The weeks that came and went as time passed, I would either spent them at work or at Donghae's beside.

Not too long ago, cat Donghae had left the apartment and never returned. To say that I was worried out of my mind at his lack of return was an understatement.

I could feel that even Choco felt reckless at the lack of our companion.

The nurses had taken to know me by name as I had asked to be the one to give Donghae sponge baths and take care of him as much as I could. I had lied that I was a cousin that had grown up with him who had just found out about his condition. They took my worry for devastation of the sudden news and they weren't too far away from how I actually felt.

his face clean with a damp towel, I moved his slightly longer hair than I had grown accustomed to to the side of his head.

"Donghae, Sora misses you. She tells me how she misses having her drama watching buddy. She says that she's been recording everything so that you two can watch it when you return from your trip."

Dipping the towel into the water basin and wringing it dry, I continued to wash down his neck and into his frail collarbone. I couldn't help but feel so utterly helpless because of the body of this creature next to me.

"I've been making some progress at work, Donghae. One of the producers would like for me to do a field test for some small time news but he seems to want to give me a try which I'm more than grateful for."

Finishing cleaning him for the day, I sat next to the bed and clung gently onto his left hand. It was so strange seeing him so docile as the only noises that escaped him were that of his gentle breaths.

Often I would be woken by the nurses as they notified me visiting hours had ended. With a gentle peck on his sunken cheeks, I would return to my quiet apartment with my eyes stinging from having cried too hard on the way home.

-----

Being woken up from my very broken up sleep pattern one morning, I had found Zhou Mi and his impossible bright smile one morning at my door.

"You could pick a more reasonable time to visit, y'know?"

He made his way into the living room and greeted Choco who was precariously away from him. With good reason.

"Ah, yes. You humans and your concept of time," as he kept wagging his hand trying to beckon Choco to him, he looked me up and down as I tried my best to push sleep's embrace away from me. "I thought I would join you in your visit of Aiden today."

"Donghae."

"It's Aiden, Hyukjae. Don't forget that."

Glaring at Zhou Mi and mumbling a few obscenities as I made my way into my room to change, I came back to spot my visitor slowly inching towards Choco as he still failed to get her attention properly.

"Am I to guess that you're not good with animals?" I asked, amused at the sight in front of me as I brushed my teeth.

"Animals go to a different place than humans so I don't particularly deal with them as the actual beings they are." He was by now making weird cooing noises at Choco in hopes to land on her good graces.

Having fished getting ready and petting Choco before leaving, I noticed that she was wagging her tail, to Zhou Mi's delight, as he bid her farewell.

-----

Stepping into the hospital accompanied by this being, I couldn't help but wonder why he had suddenly graced me with his presence. "So, what brings you here?"

"Besides being able to escape the company of a rather unbearable Devil in Limbo, I wanted to take in the sights. It's a lovely day, don't you think?"

Raising my eyebrows lightly at his weird explanation, I decided it was best to not ask the man any further questions.

As we approached Donghae's room, I saw a nurse wander out with a tray from it. Soon, peeking my head into his room, I was met by an unfamiliar back of a woman who I could only assume was Donghae's mother. Her sudden movement as she noticed someone at the door, caused the greatest shock in me as she had revealed a very awake Donghae who was sitting up slightly thanks to his bed.

Stopping dead in my tracks yet wanting to rush over to him, I held my ground as I soon found the new woman staring up at me with questioning eyes as she clung lightly to my shirt.

"You're the one. The one the nurses told me that has been at his side all these weeks, aren't you?" Her voice was meek yet inquisitive.

Nodding lightly yet never taking my eyes away from Donghae's, I held on to the frail woman's shoulder to keep me steady.

"He's just woken up, not too long ago."

“Can I…?”

I didn’t wait for a reply from Donghae’s mother yet simply made my way to the right ride of his bed. His eyes keep staring deeply into mine.

“It was such a shock to see him awake so suddenly. The doctors had let us know about the possibility of him waking up but we never thought it possible.” She had taken to the left side of the bed and took Donghae’s hand in hers. “I’m so glad that someone has been looking out for my little boy. If I may, could I know your name.”

Before I could let out any sort of noise, we both turned at the low yet strained voice that spoke out suddenly.

“Hyukjae…”

Without pause, not fully taking in everything that was happening, I had lunged at Donghae as I took his upper body into a tight hug. Sobbing into his poor, newly awaken ears as what felt like never ending tears fell out of me. I could feel his hand lightly attach itself to the back of my head and to feel him once again with the knowledge that he knew who I was launched me into a set of loud wails which I could I could hear him trying to shush as he said that everything was okay in a set of whispers to my ear.

