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Minhyuk crinkled his nose, feeling something wet and rough licking his nose. He let out a soft whine, in need of more sleep. He couldn’t be bothered to even open his eyes. Sleep is all that matters now. Minhyuk’s hands were trying to stop the furry being from waking him up.
“Please let me sleep, Dambi.” Minhyuk muttered under his breath, managed to stop the little dog from waking him up for a while. She let out a bark and licked Minhyuk’s nose again. Minhyuk clicked his tongue, pulled Dambi closer and hugged her, ignoring how the dog was trying to escape his embrace. Minhyuk drifted into his sleep again, but was woken up by Dambi licking his cheek. He finally opened his eyes, staring down at Dambi who stared back at him, tongue hanging out from her mouth.
“Does daddy not giving you any attention? Or did he asked you to wake me up?” Minhyuk asked Dambi, of course not expecting an answer from the dog. He smiled when dambi barked and licked him on the face again. Dambi jumped out from Minhyuk’s arms and walked out of the room. Minhyuk whined again, stretching his body before realizing that Hyunwoo was standing by the door, watching him. He smiled and sat up on the bed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“You definitely know how to wake me up.” Minhyuk said, rubbing his eyes. He yawned and if he had his way, he wanted to go back to sleep. But he knew Hyunwoo wouldn’t allow that to happen.
“Dambi is loving you more than her own daddy now.” Hyunwoo remarked, making Minhyuk chuckled. He got up to his feet and strode his way towards Hyunwoo. He threw his arms around Hyunwoo’s shoulder, clinging to him, looking him straight into the eyes.
“Is daddy jealous?” Minhyuk asked, teasing Hyunwoo. He watched how the side of Hyunwoo’s lips raised, carving into a small smile which never failed to melt Minhyuk’s heart.
“Dambi’s love for you will never exceed mine, just for your information. And stop daddy and start eating your breakfast.” Hyunwoo’s voice was firm, in a playful way. Minhyuk chuckled again and rested his head on Hyunwoo’s shoulder, clinging even closer to Hyunwoo the moment he felt Hyunwoo’s arms wrapping around his waist. He wanted to sleep more and it doesn’t seem like not a bad idea to be falling asleep in Hyunwoo’s embrace because it’s the next best thing to the bed.
“Breakfast, lazy pup.” Hyunwoo said again and nudged Minhyuk, to which he whined again. Hyunwoo pulled Minhyuk out to the kitchen and made him sit at the dining table. Half dozing off, Minhyuk watched how Hyunwoo was preparing scrambled eggs and bacon on the plate and presented it in front of him. He pouted his lips, looking up at Hyunwoo who was standing beside him. Hyunwoo looks like a parent who is about to scold a child for messing things up. His eyes dropped to the food in front of him again, swallowing hard.
Minhyuk needs the bed. He wanted to sleep again, probably sleep forever. Never to face this again. It’s not like as if he hated Hyunwoo’s cooking but he knew what they are, what’s in it.
As much as Minhyuk doesn’t want to think about it, he couldn’t stop everytime food is being served in front of him. He didn’t ask for this life. He wanted to live a normal life, a decent life. And feeding on blood is not something he asked for. It’s definitely not a normal and decent life.
His family got killed in a house raid a few years ago. It was just until recently that ghoul activities have increased over the country. Just like human, there are good ghouls and bad ones. The police decided to start a mission of eliminating as many ghouls as they could, despite how harmless they can be. Minhyuk managed to escape but the guilt in him didn’t flee away. He realized he didn’t want to live any longer. He should have died with his family. He realized being a blood feeding ghoul is not normal. No matter how decent a ghoul can be, they need to feed on blood. So why bother staying alive?
Minhyuk flinched the moment he felt Hyunwoo ruffling his hair, his mind returned back to reality, staring back at the food in front of him. Hyunwoo pulled the chair from the other side and sat as close as he can to Minhyuk. He took the fork and knife that was lying beside the plate and cut through a bit of the scrambled egg. He brought it towards Minhyuk’s mouth but it didn’t budge him. He bit his lower lips, looking back at Hyunwoo.
Hyunwoo, his saviour. Hyunwoo, a human. And Hyunwoo, his boyfriend of 3 years. How all of this happened, Minhyuk couldn’t really tell but to say that he loved Hyunwoo more than anything is cliche. But it’s not a lie either. If Minhyuk could say, the only reason he is living now is because of Hyunwoo.
Hyunwoo found him like a lost puppy somewhere in the woods when the man was doing his morning jog. Minhyuk hasn’t feed for almost a week, and somehow surprised that he is alive at that point of time. His feeding instinct was awoken the moment he saw Hyunwoo, making his eyes glowed in red. It didn’t scare Hyunwoo, in turn scaring Minhyuk because he knew he will hurt Hyunwoo unintentionally.
