"How much time does she have left?"

His face set in a passive blank, half hidden by the black cloak one size too big (but that's the whole point, isn't it? The mysterious dark hoohas and whatsnot), Kyuhyun refuses to allow any surprise bleed through as the instinct to disappear asap rings loud and clear in the forefront of his mind. Clasping the cliché scythe in a too tight grip, he shrugs and vanish before the human could ask anymore; or worse, that it might be from his lack of control in his power which allows that human to see him.

Doing what he do, it isn't everyday that he gets to talk to anyone, much less a human (a healthy one at that). Sure, there are others like him who gather once in a while in the great hall to discuss about their missions and interesting run-ins but Kyuhyun had learn in the early start of his work that not everyone likes to associate with a misplaced soul; because who knows if they really are carrying out their job proper or that they may someday disappear from the fold. Death messengers like certainty, a stabilization that builds upon predictability; which therefore leads to an outcast like him.

"Kyuhyun. What's wrong?" Though cloaked in the same dark wear as him, Ryeowook slim petite frame, in addition to the slimmer elaborated scythe that tells of his higher rank, sets him apart from the other messengers as the older approach him.

It is more obligation than willingness that Ryeowook took to Kyuhyun; the former being tasked to handle him when Kyuhyun first became a death messenger with no prior warnings - and the reason why Kyuhyun only ever speaks to him.

"I... A human talked to me. She isn't on my list but rather, her younger sister is." Kyuhyun keeps the did I do something wrong hanging silently between them because, damn it even if he is an outcast he does not up often.

Kyuhyun tries not to fidget as Ryeowook stares straight ahead. Just when he's almost given up on having an answer from the older, Ryeowook turns to look at him. "It isn't you, Kyuhyun. Your power is still stable; I know how much work you put in to ensure your competency. It is rare but it doesn't mean there aren't such occurrences. My advice is for you to keep a distance from the girl and take the sister when the time comes."

Nodding absently, Kyuhyun barely notes the departure of the older, his mind drifting back to the slender brunette with eyes that held more resignation than sadness over her sister's impending death.

~~~

He watch her slow approach from the pond, parking her sister by the small walkway after a few muttered words. Casually, she slid to sit against the tree he's leaning against, her stance deceivingly harmless. Kyuhyun tells himself it isn't anticipation that keeps him from disappearing upon her arrival, neither is it curiosity that has him returning to this hospital despite Ryeowook's warning to stay away. He'd done his job by assessing his target; there is absolutely no reason for his current visit.

 "She has it tough from the moment Sooae is born." Kyuhyun barely keeps himself from turning towards her, his gaze train resolutely straight ahead. "When I first saw Sooae at five, Mom told me my sister is special and I should treat her with the same gentleness I would towards glassware. Like any petulant kid, I harbored a selfish jealousy for the attention she'd stolen away the moment she came into this world. I didn't understand why mom and dad would devote so much attention on a wailing baby than me so I avoided the nursery for the most part... Now, I look stupid telling you these."

Kyuhyun hears the quiet scoff and the subtle rustle of clothes from the girl beside him as she stands, dusting the litter of stray grass on her . With a flippant wave, she heads over to where her sister sat unmoving in the wheelchair. Releasing the locks, the brunette lightly pushes the wheelchair towards the hospital building but Kyuhyun doesn't miss the deliberate slowness in her steps; the reluctance to return to a sterile white environment that he only knows too well .

~~~

The next day Kyuhyun finds her sitting by the many monotonous plastic chair lining the hallway of the hospital. There he learns of the brunette's tantrums throughout her childhood; from the intentional breakage of household items to the handful of times where she'll sneak into the nursery just to poke at whichever part of her baby sister she could reach when her parents are unaware.

Since his assignation as a death messenger, Kyuhyun barely cracks a smile over anything but listening to her recount of the many antics she'd done in the past, his indulgent grin is unconscious.

"So you can smile, huh."

