Prompt: Nightmares
Additional Character: Seohyun
Word Count: 10,098

 

“I saw an angel in the stone and wanted to carve it out,” one of the most famous sculptors stated in the news article.

“Jongwoon, are you going to go to check out the event at the museum? I mean, have you seen this lady’s work? It’s amazing!” The man’s coworker and best friend, Sunny, asked, skimming over the article in the newspaper.

“I have all this paperwork to get finished with, so no,” Jongwoon replied, not turning away from his computer as his fingers kept typing up the information into the database. He was determined to get finished for the day.

Sunny rolled her eyes, “It’s not today, you idiot, she’s going to be coming this weekend to the city’s museum. They’re just saying to go ahead and book your tickets to it. I’m going to buy two anyway.”

Jongwoon groaned, “I don’t want to go see it, Sunny, I plan on sleeping the whole weekend. These ten hours a day are really getting to me.”

Pouting, Sunny turned to him with her big puppy dog eyes, “But if you’re not there then who will save me if Siwon is there?”

Jongwoon knew he should not have looked over at her, but he couldn’t’ stop himself, and by then, he knew that his resistance was futile. He sighed, “Fine, I’ll go and pretend to be your boyfriend.”

Her face instantly brightened up, and she reached over to hug him, “Thank you, oppa!”

He rolled his eyes before getting back to his paperwork. On his lunch break, Sunny had finally gotten him to read through the article about the famous sculptor and her statue. It was said that it was made from the finest marble, crafted beautifully was an opening in the marble slab of a male’s body. The black and white picture showed only the opening in the marble of the side of a neck, chest, and waist.

Jongwoon still didn’t see why it was classified as something great but to each, their own, he supposed. But he figured that he could endure a few hours that Saturday to make Sunny happy and keep her from having to deal with Siwon’s begging for her to take him back, if he were to shop up.  Which was likely considering Siwon was one of the richest men in the city, and of course, he had a reputation to uphold with upcoming events.

 

 

A heavy sigh filled the darkness around Jongwoon as he looked around at his surroundings.

“Another city… she’s taking me to another city…”

There was no one else in the darkness with him. There was nothing there. But Jongwoon heard the voice, soft, like velvet, and tired. The owner of it was tired. Jongwoon had used that voice plenty of times ever since he started working at his place of employment, because he was always tired.

“When will this end? Why can’t I just die? Why won’t she let me die? Put me out of my misery!” The voice shouted, almost as if the owner were on the verge of tears, a few seconds later, Jongwoon heard a soft sob.

He looked around again for the person that was talking; he couldn’t see anything through the darkness though. There was nothing but empty void surrounding him, when he finally decided to speak up, to say something to find out who the person was; a very loud shrieking noise filled the place.

He woke with a start at the sounds of his alarm going off, the effect of the dream was still fresh in his mind but was fading with the seconds passing as he reached over and cut off his alarm. He groaned as he drug himself up from the bed, his bones ached, and he did not want to pull another ten hours for the day, but he had bills to pay and a stomach that wasn’t satisfied until he was broke, trying to fill it.

After having his morning coffee, he wasn’t moving as sluggish, but it was still evident that he didn’t want to be inside the elevator, on the way up to the floor he worked on. Sunny’s bright and smiling face didn’t help him want to be there at his workplace either, even though she was still gushing about the event at the museum.

Which reminded him of his dream for some reason. Throughout the entire work day as he sat on auto-pilot, typing up the information from the paperwork, he thought about his dream. He could still faintly hear the voice that was in his dream and was still wondering who it could’ve been.

“You’re spacing out a lot more than usual, Jongwoon, what’s wrong?” Sunny asked, drawing the man from his thoughts.

He shook his head, “N-Nothing. It’s nothing… just a bad dream last night.”

She eyed him for a moment, before grinning, “Are you sure it was a bad dream?”

He scowled at her, “Shut up, Sunny, it was not—”

“A wet dream? Are you sure? You kind of do look flustered…” she reached over to touch his cheeks then his forehead before he shoved her hand away from his face, she grinned, “Maybe I was wrong, you don’t feel very hot.”

He wanted to reply but decided against it, turning back to his mountain of paperwork and started typing up the information into the database. Jongwoon wasn’t going to let her get the satisfaction of mocking him.

“Aw, come on, Jongwoon, I was kidding!” Sunny scoffed.

Her endless jabs at him throughout the work hours didn’t stop Jongwoon from working, nor did it stop him from thinking about the dream again.

 

 

A sob filled the darkness. Jongwoon looked around, confused to be back in the same dream as the night before, but still, he saw nothing but darkness. As he started to walk around in the dark void, careful of his steps, lest he might fall, the sob started getting louder.

“Who’s there? Why are you crying?” Jongwoon asked, still looking around for any kind of movements throughout the darkness.

The sobbing quieted down, and Jongwoon tried again, “Is someone there? Hello?”

Jongwoon heard something in the air above him, like a gushing wind, but he felt no breeze, he froze when he heard that same voice from the other dream, “You can hear me?”

“Y-Yes?” Jongwoon replied, uncertain if he should’ve let the person know that he had heard them crying.

“Who-who are you?” The voice asked, getting closer and closer but Jongwoon still couldn’t see anything.

He hesitated for a moment before finally answering, “I… I’m Jongwoon. Kim Jongwoon, who are you?”

The voice repeated his name in wonder, “Kim Jongwoon. You’re human… a human.”

“Yes?” Jongwoon responded in confusion, “Ar-Aren’t you human too?”

A soft chuckle sounded in the darkness and Jongwoon still searched blindly for the source, “I wish… I wish I were a mere mortal. Then I would’ve died years ago, but no, Kim Jongwoon, I’m not human.”

“Then what are you?” As soon as he asked the question, a faint shrieking noise was heard in the distance until it started getting closer and closer.

“Ah!” He woke with a shout, bolting upright, breathing heavily, looking around for the source of the shrieking noise, only to find that it was his alarm clock going off. He quickly shut the annoying thing off.

The dream still plagued his mind for the rest of the day, but unlike the other dream, that person or being’s voice was still fresh in his mind. He wondered what the being could’ve been if they weren’t human, and he wondered why the person or being was even coming to him in the past two dreams.

