A/N What happened to Matthew can be found on the N-CITY Series; News for You, Jisung's story. This is kind of rushed and badly written, so apologies for that. I hate emotional scenes LOL

My love goes out of my heart and into the wind
Out my guitar and under your skin
Into your house and out of your headphones

My love goes out of your door and into the street
Down through the floor and up through your feet
Into your car and out of your radio
That's where my love goes

-Where my love goes, Lawson

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It was similar to a dream and I stood beside Matthew who had his hand wrapped around mine, the male tightening his grip before he shuddered. Cold-- He could feel cold now. I was still in a state of shock, telling myself that I had every right to be happy because I could touch him and he was right there in front of me.

As we made our way past the park, my legs froze and stopped walking, Matthew looking back at me in surprise. I blinked, wondering if I should say it or maybe I could act like I was happy because that was what he expected of me.

"What's wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I blurted out, my hands going into fists. I was frustrated and it was taking all of me to not scream at him. "You should have told me, Matthew. If you told me, I'd be prepared to lose you after 7 days."

He knew what I meant, Matthew's facial expression faltering and I looked away. It was Christmas but in 7 days, it would be New Year and after that-- I would be welcoming the next 365 days without Matthew beside me.

"Bora...," his voice trailed and he sighed, stepping closer before taking my hand. My arms were trembling and he pulled me against his chest once more, his grip tightening. "I made my mind up suddenly."

It had dawned to me that what Kyungsoo said about death was true. It was a cycle but it hurt people who were left behind and I never worried about that because I've always seen spirits. But now that it was Matthew, I didn't know what to feel.

With me buried against his chest under the streetlights, all I could do was close my eyes and tell myself to make the best out of every moment I had with him.

"Why?" I asked suddenly, Matthew looking down at me.

"Why what?"

"Why Free Will? After all this time?"

I knew why. I knew Mark played a big role in making him make his decision.

"Because Bora." Matthew pressed his lips together, sighing. "I rather be solid for seven days then be a ghost for the rest of my life."
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Going back home, I was nervous. I had no idea what to tell my father. Would it be better if Matthew slept with Kyungsoo? What would Kyungsoo say? More so, would Baekhyun actually believe me?

Matthew wanted it to be dramatic and before I knew it, I had sent a couple of texts out from my flip phone to the members of The Bracelet Club. I let Matthew open the door to which he happily did, finding joy in the simplest things such as running his fingers across the lockers and feeling the ridges between the spaces.

"Did you call the rest?"

"I did," I was still down but I didn't want to show it to Matthew, knowing that he deserved every bit of happiness. I wouldn't ruin it for him. "Where are you going?"

"The rooftop! Bring them there! Keep it a secret," he lowered his voice down to a whisper as if there were people we knew around us but it was just an empty hallway. I saw him bound up the stairs despite there being an elevator. I saw him stop halfway to point at the elevator before announcing a little bit too loudly.

"And I will ride you very soon, you fine piece of metal."

And he was gone, huffing and puffing up the stairs.

I finally went up to my house and when the door opened, I saw that Father Kyungmin was in a deep conversation with my father.

"And I mean, he's a good kid. It's just we have a one-bedroom apartment so it's hard--"

"Oh, it's fine. Kyungsoo was such a good presence when he stayed over. I'm sure his cousin will be no different."

"Hey...," I greeted, my father looking over at me. I asked them where Kyungsoo and Baekhyun was, a knowing smile on Father Kyungmin's face when I entered Baekhyun's room to see that he and Kyungsoo were under a blanket. "Baek?"

The lights were off and the only light from Baekhyun's room was the light from a flashlight. From the giggles and Kyungsoo's deep voice, I could tell that he was telling Baekhyun scary stories. I flipped the lights on, Baekhyun letting out a blood-curdling scream.

"Bora," Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes at me after throwing the blanket to the side. Baekhyun was on his stomach, his face pressed hilariously against his fluffy pillow. "What's wrong?"