That snaps Kyuhyun out from his reverie as the familiar command to disappear brings him back to a realm he's come to associate as 'home'. Dark figures brush past him without a flicker of acknowledgement; beings more concern about their own matters to care for others that he wonders if any of them notice the uncommon smile that still lingers on his face.

~~~

"Do you really use that scythe to take the lives of those dying? Does it hurt?" It is his fifth visit to the hospital but a first that she ever acknowledge his existence at all by not telling stories of herself first. Their relationship, if you could call it that, has always been him as the silent listener and her the speaker. Kyuhyun sometimes wonder if she is ever conscious of the glances she draws from speaking to what others perceive as herself.

 Kyuhyun's role as a death messenger is simple. Visit the target, check their corresponding time left and leave.  There would be no recurring visits or ever having to speak, nor risking the danger of having those nearing death gate see him. But here he is, toeing the line by doing the complete opposite. He remembers Ryeowook's stern warning never to be stupid and stick to only what has to be done.

"Yes, I do use it but it's not as if I'm beheading them with it." What's one more broken rule to the most important, right?

She turns in her seat to look at him for the first time; clear chocolate eyes staring at him with a boldness few display. Keeping a stoic expression, Kyuhyun adjusts the cape to further conceal what is visible of his head - waiting for her next move - when he hears a light chuckle and a quick tug on his cape before she retrieves her hand back.

"So you do speak. I'd never imagine being able to meet beings like you, much less having a conversation like this to begin with. You're surprisingly non-scary. I'm Choi Sooyoung, by the way." Turning her back to him, Sooyoung continues with her daily rants of vying for her parents' attention while her sister sleeps on the bed, drips and wires attach to her frail body.

Sooyoung never probe more about her sister's remaining days but Kyuhyun wonders if it's relief or despair that would wreck her if she knows it would be her last visit to her sister today.

~~~

Kyuhyun could never get use to this part of the job despite being in his role for months. Clutching the scythe in slightly trembling hands, he nears the bed where a skinny form lies beneath scratchy thin blanket. The usual drips he'd come to associate with Sooyoung's sister peeks from beneath the material. From the monitoring machine comes the quiet beeps of her heart rate that Kyuhyun knows would soon come to a stop; the one indication that she's even alive at all from the lack of movement on the bed.

He floats near, expecting a sleeping child only to encounter dark brown eyes similar to Sooyoung on him. Again, so much like her older sister, there is a lack of fear coming from the young child before him that he wonders if the trait runs in their blood.

"Are you the one unnie always seem to be speaking to? I'm glad she isn't crazy as what other nurses like to whisper behind her back."

Despite not having an obvious similarity in looks between both Sooyoung and Sooae, their personality more than prove their relation with each other. His hesitance must have been obvious when she tugs a corner of his robe feebly. "It's okay. I've always known this day would come. My only regret is leaving unnie alone when I'm not around anymore. She'd always complain about having me around but it's obvious she loves me more than anyone else. If it's possible... tell her not to grieve for too long and that I love her. And thank you, for accompanying my sister for the past few days."

She carefully lies back on the bed, lids fluttering shut in acceptance of her impending death. There isn't any lingering fight in her to live, just a quiet resignation of fate that Kyuhyun had lacked when his death was smacked upon him out of nowhere.

Placing a hand over her head, Kyuhyun calls forth for her soul, drawing out the little energy left in her. With the scythe in his other hand, he chants the language of an ancient time before swinging it across the pale blue light surrounding her soul. He watches as the flecks of blue slowly spirals into the clear crystal embedded within his scythe, cleansing her soul to pure white for the next reincarnation.

The unbroken beep from the monitoring machine snaps him to the presence. Kyuhyun watches at a corner as doctors and nurses in white scurries in, curt commands filling the small space while the standard resuscitation procedure is done on Sooae's unmoving body.

It isn't long before they stop trying and the doctor announces the time of death for young patient Choi Sooae. As the blanket is lifted over her head, Kyuhyun turns to disappear with a soft "I'm sorry" under his breath.

~~~

He hears Ryeowook just before departing for the new names on his list (and checking up on Sooyoung), halting the command to disappear just as the older reaches him. Grabbing his arm, Ryeowook pulls him in the direction of the door that few could enter without any explanation, waving the door shut once they are in.

"Hyung I still have..."

"You won't be doing those anymore." A low rumble echoes throughout the nearly empty room; a voice Kyuhyun had only heard once back when he's assigned to being a death messenger.

Before he could ask for more, the voice continues, "Your performance here has been nearly flawless from the start without giving anyone any trouble despite the small talks I've been hearing around. Cho Kyuhyun, you're very much the misplaced soul I told you from the start. The restlessness in you speaks volume of your will to leave. Seeing your conduct here, we've decided to give you a second chance. Of course, you won't be you, and neither will you remember the time you've spent here. Thank you for your service till today. Seize your second life, my boy."

"I'll miss you." Ryeowook's departing words are brief and almost inaudible, but the hug the older pulls him into is solid enough to know their friendship isn't as stale as Kyuhyun thought. Caught in the new revelation, Kyuhyun isn't aware of the spell fired into his mind like a freight train (much like when the monster of a truck barreled into  his car) till he awakens to a scene of white.

Flinching from the brightness coming from the window near his bed, he squints his eyes shut, making to turn the other way when he feels an uncomfortable prod on his left arm. Looking down, he sees a needle poking out from where it's attach to a softly buzzing machine churning pale yellow liquid into his body. A quick scan and he realize his legs are encase in a pair of cast, hanging a few inches off the bed, while few fading bruises mar what is visible of his arms and leg. He carefully ventures to move his upper body only to find himself paralyze with pain, a croak escaping dry lips that alerts the nurse by his door.

The flurry of movements and questions following his waking must have tire him out when he willingly welcome the darkness that overtook his conscious; the situation that he doesn't even know who he is shoved to the back of his mind.

