Running, running, and running. He didn’t stop running. The cold wind slapped across his face, yet he strained his strength just to continue running. Nothing was chasing behind him, but time, because time was running too.

The more he ran, the narrower and longer the path ahead of him became. But that didn’t stop him. Because he knew, his love was waiting at the other side of this path. But again, time, was once his friend yet now foe. He couldn’t tell what game time was playing with him, and he was scared to know. So, he just ran.

“Jaejoong!” Yunho called out, panting and grunting under his shaky breath.

He felt like he was on a race against fates and destiny, that if he were to lose this fight he would lose everything, literally everything. And he didn’t want to lose anything, not when his life had barely begun to turn bright, not when he barely knew how Jaejoong’s lips tasted like.

Gritting his teeth, Yunho sprinted across the grass on the ground he stepped. The fireflies swarmed around him with their blinding lights, so blind that Yunho wondered if he would lose his eyesight after this. But that thought didn’t stop him.

Suddenly, the once majestic beauty of the forest park and the fireflies combined no longer radiated magic. Rather, they tried to drag him down, to slow him down. Yunho felt the air around him wrapped around his legs and body, thickening, as they yelled at him to stop.

He barely could see the moon above. The clouds suddenly layered the once vast starry sky. It could be symbolic of his hope, his hope to find out where Jaejoong was, and his hope to save him.

Why did Jaejoong suddenly disappear? Why could he only hear him and not see? Why?

Yunho was scared, but he was desperate for answers.

But the lights all around him only got brighter and brighter.

The buzzing of the fireflies surrounded him, deafening his ears. He almost cried. He wondered if Jaejoong was calling back to him right now, yet he couldn’t hear the angel’s sweet voice. Suddenly, he missed the man he loved so much.

The scenery Yunho once marvelled upon suddenly tried to swallow him whole.

He was suffocated.

He was drowned.

He was exhausted.

What the was even happening?

“Jaejoong!” suddenly, as if the world finally listened to his desperation and prayers, at the other end of the narrow path between the lights, Yunho caught glimpses of a familiar silhouette.

The silhouette of a man, of a man he knew, of a man he loved. Jaejoong was standing at the far end of the path, surrounded by white lights. The angel’s back was facing Yunho, and all Yunho could clearly see was how the fireflies were circling around the angel, like tiny fairies and twinkling stars enveloping the divine being.

“Jaejoong!” Yunho called out again.

His eyes widened the moment he saw the angel’s back. The lights tried to hinder Yunho’s sight, but he was determined enough to fight through all of everything that was happening right now.

Suddenly, the ground felt strange. The blades of grass no longer danced. It felt like pebbles were forming upon the soil, solid and hard, and Yunho’s feet started to hurt. His legs weakened, causing him to trip with face flat planted on the ground. But that didn’t stop him. Again, he gritted his teeth, and this time, he ran with all his might.

“Jaejoong!” he called, again and again, he called.

And eventually, when the lights all around him grew even brighter, Yunho finally made it.

In front of his eyes, Yunho watched with widened pupils when the silhouette in front of him appeared closer, and moved. And when time felt like it was stopping, the divine angel ahead of him finally turned around to face him.

With a graceful spin, Jaejoong turned. The lights reflected on each of the elegant movement the angel made. With each footstep he made, the grass illuminated in pure yellow, and more fireflies were summoned from the lights, flying in the air before circling around Jaejoong himself.

The blinding lights wrapped around the angel, and they were the shining trails left and made by the summoned fireflies. But now, the lights no longer hindered Yunho’s sight. Rather, they helped him to see the angel clearly, clearest.

When Jaejoong spun, Yunho swore time was moving in a similarly graceful manner. He no longer cared if the concept of time was a truth during this exact moment, but he could tell time was certainly moving so gently, politely, and beautifully. The swirling of time matched the spin of the angel. The lights around him followed suit, dancing in horizontal circles.

Behind Jaejoong was more lights, brighter, brighter, and brighter. Yunho almost forgot how bright the sun was, and he knew nothing could have been brighter than the halos forming behind the angel in front of him.

A familiar smile graced Jaejoong’s lips. The edges of his jaw and the bridge of his nose were chiselled in detail by the radiance. Jaejoong’s face looked as soft as feathers, his complexion appeared inviting to be caressed, and the smile he wore helped him to appear younger although he certainly never aged.

Jaejoong was beautiful before, but right now, he looked even better.

And Yunho surely did fall in love before, but right now, he fell even deeper.

When both men’s eyes met, Yunho was stunned. No words left his mouth. He was captivated by the sight he saw. He had visited museums before, he had admired framed paintings before, but nothing, he swore to God that nothing, was as beautiful as the literal angel standing in front of him.

Jaejoong’s pair of eyes were dipped in shining ebony. The angel’s irises told stories of the stars and galaxies above, they resembled the very universe that took pride in beauty of all creations. The way how the lights reflected on Jaejoong’s eyes illustrated sparkling shapes, causing the pupils resembling pure crystals. The angel’s eyes looked like gems wanting to be held dearly.

Yunho gulped. Jaejoong was so goddamn beautiful.

However, something was different.

Yunho’s gaze shifted slightly to the angel’s hair and by then he knew, time was really playing its trick.

Jaejoong’s soft strands of hair were no longer painted in marvellous black, but rather, each strand was carefully coated in holy white. They were as white as snow, but purer.

