When he woke up the next morning, Sehun waited before he opened his eyelids, silently wishing he had been dreaming. Wishing Luhan was still with him. But as he looked at the bed, he saw perfectly that there wasn’t any blonde-haired and pale boy lying there. He felt tears gather in his eyes again. That was impossible…

                He managed to get up; he wanted to check something out. He opened his suitcase, which he had been too lazy to open the previous day. After rummaging through it, he found at last the white sweater he had wrapped the flute in. Carefully, he unwrapped it. He almost started sobbing when he felt the cold instrument under his fingers.

                He lifted it up and sat down on his bed. It felt really strange, to be holding something he didn’t see. For a second, he had the insane hope Luhan would come back to life if he played the flute. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t play the flute, let alone with an invisible one.

                And Luhan was gone.

                Sehun cried again.

~

                Even if he had tried a thousand times harder, it would have been impossible for Sehun to hide his sorrow to his family. When his mother asked him what was wrong, looking concerned, he burst out crying like a baby.

                And of course, his family thought he was being delirious when he told them, sobbing, a strange story about a blonde ghost, chess, Baudelaire, a flute and cold. No. That was because he was sad the holidays had ended. He was really tired. He should go to bed and rest for a while. Everything would get better after he slept a little.

                But Sehun knew it wouldn’t. He thought intensely, desperately trying to find a pretext for going back to the house. He tried ‘I’ve forgotten my favourite book there’, he tried ‘I met a friend at the village and I forgot to give him back his iPod’, and even sillier things. Nothing worked. Why would he want to go back there, actually? He was supposed to dislike the house.

                Sadly, he unpacked his things, threw his clothes into his cupboard without even looking at them. When he found the chess set, he cried again. When he found the watch, he cried again. Whenever he looked at the flute he had put under his pillow like a treasure, he cried again. His eyes were like leaky fountains.

                He couldn’t believe Luhan had left him like that, so suddenly and violently. He hadn’t even told him this might happen before they had left the house. Selfishly, he even thought Luhan had betrayed him; the little ghost must be somewhere between heaven and paradise at the moment, why he, Sehun was left alone to cry.

                He almost slept all day that day. And the day after. And the day after again.

                Everything he did would remind him of Luhan. Suddenly everybody in the entire world seemed to have decided to join forces against him to make him suffer as much as possible. There was flute playing on the radio. The weather became colder and colder. His new literature teacher asked the class to do a research about Charles Baudelaire which caused him to dissolve into tears when he read the poem Luhan had sung.

                But it was in the sensual dimension that he missed Luhan the most. He missed the feeling of the icy skin against his own, his frozen lips and his black eyes; Luhan used to blink only to give him butterfly kisses.

                He felt as if he had lost a part of himself. It was really strange, but during the holidays, he had got to know Luhan and had got so close to him that ever since the little ghost had left, Sehun couldn’t even stop feeling sad for a second.

                But life went on; September, November, December came. Sehun had little by little accepted the fact that Luhan wouldn’t come back. He kept the invisible flute, in a thin box he carefully put in a drawer. But he never looked at it again.

                Christmas would be celebrated soon. Sehun was quite enthusiastic about it, albeit a little less than usual. School was going well (at least better than the previous year); he had made a few really good friends, but most of the other students had been thinking he was a crazy freak since the time he had cried in class while reading La mort des amants.

                “I’m telling you, he actually asked him out! Yes, Kyungsoo, our little Do Kyungsoo asked Kim Jongin out!” Chanyeol exclaimed eagerly, waving his arms in the air – and spilling coffee almost everywhere over the table. Sehun smiled and his other friend Baekhyun laughed at said Kyungsoo’s crimson face.

                “And what did he say?” Baekhyun, who was a short brown-haired boy, asked, sounding really excited. “Did he say yes? I’m sure he did!” he added,  blinking several times and leaning towards Kyungsoo. Sehun smiled as the other boy looked up, embarrassed.