 

 

“Jongwoon? Are you okay?” Sunny’s voice drew him out of his thoughts. It wasn’t until then that he realized he had been staring at the place he left off on his computer screen.

He shook his head, straightening up in his seat, “Y-Yeah, I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not. Don’t lie to me, Jongwoon,” she scowled at him, “What’s wrong?”

Jongwoon sighed, rubbing at his face, “It’s nothing wrong. Just some weird dreams that I’ve been having.”

“Oh. Nightmares?”

“Kind of. The only scary part is when my alarm starts going off.”

She laughed, “Isn’t that all of our nightmares?”

He smiled and chuckled, “True… I don’t know though, they’re just weird dreams,” he brushed off, then asked, “So is Siwon attending the museum event?”

Sunny rolled her eyes, “Of course. He emailed me the other night, saying that he hoped to see me there.”

“Why are you going if he’s going to be there though?”

“Because I want to see the statue. I’ve read a lot about it and I’ve wanted to see it but couldn’t so since I’ve never had the cash to do so… nor the time, so I really want to go see it now.”

Jongwoon just nodded his head; he knew how much Sunny liked weird things so he figured he’d just it up and follow through with accompanying her to the museum. And maybe he’d enjoy the event too. Or at least, enjoy annoying the hell out of Siwon with faking to be Sunny’s boyfriend.

 

 

“Hello? Are you there again?”

“Yes, I’m still here, Kim Jongwoon. Although I’m not very sure where I am exactly.”

Jongwoon still searched the darkness to find whoever the being was but was met with the usual disappointment when he saw nothing.

“I think… I think you’re in my dreams.”

“Dreams?” the voice questioned then laughed, “That’s impossible. I haven’t been in anyone’s dreams since… since she put me here.”

This time Jongwoon questioned, “Here?”

“Yes. Here. I’m trapped in stone.”

Jongwoon didn’t understand that. Did the being mean he was trapped in stone in the metaphorical sense or the literal sense?

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. I’m trapped in stone; she put me here, keeping me from leaving or returning home. She doesn’t want me to leave her.”

As soon as Jongwoon started to ask ‘who?’ that old familiar shrieking noise started filling the darkness. He wanted to ignore the noise, stay and talk more with the being in the darkness, but he couldn’t stay in his dreams. His responsibilities in the real world were calling and he had to meet the call.

 

 

“What kind of suit are you going to wear to the event?” Sunny asked on their lunch break.

Jongwoon shrugged, “Whatever I have in my closet.”

Sunny rolled her eyes, “Oppa, do you have something in black and red? Because I have a short red dress with a black shawl that I want to wear. Siwon always loved looking at my legs and loved me in a red dess, and hated the couple dressing so you need something in, at least, red.” A wide grin spread across her face that almost scared Jongwoon, “I want him to eat his heart out.”

Jongwoon shook his head and chuckled, “I don’t have a red suit though, Sunny, and I don’t one either. I’d look like Satan himself in that much red.”

She giggled, “Siwon would probably see you as Satan with or without the suit.”

“It is his own fault for losing you though.”

She shrugged, “True, and she let go of him as soon as I found out about them. He lost me and the other woman.”

“Karma.”

“Karma,” Sunny repeated, smiling, “So are you are still having those nightmares?”

Jongwoon nodded, “Yeah, but they’re going away,” he lied to the girl since he knew that she would try to convince him to get some help to get rid of them.

“That’s good, I was getting worried about you,” she smiled softly at him as they finished up their lunches.

 

 

“You’re back… I’m starting to think you were right… that I am caught in your dreams,” the voice greeted Jongwoon as soon as his mind had slipped into dreamland.

He was still in the darkness though, and couldn’t see anything around him, but he had grown used to it. “I believe you are. Every time I fall asleep now, you’re in my dreams.”

“That’s still so odd… she was the last person I was in the dreams of—”

“You keep talking about a woman; can I ask what her name is?”

“Seohyun. She was a lonely old maiden when I first met her… she was sweet, kind, and wonderful to me, until she found out what I was… and what my blood could do.”

That name sounded so familiar to Jongwoon’s ears. He swore he’d heard it before, he just wasn’t sure where. It sounded like a common name, maybe that’s why he thought it was familiar. And the second part of what the being said brought back Jongwoon’s curiosity. What was this being? He had yet to find out.

“What are you? And what does your blood do?”

A sigh filled the air, “I shouldn’t tell you… that’s what got me trapped in this… this stone that I’m in now… but I’ll probably never meet you aside from these dreams of yours that I happen to enter… but I’m an angel, Kim Jongwoon. An angel, and my blood… if consumed, can heal any kind of wound, disease, or problem that the human body has.”

Jongwoon’s eyes widened at the information, he slowly nodded, “O-Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“So did this Seohyun drink of your blood?”

“She did.”

Lights flashed before Jongwoon’s eyes suddenly, causing him to quickly shield his eyes from the light, but eventually, his eyes adjusted and he saw a scene unfolding in front of him. He was looking at an elderly woman sitting at a little table across from him, he could see a pale arm resting on the table in front of him, the fingers clasping hold of a white teacup. The elderly woman smiled at him, speaking softly as she motioned towards outside the window, which Jongwoon’s eyes followed the woman’s hands to see a forest of sorts.

“I’m so glad you’ve come to visit an elderly woman like myself, Kyuhyun,” she smiled, “You bring such joy to an old soul like mine.”

“It’s an honor, madam. I thank you for your hospitality of having me,” the person, Kyuhyun, spoke, and Jongwoon’s eye widened when he realized the person speaking was the same person that was haunting his dreams. He was seeing things through this angel’s eyes, through Kyuhyun’s memories.

“It wasn’t long after that… that I had acquired a small cut on my hand, it wasn’t bleeding too much, but she was still concerned about it. After she had started bandaging it, and cleaning it, she placed the bloodied rags to the side of her table, and I saw something in her eyes as she looked at the blood stained cloths. Something changed in her eyes.”

 

The scenes changed. The next scene, all Jongwoon could see was the floor, a panting was heard throughout the room, and when he glanced up, he saw a young black haired woman standing over him. A knife was in her hand, covered in blood, blood that was not soaking any of her clothes so it was evident that it was not hers. A sharp pain shot through Jongwoon’s right side.