“Jaejoong, what is all of this?” Yunho asked, his voice hinted in blatant panic.

And Jaejoong just smiled and tilted his head a bit, hands interlocked behind his waist. The smile he wore was full of warmth, yet it was a sorrowful, strained faltering one.

“Yunho, make sure you make dreamcatchers from my feathers, alright?” Jaejoong finally spoke. His voice sounded soft, fading, almost like a tender whisper.

Yunho suddenly felt like his throat was getting dry, as if his voice was trapped within. He could feel painful sensation of tears rushing up to his eyes, on the verge of coming out, but he didn’t understand why. All he felt right now was a sense of pain. And he was scared. He was really scared. He felt like Jaejoong could disappear any moment right now.

“ing hell. Jaejoong, what is this? Tell me, please,” Yunho pleaded, his voice was shaky. “I am scared.”

Jaejoong kept the smile on him. But it was clear to Yunho that the angel was holding back his tears. The smile on the man’s face faltered, and Jaejoong looked like he had to put extra strength just to keep smiling. None of the men had expected that smiling would be this difficult. Wasn’t a smile a blessing?

Breaking the eye contact, Jaejoong temporarily glanced to the side, and his jaw clenched. A single drop of tear glistened as it rolled down the angel’s cheek. Seeing this particular bead of tear, Yunho couldn’t help but to shed some as well. His fist tightened. It was painful.

“Jaejoong, answer me, please,” Yunho pleaded again. His voice cracked.

“The fireflies, Yunho. They do look beautiful, don’t they? I have always admired them when I watch the world of the mortals. Earth holds to many treasures and yet fireflies are always beautiful,” Jaejoong spoke. His words held no answers to the question asked. But his voice sounded low. “I have always loved them, just like how I love you.”

“Jaejoong!” Yunho finally raised his voice out of desperation. He felt like the angel was stalling time, but he didn’t know how many seconds were left. Suddenly, Yunho began to understand what was happening, and he didn’t like it. There was no time left for the two of them.

Jaejoong chuckled lightly. The man’s yelling didn’t bother him. He once again stared at Yunho with the same beautiful eyes, but this time, they were glistening with tears.

“And to make you happy is my only reasoning. And to see you happy, it’s enough for me,” the angel told with a smile. “To see the man I love smiling, I think it’s enough.”

“Jaejoong, please. I am scared,” Yunho defeatedly told, he no longer held back his tears. He was crying, he didn’t understand what was happening, but somehow, he could tell what would happen next.

Jaejoong remained quiet for a moment. He let the fireflies circled around him some more, the lights blanketing over him as if they really did belong to him. And finally, Jaejoong smiled a bit.

“Look Yunho, I have got to go,” the angel finally told.

“No,” Yunho quickly protested. “No, no, no. Stop lying to me.”

Jaejoong sighed and clicked his tongue. His brows furrowed as he quickly looked away just before his tears dropped some more. The angel clenched his fists, biting his lips to stop them from quivering, all this while Yunho was waiting and looking at him desperately.

“You are making this hard, Yunho.”

“No, I don’t. But you do.”

Yet, amid their blaming, what the men tried to disregard was that, the only reason why it was hard for them both was simply because they love each other.

Completely desperate and begging, Yunho immediately reached out and pressed his palms upon both sides of Jaejoong’s face, bringing the angel closer to him as he cried his eyes out.

“Jaejoong! Please, just tell me, please, please!” he pleaded.

He shook Jaejoong’s body as a desperate attempt to make the angel spill the answers for him. But Jaejoong just smiled at him, letting the man trembled him and pleading. Pure tears cascaded down Jaejoong’s cheek, damping the fingers of the man who held him close.

“Step back, Yunho,” Jaejoong calmly said.

Yunho, reluctantly, eventually pulled away but his drenched face was full of worried anticipation. His heavy breathing was blatant through his audible panting and his moving body. The air felt too thick for Yunho to take in, everything was suffocating at this point.

Jaejoong, however, wasn’t as panicked and as exasperated as Yunho. Instead, the angel took a single step backward away from him. Yunho was confused by this sudden act the other showed, but he waited. And he waited. Then it happened.

Right in front of Yunho, he witnessed as all of the blinding lights and fireflies began to swirl around Jaejoong. The lines of lights raced in unison, as if attempting to envelope the angel from sight. The spirals of lights thickened, the fireflies increased in number, until eventually, Jaejoong was completely covered by them.

The wind around both men started to pick up speed. The once gentle zephyr turned harsh, delivering cold slaps across Yunho’s face as they whistled a raging, deafening tone. The dry leaves rustled before being hurled in the forming of a spiralling storm encaging Jaejoong within.

Yunho could literally feel the little ounce of strength in him left his legs, causing him to fall flat on his knees. His strands of hair outrageously swayed in front of his eyes, hindering his sight, as the circular storm in front of him only grew larger, engulfing more and more of the space and ground around.

Through the crevices of the storm, rays of white lights were seen piercing sharply through them. Yunho had to cover his eyes with his hand, fighting through the intense rain of lights. He didn’t know what was happening right now, and he was out of words. All he could ever do was just to stay still kneeling on the ground, mouth agape, eyes enlarged, as he watched the mayhem right in front of him.

Then, mass of storm began to hover above the ground. The speeding wind picked up the remaining leaves on the ground and brought them flying in the air. The intense lights only glared and dazzled brighte