Feeling the Donghae’s other hand suddenly on my back and his mother’s patting me lightly as well, she sniffed lightly before pulling her hand back. “Thank you, Hyukjae. Thank you for looking after him when I couldn’t. When I had given up hope. Thank you so much for being here for him…”

It took me a while of crying as I had emptied out all of my fears into Donghae’s shoulder, I finally took a seat on the edge of his bed as his mother had excused herself to give us some space.

He reached for my chin as I tried to wipe away any traces of liquid that still remained on my face. His voice was soft and strained as he started, “Hyukjae… You’re here. You came for me…”

Taking his hand and cradling it against my face with my hands, I smiled softly at the man in front of me. “Of course I came you fool! I told you I would go through heaven or hell for you. Why would you think I wouldn’t come for you?”

He smiled and tried to say something yet his words were accompanied by a coughing fit.

“Hae, don’t. We have all the time in the world now. You can tell me everything you want when the time is due, okay?”

He nodded and let go of my face. Our hands intertwining and stupid grins were shared as we sat in silence. After a while, I leaned into his face as I placed my forehead against his, “so, Aiden, was it? Would you like to be my boyfriend for real this time?”

His reply was none other than a soft turning of his head so that he had a better position to take over my lips. I could feel him smile into the melding of our lips and the heard the soft calls of my name into the kiss.

Coming up for air a few moments later, as we breathed into each other, I softly poked his side with one hand as I caressed his cheek with the other. “So, should I take that as a yes?”

“You should take it as an I love you, Hyukjae,” and his stupid smile that I had missed for quite a while now kissed my lips lightly and left me practically in the moon overjoyed with emotions.

“I love you so much, Donghae….”

A laugh. A tight embrace and such overwhelming joy filled the room before Donghae’s mother walked in and coughed thus breaking us apart as we both looked back at her sheepishly.

-----

It took grueling weeks which turned into months of therapy in order for Donghae to get into a somewhat stable shape. The hospital having become almost a second home to me as I accompanied Donghae to most of his therapy and meeting everyone of Donghae’s immediate family had been a part of everything that went down.

His family openly accepted me as their son’s boyfriend although the curiosity over how we had met and how I had been so patient for their son, seemed to have lead into some serious tears by his mother and his father giving me death grip like hugs. I could see his brother on the verge of tears once yet he had chosen to only shake my hand and warn me that if I ever hurt his brother, he would find me and most likely kill me.

About two months and a half into his rehab, the doctors had given the okay for Donghae to finally leave the hospital.

Wandering back to my apartment leaning on a cane, he was quickly greeted by an ecstatic Choco who had swiftly climbed onto Donghae’s lap as he sat in the sofa and away eagerly at his face.

“Choco, please. Don’t smother me too much,” Donghae whined the midst of slobbery kisses. Choco barked at him wildly and he pet away at her head, “I’m sorry. I can’t understand you anymore.” Choco whined, “but, hey, I promise that I won’t leave any time soon if at all.”

Her loud barks filled the room as she fell to the floor and ran about in happy circles of celebration.

Bringing a wet cloth to wash away Choco’s slobber, I handed it to Donghae as I took a seat right next to him. Placing my legs on top of his, I could feel how they were beginning to fill up to a healthy proportion.  “I’m really glad to see you’re starting to fill up again. It’s scary to think of how skinny you were.”

“I was scary? We were the same size! I still wonder how in the world you can keep  that slim figure with all the junk you put into your body,” poking away at my stomach, I stuck my tongue out at him at his ridiculous claims.

“So, do you think you’re up for more visitors? Sora and Kyu have been aching to see you for a while after I informed them that you had been in an accident. It took a lot of avoidance to keep Sora’s nagging to let her go see you.”

Donghae had taken to away at my thighs, “yeah, I miss her as well. I hope you aren’t giving Kyuhyun too much trouble because of your lackluster work performance.”

Pinching his neck lightly, I gave Donghae a mildly annoyed look, “hey now! I’ll have you know that I’m an exemplary employee! I should be praised more often for my hard work!”

“Oh, All Mighty Anchovy! You are the greatest employee! I should bow to your excellent skills!”

I could feel the corners of my mouth twitch in annoyance and before Donghae even knew what was coming, I was sitting on top of him and tickling away madly at his sides as he struggled very much in vain to take control of the confrontation.

