The closer I got to my apartment, the darker the sky seemed to get. Grey clouds that seemingly appeared out of nowhere were suddenly covering the pale blue morning sky and I could hear the low roll of thunder in the far distance, which didn’t make me feel any better.

“I’m going back to my apartment now.” I informed the priest while squinting through the cold wind attacking my face.

“Please hurry as fast as you can.” The priest said. “The weather near the church has suddenly gotten very cloudy and gloomy.”

I didn’t bother asking the priest if he made the assumption that Jungsoo’s reborn time was coming soon based solely on the weather. I just kept running.

Once I got to my apartment entrance, I was about to open the passcode-oriented door when I was overcame with a strange feeling.

“…I’ll call you back.” I told the priest and hung up the phone. I slowly lowered my hand and turned around. My mind was filled with nothing but flashbacks of the time Jungsoo ran out of my apartment during the raging storm so long ago. As I called out his name, he looked behind his shoulder at me, but there was a different look in his eyes. It was then that I understood what the priest was talking about when he said “warped mind”. Jungsoo must have been hearing the calls of God and was just unable to stop himself from running away. The more I thought about that, the more forgiveness flooded into my heart. For a long time I thought he ran away because he simply didn’t want to return the love I confessed to him. I realized that I had no need to hold onto feelings of embarrassment and shame for feeling the way I feel about him.

Now my feet were being lead to the area behind my apartment complex, the area where Jungsoo ran away the first time. As if I predicted the future, Jungsoo was almost in the same area now, limping up a small hill over a busy street behind the complex.

My breath stuck in my throat for only a split second before I took in a deep breath. “Park Jungsoo!!!”

Even in the slight distance away, I saw him stop and slowly turn around. His upper body was bent over and his arms were holding either side of his waist.

I broke out into a run toward the small hill, but the moment I reached the busy street, I ended up stopping in the middle of the road, staring wide-eyed at him.

He had let out a loud groan and bent over even more, then right in front of my eyes, the same bright, white, feathery wings broke out from his upper back and shinned brightly in contrast to the grey clouds up above.

From that moment it seemed like everything went into slow motion. A loud, deep honking sound came from my right and I turned my head. A pretty big car was heading right in my direction, the front lights shining brightly and the surprised look of the driver banging his palm on the horn. Then I saw another light getting brighter from my front and turned my head back to the front. My entire body was pushed backward and my feet momentarily left the ground.

Jungsoo was in front of me with a heavenly glow outlining his body. His arms were wrapped around my shoulders and his head was to the side of mine. I could feel the radiating light warming up my entire body, but the expression on my face was less than peaceful. Jungsoo slowly leaned back to look into my eyes. He was smiling softly.

As I continued to stare back at him with widened eyes, his hands slowly moved to my front and gently pushed me away. As I fell back, still in the air, my widened eyes couldn’t unsee Jungsoo’s entire figure fly to my left as the car screeched to a stop, hitting Jungsoo’s body instead of mine.

I hit the ground hard and the strangely peaceful feeling that enveloped me only seconds ago was replaced with the burn from hitting the concrete road. I landed on my back and slowly moved to my side, the pain from hitting my back was vibrating throughout my body.

Soon I heard the panicked sounds of the car driver as he got out of his car and started dialing the number for the hospital.

I wanted to move. I wanted to run over to Jungsoo. I had so many questions about what just happened. But the only thing that happened was darkness fading into my eyes and every sound disappearing from my mind. I fell unconscious within only a few seconds.

The sounds that started to trickle back into my mind were small beeps and hushed voices echoing a small distance in front of me. I slowly opened my eyes and then raised my hand over them. A bright light above me was shining down on me intensely.

“Mr. Kim?”

I blinked and turned to my left. I saw the face of a woman wearing a white nurse hat and the typical nurse uniform.

“Please don’t try to move around too much.” She gently lowered my arm so it was resting at my side. “You had a pretty intense fall.”

“Wh-where is he?” I tried to sit up but that was extremely painful, as if I twisted my back sleeping in a weird position.

“P-Please don’t move!” She touched my shoulder and arm quickly. “We haven’t given you medicine yet.”

“Where. Is. He?” I stared down the nurse hard.

“Where is who, sir?” She asked politely but I could still see some fear in her eyes.

“Park Jungsoo.” The pain was making me feel uncomfortable, but not as an uncomfortable as not knowing if Jungsoo even survived that hit or not. Or if he was reborn…

“We had to send him to the emergency wing of this hospital.” She replied gently. “Last time I heard, the doctors had to use an AED.”

I thought my heard dropped into my intestines. “I-I need to see him.”

“I’ll need to check to make sure the doctors are finished—“   

Before I let her finish, I jumped out of the bed, despite the stabbing pain in my back, and ran out of the room. I didn’t bother looking behind me or responding to the nurse’s desperate calls. My vision was fixed straight ahead and even if it took me hours to find the room Jungsoo was in, I would find him. I was relieved enough to know he wasn’t reborn. I was even anxiously excited.  Something obviously was different this time that stopped him from completely turning back into an angel.

I didn’t get too far down the hallway before stronger hands grabbed my arms and shoulders. I squirmed and tried to pull away but I couldn’t. I came face-to-face with one of the doctors.

