Dreams ar fleeting, nightmares are real...

The dream I was seeing evaporated to something less blissful as the shrill ringing of reality pierced through the blanket I had over my head and taunted my ears. I groaned to myself, hoping it would stop, but knowing at the same time it wouldn’t; duty called. With my eyelids glued over the eyes, I extended my hand blindly towards the general direction of where my phone should have been, perched on the bedside table to my right. After a bit of fumbling, during which I’d probably knocked over my pills and maybe my glass, I found the vibrating object, emitting the noise I despised the most at this moment.  Receiving the call, I pressed my cell phone against my ear; a familiar voice started talking immediately.

“Murder, Sir.”

I didn’t point out how the words actually rhymed. And that it sounded funny when he called me ‘Sir’.

“Good morning to you too, Sungyeol,” I said groggily. "Just call me Myugsoo, like you always do, even tough I'm your senior," I wanted to add, but didn't because i was too sleepy.

“Can you take down the address?”

Sungyeol was probably in front of a lot of people to sound this professional. Usually when he called me up, he started with complaints about the inefficacy of the uniformed police and how his life was totally ruined because all the people around him were out to get him and he might as well be the next victim. But no chit-chat for today, I guessed.

“Shoot.”

When he was done giving me the address, he hung up, leaving me to fight off the sleep that threatened to tie me down to the bed. I cracked an eyelid open and checked the time – it was 5.48 am; at least it wasn’t in the middle of the night. I had had worse calls. The crack of dawn wasn’t a bad time for finding a murdered victim.

Wondering if I should actually have written the address down because I might forget it later, I rolled to my other side, coming face to face with an angel.

No one who had seen Sungjong would argue that I was exaggerating. His pale, creaseless, face was softly lit with the first rays of the sun that were peering from the window. The blanket had fallen off his shoulder, revealing the thin nightshirt. His hands were tucked under the side of his head. I stared at his somewhat androgynous face, that was known to beguile both men and women and for the umpteenth time, I pondered what I must have done right in my last life to have deserved Sungjong in this one.

Gently, I pecked his lips, careful not to wake him up. He had been up most of the night, trying to pacify Sunggyu hyung; he definitely needed the sleep. And it was unfair to drag him up when I was the only who needed to go to work at this hour.

Struggling with the blanket for a few moments, I scrambled out of bed and headed straight for the shower. It would definitely be a long and tedious day ahead and I wanted to be prepared for it. Maybe I should leave a note for Sungjong for when he wakes up, I thought, as I rubbed soap over my arms. I had wanted to serve him breakfast in bed today, as a thank-you for yesterday night, but it would have to wait.

When I came out of the bathroom, feeling a lot less groggy, I found that the bed had been vacated and a set of my work clothes had been laid out on my side of it.

“Sungjong,” I murmured under my breath, as I rubbed the towel vigorously on my head, in an attempt to dry my hair fast. There was no keeping him in bed once I woke up. If he even got the tiniest of hint that I was awake, he would make sure he made me breakfast and saw me off.

This caring, almost motherly, side of his was in sharp contrast to the times I had found him lying on the sofa, pissed off about something that happened with his boss, and ordering me around, making me do chores. No one is perfect, after all. I never admitted it to him, but the bossy side of him was sort of attractive. Truth was, even though he would have me believe that I had the upper hand in this relationship, Sungjong was actually the in control. I didn’t mind really. But given the choice, I’d rather have breakfast made for me than polish the same shoe at least ten times to meet Sungjong’s definition of ‘sparkling clean’.

I dressed quickly, tucking in the shirt and fumbling with my belt. I could hear tiny noises issuing from the kitchen, which was my next destination.

I found Sungjong with his back turned to me, frying what smelled to me like his delicious pancakes. I tiptoed across the marble floor and put my arms around his waist, pulling him towards me in a tight back-hug.

Sungjong emitted an impatient grunt, as he struggled to pick up the perfectly round pancake with his spatula.

“Good morning,” I whispered into his neck, rocking him gently from side to side.

“You used the new after shave,” Sungjong commented, finally getting the pancake onto the plate. He turned around, with me still clinging onto him and put the pancake down on the small breakfast table. He had already laid the table with a bowl of cereal with soy milk and two eggs.

“I did,” I replied as Sungjong moved to the sink next, to collect the dirty dishes and bowls. I had no intention of letting him go and he was by now, very used to it him so he had learned to work his way around the inconvenience of a grown man hanging on to him from behind. “You didn’t have to, you know,” I added as he put everything into the dish washer.

“Yes I know.” His tone implied that he was rolling his eyes and I chuckled. “I checked on Sunggyu hyung. He’s still sleeping and I don’t think he’s going to wake up anytime soon; he fell asleep around 5.”

Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “Thanks.” Sungjong tensed up in my embrace and I apologized hastily.

He hated it when I thanked him for taking care of Sunggyu hyung. He had told me countless times that he wasn’t doing it because of me, he was doing it because Sunggyu was like a brother to him. It was strange for Sungjong to get so attached to Sunggyu hyung when his own older brother was the complete opposite of Sunggyu. Well, to be fair, this Sunggyu hyung was completely new to me, even though it had been more than two years and before that, he wasn’t that different from Sungjong’s brother.

“I’m sorry, I forget. I’ll get the coffee.” Sungjong shut the door of the dishwasher and pressed some buttons. “I love you,” I added as I kissed his neck. He turned around, still within my arms, and started fumbling with my tie. I was sure I had tied it wrong as I saw the frown appear on his face. After a minute of concentration, he gave me a smile.

“I love you too,” he said softly, giving my tie a final tug. I leaned down to kiss his lips but he ducked out and started walking towards the bedroom. “Have a nice day at work,” he said over his shoulder.

“I will,” I reply, sitting down at the breakfast table. “You take care.” I saw Sungjong’s hand waving as he disappeared through our bedroom door, an indication that he had heard me.

I chomped down my breakfast, and skipped the coffee. Sungyeol would be ballistic the rest of the day if he had to fend off everyone at the crime scene by himself.