His mind was going blank and his nerves felt as if being grated.
From the side of his eye, he could see his father grinning while holding his glass.
Sooha, in front of him, had closed his eyes and turned to the side, ready for impact.
Damien raised his arm and swung it.
A crack split the air, but it wasn't Sooha's cheek that burned.
Sooha, not feeling the slap, opened his eyes that were glued to the floor, and in front of him was Damien's visor.
He looked up in shock and saw Damien, looking down, his raven hair slicked back earlier, falling over his face now.
Hand on his cheek.
"Pathetic…" His father added, taking another sip of the whiskey.
"Punch him till he faints."
"N-no, sir, please," Sooha tried to protest, to no avail… And Damien was already spent, his mind a mess.
The first punch smashed into his face, knocking him to the marble. Breath fled his lungs. Damien hauled him up by the collar, silent, eyes empty.
Then a fist slammed into his gut, folding him in half. Making him gag and choke.
Sooha then coughed, and deep crimson blood splattered over the marble floor.
He tried grabbing Damien by the hand and having him snap out of it, but the difference in strength between them was absurd; Damien barely felt the pulls.
And as each punch was sending Sooha's consciousness near the limit, the councilor spoke.
"That's enough… Ought to teach you a lesson, son."
And with the command gone, Damien slumped over Sooha's beaten body.
Every single thought inside him came to a quiet; he did not think anymore; the only emotion he felt was rage.
And it wasn't only at his father, it was at himself, for thinking he could have control for even a second, for not resisting that godforsaken ability, for putting Sooha in danger and not keeping him safe.
How did he think of keeping him safe during the mission, first of all?
"Get him out of here and call in the cleaning staff to clean up the blood. I have the next meeting soon."
His father said, completely devoid of any emotion, but then a soft smirk glinted upon his face,
"Though you were obedient just now, son, and as a reward, I will approve of that pointless mission of yours."
Damien said nothing; he just embraced Sooha softly and left the office.
He knew nothing would ever be on his own terms.
Not until his father was dead.
And so the hatred and rage he felt for him in the moment he kept inside, placing it on himself.
As they left, Damien hurried to his car outside, stopping only for a moment to get the godforsaken inhibitor bracelets removed.
But something shifted in the air the moment the bracelet clicked off.
As if by instinct, a gleaming pink sphere enveloped the two of them.
Filled with radiant teal light that fell softly over Sooha's wounds.
"Hey! Use of abilities is prohibited inside here!" A guard yelled,but it was muffled, ignored.
Damien looked into Sooha's eyes and saw that same pink light in them.
He dropped to his knees, and as the barrier obscured the view of what was inside, he broke down.
Damien's tears fell on Sooha's bruised face, and so instead of him feeling betrayed or hurt, he felt happy.
He thought of Damien as someone with complete authority, but seeing him manhandled by his father, distressed, shut down, and emotional… and now he was even crying over what he did.
It meant he cared about hurting Sooha, even though he had no control over it.
Even so high and above everyone else in Elysium, he was still limited, still weak to what he was even as a child.
It reminded Sooha of all the times Damien was the bruised one because of the training Mr. Van Der Lys put him through…
He smiled.
Not because he was happy, but because he was relieved.Relieved that beneath the uniform, beneath his father's orders, Damien was still Damien.
The barrier slowly started reconstructing Sooha's wounds to the point where he could talk again.
giving him back the strength to say a soft, "Thank you."
Damien's eyes widened in shock at the nonsense he was saying.
Thanking me for what?
It was a true, heartfelt thanks—thanks that Damien was still himself, thanks that he had resisted the slap even when Sooha told him not to, and thanks that he was crying for him once more…
It sickened him that Damien's tears eased the ache more than the healing glow did; he couldn't help it.
It felt good to see Damien lose control over his body and emotions.
It made him more human than anything else.
And then, with a look of a child trying not to scare away the stray cat he had found on the street, Damien closed the distance between them.
Holding Sooha as if he were something fragile, something that could break easily, even despite punching him moments earlier.
The embrace gave comfort to both.
Made them feel that even though the world was cruel and vile, they still had each other, even after ten years of being apart.
"We have a lot of work to do since we secured the mission," Sooha added, with a soft smile on his lips.