“One of our nurses said you left without permission.” The doctor said.

“Please tell me the room where Park Jungsoo is in.” I replied immediately.

“Alright.” The doctor said gently. “But first can you please take your medicine?”

“Fine. I’ll take it while you show me to the room where Park Jungsoo is in.” I sounded a bit like a broken record, but I didn’t care.

The doctor agreed and the hands holding me still were let go. After a couple impatient minutes, the nurse who I saw before came to the doctor’s side with some small pills and a glass of water, which the doctor handed over to me. As I downed the pills and water, the doctor checked something on his clipboard.

“…Ah, Mr. Park Jungsoo is in Room 301.” The doctor invited me to follow him and I did so without hesitation. My heart was racing and the adrenaline continuously pumping through my body was enough for me to forget the pain radiating from my back.

After a short time of walking, the doctor stopped in front of a room labeled 301 and motioned to it. “Here you go. Please pick up more pain killer medicine before you leave this hospital. Okay?”

I nodded as I looked at the completely wooden door.

The doctor knocked on the door and then opened it. After glancing around the room for a moment, he stepped aside so I could walk inside. I swallowed a little and slowly entered the room. My eyes landed immediately on the bed where he was laying completely still. His eyes were closed and his face was covered in some small bandages. I could also see some traces of bandages covering his upper chest underneath the thin hospital gown he was wearing. As I walked closer toward him, my eyes turned to the heart rate machine above his bed. His pulse was a little slow but it was steady.  He was alive.

I stopped at the side of his bed, staring down at his bandaged, still face. I never felt so anxious in my life. I wanted to ask him so many questions. And hug him. Tightly.

My hand raised and lingered above his upper arm. I was still afraid if my touch would hurt him, so I was even more in a dilemma.

Finally I leaned in a little. “Hyung?”

There was no indication on his face that he heard me and it made me a little more nervous. After deciding to go with it, I bit my lip and gently touched the skin on his upper shoulder with the tips of my fingers.

He still didn’t respond in any way.

I sighed, pulled up the closest chair, and sat down next to his bed. I didn’t like waiting for him to wake up, but it seemed like the safest thing to do since I didn’t know if my touch still hurt him or not. After watching his sleeping face for a few minutes, my own eyes became heavy and I slowly lowered my head onto my arms. Before I knew it, I started seeing images in front of my eyes and felt very relaxed. It wasn’t for some time after that until I felt something touch my head and the images immediately faded away into black.

I slowly lifted my head and blinked out the sleep in my eyes, turning my gaze toward Jungsoo.

He was staring at me with half-open but anxious eyes.

“H-hyung.” I stared back at him with the same expression.

“…touch me.” Jungsoo lifted his hand a little toward me.

I glanced at it then back at him. “H-huh?“

“Just do it.” He stared hard at me.

After a moment, I swallowed a little and moved my hand toward his. My fingers touched the tops of his and I glanced at his face. He was looking at my fingers with slowly widening eyes.

“…touch my face.” He said next.

My eyes were slowly widening too after seeing the lack of pain on his face. I moved closer and let my fingers graze the side of his face gently.

His gaze turned to mine and it looked like he was about to cry. “It doesn’t hurt.”

Hearing those words sounded like an explosion of fireworks inside of me. “R-really?”

His head slowly shook and a big smile grew on his face. “Youngwoon…I’m free.”

I felt tears rush into my eyes but I didn’t care. I collapsed on top of him, pulling his entire upper body into a tight embrace. His soft laughter echoed in my ears and it made my heart swell. He hugged me back gently but securely, his fingers tightening in the cloth on the back of my sweater.

After a minute, I leaned back to look at his face. “What the hell happened before?”

He grinned and chuckled. “You would have died if I didn’t save you.”

“Yeah but you were glowing! And had your wings!” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you disappear this time?”

“He said my action was the most human thing an angel ever did in His eyes.”

“He? So you spoke to Him?”

Jungsoo nodded. “He was very impressed, so he let me go, granting me the freedom to live the rest of my life as a human.”

I pulled him back in for another tender hug. “Hyung…I’m so relieved.”

He hugged me back hard. “Now we can be happy. Together.” He said quietly.

I pulled back a little so our faces were close together. After brushing some hair off of the side of his face, I leaned in and kissed him gently. He pulled me closer to him and my arms wrapped around his back. The passion I was holding was released a little and I made my actions a lot more aggressive. My hands moved up and down his sides and he moaned a little, breaking the kiss and lowering his head.

“What?” I asked a bit breathily.

“My body is a little sore.” He said quietly.

“That’s because you got hit by a speeding car.” I replied, leaning in to peck his forehead.

“I never knew how painful anything other than your touch could be.” He shivered a little as my kisses trailed down his neck.

“Looks like you have a lot to learn.” I smirked, looking in to his eyes.

“As long as I’m with you, I will be happy to learn anything.” He grinned.

I was about to lean in for more kisses but a knock came from the door and one of the nurses came into the room. I had to pull away quickly and roll back a bit on the chair, trying to hide my flushed face and slightly raised pants. As the nurse checked Jungsoo’s vital signs and wrote stuff on her clipboard, we met eyes again and he smiled at me. Just thinking about the future we’ll have together made my world heavenly bright. I would enjoy every moment of it, and I knew he would too.