Heechul rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn before he spoke. “Hello dream Hankyung…,” Heechul mumbled sleepily. Hankyung just stood there staring at him, his phone still ringing. “Could you answer that phone please?”
 

   “He thinks this is a dream…,” Hankyung whispered opening his phone, then slamming it shut. “Uh, Heechul…,”
 

    “Shhh…,” Heechul muttered “You can’t be here anymore. I’m trying to forget.”  
 

    “But, I am here!” Hankyung answered, grabbling a stray cat plushie from the floor and tossing it in Heechul’s direction.
 

    After taking a kitten to the head, Heechul was now truly awake. “Hankyung…?”
 

     “Finally…,” Hankyung laughed. “You know you’re really scary when you sleep.”
 

   “Hankyung…,” Heechul looked confused. Maybe he really wasn’t awake? “But, you left.”
 

   “No, I didn’t. I mean yeah I did, but the guys caught up to me and…, I got your messages.”
 

    “Oh,” Heechul whispered, swinging his feet over the side of the bed and standing up. “I thought you’d left, so…,”
 

   “Is it true?”
 

  “What?”
 

  “Do you forgive me?”
 

  “I shouldn’t…, but yeah.”
 

  “Thank-you…,” Hankyung whispered, diverting his eyes from Heechul’s bare chest to the floor. “I truly am s…,”
 

   “Sorry..,” Heechul finished for him. “I know, me too.”
 

  “What do you have to be sorry for?”
 

  “Acting like a jerk,”
 

  “You had a right to.”
 

  “I know, but I shouldn’t have let things go on as long as they did. The truth is, I forgave you a long time ago. I just couldn’t make myself admit it. I shouldn’t have forgiven you so quickly, but every time I saw how much you were hurting…,”
 

  “When someone really loves you, they will never hurt you. And if they do, you can see it in their eyes that it hurts them too.”
 

   “What?”
 

   “Nothing, I was just quoting something Leeteuk quoted earlier.”
 

   “He does seem to always know what to say.”
 

   “Yeah, he‘s a good leader like that.” Hankyung smiled, finally looking up at Heechul’s face. He was smiling too.
 

   “He’s one of a kind, our Jungsoo.”
 

   “That he is. Look Heechul, I know you said you’ve forgiven me, but what does that mean? What happens next?”
 

   “Do we have to figure that out right now?” Heechul smiled, taking a step towards him. “Can’t you be satisfied with how things are at this very moment?”
 

   “I don’t understand…,”
 

   “Let’s just say, I want you to stop apologizing to me and telling me how much you love me…,”
 

   “Heechul I…,”
 

   “Quit saying you love me. For once..., just show it.” Heechul whispered, bridging the gap between them. Hankyung had no more words left in him as he carefully wrapped his arms around Heechul waist.
 

    Hankyung lightly brushed his lips against Heechul’s. The tiny movement seemed innocent, but the response it invoked was anything but. Their light kisses where ghosts of lost passion. If was as if Hankyung was afraid to push things any further than standing in Heechul’s tender embrace. The last few weeks had been so lonely and he was content to just stand there all night.
 

    Heechul soon grew impatient with Hankyung’s delicate kisses. Pressing himself even closer, Heechul deepened their kiss, forcing Hankyung’s mouth to open for him. He’d been agonizing for weeks, missing the tender caresses they used to share, and he wasn’t about to waist this moment by being gentle.  
 

    Breaking the kiss, Hankyung began trailing his lips down Heechul’s neck. His tongue flicked along the tender skin, causing a soft moan to escape from Heechul’s lips. Powerful fingers tangled their way through Hankyung’s hair, pulling his face away from Heechul’s neck. The hands then fell from Hankyung’s hair and began tracing the edges of his face.
 

