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Rivals’ Love Affair
Prologue:
Everything had gone too far. His lies. The rules. The gang. Greed. Anger. Everything was wrong.
There was at the bottom of the abyss, the pit of his stomach, revolving, an uneasy, queasy feeling that he couldn’t get rid off. Everyone had their masks on, ready to fight.
In the other hand, Jaehyo was reluctant to fight. Not because he was pregnant, the risk of fighting with the rivals was higher than anything, but because this was going too far. And something in him was telling him that this was going to turn out to be the opposite of what their outcome usually comes to be. Bloody. A mess.
His opponent, with his mask dipped in red silver all over, looked straight in his eyes, showing him his ready-to-fight face.
It was as if he was looking at death himself, mocking his indecisive quivering thoughts, all his decisions bringing forth the outcome of the ultimate price.
It was a split second that it felt like he was in slow motion before everyone begins to attack each other. Jaehyo’s ears begin to pick up noise, the sound of shrilling voices filling everything in. The leader of the rival was lunging at him, his hatred for him evident in his growling.
Jaehyo felt it coming. The hand of the opponent coming forward to his face. He begins to close his eyes, waiting for the blow to hit. As he’s standing still, catching his breath, holding his belly with both his hands, trying to at least protect their child, someone knocks him down on the floor and a gunshot is heard.
Jaehyo’s eyes became alert, looking for the person who got shot. With nervousness, he scans the balcony, his eyes landing on his opponent, his mask in his hand, face revealed, a look of shock and angry. Jaehyo doesn’t think any of it and idly looks for the man. It doesn’t take long before he does and everything else becomes distorted.
The fight had officially ended. No sound came out of his mouth. Before he could even scream, his mouth was covered by one of his gang members as he saw one of the leaders of the opposition gang grabbing the injured, crying and what appeared to be shouting from the opposite team. His heart was beating so fast, yearning for the person who got shot. He wanted to scream so bad. He wanted to run for the person. He gotten so attach to the danger of lying to the game itself.
The last thing he saw was chaos, the ringing of an ambulance nearby lullabying him into a deep sleep, a nightmare that at the moment even in his sleep he couldn’t get away from.
~~~
The Beginning
Chapter One: Flirting With the Enemy
There was the occasional breath-in-breathe-out technique that he usually does before a fight, the tension rising up and every single one of the fighters.
It was almost afternoon, the blazing, hot sound accompanied them in the stupidness of this fight.
There was no sound made, no signal to indicate that the fight had started. It was usually the eager one who wanted to win so bad that started the fight.
Today it was his cousin B-bomb. The day before he had an encounter with one of them at the bar, fueling his hatred even more than usual.
His fist had connected with someone’s jaw aloof from the rest of the other gang members of the opposite team. The guy jolted back, not before regaining his posture and then punching Bbomb’s belly.
The roaring of males’ voices harmonize revenge, bodies abusing the power of weakness.
When it came to these fights, the pathetic rumble that was their ritual of dominance; there was no mercy, no empathy, no respect. It was either be the fertile inferior or be the one who comes on top and claims the title of best gang of the street. It was the motto everyone lived by; To be a true winner you gotta give your all; a loser will always be a loser if you’re scared to lose your all, all for the sake of the gang’s mercy.
Jaehyo had managed to escape a couple of blows, his elbow jabbing the stomach of someone else. Quickly he pirouetted away from the guy, and jump from the top of another and kneed the leader of the rival gang: Red Tiger.
The guy grumbled, more air than noise coming out of his mouth.
Two- thirds of Red Tiger were on the floor, their positions a victory for his team. A couple of loud catching-breaths were made before the cry of winners were heard.
There was no time to waste. Their victory would be marked again, reclaiming their title that is so hard to be taken away from. Celebration was nearby, a gathering that he was dreading.
Not too often do they all end up drunk after their victory celebration that he was getting tired of the same old same old. Not that he was tired of winning. He liked the adrenaline. The proud smile that appeared on his face after his body got sores from moving with the rhythm of the blows of his opponents’ forfeit.
There was more to life than fighting for a title that they had claimed so long ago. His future visions were not part of fighting and living in a world where everyone is living in the shadows of their masks.
Every turn you made at any part of the streets, late night drinking at the famous pub, every-day life there was a mere stranger, yet an opponent that only came out when the masks were on.
Jaehyo had probably befriended an opponent before, but he wouldn’t even notice because once the masks are off so is the hatred.
“C’mon, dude! Are you gonna stand there until there is another fight,” P.O says, slapping the back of Jaehyo’s head.
Jaehyo gives one last look at the opponent gang and then jogs to the rest of his gang who where planning what they were going to do once the night fell on the sky.
Their faces were sullen; a defeat. He shook his head, not understanding why he was feeling sorry for them, after all they are enemies.
