Part 3 - Chapter 16
I Wanna Love16
Niel’s fever stayed for days, spiking Monday night and influencing his restless dreams.
He was in an empty train station. He could see scrawls of graffiti on the wall that he thought he recognised but he couldn’t place where he was in the city. The electronic boards, usually colourful and filled with information, were empty. There were no trains coming or going through here. He was waiting for something though, standing in the middle of the platform looking left and right for any sign of his train.
As he looked down to the left he spied a single person; they were simply standing, waiting too. It seemed they hadn’t noticed Niel yet, so he set off towards them. As he moved he noticed more and more people on the platform, how had he thought he was alone here? Niel was determined to get to the man that he had first spotted though, he seemed to know what was going on here. He would know what they were waiting for.
Niel felt like he had been walking for almost a minute. How long could this platform be? He increased his pace and seemed to go no faster. The man hadn’t even noticed him. Niel called out but his voice emerged as a small squeak instead. He shook his head frustrated. He tried again. Nothing. Niel cast around to ask one of the other people to help him call out to this strange man. The station was empty again. Had a train already come and gone, taking all the people with it?
When he turned back to the only soul left in the station with him, he was finally looking directly at Niel. A slight smile on his lips, the long black braids held back by goggles on his head.
“Are you waiting for something?” He asked, his voice a garble of noise.
“Yes.” Niel’s voice was still only a squeak.
“You’d better hurry.” The man seemed to be sliding backwards away from him, “Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry…” His voice sounded loud in Niel’s ears even as the distance between them grew.
Niel woke with a gasp, his throat was sore as though he had been talking in his sleep. He coughed and sat up in bed. His sheets were damp with sweat and he needed water. Hopefully his fever had broken through the night.
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Changhyun pushed his way through the apartment door; he was dead tired, any time Mr Worthington was away Changhyun was left to do twice the amount of work. Tonight he had stayed back to conference call into a meeting with his boss. With that finished he had another pile of notes to finish before coming home. Now he was finally able to just go to bed.
His apartment lights were already on, and something smelt delicious. After kicking off his shoes and putting them away he stepped into the apartment proper. Jonghyun was laying on his couch, eyes focused on the TV: glazed with tiredness. He looked up when he heard Changhyun chuckle.
“Hey.” He said softly.
“Hey yourself.” Changhyun replied, wandering over to the couch, removing his suit jacket as he went. With the jacket folded and resting over a chair he sat on the couch beside Jonghyun.
“How was work?” Jonghyun rubbed his eyes and jaw, trying to wake up a little more.
“It was long. And busy.” Changhyun replied, running his fingers over the very slight stubble that had begun to show on Jonghyun’s chin.
“Mm. I made dinner for you. I hope you like it. I’m not a great cook.”
“I’m sure it will be delicious.” Changhyun kissed his hair before getting to his feet again. “I’m just going to have a shower first, ok?”
Jonghyun heaved himself upright and stood as well.
“Can I come along?” He asked with a smirk.
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Byunghun snuggled beneath the doona, scooting closer to Chanhee and wrapping his arms around him. Chanhee smiled and set his phone down on the side table, taking off his glasses and setting them down with the phone.
“Hello there,” Chanhee said, sliding an arm beneath Byung’s neck and rolling to face him.
“Hi,” Byunghun replied, he braced himself mentally, “We need to talk about something.”
“Ok. What are we talking about?” Chanhee nodded, eyes serious.
“You.”
“Me. What about me?”
“You… threatened Jonghyun a
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