After Hongbin is done crossing all of the spirits over he lets out a sigh of relief. The energy in the room had gone down enough for him to finally take a deep breath. A few seconds after there is a knock at the door. “Come in!” He says looking over to see who is walking in. Taekwoon pokes his head through the door. “Are they all gone?” Hongbin smiles at his boyfriend. “Yeah, all of them have finally found the peace that they deserve.” “So why did they all stay in the first place?” Hongbin shook his head. “They wouldn’t tell me. They said that it was his story to tell but that he had been through a lot.” Hongbin took a seat in a chair near Hakyeon’s bed. “I guess now all we can do is wait for him to wake up and ask him about it.” Taekwoon nods and takes the seat next to Hongbin, wrapping his arm loosely around his shoulders. “Why don’t you take a nap? You’re probably exhausted from crossing over all of those spirits at once.” Taekwoon suggested, rubbing his hand up and down Hongbin’s arm to help calm him. Hongbin nodded. “I will. Wake me up when he does okay?” Taekwoon hums his affirmation before gently pulling Hongbin to make him a bit more comfortable. Hongbin settles down and is asleep in a few minutes. For the first time that entire week he falls into a dreamless sleep.

It felt like only a few minutes later that Hongbin is being shaken awake by Taekwoon. “Hongbin, wake up. Hakyeon’s awake.” Hongbin’s eyes fluttered open, taking in the view of Hakyeon awake and sitting up on the bed in front of him. The other man was smiling. “Hey.” Hakyeon said, waving his arm a bit. Hongbin waved back before sitting up in his seat and stretching. “Hey. how are you feeling?” Hakyeon’s smile got wider. “I feel a lot better. Still a little sore in the ankle, but other than that I feel fine.” Hongbin smiled before it faded a bit. “That’s good, but I think we might need to talk about what happened before you passed out.” Hakyeon’s smile faded as well, and he lowered his gaze to the blanket resting across his lap. “We can’t talk about it here though. So let’s get the doctor to discharge you and we can get you comfortable at home.” Hakyeon nodded and Taekwoon went to get the doctor. Hakyeon was given specific instructions to rest and keep pressure off of his ankle for a few weeks to be safe. The doctor also gave him his prescriptions and his discharge papers. Soon Taekwoon and Hongbin were driving Hakyeon home.

True to his word Hongbin made sure that Hakyeon was settled in his bed. He also asked Taekwoon if he could cook something for them while they talked. Taekwoon nodded, knowing his presence might overwhelm Hakyeon, and gave Hongbin a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving the room. Hongbin looked at Hakyeon, noting how the older man was looking anywhere but towards Hongbin. He also noticed how Hakyeon was picking at his fingernails. Hongbin rested his hand on Hakyeon’s hoping it would soothe the other. “I just want to let you know that you don’t have to tell me anything you aren’t comfortable sharing with me. But I will tell you this, I know you can hear the dead.” Hakyeon’s eyes widened. “But how did you-” Hongbin cut Hakyeon off. “I know because the spirits that were surrounding you told me themselves. I think you might have noticed how much lighter you feel?” Hakyeon nodded. “That’s because I crossed over all of the spirits that made attachments to you.” Hakyeon’s eyes widened a bit more in understanding. “You can hear them too?” He asked. “And I can see them. I was born with the ability to talk to the dead.” Hakyeon smiled. “Oh thank God.” He sniffled a bit. “I’m not the only one.” His eyes became a bit teary and a bright smile graced his face. Hongbin returned the smile. “Yeah. But I do have a question for you. Well two really.” Hakyeon gestured for Hongbin to continue. “What was your life like growing up? The spirits told me that you had been through a lot. And have you always been able to hear the dead?” Hakyeon took a deep breath. “Funny enough both of those questions share an answer.” Hakyeon brought his uninjured leg to his chest, resting his chin on his kneecap.

“My childhood was kind of a mixed bag. I had a lot of highs but I had a lot of lows as well.” Hakyeon adjusts his chin more comfortably on his knee. “The town I grew up in wasn’t the safest. I mean most people in my area called it the “City of the Damned.” My father left my mom just before I was born. It was hard, just her and me fending for ourselves. But we made due with what we had.” Hakyeon smiled a bit. “My mom always worked so hard to make sure I was living a good life. She worked two jobs to put me in school in the wealthier part of town. And I worked so hard to make sure that money wasn’t put to waste. I worked so hard that I didn’t even make any friends.” Hakyeon lets out a sniffle. “I didn’t need friends. Because I had my mom. She loved me so much, she even got a third job so she could put me through dance lessons.” Hakyeon’s voice started shaking a bit. “But then she met my step dad. He was loaded, and he loved my mom so much. And I thought we were finally going to get out of that place. We were finally going to live the life we deserved to live after all of our hard work.” A tear slips down Hakyeon’s face. “But the day we were supposed to finally get out some guys broke into our house.” Hakyeon harshly rubs at his face to dry his tears. “ I ran upstairs and tried to fight them so they wouldn’t hurt my mom. But one of them pushed me down the stairs.” Hakyeon takes a deep breath before continuing, his voice becoming emotionless. “All I remember after that is my step dad and mom coming down the stairs and planning their new life together.” Hakyeon’s eyes glazed over, as if he were back at that night. “They left me for dead. They had planned the whole thing out so it looked like they were out on a date and there was a home invasion when I was home alone. My death would have been a tragic murder at the hands of a thief.” Hakyeon let out a dark chuckle. “They never planned on me living after being pushed down the stairs. But while they went out for their night on the town, I crawled to the house next door and they called the ambulance.” Hakyeon shifts so his temple is resting on his knee instead of his chin as he looks soullessly into Hongbin’s eyes. “That was the worst part of my life. Because of my little fall down the stairs I hit my head, and because of that I was blind for a week. That was when I started hearing the dead. At first I thought I was going crazy. Because all I could hear was hundreds of people screaming and crying in pain. But when I got my sight back and was taken to the orphanage I met a spirit that showed me I could hear the dead. I’ve been this way ever since.” Hakyeon’s eyes were still glazed over, and he didn’t really look like he was mentally in the room with Hongbin.

Hongbin shifted a bit so he could gently put his hands on Hakyeon’s face. “Hakyeon?” Hakyeon didn’t speak. “Hakyeon, can you come back to me please?” Hakyeon’s eyes focused a bit on Hongbin, but Hongbin knew he wasn't all the way back. “Why would she do that Hongbin? Was I bad? Did I do something wrong? I must have if she wanted me dead.” Hongbin was afraid of the dead look in Hakyeon’s eyes. “I just wanted her to be happy. Was I really that much of a burden on her?” Hongbin shook his head.  “You are not a burden. Do you hear me? You are not broken. You did absolutely nothing wrong.”  Hongbin looked straight into Hakyeon's eyes.

“I don’t know why she would want to leave you behind. But she made a mistake. You are so kind and so talented I have no idea why she would do something like that to you.” A few tears escaped from Hakyeon’s eyes. It was like a spell was broken after that. Hakyeon began to shake and grabbed Hongbin for comfort. He took several shaky breaths. Taekwoon walked in at that moment. Originally he came up to tell them the food was done, but one look at the scene in front of him prompted him to wrap his arms around the two instead. After what could have been hours Hakyeon whispered something.

“Thank You.”