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It was hard sometimes.
Being soulmates in a world where you can feel the pain of your soulmates injuries.
Especially if your soulmate is a notorious leader of the world of crimes and violence.
Of course there were certain benefits, like having some great back up if a deal doesn't go as planned and being able to scare some people into signing over something (not that San had ever done that, noooo) or being able to safely extend his business legally (Maybe) into the down world.
But there were also a lot of downsides to that.
Not being able to see his boyfriend as much as he would like, sometimes having to be scared of other groups attacking him to use him against Wooyoung, his boyfriend getting hurt, lots of stuff actually.
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San was standing in front of the window-wall as he liked to call it, looking down at the city.
At the city, where many people were walking around, in the streets right in front of the building and farther away.
At the city, where he knew that his boyfriend was in.
Somewhere.
He never really knew where exactly, but it didn't matter to him.
All that mattered to San was that Wooyoung was safe and that he came home to him at the end of the day.
And he hadn't had to doubt that, ever.
But today he had bad feeling deep in his stomach, like a whirlwind raging on in his guts, warning him of the upcoming storm.
"Sir, your meeting starts in fifteen minutes."
Right.
Now was not the time to think about that.
He had to be San the successful CEO, not San the worried boyfriend of a mafia leader.
He looked through the glass back at his secretary, Seonghwa.
Seonghwa was actually one of Wooyoung's most trusted men that he used as his right hand, until he met San and started dating him.
Somewhere along the way he decided that it was his priority to have his soulmate be safe, so Seonghwa became his secretary doubling as Bodyguard to keep him safe seemingly overnight.
Not that San complained.
It actually did come in quite handy to have the older with him at times, he also didn't make San feel like a damsel in distress who needs to be protected at all times, so he learned to get used to his presence.
He nodded at the man and turned around, Fixing his tie and smoothing over non existent wrinkels in his suit jacket.
"Right, let's go", said San, Walking through the door Seonghwa was Holding open for him, he immediately straightened up and made sure to carry an air of dominance.
He walked down the hallway with Seonghwa Right behind him, nodding to the People he passed.
He reached the Meeting room with Five minutes to spare, the others not there yet.
San went inside the room and took his seat at the head of the table whilst Seonghwa sat down in the chair directly to his left.
After ten minutes, the other People who were supposed to attend the Meeting arrived, late as Always.
The apologized without meaning it and sat down around the table.
"Why do I even bother Meeting with you lazy People when you can't even be on time, huh?", asked San with a dangerous tone to his voice.
Seonghwa looked at him questioningly, should I teach them a lesson clearly readable in his eyes. At least to San who shook his head softly, unnoticed by everyone except the one it wa meant for.
"Now that you are here, let's get this Meeting started", added San before any of the middle aged men could retort anything to his previous comment.
And so they started.
From the beginning it was made apparent that this would be one of the longest Meetings San ever had to sit through.
But he would endure it, for the sake of his company.
Three Hours later and San felt as if it had been three days.
The other People thought they knew everything better than him and questioned everything he presented to them, just because he was younger than them, they didn't even care that he was more successful and had more power than any of them.
He had also had to hold Seonghwa back from attacking on of the men, Mr. Kim, because of a nasty comment he made against San which could have been interpreted as a threat against his life.
San laughed it off, but he warned Mr. Kim to hold his tongue, whilst Seonghwa was glaring at the poor man with all his might, making the guy start sweating bucks because of the gaze directed at him.
As they hit the five hour mark, several bottles of water had been emptied and snacks had been ordered, brought in and eaten.
San felt that they were getting closer to finishing up, but there was still a lot of discussing and finalizing that needed to be done.
"If we aren't done within the next five hours we will continue tomorrow, if that is okay for everyone", commented San, earning approving nods from everyone and a soft gaze from Seonghwa.
He didn't feel the need to tell them that actually he wasn't asking, that he was actually telling them, whilst making it seem as if they had a choice.
He didn't take up these psychology classes for nothing.
---------------time skip-----------
"So, as you can see in these diagrams, our ratings as well as the sellings have gone up since the last meeting. Therefore, I propose that we-", San cut himself of with a gasp.
