❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎

Joshua stared at the message, hoping it would vanish into thin air if he looked at it long enough.

'Hi! It's Parker Rashford. I have something to tell you about Lee Dokyeom or should I say Lee Seokmin.'

He read the message over and over, carefully reading each word both in his head and out loud, making sure not to gloss over any.

First of all, who was Parker Rashford?

Second of all, who was Lee Seokmin?

His phone dinged again, another notification coming in, this time from Vernon. He didn't want to do it, but he had no other option than to have someone follow Dokyeom.

His distrust was showing. He should have just trusted in Dokyeom. He knew all that but he just couldn't risk it. He knew what it felt like to be lied to, manipulated, betrayed.

He knew the feeling too well to let it happen again.

He clicked on the notification opening his and Vernon's chat. The message attached with photos all loaded up on his screen at once.

Joshua analysed the photos, his seething rage burnt in his skin, the mark Dokyeom had left on him lit up for the first time in a while, burning with a new kind of intensity.

Why was Dokyeom with another man? Laughing and chatting and what? Even buying ice cream with him?

Who the fuck had stolen his Dokyeom? Who was this man whose last wish was to die a painful death?

His eyes surveyed the photos over and over, the anger in him doubling and as his eyes fell to the message under the photos, he squeezed his phone in his hand, so hard that his screen cracked, the light crunch somehow soothing Joshua.

'Sir, I identified the man as Parker Rashford, assistant to Lee Byungjun, CEO of LC, Lee Corporations.'

The message reappeared in Joshua's mind, a constant reminder of his foolishness. His need for love that destroyed him, love that threw him right back into the consuming darkness he fought to come out of.

Whatever Dokyeom was doing with Parker, it certainly wasn't anything good. Not only was Lee Byungjun Joshua's number 1 enemy, although he struggled to put up a good fight, he was also the very person who conspired with Jeonghan to kill Joshua years ago.

Why was it that Joshua never seemed to get anything back in return? Not love, not care, not even the tiniest bit of remorse.

Everyone betrayed him.

Jeonghan was so right that it physically hurt.

Everyone will always leave you in the end.

He got off the couch, picking up his now cracked phone. He put it on and replied to Parker's message.

'Where can I meet you?' He texted and his response came back in less than a second, the words short and firm. 'Philly Café.'

Joshua walked to the front door with driven, determined steps. He wore his coat and his sunglasses, along with a hat to hide himself fully. He was going to finally learn the truth.

Whatever Dokyeom was hiding.

Although the urge to meet Parker and kill him right on the spot for daring to steal Dokyeom was uncontrollable, he decided to hear him out first.

Then shoot his dick off.

.............

"Good day Mr. Hong." Parker greeted as Joshua took a seat across him. Joshua rolled his eyes as he scanned Parker, eager to wipe the smug grin off his face with a dirty punch.

How was this basic asshole any better than Joshua?

"Not a fan of pleasantries I see, well, good thing I'm not here to just chit chat." Parker's tone suddenly became serious and Joshua's eyebrows scrunched as he tried to understand what exactly the man in front of him was.

Did he have bipolar disorder?

"Here." Parker slid a brown file over to Joshua which he opened, taking out the contents. The first thing his eyes saw was an ID card.

Dokyeom's ID card. It had his picture on it and his date of birth as well. So why did the space for his name have Lee Seokmin written on it and not Lee Dokyeom?

"What the fuck is this? Who is Lee Seokmin?" Joahua beseeched, not wanting to believe what his head was telling him. Not wanting to let go of Dokyeom just yet.

Parker smirked, leaning closer to Joshua as he whispered, "Lee Dokyeom... is Lee Seokmin, Mr. Hong."

In that exact moment, Joshua's world came crashing down, every good thing he'd experienced in the last few months fleeting away, vanishing, like they had never existed.

"The son of Lee Byungjun, my boss, your biggest enemy." Parker rubbed salt in Joshua's open wounds as he fought the tears from filling up his eyes.

"The plan was simple Sir, Seokmin was supposed to get the job as your secretary and then kill you, take you out of the picture. Being an assassin, he took the job head on, he didn't think it would be hard anyway." Parker began to explain, Joshua's heart slowly flooding itself with both sadness and fury.

He was pissed. No he was enraged. No, he was furious. Furious at Dokyeom or Seokmin or whoever the man he'd fallen in love with was.

He was furious at himself for not seeing this coming, furious at Vernon for not doing his checks thoroughly and furious at Parker, for telling him the truth.

His Dokyeom, his heart, the love of his life... had planned to kill him?

The news weighed on his heart like an anchor, each word Parker let out pushing the weight harder and harder. It felt like he'd been stabbed directly in his heart and he had.

He had been stabbed by everything and everyone he'd chosen to believe in. He though this time, it would be different. He thought he could trust Dokyeom... or Seokmin.

But he was wrong, he was so damn wrong that it pained him, it hurt him straight to his core. The core of his existence had been penetrated by Dokyeom's betrayal.

It all started to make sense. The behavioural changes, the lies and him not responding to his own name at times because,

It wasn't his own name.

"I know it hurts but I just needed to tell you the truth, it hurt me seeing you fall in love with someone who will never love you b-"

Within a second, Joshua's knuckles connected with Parker's jaw, sending him flying to the ground. The customers and the staff in the café quickly started to disperse. They all knew who Joshua was.

They also knew if they tried to call the cops, they would suffer the consequences.

Joshua's eyes were blurry, he could barely see due to the tears, but he knew one thing. He'd definitely injured Parker.

Good.

"I guess I struck a nerve there." Parker scrambled to get up, his right hand stuck to his cheek as the bruise started to swell and his lip bled.

"Why did you tell me this?" Joshua blinked the water away from his eyes, his tone violent and malicious. Parker laughed, walking closer to Joshua, slowly closing the gap between them. He eyed Joshua from his head to his toes before answering.

"Because you took Seokmin away from me, you incompetent basta-"

Joshua delivered another punch to Parker making him stumble and fall backwards. He squatted down to Parker's level, grabbing hus collar and punching him again and again and again, the crunching sound of Parker's jaw and his nose soothing Joshua.

"F-f-fuck o-o-f-ff." Parker spat, his face drowned in blood and his outfit stained, the dashes of crimson visible on his pink jumpsuit and white turtleneck.

"Thank you for telling me, and thank you for being my punching bag." Joshua passed a fake smile as he pushed Parker down with one final punch, knocking him out before getting up from the floor.

Many people thought Joshua was only strong when he had weapons. However, they were extremely wrong.

He was much more lethal in hand to hand combat. After all, he had choked his own father to death.

Joshua glanced around at the now empty café which only he and Parker occupied. He cracked his neck and took a quick look at his bruised fist as he turned around.

He put back all the papers into the file and carried it in his left hand, crossing over Parker's almost lifeless body.

Whoever dared to betray him, would suffer.

Suffer a horrible fate.

❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎

𝐀/𝐍 - how do you guys think he's going to react when he sees seokmin tomorrow?! 🖤

Ⓒ︎𝐎𝐇𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐇𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐇
𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 - 06/10/2024
𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 - N/A