                “He said yes…” Kyungsoo said timidly, a grin starting to spread on his lips. Finally he gave in and he laughed happily with his three other friends. Sehun patted his shoulder in a friendly way.

                “Congrats,” he said with a bright smile. Kyungsoo blushed even more but wasn’t able to hide his joy. While Baekhyun told him he should ask Jongin to come with them the next time, Sehun looked out of the window of the café. He couldn’t help feeling jealous. Of course, Kyungsoo was his friend and he liked him very much, but – that seemed unfair.

                Why was he able to have a boyfriend while Sehun’s own had disappeared without leaving anything? He drank a sip of his hot chocolate. He still felt sad. “What’s wrong?” Kyungsoo whispered, looking at him, concerned, while Chanyeol and Baekhyun were laughing about some film they had seen a few days before.

                Sehun didn’t answer. When he met his friend’s wide eyes, for a second he felt like telling him everything – everything that had happened during the holidays, everything about Luhan. But he smiled clumsily. “No – nothing,” he answered. “I’m just a little tired.”

                He pretended to wipe his eyes to rouse himself, but it was rather to prevent the tears from gathering in them. Kyungsoo smiled back but still looked worried. “You would tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?” he asked. Sehun nodded innocently. “Good,” Kyungsoo said.

                They left the café a few minutes later, and went to Baekhyun’s house to watch a movie. Sehun was still a little distracted (he always was whenever he started thinking about Luhan again) but he managed to laugh with his friends during the second half of the film.

                But as Chanyeol suggested they ordered pizzas for dinner, he felt something. Something cold in the beck of his neck. He turned around abruptly, causing all his friends to stare at him, puzzled.

                “Em…what’s wrong, Sehun?” Baekhyun asked with a chuckle. Sehun didn’t answer. He frowned, looking down at the floor. He must have been dreaming… Yet, the sensation of freshness had seemed so real…

                “Nothing, I thought someone was touching me and I started,” he answered, laughing too. He got up and followed his friends in the kitchen to decide on which pizzas they would order.

                When he went back home, Sehun took some time to think about what he had felt after the movie at Baekhyun’s. It had surely been a draught. A cold draught. It was winter, after all. Just before going to bed, he looked at his mobile phone, and saw a text message from Kyungsoo. He opened it. And he smiled sadly.

                From: Do Kyungsoo

                To: Oh Sehun

                Message:

                Don’t lie to me, Sehun-ah… I saw that something was wrong. I didn’t ask you when we were at Baekhyun’s, because Chanyeol and Baekhyun were a little excited and I didn’t want the atmosphere to become awkward. Please tell me why you are not feeling well, Sehun. I don’t want to you stay sad forever! Text me back as soon as possible. – Kyungsoo

                Sehun hesitated for several minutes. He wanted to tell his friend everything – nobody else would know about it, he was positive Kyungsoo wouldn’t tell anyone. So after thinking for a while, instead of texting him back, Sehun dialled his number.

                “Hello?” he heard Kyungsoo’s voice answer. “Sehun?”

                “It’s me,” Sehun said. “Em, I saw your message, and…”

                Suddenly, he didn’t know what to say. He started to stutter words that didn’t mean anything, until Kyungsoo said, “I’m coming.”

                “Don’t – it’s nine p.m.! Kyung – ” Sehun began, but Kyungsoo cut him.

                “See you.”

                And he hung up. Sehun heard several short ‘beeps’ before he pressed the little red button too. He regretted to have called Kyungsoo, now. Although the boy was his best friend, he would never believe him. It was stupid to have answered him.

                About a quarter of an hour later, the doorbell rang. Sehun’s parents asked him whether it was a friend of him ringing. He said yes but didn’t tell them why. He opened the door in front of his friend, who smiled at him.

                “Sorry, but I had to come, I couldn’t leave you like that,” Kyungsoo said as he stepped in. Sehun wondered whether he had been so obvious. He pretended to smile and laugh so that his parents wouldn’t notice anything.

