[continuation of chapter 22]

When Hongjoong had headed down the hall to Seonghwa's bedroom, he could make out the faint cries of pain coming from the room in the basement. He drew a sharp breath, trying not to pay attention to it.

He made his way into the bathroom, peeling off the shirt he was wearing and throwing it to the floor. Hongjoong walked over to the bathtub, reaching out and twisting the handles of the faucet to turn on the water.

In the back of his mind, he knew that what was happening was well deserved, but at the same time, he couldn't help but place some of the blame on himself still. If he'd refused to see Yeosang in the beginning, things wouldn't have fallen into place like this. He could've prevented it all with just a simple "no."

Hongjoong tried to do what Seonghwa said and just relax, but he found that almost impossible. He was more than aware of what was happening below him in the basement, yet there was nothing he could do about it.

With a sigh, he shut off the water once the tub was filled up enough, proceeding to slip off his pants along with his boxers and kicking them to the side. Hongjoong stepped into the water, then slowly lowered himself into the steaming water. He leaned back against the porcelain of the tub, lowering down a bit into the water as he closed his eyes.

Even though he tried his hardest to relax, still, the faint sounds of cries could be heard in the deafening silence. Hongjoong's brows furrowed slightly, and the only way he was able to drown out the sounds was sinking lower into the water, allowing the water to cover his ears with his face still above the water.

After staying in the bath like that for what seemed like hours, Hongjoong finally decided to get out since his nerves had calmed down. Sitting up from the water, he reached down to the drain and pulled it, gurgling sounds of water going down the drain as the water was let out.

Hongjoong pulled himself to his feet, stepping out of the tub onto the bathmat beside it. He leaned over to the small rack beside the tub and grabbed one of the towels to dry himself off.

As he was drying off, he could hear the sounds of pounding footsteps coming up the basement steps. Out of curiosity, Hongjoong wanted to know what had happened, after all, the screams had ceased. He just tied the towel around his hips, jogging out of the bathroom. He made his way to the bedroom door, opening it slightly just as he saw a male stumble to the floor in the hallway.

Hongjoong felt his chest sink when he realized that it was Yeosang. The blonde-haired male was gasping and wheezing for air, his hair and clothes were painted in what was probably his own blood. Hongjoong blinked in shock as Yeosang slowly pulled himself to his feet with a grunt, all he could do was stare.

Yeosang slowly looked over to the side, meeting eye contact with Hongjoong, displaying the swollen bruises and bloodied wounds on his face.

"I-I... I... I'm sorry..." Yeosang coughed out before Seonghwa suddenly came up behind him and shoved him forward.

"Get moving... You don't talk to him, you don't come near him ever again, understand?" Seonghwa barked in an aggressive manner.

Seonghwa's knuckles showed signs of bruising beneath all of the blood on his hands. It was evident that he'd used more of his own hands than the "toys" he had in the room downstairs.

"Boys! Get him out of here!" Seonghwa demanded when two of his men had started coming up behind him. They immediately did as he said, grabbing ahold of the blonde-haired male to take him off of the property.

Hongjoong was just staring in utter shock, he didn't know what to feel at that moment. This was the first time Seonghwa had even let someone live after dealing with them. Yeosang suffered great injuries, but he would definitely live to see another day. This was different for Seonghwa, as brutal as it was, it showed some sort of growth for him. Instead of taking a life, he just taught a very thorough lesson not to cross a line with him.

Seonghwa looked over at Hongjoong, seeing him still in his bath towel and staring at him with a baffled look upon his face. The taller male let out a soft sigh before walking into the bedroom and shutting the door behind him.

"I'm sorry... I got a little..." Seonghwa paused for a moment as he looked down at his hands. "Carried away... Let me go clean off." He said before making his way to the bathroom.

"You didn't kill him..." Hongjoong said softly before following behind Seonghwa into the bathroom.

