• 第十七章 •
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Throwing a strong punch, Hoseok huffed and puffed as he continued to smash his fisted hands and legs onto the punching bag, perspiration dripping of his face nonstop showering the ground with his sweat. His mind was focused solely on attacking the specially-made punching bag, the gentle cry of aching muscles ignored blatantly by him as he delivered one last punch, breaking the training equipment by causing it to detach from the ceiling to fly and hit the wall.
Seokjin clapped his hands slowly, genuinely impressed. "You've improved."
Hoseok grinned while walking towards the water bottles on the floor. "Sorry for destroying your punching bag."
"Nah, it's alright. We can always get it fixed again." Seokjin shrugged as he watched Hoseok take in large gulps of water. "What's up with you though? I was surprised to see you here to train."
"I needed to take my mind off somethings Jungkook told me about this morning." Hoseok plopped onto the floor.
"What did he tell you?" Seokjin queried while sitting down next to Hoseok.
The younger vampire heaved a deep sigh. "Kook found out about His Majesty's reincarnation's identity."
"Oh."
Seokjin's honest reaction made Hoseok chuckle. Sitting up, he wiped his sweat with the towel hung around his neck.
"His name is Kim Taehyung." Hoseok started, and forced a smile at Seokjin's baffled look. "He's also the new CEO of his family's jewellery company. Lived in the States for his entire life and came back here just recently. Did you know that he lives just one floor below us?"
"What." Seokjin was dumbfounded.
"Mhm, he's our neighbour." Hoseok raked through his damp hair. "Funny how we've never met his reincarnation until now. Just like Hana and Namjoon."
"Why now though?" Seokjin rubbed his face out of frustration.
"Who knows?" Hoseok observed his bruised knuckles. "Whatever it is, we gotta brace ourselves for the incoming storm."
Seokjin hummed mindlessly. "How's your progress with Hana though? Any improvements?"
"No...? We are still the same. Actually, it's been a few days since we last saw each other." Hoseok stood up to approach his bag where his phone was kept in. "Should I call her?"
"Do whatever your heart tells you to do, lover boy." Seokjin laughed, patting his friend's shoulder before leaving the private room to give him some space.
Pacing around in the room, Hoseok ultimately settled down by leaning against the railing built onto the wall sturdily. A smile broke out on his face when Hana answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Hi there." Hoseok let out a shaky breath.
"Why did you call?" Hana questioned lightly.
"Um, just wanted to check up on you. What are you doing?" Hoseok threw on his hoodie before walking out of the room, his eyes scanning for his friend to inform about his departure.
"I'm replacing Namjoon for his part-time job at the museum today and I'm on lunch break now." Hana replied him nonchalantly.
"Oh, which museum?" Hoseok adjusted his phone while fishing out his car keys to unlock his car parked right next to Seokjin's electric blue Lamborghini.
"The National Museum." Hana was heard munching on food then. "Why? Are you coming here?"
"Can I?" Hoseok threw his phone onto the passenger seat after connecting the call to his car via bluetooth, and began to reverse his car.
"I have company though. Wait, let me ask him."
A frown etched on Hoseok's face instantly. Who was she with?
"Okay, you can come. Don't freak out though." Hana whispered the last sentence into the speaker.
Upon reaching the café near the museum, Hoseok finally understood what Hana had meant by 'Don't freak out though'. He clenched his jaw when his eyes spotted Taehyung seated across her, and his furious eyes met his calm and questioning ones.
"Hoseok!" Hana waved her arms highly in the air, gesticulating for the vampire to join them at the table.
"Hey." Hoseok forced a smile while sitting down next to her. "Forgive me if I smell. I just came from Seokjin's gym."
Hana wanted to tell him that he smelled nothing weird but sexy with the musky scent of his instead. But she chose not to tell him.
She wasn't that shameless. Yet.
"Anyways, this is Kim Taehyung." Hana gestured at the man still gaping at Hoseok with an unreadable look. "And this is Jung Hoseok. You two met previously, remember?"
"Of course we do." They answered her simultaneously, the low register of their voices startling the girl a little.
Hana laughed dryly. "Hoseok, you want anything from the menu? It'll be my treat."
"Nah, it's okay. I'm not hungry." Hoseok smiled softly at her, but the fierceness in his gaze remained unwavering as he looked back at the other man. "I must say, I'm caught off guard to see you here."
"Likewise." Taehyung smirked slightly. "But then, aren't you pretty close with this little girly here?"
"Yah!" Hana shrieked.
"What?" Hoseok scoffed, feigning innocence.
"Whatever." Taehyung shrugged dismissively, and took another bite of his food.
