Several weeks had passed since the tragedy of the car collision. As expected, none of his family members called him. But to be fair, they probably didn’t hear the news and Yunho preferred it to be that way. He spent most of the weeks walking in and out of the hospital for some check-ups. He luckily didn’t suffer any major wounds, yet the doctor still recommended him to take some off days to which he gladly agreed. This was a rare chance for him to obtain off days without having to make up excuses. Not that he was happy to be involved in an accident, no, he loathed it so much, but he was also grateful to be able to temporarily rest from the hectic working shifts.

During those weeks of recovery, Jaejoong worked extra hard to be helpful. He often accompanied Yunho to the hospital either invisibly or under the disguise of Yunho’s old friend. Back at the apartment, he would prepare plentiful of meals, newer dishes that he quickly learned from his favourite daily cooking show. Unlike before, Jaejoong no longer complained or whined whenever he did chores. In fact, Yunho didn’t have to tell him to clean the place up as the angel would do so voluntarily.

At nights, Jaejoong would never fail to remind Yunho to take his medicines. The angel often asked him some simple questions like “How are you feeling now?” and more. Although Jaejoong didn’t say it out, Yunho could see the genuine concern of the angel towards his well-being. And deeply inside, Yunho appreciated that. He felt loved.

Today though marked the end of Yunho’s recovery session. He had been fully healed and despite him not wanting to, he had to go to work later after weeks of absence. Yet he was a bit relieved to know that his shift would start in the afternoon. That simply meant he had extra time to spend lying on the bed. He found it ridiculous just how his bed suddenly felt more than comfortable whenever it was time for him to get up.

Rolling to the empty side of the bed, Yunho shifted into a more comfortable position as he pulled the blanket all over his body. Despite the rays of the morning sun had long penetrated through the windows of his bedroom, Yunho decided to bring his folded legs closer to his chest, curling into a ball before he swiftly drifted into a sleeping state once more.

Ah, how peaceful it was, the feeling of a cold pillow and a bouncy bed. This is heaven.

But it’s not.

“Wake your arse up, sleepyhead! It’s already sunshine outside, get out of your bed,” Jaejoong immediately darted inside the room banging on a pot after he kicked the door wide open.

The angel continued making loud metallic noises with the pot as he used magic to telekinetically pull the curtains open, forcing bright lights to conquer the entire room. The moment the sun reached his eyes Yunho right away whined out a protesting groan. His face grimaced unpleasantly before he covered his ears with the pillow. Jaejoong easily leaped onto the bed banging on the pot while trying to balance himself on the bouncy mattress.

“Wake up and wash your cute face,” the death angel loudly announced as he kept on hitting the pot in his hand, deliberately annoying the hell out of Yunho who was barely opening his eyes.

Yunho groaned loudly before eventually he had no choice but to surrender, and finally rolled on his back facing the sight of the angel towering above him. A complete opposite to him, Jaejoong was already wearing his usual jacket and a pair of sweatpants. He appeared rather fresh and energetic, looking quite thrilled too for some reason. Yunho stared with squinted eyes at the male above him for a silent minute before completely groaning in displeasure.

“It’s goddamn seven in the morning…” he whined after tiredly glancing at the alarm clock on a table next to him.

“Yes, and it’s a perfect time to wake up,” Jaejoong responded with a big smile.

“What wind causes you to think this is the perfect time to wake up?” Yunho complained, annoyed, as he pulled the blanket all over to his face, as if trying to hide himself from the angel. “My shift is at noon, leave me alone.”

Seeing the man trying to sleep again, Jaejoong once more started to bang the pot while this time repeating the word ‘wake up’ each time the pot clanked. Yunho scowled as he forced his eyes to close, placing both of his palms upon his two ears trying to eliminate the loud noises. Jaejoong didn’t surrender. In fact, the more Yunho resisted, the more the death angel seemed to be entertained by purposedly annoying him. And the louder the pot sounded. Then eventually he gave up.

“Alright what the hell do you want?” Yunho shot a question with a harsh wording while remained face hidden inside his blanket cocoon.

Jaejoong, as always, didn’t seem to be affected the slightest. Despite the man’s sharp words at him, he remained casual and relaxed.