He put his hand over his abdomen with a shocked expression on his face, doubling over in pain.
"Mr. Choi?", asked the only woman within their round concerned.
San took his hand away and looked down to find it to be completely stained in red, a red patch steadily growing on his white dress shirt.
He looked at Seonghwa with a helpless look on his, shocked beyond belief until all he could feel, hear, see was blinding, hot, white pain.
San screamed.
San screamed, crumbling to the floor whilst holding his abdomen.
One of the men screamed at someone else to "call a fucking ambulance!", but for San it was just background noise.
As soon as his sight cleared he saw Seonghwa entering his sight.
"Phone....", whispered San, he actually wasn't even sure if he had said it or just thought it, but Seonghwa understood him clearly.
A second later his phone was in his shaking hand.
He immediately dialed Wooyoung's number that he had memorized by heart.
He felt the pain of another shot ripple through his wounds, as well as a knife being plunged deep into his chest.
The phone slipped out of his fingers as his body was forced to succumb to darkness, the last thing he registered was Seonghwa yelling something, people storming into the room and his boyfriends perfect voice coming from the speaker of his phone, telling him in a shaky voice to "hold on, San, hold the fuck on! Don't you dare die on me because of me! You hear me? San? SAN!" before everything went black.
San slipped in and out of consciousness, never being able to fully grasp what was happening around him except for a few slips.
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"We're losing him...."
"....lost a lot of blood...."
"Baby, please...."
"....gonna be alright...."
"....brain dead....four days...."
".....mistake....accident....bastard.....kill him...."
San wasn't sure how much time had passed, but all he could feel was either pain or complete numbness.
His body felt like it weighed tons, his torso was itchy and felt wrong.
He was hyper aware of his heartbeat in his ears, and what was that smell? Or that sound? And was there something on his face?
Before he could even try to get answers to his questions, he was pulled into darkness again, feeling void, like he was floating in nothingness; a black hole.
"....healing....."
"....might wake up....."
"Hopefully......"
"Strong br........"
".....seven days......"
".....torture......", did he hear that one right? Who was getting tortured? And why?
Not that it mattered to San, he heard the voice of Seonghwa, so that meant that Wooyoung is most likely close.
All in all the sniplets San caught were starting to become more positive.
"....waking up?!", who's waking up?
"Baby, can you.....", that was Wooyoung's voice...
San wasn't sure what Wooyoung was asking him to do, but the others voices were starting to mingle with his, Yeosang, Hongjoong, Jongho, all of them were there.
"You can do it San!", that was definitely Mingi.
San felt pure relief cursing through his veins, hearing them, knowing that they were there, that Wooyoung was safe and with them, with him, it was all so much.
He felt a tear escaping his eyes.
"No, Baby, why are you crying? C'mon, open your eyes. Let me see your beautiful eyes....", and who was San to deny his soulmate, his boyfriend, the love of his life?
He fought, he struggled, he did his best to open his eyes, even letting out a frustrated noise at one point.
"It's okay if you can't right now, if you need more time. We'll wait for you until you are ready.", Hongjoong said softly.
"That's right, don't force yourself", added Seonghwa.
And really, San wanted to listen to them. But he had come this far and he sure as hell wasn't going to give up now.
So, with everything he had, every last bit of strength his body had left to open his eyes.
At first, everything was blurry and ways too bright, so he squinted his eyes and turned his head away from the light.
He blinked a few times whilst someone scrambled to turn down the light.
As soon as he was able to make out shapes he looked around and saw all seven people he held deep in his heart.
He tried to smile at them, but his mouth wouldn't cooperate.
Instead, he locked eyes with everyone of them individually, letting his eyes convey his feelings of adoration and love that he held from them.
Lastly, he turned to Wooyoung, tears escaping his eyes.
He saw the same tears reflected on his Soulmates face, raising his shaky hand to carefully wipe them away from his boyfriends face.
"Hi there", whispered Wooyoung.
This time, San managed the smile he was trying to put on his face.
"H-he-hey....", croaked San weakly.
Almost immediately after a doctor came into the room, followed by a nurse.