A shaky pale hand came up to his vision and he saw the dark red blood covering the hand.

“Wh-why?”

A chuckle came from the woman, “You didn’t tell me, Kyuhyun, that your blood could even heal wrinkles… aches in my joints and bones… and you didn’t tell me that your blood could reverse the years that my body has seen.” She smiled down at him as she brought the bloody knife up to her lips to let her tongue slip across the sharp metal, up more of the blood. “If I keep you around… I’ll never see death, I’ll never see old age again.”

The scenes went black again for Jongwoon as he fell down in the emptiness around him again. His breathing was hard as he tried to wrap his mind around what he just saw. He could still feel the pain of that knife piercing his side, still feel the blood on his hand, but when he reached down and checked, there was nothing.

“I’m sorry if my memories are a bit harsh,” the voice filled the darkness again. The angel’s voice. Kyuhyun’s voice.

Jongwoon still worked at trying to get his breath back to normal as he still searched the darkness for the angel, “I-It’s… it’s fine. I-I’m sorry that—that you had to go through that.”

A sad laugh filled the air, “You have nothing to be sorry for, Kim Jongwoon… you did not do those things to me. She did.”

Jongwoon shook his head, “I-I know, but still, I’m sorry…” his voice trailed off, and he could hear an echo of his voice in the distance, as well as that old familiar shrieking noise coming closer and closer.

“I’ll see you next time, Kim Jongwoon.”

“W-Wait—”

“Kyuhyun!” Jongwoon woke with a shout, bolting up in his bed as he looked around at the dark room. It was still early in the morning, too early for the sun to rise just yet but it was time for his work day to begin.

He just wondered how he was going to focus at all at work with the things that he had saw in his dreams. The things he had witnessed that happened to the angel, Kyuhyun, they were still fresh in his mind. He quickly shut off his alarm as he made his way into the bathroom, that woman’s voice still filled his head, and he knew that it would stay in his head the whole day.

 

 

“Jongwoon, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Sunny noted, a worried expression on her face, “did you have another nightmare?”

“Y-Yeah,” he finally decided to admit it, but added on when Sunny looked like she was about to tell him he needed to get help for them, “But it wasn’t that bad, Sunny, just… a little scary.”

“You won’t tell me anything about it though, will you?” She asked, hesitantly.

He stared at her for a moment, then sighed, “I don’t really know how to explain the dreams though, Sunny, that’s why I haven’t told anyone about them.”

She hummed, then smiled and reached over to wrap an arm around him, “I can come sleep beside oppa to help get rid of those nightmares.”

He laughed, “That might just do the trick.”

 

 

“N-No! Please! Se-Seohyun, please!” Kyuhyun’s voice cried out in the darkness as soon as Jongwoon submerged into his dreams.

He opened his eyes to find that Seohyun was standing over him with a small smile on her face, “But I can’t let you go, Kyuhyun, you belong to me now. I’ll make sure you’ll never leave me.” She walked away from his vision and as he struggled to lift his head, he saw large containers of a clear liquid, all of which was boiling over a large fire.

His eyes widened when he realized what she was about to do. Kyuhyun’s thoughts filled Jongwoon’s head at the past conversations between the two; he remembered that Seohyun said that her grandson had a marble shop where he made blocks of marble for whatever task the customer wanted. Whether it be for him to carve something into the stone, or to create stones for housing, he had the abilities to accomplish it.

Struggling against the ties that bound his hands and feet, Jongwoon felt the fear that Kyuhyun felt. Jongwoon shook his head, trying to get out of Kyuhyun’s mind, especially when the next time he opened his eyes, he was closer to the large mixing container of boiling marble. He squeezed his eyes shut again when he realized what was about to happen, a searing pain shot through his feet, working its way up his body as he heard Kyuhyun’s screams in his head until they finally died down in one last strangled cry.

His eyes snapped opened, sweat pouring down his face as he sprang up in bed, “Kyuhyun… Kyuhyun…”

Jongwoon glanced at his alarm clock and saw that he had at least two hours left before the alarm went off. But he knew that after a nightmare like that, he would not be able to fall back to sleep. Getting out of bed, he walked into his bathroom, the scenes kept playing over in his head, that woman, Seohyun, had trapped Kyuhyun in that marble, killed him. If all the scenes that had been flooding his dreams were true, then was it a ghost that was haunting Jongwoon now?

Kyuhyun said he was an angel, but could an angel really survive something like being buried alive in hot, boiling marble?

He knew angels were supposed to be immortal but maybe that theory was wrong?

He shook his head, splashing cold water onto his face before looking up at his face in the mirror. As he stared at his messy hair, his scruff that was growing more evident, and his tired eyes, he remembered what the elderly lady looked like in his dream. That woman wanted to remain young and beautiful… and because of that vanity, she had possibly killed Kyuhyun.

“I’m not dead,” that familiar voice filled his head at the thought of the angel.

“Kyuhyun?” Jongwoon called out, looking around himself in confusion.

“Forgive me for this, Kim Jongwoon, I just need you for a few more minutes,” and with that, the next thing Jongwoon saw was darkness as his eyes drooped closed and his head hit the bathroom floor.

He was back in the darkness of his dream, Seohyun was nowhere around, but he felt another presence around him. Even though he couldn’t see anyone, he could feel someone standing there beside him.

“I’m not dead, Kim Jongwoon, she didn’t kill me… though I wish she had. The stories you’d heard about angels are true, we can’t die. We don’t die, we can be banished to hell to remain for our days but we don’t die.”

“Then are you just… trapped in that marble? What about Seohyun? Wouldn’t she die if she didn’t have your blood anymore? Wouldn’t she grow old and die?”

A soft chuckle filled the air and Jongwoon was surprised when he felt the breath hit his face, “I wish she was dead, but no, she is not. I am trapped in that marble, and she still has my blood to consume. I’m trapped in stone but she has a metal tube that’s shoved into the side of the slab of stone, and with that, she pierces my side when she needs my blood.”

Jongwoon’s eyes widened at the information, he bit his lip at the shock, “I-I’m sorry—”

“Don’t be… this is… what the rest of my eternity shall be, I assume,” a sigh filled Jongwoon’s ears, “But rest assured, Kim Jongwoon, I am not dead. I suffer, but I am not dead.”

