To say that Hongbin was shocked at how many spirits were connected to Hakyeon was an understatement. He had never seen so many spirits connected to one person. It left Hongbin amazed, but also very confused. How did Hakyeon have so many connections to spirits? It wasn’t likely that these spirits were in anyway related to Hakyeon, since Hongbin didn’t feel any familial or romantic connections. All of the spirits connected to him had no connection to each other either. He felt like the spirits were from various walks of life, and no two spirits shared a death day from what he could tell. So why were they attached to Hakyeon? Did Hakyeon know that he was so connected to the spirit world? If he did then what was the reason that all of these souls were connected to him? And if he was oblivious it was Hongbin’s duty to make sure he figured it out. Because he couldn’t stand the fact that so many spirits were trapped on earth. Hongbin resolved to sit Hakyeon down for a talk about all of the connections he had when they were out at the farmer’s market. For the moment he put his number in Hakyeon’s phone and went back to his house, since Taekwoon was over for the night and he didn’t want to miss anytime with him.

     Hongbin slammed the door to his home shut, a little bit stressed over what he had just felt from Hakyeon. He smelled something coming from the kitchen, so he decided to distract himself a bit by spending time with Taekwoon. Speaking of the other man, he was standing in the kitchen, kneading a big ball of dough. Hongbin took off his shoes and walked over to his boyfriend, giving him a peck on the cheek as he watched Taekwoon roll the dough flat. “And what would my lovely boyfriend happen to be making?” Hongbin asked as he placed his chin on Taekwoon’s shoulder to get a better look at the recipe he had open on his phone. “I’m trying my hand at making croissants. Wonshik visited me in my dream last night just to tell me that I only knew how to make pasta,which is so not true. I’ll show him to respect his older brother.” Hongbin let out a laugh. Taekwoon turned his head to face him. “And what is so funny?” “The fact that out of all the things he could have said when visiting you in your dream he decided to diss your cooking skills.” Taekwoon stopped kneading for a moment. “How is that funny? Are you condoning him doing this?” “Maybe I am. Maybe I agree with him.” Taekwoon raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Well then maybe you would enjoy never eating my cooking again. And maybe you would enjoy having to address me as ‘Mr.Jung’ when we’re at work.” Hongbin squeezed Taekwoon’s waist. “Geez you don’t have to pull out the ‘Mr.Jung’ card on me. You know how much I love your cooking.” Taekwoon hummed before getting back to his work.

“So how did your conversation with Hakyeon go?” Taekwoon asked as they sat down for dinner. Hongbin froze for a moment, the memory of the spirits connected to Hakyeon rushing to the surface. “Uh . . . it went good. We’re thinking of going to the farmer’s market next Saturday, but we haven't really made any final decision.” Hongbin said, filling his mouth with food after seeing the way that Taekwoon suspiciously looked at him. “And?” “And what?” Taekwoon rolled his eyes. “Hongbin, I know you’re not telling me something. What’s up?” Hongbin bit his lip, hesitating to voice his concern. “It’s just . . . something is off about him.” “How so?” Hongbin ran his fingers through his hair. “He has a lot of spirits connected to him. Like hundreds of them. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. I’m just concerned about the spirits. Like did Hakyeon accidently make all of these connections to these spirits, or is he collecting souls? It’s just really confusing.” Taekwoon looked just as confused as Hongbin felt. “Wait, hundreds of spirits? If he is collecting spirits, which I don’t think he is doing, what would he be collecting them for?” “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose either, but if he is what would he need so many souls for?” Hongbin leaned back in his chair. “It’s just giving me a big headache thinking about it.” Taekwoon frowned for a moment before reaching out and taking Hongbin’s hand in his own. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. But for now let’s just enjoy dinner and rest. Tomorrow we’ll see what we can find out about him. Okay?” Hongbin smiled. “Okay.” He said, giving Taekwoon a kiss on the back of his hand before resuming their meal. After dinner Taekwoon and Hongbin got ready for bed. Hongbin drifted off to sleep with his head pillowed on Taekwoon’s chest, the steady heartbeat of his boyfriend soothing him to sleep.

When Hongbin opened his eyes he saw nothing but darkness. Had he really opened his eyes? He blinked a few times to make sure his eyes were open, but no matter how much he blinked he was still met with the same darkness. He looked around, trying to see if there was a light source anywhere. There was none to be found. Hongbin started to panic a bit. He felt strange. He didn't feel like he was dreaming, but at the same time he didn’t feel like he was awake. “Am I . . . being visited?” He thought to himself. That question made him panic more, because he didn’t feel like he was being visited either. There was a weird amount of solidity to what he was feeling. It felt like he was in a limbo of sorts. Just as he was trying to figure out what might be going on he heard something. It was a little whisper. He couldn’t make out what was being said by the little whisper, but soon he would be glad about that. Soon there were other whispers that joined the first one. And then they got louder. And louder. And louder. Soon what started as a single whisper turned into complete chaos. Every whisper turned into loud screams. They were screams of pain. Screams of fear. Screams of sadness. Screams that seemed to only get louder and closer to his ears. Hongbin covered his ears with his hands, trying to block out any of the wailing that he could. He started to scream as well from the pain that the screams were bringing to him. He crouched down into the fetal position, still not letting go of his ears in fear that his skull would crack in half if he let up the tight grip he had on his head for even a second. And soon the voices began to scream one thing in unison. Tears had begun to pour down his face when he heard what they were saying. Thankfully something broke through all of the sounds of agony. A soft voice filtering through all of the screams. He didn’t know what it was saying, but it was soothing. He focused all of his efforts in listening to the soft voice that was whispering sweet nothings into his ears, acting like a balm of sorts on his aching head. He got up from where he was laying and tried to follow the voice. It was then that he was struck with a sudden bright light.

     “Hongbin! Hongbin please wake up you’re scaring me.” Hongbin opened his eyes at the soft voice. But like in his dream when he opened his eyes he was met with darkness. He started to panic, thinking that he was blind or that the screams would come back. He flailed for a little bit before a light was . Hongbin closed his eyes at the bright light. He slowly opened his eyes, revealing the terrified face of Taekwoon. “Oh thank God!” Taekwoon said as he scooped Hongbin into his arms. “ I thought you were never going to wake up.” He said as he rocked them back and forth, more for his comfort than for Hongbin’s. Hongbin was a bit shaken up from his nightmare, so he stayed silent as he drank in Taekwoon’s warmth. After a few minutes of collecting himself Hongbin spoke. “What happened?” Taekwoon held him tighter. “You tell me. One minute I’m sleeping peacefully and the next thing I know you’re screaming bloody murder.” Hongbin took a deep breath. “I was blind, I think. And there were all of these voices. They sounded like they were being tortured. And then they kept saying one thing over and over again.” Taekwoon unwrapped his arms from Hongbin a little bit to look him in the eyes. “What were the voices saying?” Hongbin took a few more deep breaths before he answered his boyfriend.

“Hakyeon.”