“Okay! Okay! You win!” Breathless words had signaled over my victory yet Donghae had had the last laugh as he pulled my face to his and lured me into a very seductive kiss.

“Mr. Lee, are you trying to seduce me?” I asked coyly as I wrapped my hands over his shoulders. The question solicited a shrug and a wicked grin.

“Is it working?”

“Hnnn.. You’ll have to do more of it. I’ll think about it,” with a bright smile, I swept him into a deep kiss and willed away the night in a flurry of non stop kisses.

-----

Donghae had nearly toppled over the threshold as Sora had latched herself into him, sobbing into his chest that she was so glad that he was okay and that he would take care of anything he needed so he shouldn’t hesitate to ask. Petting away at her head, he looked back at me as if begging for help to remove the woman glued from him.

“Sora, he’s too weak for you to be throwing your entire weight at him.”

“Brother, are you calling me fat?”

“No? I’m just saying that he’s pretty unstable still so please chill out, will you?” Pulling Donghae back to the sofa and being deprived of the spot next to him as Sora quickly claimed it, I was interrupted by the doorbell before I let out my protests.

Kyuhyun’s bright smile brought him in with the company of a very expensive looking wine. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better, Donghae. Please stop trying to be competitive when driving, okay?”

The excuse we had put out to at least these two was that Donghae was involved in a car crash that had left him comatose for a few weeks. Not too far from the truth of why Donghae had been in a coma himself as what had originally driven him to his coma was the fact that a truck had slammed into his side of the car and had nearly claimed his life before countless surgeries had reduced him to his vegetative state.

We had spent the afternoon laughing along at stupid movies that Sora had brought over when the doorbell suddenly interrupted us as we were all gathered for the dinner that she had also made.

Staring at everyone in the room as they all shrugged at the fact that they expected no more company, I went to open the door only to be met with a very familiar bright smile that accompanied the sky blue suit.

“I come bearing housewarming gifts!” Zhou Mi exclaimed as he stepped in with a fruit basket and greeted our companions politely.

He followed me to the island in the kitchen as I had motioned him to do so. “They can see you?”

“Hyukjae, I do have the power to let my presence actually be known to those in the physical world. It’s a special night so I thought I would drop by and see how everything was going,” escaping my company, he made a beeline towards Donghae and squeezed his shoulder and introduced himself as an old friend of Donghae’s.

It was interesting how his eyes had been glued to Kyuhyun for the majority of the time and his excuse was, with a soft chuckle, that he reminded him of someone he knew that had quite the flaring temper. He had admitted that he was very fond of the man so seeing someone like him with a much more relaxed atmosphere had felt like a breath of fresh air.

The evening passed with laughter and I couldn’t help but quip at Zhou Mi for never really taking his sight off of Kyuhyun. “So, care you explain why you were practically eating my best friend with your sight?”

Zhou Mi snorted into his drink, “Hyukjae!” He looked at Donghae as if asking for help to get out of the subject and without gaining anything from Donghae, he sighed and sat his drink down. “Well, you know how I told you about devils and angels, right? Well, he’s the spitting image of a devil I’m… very fond of. It’s surprising to see him in another persona seeing as he doesn’t really apply into the entire reincarnation thing. I guess I’ll have to ask him next time I see him.”

Donghae laughed lightly at the sight of Zhou Mi’s sudden pink cheeks.

“Anyways! I came here for another reason!” He stood up, headed towards the door and opened it. A gasp escaped both Donghae and I and Choco’s head shot up from her sleep as she had felt a very familiar presence as the cat Donghae had wandered back into our lives suddenly. “I was told this friend had been aimlessly looking for his way home so I felt that I had to make sure he made it back to the only family he had known.”

Escaping Donghae’s hold, I wandered over to Choco who was very happily away at his cat companion. Bending down to reach out a hand towards him, he quickly answered my gesture with a purr as I stoked away at the top of his head. “Welcome back, buddy…”

Picking him up and taking him to were Donghae sat, I placed cat Donghae on his lap. They stared at each other for a few seconds before cat Donghae leaned up against human Donghae’s chest and away at his former human persona’s face.

“Well, we for sure have to think of a different name for him,” human Donghae called out.

“Well, it’s not like he’s a dog that will answer at his name like Choco does and it’s not like I will be yelling at you for not peeing in your litter box, now will I?”

Donghae blinked at me and both Zhou Mi and I laughed heartily at his reply.

With Zhou Mi finally having excused himself for the night, Donghae was resting in our bed with a book. Looking up from his book as the lights had seemingly dimmed in the room and putting the book away on the nightstand, he noticed how I lifted my shirt over my head and crawled on top of him as I made my way onto the bed.

