Sensitive stuff for some people perhaps. Do NOT read if you are easily offended with people questioning relligious stuff or something. I'm warning you once. I'm warning you twice. I'm warning you thrice. Now if you are offended after you read it, then it is not my fault okay? I'll even throw out one more warning just in case: do NOT read if you are sensitive to religion issues. There is no bashing of course, only questioning. (idek why I bother posting this chapter when I'm so afraid of it offending people by the way if anyone is actually offended, do kindly tell me and I'll delete it)

A few minutes after midnight, in front of a wooden structure on a small hill just beside a panoramic cliff, there were two people standing side by side.

“Why are we here…?” the slightly shorter one asked, staring at the building with widened eyes in surprise.

The taller man’s lips quivered, he was looking at the building as well—nervous and uncertain. The structure that they were looking at was not imposing, nothing that could be seen of it should have created such anxiousness in both men. It was no wonder of architectural world. It was nothing to marvel about. It was just an old building, almost abandoned, in the middle of nowhere.

“I… I thought even if there was no one for us then at least…” Eric said hesitantly, not able to complete his sentence. It still hurt—he came to visit his family house with all the good intentions earlier this evening, only to be rejected and shooed away harshly by his own parents. He naively thought that after several years they could finally accept him for who he was and who he loved, but the only thing he received was curses and a strike on his lover’s face.

“But are we even allowed to be here…?” Hyesung asked him carefully, biting his lips, glancing between the building and the man beside him uneasily.

“I don’t know.”

They stared at the structure silently for a few more minutes, as if waiting for some signal that never came. The cold night wind was sending chills to their bones but they made no attempt to move anywhere to find warmth—especially not inside. It was a dark autumn night without a soul around, no one would ask what they were doing, and so they were left alone to be frozen in their places.

Eric took a deep breath, and grasped his lover’s pale and cool hands in his own, interlacing their fingers. Turning to face the other man who looked at him with a confused expression, he smiled bitterly, “I don’t know if we are allowed to, but I want to get in.” His lover nodded, allowing the older man to guide him on the gravelly path towards the building.

They entered with their clasped hands trembling, the worn heavy door creaking as they opened it, its rusty hinges refusing to be moved. It was a secluded old church—most of the people who used to live in the little village downhill had moved away to chase their dreams in the metropolis, the rest who stayed were too old and too weak to make the climb every Sunday. The place was nothing like the gorgeous cathedrals usually seen on pictures—there were no renaissance frescos on the ceilings and walls, only drafty frail dark wood panels that clearly showed their age. There were no colorful and intricate stained glass windows, only small transparent windows