"W-What did you say?"

            I bit down hard on my bottom lip as I repeated myself. "You died. Five years ago."

            His intense glare scorched into my soul. "What?" he hissed. "Don't with me, Eric."

            Eric. I winced, remembering the past when I went by that particular name. "I-I'm not trying to with you--"

            Hyesung--or whatever this being was--pinned me hard against the door, his face only inches away from mine. I saw how his nostrils flared, I felt his harsh breathing against my skin...

            The person in front of me that resembled the former main vocalist so much... was definitely alive.

            ... B-But Hyesung was...

            "Tell me who I am then," he demanded in a low whisper. "If Shin Hyesung is ing dead, tell me who I am!"

            "I don't know!" I cried, driven to tears. When he heard the honesty in my voice, he backed up with a frown. "I don't know, Hyesung! All I know is that I saw you die in my arms that day..."

            "Hyesung! Hyesung! No... Stay with me! The ambulance will come... Please..."

            "Eric... Eric, I..."

            "Shh, don't speak... Just keep breathing. Everything will be alright, I swear."

            "Eric... It hurts... Everything hurts..."

            I winced as the memories came flooding back. I didn't want to remember... I didn't want to remember ever again...

            So why was he in front of my very eyes? This boy who was supposed to be dead... This man whom I had buried deep within my heart...

            "Eric," he called my name. I felt myself tense. Oh, how I had missed his sweet voice... I thought that I would never hear it again. "Can we... talk inside?"

            "Yeah," I agreed, opening the door for us to enter. He trailed in behind me, shivering a little.

            "It's kind of cold, isn't it?" he muttered. I noticed that he was only dressed in untainted white, his feet bare. He touched his hair, the only dark feature along with his beautiful eyes. My heart automatically cringed, remembering how the old Hyesung had also frequently done the same, a strange but cute habit.

            I cocked my head at him. "It's the middle of summer and my AC's broken." It was true. My whole body was drenched in sweat, but I hadn't cared enough to call up a technician. "Are you sick?"

            Too late, I realized my hand had reached out to touch his forehead. His brows scrunched together, but he didn't dodge my fingers. Cold... I retreated in shock. He was like a block of ice.

            "What?" he questioned in irritation, crossing his arms.

            I looked away, unable to keep staring into those familiar dark brown eyes. "You're cold..."

            "Yeah, that's what I said, ."

            I had nearly forgotten how dirty and cheeky his mouth was. "I meant your skin."

            He shrugged, unfazed, as he settled down in my couch with a groan. "So... tired..." he mumbled, closing his eyes. His lips parted into a loud yawn that he covered with his hand.

            "Are you really... Hyesung?" I asked softly. He turned to me slowly and beckoned me to sit beside him.

            I hesitated, but obeyed. Before I could protest, he grabbed my hand and guided it down his perfect face. My finger trembled as it traced his symmetrical brows, his tall nose, his soft cheeks. I lingered on his pale lips, feeling the corners that had been crusted in blood that day...

            "Eric... I think I'm going to--"

            "No! Don't say it! You're not going to die!"

            "But, Eric... It hurts so much..."

            "You're not going to die... I won't let you..."

            "If... If I do... Swear to me--"

            With a muffled yelp, I jerked my hand back when I felt his teeth sink into my flesh. "What the hell!"

            He glared at me, but his mouth was curled into a satisfied smirk. "Why don't you just feel me up while you're at it, you erted loach?"

            I flushed, making his grin stretch wider. "Hey, you were the one who--"

            "Anyway," he cut me off efficiently. "Did I convince you that I'm real yet?"

            I stayed muted in thought. He did feel real. This man who looked and acted exactly like my late best friend felt so damn alive...

            Which didn't make any sense. Because I was sure he had died that fateful day.

            "Stubborn," he clicked his tongue in disapproval at my lack of response. "What do you think I am then? A hallucination?"

            "Maybe," I murmured, making him roll his eyes. "Or a vision," I added. "Maybe I'm crazy..."

            "You are crazy. It's not nice to accuse someone of being dead."

            "Then what were you doing passed out in front of my door?" I pointed out. It was his turn to be interrogated.