His question was cut off by a voice from behind me, his father standing behind me with his hands behind his back.

"Child," he paused, glancing at Kyungsoo who wasn't paying attention to us but folding the blanket, Baekhyun still laying like a log. "The guardian angel. Is he solid?"

That was when I realized that Kyungsoo's father was the handler that would be handling Matthew's Free Will. I nodded, his eyes going to his son.

"Everyone is in for a treat." He smiled and his eyes twinkled, Father Kyungmin looking very pleased. "I hope he enjoys his seven days, Bora, and I hope the aftermath won't be as hard. Go. I handled your father. He's going to be more than welcome to Matthew."

Telling Kyungsoo and Baekhyun that I had a surprise, my phone began ringing. It was the rest of the members, all of them complaining and asking why they were "summoned" and I quickly told Sehun that I wanted to spend Christmas with the people that mattered to me.

"Rooftop? What's on the rooftop? If there isn't any extra alcohol, I am going to turn livid," Sehun grumbled and I could hear Kai smacking him on the back of his neck.

"I better not see another ghost or anything," Kyungsoo warned me. "I do not want to spend my Christmas trying to make a ghost ascend."

I bit back a smile, all of us getting into the elevator when finally I pushed the door open. The only thing I forgot was that Matthew was human now and he had no coat--I would be reminded of that later. Right at that moment, everyone filed onto the rooftop when there was a cheery "Surprise!"

Matthew couldn't stop himself, Sehun raising an eyebrow at the male.

"Who are you?"

Everyone paused and I turned around to see that Chanyeol's knees had gotten wobbly, the male stumbling forward before he reached towards Matthew.

"I want whatever Chanyeol is on," Sehun continued to say when Chanyeol grabbed Matthew and hugged him tightly.

"Matthew Hyung!"

His greeting activated something that wasn't there, the air turning deadly silent when I heard a squeak from Baekhyun, his eyes blinking rapidly at the new come solid presence.

"Hyung?" Baekhyun whispered before his eyes lit up to happiness then switched to confusion then went back to ecstasy, the male rushing forward to join Chanyeol and Matthew in a big hug. "Hyung! You're real! You're--"

"I'm SOLID!" Matthew yelled out; Sehun, Kai, Minseok and Harin exchanging glances when Baekhyun began to speak.

"Wow, you really do kind of look like Mark--"

"Matthew Hyung can't look like that! He's too handsome!" Sehun complained, rubbing his head. "I'm just drunk, aren't I? I knew I shouldn't have mixed rum and vodka!"

Kai and Minseok seemed to have recognized Matthews voice, both of them jumping into the mix while Harin smiled politely at him. She had no idea how he was and how he looked like so she was a bit more distant than the rest of us.

Kyungsoo stood behind me and when I looked back; I saw that he, like his father, had his hands behind his back as he sighed to himself.

"7 days," he was murmuring to himself. "7 days left with Matthew."
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The rooftop was cold and it didn't take long for us to find warmth in each other, each and every one of us huddled together while Minseok scribbled furiously in his notebook. I asked him why he even had it with him and he answered that it was a habit at this point and he felt empty without a notebook.

"Why do I feel like fainting?" Matthew asked, Kyungsoo giving out a grunt. Sehun, after he had sobered up, had attached to his Matthew hyung like glue and claimed Matthew's left side while Kai claimed his right.

"You were a ghost and haven't eaten anything but now a human- this is why handlers are assigned to handle Free Will spirits. A lot of them don't realize they can't go around like ghosts anymore. They are now human."

"The holy timetable!" Minseok raised his little notebook in the air and everyone scooted closer than they already were. Harin placed her head on my shoulder and I patted her head- such a sweet, sweet girl.

"Wait! This is not fair! Why do you get two hours?" Sehun berated Minseok, the male slyly pocketing the notebook and removing it from our sight. "Change it, change it right now--"

"Well, we all have seven days and on some days one of you will be able to get two hours. But me first." Minseok glared at Sehun, wagging a finger at him. "I'm older."