 

 

“Wow, Jongwoon, you’ve got a nice sized bump on your head, what happened?” Sunny asked, softly rubbing the spot to feel the size of the bump.

Jongwoon brushed it off, “It’s nothing, I had dropped my razor this morning, and hit my head on the sink when I started to stand up again.”

She chuckled softly, “You’re such a klutz, oppa.”

He scowled at her, he was not a klutz… okay, he had some moments when he seemed like a klutz, but he wasn’t! Really, he wasn’t! He just had an angel haunting his mind that wasn’t ready to let him wake up that morning.

“Anyways, are you ready to go to the museum tomorrow night? I’ll let you sleep in till noon and then I’ll be over to your place to make sure you look amazing for the event."

“Fine,” Jongwoon groaned, he was seriously rethinking his decision on attending the event at the museum with Sunny, Saturday was the only day that he got out of the week to sleep in, and now he wasn’t going to get to do that.

 

 

“Why are you in my dreams?”

“I’m not exactly sure… I’m not sure that I’m just in your dreams either, I seem to have a window through your eyes too.”

Jongwoon’s head tilted to the side, “Wh-what? What do you mean?”

“I’ve been seeing the things you’ve been seeing,” Kyuhyun replied, a soft chuckle escaping, “I’ve seen the pretty girl at your place of work, I’ve seen the strange box that you stare at all day while your fingers are working away at some noisy rectangle shaped object. I’ve seen the sunshine coming through some of the windows at your workplace when I’m assuming you’re staring out at the clouds in the sky…” his voice turned sad, “that’s the first time I’ve seen daylight in years.”

Jongwoon’s eyes widened, “S-So you’ve seen everything I’ve seen?”

“Yes… I’m glad you called out to me before in your dreams. Through your dreams… and your mind, I’ve been allowed to catch a glimpse of day again, of life, thank you, Kim Jongwoon.”

Jongwoon smiled, “You’re welcome, this is still strange to me, but I’m glad I could help you… although I wish I could free you too, wherever you are.”

Kyuhyun sighed, “I wish you could too, but I’ll take what I’m given for now—” the angel was cut off by a sharp intake of air, catching Jongwoon off guard, “A-Ah—n-not—not again—”

Jongwoon reached out his hand in concern, only to grasp hold to nothing, “Kyuhyun?”

“I-I—” Kyuhyun gasped out, breathing heavily, “Sh-She’s pi-piercing my side again—J-Jong…Jongwoon—Ahhhh!”

“Kyuhyun!”

Jongwoon shot up from his dream, his mind filled with worry for Kyuhyun. It was obvious that that evil woman was hurting him again, probably drinking more of his blood for her stupid vanity problem. Jongwoon wished that he could find her and strangle her for the hurt she was causing the angel.

The doorbell rang out through his apartment, snapping him from his thoughts. He glanced at this alarm clock and realized that it was probably Sunny coming over to get him ready for the event at the museum.

 

 

The two, in their couple outfit that Sunny had deemed acceptable for Jongwoon to wear to the event, arrived at the museum a little before most of the crowd had arrived. Jongwoon’s mind was still filled with thoughts of Kyuhyun, wondering how the angel was since he had heard nothing else from the being since his dream. Not even when Jongwoon had tried calling out to him either.

“All this is so amazing, isn’t it, Jongwoon?” Sunny asked, tugging the man along by his arm as she led them through the areas of the museum. They had yet to reach the room where the event was held, but Sunny was in no hurry.

“Y-Yeah, I guess it is,” Jongwoon replied, glancing over at an odd looking vase encased in glass then turned to a solid red painting hanging up on the wall.

Sunny chuckled at his confused expression then tugged him on into the room where the main event would be held, “Here’s our object of interest, Jongwoon, this will be more interesting than a weird vase and a picture of red.”

As soon as they entered the room, both Jongwoon and Sunny stopped at the sight of the solid white block of stone in the middle of the room. The height of it towered in the room, there were already people around it, examining it, talking about it, and taking pictures, but what stood out to the two was the opening in the side of the stone, just like in the newspaper picture, there was an exposed neck, chest, and part of a hip. Each part of it looked flawless.

“Wow… now that’s art, huh?” Sunny asked, leading Jongwoon closer to the stone to get a closer look. Sadly the stone was marked off so no one could touch it, so as much as Sunny wanted to run her fingers over the opening in the stone, she couldn’t. “This is so beautiful.”

“It is,” Jongwoon admitted, his eyes running over every detail of the carving in the stone.

Sunny threw a sly look back at Jongwoon, pointing towards the flat stomach, the dips in the collarbones, along with the sight of that hip bone, “I bet your perfect man would have a body like this, huh, Jongwoon?”

He choked up for a moment, a blush claiming his cheeks as he threw a glare at her while glancing around to make sure no one heard her, “Sunny!”

She chuckled teasingly, “Isn’t it the truth? Or do you want someone more muscular?”

Jongwoon was about to reply when an old familiar voice stopped him, “Sunny! Is that you?”

A scowl crossed her face as they both turned to see a black haired man in a black and white tuxedo walking up to them, a grin on his face as his eyes only focused on the blonde girl in the short red dress.

“Hello, Siwon,” Sunny greeted with a roll of her eyes.

“Aw, babe, is that the only greeting I get out of you?” Siwon asked, giving her a small pout before laughing, just as he reached for her hand to kiss, she jerked it away.

“Of course, Siwon, that’s the only greeting I can give you when my boyfriend is standing right here,” she said, emphasizing on the ‘boyfriend’ part with a small hug to Jongwoon’s side. “You might know him; Kim Jongwoon?”

“Kim Jongwoon?” A quiet voice repeated Jongwoon’s name, catching Jongwoon’s attention but he couldn’t focus solely on that voice at the moment.

Siwon didn’t look exactly pleased at that information but pulled a tight smile and reached out to shake Jongwoon’s hand, “I don’t believe I have heard of him, Sunny, but he looks like quite the catch.” Sunny threw a small smirk towards Jongwoon but it fell once Siwon added, “Although I think you being wrapped around his arm gives him points. No hard feelings though, right, Kim Jongwoon? After all, Sunny is a real beauty,” Siwon nodded his head at the man before walking away.

