As the excruciatingly taller man took a sip of the drink I had gotten for him as I went to get myself one, I could feel my mind racing to every which way possible as I questioned, loudly, in my head how he knew about Donghae. What he knew about Donghae. My curiosity was finally getting the best of me as it felt like my Donghae was slipping away from me little by little and it had to be stopped.

“Where should I start?” He cleared his throat lightly as he continued on, “you see, Hyukjae, Donghae isn’t really who or what you think he is.”

Staring at the Zhou Mi named person, sandwich long forgotten at my side, a very audible gulp escaped me. “What do you mean?”

He sighed, “I think it would be best if I began by telling you of who I am. Hyukjae, do you believe in Heaven and Hell?”

I nodded lightly.

“Well, you see, in between both of those two places exists a place of which I am in charge of. An in between area for souls as they go through their journey to the next world.”

“You mean like, limbo?” I asked, feeling my throat far too dry even with the drink I had just taken a sip from.

Nodding as his fingers intertwined themselves on his knee, he gave off a gentle smile. “Precisely. Limbo. I know it’s a little hard to process,” he said, turning to look at me and clearly being distraught by whatever look was on my face.

“Well, I did kind of fall in love with a cat that turns into a human…”

With a light chuckle, he pat at my thigh lightly,  “oh! Yes! There’s that detail. Of course,” as a light hue of pink made its way on to his cheeks, he cleared his throat once again. “Well, yes. I am the ruler of Limbo. You see, I wait for all the souls there whether they came in when their correct time was done or whether they arrived there far too early before their appropriate time. Hyukjae, Donghae came to me far beyond his time. That is how I know him.”

A cold chill ran down my spine and my drink had quickly escaped my grasp and splashed lightly on both of our pants.

As neither of us were really bothered from the mess, Zhou Mi continued as he noticed my silence. “Donghae was 24 years old when I first met him. He had come to my domain and both the Archangel and Devil had said that they had no want of him. No need, really since it wasn’t his time to be there yet so it was up to me to decide what to do with his soul. You see, often times an early soul will either wind up taking a job as either a grim reaper or a guardian angel in order to fulfill the short stay with me but there are times when, if they chose to, they can be transferred to the soul of an animal and wait there if the circumstances are proper.”

“How do mean by proper?” I finally asked in a hushed tone.

“Proper circumstances imply that their body is still awake while  their mind is not. They are, as you humans have come to call it ‘brain dead’.”

My world began to shake. Sure, I knew that the fact that Donghae having once been a cat suddenly turn human was strange beyond words but I wasn’t sure that I was ready to even think of an explanation to it all and yet, here I was with this being as he explained to me the nuances of the afterlife.

“So, you mean to tell me that Donghae’s actual body is lying somewhere in the world brain dead?”
 

Zhou Mi nodded lightly.

“Then, how was it possible that he’s been human… and with me all of this time?”

“The circumstances were special to say the least. He had been content in leading his life as a cat for as long as he had. It’s been about 4 years that he has lived in that life. Well, nearing 5 now seeing as he has been with you for most of the last year. There have been a few occasions in which the early souls have found their soulmates in their ‘altered life’. It’s not extremely common but some bonds are just that beyond our power at times.”

“But, my Donghae, is he the one that I know?” I asked, afraid of the question. Afraid of knowing just exactly what this all entailed.

“Technically, the ‘Donghae’ that you see is the one that’s his true self. The one you’ve felt all along has been a borrowed body but it is mostly him.”

“So, if he’s been out and about with me all this time, why didn’t anyone ever come up to us if they had recognized him?”

Zhou Mi’s smile was grim now, “well, humans who wind up in their altered life back as humans again, do take back their features to show their mate and only their mate. Outwardly, to anyone else, they have a different face.”

“So, the Donghae I see is not the Donghae everyone else sees?”

“Precisely. If ever a familiar of the person in their altered life ran into them, it would be a great distraction and contradiction to what they have come to know of their loved ones. Especially as they have seen their loved one ‘asleep’ for so long.”

“Will I… Can I meet the real Donghae? Is that even possible?”

Zhou Mi looked back at me, eyes full of sadness yet understanding at my words. “If you are willing to do so, Hyukjae. As it is, your ‘Donghae’ is starting to revert back to his cat persona.”

He was right. The times when Donghae had remained as a human had become more and more few and far between nowadays.

“Am I losing him?”

Zhou Mi shook his head lightly, “no. It’s something else. I can take you to him if you’re curious to see him.”

Sitting in silence for a few minutes, I momentarily excused myself from Zhou Mi’s side to report back into work  that I had suddenly taken ill. My stomach in knots as all of the new knowledge swirled inside my head.

I had to meet Donghae.

-----

In an effort to make sure that cat Donghae was still back at home and in the form I had seen him wandering about for a little less than a week now, I quickly made sure to drop off my bag from work and have a change of clothes.

Cat Donghae and Choco were happily cuddled with each other sleeping as I got to the apartment. Donghae, waking up and noticing my presence, quickly wandered over to me and stood meowing up at me to get my attention as I changed.

I bent down to pet his back and pick him up in my arms. “I hope you don’t mind me doing this…”

Donghae blinked and up at my jaw with his sandpaper like tongue.  A soft, inquisitive meow rang and I pet the top of his head lightly. “You know, right? You know Zhou Mi?”

His eyes suddenly grew big and incessant meowing suddenly filled the entire room.

“Do you know who you are, Donghae?” I asked seemingly pointlessly as Donghae’s meows kept going on wildly. I knew he wanted to say so much. As I set him down on the floor, he followed me towards the door; his meowling never ceasing. “I’m sorry, Donghae. I can’t understand you right now and I need to follow Zhou Mi. I really, really hope that we can talk soon. I know you have a lot to say and… I’m not sure if I’ll be able to explain everything to you as well.”

Donghae sat in the front of the door as I was digging my feet into my shoes before heading out. Saying I’m sorry to him, I could only head out the door and towards what was waiting for me as a soft mewl was given to me by Donghae.

-----

I met up with Zhou Mi in front of a hospital that was nearly 30 minutes away from where I lived. Breathlessly waving at him as I tried to catch my breath, his smile seemed to have been missing.

“Are you completely sure you want to do this, Hyukjae?” He asked, his tone now as solemn as if I was about to be told extremely bad news.

Nodding, I followed after him as he headed into Southern Seoul Metropolitan Hospital. Passing the information desk and walking as if we knew where going, I wondered if anyone else was able to see Zhou Mi besides me given his… stature in life. Or death. Whatever.

As we were in the elevator, I noticed that Zhou Mi’s gentle smile had returned to his face. Just to make sure that I wasn’t talking to myself, I asked him why he was doing so as we had finally headed down a somewhat empty corridor alone.

“Hospitals are an interesting melting pot of humans. I noticed many that will wind up making me a visit in that elevator today.”

“And that pleases you?”

“I do get lonely somewhat easily up there, Hyukjae,” he looked at me and pouted and couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculously childish this higher being looked.

A couple of minutes of walking and we had stopped in front of a door. The sign to the right of it proclaiming that an “Aiden Lee” resided there. Steeling myself up, hands shaking yet balled up, I felt Zhou Mi’s hand on my shoulder. Nodding lightly at the door, I opened it and headed inside of the room.

I was met with the sight of the Donghae I had known and loved but this Donghae was different. In this sleep state, I smiled fondly at the face I was so familiar with yet taken aback by his seemingly frail body in its vegetative state.

Slowly walking towards the bed that held the frail Donghae, I tentatively placed a hand on top of his nearly skeletal one. Tears had started to pool in my eyes and fall quickly from them.

This Donghae, this person in front of me, I knew who he was yet I wasn’t sure. I was so terrified.

I could hear Zhou Mi sighing somewhere from behind me as I took Donghae’s hand in mine and squeezed it lightly.

“Donghae was probably not ever meant to meet you, Hyukjae. His cat persona was only a transitory time before he was to be let go of by his family. That time came very close, Hyukjae. His family had decided to pull the plug by the end of last month until the doctors informed them that there had been some brain activity once again.”

His words echoed inside my ears but everything was starting to feel and sound far too surreal.

“You see, had he not met you and taken interest in you, he would be on his way towards being reincarnated by now. That means you would have lost Donghae in a rather fast and unprecedented manner as well. He would have disappeared one day and with him, have taken all of your memories and the memories of everyone else that knew him away. You would have never have known he existed.”

I could feel my grip on Donghae’s hand tightening harshly at the thought of never having the memory of Donghae. Tears fell faster now and the sobs I was trying to muffle came in loud bursts as my body fell to the ground.

“Had he not loved you, everything would have been simpler, Hyukjae. But, he took notice of you, became interested and came to me and asked if I could make him human. Asked if he could lead a life with you since it was the happiest he had ever felt he had been.”

It was a miracle that I could hear Zhou Mi’s words at all in between my loud sobs. It was also great that none of the nurses had heard my wails of despair as well.

“Hyukjae, this man, Aiden Lee, is on the verge of waking up. That’s why your Donghae is almost nowhere in sight. His soul is getting ready to make the transition back to where it belongs. I think you two should have a talk before the Donghae you know disappears and comes back to this man.”

With his final words, he leaned down and hugged me tightly. I could only feel myself break in his embrace. I had so many questions I had wanted to ask this creature but nothing could stop the way my heart felt at that moment.

I wasn’t aware of the twitch of Donghae’s hand as I cried into Zhou Mi’s chest.

-----

As I made my way back home, closing the door softly behind me, I was taken into a tight embrace as soon as I knew what was even going on. Sighing at the hug that Donghae had given me, I wrapped my arms behind his back and caressed it softly.

“Hyukkie… I meant to tell you about Zhou Mi,” his voice almost a whisper against my ear.

“I know,” I said as I more at his back and broke our hug softly. Seeing that his eyes were almost seemingly as red as mine probably were, I took a hold of his hand and guided him to the sofa and we both sat down facing each other.

“It’s almost time for me to go, Hyukjae.”

“I know.”

“I’ve had the greatest time of my life here with you and Choco,” with one hand tightly in mine, he caressed the top of my hand with his free one.

I sighed and reached my hand up to his cheek to it lightly, “do you remember anything about your previous life?”

He shook his head, “I only know the life before I met you and the life after meeting you.”

“I’ll go meet you. Zhou Mi said it would be okay if I did so.”

His face finally lit up as he squeezed my hand with his. “Are you sure? Do you still want to be with me after all of this?”

Arching my lips into a small smile, I pulled his face close to mine and kissed his lips softly. “Donghae, you are the man I love. I would go through heaven or hell to find you no matter what.”

Noticing that tears had begun to escape him, I brushed a few away from his cheek as they fell. “You love this stupid cat? This pointless being that just happened to wander to your life?”

Leaning our foreheads together, I pinched his cheek gently, “you have never been a pointless being to me, Donghae. You are not pointless now and you will never be when you wake up and we meet again where you’re supposed to be.”

His face brightening up at my words, he leaned in to kiss me softly again. “You’re willing to have me in your life all over again?”

“Of course, you dufus! I plan to keep you for as long as we both shall live!”

Without another word, I was swept into Donghae’s tight embrace. His sobs filled the room and were soon joined with mine. We held on tightly as the life ahead of us both frightened us yet looked ever so brightly in our eyes.