            The way confusion struck his face was adorable. Just like back then... "I... I can't remember," he confessed. "Maybe I drank too much? It wouldn't be the first time that I ended up unconscious like that." He blushed slightly at his own words.

            Ah... I could remember... Was it precisely eight years ago? I had found him in the morning, sleeping like a small child, his clothes reeking of alcohol. His lame excuse had been that he had been too drunk to remember the way to his apartment. Thus, he had ended up in front of my door which was only a few floors away from his.

            I chuckled at the memory. His cheeks burned brighter.

            When was the last time I had laughed like this without any bitterness?

            ... How is it that you're the only who can make me this happy after all these years?

            "Whatever," he grumbled with a pout. I felt the desperate urge to wrap my arms around him and warm him with my embrace. "My main point is that I don't remember what happened, but it was probably something really stupid. But that doesn't mean you gotta call me dead."

            That wiped the smile off my face. Anxiety consumed me again.

            "I saw you die, Hyesung."

            "That's not funny, Eric."

            I heaved a sigh. I grabbed my laptop on a nearby table.

            "Are you ignoring me?" he snapped as I typed away at the keys. "You know I hate it when you--"

            I shoved the screen into his face before he could start nagging. His eyes enlarged as they scanned the webpage I had searched up.

            "Tragic car crash kills Shin Hyesung, age 29..." he read out loud the headlines, his voice shaking uncontrollably. "Shin Hyesung of Shinhwa dies in hospital after a mobile accident..."

            He continued to peruse in utter disbelief. My heart tensed at how his face fell.

            "November 12th, 2008..." He paused to think. "Wait, November 12th, 2008?! You said I d-died five years ago!"

            I gave him a sullen nod. He suddenly got on his feet.

            "You've got to be ting me."

            He hurried over to the wall where a calendar hung. He forcefully grabbed the displaying page, ripping it in the process. His jaw dropped in surprise.

            "2013," he stated, flabbergasted. His knees went weak and crumbled beneath him.

            I ran to his side when the tears started to pour. I hadn't seen him break down like this in so long... He let me hold him close and comfort him. He cried on my shoulder, his sobs drenching my shirt.

            "I'm... really dead? Tell me this is a joke, Eric. I won't be mad at you... so tell me this is another one of your pranks..."

            "Hyesung..." I squeezed him tightly, not knowing what to say.       

            "Tell Jinnie to come out now. Andy, Minwoo, and Wannie, too. You guys got me real bad... Look, I'm even crying..."

            My heart shattered into tiny pieces. "They're... not here..."

            He sniffled and looked into my eyes, startled. "What?"

            "They're not here, Hyesung."

            A frown possessed his lips. "Where... are they?"

            "I... I don't know..."

            "Now I know you're lying!" he shouted, madness seeping through his voice. "You always know! You're Shinhwa's leader! You always know where all of us are!"

            "Hyesung..." I closed my eyes, unable to face the sorrow that would soon inundate him. "Shinhwa... doesn't exist anymore..."

            He didn't answer, shocked senseless. I tightened our embrace as I continued.

            "After you died... The rest of us... We separated..."

            I felt him push me away vehemently. "D-Don't..." I saw his whole body shudder violently. "D-Don't ing say such things... T-There's no ing way..."

            I reached out for him, but he slapped my hand away. "D-Don't touch me!" he cried in panic. "I'm dreaming... That's definitely it... There's no ing way that I'm dead! And Shinhwa disbanded? That's a really good one, Eric!" He barked out a laugh with tears still trailing down his cheeks. "What a nightmare! I'll tell you all about it when I wake up, how you told me such silly things in my sleep!"

            I felt as if I was slowly being ripped into two. If any of us were dreaming, it had to be me. This was so unfair, for him to bring me misery and pain even after his death.

            you, Shin Hyesung...

            I really resented the man in front of me, fuming in rage. His eyes were filled with craze when I was the one who was supposed to be crazy. He had been the one to leave me, the one who had left me in such a pitiful condition. He had no right to yell, he had no right to complain... Because he had been the one to hurt me.