Jongwoon and Sunny watched as he walked away, “Well if you hadn’t left him for cheating on you, I would say that being rude would be something to leave him for.”

Sunny shrugged, “He’s just bitter that I won’t take him back, not to mention, he’s jealous over you,” she smiled up at Jongwoon, resting her head on his shoulder as she hugged him closer, “because you have me now.”

“Well he could’ve still had you if he hadn’t cheated on you.”

“True, very true, but let’s not let that ruin our evening.”

 

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present Ms. Seo Joohyun with her great-great-grandmother’s famous sculpture. The Angel In Stone,” the announcer said as he stepped away from the microphone to make way for the young black haired woman.

She smiled at the audience, “Hello everyone, I’m glad that you have all gathered to enjoy a work of art that my great-great-grandmother created when she was my age,” she motioned towards the stone, “Out of simple marble, she carved out the opening you see, she said that there was something inside that had to be released, revealed to the world. After she finished carving it out, and looking over the beauty of the body revealed, she swore it was an angel that was trapped within the precious stone…”

Jongwoon zoned out through most of the woman’s talking about the stone, focusing back on the opening in the stone. She said it was marble. He started piecing together all the different things she was saying about the piece of art until his eyes widened, what if Kyuhyun was locked away in this stone?

“Kim Jongwoon!” That same voice called out again through his mind, but it was growing distant, growing weaker. “I can’t… too weak… I’m… here… Kim… Jongwoon…”

After hearing that voice fill his head again, Jongwoon quickly excused himself to the bathroom. Sunny was about to follow him, seeing as he looked like he’d just seen a ghost, just like how he looked at the office when he was having those nightmares, but Siwon quickly stole her attention when he moved over to take Jongwoon’s empty chair.

“Kyuhyun?” Jongwoon called out in his mind, not paying attention towards his directions, nor the sign on the Men’s bathroom door that said it was out of order. “Kyuhyun? Are you there?”

“I’m… I’m here… Jongwoon… you… you saw me… I can… feel you… you saw… the stone…” Kyuhyun’s voice was growing fainter until all Jongwoon could hear was that woman talking through the speaker system about the stone that her great-great-grandmother carved.

But from everything that Kyuhyun said and everything that happened in Jongwoon’s dreams, it had to mean that the stone that was being presented tonight was the stone that Kyuhyun was trapped in. He just had to find a way to get Kyuhyun freed from that stone. He wasn’t entirely sure how he could do that though, the sculpture was a famous piece of art, and it was obvious that it would cause trouble if it were to somehow go missing or be broken apart. He would face criminal charges if he decided to take a sludge hammer to it to try and free Kyuhyun, and it would be so much worse if Kyuhyun wasn’t in that particular stone.

Staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, he wondered what exactly he could do to save Kyuhyun. He wondered if he should tell Sunny about his dreams and the theory of an angel being trapped in that stone, but he figured she would never believe him.

Seohyun also popped in his head, he wondered where she could be hiding and why the woman would even want to shine light on the fact that he had captured Kyuhyun in that stone, if it was the one that Seo Joohyun was presenting that night? But he figured the audience would only be blinded by their amazement at the art. He wondered if the woman that was presenting the art was even related to Seohyun, unless it was true that the girl was really the great-great-granddaughter of that fiend of a woman. Maybe it was all a cover-up.

“J-Jongwoon… she’s… she’s her… Seohyun… she’s Joohyun…” Kyuhyun’s voice filled his head, apparently he had heard most of the thoughts of Jongwoon’s. “Pl-Please… help… me…”

“I will!” Jongwoon shouted, shocking himself as he glanced around the bathroom to make sure no one else heard him, only to find that the bathroom was empty. “I will, Kyuhyun, I will,” he sent out mentally, before muttering to himself, “Although I’m sure how exactly…”

He walked back over to the door of the bathroom to return to the event and try to come up with a solution, but when he tried to open the door to the bathroom, it wouldn’t budge. He pulled again then pushed, but nothing happened. He couldn’t get the door to open.

 

 

“Siwon, leave me alone, I’m looking for Jongwoon,” Sunny scowled at the man following her before mumbling to herself, “wherever he went of to.”

“Please, Sunny, I know he can’t make you happy like I can, please, just give me another chance. Sunny, please!” Siwon practically begged, ignoring the stares of the other people at the museum, following Sunny further into the museum, where there weren’t many people left.

She scoffed, “Well at least Jongwoon hasn’t made me cry like you have, Siwon.”

He froze in his tracks after hearing that, and when Sunny turned around at the sound of the man’s shoes no longer walking with hers, she saw a broken look on the man’s face.

“S-Sunny, I know I’ve hurt you in the past, I know, but please, just give me another chance.” His voice softened, “Just another chance to give you the world that you deserve.”

She rolled her eyes, “And what world would that be, Siwon? A world where you cheat on me with your assistant again? Is that what you think I deserve?”

He shook his head, grabbing her hand, “No, Sunny, you have to understand that I never meant for that to happen! You probably think that just because I’m some rich bastard that I would want every woman that I see, but you’re wrong. She came onto me that night, that night she knew that you would be coming by the office, and when you walked into my office, you only saw her kissing me, you didn’t see me pushing her away nor hear of me firing her after her actions!”

No, Sunny hadn’t heard about that, she just knew that the woman had left Siwon after Sunny had came into his office and saw what she saw. She stared at the man, wondering if everything he was saying was a lie, she knew from all the years that she’d been with the man that he was a professional liar when it came to business, because in business, all the other person wanted to hear was the good things, but when it came to his family and friends, Siwon was quite possibly the worst liar. Those dark eyes staring at her, pleading with her, they didn’t seem to be lying to her.

As much as she still hated him, despised him for the countless tears she’d cried over him, and even though she believed she was over him, she wanted to believe him. “Y-You’re… not lying to me, right?”

Siwon could see the tears starting to build up in her eyes and his heart broke, knowing that he was the cause of it, despite that woman’s actions, he was still the one that Sunny held responsible for that night. “I would never lie to you, Sunny,” he whispered, pulling her close and wrapping his arms around her.

