Seventh Paradise : Hoya

“Guys?”

I hollered to the empty place. None of them were here. Sungyeol, Sungjong and Dongwoo were missing from the common room. Myungsoo was not chewing on anything. Woohyun wasn’t trying to seduce me and Hoya wasn’t there to drag him away. Even Sunggyu’s usual nagging was gone.

Where were they?

I peeked into their rooms, covering my eyes with my fingers timidly when I stuck my head in. They were all empty. Pacing nervously in the common room, I realized there was one room I had yet to check. I dragged myself towards the room, debating with myself the entire time.

“Never ever open the door to this room.”

Sunggyu’s warning still rang as clear as day in my mind. I was never the curious type to begin with so I didn’t really pay much attention. But now with all seven of them missing, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried, even with them being immortal and all. Taking a deep breath to steel myself for whatever it was that lay beyond, I pushed open the grey door, squinting suspiciously.

It was another white room. Feeling slightly bewildered and also a tinge of disappointment, I swung the door open fully. I took small, careful steps towards the only thing occupying the room. The small white box was decorated with tiny crystals that shone and sparkled brightly despite there being no source of light in the room. Next to the box was a slim silver cylinder, which turned out to be a telescope after further inspection. It was nestled on a plush red cushion.

I glanced around and lifted the cover of the box cautiously. The insides of the box were also white and I was about to close it when I noticed something moving inside of it. As hard as I tried to make out the tiny black dots, I couldn’t see anything at all. I was getting frustrated when my eyes fell on the telescope next to it.

Oh.

Picking it up gently, I pulled out the body of the telescope and positioned it above the box. I lowered one eye towards the looking glass of the small tube. I had to stop myself from gasping when I witnessed the scene unfolding before my eyes.

It was them! It felt like déjà vu when I saw them sitting on that very same striped couch from the first day I met them, even the little lamp was there next to Sungyeol’s stool. They were clad entirely in black again, an image that contrasted heavily with what I was already used to since I began living them.

I was too busy staring at them that I didn’t notice another figure in the white room. The woman wore the same outfit I had been wearing when I was first introduced to the Guardians of Paradise. She was on her knees, clutching at her jet-black locks frantically. She lifted her head and let out a strangled scream. Tears were streaming down her face that was contorted into a horrifying expression.

“I don’t want to die!” She screeched, causing me to flinch backwards.

The boys were unaffected by her yells. They stared as she self destructed before their eyes. The way they were so impassive and how their eyes lacked any trace of warmth frightened me. This side of them, the Guardian side of them was so foreign to me.

The girl stood up shakily and stumbled her way towards them. When she was a few feet away from them, she launched herself at Myungsoo suddenly, mouth turned up into a snarl, fingers curled into claws. I could only watch in horror as Myungsoo failed to react in time to block her attack. She brought one hand down and slashed at his face but before her claws could reach him, Sungjong tackled her from the side, sending the both of them crashing towards the ground.

The other guys leapt up instantly and pulled the hysteric girl away from Sungjong. She clawed at air, her boney arms flailing about as she tried to free herself. I returned the telescope to its resting place and closed the box. After making sure the door to the white room was secure, I made a mad dash to my room, slamming the pink door shut behind me before I slumped to the ground, burying my face in my hands.

Her expression when she was trying to get at Sungjong haunted me even when I had my eyes closed. Her bloodshot eyes were filled with sorrow, her black hair flying wildly in tendrils around her reminded me of a painting I saw once when I was younger. A painting of a goddess fallen from grace. They sported that same expression, that terrifyingly beautiful expression.

Another image that haunted me was the one of the boys. They had looked at the poor girl with no sympathy at all. Seeing the deadness in their eyes made me feel like a complete stranger to them. I didn’t know who they were. They were not the same playful guys I had come to love and adore over the past few days.