“Hyukjae, are you trying to seduce me?”

A wicked grin flashed on my face before I took his lips forcefully with mine. With a break of the kiss, as I left him breathless and very clearly wanting more, I pecked back at his lips, “well, I think it’s more than about time we actually we more than just kissing, don’t you think?”

He smiled as color took to his cheek and nodded lightly, “yeah, you’ve read my mind.” Pulling me back into a kiss which was soft and lingering as our lips traced over each other then turning more demanding as his fingers intertwined themselves on my hair as I was left straddling him.

Kissing at his neck as soft moans escaped him, I bit at his neck softly as I mumbled a question into his neck.
 

“Oh… Hyukjae… What did you just say?”

“Who should top?” I asked slightly louder before he pulled my face away from his neck. He chuckled. Probably at the fact that my face was such a deep shade of red before kissing my forehead.

“I think you should do the harder work for a while. Until I recover at least.”

His soft smile guided me into more kisses and the removal of clothing. Into soft sighs and calling out each other’s names. Into maddening moans and demanding touches of each other’s bodies as we explored one another.

It had taken him a while to get to where he was physically and I could feel it on his body with each night that we had wrapped around each other’s warm embrace. I could feel it more clearly as our night of lovemaking dragged on and I couldn’t wait to have this man beneath me return to as normal as could be.

Things, well, besides him, were looking up.

-----

Waking up with added weight suddenly on my back as cat Donghae had taken to politely waking me up, looking over to my side to the still sleeping man next to me, I brushed the hair away from his face and kissed his cheek lightly.

He mumbled and shoved his face back into the pillow as I started to make my way out of the bed and shimmy into a pair of sweatpants. Heading back to the bed and kissing his back lightly, I ruffled his hair to make sure he was properly awake.

“Come on, sleepyhead! We have a long day ahead of us.”

Grumbling mildly threatening words at my direction, I patted at his underneath the covers. “I’m gonna leave you behind if you don’t hurry up, Donghae.”

Rising from his position with a slight hiss at the very obvious pain and shooting me glares full of deadly daggers, I quickly gathered an outfit for both of us and packed away at a bag to stay away for a couple of days.

“We’ve got things to do, Donghae! Hurry up and get dressed.”

Even at the train station, Donghae was still shooting deadly glares at me and mumbling incessantly since I had also refused to let him know where we were going. Choco happily sat in her carry-on bag and I tried my best to soothe at the angry man next to me with to his thigh.

“If you continue with this mood, you’re not going to enjoy our trip. If you must, you can just use my shoulder and rest some more. I can wake you when we’ve reached our destination.”

A few more mumbling words and he took my suggestion and was soon passed out on my shoulder. I pet at his head and sneakily stole a kiss to it as I hummed to myself and took in the sights as the train made its way lower into the country.

As the long journey was finally over, Donghae had stopped in his tracks as he seemingly knew where we had wandered to.

“Why are we at Mokpo?”

“Well, I did mention that I was wanting to bring you here once. Don’t you remember?”

It took him a second to remember the conversation which had lead to his current name. “What are the odds that you would bring me back to my hometown?”

I looked at him with a very obviously shocked face, “what are the odds…?”

“Well, I guess I’ll be the one showing you the sights instead. Did you make an itinerary for sightseeing, Hyukjae?”

I shook my head, “I only had the hotel and another place in mind. I guess sightseeing wouldn’t hurt at all. Unless you’d rather we just stay in the hotel for the entire trip…” Nudging at his ribs, he laughed and pushed me away.

“I haven’t been back here in more than a decade. As much as not leaving our bed sounds extremely lovely, I really would love to get to know this place once again.”

Squeezing his hand lightly, I nodded in agreement and we quickly settled into our hotel, left our bags there and settled Choco with a collar and wandered around the streets of Mokpo as Donghae dragged us to the area where he had grown up and told me all sorts of stories from his childhood.

As the day wore on, we had finally reached the one point of destination I had set for us. We sat on the sand, our feet buried in it and wiggling underneath it as Choco ran around us without much care of the world. I felt Donghae’s cheek resting against my shoulder as we watched the beautiful sunset ahead of us. Our hands held tightly together as the sunlight bounced off our twin bracelets.

Leaning in to kiss his forehead lightly, I had garnered Donghae’s attention and he leaned up to meet my lips softly. This was my paradise. This is my world. Squeezing his hand lightly, I was happy to be so in love with this sea of mine.