ji Yong.  This was all his fault!

Gummy sighed, and decided to start making arrangements for all of them. It was obvious that they were not going to leave until Ji Yong woke up and she was sure that it would take a few hours for him to do so. She was also sure that all the brothers were tired from last night’s celebration. She soothingly told them to relax and had them take a sedative. Bom and Chaerin were a great help in getting everything set up in the room that would allow them to rest.

Before long, she had a room of sleeping males, and she left, to go to Minzy whom was still in the lab, trying to figure out the blood. “Have you come up with anything?” she softly asked and Minzy shook her head in despair.

“There’s nothing, it’s like it tells nothing” she said, “And although it looks human, it isn’t. There is no code in it for it to be human.”

“What” Gummy said as Minzy moved so Gummy could see what she had discovered. She watched in fascination as the red blood cell didn’t change, the way it was, there was no code as Minzy had said and then her eyes widened when suddenly the blood cell shriveled down to nothing. It seemed to crush over and die with no further life, turning white and colorless, before slowly morphing around, and turning back into a perfect circle, and a red pigment that blood usually had, filled it again. As if it had just become a whole new blood cell…

What did this mean?

Patron Park Jae Sung happily hummed as he packed his bags, seeing as he was going to be leaving again. When it came to his line a work, there was hardly ever a time that he usually stayed in one place at one time.

Happily and dancing he dashed his way into the slave rooms, looking at all of them with a smile on his face. You probably wondered who took care of them while he was gone, but the answer was simple. His granddaughter, Ga In would be the one that would come in and take care of them for him. She was a smart girl, obviously after his business but he didn’t mind. She would be the perfect one to continue his business. But she would be here in the afternoon, so for right now, he was doing the morning routines before he left.

He happily fed them all, showered a few of them, cleaned and locked every cage. As soon as he was done, and everyone seemed comfortable, he made his way to the back. In his hand he was holding his medical bag. All of these slaves needed daily medical care, and he was an expert at making sure that they were kept healthy and well.

He took his time though, working through each slave and putting to the end the one slave that he dreaded to look at. Sure, he had shot him, he should be dead, in fact he should probably be smelling a rotting body, but he was not, and that was a need for concern. The first time he had shot him he had to remove the bullet for him to heal, this time though he had just left the bullets in him in hopes that it would really end his life, but had it?

his lips slightly, he pushed open the curtain and gasped in shock when he saw that the cage was opened and empty. He jumped and looked around, scared.

, had that little creep decided to get out and extract revenge on him for shooting him? He knew it! He just knew that those bullets were not going to kill him! Slowly darting back towards the cage, he looked around seeing how the golden collar was undone, the ropes weren’t there, so there was still a chance that he was tied. Then he looked down at the salt in the ground and his eyes widened a bit when he saw feet prints.

Several of them…

Wait, had someone maybe taken him?

Not that it mattered, they had unlocked the beast and as soon as the beast was well he was sure he was the one it would come for. Forget the king and any righteousness, he was about to lose his life!

Picking up his bag and moving even faster, without making sure about anything else, he dashed outside, plastering a note in the front for Ga In. Then he got into his carriage, making his horse move fast and out of town.

There was no way he was sticking around!

It was high noon, and Dong Wook was getting restless waiting for Ji Yong to show up.

His fingers ran through the silver bracelet that he had bought for him. He was sure that Ji Yong would love the bracelet, as much as he knew that Ji Yong loved jewelry. There was no doubt in his mind that it was a weakness that Ji Yong had. A nice weakness he could easily exploit and use it to spoil Ji Yong rotten. He softly smiled at it before standing up and heading towards the living room where he could already hear the king boisterously speaking to his three wives.

Glancing to the side, he smiled at the sight.

Dong Wook didn’t believe in polygamy, after all, when it came to Ji Yong he wanted the boy all for himself. Maybe it was because he was a little selfish, or maybe it was because he had yet to meet anyone else that he would want in his life, but if he was ever mated to Ji Yong he didn’t think that he could ever share him. Like the king, it had taken different years, and times for him to find each of his wives and fall in love with all of them, as well as for them all to love each other. Although the king was polygamist, their relationship was perfectly balanced, but only because the lot of them agreed with the conditions of being together.  

Who could blame him though? All three of his wives were sweet little things that were filled with warmth and nothing but love. It was a wonder that the king loved to drown himself in their care. It was that same warmth that he could specially see radiated in Ji Yong. Ji Yong really was soft despite pretending to be hard and cold, because he had known him since he was young and he wanted to be the one to pull that soft Ji Yong out. He wanted to be the one that that warm and soft Ji Yong loved. It would only be to perfect to have his love be all his. It was no wonder that he would want to be selfish with someone like Ji Yong.

He just knew that there was something special about him.

“Still no sight of them?” Lee Seon Woong, also known as Prince Tablo asked as he walked over to Dong Wook. Dong Wook smiled at him and shook his head.

“Not yet, but as soon as I do, I’ll make sure to express how sad I am that he would have disappeared like this,” Dong Wook chuckled and Seon Woong softly smiled at him, shaking his head.

“I’m sure that you will,” he silently said, and then shook his head again. “But he is not the only one that is missing, his brothers are as well. I am starting to wonder if perhaps they are hiding something. Or they are up to something” Seon Woong said making Dong Wook raise an eyebrow in wonder as well.

There could be something that they were hiding, especially when Ji Yong had left the party early. Was the crowned prince really ill? They were vampires after all, and the idea could be a little farfetched unless he drank bad blood while he was at the party. Maybe they were up to something.

“It worries me,” Dong Wook said, “but if he’s not down stairs by the end of the day, I think I’ll pay him a visit in his room,” he pocketed the bracelet. “Why don’t we go out and have a small walk?” he asked.

Seong Woong nodded his head, “Might as well, seeing as there is nothing here to currently entertain us”

“Right” Dong Wook said, and slightly laughing, both of them headed out of the palace and into the hot sun.