                “Em…let’s go to my room,” he suggested. Kyungsoo nodded and both went upstairs.

                “So, tell me what’s wrong,” the small boy said as they sat down on the bed. Sehun cleared his throat. For a minute, he remained silent, hesitating: would he tell his friend everything or make up a fake story? But finally, he gave up and…

                He told him everything. The scary house, the noises, the hand touching him, Luhan, the flute, Baudelaire (“Yes, that’s why I cried during literature…”), the attic, the chess games during the afternoon… At that part, he started crying and it became a little harder to understand what he was saying. But Kyungsoo listened to him, wrapping his arm around his shoulders.

                He told him about Luhan’s body and his own bonding magically, about the day the little ghost had agreeded to leave the house with him, the journey back home… Then he stopped. Kyungsoo hugged him. For a minute, he just cried. Everything Sehun had kept inside of him was now coming out; at the same time, it made him a hundred times sadder, and it relieved him.

                “But – during the night, he disappeared,” he said, sobbing in the middle of his sentence. As Kyungsoo whispered him soothing words, he told him the way the blonde boy had left. When he finished speaking, his friend only hugged him tighter.

                “I’m so sorry… You should have told us before,” he said gently, rubbing the back of the young boy’s back with his hand. “Oh, Sehun…”

                Sehun was amazed Kyungsoo had believed him. Although he had been a little incredulous when he had said Luhan was a ghost, he had accepted it without saying anything. And that was why Sehun was so grateful.

                “Look…” he said, getting up. He opened the bottom drawer of his cupboard and took a thin white box. He came back to the bed and sat down again. Wiping his eyes with his sleeve, he opened the box. Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows.

                “But…there isn’t anything in that box,” he said. Though when Sehun had a tiny smile, he seemed to understand. “Oh…” he whispered. “Is it…”

                Sehun nodded and carefully moved his fingers inside of the box until he felt something metallic and cold. He grabbed it and lifted it up. After caressing it for a few minutes, he gave it to Kyungsoo to prove him the instrument was real. His friend took it and opened his eyes wide.

                “That’s magic,” he said very low. He gave the flute back to Sehun, who put it back in the box delicately. Sehun nodded and didn’t say anything. “Hey,” Kyungsoo said. “Do you want me to stay for the night?” he offered. The other boy looked at him.

                “You would do that for me?” he asked. Kyungsoo beamed. “Thank you,” Sehun whispered.

                Kyungsoo quickly called his family to tell them he would be sleeping over at Sehun’s, while the young boy told his own parents his friend would stay – after carefully splashing water over his face and wiping his eyes to erase the red traces on his cheeks.

                “Maybe he will come back someday,” Kyungsoo said when they slipped under the covers – Sehun had put a spare mattress and bed sheets next to his bed for his friend. He smiled a little.

                “Yes, maybe,” he replied. Kyungsoo squeezed his hand and they quickly fell asleep.

~

                Sehun woke up early the next morning, but for the first time he had slept really well. He turned towards Kyungsoo. His friend was still asleep, and he didn’t want to wake him up, so he stayed still until the small boy yawned and stretched.

                “Did you sleep well?” Kyungsoo asked gently when he saw Sehun was awake. The young boy smiled and nodded.

                “Thanks again,” he said very low. “You’re amazing. And you believed me…”

                “I could only believe you,” Kyungsoo replied. “You really looked upset, you know.”

                Sehun smiled a little and looked at his striped bed sheets. He liked stripes. All his bed sheets were striped. He had black and white ones, red ones and blue ones. At the moment, the ones on his bed were the red ones. But he was thinking about the blue ones. The ones that had been under Luhan and him when the little ghost had disappeared.

                Though he smiled. “Do you want to have breakfast?” he offered. Kyungsoo grinned back and they went downstairs. Somehow, Sehun felt a thousand times better now that he had told his friend about Luhan. And he trusted Kyungsoo. He knew the petite boy wouldn’t tell anyone about his secret unless he asked him to do it.