I stayed in my room and waited, straining my ears for the sound of footsteps. After what seemed eternity, I heard the sound of a door creaking open, followed by some scuffling and some groaning. I locked my door quickly and waited for the sounds to fade into the distance. The person groaned again and there was a sharp intake of breath.

Was someone hurt? The girl had reacted violently earlier, striking them in that moment of insanity. She…she had been aiming for Myungsoo. But Sungjong blocked her, pushing her out of the way. I remembered the way they hit the ground, Sungjong had been at the bottom, he took most of the impact from the fall. Was that it? Was he hurt? The urge to rush to his side to check on him, to make sure he was okay, to make sure that all of them were okay was overwhelming. I kept myself glued to the floor, wrapping my arms around my knees. I was dying to check on them but the images of their emotionless faces were not easy to erase.

I must have dozed off while I sat on the floor because I jolted awake to knocks on my door. I clambered up, startling myself when I noticed the once pink door was now a deep shade of purple and threw the door open. Hoya was standing in the doorway, his usual stoic expression set in place but there was something different. His face was hard, eyes even more piercing than normal.

“Hoya,” I breathed, my voice was still shaky and I avoided his eyes.

I felt his gaze on me. A minute passed before he motioned for me to follow him. I tailed him, keeping my eyes on the ground, trying but failing to control the emotions that were raging inside of me. We descended the stairs quietly and entered the common room. My suspicions were confirmed when I noticed Sungjong and Sunggyu missing from the group, leaving only five members of the Guardians in the common room and kitchen. They were all deep in thought, their faces sporting the same mask that Hoya wore before I entered the room. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have believed that something was wrong with the way they broke into smiles so easily and effortlessly.

I kept my expression controlled, but it wasn’t easy. I wanted to flinch every time I looked at a different person and flashes of their emotionless faces would dance in front of my eyes. I smiled sheepishly at them, hating how attached I had gotten to them, how easily they affected me now. Hoya pulled me over to the portal, away from the other guys. We linked hands and jumped into the portal. The trip through the portal had gotten smoother over the days, but that didn’t stop the force from knocking us to our feet when we made it to the other side.

We landed in the hallway again. Hoya lay sprawled next to me, as he held his head in his hands. I reached one hand over to touch his head, becoming alarmed when my fingers were coated with something sticky. My fingers were stained with blood when I pulled my hand back.

“Oh my god! You’re bleeding!” I screamed, clambering up and rushing towards the bathroom to grab the first aid kit from the cabinet. Hoya was sitting up when I rushed back to him, he stared at his blood covered palms blankly. I tried looking for the wound on his head but his dark mess of hair made differentiating the wound from his hair impossible. I huffed exasperatedly and bandaged his head clumsily.

I shoved Hoya into my guest bedroom, throwing the extra rolls of bandages at him and ordering him to stay put until I come back. He nodded blankly and laid down on the bed. I closed the door and dashed off to Mija’s room. Mija was still half asleep when I flung the pink door open. I patted her cheeks lightly, waking her up and helped her into her uniform. I found a pleasant surprise waiting for me in the kitchen when we went downstairs. A note was stuck onto Mija’s already prepared lunchbox. It was from her grandmother, explaining that she had prepared a nutritious meal for Mija the night before. I made a mental note to thank the old lady later as I snatched up the lunchbox, joining Mija at the doorway where she was putting her shoes on.

Mija was looking around curiously when we began our trip towards school. She looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to introduce a handsome young man to her today as well. I shrugged nonchalantly, hiding my amusement. She pouted cutely and took my hand. Mija sang loudly as we made our way towards the school. She learned a new song and couldn't wait to show off her singing skills to me. Her voice was pleasant and easy on the ears and I admired the way she sang so effortlessly without a single tune out of place. Maybe I should hire a piano teacher for her.

