After a moment of not looking at him, I turned toward the kitchen area of the main room and pulled out some small drawers. Once I found the small box of headache medicine, I moved toward one of the cupboards and pulled out a small cup.

“What are you doing?” Jungsoo asked.

I filled the cup with some water and pulled out two of the small white tablets. “Here.” I held them out toward him. “It’ll help your head feel better.”

“It’s not hurting that much now. It’s okay.”

My eyes narrowed. “Will you just take it?”

He stared at me for a moment, then slowly took the cup and tablets. I sighed a little and walked past him back toward the main area of the apartment and remained standing above the couch with my arms crossed. I heard him put the cup down.

“Youngwoon, why are you acting like this all of a sudden?” He asked quietly.

I sighed a bit huffily. “How would you feel if you couldn’t touch someone you care about?”

There was a moment of silence. I kept my figure facing the couch and my head lowered. As much as I knew it wasn’t fair to him, I felt really angry.

I heard him come a closer towards me but I didn’t want to look at him.

“Youngwoon.” He said.

I didn’t respond or turn around.

“Please don’t act like this. You don’t have to be so cold.”

“But you said.”

“Said what?”

I slowly glanced at him. “You said that my touch burns your skin. During the hypnotherapy.” I turned my head back down. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Another wave of silence filled the air. Then I saw his hand touch the sleeve of my arm and grab it gently. I stared at his hand wide-eyed as he pulled my arm away from my chest and moved the palm of my hand to rest above his heart.

“H-hyung!” I moved my widened gaze to his eyes. “T-this is hurting you!” I tried to pull away but his grip on my hand remained strong.

“I don’t care.” He said quietly.

“B-but—“

“Don’t you remember, Youngwoon?” He asked. “The reason I fell was because of you. And even if I’m a lot of pain…I’m happy to be with you.”

I stared at him speechless.

“You may not remember…but throughout these ten years…being with you and then losing you again and again…it’s only made me feel closer to you. Our connection is too strong even for Him to fully keep apart. So even if a simple thing as your touch causes me a lot of pain…we will always find a way to be together. Even if I disappear again.”

I could feel tears creeping into my eyes without my permission. “But…we will find a way to stop you from disappearing. The priest said he’d figure it out!”

“I hope so.” He smiled. “But even if he can’t… I’m happy to keep finding you again and again.”

I shook my head. “That will stop this time. Have some faith!”

“I’m not afraid anymore.” He replied, holding my hand tightly with both of his. “I feel like anything is possible because of you.”

I felt my face flush and I cleared my throat a little. This new kind of attitude he was showing was a surprise to me since he acted so solemn and depressed before.

“I’ll make sure we can live together without you disappearing.” I said quietly. “I believe it can be done. Somehow.”

His eyes slowly met mine and neither of us said anything else. I felt adrenaline rush through my entire body and I had so many urges to do at the same time. I guess they were all portrayed in my eyes because he smiled again.

“…hug me.” He almost whispered.

Without hesitation, I pulled him into my arms and held him tightly. I felt his entire body shiver and tense up but I didn’t care. Having him in my arms like this made me feel so happy. I never wanted to let go. My hands slowly moved up and down his back and I gently nuzzled my face into his neck. As if I couldn’t get any more excited, I felt his hands grab both sides of my hips and a very soft moan escape from his lips. Being right above the skin on his neck, I leaned in and planted a soft kiss on the main muscle. I felt his hands tighten on the lower part of my shirt.

“Does that hurt?” I asked quietly.

“Do it again.” He answered.

I couldn’t help grinning as I leaned in and kissed him again, putting more pressure into it. I felt his hands move up the back of my shirt and pull on the cloth a little I leaned back to look at his eyes. They were half open and his shoulders were steadily moving up and down. I could feel myself giving in more and more into my animal instincts but at the same time, the look in his eyes was like a big barrier keeping me from losing my mind.

“Hyung…you look like you’re in pain.” I said quietly, not moving my face away from his.

“I’m okay.” He shook his head slowly, breathing in and out a little audibly.

The pained look in his eyes made reasonability continue to fade back into my mind. “…maybe we shouldn’t do this…”

“You’re really going to say that now?” He asked with a twinge of annoyance in his voice.

