Incarnadine | Prequel to "Viridescence"

55

10th December
2020

The three men stand solemnly, staring at Hongjoong lying on the bed. Yeosang furiously works on Hongjoong, occasional hisses of pain filling the empty atmosphere.

"I'm sorry," Seonghwa mumbles for what feels like the hundredth time in the past fifteen minutes. "I told you, it's fine. I ended up finding Jang- I mean Jihyun thanks to you. Thank you for getting her to freedom," Hongjoong smiles. The smile quickly leaves his face and he bites his lip from the pain while Yeosang continues to treat his wound.

Seonghwa still hangs his head in shame, feeling San's glare on him so strongly that he doesn't even register the fact that Hongjoong just revealed that he found his sister.

"How could you though? How long had you been working with them behind our backs? Were you ever really on our side?" San spits with his blood boiling, especially after acquiring a broken nose thanks to his teammate. Seonghwa clenches his fists, feeling an overwhelming amount of guilt.

"I only helped them escape, nothing before that. You guys still mean the most to me, I just thought that living like this was doing more harm than good to all of us. San and Jongho, it's our fault that you're both like this. Even you both deserved a normal life but..." Seonghwa's voice cracks. He shuts his mouth and tries to blink away the oncoming tears.

San lets out a loud sigh while Jongho's eyebrows furrow. "If you took that away from us, the least you could do was stick to it. We'll all be going to prison now, won't we?" Jongho asks in a quiet voice, face full of hurt.

"I-" Seonghwa begins, before he is cut off. "Whatever Seonghwa did was for the best. I'm sorry for dragging you all into this with me only for it to end like this," Hongjoong declares. His words only hurt Jongho even more.

"So you dragged us into this mess only for you to change your mind last second because of your sister? What about the rest of us? Our lives are gone now," Jongho barks, tears finally tipping over the edge.

Hongjoong can't deny the guilt in him too. "It's all my fault. Please hate me all you want, I'll take responsibility. But I also want you to better yourselves from now on. I'm really sorry. Vent out all of your regrets in the form of hatred towards me," the leader apologises once again.

Jongho wipes his tears aggressively, only for more to take their place shortly after. "That's right, I'll probably hate you for the rest of my life now. I hope that we'll get over it in the future, and maybe we will forgive you eventually since we're no angels either. But right now I really regret putting my trust into you," he sobs before storming out of Yeosang's clinic.

San scowls at Hongjoong and Seonghwa one last time. "Thanks for everything, I guess," he mumbles bitterly, still staring daggers into everyone. He also leaves, deciding to chase after Jongho and care for him.

More tears escape Hongjoong's eyes and stream down the side of his face. Seonghwa kneels down beside the bed and takes his leader's hand into his. He clutches it tightly and tries his best to not burst out crying at the sight of his suffering friend.

Yeosang finishes up and watches the two others, a heavy weight on his chest. "T-Thank you for being such a caring family. Although I also wanted to escape at some points, I'll miss everything," he utters.

"We're sorry," Hongjoong sadly says. "I hope you can have a better time with your real family at home from now on. Tell them we forced you into the gang," Seonghwa explains.

Yeosang's eyes widen. "But I voluntarily joined, I need to pay for it with you! I don't want to leave you guys already," he frantically argues, tears stinging his eyes too now. "Hwa's right, you didn't hurt anyone directly and you have a pure soul. Forget about us and live a fulfilling life," Hongjoong continues. "I can't...I can't just do that," Yeosang whimpers.