“Let’s go jogging outside,” the angel answered.

“What?” Yunho asked as he finally pulled the blanket down exposing his face looking both puzzled and irritated.

“Let’s do some exercise, come on. You need it, trust me,” Jaejoong told, the banging of the pot had long stopped.

Yunho kept on looking up at the male with narrowed eyes trying to find whether the angel was joking or not but when Jaejoong seemed genuine, he finally sighed.

“Why?” he asked suspiciously.

Jaejoong shrugged. “Why not? It’s healthy after all,” he made a point.

“All I ever want is just to get enough sleep before my shift, Jaejoong,” Yunho remarked.

Jaejoong chuckled, however. “Whether you continue sleeping right now or not, you would still be sleep deprived the moment you work later,” he stated.

Yunho only remained quiet, partially agreeing with the angel. There was no difference to his sleeping states right now. The work he had would often drain the life and energy out of him regardless if he slept or not.

Jaejoong finally hopped off from the bed and continued banging the pot as he left the room. “Eat breakfast and wash your face, and to outside we’ll race!”

And the next thing Yunho knew, he was already outside at the balcony tying the laces of his ‘sports’ shoes. Just a pair of affordable shoes he bought five years ago. He wore a black sweat jacket matched with grey loose pants, just something that he commonly wore whenever he went out to run some simple errands. Despite having washed his face and enjoyed a warm set of breakfast, Yunho hadn’t felt quite refreshed yet. He yawned here and there, sometimes deliberately louder to indirectly hint at Jaejoong that he was tired, and that he still wanted the comfortable embrace of the bed.

Jaejoong at his side, however, was already warming up and doing some stretching gestures based on the moves he learned from TV. Being a complete contrast to the almost colourless Yunho, the death angel ironically was full of life. He looked eager to do the jogging, with his polished shoes and sportswear to which Yunho knew the shoes were cleaned ‘magically’ since the last time he checked, no shoes in the household were this sparkling clean.

“We won’t run too fast, aren’t we?” Yunho asked tiredly as he squinted at the blazing sun above, obviously already regretting his choice.

“Yep, but we can race if you want,” Jaejoong answered, thrilled.

“No thanks,” Yunho was quick to object.

Making a quick detour back to the inside of his apartment, Yunho then came out with two water bottles in hand as he finally closed and locked the front door of his home. Giving one bottle to Jaejoong, he kept the other for himself.

“Nice thinking,” Jaejoong smirked at him.

“It’s not a nice thinking. It’s a common sense,” Yunho remarked. “You can’t exercise without water.”

Jaejoong scoffed. “Well, if you have the energy to lecture me then I supposed you have the energy to run,” the angel retorted.

Rolling his eyes, Yunho did some warming up as well albeit in a slower pace. He made sure his legs were prepared for a jog, having cramps and strained ankles were the last things he needed especially when he was expected to come to work later. Sighing, Yunho finally accepted the fate that he had to do some running, despite his heart telling him to sleep.

“Alright, you ready?” he glanced at the angel over his shoulder.

“Ready as I can be,” Jaejoong positively answered.

“Do you have any idea where we are heading to?” Yunho asked a second question.

“Nope, you lead the way,” the other responded.

Sighing again, Yunho was already used to this impulsive nature of Jaejoong. Most of the times the angel would decide things without thinking twice, acts before thoughts, and wouldn’t reflect on his actions afterwards. However, sometimes Jaejoong would behave maturely, quiet even, and wise. His words tended to be mended in rhetorical questions and philosophical discussions. On rare occasions, he would be the angry and physical angel, most likely towards those who harmed and threatened Yunho. And on even rarer occasions, Jaejoong simply looked the most peacefully smiling man ever, yet with a vague hint of mysterious sadness. It was as if there was a switch controlling all these behaviours or personalities of Jaejoong, and they often caught Yunho off guard, but he wasn’t complaining. Secretly, he was immensely interested.

After confirming that both him and Jaejoong were completely ready to set off, Yunho was about to lead the way when something rather odd caught his attention. More specifically, the vases placed just against the wall looked quite… bizarre.

“Jaejoong, didn’t I water the flowers before?” Yunho asked as his eyes were fixated on the flowers planted in each vase, where all of them significantly wilted and dried.