“Pl-Please don’t… don’t make a fool out of me for believing you, Siwon,” Sunny mumbled, wiping at a stray tear falling, wanting to hate herself for missing this man’s embrace so much.

“I would never, Sunny,” he pulled back, eyes softening at the sight of her tears, “I love you, Sunny, I never stopped loving you.” With that, he closed the distance between their lips.

It was sweet at first, and Sunny didn’t realize just how much she’s missed his lips either, everything about him, she had missed so much. Their desperation became apparent in the kiss as it deepened until they had to part for air. They were about to smile at each other until they both realized they were still in the open of the museum, no one was around them, but they knew they couldn’t do much more due to being out in the open. But Sunny wasn’t willing to give up what she’d been missing this whole time that had been born out of that moment of confession from Siwon, she grabbed the man’s hand and started leading him towards the direction of the women’s bathroom.

“Sunny?” Siwon questioned, eyes widening at the direction they were going in.

She glanced back at him and smiled softly, “Trust me, Siwon.”

But just before they were about to enter the women’s bathroom, a pounding on the door of the men’s bathroom stopped them. They both saw the ‘out of order’ sign and wondered why someone was beating on the door of it. Siwon let go of Sunny’s hand to step up in front of the door, grabbing the doorknob and trying to open it, he called out for whoever was pounding on the door.

“The door won’t budge! I’m stuck in here!” the muffled voice shouted back, the doorknob rattling again from the other side.

Sunny’s eyes widened, “Siwon, that’s Jongwoon’s voice.”

A glare crossed Siwon’s face at the mention of that man’s name, “Why would I help him? He’s—”

Sunny rolled her eyes, “He’s not my boyfriend, Siwon, he doesn’t even like girls. Not in that way, he’s a dear friend that was helping me to make you jealous, okay?”

Siwon’s eyes widened at that information, “Oh…” he turned back towards the door and shouted, “Jongwoon, stand back from the door, okay?” Siwon glanced around them to make sure that no one else was around and kicked the door open.

As soon as the door was opened, Jongwoon came out, looking exhausted like he’d been trying to shout for help and break the door down to get out. “Thank you, Siwon, I’ve been trying to get out of there for almost an hour now.”

“No problem,” Siwon replied with a small smile.

Jongwoon nodded towards the man before turning to Sunny’s grinning face, “Sunny, I need your help with something… or both of your help with something. I need to check out something on that sculpture.” He had already started walking back towards the direction of the sculpture before the two even agreed, settling to following after the man to see what he was talking about.

The area was vacant around the sculpture, all except one person, the black haired woman, Seo Joohyun. When Siwon glanced down at his watch on his arm, he realized why it was vacant; the event had ended about twenty minutes ago.

“I need you two to distract that woman while I…” Jongwoon paused, then muttered, “do what I have to.” He was going to break Kyuhyun out of that stone, one way or another; he was going to save that angel, whether that meant completed destroying the stone or just prying the angel out of it.

Sunny and Siwon both glanced at each other then at Jongwoon, well, Sunny could find a way to distract the woman, she had been a big fan of the sculpture ever since she’d read about it so she had plenty of questions to ask the woman. Slipping her hand back into Siwon’s, she started leading him towards the lady.

“Ms. Joohyun, I’m a huge fan of yours!” Sunny shouted, drawing the woman’s attention away from the sculpture and towards the two.

Walking away from the sculpture, Joohyun met the couple with a small smile, “Oh, I’m flattered… although the event is already over now…” she replied, glancing around them to emphasize the emptiness of the museum.

Sunny faked a blush and giggled softly, “Y-Yeah… well, uh, we, um, we got distracted in another part of the museum and one thing led to another.”

Joohyun bit back a small laugh at what the woman was implying, throwing a glance at the handsome black haired man behind the woman, “I understand, perhaps I can show you two out then?”

Sunny nodded, “Yes, please, can I also ask you a little bit about your beautiful sculpture on the way?”

Jongwoon watched as Sunny kept the woman distracted as they started out of the event room and into the other part of the museum then he quickly ran up to the sculpture, slipping past the rope that had stopped them from touching the stone earlier. Glancing around the stone, he looked for any kind of way that he could perhaps pry Kyuhyun’s body out of the stone but other than the small opening where the exposed body was, he couldn’t see anywhere else. Moving around to the other side, he saw a long black pipe shoved into the side of the sculpture. Reaching up to touch the tip of it, he gasped when he felt something wet; he looked at his fingers to find blood on them.

That black pipe was what had pierced Kyuhyun’s side. That was the pipe that Seohyun used to get Kyuhyun’s blood from inside the stone.

He wiped away the blood onto his pants and moved back around to the opening in the stone, bringing his fist up to test how hard the stone was. He wouldn’t be able to break the stone open with just his bare hands; he needed something else, a hammer or some of the sort. And he had to be careful because he didn’t want to end up injuring Kyuhyun when he was breaking open the stone.

“Jong… woon… m-my… wings… strike my… back… for my w-wings…”

Looking around at his surroundings, Jongwoon couldn’t find anything except one of the metal posts surrounding the sculpture to try and break open the stone. He picked it up and moved around towards the back of the sculpture.

“I’m not going to hurt you when I hit the stone, right?” Jongwoon asked, unaware that he had asked the question out loud.

A weak laugh filled Jongwoon’s head, “No… Jongwoon… just free me… please.”

Still hesitating, Jongwoon swung the metal post and hit the stone, creating a small indent. When he didn’t hear Kyuhyun cry out, he struck it again and again. He kept hitting it until finally he saw an opening in the stone, he could see a pale patch of skin that almost blended in with the color of the marble.

A scream startled Jongwoon, “What are you doing?!” He turned around to find Joohyun running up to him, her eyes wide at the damage done to the sculpture.

Remembering all the things that this woman had done to Kyuhyun, Jongwoon was terrified that he was now coming face to face with her but he couldn’t stop himself from replying with, “Freeing Kyuhyun.”

Upon hearing his response, Joohyun, or rather, Seohyun, glared at him, “He’s mine.” She caught Jongwoon off guard when she shoved him away from the sculpture, pushing him down on the floor.

“Jongwoon!” A voice shouted out in the man’s head.