“I don’t want you to get hurt because of me!” I exclaimed. “I can see the pain in your eyes. This is making you—“ I was suddenly cut off by his lips on mine. I froze up out of fear, afraid if I put my hands on him, he would faint or something.

He pushed himself into me a little and that caused me to take a step back. I was experiencing many conflicting emotions. I wanted to kiss him back but I also wanted to push him away. He was being so willing to put himself through pain like this and it was making me feel very scared and aroused at the same time. I moaned against his lips and managed to push him away so I could speak well. “Don’t do this, hyung! It’s not good for you!”

“Do I really have to repeat myself?” His face remained dangerously close to mine. “I’m not afraid anymore.”

“That shouldn’t mean you’re ready to die!” I raised my voice a little.

“…no…I guess it shouldn’t mean that.” He slowly lowered his head, making me relax a little bit.

“Right…so…we shouldn’t do this, okay?” I felt extremely disappointed to say those words, but if it meant him not experiencing any more pain, then they had to be said.

“But…” He slowly looked up at me. “I really want to.”

I thought my heart exploded out of my chest. He just looked so cute saying those words with such a look of anticipation in his eyes, even if it was clouded by pain as well.

“I-I mean…we could do something else.” I couldn’t hide the deep flush on my face and it felt like I had a slight fever.

“Like what?” He asked quietly.

I thought for a very long time, but literally nothing else sounded better than sitting here and making out. “…I don’t know.” I lowered my head a little.

“Well…we can wait for the priest to call you.” He said. “But it might get a little boring just waiting.”

I glanced at him.

“So…” His eyes bore into mine. His message couldn’t have been clearer.

I took in a deep breath and let it out. “Hyung…the only reason you’re not laying on this couch and I’m on top of you kissing you is because I know that you’ll be in a lot of pain. Believe me…I want to do it…so bad. But it’s not good for you. You’ll only end up hurting in the end.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I’ll be in heaven.” He grinned a little.

I stared at him with a dead serious look. “Don’t…why would you even say that!?”

“I meant figuratively.”

“That’s not funny, hyung.”

“It kind of is.” He shrugged one shoulder.

I shook my head a little. “You’ve become so light-hearted about your own situation that you could joke about it so easily?”

“Why not?” He blinked.

“Because it’s not funny!” I raised my voice again. “You could disappear again! Or die! Or…” My head lowered and my eyes were filled with nothing but fear and upset. Then I felt his hands touch either side of my face and I was looking in his eyes again.

“Don’t worry about that. I’m here right now.” He said seriously.

“But you’ve disappeared before and made me forget you for such a long time…” I stared into his eyes with my own steadily getting wetter.

He was silent for a minute, then slowly leaned his forehead into my own. “I’m sorry.”

I stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Why?”

“I wanted to be happy with you…but you’re really upset right now.” He glanced into my eyes. “Think about it. What if you remembered me from ten years ago and then when we continuously found each other, you would only get more and more upset and sad. Because by then you would have figured out my punishment.”

“I would find a way to break it.” I replied. “Just like I want to do now. If I knew about your punishment five or even ten years ago, you probably wouldn’t be under His punishment right now.”

“That’s a confident thing to say.” He smiled again.

“I’m serious. I won’t give up on that…but that means I can’t let you disappear.”

He stared at me for a long time. “…I love you.”

My heart jumped and my entire body froze up again. I couldn’t get my mouth to work.

He smiled again. “You care so much about my well-being…even if that means putting aside your physical desires. You’re very strong, Youngwoon.”

Finally I could say something with a slightly cracked voice. “Y-you were testing me!?”

“No. But it makes me happy to know you would rather fix the problem first rather than do the easier thing.”

“I think you were testing me!” I suddenly grabbed his shoulders and pinned him down on the floor. “You idiot! How could you play with my feelings like that?!”

He stared up at me completely surprised. “I wasn’t! I really love you!”

I glared at him for a long time in silence, but his eyes really told the truth. But I still wanted to beat him up. I mumbled something and slowly moved off of him, sitting with my legs crossed and my back up against the couch.

He watched me and chuckled softly. “You’re cute when you’re annoyed.”

“Shut up.” I mumbled.