“Of course it’s all right Kuixian! Why, it’s me who’s inconveniencing you!”

Kyuhyun winced at Zhou Mi’s insistence on calling him by that pet name but he hastily assured him, “No you’re not Mi, it’s really alright for you stay here.” 

Zhou Mi was back from the police station but since his apartment was still crime-scene-investigation zone, Kyuhyun had offered him to stay with him in the meantime. With him and Donghae that is.

Yes. Donghae the dragon was also going to stay at Kyuhyun’s apartment and that was what he was telling Zhou Mi. If he wouldn’t mind sharing the spare bedroom with his friend from high school, “Aiden Lee.” 

After hearing Donghae’s explanation earlier and having Kangin verify his tale with his superiors, Kyuhyun had no choice but to give in to Donghae’s and, surprisingly, Kangin’s combined insistence to let the dragon stay with them until the High Council investigated the matter. Kyuhyun didn’t ask, because he knew he wouldn’t like the answer anyway but both the dragon and Kangin also suggested that they use Donghae’s “human” alias. Then Kangin also suggested that he invite Zhou Mi to stay with them while the humans’ counterpart investigation was also going on. 

They had decided with the “friend-from-high-school-staying-with-Kyuhyun-until-he-found-a-job” story because 1) Donghae couldn’t go out of the house (unescorted, but Zhou Mi didn’t need to know that as well as Donghae being a dragon); 2) Kyuhyun and Donghae looked nothing alike and thus would not fool anyone into believing they were cousins; and 3) if their appearance would not fool anyone into believing they were at least distant relatives, Donghae’s expression as he seemingly constantly watched Kyuhyun will effectively remove any doubt that they could be family.

This was not lost on Zhou Mi as he cautiously asked Kyuhyun, “But are you sure your, um, friend is okay with this?”

Kyuhyun hoped he was giving his most convincing smile, “Aiden? You don’t have to worry about him. He’s really happy to be surrounded by human-, I mean, people he could talk to.” And that wasn’t a lie because the dragon seemed to be reallyenthusiastic in finding all that he could about the human world. 

Kangin had told him that Donghae was very young, about 105 years old. Yes, that was young for a dragon. And it was his first time outside Pendarak so everything about the human world fascinated him. 

“Well that’s good…” Zhou Mi began then he bit his lip as he tentatively debated whether to ask Kyuhyun about the one thing he considered uncomfortable to bring up.

Kyuhyun had noticed though and hastily assured him, “I’ve already told Aiden some things about you since he was curious, well actually, excited to know that I’ll have another, erm, person in the apartment. I warn you though he’s going to ask you a lot of questions about yourself. If you find it uncomfortable, just tell me at once and I’ll tell him off.”

“Oh, no, no!” Zhou Mi protested in relief, “I don’t mind at all! You know I love getting to know people. But once people know what I do for a living, they tend to either avoid the subject or you know…” he blushed as he just gave a meaningful shrug and then he smiled, that blinding smile which Kyuhyun had first noticed since the day Zhou Mi moved in when his old cranky neighbour moved out to live with his daughter and her family and Zhou Mi, barely five minutes in his new flat, went and introduced himself to Kyuhyun, armed with that thousand-watt smile and a store-bought blueberry cheesecake. 

Not for the first time did Kyuhyun wonder why Zhou Mi didn’t just apply as a commercial model; he’d do a great job as a toothpaste endorser. Or even as a male fashion model, he was the right height, had the right frame and the face. But no, Zhou Mi wasn’t interested in getting photographed or dolled-up, he was interested in people but that still didn’t explain his job. Kyuhyun just shook his head as Zhou Mi happily lugged his Prada bags and took them to the spare bedroom which he’ll be sharing with Donghae.

Kyuhyun rubbed his temples and thought to himself wryly, “So basically, I’ll babysit a dragon who’s on his first field trip, live with a high-class male and…” he surveyed his surroundings and stopped as his eyes alighted on his Labrador guardian. 

The big dog was playfully growling at a small bird perching on the window sill. The bird wasn’t all that impressed however as it suddenly flapped its wings wide open and gave a warning shriek. Kangin instantly retreated and collided with the coffee table behind him. “…and have a big, bad guardian dog who’s probably the biggest coward in the Gatekeepers’ Guardians history. Why is my life so blessed?” 

***************

It was three days after and Kyuhyun found his life getting back to normal. Well okay, “normal” for him was now quite relative. If you count having a daemon guardian masquerading as his pet dog, a dragon in human form watching his every step and an expensive male doing the household chores for him as normal, then that is what Kyuhyun’s normal life is exactly.