"You only use that reason when you want something!"

"Let's not fight, guys. And besides, don't you forget that Matthew needs to sleep too," I reminded them when we all heard a protest from Matthew.

"I don't need to sleep! Sleep is a waste of time-"

"And there he goes."

Matthew's body fell limply to the side. May be from the cold, may be because his body went into shock, but it was enough for him to pass out and I saw all of them glare at each other.

"The person who brings him downstairs gets two hours tomorrow," Chanyeol quickly yelled out, the male crawling to Matthew's body and throwing him over his shoulder. Baekhyun let out a scream, Sehun and Kai pushing each other off and Harin just witnessing the chaos with Minseok.

Kyungsoo stood by me and I noticed that he had been somewhat quiet this whole time.

"Aren't you happy, Kyungsoo?"

And that was when he replied with the statement that best fit the situation.

"It's bittersweet."
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Matthew was muttering under his breath, Chanyeol bringing him down to hallway back to my apartment like he was familiar with the area. I could see my father stare warily at the sleeping male as we all stepped into the living room, Father Kyungmin trying to explain the knocked out Matthew.

"Oh, this must be Matthew," My father said, scratching the back of his head. "Uh... Is he okay?"

My father seemed to be reminded of the time Chanyeol fell flat onto our floor the first time he began to see ghosts, all of us shifting awkwardly when Kyungsoo stepped forward.

"Old man," he began, motioning to Matthew. "This is my cousin. Matthew."

"And the best Hyung in the whole wide world!" Baekhyun butted in, hopping forward. "Can he stay with us, dad? Please?"

My father blinked.

"I thought you said he stayed in your home town and he's coming to help with the church? How do you know Matthew, Baekhyun?"

"He's been staying in Seoul for a while-," I began, Sehun butting in.

"He's been to EXO High a few times-"

"I've been to church," Baekhyun concluded, breaking into a smile. My father looked worried and I expected as much. Growing up with traditional Chinese beliefs. "And I met Matthew Hyung there."

"Oh. Well..."

"8 am is for Mark!" Matthew flew up, finally awake and all of us jumped backwards. "Where am I- Old man!"

Seeing my father, Matthew's eyes widened. Matthew bounced up, grabbing my dad in a tight hug and squeezed, my father sputtering out words of confusion before he patted Matthew on the back.

"I told him about you," Kyungsoo said, deadpan. "He really likes old men."

"Kyungsoo, that sounds weird!"

Matthew let go of my father, giving him a polite low bow.

"Matthew, at your service, old man."

"O-Oh. I see where you get the 'old man' from. I just didn't expect you to look like this." My father paused before he nodded, breaking into a smile. "You're welcome here, Matthew. You can sleep with Baekhyun-"

"In yo' face!" Baekhyun chortled, pointing at Sehun who grumbled.

"The men in our family are a bit peculiar," Father Kyungmin said to my father before giving Matthew a warning glance. "But he's a good kid."

"Of course, he is! Hyung, we get to do so many things. You choose, we have board games, we get to watch a movie.... How about!" Baekhyun beamed at Matthew. "We ride the elevator like we said we would? You get to push the buttons."

Matthew looked so happy he could burst.
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Day one already started with a ruckus and the night before, I was both emotionally exhausted and tired. I fell asleep waiting for Baekhyun to come back with Matthew and even then, I was dozing off. The rest had left and they promised that they would come at the crack of dawn to which I told them that they didn't have to- that 8 am would be Mark's time.

I was awoken by a slam of Matthew's face against the door as he yelped, rubbing his forehead. His skin was slowly turning red and I blinked slowly, Matthew jumping onto my bed when I gasped at the different colors his arms had. Bruises... bruises, everywhere.

"What did you do?" I asked, reaching out to press my fingers against the different shades or blues and greens on his skin. My fingers ghosted up his arm but Matthew seemed none other than proud, the male beaming at me. "Matthew! This is nothing to be all smiley smiley about!"

