Let the Sun Shine on Me Again (Vincezo)

oh nakhrewaali

@oh_nakhrewaali

Prompt 5:  

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A big thank you to LizzieBennet for beta reading.

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Let the sun shine on me again

Han Seo couldn't help but snort as he witnessed what he would call the tackiest flirting ever, but he was smart enough to cover it up with a cough. Alizeh shot him an angry look across the customer's shoulder, her fingers still latched onto his watch that she had been complimenting. Han Seo had to agree that the watch was beautiful and expensive. Had it been a year or two ago, he would have owned something like that, would be at the bar, gaining the attention of women as the Chairman of Bebul, the once prestigious pharmaceutical company of Korea , that was now nothing but dust. But instead, he was now at this party, as a part-time bartender, watching his colleague and only friend in the world flirt with a rich guy who seemed to be enjoying the attention the German girl was giving him. He shook his head and turned, arranging the glasses on the shelf behind the counter. 

"A scotch on the rocks, please!" He whirled around so fast at that sound of that voice that he almost slipped.

"Hyung." He breathed out, but his breath was getting heavy in his chest as he met the warm brown eyes of the man who had allowed Han Se to call him 'Hyung', and till date, Han Seo felt special when Vincezo didn't disapprove the moniker. 

Multiple questions started forming in his head and he stared open-mouthed at the other man who looked calm and poised, dressed in a three-piece suit, as if he knew just where he'd find Han Seo and was now pleased that he had. 

"Han Seo?" Alizeh spoke his name warningly, chiding him for ignoring a customer's order for so long and he flushed, embarrassed. 

"Of course, Sir," he said, and started working on pouring out his drink, trying to push away the questions in his head and the butterflies in his stomach. 

"So, how long have you been bartending? Cha Young said you were here to study engineering," Vincenzo asked and took a sip, then smacked his lips and nodded. 

Han Seo assumed that the drink to had met the Italian-Korean man's approval. He felt a strange satisfaction at the thought.

"It's a part-time thing. I interned with Mr. Fischer at his factory and studied to become a mixologist during my semester holidays, so he hired me," 

Han Seo explained and Vincenzo nodded, his angular Italian looks looking even more pronounced. 

"When will you be free?"

"I guess in an hour or so," Han Seo blurted out wanting to ask him what was he doing here. Just then Vincenzo stood and pushed away his bar stool, his face clouding with alarm, and then was out of his sight almost as if he had vanished in thin air. 

Han Seo stood there, mouth open, hand raised mid-air frozen like a statue. 

Did he think that Vincenzo had flown down, all the way from Malta to see him? What was he, an idiot? 

Rubbing his forehead, he tried to divert his attention to Alizeh, who was holding the rich customer's visiting card, looking pleased as punch. 

"He is married," Han Seo said to Alizeh the second their customer left. 

"What? No! There was no ring on his finger!" Alizeh raised her ring finger as if to emphasize her statement. 

"Yeah, he saw you when he was talking with Mr. Fischer, he then removed his ring and came up here."

"You saw that and still let me flirt with him? You H*rensohn!" 

Alizeh gasped in shock and clutched at her stomach as if she was about to puke in disgust, but Han Seo simply laughed. 

Given all the darkness in his past, flirting with a married person ranked very low in his list of terrible things that could happen to someone, but of course, Alizeh didn't need to know that. 

"I am sorry this turned out this way," he said, and then his heart skipped a beat as his mind flooded with a memory.

"I am sorry this turned out this way, but if we're meant to meet again, then we'll meet again." 

The words were scribbled on a postcard with the picture of an island. The postcard was in his bedside drawer, safely tucked away hidden from the world. He wasn't sure why Vincenzo had sent him the postcard, but Han Seo treasured it with his life. It was the only souvenir he had received from the man he considered his elder brother.

Every night, he would look at the postcard and think of everything that had gone wrong in his life until Han Seok had shot him. The scars were still there, and Han Seo had learned to ignore them, but he couldn't ignore the way his heart leaped in joy every time he thought of how Vincenzo had considered him worthy enough to be his friend.

Alizeh hit him on the back of his head, and he came out of his trance. 

"What was the deal with the handsome Korean man? Do you know him? You seemed to open up to him more than you ever have with me in the last two years."

"He is a friend." Han Seo shrugged.

"Is he single?"

Before he could reply, Fredrick, Mr. Fischer's assistant came up to them, handed them their respective cheques, and asked them to pack up for the night.

When they finished, they left the hotel lobby. A valet approached them. 