The car was packed with all the members in, a song already being played three times louder than the normal volume. He quickly sits down on the passenger seat, and takes a deep breath, recollecting his thoughts and the racy emotions he is feeling after the conflict of loving and hating the adrenaline that comes with fighting. He loves so much, but o so bad.
Conflicting emotions put him a side he can’t not choose.
“I thought I was gonna break my hand while punching that guy with the white mask with the black tear on his left eye. I was lucid,” P.O crumbles, feet up on the seat in front of him, and fiddling with his phone.
“Yeah, next time, kill him, yeah!” Jaehyo sarcastically inputs on P.O’s remark. There’s a difference between punching someone to win something and punching someone out of hatred. Jaehyo always made sure he never crossed that line.
“Way to kill the mood, LEADER,” Bbomb angrily says, Jaehyo already sensing his tension towards him.
Jaehyo says nothing in return. He does in fact roll his eyes to insinuate that he was fed up with Bbomb. He didn’t have to find gangs so freaking important, that is not even their main jobs.
Bbomb acted like it was his life, which in fact was, but that was besides the point. They’re not gonna be in the gang forever. Once someone turns 36, they’re out of the gang life forever. After that, it was the veteran’s choice to be either still part of the gang as a mentor and leader or to simply do as someone pleased.
The rules were so unfair to him. 36 was so late to do whatever one pleased to do. He would be so old once he got out. 36 to finally be able to love someone of his own gender. The counting until his 36th birthday was a torture to him. He would spend an eternity to be free from this hell.
The loud noise coming from the rest of the members combined with the roar of the engine gave him a headache. His temples were pulsing, his worries too big for him to handle at this moment.
It was as if he didn’t quite enjoy to be in this world that is unfair to his wants and needs.
’36 is not that far away’ he mentally says, comforting his worry thoughts and concentrating to the hum of the driver’s voice as he forgets about what had happened earlier in the fight.
Sympathy never went good with
For the third consecutive week, they all had agreed to go to the pub to celebrate, once again, their assured victory.
Jaehyo wanted to stay home and watch something on the tv until it was the perfect time to go sleep. That wasn’t an option tonight, though. Whenever he stayed at home after a victory, Bbomb would endlessly question him why he would stay at home, interrogating him as if he was ungrateful if he stayed home instead of celebrating at the pub.
The pub was half packed, mostly women in their right dresses, and some leaders of the gangs were together, drinking and laughing loudly for the entire pub to notice.
He nodded at them and then separated himself from the others. U-Kwon pressed his lips and gave him a rapport of understanding. U-Kwon had always been closer to him and was never the one to question why he often never showed interested in making plans or just in general showing in interest in the gang life.
U-Kwon was also less violent than the other two; often he would strike a good conversation with him. Jaehyo had at some point thought of telling U-Kwon his feelings and his troubles, but then decided not too. No matter how closer they get, or how caring he was towards him, he would never understand his struggle with keeping his secret and being unable to be with someone that he loves.
Jaehyo nodded at him. He was okay. Everything was better when he took a drink of vodka. Soon he would forget about his worries and let go of himself.
With fortune, Jaehyo found himself sitting on his favorite stool, prompting his feet on top of the circle that surrounded the bottom of the stool. He leaned across the counter and tap a glass with a spoon that was nearby.
The bartender- his favorite person in the pub- came over, his somber look swiped away and a smile immediately appeared upon seeing him.
“Hey, hows it going?” The bartender, Clark, stood in front of him, pressing his hands on the counter.
Clark was an exchange student from Norway. He spoke perfect Korean and was practically a citizen in the province where the gangs lived. People had accepted him into the town so he was widely known and liked very much.
Well, of course, not as much as he did. He didn’t want to admit that he kind of had a crush on him. His lips were very distracting, well usually when he was in the mood to be sexually active. Too bad that being attracted to the opposite sex was forbidden in this land.
“Just won again, as always,” Jaehyo whispers to him, with little enthusiasm.
Clark knew his identity. He wasn’t worried about Clark telling people, though. If Clark knew what gang Jaehyo was, he would be in so much trouble. Foreigners were forbidden to know that kind of classified information. Not even members of different gangs could know about each other. There was masks for a reason.
“Hmm, what horrible thing,” Clark says, shaking his head, his hands already pouring vodka into a small glass.
“Right! It’s kind of getting boring now. I want to lose just so I can see the others’ faces. They kind of need humbleness you know,” Jaehyo says complains. The day they lose is the day that he would be enthusiastically happy.
“Ah, the pain of others brings you joy. I see,” Clark playfully plays with him, furrowing his eyebrows and pulling his lips downwards.
