Once Rivals

(NBin) unWRITTEN

[CHAPTER 40]

"Once Rivals"

 

 

The walk back home was very quiet and unsettling for Hongbin. After Hakyeon calmed down, the two of them decided to go home instead. The entire way, the older didn't speak another word but at the same time, he didn't completely ignore Hongbin either. Hongbin could tell that the older was thinking a lot as Hakyeon initiated to hold Hongbin's hands as they walked home together.

Hongbin glanced at Hakyeon's eyes that were all red from crying. He felt really bad for making the older feel that way but they really can't drag the situation for too long.

Click.

Hakyeon turned the keys to open the doors and switched the lights on. Hongbin wanted to help the older take of his jacket and put it in the closet but Hakyeon went ahead to do it himself. Usually, Hongbin would offer his assistance even for the slightest thing when it comes to Hakyeon and the older would gladly accept it.

"Hakyeon-ah," Hongbin tried to call out.

The older stopped in his tracks, frozen in place for a second and then turned around.

He approached the younger and then wrapped his arms around the younger's waist.

"H-"

"Don't say anything, please," Hakyeon interrupted. "Let's just stay like this for today."

Hongbin kept quiet like the older wanted and the two of them spent the day in the living room without a word.

 

* * * * * *

 

Crash!

Taekwoon jolt up from his sleep from the loud noise. What was that?

He looked around him and noticed that Sanghyuk was nowhere to be seen. Taekwoon had stayed with the younger the entire night to tend to the younger's needs. He immediately dashed out of the room to find the younger, and he was frightened to see that Sanghyuk had fallen onto the floor of the kitchen.

"Ya! Are you okay? What are you doing getting up?" Taekwoon asked in worries and immediately went to assist the younger.

"I... water..." Sanghyuk replied.

Taekwoon sighed. "You could've just asked me to get you it."

"You were... sleeping..."

"Get up, I'll get you water. What were you thinking, getting up when you can barely even move around properly?" Taekwoon grabbed the younger's body and lifted him up as best as he could. The younger had a much bigger built than him so it was rather difficult for Taekwoon.

Taekwoon set the younger down on the sofa which was closer to the kitchen then all the way inside of the bedroom. He reached for a mug and got the younger some water.

"Here," Taekwoon offered.

The younger took it and sipped the water slowly. He was definitely having a difficult time just moving an inch of his body to do anything.

Taekwoon cleaned up the mess in the kitchen as he watched Sanghyuk finish his drink. He couldn't help but feel awful about the fact that Sanghyuk suddenly became so sick.

"Hyung..." Sanghyuk mumbled out just loud enough for Taekwoon to catch it.

"What is it? Do you want a refill?"

Sanghyuk shook his head.

"Thank you," he simply said.

Taekwoon was surprised. He didn't expect the younger to be grateful to him because of a simple thing and to be honest, Taekwoon didn't think he deserve the younger's thanks at all. Rather, the younger should be resenting Taekwoon for turning him into such state.

The two of them sat there on the sofa in silence but it was better than being in the bedroom after all. Although Sanghyuk's complexity remains the same, it felt a lot better for the both of them to be out in the living room and watching the sunset together.

 

* * * * * *

 

Sanghyuk opened his eyes a bit after a short nap. He noticed he had fallen asleep next to Taekwoon on the sofa earlier and when he woke up again, he noticed the sky had gone completely pitch-black. He turned around to see Taekwoon's sleeping face next to him. Though Sanghyuk was sick and his body was in absolute pain, he noticed that Taekwoon's eyebags grew worst.

It must have been due to the fact that the older have been attending to him nonstop since he had fallen sick.

When was the last time he slept properly? Sanghyuk wondered as he looked at Taekwoon's face.

He couldn't help but finally noticed Taekwoon's facial features as he turned his head. The older had a very define brow bone, tall nose, small lips and narrow eyes. Not only that, Taekwoon's skin was very pale and porcelain. Though Taekwoon looked rather scary and cold most of the time, Sanghyuk could understand why Hakyeon once fell in love with the older.

They would've been so perfect together... why did they break up?

Bzz. Bzz.

