Chapter 3: Escape

Hoseok paced back and forth inside his room, waiting for the maid to enter the room so he can finally attack her and have his freedom.

Ever since he interrupted that day where Namjoon decided to attack Taehyung, Namjoon was being merciful towards Hoseok, and decided to give him choices. But Hoseok never chose any of them, ending up him being locked up inside the palace, in his own room.

As he heard the door cracked open, he froze and waited for the maid to come in for his food—but boy he was wrong. Instead of a maid, Namjoon, himself was the one who entered the room.

"Hoseok—"

Hoseok hissed in defence, gritting his teeth while giving the tall man a deadly cold glare. "Namjoon."

Namjoon sighed, watching his best friend who was obviously and no doubt mad at him, but he was being patient.

"How are you doing?" Namjoon asked, giving a soft and caring tone to Hoseok who just snorted in amusement.

He scoffed, side of lips curving up. "I was fine until you entered this room."

Namjoon flinched at the tone and words from Hoseok—he felt dismay that the other was being this way. He just wanted to talk to him after imprisoning him for three months straight, not being able to see the light outside yet all Namjoon could do was take a deep breath, turning around and left the room until Hoseok called for him.

It accelerated Namjoon's dead heart to think that Hoseok stopped him, maybe to finally talk properly. However, instead of having a heart to heart talk, Namjoon was met with a blurry vision making his eyes widened and stumbled in surprise.

And that's how Hoseok was able to use his speciality as a Duke– the ability to adjust a person's vision. He was not the 5th of the first vampires that existed for no reason. He waited months to escape the palace, and this was the perfect time for him, especially when Namjoon was the one in front of him.

With that, Hoseok accelerated past Namjoon and left him, speeding towards Jimin's room. He knew that Jimin was still in the palace despite being sent outside the palace by Taehyung to look for Seokjin's child.

In fact, he also found out from the guards that a Duke came back to the palace, and was locked inside his bedroom. He thought that it was Jin but it was impossible since Seokjin escaped with Ha Na that day.

So it must be Jimin.

Hoseok barged inside Jimin's room, eyes landed on the already lifeless man in front of him. It was Jimin. He was startled at how ill Jimin looked right now— who was just lying, barely even breathing. He dashed towards the younger, shaking him and calling for his name but the younger didn't talk. Instead, he just moved his hands to hold Hoseok's thighs, and Hoseok's breath hitched when Jimin panted heavily while trying to talk.

"No. Don't talk." Hoseok said, putting his hands underneath Jimin's back. "Right now, we should escape."

He assisted Jimin up, and let him sit up at the edge of the table before bending down. He grabbed Jimin's wrist, wrapping it around his neck with his legs wrapped around the waist and lifted him up.

"Hold on to me." Hoseok announced, and adjusted Jimin's position while his hands held firmly his his waist. Jimin held him tightly even though he was too weak.

Hoseok immediately speeds out of the palace, blurring every person's vision along the way. Such then his nose twitched at the familiar scent near the palace, and snapped his head towards the dungeon's building. Kim Seokjin?

Hoseok halted his steps, sniffing one more time to make sure the scent belongs to him, or maybe it was just Namjoon's tricks. "Hyung? What is he doing here?"

Without hesitation, Hoseok goes all out to run towards the dungeon as he gripped Jimin's leg's on each of his side. "Hold still."

The guards that was guarding the dungeon soon saw Hoseok with Jimin, ended up having a small fight and them losing to a Duke.

Hoseok may be the weakest Duke but he can overpower every vampire that existed, aside from the other Dukes and Taehyung. He speeds inside the jail, panicking as he tried to find Seokjin's cell. And as soon as he did, he walked towards Seokjin, putting Jimin down on the floor before gripping the rails between them and tugged it to create sounds, waking the eldest up.

Seokjin looked at Hoseok, weakly. His state was no different from Jimin. He looked horrible as well like he hadn't been properly eating for days.

Hoseok released a loud sound of devastation, looking at Seokjin in sadness. "What happened to you?"