            Yet... Somewhere deep within my heart, there was an immense joy that I could not understand. This had to be some kind of illusion, Shin Hyesung couldn't be alive again... But the very fact that I was able to see him, to hear his lovely voice, and to touch his smooth skin...

            I was happy. I was so damn happy I could cry.

            "What are you smiling about?" he spat in fury. "Do you find this funny?"

            His expression softened when he saw the tears that trickled down my face. "I just... missed you."

            He gaped at me, lost for words. Then he stood up abruptly, scurrying into the kitchen.

            "Hyesung...?" I rose, too, and followed his footsteps.

            I found him searching through my drawers with a desperate air about him. He grinned wildly as he drew out a sharp fruit knife. "I need to wake up," I heard him mutter as he raised the blade to strike.

            "No!" I screamed after him, but it was too late. I watched in horror as the knife pierced through his left hand.

            "OWWW!" he hollered, almost making me deaf. "!"

            "What the did you stab yourself for?!" I screamed at him as I rushed to his side.

            His face was twisted in unbearable pain. "I-I wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming..." he managed to let out through gritted teeth.

            "Are you satisfied now?!" I felt hot with anger as I ripped out the blade from his flesh. Shin Hyesung was still the same, so stupid, so stubborn, so irrational. Even after death, he did things like this that would threaten my heart to stop. "I told you this wasn't a dream. Can't you just ing believe me instead of doing something so stupid--"

            My voice died as I stared aghast at the hole in his hand.

            "Okay, I believe you now! That ing hurt!" he yelled in my ear, but I barely heard him. I continued to gawk at his wound.

            "Clean..." I whispered, goosebumps rising on my skin. "There's no blood..."

            "What?"

            Instead of explaining myself, I held his wrist and dragged him deeper into my apartment.

            "Eric, what the hell?" he protested as he was forced to follow. He actually observed his surroundings for the first time. "W-Wait... This isn't your house..."

            Did you seriously just notice that? Perhaps he had lost a massive amount of brain cells during the accident, I thought cruelly. There was no way Hyesung who had died five years ago would recognize the house I was living in currently.

            So... Did that mean I admitted that this Hyesung was really the same Hyesung from five years ago?

            Without saying a word, I hauled him into the bathroom and positioned him in front of the mirror.

            "W-What..." he stammered. I took a sharp intake of breath.

            Hyesung extended his arm to touch the glass. Where his finger should've met its reflection... was blank.

            We both stared at the image of me standing alone in the mirror.

            "I... don't understand..." he whispered in tremor.

            But I was beginning to. Somehow things were adding up. The bloodless wound, the empty reflection... Everything was starting to be put together, everything was starting to make sense in a way it shouldn't.

            Hyesung lifted his arm up under the bulb-lit light. His eyes watched the bathroom sink in horror.

            "No... shadow..."

            Yes... He was beginning to comprehend now, too. Although it seemed impossible, something incredible and supernatural was taking place...

            Hyesung turned to me slowly, his eyes red and swollen. "I'm... really dead, aren't I..."

            Before I could nod, something struck my brain, something I had almost overlooked.

            I had certainly felt his breath against my skin earlier when he had pushed me against the door...

            "Am I... a ghost?" he asked, his voice strained and terrified.

            That had been my theory as well... But ghosts didn't breathe. That didn't make any sense.

           Gently, I grabbed his wounded hand and slowly traced the injury, making him flinch. Red liquid soaked my fingers in an instant.

            Ah...

            "You're not," I stated, the truth finally hitting me. "You're not a ghost."

            "B-But..."

            I shook my head, overcome with confidence. A strange wave of understanding washed over me. "You're alive."

            He stared at me with wide eyes. I smiled sadly down at him.

            "You're alive. But only to me."

[A/N]: Hey, guys! I'm so happy about the positive feedback I received for the first chapter! Hope you enjoyed chaper two as well~ This was more like a... "let's take a step back and try to explain what the hell is going on" chapter lol. This is my first "supernatural" fic and I realized it's like impossible to explain everything since it's not supposed to be real... I tried though, and I will explain more what's going on in the future to clear things up! Also, shall be updating my other two fics... soon... (So sorry for the wait!)  Again, every comment and upvote is so, so appreciated! I love you, guys~ 'Til the next chapter~