The phone vibrated on the coffee table but it wasn't Sanghyuk's phone. Instead, it was Taekwoon's. But who would contact the older aside from Sanghyuk? He thought that Taekwoon didn't have anyone aside from Sanghyuk or Hakyeon and the younger knew very well that Hakyeon would not be contacting Taekwoon. Sanghyuk reached for the older's phone and noticed a message was sent to Taekwoon. He knew he shouldn't have peeked, but he couldn't help it... he was curious.

[How's Sanghyuk?]

The message said.

Huh? Me? That made the younger even more curious. Was it Hakyeon after all? When Sanghyuk picked up the phone, he saw that it was a stranger's name instead.

Lee Hongbin.

Who? The name didn't ring a bell and instead, it made Sanghyuk even more confused. He's never met someone named Hongbin before but the stranger asked about his condition and even sent a message to Taekwoon. How do they know each other? How does the stranger know Sanghyuk? Why doesn't the younger recall meeting someone of that name...

There was a small throb in Sanghyuk's head as he tried to think about who the sender was. That pain made him twitch.

"Ugh," Sanghyuk tried to calm down and relax.

That's when Taekwoon woke up from the younger's sound. He woke up to Sanghyuk holding onto his head and seemingly unwell.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Taekwoon immediately woke up to see the younger's condition. "Is your head hurting?"

Sanghyuk turned around to face Taekwoon while holding tightly onto the older's phone.

"Lee Hongbin."

"W-what?" Taekwoon was confused and noticed that the younger was holding onto his phone.

Why does he have my phone? The older swallowed his anxiety as the younger stared straight into his eyes, possibly wanting to ask a million questions all at once.

"Who.... is he? Why does he ... know me?" Sanghyuk questions.

"That's..."

 

* * * * * *

 

It took awhile but Hakyeon finally let go of Hongbin and fell asleep. Hongbin stayed next to Hakyeon for the whole night but there was still anxiety in his mind. The younger couldn't settle down as he worried about everything that was happening around him. Though Hakyeon finally calmed down after a long time, Hongbin couldn't help but feel sorry for making the older behave this way. He really thought that Hakyeon would understand his decision because that's what they had initially agree on. He never thought that Hakyeon could act so stubbornly or selfishly but Hongbin didn't mind it. He liked the fact that the older would become so possessive suddenly because that just shows how much the older actually cares about their relationship. It only meant that Hongbin was an important person in his life.

But at the same time, Hongbin knew that the older's wishes are going to be hard to fulfill.

Hongbin woke up in the middle and went out into the living room. He sent a text message to Taekwoon regarding Sanghyuk's condition since he was rather worry about the other for the entire day. But Taekwoon didn't reply right away so he got a bit worried by overthinking.

Then, his phone finally rang.

"Hello?" Hongbin picked up the phone.

"It's me," Taekwoon replied.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to Sanghyuk?"

"No but..."

"What?"

"Can you come over?" Taekwoon asked.

"That's a bit..." Hongbin looked around him.

He peeked into Hakyeon's bedroom in worry since he didn't know if he should go out without telling the older or not. But Hakyeon was deep asleep and Hongbin couldn't help but worry about Taekwoon or Sanghyuk.

"Give me a second," he decided. "I'll be right over."

Hongbin wrote a note to Hakyeon to let the older know that he was out to meet his friends.

This should be alright, it shouldn't take too long... Hongbin thought and placed the note next to the older's bed. He's going to just go check up on Taekwoon and come back right away so it shouldn't be too bad.

He ruffled the older's hair and gave Hakyeon a peck on the forehead, patting the older before he leaves.

"I'll be right back," Hongbin said in a soft, melodic voice.

Hongbin went out in a hurry, without a care to what he was wearing. All he had on was his simply shirt and pants along with a jacket to brave the gloomy weather that night.

Knock. Knock.

He arrived in front of Sanghyuk's place in a nick of time and he didn't want to wake Sanghyuk up from ringing the doorbell. Taekwoon came out momentarily to open the doors.

"Did something happen?" Hongbin asked immediately as soon as he saw Taekwoon.

"Come in," the older opened the doors to let the younger inside but Hongbin noticed a rather strange expression on Taekwoon's face.

"What's going on? Why'd you call me in the middle of the night? Did something happy to Sang-"

Hongbin froze in his spot as he entered the living room.