                Christmas went smoothly; Sehun celebrated it with his whole family. Next came New Year’s eve, that he spent with Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and…Jongin, Kyungsoo’s boyfriend, who was actually really nice.

                He felt a little ill at ease when Chanyeol and Baekhyun told them they were now together; though Kyungsoo reassured him quietly. “You’re not alone, Sehun,” he whispered to the young boy. Sehun smiled.

                January, February, flew so fast that they didn’t even see spring come. But it did; soon the winter cold vanished, replaced by a pleasant coolness. The first thing that gave Sehun hope happened in the beginning of March.

                He woke up in the middle of the night, hearing his name being called. He thought he recognised – but no, that couldn’t be. He had been dreaming again. Luhan wasn’t there. He was gone. Sehun got up and went to the bathroom to splash water on his face. He felt nauseous. Stumbling, he returned to his room and collapsed on his bed.

                But deep inside of him, he wished he hadn’t dreamt. He wished he had actually heard Luhan calling him.

                A few days went by without anything happening. But strangely, Sehun felt as if someone was watching him. At night, when he was in his bed, but also at school or even in the streets. It was sometimes frightening, but also somehow…soothing. Sehun often felt a sort of affectionate presence next to him. He wasn’t sure, but he was beginning to think someone was with him.

                Of course, he started hoping it was Luhan. Maybe the little ghost was trying to tell him something, or maybe he had even found a way to come back. Everyday, he waited for something to happen. He would have wanted to feel a wave of cold, a hand touch him, to hear a voice…anything.

                But two weeks passed and nothing happened. It was now the end of the month of March. Sehun had told Kyungsoo about what he was thinking – someone was watching him. “You think it’s Luhan?” his friend asked him eagerly. He didn’t answer but hoped he was right.

                Oh… If only he could be…

                Sehun didn’t hear his name being called again, but he started to feel fresh draughts when the window of his bedroom was closed or even to have the feeling someone was breathing softly in the back of his neck. Secretely, he was sure it was Luhan, but he didn’t even dare to actually think about it reasonably or to say it out loud. He was too afraid he might be wrong.

                April came and brought a little warmth in the air. It was almost Sehun’s birthday. He would have liked Luhan to come back now; he even dreamt about it several times. Though nothing more happened for about ten days. Absolutely nothing. No fresh draughts, no breath on his neck… Sehun was horribly disappointed. For a while, he had…hoped. But he had been wrong.

~

Now please listen to this while you read.

(It's quite short so you may have to play it twice.)

                On the 12^th of April, his family and his friends wished Sehun a happy birthday. He received wonderful presents, amongst which, from Kyungsoo, a beautiful volume of poetry written by Charles Baudelaire: Les Fleurs du Mal. It made him cry and he hugged his best friend so tight he could have broken him into two.

                Though they still had school that day and they entered the school buildings with Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongin. Sehun didn’t listen to a single thing his teachers said and discreetely read his poetry book under his table during the classes. He didn’t even get caught.

                But in the afternoon, he heard someone calling his name, causing him to start and slam his book shut. Panicked, he looked around – if the teacher had seen the book, he was dead! But Mrs Hwang, his maths teacher, was still writing equations on the black board and didn’t seem to have noticed Sehun was reading.

                Puzzled, the dark-haired boy pricked up his ears. And he heard it again. “Sehun!”

                He started once more. This time, he knew whose voice it was. He would have recognised it anywhere. It was Luhan’s voice. Sehun slammed his book on his table and got up. His teacher turned around and frowned.

                “What are you doing, Oh Sehun?” she asked. Sehun blinked several times.

                “I’m not feeling well,” he answered finally. “May I go to the nurse, please Madam?”

                Mrs Hwang nodded. Sehun quicky packed up his things and rushed out of the classroom. He met Kyungsoo’s eyes just before he closed the door – he looked at him serenely and left. He listened carefully.