"No... I didn't. He crossed a line, yes, but he definitely won't do it again. I just... Didn't think it was necessary." Seonghwa replied as he walked to the sink, washing the blood off of his hands and arms.

"You didn't think it was necessary?" Hongjoong raised his brows slightly. "I'm sorry, where is the ruthless man I married? He would've never let someone walk away like that."

After cleaning himself off, Seonghwa then stripped off the bloodied dress shirt, discarding it in the hamper before looking at Hongjoong. "Would you prefer I kill him? Because you know I'm more than happy to."

"No, no! I just... This is shocking. I don't know if you see it, but you're showing some sort of growth. I don't know what's changed, but you seem to be turning yourself around without even realizing it. I mean, you're not afraid to get your hands dirty, sure, but you're not so quick to play god with someone's life as usual." 

Seonghwa stood there and just stared at Hongjoong for a moment. "I... Hmm..." He looked away as he placed his hands on his hips. "I mean, I guess you're right. I'm getting too soft again."

Hongjoong walked up to Seonghwa, shaking his head as he placed his hands on the bare skin of his lover's chest. "No, Seonghwa... You don't realize how good this actually is. There's nothing wrong with becoming soft. For once, you chose a better option, you chose not to go the extreme route. That's GOOD, and I'm so proud of you."

Seonghwa looked down into his lover's eyes before placing a hand on the back of the white-haired male's neck. "You're actually proud of me?"

"Of course I am... I don't like what happened, but it was justified to an extent. You're changing yourself, allowing yourself to grow for the better, and you have no idea how happy that makes me." Hongjoong nodded with a smile.

Seonghwa blinked a few times as he tilted his head a bit. When Hongjoong said that he was proud of him, it sparked some sort of feeling inside of him, like he had to continue to improve himself to gain more reactions like this from his lover. He knew exactly how he would get it.

The corner's of Seonghwa's mouth curled into a smile as he pressed his forehead against Hongjoong's lovingly. "I like it when you're proud of me... I've let you down so many times and all I've gotten was disappointment. I promise I'll do anything to make you even more proud of me."

"I'm always proud of you when it comes to the little things, Seonghwa... You're my husband, and I love you. I may not tell you that I am, but inside I'm always proud of the little improvements you make." Hongjoong said with a sweet tone, now wrapping his arms loosely around the taller male's neck.

"I love you so much more... That will never change, and you know that." Seonghwa cooed sweetly.

Seonghwa placed his hands on the low points of Hongjoong's hips, then leaned his face closer as he connected a loving, open-mouthed kiss with his lips. Hongjoong tightened his arms around Seonghwa's neck as he pressed his body against his and deepened the kiss.

The increasingly heated kiss and the feeling of bare skin touching bare skin caused the moment to get more intense as they started to crave each other. Seonghwa hooked a finger into the towel around Hongjoong's hips, pulling on it and making it drop to the floor. Seonghwa broke the kiss momentarily to grab ahold of his lover's legs before lifting him up into his arms. Meeting their lips with another heated kiss, Seonghwa carried Hongjoong over to the bathroom sink and sat him down.

From that point on, the two had spent the whole rest of the day expressing their desperate, lustful desires through back to back rounds, each round more pleasureful and intense than the last. Nothing could keep them apart.

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After Hongjoong had finally had enough, he passed out late in the night in Seonghwa's arms, completely exhausted from the whole experience. Seonghwa laid wide awake in bed as he was lost deep in thought, just staring up at the ceiling.

A couple of hours of thorough contemplation, Seonghwa came to a conclusion on something, he figured it was time to make a big change, not only for his life but for Hongjoong's life as well.

Seonghwa slowly and carefully moved Hongjoong off of his chest so he wouldn't wake him. It was extremely late at night, but he had quite a few urgent phone calls to make. It was going to be a big change, but it was going to be worth it in the end.

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Next day...

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Late in the morning the next day, Hongjoong was awakened by the feeling of soft lips kissing on his neck sweetly, an arm wrapping around his chest as he was embraced gently.

