NO-ONE ~YEONGYU FF

THE TEST

Ch-14
★

..
The beeping of the heart monitor had become a strange comfort.
Each steady pulse reminded Yeonjun that Beomgyu was alive, that despite everything, the boy he had nearly destroyed was still here, still breathing.

Weeks of therapy had changed him. Not completely, not magically, but enough that the fog in his mind had begun to clear. He could see his own hands for what they were shaking, desperate, guilty hands that had once held a syringe and called it love.

Beomgyu was recovering faster now. The bruises on his skin had faded, his voice was stronger, and he was able to walk small steps with help. But his eyes, his eyes were different. They weren't soft anymore. They weren't warm and unguarded like before.

They watched Yeonjun with wariness.
Like he was both the person who had saved him and the one who had caged him.

.....

One evening, Yeonjun entered the hospital room with flowers, yellow tulips, Beomgyu's favorite. Beomgyu looked up from his book, his lips pressing into a thin line.

"You don't have to keep bringing those," Beomgyu said quietly. His voice wasn't cruel, just tired.

"I know," Yeonjun murmured, setting them gently in the vase by the bed. "But I want to."

A silence stretched between them. The kind that used to feel comfortable but now weighed heavy, like stone pressing against both their lungs.

Finally, Beomgyu closed the book and placed it on his lap. His gaze locked onto Yeonjun's, steady and unreadable.

"If you really mean what you've been saying in therapy…" Beomgyu began, his voice trembling with the effort of choosing each word, "then I need you to prove it."

Yeonjun's chest tightened. "Anything."

Beomgyu's lips parted. His eyes didn't waver. "Then let me go. Let me try being with Taehyun."

The words crashed over Yeonjun like a tidal wave.

For a moment, he couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. His ears rang.

With Taehyun?

The same Taehyun whose swollen face still haunted Yeonjun's nightmares. The same boy Yeonjun had beaten bloody for daring to take Beomgyu away.

His throat went dry. His fists clenched so hard his nails dug crescent moons into his palms.

"No," the old Yeonjun whispered inside him. No. He's mine. He belongs to me. You can't-----

But the new Yeonjun, the one clawing his way out of darkness through therapy, through broken apologies, through sleepless nights, forced himself to breathe.

He looked at Beomgyu. Really looked.

Beomgyu's expression wasn't cruel. It wasn't vengeful. It was… searching. Testing. A fragile hope flickered in his eyes, as if he wanted, needed to know if Yeonjun's change was real.

Yeonjun swallowed, his voice hoarse. "You… want Taehyun?"

Beomgyu hesitated, then nodded. "I don't know. But I want to find out. And if you've really changed, Yeonjun… then you'll let me.-"

The silence that followed felt endless.

Yeonjun's body screamed to reject it. To grab Beomgyu's hand, to beg him not to, to promise he could be everything Taehyun wasn't.

But therapy echoed in his head.
Love isn't possession. Love doesn't cage.

Tears burned in Yeonjun's eyes. He forced his trembling lips into something resembling a smile, though his heart was shattering inside him.

''If that's what you want…'' he whispered, his voice breaking, "then I'll let you."

Beomgyu's eyes widened. He hadn't expected Yeonjun to say it.

For the first time in months, Beomgyu leaned back against his pillows, a flicker of relief softening his features. "Thank you," he whispered.

Yeonjun's chest ached so violently he thought his ribs might splinter. But he held his composure.

He turned toward the tulips, brushing his thumb over a soft yellow petal.

"Just…" His voice trembled. "Just promise me one thing, Beomgyu."

Beomgyu tilted his head, watching him cautiously.

"Promise me you'll be happy. Even if it's not with me. That's all I need."

Beomgyu didn't answer right away. His gaze softened, something unreadable flickering in his eyes, but he only whispered, "I'll try."

And that was enough to shatter Yeonjun completely.

.......

That night, Yeonjun sat in his therapist's office, his face buried in his hands.

"he asked me to let him be with someone else," he choked out. "With Taehyun. And I said yes."

The therapist studied him. "How did that feel?"

"Like dying." His voice cracked. "Like ripping my own heart out of my chest and handing it over. But… it also felt like the right thing. Because if I really love him, then I can't stop him from choosing."

The therapist nodded. "That's growth, Yeonjun. Painful growth, but growth nonetheless."

Yeonjun laughed bitterly, tears streaking his face. "So this is love? Letting him slip into someone else's arms while I stand here bleeding?"

The therapist's voice was calm but firm. "This is love, yes. Because for the first time you're putting his happiness above your fear."

Yeonjun pressed his trembling hands together, staring down at them. They no longer looked like weapons. They looked… human.

But still, inside, he was terrified.

Terrified that in proving his love, he might lose the only thing that made life worth living.

.....

"If loving you means letting go,
Then let me break into pieces.
I'd rather be no one in your life,
Than the monster who kept you caged."