"It's nice to see you awake, Mr. Choi! You gave us all quiet the scare when you flat-lined five times during your surgery and another three times afterwards. Usually our patients don't make it if they flat-line more than three times. But we are glad that you are doing well", the doctor said after introducing himself as Doctor Kim and the nurse as Nurse Layla.
From the way Wooyoung held his hand on his cheek tighter San knew that he hadn't know how often he had almost lost him.
But the others were just shuffling around uncomfortably.
Of course they would know, they had probably been with Wooyoung at all times and had seen him fall unconscious whenever San ˋdied´ for a moment.
The nurse checked the Oxygen mask that was still over his face.
"It looks good, he is breathing just fine on his own. Now that he is awake, I think we can remove it", the nurse said.
After getting an approving nod from the doctor the nurse removed the Oxygen mask from San's face, whilst smiling reassuringly at him.
Wooyoung dropped San's hand on the bed after feeling that his boyfriends arm was starting to drop slightly, instead linking them together on the hospital's mattress.
The doctor did a few tests and the nurse asked a few questions here and there, making notes as they went and they left after half an hour when the doctors pager went off, promising to check in with them later on that day.
Seonghwa brought San a cup of water after noticing that the boy had swallowed and coughed more than when he just woke up and he realized that no one had thought to bring him some water.
Immediately Jongho and Mingi helped San to sit up and he drank the water slowly, relishing in the feeling of the fresh water running down his throat.
"How long was I out?", asked San after a while of getting hugs and kisses and tears on everyone's faces.
"It's been exactly two weeks today", whispered Yeosang.
San gasped.
"Two weeks?! But.... And what happened to the meeting? That deal was important, it's almost finished, we did- I need to- the paperwork needs to be approved of-", as San was starting to think of all the consequences his little coma had, he was working himself more and more into some sort of wicked panic attack.
Suddenly, all he could see was Seonghwa sitting right in front of him, holding his face between his hands to make him focus.
"San, San you need to calm down!"
It was then that San first registered the beeping of the heart machine, feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest.
"San, I took care of it. The meeting was put on hols, but everyone drafted their expectations and wishes for this deal, so we can look over it sometime and make a decision on how to finalize this contract. The deal is just being pushed back a bit, don't worry about it. And I looked through all of the documents, signing off the ones I could, the ones that I don't have the clearance to lie in piles organized on your office desk to look through, organized by how fast they need approval and how important they are. That's why I am your secretary, to help and support you and to make sure everything gets done and gets done smoothly in times like this. Please trust me when I say that you have nothing to worry about.", Seonghwa said softly.
San nodded, taking deep breaths to calm his still racing heart.
He then let his head fall onto Seonghwa's chest, the hand was wasn't held in Wooyoung's clutching onto Seonghwa's shirt.
"Thank you. I don't know what we would do without you....", San said.
Seonghwa just let his hands run through San's hair whilst holding him close, enjoying San clinging to him, looking so much more alive than when he was just laying in the hospital bed for two weeks.
The good thing was that San and Wooyoung's wounds had mostly healed by now.
Not fully, but it wouldn't take long for them to heal, and all of them were sure that the two of them would be able to heal each other mentally and emotionally.
For now, all they needed was closure that the other was there and okay, looking at each other at any possibility, touching almost constantly.
San even went as far as to not let Wooyoung go to the bathroom alone, he made Wooyoung take Mingi and Yunho with him in case anything was going to happen.
When Wooyoung came back San clung on to him, cuddling him for as long as possible.
So they cuddled on the hospital bed until both of them inevitably fell asleep.
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When San woke up again, he noticed that he was alone with Wooyoung, the others must have gone home or went to get some food.
He looked at his boyfriend, staring at his face and memorizing each feature like he had countless times before.
After making sure that his memory was refreshed, San allowed his gaze to wander.
To his neck, down to his chest where he saw bandages through his shirt, mirroring the ones over his own chest.
Carefully, San placed his hand on his boyfriends chest, right over where he knew the wound was laying.
He sighed.
"Please try to be more careful from now on... I hate seeing you hurt...", whispered San, thinking Wooyoung was in deep slumber still.
