⇔He paused, as his fingers scurried across his cheeks and cleaning off the traces of tears. He looked up, still trembling and weak but slowly as he started to recognize the familiar face, he had grabbed the latter tightly by the hand. “Hyung! Niel Hyung jebal… His sister… where can I find her?!”

He was choking and Niel understood why, but the curiosity was eating into his conscience, “What happened to Jonghyun?!” the latter’s eyes darkened as he stared down to the floor and tears started to drizzle all over again, Niel was restless at such a tragic sight. Rather, he was speechless.

“Choi Jung Ah. Dark, long hair and pale skin, with some white tattoos behind her ears” the tall boy spurred the words out carefully but rather shaky at the same time. While his round eyes never leaving the tear stains on Changhyun’s clothes, judging them and silently questioning the situation. “Find her at the Howling Nightclub, she should be there by now”

Even with his eyes peering all over, the boy managed to speak out calmly and as he stared at Changhyun’s stumbled stance and broken steps, he whispered… “He was trouble and you knew didn’t you, Changjo-ya”

“You idiot”

⇔

The group of girls jeered at Changhyun’s hurried manner, rough and uncaring of their presence. But desperation had clouded every manner inside the boy and the only thing he wanted was to find this older lady, who was closely attached to his lover. But after an hour or so, making way through the dense crowd, searching and fighting the relentless guards, his limbs had started to rebel against his decision. He was fighting a thousand wars inside, anxieties, fear, fatigue and everything that was capable of helping him to give up. However, he stayed on, resting for a moment in front of the bar and smiling hopelessly at the bartender’s kindness as he sipped the cold, uncharged glass of water.

“You reek of agony, boy” a cunning, deep womanly voice echoed beside him and as he turned around, his heart had skipped on its beats as he gawked at her beauty. Long, luscious and pitch black hair pulled back effortlessly behind her left ear and her eyes, her familiar, electric blue eyes. “Choi Jung” he gasped as tears stained his eyelids once more. “J..Jon..Jonghyun…”

“He’s gone.”

“My brother is gone”

“Wh..what?” he stuttered, tears never leaving his two almond brown eyes. She rolled her eyes at the sight as a hitch escaped her glossy lips, she swallowed the alcohol, so fast, so desperately that even when it burned her insides, she couldn’t care less. “Yoo Changhyun… aka Ricky. You killed a demon when you were a child right. Tell me his name”

The boy’s eyes widened at her words as he tried his best to remember and simply after a few blinks, he spits out the name effortlessly. “Choi Wang” the woman smirked, rather sickly and while her eyes looked straight into the vodka glass, disgust was burning bright within her stare. “Choi Wang… Choi Jung … and next, Choi Jong” she giggled as her face spelled pain. “That demon you slaughtered, Wanggie oppa… he was my brother.. Changjo’s brother”

“And now to replace that dead brother of mine… is your beloved…”

“Jonghyun…”

He knelt down to the floor as his body trembled, his fingers clawed the dirty marble floor and while he swallowed the guilt, he begged, he pleaded. “Please, tell me where he is… I’ll fix this.. Please… just tell me where he is Noona” a glistening drop of tear fell down her pale cheeks like a diamond and while she listened to Changhyun’s cries, she laughed. “Too late boy. Changjo that we both had loved… he’s gone. Just like my beloved brother you killed”

“You just had to take them both… “she sobbed, as the alcohol ran down again. Her fingers were shaking from the burn and her mascara bled down her cheeks as she walked away. It can’t be; he shouted at her back, with his hopes barely attached and unbroken ; yet.

“You’ll see once your fallen angel awakes” her words were laced with silent sobs and though it was slurred, that sentence echoed terrifyingly clear.

⇔

He turned his wrist, looking at the numbers as he recited the time. 72 hours passed since he left. His footprint would be seen all over the place if was visible, while his tears had dried completely. It was drained by the sorrow, by the endless longing. He was trapped in a nightmare, one he had created himself. One, where Changjo was gone. “Rickyya… let’s go home now okay. We have someone waiting”

It was a blur, he couldn’t see properly and even the voice was breaking apart inside his mind. The fatigue had eaten away his senses and all he could make out was a shadow with blonde, glossy hair. But the warmth was so familiar; it was rather melancholic and distant. It felt like holding your childhood teddy after a long day, it was simply heartwarming.

So the boy followed the voice, gladly.

“He’s been sleeping for the last two days, but Hyunseung said today… is the day”

Changhyun was still in a blur, it was like his conscience had gone numb and these words, this voice was lingering in his head. He could see a handsome, blonde haired man, but it was like he couldn’t register who the latter was. He felt his lips curling, into a smile and he could still smell the scent of his shampoo, but he didn’t remember bringing himself for a bath, in fact the cold vault looking room felt nothing but strange.

Then he noticed how his eyes had locked itself on a sleeping man, a dashing, blueish-purple haired man. The growing burn in his chest was also pretty comprehensible.

His heart thumped and thumped, and then finally. “Ljoe’s up…” Changhyun heard the whisper as he squinted his eyes for a better look across the misty room, choking at the sight of the one winged angel sitting up and rubbing his shining eyes. Then, slowly the angel walked closer and closer to a point where Changhyun could finally see his two, distinct eyes.

Changhyun’s heart dropped. It just stopped.

It was Ljoe, awake and alive. It was intriguing for Changhyun to see how the latter’s chest rise up and down, from what he remembered, angels didn’t need to breathe. The slight flush on the angel’s unearthly handsome face was puzzling and the way the one winged man’s purple hair slowly turned black struck the younger with subtle jolts of shocks.

But the thing that made him breathless was because of Ljoe’s eyes. It was not green and heavenly, no, it was deep and painful. It was blue.

Just like the color of Changjo’s eyes.

And as the elder moved closer, he whispered. “Fly Ricky.”

And it even sounded like the man he loved. Changhyun felt his heart crack again; he knew exactly why his heart had beat so ing fast, it was Changjo all long. Inside this winged vessel, the one who was breathing on his neck was his boyfriend and it broke his heart because he knew exactly where this could lead. Tears spilled down his face, while his breath hitched as he tried to utter the most simple, the most natural name there was and yet, he was speechless.

Then suddenly, everything that had looked like Changjo on Ljoe started to fade into these microscopic arrays of glittery dust, swirling up into the air. “Changjoya! No wait!!!!” he screamed as his eyes widened at the sight of the gust of ashes disappearing away from the angel. He grabbed them, but they kept slipping by his fingers and as if his nightmare had come true, Changjo was almost gone from his reality. He looked back, desperation shining through his wearied eyes, pleading Chunji to save what was left of Changjo but the all of what the elder did made his world go dark; all he did was look away.

“No… no.. NO!! wait…. take me with you…. …. Oh god NOOOO!!! Choi Jonghyun don’t leave me!!!!!” he shrieked as he shakes the one winged angel. The angel was no longer breathing, no longer warm instead he just looked like an angel.

Cold and beautiful.

Just with all the screaming, Changhyun fell down and slowly the ground twirled under his skin. He stared at Ljoe, who was finally awake after so long and honestly, he wanted to smile, but the fact that Changjo was no more…

All he had in him was tears.

Then, the room went dark and finally Changhyun could smile. He could smile because he thought he could follow the boy he loved.

“I want to fly with you…”

hi guys ^^ thank you for still reading this fic, huh i'd never imagined it'll be this long though haha. Uhm about the 'one life short' its uhm like a state where changjo might or might not be in. i can't tell that yet. hehe. you see gumihos has nine lives. ^^

if there is anything more feel free to ask. thank you again <3