When Jongwoon was about to get back up, a heel dug into his back, making him stay down before that hell started kicking his side. Jongwoon cried out in pain and quickly tried to shield himself from the blows.

“He’s mine! Kyuhyun is mine! He’s my lifeline, how dare you try to free him! How dare you try to take him from me!” With each word, she kicked his side repeatedly.

Jongwoon cried out with each kick, he wondered if the woman had extra strength from consuming an angel’s blood because he swore he felt his ribs cracking under her kicks. As much as he wanted to fight back, he couldn’t.

Then the kicking stopped, Jongwoon’s arm came down from shielding his face only to find that Seohyun had stopped kicking him to retrieve the metal post that he had used moments ago to break into the sculpture. He realized what she was about to do when she turned back to him and raised it, ready to strike him with it.

She chuckled just as Jongwoon found himself begging for his life, “Where’s the heroic bastard that was going to free the angel before? Kyuhyun led you right to your death!”

“I did no such thing,” a voice came from behind Seohyun, causing both her and Jongwoon to look back at the sculpture.

The sculpture looked the same as before, except for the broken pieces that were lying on the floor, but then the rest of the marble around that open patch of skin started crumbling to the floor. Seohyun’s eyes widened when she realized what was happening, she quickly ran up to it to try and stop the pieces of marble from breaking open, but it was no use. Jongwoon stared in wonder at the sight once that marble had fallen away to reveal more and more skin until finally the marble seemed like it exploded.

Jongwoon quickly shielded himself from the pieces of the stone and Seohyun was thrown back from the impact.

Opening his eyes again, Jongwoon’s eyes widened at the being standing there in their presence. It was almost as if the sun was shining right there in the room from the brightness coming off of Kyuhyun’s bare body. Two solid white wings expanded, overshadowing most of the room and then Kyuhyun turned towards the direction that Seohyun was in and Jongwoon couldn’t hold back at the gasp at the angel’s eyes.

They were like fire. White fire, so bright that Jongwoon had to look away from.

Seohyun struggled to pick herself up from the floor and when she did, she almost screamed out when Kyuhyun stood before her, she trembled, “N-No… no, Kyuhyun… you’re mine.” She struggled to look at his face, her eyes fluttering closed from the brightness of his eyes boring into hers. She could feel the heat radiating off of him, almost as if she were standing next to the burning sun.

A chuckle echoed off the walls in the museum, the glass from the cases of the different artifacts rattled once he spoke, “I’m not yours, not anymore, Seohyun.”

Jongwoon’s head rose again at the sounds of the angel’s voice, and his eyes widened when he saw Kyuhyun grab hold to Seohyun’s arms, she screamed and tried to get away from his touch, almost as if she were being burnt. Then he saw the angel grasp hold to Seohyun’s chin and with that, he brought their lips together in a kiss.

He wasn’t sure why his heart seemed to break at the sight, he wasn’t sure why he wasn’t trying to get up and run away, even though he was sure that he had several cracked, and perhaps broken, ribs from Seohyun’s kicks earlier.

Although those thoughts quickly subsided when Seohyun started struggling against the kiss, and Jongwoon could see the reason why. Her long black hair was turning gray and then white, her smooth and soft skin she had before was becoming wrinkly, her body looked like it was drying up, crippling up, like an elderly person’s. She was rapidly aging just from the kiss until finally, her skin started breaking, falling from her bones, her hair was falling out, and before long, there was nothing but a skeleton that was in Kyuhyun’s arms. A rusty and dirty skeleton that looked to be centuries old.

Kyuhyun dropped Seohyun’s skeleton to the floor, and with a small puff of breath, he turned the skeleton into dust. Jongwoon was frozen in shock at the sight in front of him, the woman that had been living and breathing just moments ago, kicking the crap out of him was now just dust on the floor.

Then Kyuhyun turned towards Jongwoon, those fiery eyes scared the man, and after witnessing what he had between the angel and Seohyun, he tried to back away when the angel started taking steps towards him. He couldn’t stop himself from being afraid of the being now.

“Kim Jongwoon,” that familiar voice called for him, and caused Jongwoon to stop struggling to get away, he glanced back at Kyuhyun to find that those fiery eyes had disappeared, turning into two dark brown eyes, his wings had slowly started disappearing into his back, and the brightness around him had started dimming. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

A weak chuckle escaped Jongwoon’s lips when Kyuhyun bent down in front of him, “W-Well you can’t blame me for being scared. I-I just saw—”

“Seohyun’s death, yes, but why would I kill you when you have saved my life?” Kyuhyun asked, bringing his hand up to touch Jongwoon’s side, his touch was warm, almost hot, but Jongwoon jumped in amazement that the pain that he had felt moments ago was no longer there. He could move without his ribs hurting. “Why would I kill my savior that has freed me?”

Jongwoon hesitated then shrugged, “I-I don’t know…” he moved to sit up, relieved that his ribs weren’t screaming out in protest against his movements. He looked up at Kyuhyun, his gaze running all over the angel’s face, and he couldn’t believe just how beautiful this creature was. “So this is what you look like… I finally get to see your face.”

Kyuhyun chuckled, “You do, and I finally get to meet the person that I’ve been filling the mind of. I thank you for freeing me. I thank you for meeting me in your dreams every night. I thank you for everything, Jongwoon.”

“Y-You’re welcome,” Jongwoon flushed under the gaze that Kyuhyun was giving him, looking down and his eyes widened when he caught the sight of Kyuhyun’s side. There were still faint traces of dried blood on the angel’s skin. “Your side.”

“Its fine, Jongwoon, it healed as soon as my wings sprouted. That’s why I asked you to free my wings first, if I could just get my wings out of that stone, I would be fine. And I am.”

Jongwoon glanced up at the angel, “So what happens now?”

“I have to start erasing the memories of everyone that came to see the sculpture tonight and throughout the years, along with everyone that knew Seohyun after she had regained her youth,” Kyuhyun replied, dreading the thought of all that work. He could get it done, maybe within a day, but it was going to take a lot of energy.

Jongwoon’s eyes widened at that information before his eyes turned sad, “S-So I won’t remember you?”