                “Sehun,” the voice said again. Sehun’s heart skipped a beat. Of course, he didn’t go to the nurse. He ran away from his school as fast as he could. When he arrived into the street, he stopped running. “Sehun…”

                He ran again. He knew exactly where the voice was coming from. His house. He headed straight there, running into a lot of people on his wat, apologising clumsily. He had never run so fast. His lungs were on fire but he didn’t care. He had to get there.

                “Sehun, Sehun!” he heard being repeated endlessly. Finally, after about half an hour of non-stop running, he reached his house. With trembling hands, he opened the door as rapidly as he could. He climbed the stairs so quickly he almost fell down when he missed a step. But now the door of his bedroom was just in front of him. He reached his hand out to grab the door handle and turned it.

                The door opened.

                Sehun froze under the door frame. That was impossble… He was dreaming again. “Luhan?...” he whispered, so low it was almost inaudible. He stepped in to bedroom. There was a small, blonde-haired boy with pale skin and wide black eyes sitting on his bed. Sehun gazed at him, amazed. He didn’t dare to blink and his eyes watered, because they weren’t protected by his eyelids as well as because he felt so happy he could have cried tears of joy.

                For several minutes, they just looked at each other. Then Sehun couldn’t restrain himself anymore; he jumped on his bed, wrapped his arms around the blonde boy’s petite body and hugged him lovingly. Right then he didn’t care about the fact that Luhan was completely or about the tears that were rolling on his cheeks like waterfalls. He just started to laugh happily, holding Luhan tight.

                One, two, three times, their lips crashed together clumsily. “Please – please tell me you’re really here…,” Sehun managed to whisper several minutes later. “I missed you so much… I – I though you would never come back and I – ”

                Oh, that sounded like a line in a cheesy love story.

                 Luhan smiled softly. “I missed you too,” he said, Sehun’s cheeks. The dark-haired boy raised his eyebrows in surprise. Luhan’s white hand wasn’t as cold as it had used to be. It was way warmer. Luhan’s smile widened. “I’m different, now,” he said. Sehun didn’t really understand.

                “What do you mean – how did you change?” he asked.

                “I can’t tell you, but… I went to a place where I could do a lot of things,” Luhan answered enigmatically. “I’m not exactly a ghost anymore,” he said. As Sehun looked at him, puzzled, he addded, “I’m something between a ghost, and angel, and…a human.”

                Sehun opened his mouth wide. That couldn’t be. That just couldn’t be. It sounded like a ridiculous fairy tale. “Really?” he whispered. He blinked several times to make sure Luhan wasn’t only a beatiful hallucination. “I can’t believe you came back. I can’t believe it. It seemed impossible, and yet…you’re here…”

                He hugged Luhan tight. The blonde boy placed a hundred of gentle, fresh kisses on his cheeks. His hand was wandering a few centimeters under Sehun’s skin – and the young boy was inwardly really happy they still could do that. For the first time since the day they had parted, more than six months before, they were together, and able to talk, to see and touch each other. That was magic.

                “But… You’re breathing!” Sehun exclaimed when he felt Luhan’s chest raise under his own. Luhan laughed and he breathed in and out deeply several times. He seemed delighted. He looked at Sehun and blinked three times.

                “Yeah, I’m breathing,” he replied. He blinked again. Gently, he grabbed Sehun’s hand and put it over the left part of his own chest. He smiled. “Isn’t it wonderful?” he whispered. Sehun beamed in amazement. Luhan’s heart was beating. A happy laugh, albeit cut by sobs of joy, left his lips.

                “Don’t leave. Don’t leave ever again,” Sehun said, embracing him with all his love. Luhan smiled, cupped his face and kissed him tenderly.

                “I promise.”

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter... I hate sad endings so I changed my plans xD

However, the story is not finished! There's one 'chapter' left, which will be the epilogue.

Please do comment and subcribe, it makes my kokoro go doki doki :'3