𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 || 𝐒𝐄𝐎𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐎

Epilogue

One year later

Joshua hugged his sister tightly.

"Let me look at you!" Eloise said, pulling back and grinning. "You look a bit tan!"

"Living in Sicily would do it," Joshua said dryly.

"Where's your worse half?" Eloise said, craning her neck, as if she expected Seokmin to be hiding behind him.

"He'll be here soon." Joshua rolled his eyes. "He's getting wine for Dad. The wine we brought with us got broken in transit."

"Ouch," Eloise said, taking his arm, and walking toward the house. "The kids will be so happy to see you. They missed you. We all did."

"I missed you guys too," Joshua said softly, looking at his parents' house festively decorated for Christmas. "I'm sorry we missed Christmas dinner, but Seokmin has a big family and we had to spend Christmas with them."

Strictly speaking, they didn't have to spend Christmas with Seokmin's family, but Joshua had insisted. He'd been gradually convincing Seokmin to act friendlier with the clan instead of ruling them with fear. It was slow going, but Joshua was satisfied with the progress so far. There were already a few relatives he could legitimately call friends and who didn't piss themselves every time Seokmin frowned.

"I get it," his sister said. "How is business?"

"Good," Joshua said. The game development studio that he'd founded in Italy had been doing a little too well, in fact. So well that Joshua had a sneaking suspicion Seokmin was helping it take off, even though he'd denied it.

"What about your personal life?" Eloise said.

Joshua found himself smiling. "Great. We're great."

They were great. More than great. It wasn't that he and Seokmin didn't have disagreements or fights; they did. They both were stubborn and too set in their own ways to not butt heads from time to time, especially when it came to Seokmin's overprotectiveness. But the good far outweighed the bad, and Seokmin was very sweet and considerate after their fights. Not to mention that the makeup sex was amazing. To be fair, all sex with Seokmin was amazing.

"Is Mom going to be okay with Seokmin?" Joshua said, changing the subject before his body could react to those thoughts.

Eloise squeezed his arm. "It's going to be fine, don't worry about it. Any doubts she had about your Italian mafioso are nothing compared to the fact that he got Taehyung back. Right now Seokmin is probably her favorite person in the world."

Joshua smiled. "I know. I still can't believe Seokmin found him."

It had been as much of a surprise to him as it had been for their parents. Seokmin had kept quiet about his search for Joshua's missing brother until after he found him in Dubai. Joshua had been so happy, of course—until he found out about Taehyung's fate: he'd been living in some rich sheikh's household. Joshua had known that sex trafficking could be the reason for his brother's disappearance: Taehyung's exquisite looks might have attracted the wrong sort of attention. But suspecting something and knowing were two different things.

"How is he?" Joshua said.

Eloise shrugged, her expression turning grimmer. "Putting on a happy face, but I can sense that something is off. I don't think he's as happy to be saved as he pretends to be."

Joshua frowned. "He probably just needs time."

"I don't know," his sister said. "It's been months already. He isn't getting better and he still refuses to talk or file charges against the sheikh. He claims that nothing happened, but I find it hard to believe. Maybe it's some fucked-up Stockholm Syndrome."

"Yeah," Joshua said, but his attention was already drifting away as Seokmin's car rolled to a stop in the driveway.

"Your man certainly travels in style," Eloise said, whistling. "Sweet ride. Though I could have done without dozens of bodyguards on the front lawn. They ruin the view."

Joshua chuckled distractedly, watching Seokmin emerge out of the car.

"One might think you haven't seen him in days instead of half an hour," his sister said, laughing. "Jesus, your heart-eyes are embarrassing for a grown man."

"You're just jealous," Joshua said.

"I am," she admitted with a grin. "Wish Paul made me look at him like this."

Joshua felt his face become warm. He hated being this obvious, but he could never control his expressions when it came to Seokmin. And truth be told, he didn't try very hard. He knew Seokmin loved the affection and the adoration—he greedily soaked it up, no matter what he might claim otherwise. So Joshua didn't restrain himself. Seokmin deserved all the love in the world.

"Eloise," Seokmin said, pecking her on the cheek.

Joshua beamed at him proudly. A year ago, Seokmin would have never done such a thing.

He grabbed Seokmin's hand as soon as his sister let go of him and entwined their fingers together. "Well done," he whispered, kissing him on the cheek and inhaling his masculine scent.

Seokmin quirked a dark eyebrow. "I can pretend to be normal, you know."

Joshua glared at him, gently stroking his coat lapel. "You're normal," he said, darting forward to steal a kiss. "Just the way you are. Pretending to be polite doesn't make you normal—it just makes you seem less aloof, which is our aim."

"Aye-aye, sir," Seokmin said with a wry, heart-stopping smile, and Joshua just had to steal another kiss. And then another. Mmm.

"I love you," Joshua murmured against his lips.

Seokmin pulled him closer and whispered, "I love you, too." There was still a certain hesitance in his voice when he said it, as if he was getting away with something every time he said those words, as if he couldn't possibly deserve to love and to be loved, and Joshua hugged him tightly and kissed him deeper, his heart so full with adoration and love that he was almost choking on it.

"Jesus, Josh, get a room!"

Grinning sheepishly, Joshua pulled back and looked at Seokmin, who didn't even glance at Eloise, his eyes only on Joshua, soft and glassy with want.

God, he loved him.

Cradling his cheek, Joshua stole another quick kiss, before heading toward his parents' house, hand in hand with the man he loved.

THE END

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Wishing that y'all enjoyed it, 'HEARTLESS' is officially signing off..

Chérie..