Sanghyuk sat on the sofa of the living room, completely conscious and awake, staring straight at Hongbin.

"W-wh..." Hongbin was confused. He didn't know what to do and he was troubled by the fact that he's now meeting Sanghyuk face-to-face.

"You're... Lee Hongbin, right?" Sanghyuk asked, though in pain, he tried his best to greet the guest.

"Yes, but why..."

"Sit down," Taekwoon told Hongbin.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" Hongbin was bewildered by the situation but he obeyed anyways to see what was happening.

"I told him everything," the older said.

"What?!"

"There's no use hiding it anymore. He's already become this way and it's all my fault so I can't continue hiding the fact from him. If I don't say anything, he's going to find out eventually one way or another, "Taekwoon said.

"Then you know about us?" Hongbin turned towards Sanghyuk for confirmation.

The younger nodded.

"I... remember... your voice," Sanghyuk uttered.

"My voice?" Hongbin asked.

"You saved me that day."

Sanghyuk was never able to shake off Hongbin's voice since that rainy day and he could remember a stranger appear before him in order to save him.

"Thank you," the youngest said.

"N-no... Don't. If you know everything about us or where we came from, you shouldn't be thanking me," Hongbin bit his lips. "How can you thank us when we're the ones that made you become like this in the first place?"

Sanghyuk looked closely at Hongbin's fallen expression and noticed that Taekwoon was exactly the same. Both of them were guilty of their actions and Sanghyuk can tell how remorseful they were.

"It's... fate," the younger said.

"Huh?" Both Taekwoon and Hongbin looked up.

"Maybe, this is just a part of... fate," Sanghyuk continued.

Strangely enough, the words of fate were no longer fearful but rather, questionable. Fate has always been very strange since the beginning and rather unpredictable. Though fate was supposed to have been predetermined since the beginning, both Hakyeon and Sanghyuk's case have proven 'fate' to be a mystery.

But how can Sanghyuk not feel resentment towards Taekwoon or Hongbin even after knowing the truth or the cause of why his body have corroded this way?

"Even if you're not in my memories, you still feel... familiar," Sanghyuk said to Hongbin. "As if... I do know you. That's why... all of this, it's fate."

Taekwoon and Hongbin fell in silence.

Despite Sanghyuk's ill state, the younger was calm even after knowing everything. Taekwoon was rather anxious about telling Sanghyuk when the younger demanded to know but he was also suffocating inside as he tried to solve everything alone. Taekwoon really thought he should hide the truth from the younger, at least until the end so that the younger could rest in peace if anything were to happen to him. But after giving it some thought, Taekwoon realized how cruel it would have been to keep hiding the truth from the younger especially because he was the cause of it all.

Eventually, Taekwoon told everything to Sanghyuk - how he's from Moirae's Edge, how he met Hakyeon in the first place, who Lee Hongbin is and why Taekwoon is back on Earth. The younger should have been in disbelief and maybe find the story rather bogus but the condition of his body proved to be different. Everything eventually made sense to him especially why Hakyeon ended up resenting Taekwoon so much.

Sanghyuk was slightly angry at Taekwoon when he first heard about the older's motives and what he had done to Hakyeon's fate but as he looked at Taekwoon's remorseful expression, he couldn't stay angry for long.

The three of them eventually sat down togetherness and though Sanghyuk was still very sick, he paid his full attention to Taekwoon and Hongbin’s briefing. To Sanghyuk, their story sounded like some sort of made up fairy tale and for other people who might hear this story would think that the two of them haven’t gone completely insane. However, there was no denying anymore as to what was becoming Sanghyuk. His body have corroded into a color that wasn’t his, the pain he felt throughout was also making him go numb. Anymore of it, and soon, he might not feel pain anymore.

“Have you... talked to Hakyeon-hyung?” The younger asked Taekwoon.

” Do you think he’ll listen to me? Or believe me?” Taekwoon said.

” I’m sure ignore you want to talk to him, I can help you. If both Sanghyuk and I tries to persuade Hakyeon, he’ll have to listen one way or another,” Hongbin patted him.

Sanghyuk also nodded in agreement.

But Taekwoon wasn’t convinced and Hakyeon was the least of his worries now.