   “I’ve missed you…,” Heechul whispered, resting his index finger upon Hankyung’s half parted lips. Hankyung wrapped a hand around Heechul’s wrist and slowly pulled his hand away from his face. Just as he leaned in for another passionate kiss, his phone began ringing, yet again. Before Hankyung could make a move to silence it, Heechul dipped his hand into Hankyung’s jeans pocket and slowly removed the annoying piece of technology.
 

   “Hello…,” Heechul answered, bringing the phone to his ear. “Yes…, he’s here…, No…, wouldn’t you like to know…, Bye Jungsoo.” Flipping the phone shut, he flung it into a nearby stack of laundry. “Now where were we?”
 

   “Leeteuk’s not going to be happy about that.” Hankyung laughed as Heechul began awkwardly backing them towards the bed, his movements uneasy because of his injured leg.
 

    “He’ll get over it.” They fell back upon the mattress so that Hankyung hovered above Heechul’s delicate frame.
 

   “I missed you too…,” Hankyung whispered, trailing ghost kisses down Heechul’s exposed chest.
 

    “Then why…?” Heechul breathed, pushing Hankyung’s jacket off his shoulders.
 

    “Why what…?”
 

   “Why did you ever go to him?” Hankyung stopped his movements and gazed down into Heechul’s face.
 

   “I…,” He didn’t know how to answer.
 

   “I need to know why,” Heechul continued, moving out from under him and leaning against the wall. “I know I said that I had forgiven you. I have, but…,” Hankyung didn’t like the tone Heechul’s voice was now taking. “I need to know.”
 

    “Siwon and I had been….”
 

   “Together before we were. I know, but why did you keep going back? Was I not good enough for you?”
 

   “No…,” Hankyung squeaked, moving so that he now straddled Heechul’s outreached legs.
 

   “Could I not satisfy you like he could?” Heechul whispered, covering his face with his hands.
 

   “Stop…,” Hankyung answered, reaching towards him. “Don’t you ever think that you did anything wrong.”
 

   “But…,”
 

   “No..,” Hankyung continued, reaching up and pulling Heechul’s hands away from his face. “Everything you did was right. I was just too weak to speak up for myself. I let Siwon control my emotions in that department for so long I was afraid to break it off. I was afraid to tell him what I wanted. With you, I was never afraid.”
 

    “I’m afraid…,” Heechul whispered, trailing his hands beneath Hankyung’s shirt.
 

   “Why?” Hankyung breathed, helping him push his shirt over his head.
 

   “I’m afraid that you’ll leave again…,” Heechul answered, flipping Hankyung onto his back so that he could hover over him. “I’m afraid of getting my heart broken again.” Heechul’s words floated over Hankyung’s skin between intimate caresses. “I’m afraid…,”
 

   Heechul’s sentence was cut short by the sudden presence of Hankyung’s lips. He kissed him deeply as if trying to crush those haunting words from his lips.
 

     “Please…,” Hankyung whispered wrapping his arms around Heechul in a fevered embrace. “Don’t be afraid of me…,” Warm tears began to flow down Hankyung’s face as he spoke. “I don’t want to cause you pain…, I will never cause you pain again.”
 

    “Don’t say never…,” Heechul answered, pulling away from him. “You can’t promise that.”
 

   “I can…,” Hankyung cried “I promise.”
 

    Heechul used a corner of the sheets to wipe the tears from Hankyung’s face. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be going. Seeing Hankyung cry made things deep within him ache.
 

   “You can’t promise me something like that and it’s ok.” Heechul breathed. “No one can ever promise things they themselves can’t control.”
 

    “What do you mean can’t control?”
 

   “You say that you will never hurt me, but just seeing you in tears hurts me. Every time you leave the room, it hurts me a little. When you say you’ll never hurt me again, it’s a false promise, just like I can’t promise to never hurt you.”
 

    Hankyung’s tears ceased and were replaced by a playful smile. “I promise to never consciously hurt you again.” Hankyung whispered running his fingers beneath the top of Heechul’s sweatpants.