The forensics team had already swept Zhou Mi’s apartment for any kind of evidence it can find and came up with, as Kangin predicted, nothing. The case was still open although with no leads, Kyuhyun didn’t know how they’ll progress. Kangin hadn’t told him anything specific yet from the High Council’s side and he had vowed to himself that very soon, he should corner his guardian and ask for answers because he definitely could not see how he was to protect Donghae, no matter how many times Kangin told him that he was perfectly able to. Besides, Kangin added that he himself was also with them.

Kangin protecting him and Donghae? Suuuuure. 

Zhou Mi didn’t ask but Kyuhyun instinctively knew anyway and told him that he can stay with him until Zhou Mi was comfortable in going back to his flat. By comfortable, that meant not just re-carpeting the floor but also, as Kyuhyun observed the parade of workmen going back and forth to his neighbour’s apartment, a complete redecoration. 

Kyuhyun knew Zhou Mi was enjoying redecorating and had turned down his offer of sharing the daily expenses while he lived with Kyuhyun. Heck, Kangin wasn’t contributing anything and he really didn’t know what to do with the blood-red gold coins Donghae insistently gave to him so what was one more human after all? Besides, it was his parents who were paying the bills. 

He supposed it could have been worse. Kangin behaved quite well when Zhou Mi was around and acted like an ordinary dog for which Kyuhyun was quite smug and took advantage of. It gave him an almost sadistic glee in seeing Kangin suffer Zhou Mi’s cooing and petting and having to eat the expensive dog food that Zhou Mi bought for him no matter how many times Kyuhyun had protested, half-heartedly of course. Kangin didn’t eat dog food but he now had to under Zhou Mi’s concerned eye. 

Donghae and Zhou Mi had also hit it off from the start and got on well together. Too good in fact that he had caught Donghae one morning asking Zhou Mi if he thought he could apply at Zhou Mi’s company. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Kangin choked on the dog food he was eating (Kyuhyun wondered if that had been intentional) and that sufficiently distracted all of them.

It wasn’t that what Zhou Mi did for a living was shameful. The company that he worked for was actually well-known for its high-class services. He didn’t e himself exactly; he had never slept with any of his clients. It was an establishment that catered mostly to wealthy (and very lonely) clients and what they paid was for entertainment and companionship, nothing more, nothing less. And Zhou Mi was good at it. 

But Donghae was a high-ranking dragon, had a title in fact, as Kyuhyun found out and he chose to be under Kyuhyun’s supervision while away from his home world. Kyuhyun didn’t exactly need to have anyone spell out for him that Donghae becoming a high-paid gigolo while under his care would be disastrous for his mortal well-being, gatekeeper or not.

“Oh oppa, are you also going to the lecture?”

A feminine voice broke through his thoughts and Kyuhyun glanced up to see a very pretty and tall girl walking up to him. 

“Hey Seohyun,” he smiled at her, “Actually no, what lecture are we talking about?” 

Seohyun fell in step beside him and explained, “Professor Shin told us that the Social Sciences department has a visiting lecturer this semester. He’ll be giving a talk today and we can earn extra credit if we go and listen to it,” she took a turn towards the auditorium and Kyuhyun debated for a second if he should follow her. He had been meaning to go to the university’s computer laboratory, he didn’t have plans to attend a lecture and supposed that he didn’t really need the extra credit. He was graduating this year and he knew he was graduating with top grades, thank you very much.

“Of course,” Seohyun continued as she tucked a strand of hair behind an ear, “we also need to pass a reaction paper for the credit.” 

If it had been any other student, they would have made a face at this but Kyuhyun could see that Seohyun was actually looking forward to it. Seohyun was his junior in law school, she was intelligent, down-to-earth and entirely self-unconscious about her beauty and he liked her a lot. There was a time when he had made passes at her but Seohyun had cheerfully turned him down, much like how she did with every male who asked her out. She was that serious about her studies.

Kyuhyun wasn’t offended and they actually became good friends. Before he knew it, he had actually followed Seohyun to the auditorium and he resigned himself to attend what he only supposed was a boring lecture. At least I have interesting and attractive company, Kyuhyun said to himself as he glanced at the girl by his side who was seriously reading the details of the event on the bulletin board outside the venue.

“Kyuhyun! You’re attending this too?!”

Kyuhyun turned around and his eyes widened in surprise to see Bianca Bai, the tall and beautiful female gatekeeper he had met and befriended during the times he went to the Nine Worlds’ Lower Council meetings. Yes, gatekeepers were required to attend these meetings which were held every month at an exclusive social club in the capital. Kyuhyun had asked Kangin why the council didn’t pick a less conspicuous meeting place of well, beings who weren’t entirely from this world and Kangin had patiently explained that picking a high-profile establishment actually provided a wise cover-up for them. 