"Wake up, Joong... I have something for you..." Seonghwa muttered through the gentle kisses he was peppering Hongjoong's neck with.

The smaller male groaned tiredly, he was just a bit sore from the virtually endless rounds from the day before, his energy was nonexistent.

"Seonghwa..." Hongjoong whined without opening his eyes. "Leave me alone... I'm trying to sleep, whatever it is, it can wait..."

"No, actually, it can't. You need to wake up, you're going to love it. Please, baby... Wake up." Seonghwa rolled the smaller male over to face him, now placing several pecks on his lips. "Come on."

Opening his eyes slowly, Hongjoong reached up and put a hand against Seonghwa's lips so he would stop kissing him. "For fuck's sake, Seonghwa... What is it?" Hongjoong sounded a bit grumpy.

Seonghwa smiled widely as he rolled over to grab a thick orange envelope from the nightstand beside the bed. He then rolled back over, waving it slightly in front of Hongjoong's face.

"Open it... See what's inside." Seonghwa raised a brow slightly, the wide smile still on his lips.

Hongjoong sighed out as he grabbed the envelope from Seonghwa, slowly sitting up so he could go through its contents. It was rather heavy, it had more than just a couple papers in it.

"You're really making me go through your fucking work this late in the morning..." Hongjoong grumbled under his breath as he started to pull everything out.

Seonghwa sat up, watching his lover with anticipation, he couldn't wait to see his reaction. Hongjoong suddenly got a confused look on his face as he saw a set of passports and plane tickets, he set them down them started to go through the thick stack of papers. The papers were changes of identity with different names, different birth certificates, etcetera.

"What... What is this?" Hongjoong asked confused, looking over at Seonghwa.

"Keep looking..."

Hongjoong blinked a few times before setting all the identity papers down, then noticed the last bundle of papers was a contract. As he read through it, a look of shock came to his face as he suddenly realized what all of this was for.

Hongjoong looked over at Seonghwa with widened eyes. "You... You handed the company to Hana..?"

Seonghwa smiled even wider, nodding his head. "I got us entirely new identities as well... We're going to pick everything up and live our lives away from all this chaos. I'm going to give you the life you've always wanted, we're going to completely start over new. The people we used to be, they no longer exist."

Hongjoong let out a sudden exhale as he was taken back by all of this. "How... How did you do all of this so quickly? Are you being serious right now?"

"I'm completely serious, Joong... I pulled a few strings, I spent all night gathering this together for us. I'm finally giving you what you've wanted for so long. I had to choose between my work and my husband, and I chose my husband." Seonghwa reached out his hands and cupped them on Hongjoong's cheeks. "I want to start a whole new life with you..."

"But... You're just throwing everything away for me... Is that really what you want?" Hongjoong furrowed his brows slightly.

"I would throw the whole world away as long as I had you by my side. We leave for Paris tomorrow morning, and once we do, we're starting new. New identities, a new life, together forever." Seonghwa said with a soft tone.

Hongjoong's bottom lip quivered slightly as a smile came to his face, tears of joy quickly beginning to fall down his cheeks. He then lurched at Seongwa, throwing his arms around him and tackling him to the bed, a mix of laughs and happy sobs coming from his mouth.

Seonghwa held the smaller male close, laughing softly as he buried his face into Hongjoong's neck. "I love you, Joong..."

"I love you too, Seonghwa... I love you so fucking much."

The chaos had finally come to an end, instead of leading a life of toxicity and bad blood, Seonghwa wanted to give Hongjoong everything he wanted and more by starting a whole new life with him. Everything they had gone through would be stuck in the past, the darkness in their worlds turning to light.

It was the end of something horrible, and the beginning of something beautiful.

(A/N: Thank you so much for reading this through the crazy emotional rollercoaster. It's finally come to an end, and I'm honestly a bit sad lol. I really hope you all enjoyed my work on this fanfic. I'll be back with more like this very soon. Thank you again for reading (((((: )