The second hand of the clock continues ticking non-stop. Eunjung clenches her hand nervously as she locks her eyes petulantly on the clock.  Dongwan has been gone for more than an hour, and Eunjung cannot ignore the rising dread within her. It is irrational. Dongwan is an angel. Even if he disappears for another hour, most likely than not he is still fine and well. But Eunjung’s heart refuses to be rational right now. Maybe it is due to how estranged she had felt with Eric and Andy earlier, or maybe it is because of how she has started to rely on the angel, she is terrified of losing Dongwan.

Eunjung pushes herself up and walks to the store. “Dongwan-ah…”She calls, her lightly curl up fist meeting the door twice. Why did she want the posters? If she were to lose Dongwan just because of that…The thought pierces her heart mercilessly.

“Sorry Eunjung…” The familiar deep voice breaks her thought. “I took longer than expected.” Eunjung whips around and sees Dongwan a few steps away, holding on to a few rolled up posters. She goes into a daze, staring at the angel as the sudden surge of emotions overwhelms her. On the spur of the moment, she plunges into the angel’s broad chest as tears uncontrollably slide down her cheeks.

Dongwan petrifies with the abrupt action. Then he exhales softly, relaxing his stance and raises his free hand to pat the back of Eunjung’s head lightly. “Pabo-ah…I didn’t know my human is a crybaby.”

“You went away without waiting for me to say anything!” Eunjung protests as she releases her grip on Dongwan and smacks the angel’s chest. “And that is a very long time for such a small store!”

“I’m sorry.” Dongwan apologises ruefully, realising that Eunjung is truely worried. Frankly, it would not take him more than a minute to retrieve the posters, but he was stall by what Andy locks in the store. He let his hand runs through Eunjung’s hair and pushes her fringe to the side, his gentle eyes holding onto the angry gaze mix with the unconditional worry for him.

“I got for you your posters.” Dongwan says gently.

Eunjung glares at him with teary eyes before reaching out to take the posters from Dongwan. Unexpectedly, the angel lifts his hand higher keeping them out of Eunjung’s reach. An impishness flashes in his eyes as he moves away and sit on the floor by the full length window, his legs in an inverted “V”.

Dongwan scrutinizes the man in the posters before turning to Eunjung. “Shin Hyesung…is he really that handsome?”

Eunjung moves over and seats beside him, not answering. Of course Hyesung is handsome. There must be a reason why she is so in love with him for years. But for some reason, she does not feel like saying that to Dongwan. And…Eunjung cannot stop herself from thinking that the angel is attractive too; unearthly charming. That must be true for all angels, so she won’t compare him to a mere human. She stretches out her hand to take Hyesung’s posters from Dongwan but once again, Dongwan maneuvers them out of her grasp.

“Do you want to meet Shin Hyesung?”

“I don’t want to be a stalker fan.” Eunjung says as her hands engage in a tiny battle with Dongwan’s, both of them fighting for the posters. Dongwan laughs when Eunjung resort to tickling. He surrenders the posters of Hyesung to the human and tilts his head lightly, studying Eunjung who is now unwinding the posters. It is a beautiful scene…Dongwan knows he will miss observing her at such proximity when he completes his duty. His heart dips slightly.

“What do you like about Hyesung?” Dongwan asks.

“Hmmm…his voice? And he is cute when he sticks his tongue out.” Eunjung replies.

Dongwan flashes her a warm smile, “Shin Hyesung is a nice man…” He pauses and narrows his eyes, thinking. “Albeit a little naggy, a little nassistic, can’t dance for his life, can’t cook because he adds too much sesame to everything…”

“Yah,” Eunjung laughs and smacks Dongwan another time for the day. “Are you trying to turn me against my idol?”

“Why do you keep hitting me?” Dongwan grumbles and pouts cutely. “No one told me my human is violent before I came down. I am just trying to see if you are okay living with such a person.”

“Why would I live with him?” Eunjung replies without putting in much thought. She smiles at the picture of Hyesung, not aware of the angel’s gaze on her.

 Because it is your fate Eunjung…Because it is my duty…

***

The man walks into the café and advances to his usual seat. He closes his eyes and massages his temple lightly, trying to sooth the pain in his head. It is close this time, very close…he actually thought he had missed the time. He can almost feel the angry barista’s gaze boring holes into him and he heaves a sigh. He deserves it. He deserves anything Lee Minwoo will throw at him later.

The handsome and charming barista, who is also the waiter and owner of the café finally drops his gaze on the man and walks back to the counter. He feels like a time bomb about to explode any second. Breathe Minwoo! He reminds himself and takes a deep breath before resuming his work and purposefully ignoring the man.

After he is finally satisfied, he makes his way to the man and places a cup in front of him with too much strength. The hot liquid swirls violently and some of it makes its way out of the cup. “Tea.” He says brusquely to the man. “Coffee is too strong for that headache you are experiencing now.”

“Thanks Minbongie!” The man opens his eyes and says in a cute voice, turning in to his best friend.

“Don’t try that on me Eric. It won’t work.” Lee Minwoo says coldly.

“Sorry Mingbong-ah, I really didn’t expect a traffic jam when I sent Andy to his university. Don’t be angry ok?” Eric levels up his cuteness with his signature puppy eyes.

“How can I not be?!” Minwoo raises his voice to hint his anger and demonstrate to Eric that he will not let this slide so easily. But he keeps his voice low enough to not attract the attention of other patrons of his cafe. “You almost died!” His unforgiving gaze remains on Eric.

Eric heaves a sigh again. “I’m sorry. I will watch how long I’ve been out next time. It’s just…you know how Andy reminds me of her…”

“But he is not her!” Minwoo says sharply. He let himself seats opposite Eric. Andy reminds him of her too, but he cannot lose Eric, not even for a replica of her. If Eric really dies…Minwoo shudders at the thought and quickly pushes it to the back of his mind. He has to be stern about this. Eric cannot leave the building for more than 6 hours. “I’ll not let you kill yourself, even if it is for that pair of siblings.”

“Do you think they are my distant relatives?” Eric asks, making his best friend frowns angrily.

“I don’t care even if they really are, Eric! I am talking about something serious here. You are forbidden to leave like this again.”

“I know Minbong-ah!” Eric grins and stretches his hands across the table to play with Minwoo’s ear. “I’ll report to you whenever I need to go out okay?”

“Aish!” Minwoo brushes Eric’s hand away annoyed. “So have you talked to Andy? Why was he so secretive for the past months? He really thought we will not notice all those smuggling things in and out of the apartment right under our nose? It’s furniture for god’s sake!”

A solemn expression substitutes the grin on Eric’s face. “I’ve been to their unit. He changed everything inside.”

Minwoo narrows his eyes, “That is pretty cold blooded. Why would he do that?”

“He is not cold-blooded, Minwoo. You know as much as I do he is the one that is hurting most now. I bet he is hiding it from us only because of the money involved.”

Minwoo snorts and stands up. “I’ll go back to work. Drink up your tea and go back to rot in your lobby!” He walks away without turning back. He is afraid that Eric can read him. Eric is bounded physically, but Minwoo is constraint psychologically. He cannot moves on from what had happened in the past. And that is the reason he refuses to admit how much Andy resembles her, even to the extent of convincing himself the boy is bad.

Eric exhales through his nose as he lifts the cup of beverage to his mouth.

Now I am left with the appearance of Hyesung =))

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