"Not to be nosy but, why are you two together?" Hoseok questioned as subtly as he could.
"We met in the museum just now." Hana explained kindly. "We discussed about King Lee Hyeon. Ring a bell on who he was?"
"Huh?" Hoseok was taken aback to hear the name of the King he served long ago after such a long time.
Shifting his eyes towards Taehyung who was still munching on his food slowly, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion while glancing at Hana again. He rested his arms on the table, his sharp gaze encouraging Hana to elaborate further.
"Taehyung-ssi works in a jewellery company, and he finds the sun emblem belonged to King Lee Hyeon particularly enthralling." Hana averred carefully, the double meaning hinted not going by unnoticed by Hoseok.
"The sun emblem? What is it?" Hoseok pretended to be clueless and focused his attention at Taehyung. "Can you show me? Maybe I'll know something about it."
Taehyung lifted an eyebrow at the vampire skeptically. Nevertheless, he took out his phone and showed him a picture of the design.
"Here. It looks like this." Taehyung explained patiently. "There should be a red ruby in the middle, as described by the documented passages."
"Isn't it a little... tacky?" Hoseok's words surprised Hana.
What the hell are you going on about, Jung Hoseok?
"Tacky?" Taehyung snickered in amusement. "It is, but I like the design. It attracts me."
"Why?" Hoseok pushed further.
The human male frowned. "Why not? I have an eye for special designs, Hoseok-ssi. I'm not the CEO of a jewellery company for nothing."
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Hana decided to end the tension crackling in the air. She placed a hand over Hoseok's icy one daringly, rendering the vampire to freeze out of puzzlement.
Taehyung simply grimaced even further at the contact.
Stop it. This was what Hoseok deciphered from the squeeze of Hana's hand onto his.
"Oh! Would you look at the time!" Hana chirped suddenly, her gaze directed onto her wristwatch.
"Do you have to go back to work already?" Taehyung pouted slightly.
"Yes, my lunch break ends at two." Hana gave him a sheepish smile, and stood up from her seat with her bag in tow. "I really enjoyed on the discussion we had today."
Taehyung grinned. "Me too. I'll see you around, I guess. I doubt this will be the last time for us to meet again."
"We'll see." Hana chuckled and left the table, leaving a stunned Hoseok watching her in disbelief and Taehyung smirking at him.
"I'll walk you there!" Hoseok exclaimed while increasing his pace to reach her side.
When they were out of the café, Hana glared up at Hoseok immediately. The latter shot her a puppy look, doing his best to calm down the girl using his appearance.
"What the hell was that?" Hana said in exasperation.
"I didn't do anything wrong." Hoseok looked away with his arms crossed.
"Yeah, you surely didn't." Hana mocked sarcastically and stormed away.
"Yah! Moon Hana!" Hoseok groaned while running after her, and pulled the handle of her backpack upwards so she would be lifted up in the air slightly to stop walking.
"Let me go!" Hana thrashed around, her teeth gritting angrily. "I'm warning you, Jung Hoseok. Let. Me. Go."
Rolling his eyes, Hoseok released the handle and the girl stumbled a few steps while trying to steady herself. She was about to ignore him again when she felt a hand slipped into hers, and no matter how strongly she tried to tug it away, Hoseok was just as stubborn as she was.
"Don't hold my hand!" Hana tried to retreat her hand, but a shriek left her instead when she was forcefully pulled into an embrace.
"I'm sorry, okay? Don't be mad at me." Hoseok's arms tightened around the girl. "Don't walk away from me, please."
Sighing, Hana leaned backwards so she could meet his saddened eyes. The fear of losing her again greatly terrified him; and even though Hana didn't know how the past her had died, she was still able to feel his sorrow through his watery gaze.
"Please don't cry." Hana tiptoed to wipe the falling tears away for him. "I'm right here."
A sniffle escaped the vampire as tears continued to fall. He wrapped his arms around her smaller form again, his nose snuggling onto the crook of her neck.
"I'm sorry." His whisper sent shivers coursing through her body. "I'm sorry for acting that way earlier. I was so scared of losing you to him again and I can't bear myself to—"
"Wait." Hana detached herself from the man, and gently cupped his face as realization dawned upon him.
"Shit. I spoke too much." Hoseok shook his head fervently.
"What did you mean by losing me to... him?"
The same pained look Hana saw back in her hometown flashed across Hoseok's face once again. At the intense gaze she was shooting at him, he knew that it was time to tell her the entire truth.
The truth she deserved to know.
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Ngl, I got shook at the gif I made myself HAHAHA
The past will be revealed in the next few chapters hehe
Thx for reading! :)
Next update : 10/5/2021 (Monday)