“Why didn't you just run away... when they came at me? Then you wouldn't have...” Chanyeol's voice trailed off and pointed at Kyungsoo's shiner that seemed to be getting darker by the minute.

“And leave you to die?” Kyungsoo's eyebrows shot up, forming a serious V-sign.

“Well... yeah, I guess.” Chanyeol chuckled.

It did sound a bit harsh if you put it like that. He had meant for Kyungsoo to run to safety first before calling an ambulance. Instead Kyungsoo risked his life for him, the life he was trying to save. But Kyungsoo had a point, it might have been too late. Those thugs sure packed a hefty punch.

Kyungsoo's saddened eyes looked straight into his soul. Chanyeol shifted his position uncomfortably, feeling guilty even though he didn't do anything wrong.

“You really think I would do that?” Kyungsoo asked in a low whisper, his lower lip forming a pout. He looked genuinely disappointed.

What happened? There was almost no trace left of the Kyungsoo he had encountered the first two times around. Where was that feisty, self-righteous guy? Had the brush with death changed him? Or was he possessed by a ghost with a much nicer personality? Chanyeol felt like he was stuck in the twilight zone. On the outside, Kyungsoo looked exactly the same, but his demeanor could not have been more different. Maybe this was a ploy, a trick to throw Chanyeol off his game. It was working.

“Ehm, kind of,” Chanyeol said, putting up an awkward smile. He didn't know what to say. It was ridiculous to deny it, but too harsh to flat out confirm it.

“I mean, uhm, you know, heh, you thought I was a con-artist and made it pretty clear that you did not want me within a two-mile radius ever again. I would rather have thought you would have called the cops on me instead of an ambulance.”

Chanyeol chuckled feebly, trying to keep the atmosphere light, fully expecting Kyungsoo to rip his throat out.

“And yet, you still helped me.”

Kyungsoo looked at him like he was a real-life saint. Chanyeol couldn't tell him it was the furthest thing from the truth. The last thing he had wanted to do was chase him halfway across town to save him repeatedly. Chanyeol didn't have a choice, he was compelled to do it. And last time... last time he had ignored the call and let him die. He had callously abandoned him and left him for dead. He didn't want to think what would have happened had he not gone to the morgue and pleaded for a second chance. Chanyeol's insides squirmed with guilt. He was a horrible person, and yet Kyungsoo was looking at him with such warm gratitude. It cut through his heart like a scorching hot knife.

“Are you sure you're the same person as the one who threw a 10.000 won bill in my face the other day in front of the restaurant?” he joked.

Kyungsoo giggled shyly.

It was like a slap in the face, it was so out of character. It was the cutest thing Chanyeol had ever seen in his life. So soft and sweet. A joy to listen to. Perhaps Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had been based on a true story.

“Oh, yeah, that wasn't me. That's just a character I play for work,” Kyungsoo confessed, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

“Say what?”

Chanyeol understood nothing.

“Mm, I probably shouldn't be telling you this. I've never really told this to anyone, except my mom and the cops.”

Kyungsoo paused, as if trying to decide whether to continue or not.

“You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,” Chanyeol assured him, but it was half-hearted since he had about a million questions.

The curiosity got the better of him.

“But I really want to know though,” he added.

Kyungsoo laughed. It was the most beautiful sound. It tickled the inside of Chanyeol's gut. He had this low, soothing voice and when he laughed it became a bit hoarser and brighter, laced with an enchanting charm that left no one untouched. Chanyeol was sure that if Kyungsoo were to make a relaxation tape or start an ASMR channel, he would be an instant hit.

“I got scammed and cheated. More than once and more than twice.”

Kyungsoo scratched the back of his neck.

“After the business took off, even people I considered my friends started trying to stick their hand into the cookie jar. I got approached a lot by seemingly nice people who were only after my money or trying to get their fifteen minutes in the spotlight. So I had to stop trusting everyone. To protect myself, I built this feisty persona to scare people off. But I'm afraid I might be turning into that person. I spend most of my time at work, so I rarely get to be myself,” Kyungsoo confessed, his cheeks turning into a pair of tomatoes.

Chanyeol just stared at him, not knowing what to say. He got the urge to lunge forward and hug him, but thankfully his injuries prevented him from such foolishness.

Chanyeol made the hospital his home for nearly a month. Kyungsoo brought him food every single day, sometimes breakfast, other times lunch. But the best times were when he brought dinner. He would always stay for a while, keeping him company, but dinner was when he stayed the longest. Every so often he wouldn't leave until after midnight and a couple of times he spent the night.