His lips quiver at the thought of the current king torturing Seokjin. "Just what did Namjoon did to you?"

Seokjin forced his weak eyes to open as he winced when he cracked his dried lips with a sad smile. "Hobi..."

"How did you end up here? I thought you and Ha Na escaped!" Hoseok cried out, tears streaming down his face. "Why do you looked so skinny, hyung? What have you been eating these days?"

Seokjin attempted to wet his lips but his mouth and throat was too dry. After what he said to Namjoon last week, he was punished with nothing to drink or eat for a week. He was guessing he did something to trigger the King even though he doesn't know himself what he did.

"I'm glad I was a-able to see you." Seokjin said, breathing heavily through his nostrils to get a ventilation.

"Hyung...." Hoseok inhaled sharply.

"Hoseok-ah." Seokjin's voice shuddered, weak eyes and sank eyes looked at Hoseok's face. "You and Jimin s-should go."

"What?" Hoseok's expression fell, grasping the rails tightly even more while he shook his head violently. "We should go together. I don't know how long you've been stuck here, but you looked like a corpse already!"

"We are already dead, Hoseok." Seokjin attempted to joke, voice teasing at the younger.

"It's not time for jokes, Seokjin hyung!" Hoseok whined, angrily and sadly.

"Everything will be fine, Hobi." Seokjin weakly smiled, biting his dried and cracked lips. "Namjoon won't kill me."

The other Duke huffed, amused and astonished. "He wouldn't kill you? A monster like him won't kill his target? Are you crazy?"

But Seokjin stayed silent.

"Why would you stay here, Hyung?" Hoseok hissed, gritting his teeth. "Give me a valid reason why you should stay here and let us leave you!"

Seokjin glanced at the heartbroken younger. But instead of feeling empathy, he just gave him a warm smile again. "Because If I go too, Namjoon will be lonely. He will have no one by his side."

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Hoseok at the end, escaped the palace with no choice as Seokjin told them to leave, and knowing Namjoon, he was already ordering the guard to find both Dukes. Should he be guilty that he left Namjoon? He shouldn't be, right? Knowing how he betrayed him and everyone.

He held Jimin tightly before putting him down on the ground, letting him lean on the big rock. He looked around the area, realising that he has no idea where he is right now. Yes, he lived for a thousand years already, but when it comes to recognising places, he has always been bad at that. The only of who knows every inch of the Kingdom was Seokjin as he has always been the one doing most of the works— being the commissioner who travels a lot under Taehyung's commands.

Minute passed, Hoseok decided to grab some woods and lit it up to warm the two of them or else they would die from the coldness of the place. He blew his hands to warm it up before putting it on Jimin's cold face. At least it could warm up the younger despite himself being cold already.

The younger was his priority now.

The fire wasn't helping at all. The fire was too small for their liking and all he could do was bring Jimin near the fire then warm his hands to warm the younger. Hoseok was disheartened over the younger's condition already. His heart tore just seeing him.

"Why are you sick, Jimin?" Hoseok let his tears fall again while looking at the younger who was sweating despite being a vampire but he didn't notice that. He was too occupied at the thought of doubting that a vampire is sweating.

"What made you become so damaged?"

Hoseok wore off the jacket he was wearing and covered Jimin's entire body with it. "Are you that devastated over Taehyung's death?"

He closed his eyes, engulfing the cold air as he remembered Jin's words.

'Have you ever wondered why Taehyung lost to Namjoon despite being the strongest vampire?'

'It's because he cared.'

'If Taehyung's still alive, he would still want me to stay with Namjoon.'

Hoseok burst out to tears, wrapping his arms around his knees while while spending the night in this cold weather. There were so many questions and things that he wanted to ask. He was confused about everything– he felt so weak.

"I wonder what she's doing right now..." Hoseok trailed off, mind wandering to the person he met exactly five months ago after their talk.

"She must've survived..." Hoseok choked his saliva and coughed loudly. Where would he go in this state now?

There's only one person he could go to, and that is the person he once loved but he doesn't know where she is right now.