Whistling contentedly, Youngjae parks his car at the nearby grocery store. He had volunteered to get the ingredients for Sebastian to cook up a lavish feast for the two of them.

And yes, they were officially a couple.

After their first intimate night together, they were literally an inseparable pair. Nothing much had changed in their relationship but they were definitely growing closer.

Youngjae enters the grocery store, striding down aisle after aisle looking for the right item. He dumps them into the basket and makes his way over to the cashier.

"Someone help me! Thief!" A woman screams hysterically as Youngjae steps out from the store, hands full with bags of grocery. Youngjae drops them all and chases after the snatch thief. He finally manages to corner him after a few minutes of heated sprinting.

"Hand it over!" Youngjae demands in between gulps of air. The snatch thief brandishes a knife and swings it wildly around, preventing Youngjae from getting any closer.

In one swift motion, Youngjae harshly twists the thief's hand and snatches the purse over. He tosses it to one corner and backhands the thief.

"You little !" The thief throws a punch at Youngjae's jaw and attempts to grab the purse. Pissed off, Youngjae kicks him in the chest, sending him flying back and crashing into the wall. The man collapses into a crumpled heap of blood and broken bones. A gasp could be heard from behind as the woman catches sight of the now unconscious thief.

"T-thank you so much," The woman grabs her purse off the ground and eyes Youngjae fearfully. 

Youngjae nods and dashes away, to the safety of his car, forgetting entirely about the groceries lying on the pavement. Numbly driving back to his house, Youngjae parks his car and makes his way to the front door. Just as he touches the doorknob, a hand rests on his shoulder.

Shrieking, Youngjae flips around and slaps the hand away.

"Woah, I didn't know you were this excited to see me." Daehyun's chuckle dies out as he notices the pale look on the younger's face.

"Hey, what's wrong? There's a bruise on your chin..." Daehyun steps closer and interlaces their fingers, which the younger pulls away.

"I-I'm fine. Come back another day, Daehyun."

"No, I'm not leaving you like this."

"Just go, please. I'm tired." Youngjae shakes his head and turns around to unlock the door.

"Okay Youngjae, but I'm expecting a full explanation tomorrow." Daehyun leans forward to plant a quick kiss on Youngjae's lips before he smiles sadly and walks away.

Youngjae quietly enters his bedroom.

I nearly killed another man today, just what the is wrong with me?! I'm a dangerous freak.

With that last thought, Youngjae grabs a penknife from his opened drawer.

I will pay for my sins.

He pulls up his jean leg and carves a deep red line along his shin.

Hot searing pain tore through his leg and it took every ounce of willpower not to scream out.

At least I can feel pain.

Daehyun shouldn't be around a monster like me.

Youngjae slides down against his bed, watching the crimson red liquid flow down his ankle and pool around his foot.

A monster like me shouldn’t be allowed to live.

~~~

"Youngjae has been looking so much better lately hasn't he? It's like he finally has life in him again!" Mrs Yoo joyously exclaims to Sebastian as she waited for her breakfast.

"I really have to thank Daehyun, he really changed Youngjae." Mrs Yoo stares at her cup of coffee as she lets her mind wander off. "Remember when Youngjae had the same energy and glow to him when he was nine? That boy is finally back again."

~~~

[The next day]

"Hey, why are you limping? Does your foot hurt?" Daehyun eyes the younger's right leg and worriedly steps forward.

"It's nothing. Just fell down yesterday." Youngjae mumbles a quick answer and tugs Daehyun up to his room.

"Care to explain what's going on?" Daehyun caresses the younger's cheek and gazes into his eyes.

"L-let's break up."

"What?" Daehyun's eyes widen as he lets his hand fall to his side.

"I just feel that it isn't working for us. I'm not good enough for you."

"Where's all this coming from Jae? Why are you suddenly so...negative about all this?"

"You're better off with someone else."

"What if I don't want someone else? What if I all want is you? Please, don't do this to me Jae. At least give me a reason why you're breaking up with me." Daehyun dejectedly joins the younger on his bed and holds Youngjae's palm in his hands. “And ‘not good enough’ doesn’t count.”

"Alright, fine! I've never liked you from the start!" Heartbroken, Daehyun gapes at the younger's serious expression as he fights back the waterfall of salty liquid.

"Really?" Daehyun asks in a small voice, searching for the any sighs of uncertainty on the younger's face. All he saw was a blank expression, emotionless, the mask Youngjae always had on. 

"Yes, please stop coming here." Youngjae stands up and stumbles a little, grimacing in pain. He quickly recovers his footing, walking steadily to his bedroom door and holding it open for the older to leave.

Daehyun catches sight of a few smile cuts on the younger's right foot. Piqued by the odd cuts, Daehyun forcefully pushes the younger onto the bed despite his strong resistance. Pulling up his jean leg, Daehyun was in shock once more. Multiple gashes adorned the younger's shin, they were fresh wounds and couldn't possibly be caused by a fall.