Kyungsoo wasn't a man of many words, but he meant the few he did speak. They played cards or listened to music, and sometimes they just sat in silence. But it wasn't the familiar uncomfortable silence that made you strain for something to say, rather it was warm and all-encompassing. Like a hug. And that laugh of his. Ah, Chanyeol was hooked on it. He was prepared to do almost anything to get his next fix.

Usually, people counted down the days until they could be discharged from the hospital. But Chanyeol dreaded it more than anything. Once all signs of his injuries disappeared, Kyungsoo's guilt would too. And then he might never see him again. Unless he had to save him, but a whole month had passed without any fatal mishaps or deja vus. If not for the hospitalization, he would have thought he imagined the whole thing. He was glad Kyungsoo was safe, but he had lost the only thing that connected them together. Soon he would have no excuse to see him.

“I have a car waiting at the entrance,” the bundle of bags said as it got caught in the narrow doorway.

Chanyeol chuckled, using the end of one of his crutches to prevent the door from shutting in Kyungsoo's face. Kyungsoo had offered to give him a ride home. Beggars couldn't be choosers. Chanyeol didn't really have anyone in his corner. Not since Donghae. It felt nice to be taken care of.

The car ride was silent except for Chanyeol's noisy thoughts. If he simply gave Kyungsoo his number, the ball would be in Kyungsoo's court. What if he didn't throw the ball back? He could always ask for Kyungsoo's number, but what if he said no? He settled on asking to exchange kakao messenger IDs. It was less intrusive and that way it went both ways. Rather than breaking the seemingly sacred silence in the car, Chanyeol waited until Kyungsoo helped him inside.

“Thanks for all the help. I wonder if we could exchan...” Chanyeol started but Kyungsoo's phone rudely interrupted him.

“What? When? I'll be right there,” Kyungsoo said and hurried out the door without so much as a goodbye.

A week passed and Chanyeol nearly died from boredom. Working from home was not all that it was cracked up to be. The lack of human contact was killing him. However, the real cause of death was the fact that Kyungsoo hadn't checked up on him at all. Not once. He had been sure he would drop by with some food sooner rather than later, but apparently, Kyungsoo's newfound niceness had all been an act. He had probably just been making sure Chanyeol wouldn't sue him for having indirectly caused his injuries.

Just before midnight, as he hobbled into his bed, Chanyeol felt it. That familiar pull. He got the sudden urge for hospital coffee. Was Kyungsoo in the hospital? Without hesitation, he crawled out of bed with difficulty and into the next taxi. He had promised himself never to ignore such a hunch again, and he had meant it. From now on he was going to drop everything and head straight to wherever his intuition brought him. Hopefully, leaving right away meant being able to save Kyungsoo on the first try.

His heart racing, Chanyeol threw himself out of the car. But his heart was the only thing that was racing. In the frantic chaos, he had forgotten his crutches so he barely managed to limp at the speed of a snail to the hospital entrance. Thankfully, the coffee shop was right in the lobby.

“Twenty-nine, thirty. Breathe.”

“Nothing.”

“I'm calling it. Time of death 00:44.”

A woman in a white doctor's coat stopped doing compressions on an unconscious person lying on the floor. Chanyeol could only see their feet, but he recognized the expensive shoes right away. He didn't want to believe it, loads of rich guys wore those types of shoes. Clutching to empty hope, he pushed through the spectators only to have his hunch confirmed. On the floor lay Kyungsoo, his face stoic in a faint shade of blue.

Nearly throwing up, Chanyeol felt like he had been punched in the stomach. Not so long ago he had had the painful pleasure of an actual punch in the abdomen, but this was worse. Collapsing next to Kyungsoo's motionless body, he tried shaking him awake.

“Sir, do you know this man? We need to contact the next of kin.”

Chanyeol didn't answer. He couldn't answer. The lump in his throat prevented any kind of sound from escaping.

“Sir, sir. I'm so sorry, but we couldn't save him.”

“No, no, no,” he refused to listen to reason and took Kyungsoo into his arms, “No, no.”

It felt like everything was happening in slow motion. He couldn't be dead. Why wasn't he opening his eyes? Now that he knew Kyungsoo, watching him die was a thousand times harder.

“Sir, you need to let go now.”

He tightened his grip, desperately waiting for time to turn back. Why wasn't it rewinding?

The doctors wrestled Kyungsoo's lifeless body away from him, putting him on a stretcher. Chanyeol's chest constricted as he watched them wheel him away, a sharp icicle being hammered through his heart. As he keeled over from the pain, he noticed a half-eaten muffin out the corner of his eye. Kyungsoo's muffin.