chapter 11

Sunggyu contemplates running. The option is very tempting but then he remembers that Woohyun isn’t human and could beat Usain Bolt before Usain Bolt could even blink. So he reassesses his situation. Woohyun marches over, a terrifying aura looming over him, and Sunggyu realizes he’s quickly running out of options. So being the idiot he is, he turns right and runs as if his life depends on it.

                He runs in the direction of the side street that runs along the edge of the school grounds. He can see the road and he’s almost made it until he runs into a wall that hadn’t previously been there, squealing as he falls backwards and onto his . He rubs his lower back and frowns, afraid to look up. He does, though, and the sight sends a shiver down his spine. Woohyun’s eyes are flaming red and he looks even angrier, if that’s possible.

                “I specifically told you to stay at home at all times. Don’t you know how much danger you’re in?” Woohyun’s voice is low and menacing.

                “Well… I wanted to come to school…”

                “So you left without telling me?”

                “I—”

                Woohyun grabs Sunggyu’s hand harshly and pulls him up with so much force that he falls forward into Woohyun’s chest. Woohyun’s arms wrap around him so tightly he almost can’t breathe and he tries to angle his head so that he can get some air.

                “W-Woohyun?”

                “Do you enjoy making me worry about you? Why won’t you stay when I tell you to? What if something were to happen to you? I can’t protect if you if you just leave without a word. I was so worried I felt like I was dying. Don’t do this to me, Sunggyu.”

                Sunggyu grips the back of Woohyun’s shirt and buries his face in the curve of Woohyun’s neck. “I’m sorry.”

                Woohyun lets out a sigh and Sunggyu’s red hair. “We’re going to need to change this. It’s too noticeable,” Woohyun mutters, playing with the strands.

                Sunggyu nods, breathing in Woohyun’s scent. “I’m still mad at you.”

                Damn it, Sunggyu mutters to himself.

…

                Sunggyu tugs at the end of his hair, looking up at the light golden brown locks. The first thing they did was get Sunggyu’s hair changed into something less in-your-face and apparently Woohyun likes a subtle brunet.

                “Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about my little runaway,” Woohyun grips Sunggyu’s hand tightly as they walk up to the front doors of the mansion.

                Sunggyu had been dreading this. “I think we should—”

                “You’re not going to go to school,” Woohyun deadpans, opening the door and removing their jackets.

                Sunggyu pouts and yanks his hand from Woohyun’s. “I paid a lot of money to go to that school and I can’t just stop! I’m human and vampires might not have to go to school but humans do so I am going to school and you can’t stop me. I won't be a prisoner.”

                Woohyun spins around, his eyes a tinge of red. “You’re no ordinary human anymore. School is dangerous.”

                “School is harmless!”

                “You can’t trust anyone except the people in this house anymore and you trust too easily. Vampires will easily get to you through school if you attend.”

                “I can take care of myself.”

                Woohyun frowns, his eyes flaring. Myungsoo and Sungyeol come to see what the ruckus is about and Myungsoo rolls his eyes upon seeing their little fight. “I can’t protect you if you are running around on your own! Vampires will rip you apart!”

                Sunggyu’s about to yell something about Woohyun being a worrywart until Myungsoo steps in between them. “Let’s compromise. Sunggyu, attend school. Woohyun, do your duty as the Prince. Someone of Woohyun’s choice will guard Sunggyu at all times while he’s out. Fair enough?”

                “I like that idea,” Sungyeol chirps.

                Sunggyu nods vigorously and holds onto Myungsoo’s elbow. “At least Myungsoo has some sense.”

                Woohyun runs a hand through his hair and his eyes return to midnight blue. “Only because I love you,” Woohyun grumbles, pulling Sunggyu away from Myungsoo and dragging him off.

…

                Ailee is the one who goes to school with Sunggyu. She says she was spending time in town anyways and she would love to be with Sunggyu all day. Sungyeol tells Sunggyu that he’s safe with Ailee because Woohyun trusts Ailee as much as he trusts Myungsoo (Sunggyu still thinks he’s okay on his own, though).

                Ailee is fun, Sunggyu will admit, but she attracts more attention than his red hair did. It doesn’t help that she’s ridiculously gorgeous and that she shines (almost literally). She’s telling him a story about the time she met Picasso and it’s interesting enough but Sunggyu’s never been much of an abstract fan.

                “Oi, Sunggyu—” Jung Wook skids to a stop when he realizes Sunggyu’s actually talking to the goddess beside him. “Oh, is this a friend of yours, Sunggyu?”

                “Uh… yeah, this is Jung Wook. Jung Wook, this is Ailee.”

                “Well hello there. It seems we haven’t got the pleasure of meeting yet. I am Jung Wook, best friend of Sunggyu,” he bows, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. Sunggyu almost falls down because wow this is just bad. So instead Sunggyu steps around them and walks before whispering to Jung Wook, “She’s married.”

                Jung Wook had failed to notice the wedding band on her left ring finger.

…

                It’s been exactly eighteen days since Woohyun had let Sunggyu attend school. And every day when he watches Sunggyu leave in the morning he feels like he’s physically dying because the image of Sunggyu ripped to shreds by some lunatic kills him. But every day Sunggyu comes home unharmed and runs into Woohyun’s arms with a smile on his face.

                Myungsoo flips the page of an old book and glances up at Woohyun who is pacing back and forth, a large book in his hand. “I’m actually amazed that you even let him despite the compromise. I was sure that you were just going to say no and lock him away. Maybe somewhere in the basement. I wouldn’t put it past you.”

                “Should I be offended by that?”

                “Think of it more as a compliment.”

                “So I’m going to guess you’ve found nothing?”

                “Actually,” Myungsoo starts, placing his finger at the start of a page. “I figured my brother had something about anything. You know how he was – always so obsessed with researching about different little cults and whatnot.”

                “I didn’t know your brother that well. I just knew that he was a hunter.”

                “Well, because of his role as a hunter, his research is fairly elaborate. I was flipping through some of the pages and I’ve come across something we might find interesting.”

                “Go on then.”

                Myungsoo clears his throat. “’I haven’t been in contact with them but I’ve heard about them. There are only a few of them but they go to small villages and rip them apart. Typical for vampires, I suppose. Not much out of the ordinary except one villager survived, lucky enough. The survivor claims they were searching for something but he wasn’t really sure what it was exactly. All he overheard was that it would wake up someone that had been asleep for centuries.’”

                Woohyun raises his eyebrow. “What connection does that have to Sunggyu and the people who are targeting him?”

                “Don’t be so impatient,” Myungsoo shakes his head, flipping the yellowed page gingerly. “’I’ve only caught two of their names. Ilhoon and Minhyuk. But there are more of them and I want to find out who they want to wake up and what they need to do it.’”

                Woohyun places his book down on the table and Myungsoo hands him the journal. “There’s no other information in this journal about the group or what they’re looking for. But it mentions his name and it’s very likely that it’s the same person. Unfortunately, we still don’t know how they found out about Sunggyu so quickly. The obvious deduction is that they’ve either been watching you or Sunggyu or even both of you for a while. How you didn’t notice is beyond me.”

                “That was an insult.”

                Myungsoo shrugs, standing. “Isn’t it about time Sunggyu came home?”

                Woohyun nods, the wheels in his head turning. He bookmarks the page with a scrap of paper and places the journal on the table, stepping out of the library with Myungsoo. He doesn’t want to look so expectant by just standing by the door so he pretends to busy himself with rearranging a bouquet of flowers sitting in the foyer.

                He can hear Sungyeol and Myungsoo chuckling about something and he whips his head around. “What?”

                “You look ridiculous,” Myungsoo tries to hide his smile but totally fails.

                “We know you’re waiting for Sunggyu. You don’t have to pretend that you’re not.”

                Woohyun’s about to say something until his phone goes off. He raises his eyebrows questioningly because it’s not often that he gets calls. He looks at the caller ID and almost drops the phone. It’s Ailee and Ailee doesn’t usually call just to chat. He gulps and takes the call, bringing the phone up to his ear. “What is it?”

                “I’m so sorry, Woohyun,” her voice is shaking and she sounds terrible. “Sunggyu, he’s—”

                The phone falls to the ground and Woohyun’s not there anymore. Myungsoo clenches his teeth. “Just go and make sure Sunggyu’s okay,” Sungyeol pushes Myungsoo lightly, and then Myungsoo’s gone too. 

well this is falling apart so fast

stay tuned to find out what happened to both ailee and sunggyu 

and i dont think that i'll introduce ailee's husband or maybe i will but if you dont know ailee she doesnt actually have a husband in the real world she's like the same age as sunggyu so it'd be surprising if she did 

until next time