Kyuhyun shook his head, his hand coming out to caress the man’s face, “I’m afraid not. Too much information like this… it could be dangerous for you. I don’t want harm to come to you. I’m sorry.”

Shoulders slumping, Jongwoon nodded, he could’ve gotten used to looking into those dark brown eyes of Kyuhyun’s, and especially the warmth of his hand against his face, he could definitely have gotten used to that.

“I’ll leave you with this though, Jongwoon, and remember that I’ll always be close to you,” Kyuhyun stated, bringing the man’s face up and closer to his, just as Kyuhyun’s eyes closed, and when Jongwoon’s were about to close, the man pulled back.

“Wait. You’re going to kiss me, aren’t you?” Jongwoon asked, seeing a small nod from the angel, he continued, “You’re not going to kill me with this kiss, are you? I mean, you kissed Seohyun and she’s a pile of dust now, and I—”

Kyuhyun laughed, “I kissed her because through her lips, I all the life that she had drained from me out from her. I’m kissing you… because I can tell this is what you want, I’ve been a part of your mind since that first dream of yours, and I could see some of your desires.” He glanced at Jongwoon’s lips, “This… being one of them.”

Jongwoon didn’t pull back this time when Kyuhyun brought their lips together. If it was true what Kyuhyun said that his memory of the angel would be wiped clean, he did want to savor every moment of this before he went back to his lonely workaholic life.

The kiss was soft. Kyuhyun’s lips were soft, they felt light against Jongwoon’s, his touch was warm as were his lips. It felt like kissing a warm window after the sun had rose. He felt like he was kissing sunshine.

But just as Jongwoon reached up to touch the angel’s cheek, to deepen the kiss, everything started fading away.

The next thing Jongwoon heard was his alarm clock going off in his tiny, dark apartment. He groaned, reaching over to shut the annoying thing off and sat up to get started on the work day. His head hurt like he had hit it on something, and he couldn’t, for the life of him, remember if he had hit his head on anything.

The whole day before seemed like a complete blank now that he tried to recall what he had done. He shrugged it off, the only thing he could remember was being so exhausted from work Friday that he just came home and went straight to bed. Maybe he had slept his whole day off? It was possible, he’d done it before.

Stepping into the office, Jongwoon was met with a grinning Sunny, “Jongwoon! He proposed! He proposed last night!” She held out her hand to reveal a very nice sized diamond adorning a gold band.

He scratched his head in confusion, “Um… what?”

She rolled her eyes, “Siwon, you dummy, we got this past week and he proposed last night.” She smiled down at the ring, while Jongwoon was still confused about the whole situation. He couldn’t recall the two getting back together. And the last thing that he knew was that Sunny hated Siwon’s guts for cheating on her.

But instead he just smiled and replied with, “Congratulations,” and started towards his desk.

“Thanks, and before you sit down, Mr. Kang wants to speak with you,” Sunny informed, taking a seat at her desk beside Jongwoon’s.

Jongwoon gulped, glancing down at his desk to make sure he had left no paperwork uncompleted. Nothing was on his desk, nothing that he’d left or had sent back to him to redo, so he wondered why the boss wanted to talk to him. He set down his briefcase before heading back to the elevator to head to Mr. Kang’s office.

Several thoughts flooded Jongwoon’s mind on the way, and the one that he dreaded thinking the most was that he was fired. He’d done something wrong and gotten fired. His steps became heavier then as he made his way up to the boss’s door, praying that that wasn’t the case.

He took a deep breath when he finally reached Mr. Kang’s door, hesitating, he knocked.

“Come in.”

Jongwoon feared the worst as he pushed open the door, only to be met with a smiling Mr. Kang sitting behind his desk and a brown haired man sitting in front of the boss’s desk, his back was turned towards Jongwoon.

“Ah, Jongwoon, good to see you. Did you enjoy your week vacation?”

That caused Jongwoon to frown, he didn’t take a vacation… at least, he thought he hadn’t. His brain was trying to process what exactly he did the past week to prove that he had a vacation but all he could faintly remember was sitting in his favorite chair in his living room and watching TV for most of the day. Maybe that was al his vacation had consisted of?

“Y-Yeah, it was good.”

“Great,” Mr. Kang nodded, picking up a file on his desk, “I decided over your vacation time away that you’re a valuable employee, all my employees are, but it was a bit of a train-wreck while you were gone, and things that you would’ve done to make sure everything was finished and proofread, well, it didn’t get finished, so I decided that after it took five employees working overtime to do what you do, that I would like to give you a bit of a pay raise to show my appreciation for what you do.

“And I’ve went ahead and hired you an assistant for you. To help take some of the burden off your shoulders,” Mr. Kang finished, motioning towards the brown haired man in front of his desk.

When the man turned to look at Jongwoon, his eyes widened when he saw those brown eyes that looked so familiar to him. The brown haired man stood up from the chair and bowed to Jongwoon with a small smile on his face, one that Jongwoon liked seeing for some reason.

“I’m Cho Kyuhyun, I hope my skills can help you, Mr. Jongwoon.”

 

Once the two had stepped out of Mr. Kang’s office, Jongwoon led Kyuhyun back to his floor. He kept staring at the younger male in the elevator, confused by the familiar feeling he got from the man. It seemed like he had seen this brown haired man somewhere before, but he couldn’t place where.

“He’s my gift to you, Jongwoon.” A voice filled Jongwoon’s head, causing him to jump slightly. “Love him.”

Kyuhyun stared at him in confusion for a moment, “Are you okay?”

Jongwoon nodded quickly, his cheeks slightly flushing under the man’s stare, “Y-Yeah, I’m fine.” When the elevator dinged for the floor they had arrived on, Jongwoon straightened himself up, “Are you ready for the work day?”

“Of course, Mr. Jongwoon.” Kyuhyun smiled softly at the man, and just before the elevator doors opened, he leaned closer to Jongwoon, whispering in his ear, “By the way, the angel sends his thanks.”

Jongwoon’s eyes widened when he heard those words, but before he could say or reply with anything, Kyuhyun threw him a small smirk and a wink before exiting the elevator, leaving a stunned Jongwoon behind. 

 

A/N: Jongwoon has a bit of my life in this prompt. XD Work, work, work, work. Another long fic! I hope you enjoyed!