He sat on the edge of the bed as he held his Cinderella book. He continued to observed the intricate drawings, his finger tracing over the detailed lines. Even though he had seen the pictures billions of times already in the past few days, he was still amazed at how someone could draw another person so accurately.

“Hey.” A quiet voice greeted.

He looked up and smiled, “Good morning… M-Master.”

He saw the other flinch and look down, “I’m sorry.” His master muttered.

He had said those words so many times in the past two days that he had already lost count.

“D-Do you want to eat?”

He nodded, sliding off the bed and slowly walking towards the door to the dining table.

He sat in front a dish with appetising looking soup and bread.

“I really tried to cook it well.”

“Thank you.” He said, picking up the spoon and proceeding to eat. The soup was very salty. But he didn’t complain. Even though the saltiness overtook every other flavour, he felt that it was better than any of the other dishes that Dongwoo had prepared.

Maybe because he was slightly in favour of his master.

~

They sat in awkward silence as Myungsoo gazed down on his meal, avoiding the other’s eyes. It had been almost 5 days since he had returned, and Sungyeol had seemed to follow him around more, as though scared of losing him again. He cleared his throat before pulling out a small device and sliding it to Sungyeol.

The other gave him a confused look as he said, “It’s a phone. Just in case something happens, and when it does you can call someone. I’ve added Dongwoo, Hoya and my number already, so you just click here…” He showed, “and then here.” He said, “And then there’s our names, you just click on the person you want and it would automatically call. Why don’t you try?”

Sungyeol nibbled on his lower lip as he reached out for the phone. He followed the other’s instruction and soon a ringing tone could be heard from Myungsoo’s pocket.

“And if something really really bad happens, call the police. Just press this button. But only on emergencies, alright?”

Sungyeol nodded, fiddling his fingers.

“Are you okay?”

“If there’s an emergency I’ll call the police, but when do I call you and Dongwoo and Hoya?”

“Whenever you want.” Myungsoo smiled, “When you’re upset. When you’ve got a problem. Anything like that, alright?” He smiled gently.

“Okay.”

“Well, I’ve got to get to work in a few more minutes, so will you be alright by yourself? Or would you like me to ask Dongwoo to come?”

He shook his head, “I’ll be okay, as long as you promise to come back.”

Myungsoo let out a shaky exhale, “I promise.” He replied, drawing a cross over where his heart was supposedly located.

~

He stared at the male who was talking non-stop. He looked like he was listening, but his mind had drifted off somewhere else.

Sunggyu continued to obliviously present his idea and plans for the project as Myungsoo kept blanking out, thinking back to the man he had left behind.

“… do you think?”

“Huh?” Myungsoo asked dumbly.

“What do you think of my plan?”

“Oh. Uh, good.” He stuttered.

Sunggyu sighed, “Were you even listening?”

“I was!”

“Oh yeah? What did I say?”

“Uhm, well…” Sunggyu sighed, “Myungsoo, the hearing is in just over a month. We’ve had basically a year to prepare, but we haven’t done anything at all.”

“We’ve got evidence!” Myungsoo defended.

“And how are you going to present those? Have you practised? Has Sungyeol practised?”

“W-Well…”

“Do you even want to win this?” He asked angrily.

“Of course I do!”

“Then why aren’t you doing anything. A year back, you were the one who was so passionate about this, but now it looks like you’re reconsidering everything.”

“I-I’m not.” He whispered. “I want to win… but I’m not sure if we can.”

“Well with that mindset we won’t be able to.” He muttered. Myungsoo’s phone began to vibrate on the office desk and he reached out to check who it was. Checking the caller ID, he hesitated, before slowly shoving it in his pocket.

“Go,” Sunggyu whispered, “Answer it. Continue to keep him hidden from this dark world. At least, if we don’t win, I’d know that we at least save one.”

“Sunggyu…”

The other smiled bitterly, “He’ll get worried if you don’t answer.”

Myungsoo gave him a small smile before answering it, “Hello?”

“M-Myungsoo?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Is there something wrong Sungyeol?”

“Are you busy?” The other whispered.

“No, not at the moment.” Myungsoo replied, “Is there something wrong?” He repeated.

“N-No. I was just lonely.”

Myungsoo let out a small breath to calm his rapid heart, “Oh. Why are you whispering?”

“I thought I would be too loud if I spoke in my normal voice.”

“Why would it be too loud?”

“Because Dongwoo told me that speakers make voices louder, and isn’t this like a speaker.”

Myungsoo smiled, “No, not really. You can speak normally and it wouldn’t be too loud.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Have you eaten lunch?”

“Not yet.” Sungyeol replied.

“You should probably eat now. It’s 4 o’clock.”

“Will you come home and eat too?”

