Beastly Beauty ✓

29. The Legend

29 | THE LEGEND

"What?" I whispered.

Hoseok brought my hand to his chest. I still could only see the outline of him, features shrouded by the darkness of the room.

"If you trust me completely, then I can explain more to you now. Before, I was afraid you'd think I was him."

"I know you're not," I assured, squeezing his hand and relishing the fact that I was able to do so. I was still so near to him, still on his lap. My need for the answers he was about to give lasted what felt like ages, but the meeting of our skin was something my being seemed to crave for an eternity.

"Then I'll tell you what I can. Whatever doesn't involve your memory," he said. "What I am and what you are."

"What I am?" I echoed. After seeing Hoseok's eyes and his lack of control, I'd pieced together that he wasn't quite human, same as The Hood. But for him to claim that I was something inhuman, too? "How could I not know if I was something... different?"

"Look, what I'm going to tell you won't make sense to you. You'll probably need time to process it if you even believe me at all. But just hear me out."

"Wait," I said softly. "Can we turn the light on first?"

He took time to respond. "You'll see me."

"Hoseok, haven't you realized by now?" Tenderly, my fingers went to brush his cheek again. "I've already seen you. The parts that matter."

He let out a wavering sigh, leaning into my hold. Then he whispered, "Okay."

At his acceptance, I turned to reach for the lamp and flicked it on. As the room lightened to a dim orange, my gaze fell on him, and my lips lifted. The same reddish-brown hair, the same golden-honey eyes framed by dark lashes and brows. But all the rest was new. High cheekbones, a nose that dipped into a soft point, a powerful curve to his jaw, and the lips I'd kissed, red and beautifully shaped.

The only thing to dislike was the scar that marred the right side of his face—not because it was ugly, but because it brought him so much pain and confined him for so long. It was just as I'd felt in the dark. four pink and slightly raised claw marks beginning across the bridge of his nose, along his cheek, one meeting the corner of his mouth, and all tapering off at his jaw's edge.

His eyes were tense as they clung to my every reaction and waited for the moment I'd grimace or turn away from him. It was enough to shatter my heart, and I had to wrap my hands around his neck and pull him close.

He shut his eyes. "I don't expect you to—"

My lips pressed to his, kissing him slowly but firmly. As we parted, he looked at me with a flushed and dazed face. Before he could speak again, I held his face with care and began planting light kisses over each of his scars.

"Beautiful," I murmured against his skin.

"I'm not," his voice cracked. I leaned back to meet his gaze, but he turned his head away. Without another word, he took my hips and guided me off of his lap so he could stand. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I watched him walk to the window, his side profile stunning me as the yellow moonlight streamed over him.

"Why are you so convinced that nobody can accept you and want you as you are?"

"Because I can't accept myself."

"Why not?" My whisper hung in the tense space between us.

"What you saw earlier was just the surface, Jangmi. I'm like him." Hoseok leaned his shoulder against the window frame, setting his eyes upon the moonlit campus below. "Do you remember the legend of the Bul-Gae?"