“Yeah, you did,” Jaejoong answered. “What is it?”

“These flowers… They are dying,” Yunho sounded genuinely confused and surprised.

Jaejoong stared down at the same direction as he did, and he too, noticed the flowers. “Maybe you overwatered them?” he asked, sounding purely perplexed as well.

“No, it can’t be. These are the only flowers I have,” Yunho remarked.

He knew he didn’t overwater them. He also knew that he had made sure he watered them neatly and on time. Yunho wasn’t the type to just leave his flowers unattended, especially when they were a part of his morning routine. Watering the plants had been a part of his lifestyle and habit, there was just no way that he suddenly forgot to water them. Even when he was recovering after the accident, he made the effort to visit his three flowers and helped them. In fact, it was just last night that he checked upon them and they were all healthy.

So… why were they all dying now?

“Maybe you can buy new ones?” Jaejoong suggested, not seeing a reason why the other would be so concerned over wilting flowers.

“I can’t really do that. I mean I can, but these are the ones my friend gifted me with,” Yunho explained, indicating that these flowers were indeed special to him in a way.

“Well, maybe it can’t be helped. I know you did water them on time. Maybe it’s just the weather,” the angel comforted.

“Maybe,” Yunho spoke lowly, thoughts still riddled by the possibility of once perfectly healthy plants to suddenly be drained and wilted the next day.

Both Yunho and Jaejoong had spent quite some moments jogging outside. The weather was fairly sunny with a cool breeze accompanying the air. In the early morning the road was less packed than it supposed to be. Few cars were passing through and some people walked their pets across the street. The shops nearby began to open one by one, while some still had their workers lingering around waiting.

The town had different sceneries in both days and nights, yet all offered similar beauties. Yunho and his companion of death angel didn’t really say anything when they jogged. Small talks were shared but they didn’t last long. Yet Yunho was surprised that he quite enjoyed this run despite complaining about it earlier. The fresh scent of air helped to wake him up further from his dazed mind, and the sight of Jaejoong seemingly truly enjoying the exercise, it brought a genuine smile to Yunho’s face.

However, both Yunho and Jaejoong would immediately be interrupted when all of sudden a barking black dog came out of nowhere. Having to have experienced an ominous dog barking before, Yunho felt his legs instantly freezing up and he soon was immobilised. The dog was mighty and tall, black and bold, barking out loud aggressively while leering straight at none other than Yunho.

People walking around the dog didn’t seem to care it, however. Few glanced, but most minded their own business. They meandered their route around the barking dog and handled it as if a hostile canine was never a danger to anyone. Yunho, however, was stopped at his track. He realised his surrounding was filled with shops and walking strangers alike. This part of the town was never foreign to him at all. Yet right now, he felt oddly… unfamiliar with everything. Suddenly, this peculiar dog was his utmost field of view.

Staring at the dog with trembling eyes, the images of the car collision before came rushing inside his head in a series of unfiltered flashbacks. The taste of nearly escaping death was bitter, no remedies could sweeten the tongue that tasted it. Suddenly, Yunho was filled with fear. His world blurred and the barking of the dog only echoed louder in his head. Ever since the day of the accident, this time, Yunho no longer stubbornly ignored his guts and instincts. When they told him something perilous ought to happen soon, he trusted them now.

However, despite his frozen intimidated state, Yunho managed to see from the side of his eyes as Jaejoong walked next to him. The angel didn’t face him, though. Instead, he was blatantly glaring at the dog. The once thrilled and excited Jaejoong was now no one but a death angel whose sparkling black eyes now once again illuminated in blood red. The dog’s triggering barking did in a way scare Yunho, but seeing a supposed angel with flashing crimson eyes managed to frighten him more. Jaejoong was often enveloped with an aura of gentle reassurance. Yet right now there was a layer of peril surrounding him.

Jaejoong didn’t utter a word and his glare didn’t change. Yunho witnessed as the hostile dog kept on barking but now not at him. The canine tried to assert dominance over the angel’s menacing glare yet as seconds passed its attempt led to no avail. Eventually, the dog stopped making a ruckus and ended up with its ears drooping