A lecture threatened to erupt from between my lips when the sound of the door from my father’s bedroom slammed shut and the groan from our only parent could be heard.

"Old man is awake!" Matthew exclaimed, rushing to the kitchen. I stood up, the smell of coffee wafting to my nostrils when I saw that he was pouring my father a cup of coffee. "I have always wanted to do this!"

"Pour coffee for an old man?"

"You, specifically," Matthew began before he paused, catching himself. "Kyungsoo told me all about you."

That seemed to ease my father's worries.

The night before with Baekhyun and Matthew went for some bonding time, he had stopped me in the kitchen.

"Honey..." he had asked, "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

The question was enough for me to wonder what exactly he was talking about when he dropped his voice into a whisper.

"Like a... religion change or something?" He asked softly and I knew where he would have gotten that from. I relaxed and told him that religion was a concept for people to believe in and I was expanding my options and ideas about god. That took him by surprise, my atheist father squinting at me. "Like... Religious Pluralism?"

Back to the kitchen and my father was asking why he was named Matthew, the now-solid ghost replying that it was the name of a Saint.

"Saint Matthew. Have you heard of it?"

"You guys are very Christian. Why is Kyungsoo named Kyungsoo, then? Does he have a Saint name, too?"

"Yes," Matthew blurted out and I frowned at him, waiting for his answer of what Kyungsoo's English name would be. I half expected a Noah Beck but then, "Kevin" he said.

"Kyungsoo's English name is Kevin?" My father nodded. "That's a nice name."

My father was a fairly likable man.

Despite his strong ideals and constant judgement on those who believed in things that he deemed unreal, he knew how to hide it. I stared at Matthew who winked at me without my father knowing when a knock on the door sounded and I could hear people arguing.

"Oh boy," I whispered to myself, already knowing what was going to happen. "Oh boy."

"It's not fair that you get to choose the timeslots!" Sehun's voice was loud, Minseok telling him that he had every right to because he was older. I glanced at my father who looked alarmed at the number of people who had arrived this early morning. "Oh."

"Good morning?" Matthew's voice rose as if it was a question when the bickering began and I saw Matthew slowly edge towards the side.

"Hyung. So here, a phone for you," Kai was saying and Kyungsoo stalked into my bedroom muttering under his breath that "I know 8 am is for Mark. Why did you have to drag me here-- I'm going to nap." And with a slam of my door, he was gone. "And I know we have a time table-"

"To which we have to abide!" Minseok butted in, Matthew holding the phone in between his fingers before dropping it into his sweatpants. "And at this time the time tables says--"

And then Matthew bolted; everyone yelling out his name.

I didn't want to think about how the rest of the 7 days would be like.
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"Matthew Lee, I can't believe you just booked it," I told him, perspiration dropping down from my forehead. I had brought Baekhyun with me and after ten minutes of calming down a raging Minseok, a furious Sehun, an irritated Chanyeol and an annoyed Kai; they all agreed to stay put until Matthew came back.

"Why can Baekhyun go?" Chanyeol had complained, the members sitting on my bedroom floor. They were all in time out until I said so and weirdly enough, they listened. Kyungsoo was taking a nap, not a care in the world.

"Because he's going to help me chaperone Matthew," I had told them before I left. We were now in front of Muffin's place and Mark showed up, a beanie on his head and a guitar strapped to his back.

"Hyung! Hi!" Mark greeted, bouncing up to Matthew to give him a hug.

"Is that a guitar?" Matthew asked, frowning. "You didn't bring a guitar last night."

"I knew I had a special course at the music academy today so I left it at Muffin's place a week ago," Mark answered. "So, we have a few hours to hang before guitar academy and I have to find another present to give Muffin... The one I gave her melted."

His face fell for a moment before he brightened up; Matthew, Baekhyun, and I simply staring at him.

