"So..." the king started now being seated between his two sons, opposite to a very pale-looking Taeyong who seemed to be busy thinking about something. Jaehyun was nowhere to be seen as the two turned their heads to their father waiting for his words. After the emotional get-together, the three made their way towards the dining room with Jeno promising to share their stories and experiences in living on earth.

"Who suggested you the idea to go to earth?" he didn't beat around the bush as Donghyuck turned to Jeno before coughing. Patting his back, the king passed his son a drink as he looked at Jeno who seemed to be silent.

"We... we just went on our accord," as much as he wanted to betray the old woman, knowing what she did to Renjun Donghyuck didn't, controlling himself as he stared back at his father. He knew his father didn't believe so to add credibility to his story he looked back at his brother before continuing.

"Jeno told me once about a dream of his where he had met someone so enchanting he couldn't get them out of his head. Plus it's earth! All sorts of enjoyment are available there. Even you have told us about the times you stayed on earth where you met mom. So why can't we go there?"

The king sighed. As expected his son wouldn't just be straightforward and would rather blame it on his brother and feed him lies so as to not lose that woman. He was disappointed, disappointed at the fact that Jeno didn't defend himself nor give the woman away.

And why would he bring in his late mother to this?

"Haechan... could you not lie straight to my face? I know what had happened, Soyeon gave you both away when she came to know that I was severely sick. I was waiting for you to be... at least... you know... honest with me. I couldn't be the dad that you had always wanted me to be and... I thought maybe once... maybe once you may say the truth."

With his face flustered, Haechan turned to face his father. He should've been a bit more cautious with his words since it was his father whom they were dealing with. Or he could've just told the truth but Haechan wondered whether that would've helped him knowing his dad and his aversion to the humans.

After all his mom wasn't a human but a monster roaming around freely on earth when his father came across her. But his case was different. Renjun was a human and he was a monster. They weren't made for each other, that's what the law says. That's what everyone wants to let him know including his dad.

But if they weren't made for each other why did he have to meet Renjun? Why was the younger boy's image engraved in his mind to the point he decided to run away from his home to find the other? Why did he feel safe being around Renjun?

"Dad-"

"Running away and putting your blame on others isn't the way to go Chan. Never run away from your problems. Face them. Show them you're not a coward. And... don't lie to me. Trust me lying didn't get me where I'm now."

His dad had a point. His whole life all Haechan had done was to run away from his problems. Even the night he met Renjun, he ran away from his father's scolding only to come across soyeon who was on her way to find prey.

"Oh, Haechan!" She had exclaimed when he showed up out of the blue in front of her, amusement written all over her face. Haechan nodded refusing to speak as the woman took it for another one of their hunting nights. The parents, his highness, and his wife, their queen, didn't seem to have a problem with Haechan being seen with soyeon so she knew they wouldn't mind him accompanying her.

What they would've minded of course would be his journey to earth. But the boy wasn't ready to share it with his parents let alone his brother. It was their little secret so the two embarked on another one of their journeys.

"Why are you so silent?" She had asked, opposite to what he had expected. Of course, he should've known it was soyeon who he was dealing with. The woman was quite observant and needless to say pushy. He also knew she must've known the reason by now but decided to keep mum wanting to hear it from the boy himself.

"Just not in a good mood..."

"Did you run away from your father in fear of his scolding?" She asked scooting closer as the boy nodded his head slowly, his lips quivering. He hated to admit that he was at fault.

"Oh Channie..." bringing him in closer, she pulled him into a hug patting his back.

"It's okay...it's going to be okay...calm down..."

"It hurts... it hurts so much aunty..."

"Shh... it's okay... you're okay"

"...Chan, look at me?" Snapping out of his trance the said male turned to his father who seemed to be holding a warm smile.

"Dad..."

"Renjun, I assume that's the name, right Jeno?"

"Yes father, that's his name"

What was his dad up to? Will he harm Renjun afterward? Sure he spent time with the earthling but that doesn't mean he was particularly fond of them. That's what bothered him.

"How did you meet him... I mean how did you find him on earth?"

Pursing his lips he met the eyes of Jeno, unlike him the other kept calm. He nodded his head encouraging him to continue.

"I... well we signed up for a high school there. So- I mean we collected pills to get a hold of our hunger to not harm anyone there. He was our classmate and... the teacher assigned him and his friend to show us around," a pause as he turned back to his brother who seemed to be mouthing a 'you're doing a great job', "knowing you we knew we couldn't stay in the lodging for long and somehow ended up as tenants in his house. In between Taeyong found us and..."

"And...?"

"And sungchan... things went downhill and we had to finish Jeongwoo...Taeyong asked us to return within a week. I found about Renjun a day or so before. But if I let him know I wouldn't be able to come back so I wrote him a letter..."

"And ran back here like a coward instead of manning up and confessing..." disappointment was written all over his face as Haechan wondered since when was his father so invested in his story.

"In my defense, I took him to the forest to let him know that he was the one I was looking for. But it turned out to be a bad decision since aunt ... I mean when they-"

"I know it's that damn woman. She always loves to ruin people's lives."

Donghyuck pressed his lips into a thin line. She had ruined Renjun's life, tormenting him and poking fun of him every chance she gets by appearing in his dreams. In her defense, he knew she would say that it was all for him yet the impact it had on Renjun wasn't anything of less importance. The boy had been prescribed medicines to calm himself down and get sleep all due to the nightmares caused by her.

Still, why was he trying to not put the whole blame on her? Perhaps he couldn't bring himself into doing knowing she was the one who was there for him even when no one else was.

"So what did she do?" The king asked once again as Haechan continued.

"She used to appear in his dreams...and she appeared once again inducing anxiety. It made him unconscious and I had to bring him back to his house. I didn't want to stay there any longer since my staying would only hurt him further. So we packed our bags and returned"

"Does he at least know that he's the one you've been searching for all along?"

Well, that got Haechan wondering whether Renjun even bothered to read his letter.

"If he has read my letter then yes"

What are the odds of Renjun crumbling his letter into a ball and throwing it into a dustbin in Renjun style without even bothering to read it?

"I'm sure he has," the king encouraged his son patting his back as Haechan smiled slightly his eyes falling to the empty seat in front of him.

Well, he hoped Renjun would've read the letter, and regardless of whether he returned those feelings back or not, he knew he would always love him.

TBC
Well, ten more chapters [hopefully] and Monster will come to an end. Seriously I didn't even think we would come this far.

I didn't want to turn this into angst so no worries! There wouldn't be much ahead :)

Have a great week ahead <33

Also, there might be grammatical mistakes since I couldn't proofread this.