Then I remembered, there wasn’t much time left. How many days has it been since I’ve been travelling back and forth from Paradise and the ‘Mortal World’? Today would be the fourth day, I only had three days left to spend with my daughter. Regret filled me as I realized that I hadn’t really been spending much time with her even though that was the whole point of my little detour. But there wasn’t much I could do, time ran on a strict schedule and regardless of our ages, we had different duties to fulfill, a different set of responsibilities. Mija still had school and I couldn’t just whisk her away from her education just so she could spend more time with me.

I felt fabric hit my face, snapping me out of my thoughts. I caught the woolen hat as it fell and sent a stern look towards the small girl beside me. She returned my gaze coolly, cheeks puffed up, her lips in a pout.

“Umma,” she whined. “You weren’t listening to me!”

I chuckled and apologized, pinching her rosy cheeks. The school building loomed from a distance and I promised her I would listen to her sing when I picked her up in the evening later. She was dissatisfied but agreed anyways.

“Promise you won’t disappear like yesterday?” Mija kissed her gloved pinky and stuck it out at me. I laughed at the little gesture. It was something she picked up from her father, that special way of making promises. He had taught it to me as well back when we were still together. I bent down and kissed my pinky before linking it with hers, reciting the line that he had come up with as we bounced our linked hands.

“I promise,” I smiled warmly at her. “Now go on, school’s waiting.”

She waved at me, her smile reminding of someone that I knew all too well. I shook my head and retraced my steps back home. That was when Hoya reentered my thoughts, the memory of his blood on my palms had me sprinting all the way back home. I had been too busy reliving my old memories that Hoya had been driven out of my thoughts. How was he doing? He couldn’t die right? Right?

“Alright Hoya, let’s go!” I slammed the door to my guest bedroom door open, ready to carry him to the hospital if I needed to.

“Oh Hyeri, welcome back,” Hoya was sprawled on the bed, a magazine open in front of him as he flipped through it lazily. He looked…fine.

“Wait. What happened to your head wound?” I asked astonished.

“It healed,” he said, eyes never leaving the magazine. “Sorry for frightening you earlier, I didn’t manage to tell you that we’re naturally fast healers before you left,” he looked up and smiled at me.

“Oh, right. Guardians of Paradise. Immortality. Right,” I muttered under my breath, feeling slightly peeved that I had been worrying on my own while in truth there was nothing to be worried about. God, I felt so stupid.

“Thank you,” Hoya smiled at me, his eyes sincere. “For worrying about me. It’s nice.”

“Uh. Sure, no problem,” I scratched the back of my head nervously, unsure of how to react.

“I didn’t get to meet you daughter,” Hoya stated as he swung his body off the bed, landing cleanly on his feet. He replaced the magazine on the bookshelf, frowning suddenly at the books there.

“You can meet her after school, she’ll be expecting you. And what are you doing?” Hoya was pulling out the books one by one, stacking them back into the bookshelf neatly. I scooted over to him and noticed that he had arranged the books in an alphabetical order. I raised one eyebrow at him. He shrugged, looking very much like a young schoolboy with the way he pressed his lips together and how his eyebrows disappeared into his fringe.

“I have, what humans call, a slight obsessive compulsive disorder. It’s not that bad,” he added after I looked at him in alarm. “It only manifests when I notice something, other than that I keep it under control most of the time.”

“Wow, you guys are more human than I thought,” he burst out laughing and only did I realized what I just said.

“You have no idea. Which is why it’s a nightmare living with Sungyeol and Sungjong. They create garbage even when the room is sparkling clean.” He shook his head as he said this, making me giggle.

We decided to spend the rest of the day just lazing around at home, Hoya using the excuse that I needed more rest lest I collapse again like yesterday. I assured him that I was perfectly fine but he insisted.

“You weren’t in a very good state yesterday,” he eyed me skeptically.

“I know. But I’m fine now. No more screaming last night,” I let the last part slip out thoughtlessly and gasped. Hoya’s eyes widened at my words.

