As the clock struck past midnight, Yunho had finally returned home. The sky was losing its stars, the moon was afraid to shine its light, and the cold wind mercilessly breezed through the air. But all of these didn’t bother Yunho. Even if the harshest storm were to land upon the neighbourhood, he wouldn’t be bothered still. Because he lost his soul tonight, or maybe not, but he felt like it. It was one of those dampening days again, it happened again, the gravity pulled his legs down again. However today, it became worse. It was so worse that he didn’t even reply to few of his colleagues who bid him farewell, it was so worse that he didn’t even say goodnight back to the tenants who greeted him like usual.

Yunho’s drained body functioned almost like an empty soulless machine, automated from the start to perform its tedious mundane job. As he entered the apartment, his face was stoic as he took off his shoes. The sparkles in his eyes dulled. At this point, he couldn’t feel anything. It wasn’t even exhaustion, and it was not sadness either. It was hopelessness.

“Oh, hey. Welcome back,” Jaejoong who was in his pyjamas, voiced out a greeting from the living room. The angel lazily waved at the man as he remained seated, drinking his late night coffee. “I figured you would come home late. I made some ramen for you.”

But Yunho didn’t respond, not even an acknowledging hum. He didn’t even glance at the bowl of ramen prepared on the dining table. Instead, he walked straight to the bedroom without glimpsing at the angel whatsoever. Jaejoong was visibly confused with the lack of reaction the man gave.

“What? Living with an angel no longer fazes you?” Jaejoong jokingly asked as his eyes followed Yunho to the bedroom.

And yet again, Yunho didn’t say anything back. Usually, it would be his turn to playfully retort but right now, he didn’t utter a word. Even worse, he didn’t react physically. His stoic face didn’t move an inch and his tired eyes didn’t send a stare at the angel back. Jaejoong was both confused and intrigued as he began to notice something was off.

“Hey, speak it up man,” the angel told as he was now completely staring at Yunho, his serious face demanded answer.

Yunho remained quiet for a moment despite the insistent tone in Jaejoong’s voice. He slowly ed his vest and hurled it to the floor, leaving the wrinkled white sleeved shirt covering his frame. Yunho’s fingers slowly unbuckled his belt and his fingers… trembled. His breathing was uneven. His lips parted but no voice came out, his mouth gaping like a fish out of water but his throat trapped his words. Then, gradually, Yunho turned around to finally face the curious angel. And when Jaejoong met with the man’s eyes, he saw glistening beads of gathered tears.

“I am in my 30s right now… But I never want to reach the age of 50,” Yunho started to mumble, audible enough to be clearly heard. His voice was hoarse and shaking. As he made eye contact with the angel, his tears were threatening to fall. “The world, it’s scary out there, Jaejoong.”

Fully confirming that something bad did happen to the man, Jaejoong placed his coffee cup on the table in front. Then he picked up the remote controller to turn off the TV. Now, the entire room was silent. Jaejoong’s once confused face distorted to a deeply concerned one. He shifted on the couch before patting on the empty side next to him.

“Come sit here, Yunho,” the angel said with a reassuring smile. “Tell me everything slowly.”

Maybe it was the way how Jaejoong worded his sentences, or maybe it was because of the angel’s comforting smile and gestures, but little did Yunho know his legs were moving on their own accord reaching for salvation, paradise within Hell; lights of hope underneath the darkest of sky and the loudest of storm.

When Yunho eventually sat down on the couch, Jaejoong seemingly had ‘teleported’ a glass of water from the kitchen straight into his hand, to which he then gently gave to the other. Yunho nodded at him before taking the glass carefully with wobbly fingers and savouring the water till the glass was empty. When he finished, the angel helped placing the glass on the table.

“Now, tell me all the things you want to tell, Yunho,” Jaejoong spoke as soft as if he was singing a lullaby. Yunho’s name rolled out of his tongue so smooth that it was soothing to hear.

Yunho’s lips continued to be sealed, but they had long ceased quivering. His gaze lowly dropped to his hands that rested on his covered knees. He watched as each of his fingers became pale in colour as they trembled, as if the weather outside was harshly cold, as if it was winter, as if he would be bothered by those even if they did occur. Instead, he was scared. Slowly, his vision blurred and the world around him spun. Was it an earthquake? Or was the Earth slowly being swallowed by the blackhole?

But then, Yunho was brought back to his senses when his cold hands were touched by something warm. And that was when he realised Jaejoong was intertwining their fingers together. Yunho gave the angel a look and he received yet another soft comforting smile from the other. Jaejoong gave his hands a light squeeze and Yunho eventually nodded as he gulped.

“I became a stupid man at work today. It’s all ed up, everything was a ing mess and people hate me,” Yunho began, his voice was shaking but it was blatant that he tried to maintain his intonation. “I became a ed up man. I am weak, Jaejoong. I am a coward, and I can’t work at all. I mess things up and now people hate me. I am scared, but I am a man and I need to be ing better than this. I need to be stronger than this and I need to be mature. I-”

Yunho was hushed when Jaejoong gave his hands another squeeze. The angel nodded at him and delivered another comforting grin. “Slowly, Yunho. No need to rush,” he spoke almost like a warm whisper.

“Okay,” Yunho nodded and gulped. Then, he breathed in air, and he didn’t realise how much he needed air.

“Today was a ty day at work. I messed things up a lot and some of my colleagues called me names. One even scolded me in front of everyone else. I panicked a lot. Nobody talked to me during lunch. I escaped to the toilet and stayed there until lunch was over. I couldn’t stop crying in the toilet. I tried slapping my face, punched the sink and shoved my fist in my mouth but I still cried. I hate myself, Jaejoong. I am so ing weak and useless, a burden,” Yunho ranted slowly, he probably didn’t realise the tears rolling down his cheek to his chin. “The workers scolding and cursing at me… They reminded me of… mother. I am ing scared, Jaejoong.”

When Yunho stopped his rant, his teary eyes met with Jaejoong’s soft gaze. Just one look at the angel was enough to convince him that all the dangers of the world wouldn’t dare to disturb him now, as if Jaejoong was a solid and adequate form of protection, as if the angel was strong enough to compel all evils lurking in the shadows from hurting him. There was this one mystery aura radiating from Jaejoong’s irises that somehow diffused magic of comfort, and Yunho willingly bathed himself within this reassuring warmth.

“Go on,” Jaejoong spoke gently, like a parent comforting his crying son.

“I want to b