Basically, the gatekeepers convened to discuss important matters regarding inter-world travel in the worlds they guarded as well as the history of Gatekeeping. Which makes the meetings finish fairly quickly because seriously, no one was interested to hear how many humans, dragons, Hielans, daemons, etc. they transported, or even if it was important, anything involving history. Kyuhyun and the other gatekeepers looked forward to the meetings just for the gossip afterwards. 

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Bianca said, smiling in pleasure at seeing a familiar face.

And I didn’t expect to see you here, considering that you’re an elf and don’t live here, Kyuhyun thought to himself but aloud he said, “I was just accompanying a friend. By the way, Bianca I want you to meet Seohyun, she’s a law student too. Seohyun, this is Bianca, she’s a friend of mine from, um, abroad,” Kyuhyun finished lamely because well, what did one say about friends coming from other worlds?

Bianca and Seohyun shook hands and smiled sincerely at each other. Then they took turns to lightly tease the other about their relationship to Kyuhyun which each was also quick to deny anything romantic with laughter. Kyuhyun didn’t know if he should be offended that the two girls seemed to think that being mistaken for his girlfriend was absurd, he was quite a catch. Well that is, according to his own unbiased judgement. Then he heard Bianca telling Seohyun.

“I model part-time here so I have to fly frequently from home.”

Kyuhyun just smiled as he escorted the two girls inside the auditorium. Then he whispered mockingly to Bianca, “Fly? That’s a tame way to put it.”

Bianca shushed him and jokingly asked, “What do you want me to say? ‘Oh, I cross inter-dimensional portals to travel from Elysia to your home world. Don’t worry, it doesn’t tire me since I’m the one who opens those portals?’”

Kyuhyun just smirked as he led the two girls, one on either side of him to vacant seats. Bianca’s home world was Elysia, home of the elves and dwarves but she usually stayed on Earth. Kyuhyun wondered if she didn’t get into trouble at always being absent from her home world, she was their gatekeeper after all and no one from Elysia would be able to travel out if she was missing. Bianca had assured him that she had the most boring post of them all. Very few other worldly beings lived in Elysia and most of her kind never travelled out of their world. 

Kyuhyun had himself, once or twice, planned to visit the other worlds considering that he only needed to draw a circle and chant some words but it never happened. He was kept busy by a lot of things and what exactly would he tell his parents if he disappeared? That he was vacationing in the remotest island that’s why they won’t be able to reach his mobile phone?

As he led their way down the aisles, Kyuhyun finally brought his attention to his surroundings and realized that people were looking at them. Kyuhyun wasn’t that vain. Alright, just a little. But he was sensible enough to realize that it wasn’tsolely because of him that had people giving them a second glance. He was with Seohyun after all, the acknowledged “campus goddess” and Bianca with her model-looks and figure. 

He couldn’t deny that he felt a bit of manly pride to be escorting two beautiful girls metaphorically on each arm. What’s more, the other students were actually making way for them as he found it easy enough to lead the girls to the best seats in the auditorium which were surprisingly available, the one five rows up from the stage and in the center. 

He found it surprisingly available because as he gave the room another survey, he found that it was actually quite packed for a lecture that wasn’t required for students to attend. He raised an eyebrow at this as he made sure that Seohyun and Bianca were comfortable in their seats on either side of him.

“Erm, what lecture is this exactly?” Kyuhyun diffidently asked Seohyun as he scanned the room and found that 80% was occupied by females. Last time he checked, he was sure that males outnumbered females ten to two in their college.

Seohyun chuckled lightly as she shook her head at him, “Kyuhyun-oppa, you were actually going to listen to a lecture you didn’t know? It’s something about archaeoastronomy, it’s a study combining methods in astronomy and archaeology. The talk is about differences in what are called “sun” and “moon” temples and how they were constructed for calendrical and cultural purposes.”

Kyuhyun just nodded. It was the first time he heard of it and it sounded interesting enough (alright it was boring) and it certainly didn’t explain why many people would be this interested to attend. Seohyun had said the lecture was given by the Social Sciences department so presumably, it was someone from archaeology and archaeology wasn’t exactly a popular field in…wait, did she just say archaeology?

Kyuhyun quickly turned to Bianca and asked, his mouth suddenly going dry, “How- how exactly did you know about this lecture?”

Bianca smiled wryly, “I was wondering when you were going to ask me that. The one who’s giving the talk is an old friend of mine. Not sure if you’ve met him yet since he rarely goes back home. His name is-…”

But Kyuhyun never heard what she said next as the department chairman walked on stage and right behind her, wearing something indecent for an academic, Kyuhyun thought in indignation, ultra-tight-fitting dark slacks and a white dress shirt he was sure was at least two sizes too small rolled up to the elbows, was no other than Andrew Choi.