“Oops. Shouldn’t have said that,” I grinned nervously. “Sungyeol told me,” I admitted sheepishly. He nodded, pursing his lips.

“Do you have any idea, why I was having those nightmares?” I asked him while prodding him in the arm.

He shook his head. “Sungyeol told you everything didn’t he? Then you must know you’re special. In all our time as Guardians, never has there been a case like yours. We don’t understand it either, it’s as if the Boss is keeping you around, waiting for something to happen.”

My mind had blanked out the moment the word ‘Guardians’ left his lips. Images from today morning appeared before my eyes again, bombarding me with pictures of the girl, their expressionless masks and the coldness they radiated as they observed her like she was some sort of creature instead of a person. They had been warm when I first met them, even though they were determined to send me over to Heaven, they had treated me with respect and courtesy. What changed? What caused them to act the way they did today?

“Hyeri?” I looked at Hoya blankly when he called my name. His eyes were thoughtful as he looked at me and let out a small sigh.

“I’m guessing you went into the room,” he said suddenly.

Silence.

“Even when Sunggyu hyung explicitly asked you not to,” he chuckled under his breath. “Then, you must have seen what happened earlier today.”

More silence.

“I’m sorry,” I said awkwardly, the guilt weighing on my shoulders heavily.

“It would have been better if the client today wasn’t such a difficult one,” he stated simply.

“Do you guys appear every time someone dies?”

He shook his head. “If we did that I wouldn’t even have the time to sit here and talk to you,” he grinned. “Do you have any idea how many people die each and every second of the day?” I shook my head, preferring not to indulge myself with that particular piece of knowledge.

“When do you appear then? Why did you appear when I died?”

“We only appear when a person with an extremely strong attachment to the Mortal World passes on,” he answered. Attachment, God had mentioned it and so did Sungyeol. I frowned. What defined attachment?

“Then you’ll have to appear constantly wouldn’t you?”

He laughed again. A hollow laugh.

“You’ll be surprised by the number of people who wish to simply disappear. Humans are such strange creatures. They take death so lightly, as if it is nothing. But when they die, they curse God for ending their lives so soon,” he paused, pondering before continuing. “We appear before the ones with strong attachments because they’re dangerous. They pose a threat towards the balance between the two worlds, the living and the not. A perfect example would be the one from today morning, she was on the verge of turning into an Aimless.”

“Dangerous? But you guys appeared before me. Does this mean I’m dangerous? What’s an Aimless?” Hoya looked at me and smirked.

“Well I can’t say you’re dangerous, not now at least. But the girl from today, she was pretty deadly, violent too. She almost took off Sungjong’s arm. But don’t worry! He’ll be fine by the time we get back, healing powers remember?” I sank back into the couch after his reassurance that Sungjong was not going to die and couldn't anyways since he was an immortal.

“An Aimless is a soul with a strong attachment that failed to make it over to Paradise in time. They’re stuck on the Mortal World, cursed to never be able to find eternal peace for their entire lifetimes. They linger aimlessly, haunting the place where they were killed. But there are the violent ones, the ones that’ll do everything they can to harm the living. They’re consumed by wrath and envy for the living that drives them to do everything in their power to inflict pain and suffering onto them. There’s no way of getting rid of them so the best we can do is to prevent the creation of the Aimless as much as we can. That’s the role of the Guardians.”

I let myself absorb the information. Hoya shrugged casually and told me not to think too much into it. There was nothing I needed to worry about since I didn’t look like I was going to turn into an Aimless. I decided to let the issue drop, not eager to delve deeper into it. The whole topic made me feel very uneasy. I went back to convincing Hoya to go out and he finally gave in this time.

“Hey Hoya,” he cocked one eyebrow at me.

“Not all humans take death lightly you know. Most of us do cherish life when we’re still living.”

“I know. You proved that to me.”

I couldn’t stop grinning the entire time we walked towards the bus stop.