”I appreciate you both, really but Hakyeon and I will never be like before. To be honest, it’s a relief he knows about everything I’ve done to him and hates me for it. If he never found out about me or of him dying once already, he would just live obliviously in this world without being aware of his surroundings. Plus, I’m not worried about how he thinks about me now but I’m more worried about Sanghyuk’s health,” Taekwoon said unhesitantly. The look of determination in his eyes felt reassuring and it made the other two more certain that Taekwoon have changed.

“Hyung... thanks,” Sanghyuk said and gave the older a smile even if it’s a bit weak.

Taekwoon was relieved to know that he no longer stands alone with anything. Strangely enough, the two people who are by his side at this moment were once his rivals when it came to winning over Hakyeon’s heart.

After awhile, Hongbin helped Taekwoon assist Sanghyuk back to the younger’s bedroom. Sanghyuk have been awake for a long time and after all was explained to him, even the two older ones could tell how tired the younger was becoming.

“Thanks for coming,” Taekwoon said to Hongbin as he saw the other off.

“Have you counted how many times you’ve thanked and apologized to me since today? It’s fine, don’t worry about. Just get some sleep okay?” Hongbin laughed a little.

“I mean it. If it wasn’t no because of Hakyeon, I think we would have really good friends. Our beginning was a bit rocky and I can’t help but think that it would have been better if I never told on you...” he sighed.

“Well~ I guess I should blame you for my few weeks in prison and easy crappy food huh?” Hongbin jokes.

” Sorry...” Taekwoon’s expression changed as if he wasn’t a lost puppy. “But I do believe that you would be perfect in the facility. You’re smarter than you appear to be and you’re good at what’s given to you. It was a short time but during the time you cane to help me at my department, a lot of work was done well that even a lot of the other students, whose been in the facility for years, can’t do. Somehow I can’t help but think that you being a Keeper is a waste on you.”

“Well thanks I guess but I don’t rather not stand around all day long doing research especially after all of this, I’d rather stay away from the facility as far as I can.”

” Then what are you going to do once you return?”

“...”

” Are you having second thoughts after all? Because of Hakyeon?”

”In a way, yes. I just don’t know anymore. If I were to leave him again, I don’t know what to do or what he would do. If we were to erase his memories again, what if he ends up remembering once more like he didn’t before? What happens to him then? Even now, we haven’t found out the reason as to why his book of fate behaved so strangely. If there are any explanations for Sanghyuk’s book changing that would be because of the two of us being here when we’re not supposed to but what about Hakyeon? Even before Hakyeon met you, his book was already like that so what’s the explanation for that?”

”That’s true...none of us have figured out the reason for the appearances of fate. All we did was try to prevent it from going anywhere further in case something bad happens in the future to us because of his unpredictable fate. But even after all we did; deciding his fate or erasing his memories of you, he still ends up going back to normal. And I like Sanghyuk, his health or condition never changed despite his book appearing like that.”

 

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darkskyez
unWritten have finally come to an end, as always, there will be consistent revision of the story whenever I have time. So don't be too surprise if the next time you come back for a re-read, the story might seem a bit different. Just slightly though~

Comments

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AikaRikachu #1
after reading this I ship NBin more than others.
AikaRikachu #2
Chapter 50: Author nim......I love youuuu sooo much..
Your stories are amaizing !!!!
your story make me cry, laugh and it make me crazy
Thank you so much for writing an amazing story.....
merilynlin #3
Chapter 49: i wonder if the 6 of them will meet again...
Minghanniee
#4
Chapter 52: This story is just so well (un)written, i loved it from the start 'til the end, which is an adorable one.
Thank you for writing this.
IvaLura
#5
Chapter 52: I've been waiting for you to finish the story for over a year and I'm happy I waited. Thank you very much for such stories that captivate from beginning to end. When I want to read a deep story, you are the best author for me! :)
curlyjongdae
#6
Chapter 2: wow, this is amazing! First chapter and I'm already hooked up! Finally a good story!
WonHakWoon
#7
Chapter 52: This was so good <3
WonHakWoon
#8
Chapter 14: Can you believe this is a story that I'm currently hooked on? I don't wanna stop reading
WonHakWoon
#9
Chapter 2: Yep, this is a great story <3
evidence13
#10
Chapter 52: Thank you for the wonderful journey with Unwritten)