When I woke up, it was around three in the morning. I was a little confused and disorientated but it became even worse once I regained my consciousness. I was sleeping on the sofa instead of my bed, which wouldn´t be so unusual except for one very important fact, Hyukjae was sleeping right next to me. I know, this has happened too already but I swear, I´ve never had my hands on Hyukjae´s  back before! I jerked a little but immediately froze in my movement, Hyukjae whined. I gulped nervously and waited for the younger man to still again so I could start thinking properly. Think Heechul, how did those hands get there? Surely it wasn´t Hyukjae, who told you to touch him right under his wings, the latter is too sensitive to do so. After the short deduction I realised, that it could´ve been only me, who hugged the pretty man. And what of it anyway? From the look of it, Hyukjae doesn´t have any problem with my hands, so why do I even care? I hummed for myself and laid my head back into the brown locks. I fell asleep right away.

It was seven o´clock when I reopened my eyes again. I didn´t feel cold as usually after sleeping on the sofa. But it wasn´t Hyukjae´s young body either that was warming me up but a thick blanket. Hyukjae had to put it over me when he left to take a shower. I could hear the water running in the bathroom and the smell coming from the kitchen indicated Hyukjae´s ability to think even this early in the morning as our hot tea was cooling down there in the meantime.

“Morning,” I groaned aloud once I heard the shower stop.

“Good morning,” came the answer followed by echo. I grinned for myself feeling good this morning especially. The day seemed so perfect all of a sudden that I even forgot about my aching body. I might have not been cold but that doesn´t change the fact that I slept on the sofa.

I shuffled to the bathroom door just in time for it to open and reveal Hyukjae barefooted with only his slacks and white shirt on. His hair was wet and he was drying it with the towel, currently put over his shoulders. He looked good I thought.

“I´m done, you can go,” he smiled at me and continued to the kitchen.

“Make something to eat, I´m all stiff,” I told him and dove into the bathroom. Hyukjae let out a careless ´yeah´.

Taking off my pyjamas, I glanced into the mirror. I don´t look too old, do I? Is thirty considered old? Do I look aged next to nine years younger Hyukjae? Nah, don´t think so. Either I´m a vampire or the only successful case of a chimera. Why having these useless thoughts anyway, Heechul-ah? I don´t need to compare my handsomeness to the lanky chimera in the kitchen. Well, I do lack in some places, I snorted when I looked at my flat stomach. One or two muscles revealed themselves when I pumped a little but it was not good compared to Hyukjae. Then I glanced lower and grinned, God is fair.

I climbed into the shower and started the water. It felt nice as the hot stream warmed my stiff muscles and I could relax a bit. Unknowingly my thoughts went back to the strange position I found myself in during the night. It wasn´t a dream, was it? Why would I dream of touching Hyukjae anyway? He might be a little on the thin side but he´s definitely a male. I don´t swing that way, or at least I never did. I would rather admit that my job and lifestyle turned me frigid, than to acknowledge the possibility of liking Hyukjae´s curves.

Speaking of which, why is his skin still so soft? Isn´t he too old to have that kind of skin on his body? Suddenly a slash of a few memories flashed in front of my eyes. I had no idea how I managed to connect them all and for what reason but it made me touch the tap quickly, the room was becoming a little too steamy. Hyukjae´s soft back, his chest with those vulgar hairs starting around his navel and ducking under his waistband, barefooted Hyukjae looking like a one night stand and finally that warm body pressed against mine. Oh God!

“! ! !” I screamed and slid down on the tiles.

“Hyung?! Are you alright?!” Hyukjae came rushing from the kitchen and was already holding the doorknob. “Can I enter?”

“Cramps!” I called back but when I saw the door opening, I quickly threw a towel into my lap. Hyukjae ran to me and didn´t even care that he was being soaked.

“Hyung! The water is icy!” He flinched and turned the tap off. “No wonder you got cramps,” he scolded and crouched next to my straightened leg. He began massaging my feet and warming it up with his hands.

“Better,” I sighed. This is so embarrassing.

“Why would you use such cold wat-,” Hyukjae started but then noticed my hands pushing down the towel lying over my crotch. “Oh, my,” he only said and averted his gaze, “what were you thinking,” he mumbled for himself. His face was red but it was nothing compared to mine as I knew the answer to his question. I was thinking about you, . I´m doomed.

During the breakfast we pretended as if nothing and I was glad that Hyukjae didn´t even mention the incident during night. But when we arrived to the office, we were welcomed by a commotion, which made us forget about our personal issues immediatelly. We came just in time to catch the morning gathering that Jungsu called up. What´s going on? It doesn´t seem like a simple formality. I looked around and counted if all my subordinates were present. All were beside Donghee. Where is that comedian for the god´s sake?

“Alright, let´s start,” Jungsu started with his authoritative voice and the whole open office went silent. "I have some pretty bad news for everyone. We might have lots of work for the next months or years, if the things go well.”

“What do you mean by years, if the things go well?” I asked. It didn´t make sense that the shorter the time, the worse. I didn´t like what was coming, just like I didn´t like the quick stare Jungsu gave Hyukjae.

“The laboratory finally made a discovery in the research of chimeras,” Jungsu frowned and I felt a big lump forming in my throat, “and it´s not a good discovery.”

“What is it?” An agent from a different team asked and everybody awaited Jungsu´s answer with anticipation.

“According to the research, sixty percent of chimeras are presumed not to reach the age of twenty-three years old. The first wave is expected to start very soon as the oldest chimeras are now twenty-two years old.” After this unbelievable announcement, nobody dared to speak up. Except for one.

“Chimeras die by decay either with or without prior aggressive outbreaks. Do they assume the number of mental breakdowns to increase too, or the deaths would be within the same limits as of now?”

Everybody turned their attention to the only chimera in the room with shock. I too had to look at the guy next to me, if he was alright. Hyukjae´s face was blank, as always when he had to deal with anyone else but me.

“No increase in aggressive behaviour is expected,” Jungsu answered almost in whisper. But it was okay because the room was even quieter than a cemetery.

“I see,” Hyukjae simply answered and then turned to me with a little smile, “hyung, if I´m lucky, I might stay here for longer than a year.” Cold-hearted bastard.

Asa! The time is tickling! Hyukjae´s time is limited and Heechul, poor being, just got two shocks. And it´s still only morning. What would happen next? Thank you for reading! Check the Choki wa "MV" , if you haven´t yet! Have a nice day - PandaHero