“Kevin I- I..,”  Eli muttered with great difficulty, his lips quivered as light sobs released from his mouth. He was holding tightly onto Kevin’s shoulders for support as his knees were weakening by the second. His face was getting paler by the second.  Eli felt like his entire body was going to disintegrate. “I… lov-“ 

Eli’s face turned ghost white, his eyes rolled back and he suddenly collapsed to the ground. He laid there on the cold, stone floor, no sign of life in him.

“You love me, I know you do,” Kevin muttered to himself as he slowly knelt down beside the man he loved, “I’m sorry… for letting you just go like this. I-I..,” Kevin’s hushed voice broke as it turned into violent sobs. His hands shook as he placed Eli’s dead hands in his own, brushing the tip of his thumb against Eli’s rough palms. “Eli… I’ll never replace you…”

~

It was a chilly, yet busy, Saturday evening in Seoul, South Korea. The subway was packed full of people, causing everyone to push up against each other, which isn’t always the most pleasant thing. Kevin Woo knew this for a fact.

“Excuse me, but can you remove your hand,” Kevin said in a harsh, demanding voice. He wasn’t in the mood to have a erted, vanilla scented female rub her hands all over his slender body. He was on his way from work and as usual, girls around the age of seventeen followed him home and made sure that they would be pushed up against him “accidently.” The girl ignored him and continued to lower her hand towards his crotch, but stopped her as he quickly grabbed her wrist and placed her hand far away from his body. “Oppa~ I didn’t know you were roug-“

The subway came to a sudden stop and Kevin ran for the door, he had to get out of here, away from these girls and people in general.

Ever since Eli, his ex-boyfriend, passed away Kevin hasn’t allowed himself to even pay attention to people. He made a promise to Eli, that he would never replace him. Kevin would rather die alone than break that promise. Eli meant the world to him, he’s irreplaceable.

The only people Kevin paid attention to were his mother, his older sister, and his fellow employees. They were all he needed to survive in this world; he’s been living this way for the past two years of his life.

Kevin entered the lobby and walked towards the elevator. He lightly pressed the button with his long, elegant fingers. He fiddled with his hands as he was lost in thought while waiting for the elevator to arrive, but was interrupted as he felt a slight tap on his shoulder.

“U-um, excuse me, but what floor is room 259 on?” The man said in a soft, gentle voice, which caused Kevin’s heard to flutter. “Floor 17,” Kevin said nervously, which caused his voice to slightly crack. He heard a low chuckle from the man beside him, “Thank you.” “No problem.”

 Kevin was curious as to what this strange man looked like, but dared not to look. If his voice made his heart fluff, he didn’t want to see his appearance, but he couldn’t help but think; was he tall or short? Was he skinny or fat? Was he native or a foreigner? Did he have black or dyed hair? Did he always live in this high rise? Does he prefer sweats or jeans? Does he know English or just Korean?

“Excuse me, but the elevator has arrived.”

Kevin jumped, as he was startled by the silence being broken by the man’s soothing voice. He raised his head and there was he was, standing right in front of him. Kevin’s eyes widened with shock. He’s never seen a man so perfect in his life.

His face was anything but average. Everything was perfectly proportioned and shaped – nose, lips, eyes, eyebrows, cheekbones, jaw – everything. His black hair was slightly messy, but in a y way that fitted his face shape perfectly.

“Um, excuse me,” He said in a quiet, curious voice, “but are you-“

Kevin ran into the elevator after realizing he stared at this man for too long. He wrapped his scarf tighter around his face, covering his bright red cheeks. His heart was beating a thousand times per second.

Calm down, Kevin, calm down.

Kevin closed his eyes as he heard the gentle purr of the elevator ascending. He slowly placed his hand over his chest, attempting to calm himself down. This is why he never paid attention to people; just the appearance of a complete stranger makes him act like a love sick fool.

The elevator arrived on Kevin’s floor and quickly walked out of the elevator, accidently bumping into the man beside him. He didn’t look back or even bother to apologize; he didn’t want his heart to flutter like that again.

Kevin stopped in front of his door and dug around in his bag for his keys, but they were nowhere to be found. “Why now?” Kevin sighed in frustration and flipped his bag upside down, causing everything to spill out of his bag. Kevin quickly knelt down beside the clutter and started to search, but once again, they weren’t in his sight. He stood up and reached into his jean pocket, and there they were. Kevin chuckled to himself, amused by his foolishness.

He entered his apartment after picking up the disaster he left on the floor. He threw his bag and outerwear onto the table beside him and walked lazily towards the fridge. He reached for the handle, but stopped as he remembered that someone was supposed to move in with him today. He quickly ran to the living room where he had left the note his landlord left him.

Another person will be moving into this apartment tonight. I know that you said you didn’t want to live alone because the rent was too high and someone finally took the offer. He’ll be arriving around 9 pm. Please get the bedroom ready for him; I won’t have time to do it today. Thank you.

Kevin dropped the note on the table beside him and checked the time on his watch.

8:17 pm.

“Dammit!” Kevin ran for the closet, grabbing whatever sheets he could find. No one has even entered the spare bedroom since he moved in here 10 months ago, he had no idea how clean or dirty it was. Kevin pushed the door open. His jaw dropped to the floor as the sheets fell out of his tight grasp.  It was… clean. The bed was made, the end tables didn’t have a speck of dust on them, and it was literally perfect. “H-how…”

“Oh, someone else lives here?”

The same voice from before filled the bedroom – soft, shy and gentle – the voice that caused Kevin’s voice to beat like as if it were a rollercoaster.

“Sorry… I-I didn’t know…”

Kevin looked in the direction of the guest bathroom. It was the exact same man as before.

How? How did this happen? Why him… why….