“Oh, shut up. I need some entertainment now days,” Jaehyo says in a tone that could either be perceived as sad or playful.
“What’s wrong with these days?” Clark hands him the vodka. Oh, shit. He won’t too far.
Jaehyo takes a huge gulp, his throat burning right afterwards. He makes a sour look and opens his eyes bigger, expressing how strong the liquor was.
“I don’t know. Just feeling like all of this is meaningless. I can’t do whatever I want. The rules are just not for me,” Jaehyo states, slouching on his stool and raising his glass, asking for more.
“Then break them.” Clark shrugs his shoulders like it’s not a big deal. Like it was that easy. No one could get out.
“Not unless I want death. And I don’t want to die before I do what I want do.”
“Death seems right around the corner whenever there’s a fight,” a raspy voice says, coming from his left side. Jaehyo cocks his head to left and examines the man who spoke.
“Is that so?” He lightly asks, taking him all in. He wore a dark dress shirt, his right eye was bruised, like he had just gotten punched recently. He was sporting a smile that from miles could captivate someone into copying that smile. And, indeed did he captivate Jaehyo into the trap.
Unknowingly, his mouth had twisted into a smile, a smile that he had not showed in days. A pure smile.
“I’ll have the same as him.” He raises his finger at Clark. Clark nods, hands Jaehyo his glass of vodka, and then proceeds to make the man his requested liquor. “Well, yes, of course. I almost died today.”
“Isn’t that a reach? No one would kill you, unless the guy wanted to lose the victory and bring shame to the gang,” Jaehyo says, a sip of vodka entering his esophagus, warmly burning its way to his system, and then electrifying him with pleasure. Ecstasy.
“One man for himself. One days we can all snap. Masks bring hatred you know. We don’t have masks right now so we can talk with ease, but if we had our masks right now, there’s no guarantee that you would come out at least alive,” The man tells him.
He was right. Their hatred wasn’t to the person itself. It was what the mask represented. The mask symbolizes the gang’s pride and when that certain gang won over the other it brought shame and jealousy. Masks became the target of the hatred that brought over failures.
A part of himself had hatred for other gangs. Red Tiger had always been their foremost enemy. They were one of the best along with his gang and the sweet victory of their desires was always challenged when both of the gangs confronted each other on the countless of their battles. And more than anything, the only thing he loved of this was the constant winning, knowing his victories were always certain.
The man besides him, however, had the face of misery. From his body language and bitter taste of words could implicate that he was from a team that rarely won.
And even if that had anything to do with what he was saying, there was the ultimate truth that couldn’t be denied. If everyone knew who each other were in what gang, there would be more chaos and death would be far more common that it is now. And those deaths wouldn’t be by accident, or by overshadowed hatred.
“Well isn’t it great that we don’t. If you had your mask, I wouldn’t find you somewhat appealing.” The man laughs. He takes a sip of his vodka and then puts the glass down. “Well then cheers for not having masks right now and for friendly despise.” He raises his glass and bumps it with Jaehyo who was almost to done with his second drink.
“Cheers that you don’t have the necessity of killing me right this second. Gotta keep the pride on,” Jaehyo says, tilting his head to the side and shaking it, his face a look of pride in his remark. It was another victory for him, after all. He wasn’t killed by one of his enemies.
“Cheers to that. Two more glasses of vodka for the gentleman and I,” The man says with neutrality, shifting his stool to face Jaehyo better. “Your name?”
Jaehyo is wary of the guy. Even if giving names to another doesn’t change anything (names are never said in fights so it doesn’t affect them actually talking to others) he still feels like giving his name is an open invitation to actually knowing the guy more than just mere strangers.
Yet he did want to know this guy more than just two guys at the bar. It had been so long that he was interested in a guy, other than Clark, which now it didn’t count as a crush anymore. The guy had this aura that made Jaehyo want to know more about him. So he straighten his posture and then spoke with firmness,” Jaehyo.”
“Zico. I hope we’re not archenemies because that would be such a shame. Another cheer for our growing friendship,” The man, Zico, chuckles and hands him another glass of vodka.
“Already hoping that we’re not.”
That night he became alive. The curiosity of finding who this man was and the danger of becoming friends with the enemy.
He was playing with Fire. A fire that he so bad was content with playing.
~~~
A/N: @YugiFazbear here is your one shot again. I hope you like this better than the first time I did. I was unsatisfied with how I was writing Rivals’Love Affair so I decided to write again. This time I have everything written and planned so I know how the end is going to be and I’m not going by whatever I wrote every part. For my other requests I have them planned as well. Up next is a Wanna One one shot to @Squishy_Jaehwan just want to let you know, love.
The edit above is not my best, but oh well.
Comments and votes are appreciated. 🙆🏻♀️🙆🏻♀️
-Laterz Kelsi.
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