"Uh... What did you give Muffin, Mark?" Baekhyun asked, Matthew frowning at his younger brother as if he was trying to figure out what the possibilities were.

"Ice," Mark answered simply, walking down the street as we followed him. "I didn't think it through."

"No ," Baekhyun whispered to me.

"I kind of ground up the ice and made it into a little snow man before I put it in a little insulated box that I put in my backpack and she was supposed to eat it at midnight but then I saw Bora Sunbae and Matthew Hyung walking together and I was talking so much about Rafaela and how she goes "healing for all!" that I didn't realize that it had melted!" Mark rambled on before he beamed. "So... I just gave her the fish sticks."

"What did she say?"

"She said it was underwhelming because she gave me a sketchbook of photos she sketched of me." Mark bobbed his head, answering Baekhyun's question. "So, Baekhyun Sunbae, you know Matthew Hyung too, huh?"

Baekhyun chuckled, the boys walking in front of me. 127 mall was nearby and Mark suggested we get some milkshakes, all of us going to the Dream Cafe. I paid for the milkshakes, Mark's eyes twinkling as he thanked me before he began to shyly eye all of us.

Matthew looked like he still had no idea what to say. He most probably had a lot to ask but he knew almost everything, having been following Mark around and all. Mark waited for all of us to say something and when we didn't, he initiated the conversation.

"So... How's Canada?" He asked Matthew, the male smiling adoringly at his little brother as if he was lost in a trance when he reached out and ruffled Mark's hair.

"Canada is great. How about you?"

I felt Baekhyun shift beside me, the male nudging me for a moment.

"As if he doesn’t know,” Baekhyun mumbled under his breath when Matthew sighed, finally putting his hands together.

“You know, Mark… Kids your age, 15, uh… Usually have crushes, right? Like a special girl space friend that you like but you can’t say anything about it.” Matthew paused and Mark turned pink. “Uhm… As a twenty-year-old, I think that sometimes bravery is needed in order to get what you want and, in this case, it’s a person.”

“You know about my love for Muffin?” Mark whispered, Matthew blinking rapidly. Mark looked around as if he was uneasy and that Muffin may be in the ear shot. “But Hyung, there are so many feelings want to say but I can’t say it. Because I’m… Mark.”

“What does that mean?” Baekhyun asked, his commentary going on beside me.

“And she’s coming soon because she has guitar class with me so I better buy her a new present,” Mark mumbled under his breath, Matthew perking up.

“I have an idea! How about a song?”

With Matthew's suggestion, both Baekhyun and I paled. We should have expected as much, putting the two Lee’s together. Matthew quickly told Mark that he should put whatever he felt into a song and sing it to her.

“I can’t sing. I can only rap and one time I rapped for biology but I got it all wrong. But you’re right, Hyung! I have a guitar and I’m pretty good if I say so myself.” He smiled happily, both my brother and I exchanging looks and edging away to give the two brothers some privacy as they huddled over a piece of tissue, writing down the lyrics.

This is what love and warmth looked like. Every time Matthew looked at Mark, it was like he had so much of love to give. His eyes twinkled with adoration and I couldn’t help but smile. Mark spoke with his whole body, his hands making motions in the air while Matthew encouraged him from time to time and once, they both looked our way—Baekhyun pointing out that they both looked very similar while the brothers yelled out at the same time, asking why we were a foot away.

This is how the two brothers ended up heading to the center of the 127 mall, Matthew and Mark showing not a single ounce of shame or shyness, stationing themselves in the middle while Mark tried to tune his guitar.

I had second hand embarrassment, and while waiting for Muffin to come, Mark had gone to borrow a microphone for Matthew. Now, the only song I have heard Matthew sing from time to time was London Bridge and even then, it was too simple a song for me to know how his singing skills were. Mark kept telling us that he would sing but he couldn’t; he was going through puberty and later on, Matthew would ask me how to tell Mark that he was actually tone deaf.

My answer then would be that we don’t.

Back to the center of the 127 Mall, Matt