"Sir, a man named Vincenzo has offered to drop you. He is waiting for you at the entrance," he informed them, bowed, and left.

"Woah, someone is going to go home in a posh limo tonight!" Alizeh punched his arm teasingly, and he shook her off. 

But he couldn't deny how lightheaded he felt just at the fact that Vincenzo was waiting for him. He bid Alizeh goodnight and walked to the entrance. Vincenzo was in the driver's seat, busy on his phone. Han Seo knocked on the window, and Vincenzo rolled it down. He signed for him to get in, bid the caller goodnight, and cut the call. They left the hotel in a few minutes.

"Go on, ask away," Vincenzo said after a long, uncomfortable silence. Han Seo cleared his throat and looked at him.

"Why are you here?" He wasn't sure whether he would get an honest answer, but it was worth a shot.

"One of the gang members escaped and took refuge here, faking her identity. I wanted to flush her out. When I was talking with you at the bar, I saw her and so had to leave. I am sorry for that, by the way," 

Han Seo nodded, but he felt a pang of disappointment at the answer. Why had he kept his hopes up, only for them to crash-land on him?

"Besides, I was hoping to see you. Of course, I wasn't expecting to run into you tonight," Vincenzo said after a few seconds, and Han Seo gaped at him in surprise.

"Why are you so surprised? You are my friend, chingu. I wouldn't miss a chance to see you. I promised you, if we're meant to meet again, then we'll meet again. It's a bit cheesy, I know, but I thought it would convey the message." 

He smiled softly at the other man, who was still shocked.

"I...I've never had friends before, and no one has ever kept their promise to me," Han Seo said, lips wobbling, close to tears. 

The cynical and hardened part of him was screaming at him for breaking down and being vulnerable - the part that had been groomed to be Han Seok's sidekick, the part that had never broken down no matter how many Hockey pucks his half brother had shot into his stomach, the part that had been coldly pried away from his mother's dead body by his father. But the humane, compassionate part of him that had miraculously survived and still lived in a small corner of his heart despite everything he'd faced managed to gain the upper hand this time.

Vincezo looked at him and blinked. The former Mafia member had no idea how to deal with emotions. But he placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Han Seo realized that was the extent of affection he'd get from him and that was okay. 

"Hyung, I am happy to see you," he said after a long silence.

"Me too, Han Seo." He smiled, and Han Seo wanted to hug him, but he kept his hands to himself, remembering how uncomfortable Vincenzo had always been with outward shows of affection. 

The rest of the drive to his apartment was a quiet one, but it wasn't awkward. Han Seo bobbed his head to the music playing while Vincenzo drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. 

They got to his apartment and Han Seo invited Vincenzo upstairs.

"It's not much, but it's home," he said, slightly embarrassed at the mess he had left his tiny living room in. Vincezo nodded, not saying anything.

"Can I offer you some wine? I nicked it off the party," Han Seo asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Vincenzo rolled his eyes and nodded.

One glass of wine turned into four, and one beer became three.

"For a kid, you are not bad at handling your drink," Vincenzo laughed, his inhibitions slightly lowered with the alcohol.

"I am 29, not a toddler," Han Seo spoke indignantly, and Vincenzo laughed. After some more glasses, tears pooled in Han Seo's eyes and Vincezo looked at him in confusion.

"I just know I love you and I wish you could stay. You are, after all, the only family I am left. Alizeh is nice, but she will never understand my dark side,” Han Seo said and wiped his tears away. 

He looked at Vincenzo, expecting a reply, or a rebuke for being so open about his feelings, but he just looked away awkwardly.

"You are a good kid, Han Seo. Whatever you did in the past, you need to move on from it. Forgive yourself. You did it to protect yourself," he said and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Han Seo nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat.

Han Seo wasn't entirely convinced, but he knew this tiny reassurance from Vincenzo meant more to him than all the little baby steps he had taken so far to move on from his past. 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hoping Vincenzo's presence would help him fight off the nightmares that he was certain to have tonight, like every night. It had been two long years fighting his bloodthirsty, murderous brother, and the sordid legacy that had been thrust on him, plus the 27 more years since he had spent fighting against himself. He was tired of fighting, but he knew he couldn't just brush away his past. What he could do was be kinder to himself, forgive himself like Vincenzo had told him to. In a flash, he knew he wasn't alone. Vincenzo had always been there - solid, steady and unwavering like a rock. In all the world, there was one person who believed in him, who trusted him and perhaps loved him too, in his own way. And that would be enough for Han Seo to get back to who he used to be, and let the sun shine again on him, dispelling all the darkness within.