 ∞

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the various shops and eating to our heart’s delight. This was what Sungyeol and I would have been doing yesterday if my brain had decided to behave and not knock me out. I remembered the games that the boys played back in Paradise and recalled that they liked using candies and sweets as their spoils. I steered Hoya towards a candy shop and began piling different candies into the basket.

“As a thank you, for taking care of me,” I explained when he looked at the large mountain of sweets I had in the basket curiously as I paid the slightly astonished cashier. He grinned widely and thanked me again and again as we left the store. I laughed it off and made him promise not to let Sungyeol cheat his way into winning every single bar of chocolate away.

“Actually I feel like getting something for you guys, something to remember me by when you finally get rid of me,” I joked as we continued shopping. There was still some time left before we had to pick Mija up from school. I scanned the stalls, searching for something appropriate. I spotted a small jewelry stall and dragged Hoya over.

“Do you guys like rings?” I asked him as I scanned the myriad of shiny bands nestled in the boxes.

“I love rings,” Hoya was already drooling as he admired the gleaming pieces of silver. “Those are nice,” he pointed at a particular section of the box. The ring had a simplistic design with a purple stone set into the band. I noticed its brothers next to it, all set with different coloured stones in the band. It was perfect. I picked out the purple one along with the red and green one and two pink ones. One for Sunggyu, Dongwoo, Sungyeol, Hoya and Mija. Since I didn’t know what colour Sungjong, Woohyun and Myungsoo was going to be yet, I left theirs out, deciding to buy theirs later.

Hoya slipped his ring (with the purple stone obviously) on his finger while sporting a boyish grin. He surprised me with a quick hug and went back to admiring his gleaming ring. We went to pick Mija up, the little girl squealed at the sight of Hoya and his lean arms and instantly demanded to be carried by him. He complied willingly as I gave Mija her pink ring, earning another excited squeal from her. They admired their rings together like a pair of twins, causing me to burst out into laughter. As promised, Mija began singing, a different song this time which she had just learned. Hoya began a silly dance as she sang and the entire street was filled with our raucous laughter.

Dinner passed by quickly with me pouting throughout most of it. Apparently, Mija had a sleepover that I was unaware of but she insisted that she told me a few days ago. I interrogated her for the details, which she told me lazily, rolling her eyes when I insisted again and again that she didn’t let me know about her little plans. I felt a little better after knowing the sleepover was just a few houses away at Jaein’s home. I whined as I brought her over, hugging her tight and not willing to let go. Mija pushed at my face, trying to escape my death grip.

“Umma! It’s not like I’m never coming home again,” she groaned as she fought against my hug.

“Umma’s going to miss you so much. Don’t get into trouble okay? And respect your elders.”

“But Jaein’s oppas are weird! Only Khun oppa is nice to me.”

“They’re still your oppas. Goodnight sweetie, I love you,” I kissed her forehead and finally released her. Mija kissed me back on the cheek before disappearing into the house while giggling with Jaein. “See you tomorrow after school umma!” She yelled before the door clicked shut.

I picked myself up from my squatting position. “Three more days,” I murmured to myself as I made my back home.

“Where are the sweets?” I asked Hoya as we prepared to travel through the portal back to Paradise.

“I sent it before us. Let’s hurry before the others get their grubby hands on it,” he pulled me into the portal and we were off. We appeared in the common room to a loud commotion. Looks like we were just a second too late as sweets and chocolates flew across the air. All six boys were wrestling with each other on the floor as they tried to snatch the sweets for their own. I could see the initital playfulness disintegrating and turning rather vicious as they fought over the candies. Hoya and I just stood to the side, watching them wrestle it out.

“They’re idiots. I live with a bunch of idiots,” Hoya sighed and rolled his eyes. He grinned fondly at them and continued, “But I’m happy I met them. Even in death, or Paradise or whatever you call this place. They’re my idiots.”

“Can't say I don’t agree.”