The pained look on Jungsoo’s face only grew bigger as his eyes started to tighten more and his breaths became bigger and sharper.

“What do you see?” The priest asked gently.

I leaned in even closer, staring at Jungsoo with major concern in my eyes.

“…bright light…” Jungsoo managed to utter.

“Is it hurting you?” The priest asked.

“…yes…” Small tears fell from Jungsoo’s tightly-closed eyes and rolled down either side of his face.

There was nothing more I wanted to do in the moment than run over to him and hug him tightly. I had to look away for a moment because seeing him cry like that made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

“What else do you see?” The priest asked.

Jungsoo’s hands clenched and his head shifted to the side a little. “I-I’m sorry…”

I turned back to look at him.

The priest seemed surprised too. “Excuse me?”

“Please stop…it hurts so much…” Jungsoo’s tear-filled voice was slowly getting louder. “If I knew I’d be in this much pain I would never have betrayed you!”

The priest leaned back a little, seemingly at a loss of words for what was happening to Jungsoo.

I shot a glance at the priest and slowly stood up.

“Please take me back! I’ll never disobey you again!” Jungsoo was practically screaming now. “Have mercy, please!!”

The priest remained still but on edge. He really didn’t seem to know what to do.

That made me extremely anxious but I stayed where I was, staring down Jungsoo fearfully.

Jungsoo was now breathing through his open mouth and more tears were falling from his tightly closed eyes. The priest slowly pulled out one tissue from his pocket and dabbed either side of Jungsoo’s face. It seemed like the only thing he could do in the moment, which was more than what I could do.

“Please…” Jungsoo’s voice became very quiet. “…I just want relief…”

I let out a very small breath. I had never felt more confused and scared in my life.

“Listen to my voice. Why did you become a fallen angel?” The priest asked.

Jungsoo breathed in and out for a couple seconds as more tears fell from his eyes.

“Answer my question. Why did you become a fallen angel?” The priest asked again.

“...I…” A small breath escaped his lips. “…I… love him.”

At that moment it seemed like the entire room exploded, not from an actual explosion, but an explosion inside of me. My heart broke into a fast, adrenaline filled rhythm because of two exact emotions that came over me at the same time. I looked at the priest and he was staring at Jungsoo with a much different look in his eyes than before. He seemed speechless again and didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds. Through all of this tension, I felt so happy, as much as that sounded crazy to admit.

After a few tense seconds, the priest leaned forward and snapped his fingers in front of Jungsoo’s closed eyes. “Wake up. Come back to consciousness.”

I didn’t know much about hypnotherapy, but I did know that bringing the patient back to consciousness took as much time as pulling them into hypnosis, and the priest just skipped to the end. I took a couple steps closer as Jungsoo shifted a little and continued to breathe in and out deeply.

“Please excuse me.” The priest stood up and left the room, not looking at me or anything else.

“Sir..” I tried to reach for his arm but he was out of the room and had closed the door pretty loudly before I could fully raise my hand.

Jungsoo slowly raised his hand up to his face and held it over his mouth. Tears were still falling from his eyes.

I quickly made my way over to the side of the couch and knelt down. “Hyung, it’s okay.” I was about to touch the hand covering his mouth but stopped short, remembering what he said about my touch causing him pain. Feeling extremely disappointed, I slowly moved my hand away. “Y-you’re going to be okay.” I was just saying stuff now, not sure if any of it was true.

Jungsoo slowly opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. His breathing slowed down just a little bit but he still looked extremely upset.

“…did you really see a bright light?” I asked quietly.

“…yes and… more like I felt it.” He sniffed a couple times. “But I saw Him…He is very angry with me.”

I stared at him in silence.

“He wouldn’t take me back…because…” His eyes closed again as more tears fell from his eyes.

“Because you love a guy?” I asked very quietly.

Jungsoo’s closed eyes tightened even more. “I…I remember many things now.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“I remember you…and when we first met…and all the things we did…it was like those memories were flooding into my mind nonstop.”

I let out a small breath. “T-that’s great!”

He shook his head. “No.”

“What do you mean?”

“Youngwoon…” He slowly met my eyes. “I’ve been hurting you for so long…”

I blinked. “What?”

He looked away. “The first time we met…was ten years ago.”

I stared at him blankly. “…what? No…I mean, it wasn’t that long ago. We met…around two or three years ago.”

Jungsoo shook his head. “You’ve been deceived by me.”

I was really shocked by his words. “W-what?”

He let out a soft sigh. “Ten years ago…I made the decision to become human because…I met you.” His gaze turned to the window above the couch. “You made me laugh, cry, and were the only person to confuse me with every action you did for me. Back then you were too young and naïve to fully understand what you were doing, but I knew. You treated me differently from your other friends, even though you didn’t know I wasn’t human. So…I wanted to stay with you, even if I was in a great amount of pain, I didn’t care. I wanted to be with you.”

I couldn’t respond and just kept staring at him wide-eyed.

“Throughout the years…I would continuously be reborn and lose all of my memories… but I would always find my way back to you.”

“H-how?” My voice cracked a little.

A very small smile appeared on his face. “I don’t know…but somehow we kept finding each other.”

“B-but why don’t I have any memories of you ten years ago!?”

