The ride to his apartment is a quiet one. Joonmyeon had spent hours at Yifan's place and left shortly before midnight, and a glance at the time makes him realize that he had been away from his home for almost 24 hours, a record for him. He sighs tiredly, rubbing his right eye with his knuckle as the event of the day seems to slam into him, tiring and beating him up. Joonmyeon considers stopping at the roadside so he could sober up a little but he just wants to go home immediately. He can already hear his bed calling for him.

"Joonmyeon."

Joonmyeon jumps and the car swerves a little, but he quickly has it under control before glaring at the presence on the front passenger seat. Yifan looks less than amused himself, and Joonmyeon frowns.

"You scared me, Fan."

"And you're going to get yourself killed." Yifan deadpans. "There's a store upfront. Stop there and get something warm to keep you awake."

"I'm fine." Joonmyeon argues.

Yifan frowns deeper and Joonmyeon thinks that the other is about to explode. Even though Yifan is merely a spirit (or whatever he is), he still looks scary and even his face has turned red in anger. In fact, he looks scarier that way. Huffing an annoyed breath, Joonmyeon does as he says and parks his car right outside the store before shutting off the engine and throwing Yifan a nasty glare.

"I said I was fine, Wu Yifan." he scowls.

Yifan scoffs. "Yeah? Let's argue about that more after you wake up."

"I am-"

"Now, Kim Joonmyeon."

Joonmyeon groans and goes into the store, not forgetting to slam the car door shut loudly and rather childishly as he leaves the car, and scowls as he takes in the things around him. There are rows and rows of snacks, beverages, sweets and many more, and there is also a young man sitting behind the counter, looking like he was about to fall asleep. Joonmyeon marches to the automatic coffee machine at the very back of the store and fills himself a cup before taking a seat by the window, and when he sips onto the hot beverage, he shivers. The caffeine immediately kicks in and Joonmyeon feels his system whirring back up, and he feels more awake after dawning half a cup.

"Feeling better?" Joonmyeon turns his head to see Yifan standing smug with his arms in his coat pocket, arching a brow at him. He scoffs and is about to refute when he takes note of Yifan's outfit.

He's wearing something different. The first time Yifan showed up, he wore a blue knitted sweater and black pants, and Joonmyeon didn't realize the other outfits he had wore after that since he didn't pay attention. But now Yifan is wearing a white dress shirt, slim fit black jeans that was fashionably torn at his knees, his favourite Air Jordan sneakers and a dark blue coat. He looks like a model.

No surprise there.

"You look good," Joonmyeon decides to say aloud. "I didn't realize that you can change outfits in your condition."

"What condition? Dying?" Yifan scoffs and takes a seat beside him. Joonmyeon wants to chide him for saying it like that but he knows that it's the truth. His shoulders visibly sag and turns away from Yifan to stare out the window. "Joonmyeon, did you ever find out how I got into that car accident?" Yifan asks quietly, making him turn to the other again.

"You were trying to avoid a motorbike and hit the barriers before your car turned turtleback." Joonmyeon replies after swallowing hard.

"...yeah."

***

He recalls that night very well.

Joonmyeon had been nervous for a job interview the next morning but the feeling somehow intensified as the night grew deeper and he was unable to contact Yifan at all. The man had been busy as of late; Yifan was a rising model and he's been receiving lots of offers, even from abroad, and has been extremely busy so Joonmyeon figured that Yifan would call him back when he could. But instead he got a call from Yifan's mother who was sobbing badly on the other end of the line just as he was about to head to bed, and Joonmyeon felt his world shatter the moment he got the news.

Yifan had gotten into a car accident.

Joonmyeon remembers driving to the hospital in a lighting speed, unaware that he has broken a few traffic rules, and found himself on the doorstep of the closed operating room where Yifan's mother and cousins were hurdled, sobbing and crying for his best friend. Joonmyeon remembers falling onto his knees when the doctors came out and told him that his best friend had fallen into a coma, and he remembers crying so hard in Sehun's chest until he fell unconscious.

"I was sleepy that night," Yifan says as Joonmyeon begins to zone back in. "I hardly had a good night sleep that week after all the photoshoots and commercial shootings."

"But you still drove out by yourself?"

"I did. Even when I knew I shouldn't."

Joonmyeon frowns at that. "B-But why? Why would you risk your life like that even when you knew it was dangerous?" he asks, breathing hard.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter