The next few weeks, Donghae came to four conclusions.

One, he wasn't drugged. The panel that screened for all possible drugs that may have caused his loss of consciousness, and any other symptoms like hallucinations, came back clean.

Two, he wasn't actually shot. All scans at the hospital showed nothing. They ran some other tests to try and diagnose his pain, but in the end, they were only able to send him home with some mild painkillers, and instructions to take a few more days off work. Within a few more days the pain was gone completely.

Three, they weren't tattoos. He'd gone to see a dermatologist, who assured him they were moles, and ran a screening on them, as new moles in adulthood were unusual and could sometimes be a sign of melanoma. But they were clear too.

He was, by most accounts, as healthy as ever.

He didn't have a fourth conclusion to be made after seeing the psychiatrist. Because he cancelled his appointment after the other conclusions. Somehow, amidst all the madness, the evidence made the insane more sane...and he had to agree with the words of that “cupid” – talking about this to other people would probably do little but convince them he'd had a mental break or was on drugs, but now it seemed he had all his faculties and was clear headed as ever.

His brother Donghwa only knew he was having some nightmares, since he hadn't really known how to explain the situation to him. But since he'd had pretty bad ones as a kid and would always crawl into his hyung's bed crying, he wasn't very surprised when Donghae asked to stay over in his guest room. Because, although he wasn't going to crawl into his bed again now that they were older, he would feel better knowing if he had more bad (crazy, impossible) dreams, he didn't have to wake up alone in his empty apartment.

Eventually, after no nightmares came and no cupids appeared, he felt like he was okay to go back to his place.

There, no longer fraught with anxiety, he'd felt a strange kind of acceptance. Also came to another conclusion.

Four. What he'd been through was real. That...man...cupid? He was real wasn't he? Somehow, he was real. He was real and he was...alluring. He made Donghae's chest hurt, but not the same as before. Thinking of that last sad smile, before he did as Donghae angrily demanded and left him alone...didn't sit well with him. Donghae actually wanted to see him again. His heart raced, not in fear now, but in anticipation.

&&&

Hyukjae took it as a good sign when Lee Donghae returned to his personal domicile. The mortal seemed much more relaxed, much more like when he was walking through that park on that sunny day, carefree and unburdened by the knowledge of things that conflicted with his presumed reality.

What had he called him...a stalker? Perhaps, by human definitions, he was. But in godly terms, he was a benevolent observer. He preferred that. Mortals had such insidious synonyms for things. Sometimes not insidious enough to describe what gods were capable of. But Hyukjae was the benevolent type.

Still, he knew to keep his distance, not spook the mortal. He found a novel in an antique bookshop and sat on a bench in the park across the street from where Lee Donghae worked, just to pass the tediousness of human time while waiting for a glimpse of his former target when he entered and exited the building.

He appeared much more lively, sans some angry or terrified passion. Hyukjae watched over the top of his book as he laughed with his coworker, his original errant match. His eyes narrowed, and then he raised the book up higher, startled as Lee Donghae caught his eye from across the street.

He...didn't notice him, right? Certainly not. He had probably already forgotten him, forcefully pushing the experience to the back of his mind, mortals were good at repressing things in order to carry on their short but bright existences. Especially things that didn't fit their concept of reality.

Hyukjae was so certain that he was unseen, that he was about to peek out from the book again when footsteps neared and stopped before where he sat.

“Your book is upside down,”

&&&

“So, if I'm supposed to believe you're a real cupid, you shot me to make me fall in love?” they sat on the park bench side by side, after Donghae had told his colleague to go on ahead to get lunch without him, apologizing