✩ s a n ✩

⋆ day 1 ⋆

.

Rage followed him around like a shadow, hovering over him and leaving him with no rest at all. It grew bigger and more furious by each minute passing by, and San could've walked the floors of his apartment thin, with the endless pacing around he had done since he got back.

His hand was clenched around his phone at all times, while the frustration knowing he was unable to do anything was storming through him. He gritted his teeth, mumbled curse-words as he glanced over the city outside, feeling so weak and powerless was infuriating and causing his entire body to tense up.

How did this happen? How did he become the one without a saying in his own life? How did he ever end up losing sleep over someone not calling him back - over not showing any appreciation for all the things he had done for him?

San knew he had done bad things in his life, and he was aware that Hongjoong might have had a hard time forgiving what had happened. But as Yeosang had done terrible things as well, San felt angry that Hongjoong had decided to side with the other, not even giving San a chance to prove that he had changed.

"What have you become?" he whispered, frustrated with himself to have fallen into the hole of letting his feelings control him.

Things were easier when San didn't care about anyone but himself, when he didn't lie awake all night hoping to receive a call or a message, and when he didn't miss having someone cuddled up by his side.

Yeosang had gone insane, there was no doubt in the world about it, and dangerous as well. Whatever it would take, San knew he had to get Hongjoong away from him as fast as possible. The only question was, how?

San nearly tripped over his own feet, when the phone suddenly began ringing in his hand, but the surprise and excitement were gone the second he saw it was Jongho calling him.

"Hello?"

"You need to come to the office, now!" The youngest Choi said from the other end of the line, and although his voice sounded very strange, San didn't think too much about it in the moment.

"Why? Thought I was banished since he took over?" San growled back.

"I know. But this time it's fine, actually... It's an order, from him."

Jongho then hung up, but San kept standing in the same spot with the phone held to his ear even long after the call had ended. He felt uneasy and extremely suspicious by the sudden order, and now he began wondering why his brother had sounded so out of it.

Was it a trap? But the office building shouldn't be the worst place to meet up at, besides, if Jongho was in trouble San had to go - even if it meant both of them would be in danger.

San rushed out the door, called his driver up on the way down, and got in the car with his heart in his throat. As they drove through the city, he stared blankly out the window, once again wondering how he ever had ended up like this.

He used to write the rules of his own life, he was the one who used to have control over others - and now he had lost it all, and for what?

For the chance of getting a real life, completely contrary to what he was used to, without schemes and sick games?

Or...

Simply, for love?

✩

"What is he doing here?"

Rage shot from San's eyes like flames, the moment he stepped into his brother's office. His hands clenched together, as he glared at Yeosang standing next to Jongho, and his body started to tremble from the anger he soon couldn't control any longer.

"Just hear him out, San."

Jongho sounded way too calm for the absurd situation, and San made sure to send him a furious glare while he still debated whether to stay or just storm out again.

"I have an offer for you," Yeosang then said, gesturing for San to sit down, which he did very reluctantly.

"If I remember correctly, the last time we spoke you threatened to kill me?" he scoffed, but he quickly noticed the small shake of his head his brother made next to him.

"I never said the word, kill, but I will agree with you on the conversation not being one of the more pleasant ones."

San and Yeosang were both staring at each other with eyes full of hate, and mistrust, while Jongho stood next to them looking quite uncomfortable. Yeosang then walked over to sit down behind the youngest Choi's desk, leaned in across it with his hands folded in front of him.

"What is the offer?" San sneered, certain that whatever Yeosang had to say wasn't to be trusted.

"Jongho," Yeosang said, slowly turning his head to look at Jongho still standing uncomfortably by the side.

"I will get the company, if you do as he says, San," Jongho said, but his voice was almost a whisper and the lowest San had ever heard it be. "But you need to do exactly what you are told."

"Thanks, Jongho. You can leave now."

Turning his attention back to San, Yeosang made a brief hand gesture towards the door, and San would lie if he said shivers didn't run down his back when his brother left the office with slow and nervous steps.

"This is a one time offer, San," Yeosang then said, and his eyes were burning into San's - aggressively but at the same time almost desperately. "If you fail this, there won't be any second chances. Do you understand?"

"Just tell me what you want, Yeosang, I'm sick of playing games..."

Yeosang leaned back in the chair on the opposite side of the desk, his grey eyes still staring directly at San over his steepled hands held up in front of his face.

"Do you believe you are worthy of forgiveness for the things you have done?" Yeosang then asked, and San raised a brow at the question he found not only strange but also somehow intimidating. "You've changed, is it because of him? Do you truly believe you can give him the life he deserves?"

San's face pulled into a frown, as he wondered what Yeosang meant. Of course he knew that it was Hongjoong the younger meant, but the reason to all the weird questions confused him greatly.

Slowly, he nodded.

"Yes, I do. I don't care what you do with this company, or anything else in the world to be honest. But Hongjoong should at least get the chance to choose freely... Between who he wants to be with, if any of us at all..."

It lasted forever, the silence when San stopped talking and Yeosang didn't speak either. They just looked at each other, Yeosang still having that unreadable look in his eyes that scared San but also left him confused.

"I only want him to be happy," Yeosang then said, and his voice had changed. Soft, trembling almost. "Do exactly as I say, and I'll give you the opportunity to be the one to make him smile. And I will never interfere again."

Silence again, so heavy San could hear his own breathing as loud as thunder.

He rubbed his palms together, nervously. The sudden change in Yeosang and the things he said was disturbing, and to trust him could be deadly. But, San still felt intrigued enough to ask for more information. Even if the chance of Yeosang telling the truth was small, if it was microscopical - San was willing to take it.

"What do you want me to do?"

A smile spread over the younger's lips, terrifying and San instantly regretted asking that question. Had he just stepped directly into the lion's, and would he ever make it out alive? The sound of Yeosang pushing the chair back to rise from his seat, nearly caused San to flinch in his own, and he looked up - forcing himself to keep the nerve-wrecking eye contact.

"You will go to Hongjoong's place in two days from today, and you will tell him to pack up his things," Yeosang said, as he slowly walked around the desk. "Then you will leave town, at 5PM the latest, and you will never return. If he chooses to go with you, you're the one he loves."

"How will I know if I can trust you?" San asked, when Yeosang was standing right next to him, looking down at him with those eyes San knew would hunt him forever - if he himself was luckly enough to live to see another day.

"You won't," Yeosang casually said, with a shrug. "Are you willing to take the chance?"

San swallowed a lump, but another one had formed in his throat right away. He nodded, very slowly and Yeosang send him a single nod back, before walking towards the door.

"Remember San, at 5PM the latest, before the sun sets." With his hand around the door handle, about to walk out the office, Yeosang looked back at San.

"Why?" Clenching his hands, San did everything he could to look calm, but every little part of him was trembling. "What happens after the sunset?"

Yeosang's last words left his lips as he left the office, leaving them hanging in the air for San to wonder what he meant.

"The Devil awakes."

✩