"Who did this?" Daehyun questions unsurely as Youngjae's eyes turns glassy.

, now Daehyun's gonna label me as a freakish lunatic who cuts.

"It's none of your business!" Youngjae shoves the older's hands away and rolls down his jean leg. He wipes away at the fallen tears while pushing Daehyun out of his room. After locking the door, Youngjae slumps down against it as tears broke free.

"I will wait here until you're ready to talk, Jae." Daehyun says softly, his voice quivering a little.

Why is he still here?!

"Sebastian! Get him out of here!" Youngjae starts sobbing freely, clutching his hair and rubbing the tears off. Soon, snort and tears were all over his arms.

He couldn’t bear to tell Daehyun the truth, the fear of being cast aside and shunned was too much. Daehyun was really the only one who didn't seem to care about his past, he never did ask why he would address Mrs Yoo as such instead of "Mum". He never forced Youngjae to tell even though Youngjae clearly knew Daehyun was dying to know more about him. Nor did he ever question the mysterious wounds which never heal. Or why Youngjae always had this cold facade, seemingly hiding something dark. 

Daehyun never questioned any of this, not because he didn't care, but because he understood Youngjae perfectly even without knowing the whole truth.

"I'm a monster... You wouldn't want me..." Youngjae whispers softly as he leans his head against the door.

"Even if you were a freak, a mutated alien or Frankenstein's daughter, I would still love you no matter what." A faint voice could be heard from behind the door.

Trust Daehyun to joke in this kind of situations.

"Don't you mean Frankenstein's son?"

"Sorry, I meant son."

"I'm worse than that."

"I don't care. I love you for who you are, Youngjae."

"I doubt you will, after knowing what I can do and did do."

"Don't doubt me." Upon hearing that, Youngjae slowly unlocks the door as Daehyun falls back when nothing was there to support his back. Daehyun pulls Youngjae into a warm embrace, slipping his arms around the younger's chest.

"Explain now." Daehyun insists as the two proceed to sit cross-legged on the bed.

Deciding not to avoid this matter anymore, Youngjae recounts the events from his childhood where he was abandoned by his biological parents since they weren't ready for a child. And to make matters worse, he was a problematic one which made him even more unendurable. He gave the foster families a hard time with his uncontrollable strength. He eventually got it under control but by then it was a little too late as the damage has been done and no one wanted him, except Mr and Mrs Yoo. Youngjae fast forwards to when he broke Chanyong's neck and the snatch thief incident. All the while, Daehyun keeps his expression as neutral as possible.

Breathing out a heavy sigh after finally having finished recounting, Youngjae closes his eyes and awaits Daehyun's response.

"I won't deny the fact that yes it's kinda freaky but! It doesn't make you a monster. It just makes you much more special and unique, and maybe even a little deadly. But it's not like you chose to do that much damage, haven't you realise you only did that because you didn't have much of a choice? Don't you go feeling inferior or whatever again Jae. You've been through so much already and doing this to yourself hurts the people around you as well. And I can't believe you even thought I would dislike you because of this. Who am I kidding, I love you even more, if that's possible! For being strong and feeling remorse about what you’ve done. I mean how many people, can regret and feel so damn ing gulilty over something they can't do anything about and clearly didn't want to happen in the first place? Nothing will ever change how I feel about you baby. So don't go doing such things to yourself again or I swear I will parade around and scare your mum." Youngjae chuckles and pecks Daehyun on the nose as a tear slips free. 

God knows how long he'd been waiting for an answer like this. For full acceptance.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind you parade around but not the part about scaring Mrs Yoo. She has a faint heart so don't do that."

"I will parade anytime for you, so don't give me a heart attack again or I won't be able to." Daehyun grins widely and Youngjae's damp cheek, making it wet instead.

"And umm...I tend to bleed more than people normally do. I heal slower too except for my hands." Youngjae confesses as the gash on his leg starts spilling blood. The instant Daehyun hears that, he dashes to the bathroom and comes back with a huge handful of toilet paper.

"Dude, you're seriously exaggerating." Youngjae scoffs at the amount of toilet paper getting dumped onto his bed. Ignoring the younger, Daehyun calmly soaks up the leaking blood.

"You should bandage that." After disposing of the stained toilet papers, Daehyun carries a yelping Youngjae to Sebastian for him to do some bandaging.

", you had better not carry me around the house like this. The maids will gossip."

"Why do you even care about that, when they already heard you begging for me to go faster and harder?"

"W-what they heard that?! !" Youngjae hides his shamefully burning face as Daehyun chortles at him.

"And I swear I will make you scream louder next time."

"I hate you."

"Oh I love you too Youngjae."