“I can’t today. I’m sorry Sungyeol.”

The was a short silence before he heard, “That’s okay.”

“I can ask someone to eat with you if you’re lonely.”

“N-No, that’s okay. I won’t be alone.”

Myungsoo sat up straighter, “What? Who are you with?”

“Yoong.” Sungyeol replied, allowing the other to sit back down, more relaxed. “Have you eaten lunch?”

“Not yet.”

“Are you going to?”

Myungsoo smiled, his heart beating faster as he heard the concerned words from the other, “I will soon.”

“Okay… are you going to eat with someone?”

“No, not that I know of?”

“Oh, so you will be lonely?”

“I guess so.” He mumbled, slightly wishing that he could now see the other.

“Sometimes Dongwoo said that if he misses Hoya, he would eat with a picture of him, and it would calm him down.”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“M-Maybe you can have a picture of someone you love and eat with it.”

“Someone I love?”

“Hm.” Sungyeol replied, “Hoya told me about it. Someone you really really really like, like how the Prince Charming fell in love with Cinderella and got married.”

“That’s interesting.” Myungsoo smiled.

“Yeah, and he said that he and Dongwoo love each other very much, which is why they are boyfriends.”

“Hoya told you that?”

“Yeah.”

“So do you love anyone?” Myungsoo didn’t know why he had said that, but he had presumed that maybe it was because he secretly wanted the other to say that he loved him, which was highly impossible.

“I think so.”

His heart beat even faster; He did? “W-Who is it?”

He heard a small giggle, “Hoya said that I shouldn’t tell people until I’m sure. So I can’t tell you yet.”

“Oh.” He replied pouting slightly.

“When will you be sure then?”

“Maybe soon.”

~

Myungsoo yawned tiredly, reaching for his jacket as he switched off his computer and packed up his document sheets. It was 11PM and he had decided to stay a little later than usual, however that had soon become 6 hours.

Driving home, he tried his best to focus on the road, especially with the limited lights that dimly lit the pitch black atmosphere. Once reaching his house, he let out a larger yawn, not caring if anyone was even around to witness such an unattractive yawn, and reached for his keys to unlock the doors. He unlocked the door and was about to step in when he saw a black lump on the cold floor.

Quickly, he reached to turn on the lights, so see Sungyeol hugging his bear tightly and shivering from the cold. His breathing was short and rapidly, and fog could be seen through every exhale.

Myungsoo clenched his fist, obviously upset at himself for not arriving earlier. He dropped his bags and documents onto the floor before scooping up the taller male and his bear with no trouble. The other was very light, however, not as light as he had been a year ago. Sungyeol stirred slightly in his sleep before tiredly opening his eyes, “M-Myungsoo?”

“Shhh, I’m here. Go back to sleep.”

“C-Cold.”

“It’s okay, I’ll turn on the heaters. You shouldn’t have waited out at the front.”

“I wanted to wait for you. I’m sorry I fell asleep.”

“No, you shouldn’t apologise for that. I’m sorry I didn’t come home earlier.” He whispered.

Sungyeol tiredly shook his head, “But you came home. You still kept your promise.” He mumbled, burying his head deeper in Myungsoo’s chest, as though trying to find warmth.

Myungsoo gently laid Sungyeol onto the bed, before reaching for the sheets and covering him. Sungyeol snuggled, pulling the sheets closer to him. Myungsoo smiled at how cute and beautiful the other looked before standing up straight and proceeding to leave.

“D-Don’t leave.” A small croak called out.

He halted at looked at the sleeping male, who looked like he was just sleep talking. “Don’t leave.” He mumbled out again. “I don’t want you to leave again.”

“Where would you like me to stay then? I’ll go wherever you want.”

Sungyeol slowly shuffled his body to the edge, with his eyes slightly opened, he patted to the large empty space beside him.

“Beside you?”

He nodded, obviously too tired to speak.

“I need to change first. After I change, then I’ll stay there, alright?”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He replied.

Myungsoo stared at the sleeping male before leaving to change. Within 10 minutes, he walked back in. The other had deeper and slower breaths, indicating that he was obviously in a deep slumber. He continued to debate on whether he should just leave and sleep on the sofa- it wasn’t like he had even forgiven himself yet.

He bit his lower lip, if the other woke up in the middle of the night to find that he had broken his promise, he would feel betrayed though.

Slowly, he crawled onto the king sized bed, creating a small dip, and laid on the other side of the bed.

There was a 20cm gap between the two, but soon the gap was closed as Sungyeol began to shuffle towards the other, snuggling his head into Myungsoo’s chest like previously, resting happily on top of his rapid heart.

New Chapter! :) I hope you enjoyed this one. I actually had fun writing this one ^-^ Please let me know how you thought of it :D

Till next time! Stay safe and well