"I will do my best. Because I hate seeing you hurt as well, even more so if I'm the cause of it. And don't tell me that I'm not. If I had been more careful I wouldn't have gotten hurt, and in return you wouldn't have had to slip into a coma for two weeks because your body can't handle this much stress and pain", was Wooyoung's answer.
Wooyoung pulled San closer to himself, almost as if to make sure that San was still there and to be able to nose at his boyfriends neck, pressing his lips to his pulse point.
"Are you feeling my pulse or are you trying to give me a hickey?", asked San, a smile audible in his voice.
He let his hand slide down Wooyoung's chest, instead bringing it up to curl in his hair, lightly scratching at his scalp.
Wooyoung just hummed, smiling against San's neck.
"Ah, you two are back in the life of the awaken ones", said Hongjoong in a dramatic voice as soon as he re-entered the room together with the other guys.
"Haha, very funny", deadpanned Jongho Whilst Yunho was holding back laughter.
"Leave them alone, they can do whatever they want to do", defended Mingi.
"Yeah, imagine having to go through what they did! That must be really scary", mumbled Seonghwa.
"Anyways, I was talking to your doctor and he said that you are healing nicely. And as long as you are supervised at all times for the next week and we take you to the hospital immediately if something is wrong, you are allowed to go home if you want to", added Seonghwa.
San nodded excitedly.
"Can I really go home?", he asked hopefully.
"Of course. I'll go get everything ready", said Hongjoong with a smile, turning around and leaving the room to get everything ready for San's discharge.
Wooyoung had only been hospitalized for three days after the incident.
An hour later everything was taken care of and Wooyoung was walking San out of the hospital whilst their friends formed a protective circle around the pair, the hard looks on their faces softening as they looked at the couples linked hands.
"Hey, what do you say I take you out tomorrow? since you're not allowed to go to work this whole week, maybe we could spend some quality time together?", asked Wooyoung hopefully.
Not that he would ever acknowledge it, but seeing the love of his life, his soulmate lying motionless and pale, not even being able to breathe on his own, in the hospital and having to have worried about actually losing San, it had given him quiet a scare.
Wooyoung hoped that he could make up for his mistake that almost cost his boyfriends, his loves, his hopefully future husbands life.
But even if San would forgive him, even if San already forgave him, they all knew that it would take a very long time until Wooyoung would be able to forgive himself.
So for now, all he could do was try to spend as much time as possible with San, and he would make sure that San was enjoying every moment of his life, he would try his very best to make sure that San would never have to go through something like this ever again, even if he had to burn the whole world down and rebuild it by putting the ashes back together like a puzzle.
Because San was worth the whole universe and more, and anyone who dared to threaten this beautiful creature, his angel, his whole world and the sunshine who can light up all of their lives with a smile, well they would have to face Seonghwa, Hongjoong, Yunho, Yeosang, Mingi and Jonho when they were very very angry and a very furious Wooyoung, all of them ready to kill without hesitating if it means protecting their prince.
So now, seeing San smile and nod at Wooyoung's question, they couldn't help but smile themselves, quietly asking with their eyes what they did to deserve someone like San in their lives.
At first it was dark, at their Headquarters and in their lives, they never smiled, only went on missions, killing, dealing, bribing, sleeping repeat.
But then, one day Wooyoung had brought San into their sacred headquarters, even if he was the one who made the rule that no one was allowed to ever take someone to their headquarters.
But then he came in, their usually cold and frowning boss, the leader of the underground, announcing that he had found his soulmate, whilst smiling.
Now, if there was one thing that they knew it was that Jung Wooyoung did not smile. Ever.
After a while, they all started to get to know the new person with them, finding that he was kind hearted and nice, and he radiated warmth, love, and the feeling of home.
After that they vowed to protect their boss' soulmate with all their might, just to get to see the two of them acting lovey dovey, smiling, cuddling, kissing and whispering whenever they got the chance to.
San redecorated soon after, making all of them help him with repainting the walls from the ash grey to a kinder baby blue, even going as far as to paint a few flowers here and there.
They are family.
And family sticks to each other.
Forever and always.
They protect each other.
And that's exactly what they all plan to do. Be a family.