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The campus smelled of rain and old stone, a scent Minhyung had come to associate with Donghyuck. It was a good scent, a safe one, like coming home. But tonight, it was a lie.

He saw the flicker of police lights first, a violent blue-and-red heartbeat pulsing against the wet pavement. He heard the sirens, high-pitched and keening, and the ragged, choked sobs that could only belong to one person in the world.

He ran.

He ran past dorm windows glowing with warm light, past laughter and the muffled thud of a bass line. His lungs burned, his legs ached, but the pain was a ghost compared to the one that lived in his chest—a cold, sharp fear that cut through him like glass. He had promised. He had promised to keep him safe, to be a fortress no storm could break.

And he had failed.

He skidded to a stop on the slick asphalt, the world narrowing to a single, shattering image. A crowd of faces, pale and curious. The shattered remnants of a street lamp. And in the center of it all, on his knees, was Donghyuck. His hands were tied, his wrists bruised, his face streaked with tears and a thin trail of blood.

But it wasn't the blood that made Minhyung's stomach turn. It was the look in Donghyuck's eyes—a hollow, vacant horror that had no room for fear, only for a profound, bottomless disbelief. It was the look of a boy who had just seen a piece of his world burn to ashes.

Donghyuck's gaze, wild and unfocused, lifted and met Minhyung's across the distance. He didn't speak. He just watched, his body trembling, a silent plea that ripped through Minhyung's soul.

Minhyung didn't hesitate. He waded through the crowd, his shoulders a battering ram, his gaze locked on Donghyuck. He felt the sting of a cracked rib, the pull of torn muscles, the phantom taste of iron in his mouth—a memory of the fight he had been in just an hour ago. He had thought the battle was over. He had been wrong.

"Minhyung!" Donghyuck's voice finally broke, a raw, strangled cry. "Minhyungie!"

The sound was a knife.

He reached him, pulling a shivering Donghyuck into a desperate, bone-crushing hug. He ignored the police officers yelling at him to stand back, ignored the curious stares. All that mattered was the weight of a body, finally solid in his arms, trembling against him.

He was bleeding. Donghyuck was shaking. And Minhyung knew, with the cold, clear certainty of a man facing the end of the world, that the promise he had made to himself was no longer enough. To simply love him from the shadows was not enough. To be a silent guardian was not enough.

Because something had broken tonight. A trust, a safety, a beautiful, fragile lie they had both been living. Minhyung had to step into the light now, into the fire. He would have to fight not just for Donghyuck's safety, but for his sanity, his peace, for the very soul that had been almost stolen away.

And he would do it, even if it meant risking the one thing he feared more than anything else: losing Donghyuck forever. The game had changed. And he had to play.

「 I Wish You Were Mine ┊ MarkHyuck 」  ✓Where stories live. Discover now