***************

Okay, it wasn’t that bad.

Dr. Andrew Choi, as the chairman had introduced him, spoke quite clearly and intelligently. And Kyuhyun had to grudgingly admit that he actually knew what he was talking about. Not that he actually knew what the archaeologist was going on about but he did have a vague idea about the temples and the architectural designs that were presented, they were quite familiar after all. England’s Stonehenge and Korea’s Cheomseongdae were some of the examples he used. 

Still, Kyuhyun supposed that Dr. Choi’s enlightening discussion on the placement of the base stones in Stonehenge coinciding with the alignment of the moon’s orbital path didn’t merit that kind of admiring looks and unwavering attention from virtually every female in the audience, and more than probably, some of the men. Not that he was including himself. 

He could swear that he could hear sighs and moans as the archaeologist smiled, revealing his dimples, or when he pointed to the slide projections, straining the sleeves of his shirt against toned muscles. And was that drool on the department chairman’s mouth? 

Okay, it was actually bad.

This is outrageous! And Kyuhyun grew more irritated since Andrew Choi seemed to glance more than a dozen times in his direction. His dimples deepening each time and from the corner of his eye, he could see Bianca’s answering smile. Of course Kyuhyun wasn’t upset that he actually thought that the dragon was smiling at him all those times. Of course not.

The talk ended and the open forum began. It started out innocuous enough, with some students asking fairly intelligent questions. Well, almost-intelligent once you get past the girlish giggles no one seemed incapable of not doing as they asked their questions. It was starting to get on Kyuhyun’s nerves.

Ugh, this is an academic lecture, not an idol interview. Pull yourself together! Kyuhyun thought disgustedly although one wasn’t sure if he was talking about the overly-enthusiastic students suddenly developing a passion for archaeological knowledge or for the archaeologist himself who was answering questions with an amused smile and even a wink here and there!

The next question finally erased the last vestiges of self-restraint from the audience, “Dr. Choi, are you still available?!” 

There was a moment of hushed silence before excited shrieks erupted around the auditorium.

“Well, pretty sure this ends the lecture,” Kyuhyun commented with a wry twist to his lips and Seohyun nodded in agreement as she too stared around her in amusement. Good old Seohyun, Kyuhyun shook his head in admiration to see that his friend had as expected, not fallen under another man’s charms. Then he did a double-take as he glanced at the gatekeeper oh his other side. Bianca was leaning forward, her expression one of breathless anticipation just like most of the audience for Andrew Choi’s answer.

Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow questioningly. Who knew that the cool and beautiful gatekeeper he knew could behave this…fangirly? Bianca noticed and blushed, “Don’t tease, Kyu! I’m just curious, you see...”

“Am I still available?” Dr. Choi repeated the question with a very amused smirk even as he signalled to the embarrassed chairman that he wasn’t offended by the student’s question. “Hmm, how shall I put this?”

“…when I said that I knew him, it was because, um, well…”

Kyuhyun couldn’t fully concentrate on what Bianca was saying even as he was faced towards her since he was watching Andrew Choi from the corner of his eye. He wasn’t sure, but did the dragon’s expression suddenly turned serious? 

“There’s someone I’ve always been interested in…” Did he just look in their direction? “So I guess what I want to say is, yes, I’m available…”

“Well, we go way back and have always been in contact because…”

“But only to that person,” the dragon clarified to a now hushed audience.

“It’s because we used to be together,” Bianca finished in a low whisper. 

“Oh,” was Kyuhyun’s unoriginal answer as the rest of the audience had the same reaction but to Andrew Choi’s answer.

Kyuhyun wondered why everything seemed to be happening in a daze around him. He could vaguely hear the department chairman scolding the students lightly and declared that there were still a few minutes left for one or two academically relevant questions. He could feel Seohyun fidgeting with her recorder beside him, he was sure she recorded the talk for her reaction paper. He could see Bianca smoothing down her skirt, her face still flushed from confiding to him. Or maybe, it was more because Andrew Choi actually made an indirect confession to her?

Whatever it was, the weird dazed feeling enveloped Kyuhyun. His senses were working fine, he could see, hear and feel but everything seemed to be happening in a blur. Then the department chairman finally thanked Dr. Choi and everyone in the auditorium gave a round of appreciative applause. Kyuhyun found himself robotically clapping along with everyone else and then as he watched the dragon make several deep bows, smiling and waving all the while, he finally realized what it was. 

He was angry. Really, really angry.

---

TBC♥