~~~

The next time he comes to, it is fresh flowers that he first see sitting on the table by his bed. He wonders how many days have passed since. He doesn't bother with alerting the nurses, simply lying back on the semi-comfortable bed in (what he somehow knows) his private ward. As long as he doesn't make any obvious move, he's sure there would be no déjà vu as the previous time...

Or so he thinks when a soft knock signals the presence of another. Before he could feign sleep, the door opens to reveal a slim brunette carrying a book and what seems like porridge. His mouth waters at the subtle smell and he wonders why she seems familiar despite him not even knowing who he is.

"Oh. You're awake. I'll need to alert the doctor about this and don't you dare argue with me. I'm tired to losing people around me." Before he could croak out any unintelligible sound, she's gone and back moments later with a relieved-looking doctor.

"Mr. Wu thank god. You gave us quite a shock when you fainted so abruptly four days back. Do you remember where this is? And who are you?" The bed is lifted to raise the top half of his body as the doctor shines his light into both eyes.

He blinks rapidly to clear the dark spots dotting his vision, turning quizzical eyes on the few before him.

"This is the hospital and I'm... I... I..."

Panic seize, sudden and suffocating, as he claws helplessly against his head. Who the hell is he? Who are this people and why is he calming down so easily from just the brunette's soothing touch on his back?

"It's okay Mr. Wu. This is common for many of our patients who'd suffered from a head concussion. Your private jet crashed quite badly during its emergency landing, it's pretty much a miracle that your recovery is this speedy. We'll take it slow, go through a few more test to help you along so don't worry. I'll gather a team for you. In the meantime, perhaps Miss Choi can help you get acquaintance with yourself." Thanking the doctor, the brunette soft slid the door shut before making her way over to him.

He watch as she stares hard at him, as if searching for something and when she finds it, the brunette expels a loud sigh. "You're honestly not ting me are you. Well, at least you're not dead."

"Wait. Before anything, why do you keep saying stuff as if someone died?"

Something flits through her eyes, gone before he could identify what it means. "My sister died a week ago. And if you still had your memory, you'd also have known she's my last family member."

Waving a hand between them as if to clear the awkward air, she's about to move on when the words slip out of his mouth on their own will, "I'm sure she wouldn't want you to grieve for too long and she loves you a lot. You're a pretty awesome sister."

She snaps her head up so fast, he's almost afraid she would break it. And the absurd meaning behind his words sink in; stuff that he has no recollection of yet is saying with such conviction. "I... I don't know where that comes from. I'm sorry."

It's some long uncomfortable time before she moves to sit on the chair beside his bed. Her hand lightly hovers away from his face before tracing his feature with tentative touch. "You're Wu Yi Fan, director of Wu's Firm; one of the best lawyer firms in the country. You're a Chinese born in Canada and stayed there for the most part of your life. You're an only child, which is why your parent always have high expectations of you. You decided not to enter the family business when you passed the bar and instead worked for your family's rival firm before breaking free when you've made a reputation for yourself to open your own firm. You're 28, has a handful of properties scattered around the world, is filthy rich and is worth millions as a being."

"And who are you to me?" The light touch on his face halts and is gone but he catches her wrist in time to place it against his cheek. He likes this; feeling her touch.

"I... am your personal assistant." A nonchalant shrug of her shoulders, a habit of hers (now how did he know that?), which tells him she's playing it off as though they don't have more than an employer and subordinate relationship.

"And your name?"

"Trust you to not even remember this. It's Sooyoung. Choi Sooyoung." His breath stutter, the rapid bombardment of images between Sooyoung and Yifan flooding his brain as synapses fire on overdrive, the pain driving consciousness to the brink as warring images of Sooyoung and a sick-looking young girl in the hospital fought to surface before he once again submits to the painless darkness.

The only thing he desperately grasp onto, the only name that truly matters, as he floats between sleep and consciousness is three simple word; 

Choi Sooyoung.