After bidding simple mumbled farewells to his fellow co-workers, Yunho didn’t waste any seconds packing up his bag and belongings before basically rushing to the hotel exit. He ignored the eyes of common customers glancing at him as he admitted he appeared in an obvious hurry. He was happy, happy to finally leave this vast excuse of a hotel after tolerating with his aching legs for elongated hours. His shift had come to an end and Yunho found himself jogging to the usual spot outside where he waited for a taxi to drive by. Yunho actually had a car parked in his apartment complex yet somehow, he found a preference over walking, cycling, and sitting in the backseat of a taxi. Other than saving up for gas, Yunho usually used his car for longer rides.

The outside compound of the hotel was non-surprisingly well-decorated. It was a luxurious and splendid sight. A colossal concrete fountain was built at the centre of the roundabout where it served as the major attraction of the outside landscape. The fountain was shaped as the statues of two dolphins reciprocated from one another, where the right dolphin was faced downwards and the left facing towards the spacious sky. These dolphins indirectly reminded customers and visitors alike the main concept of the hotel; 5-star aquatic lodge.

Whoever owned the hotel was struck with the idea of raising awareness of the aquatic life by installing massive aquariums in the hotel lobbies. The hotel itself even had its own marine museum free to be visited for any customers who had purchased at least two nights stay. The menus of the buffet however, ranged from traditional and culture meals, international cuisines, choices for vegans and to… seafood. Yunho wasn’t sure which aspect of ‘raising awareness of aquatic life’ was seafood a part of yet he didn’t care much. He supposed no customers would care of what happened inside the kitchens of a 5-star hotel anyway. All the hideous stories he heard of.

The hotel compound had a specific place for customers and outsiders to wait for taxis and Yunho was one of such people as he stood shoulder to shoulder with other waiting pedestrians. He purposedly let the rest of the people to call for any incoming taxis in an understandable hurry as almost everyone wanted to get to their location as fast as possible. But unlike the other days where he would be rushing as well, now Yunho was standing alone on the pavement waiting for the last taxi to drive by. Despite the moon had long replaced the sun’s once glorious throne, Yunho didn’t haste his journey of returning home. In fact, he deliberately delayed it.

“To the nearest convenience store, please,” once he was settled in the backseat, Yunho gave the taxi driver his location before resting comfortably against the seat. His body frame shifted smaller as his back pressed deeper against the leather behind.

As the vehicle began to drive, Yunho found himself unable to close his eyes. His mind immediately pondered over his fate now. In simpler words, Jaejoong never left his head. Even right now he failed to understand just what exactly happened with his life. He felt like some kind of invisible filmmaker was manipulating the plot of his life, applying crappy twists here and there by adding layers of unnecessary supernatural spices. Never in his life had he heard of witnesses reporting a case of their homes being barged in by literal death angels. Yunho wanted so bad to find the logical connecting dots of what he had just gone through, he tried to scientifically explain his recent experiences yet the image of Jaejoong just casually floated in the air with a pair of black wings never left Yunho’s head, no matter how hard he tried. Such image looked way too realistic to be denied.

And, he was apparently dying? He was comically soulless yes, yet that was a mere exaggerated phrasing of how exhausted he was with life. But, Yunho was completely confident he wasn’t sick. His body was physically tired especially with the legs aching, but other than, he felt generally normal. He didn’t even have cold in these recent months. He was perhaps as healthy as an average human could be and Yunho was the type to look over his health whenever he had the chance to, never missing 8 cups of water every single day. Well, not 8 cups but certainly more than just 3.

Thanks to Jaejoong’s constant statement of him potentially dying, throughout his shift at work Yunho was unable to stop being restless. He was constantly on edge, cautious and paranoid. He knew he was healthy so if he were to die in few days then the cause may be… external. And this theory of his alone compelled him to create trust issues with his colleagues and supervisor. Not that he suspected any of them was capable of murder, but safe to say, some of them weren’t in good terms with Yunho for reasons who knows why.

“Thanks,” handing the driver some cash, Yunho stepped out of the vehicle before marching straight to the entrance of the store, ignoring the splash of wet puddles beneath his shoes as the night began to summon after a small downpour. Yunho hid his hands inside the pockets of his black uniform vest when he felt a bead of rain landed on top of his nose. Stopping at the side of the road, Yunho made sure he had a good multiple looks of his left and right, scanning for incoming cars if there were any. Yet given at how late it already was, the roads were mostly empty. But he still couldn’t relax down, especially when Jaejoong’s reminder of him dying echoed in his hearing all the time. Look, it wasn’t fun to be told of a potential death coming without knowing the exact date, alright?

The rang of bells first greeted him as soon as he entered the convenience store, followed by the subtle nod of the shopkeeper who was more focused at writing something on their desk. Yunho walked to the narrow aisle between the racks of sold products. The only reason as to why he came here wasn’t because of shopping. No, he had no plan to buy anything. But rather due to 2 reasons; to ‘escape’ from home by delaying his arrival, and to calm himself in the store restroom. Luckily enough there were only about 3 customers in the store including Yunho, so he was able to easily meander his route from the cramp aisle straight to the back of the store where the restroom waited.

Now, most public restrooms weren’t ideal in the aspect of hygiene and the toilets of this convenience store were also included in that infamous list. But Yunho was used to having frequent this restroom in before days mainly because the building was located not too far away from his apartment. In fact, this was the place where he usually bought his fridge supplies from.

Ignoring the unpleasant stench racing into his nostrils, Yunho headed to one of the toilet stalls and entered, locking the door firm before settling on the ‘throne’ that was most likely had been seated by other visitors before. At this point Yunho was more concerned of his safety rather than obsessing over hygiene, at which he would do under normal circumstances. Tonight, it was just different, especially when a literal death angel was waiting for him at home.

Feeling somewhat temporarily safe from the outside world, Yunho finally was able to heave out the breath he had been forcefully holding. His body felt absolutely lighter now that he was protected by the toilet stall. His main worries were the risks of unexpected death traps and he couldn’t think of any possible death cause inside this toilet, other than slipping backwards and slamming his head on the floor. After assuming that no angel, regardless of death angels or guardians, would enter a filthy toilet room, Yunho carefully pulled out his phone as he began surfing the web while stayed seated on top of the toilet, lid closed.

Yunho’s first 10 minutes sitting in the toilet was filled of him checking and reading articles of angels, specifically stories and even ‘true’ cases of other witnesses sharing their own stories of angels visiting them. Most of their tales consisted of the visits of ‘invisible angels’ in the form of reassurance and miracles, in one way or another. And as Yunho expected, none of the articles he read featured a death angel stealing food from the fridge in the disguise of a man. He couldn’t bring himself to believe any of these stories and reports he had read either. Literally anyone could craft a narrative to provoke a sense of simulated fantasy among readers,