“Because...I made you forget me.” His hand slowly moved onto his chest. “I didn’t want you to remember me and become upset.”

I immediately thought back to the time before he disappeared under the rainy sky and touched either side of my face. It was then I realized that he was going to kiss me but he never did.

“…so the last time I saw you…you couldn’t erase my memories.” I said slowly.

“I failed…and changed your life as a result.” He said quietly. “I only wanted you to be happy.”

Many feelings were running through me at the moment. “…so you do love me.”

A soft, almost huffed sigh came out from him. “…yes…”

I looked at him. “For all this time…for ten years…”

He didn’t say anything.

"...you really remembered all of that just now?" I swallowed a little and lowered my gaze.

He nodded.

"That is crazy..." I felt very unsure of how to feel in the moment. I couldn't fully except that he had been suffering for such a long time. A part of me felt very upset and another part felt flattered. He said he kept finding me throughout the years, even if it meant that he was going to disappear some time later. Or maybe he didn't know and was just going by his heart.

"...your memories of me disappeared too...right?" I asked quietly.

"...yes. I couldn't remember anything." He answered.

"And you kept finding me somehow..." I slowly looked at him.

He was looking at me with a very small smile on his face. "You were the reason I fell."

"But...I'm just a normal person." I suddenly felt really shy. "Why would you like someone like me? Especially ten years ago. I wasn't really a nice person..."

He chuckled softly. "No you weren't. Not around other people. You were really cautious and pessimistic. But when I with you...your attitude changed. You seemed lighter and more friendly."

"Yeah?" I grinned a little.

He nodded. "It took me by surprise and I didn't think it was a good thing at first. As you know...He doesn't approve of angels falling in love with humans...especially other guys." His gaze lowered.

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter what He thinks. Your feelings are your feelings, not His."

"That's a bold statement to make."

"Well it's true."

He didn't respond for a few seconds. I wanted to touch some part of him so bad but I reluctantly held back. I didn't want him to feel any more pain.

"...and what does it matter now?" I continued. "You're not in heaven anymore."

He slowly met my eyes.

"You should live however you want to."

"It's not that easy." He replied. "I'm still bound by His punishment."

"...then we just have to break that connection somehow!" I exclaimed.

"How can we do that?" He raised one eyebrow.

"I...I'm not quite sure, but maybe the priest will know!" Suddenly feeling very excited, I motioned for him to follow me as I ran out of the office room. "Sir?" I looked around the main area of the church and spotted the priest standing in front of one of the stain glass windows with his arms crossed and his head lowered.

I suddenly felt weary. "Are you okay?"

The priest was quiet for a very long time before lifting his head and sighing. "This situation is very difficult for me."

I heard Jungoo coming up behind me. "What do you mean?" I asked quietly.

The priest let out a long breath and met my eyes. "I am a priest, a person bound to my faith of the Lord. The Lord's rule is to love your enemies even more than your friends...so I will follow that rule, even if it makes me extremely uncomfortable." He glanced at Jungsoo. "You are indeed special...just in a way that I wasn't expecting to be so difficult to accept."

Neither me or Jungsoo said anything.

After another moment of silence, the priest straightened up and walked a little closer to us. "Tell me what you saw during that last session. I will help you as much as I can."

I continuously watched the priest with a high level of respect in my eyes as Jungsoo carefully explained everything he just told me.

After a moment, the priest nodded. "I see. Well about breaking your connection with the Lord...I'm afraid I don't know a concrete way to do it."

"Come on, there must be some way! Anything at all!" I exclaimed.

The priest thought for a moment, then pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. "Give me your phone number. I'll go do some research and call you when I find something useful."

I nodded and gave him my phone.

After he entered his number, I called it and he recorded it in his phone.

"Sir, thank you very much." I bowed a little. "I know how difficult this is for you..."

The priest placed his hand on my shoulder. "Like I said, I'm a proud holder of my faith. And I am not the person to stop helping someone I care about simply because some small thing about then makes me uncomfortable."

Jungsoo smiled softly and bowed as well. "Thank you."

"Both of you take it easy for a while, okay? I will get right on the research." He motioned both of us toward the exit if the church. "Please don't do anything strenuous." He added to Jungsoo.

Jungsoo nodded and I held out my hand for a handshake. The priest too it and then did the same with Jungsoo.

After that we left the church and noticed it was nighttime. There weren't many people out and the air had gotten a little colder.

"Does your head still hurt?" I looked at Jungsoo.

"A little, but it's not that bad." He shook his head.

Not sure if he was telling the truth or not, I nodded and motioned for him to follow me. "Let's go back to my apartment. It's a little colder now."

He agreed and walked next to me. I continuously glanced at him, making sure my body wasn't touching his as we walked.

We walked the entire distance in silence. When we got to the entrance to my apartment, I opened the door and let Jungsoo pass by me to go in. I flinched a little as his arm brushed against my arm.

"Hey be careful." I said.

He turned around to look at me. "Why?"

"Doesn't your arm hurt now?" I asked quietly.

"No."

My eyes narrowed. "Don't lie."

"It's not a lie." His tone was quite serious.

I stared at him for a moment longer before pulling off my shoes and my jacket. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him doing the same thing. Once we were both in the main area of my apartment, another air of awkwardness surrounded us. Neither of us seemed to know what to do or say next.