But Minhyuk softened the moment Hyunwoo walked closer to him, reaching out to him. For once, Minhyuk almost punched himself in the face for trusting a stranger but Hyunwoo is different. Called it instinct, but Minhyuk knew he can trust this stranger.
“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.” Hyunwoo said, almost above whisper as he reached out to Minhyuk.
“But I will hurt you.” Minhyuk replied back. It didn’t stop Hyunwoo. The moment Hyunwoo’s hand was resting on his cheek, Minhyuk’s eyes returned back to his original eyes color. He blinked, looking straight at Hyunwoo, wondering where did this guy’s guts come from. No one in this country will ever want to encounter a ghoul and be nice to them.
But Hyunwoo is the opposite. And the moment Hyunwoo hugged Minhyuk, Minhyuk realized he needed this so much. His tears escaped his eyelids involuntarily but he can’t be bothered to wipe it away, letting them soaked into Hyunwoo’s sweatshirt. His hands were gripping onto Hyunwoo’s shirt hard, clinging onto Hyunwoo like clinging onto his dear life.
“If you don’t want to eat, I’ll send Dambi back to my parents.” Hyunwoo threatened, what seems a little ridiculous because Minhyuk can never take Hyunwoo seriously at times. He heard Dambi barked from far, wagging her tail while looking at the two of them. Minhyuk pouted again. Hyunwoo is definitely not sending Dambi away. That dog has been Minhyuk’s love (well, after Hyunwoo) ever since she accepted Minhyuk. It has been rough the first few weeks staying at Hyunwoo’s and Hyunwoo had to put Dambi away from Minhyuk because she wouldn’t stop barking at Minhyuk. But the moment she got used to Minhyuk’s presence, and nature, she wouldn’t let Minhyuk go, and probably loves Minhyuk more than Hyunwoo now.
“I’m not falling for it, Hyunwoo.” Minhyuk said, turning his attention back to Hyunwoo.
“I’m serious, Min.” Hyunwoo replied, nudging the fork with scrambled egg towards Minhyuk again. Minhyuk panicked, sensing that Hyunwoo is really serious about sending Dambi back to Hyunwoo’s parents. Dambi barked again and if Minhyuk was to interpret that into human language, it will be ‘stop being annoying and just eat’.
Minhyuk swallowed hard, shut his eyes tightly and quickly bit the scrambled egg on the fork. He covered his mouth as he started to chew on it, wincing his face. He felt like he was about to throw up but he swallowed them down his system. He didn’t know which animal’s blood did Hyunwoo put in but the taste of zinc started to linger on his tongue. It tasted awful, but at the same time satisfying. He opened his eyes the moment he was done with the serving, seeing how Hyunwoo was watching him with disbelief face.
“I’m seriously sending Dambi back to my parents.” Hyunwoo threatened again but before he could continue, Minhyuk snatched the fork from his hand and gobbled down the food in front of him, leaving out the fact that Hyunwoo’s cooking is good or probably, it’s just the blood. He could almost hear Hyunwoo laughing triumphantly in his imagination but no one is taking Dambi away from him.
Minhyuk put down the fork, munching what seems like the last bite of the food. It felt hard to swallow them but the moment he heard Dambi barked, he turned to look at her, making the eye contact saying ‘I’m doing all this for you’. Minhyuk flinched the moment he felt Hyunwoo’s hand resting on his cheek. He averted his attention back to Hyunwoo, feeling rather stupid and probably looks like a fool in front of Hyunwoo. He saw Hyunwoo smiled, wiping something from the corner of Minhyuk’s lips with his thumb.
“Do you wanna go out for a walk? Down the park or something…?” Hyunwoo asked rather soft opposite of how firm he was earlier. Minhyuk blinked, a sudden butterfly in the stomach hits him. Hyunwoo always knows how to distract him, how to make him feel better after he went through a bad day. Minhyuk is that ghoul who always feels guilty about feeding, about being alive among the human in the world. But Hyunwoo is there to protect him, to save him from being dangerous. And Hyunwoo is that protective boyfriend who will never allow Minhyuk to leave the house alone. Not when the country is being vigilant about ghouls living among them.
Minhyuk ignored the fact that Dambi was barking when he pulled the door close. He reminded Dambi to be a good girl while he’s out on a date with ‘daddy’. Minhyuk stood by the door, hands behind his back while looking at Hyunwoo with a smile. He moved his body from side to side like a kid waiting to be treated ice cream. Hyunwoo chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, spotting tint of reds on his cheeks. It feels like first love all over again, like the first date. It’s funny, and overwhelming at the same time, that both of them still got these feelings even after 3 years.