Oneiric Tryst

11. Challenge

Hongjoong chuckled nervously. His subtle pull on the chains to test their strength got regarded by a risen brow. The jingle had given him away. When Seonghwa said nothing and just waited, Hongjoong sheepishly ceased the resistance.

"I'm not the danger, in case you assume that," Hongjoong responded diplomatically. Their closeness had his poor heart go wild in his chest. Seonghwa had yet to stop smirking down on him with that supremacy.

"What are you, then? To sneak through my dreams?"

Surprised, Hongjoong halted his futile attempts to break free to look up at the man. Tall and handsome, Seonghwa remained unbothered by the heat. The sweat glistening on his cheekbones made him even more gorgeous.

He knew this was a dream? That hinted at lucid dreaming, which he had shown no signals of doing before.

Fascinated, Hongjoong tilted his head to the left. Seonghwa mirrored his gesture with eerie accuracy.

They stood only an arm's length away from each other. Hongjoong blamed his blush on the scorching sun as he tried to come up with a nonsensical answer quickly.

"I'm no more than a person you dreamt up. Like Yunho or Wooyoung would be."

"You know Yunho?"

For a moment, Hongjoong blanked entirely. Only emptiness wafted through his brain, he just waited for a tumbleweed to roll through. Seonghwa's eyes glinted as he watched him fumble for a reply.

The time it took for Hongjoong to remember when he had heard Seonghwa acknowledge Yunho gave him away.

"You mentioned him before! The day we met at San's place."

The hum that Seonghwa gave signalled Hongjoong that he didn't believe him. Sweat wetted the back of his shirt when Hongjoong clenched his eyes shut to concentrate for a moment. It was better as long as he didn't look at Seonghwa up close. The man's handsome features and watchful eyes made him lose all train of thought.

"I did, indeed. But why do I feel as if you have been sneaking through my dreams even before that? Are you watching me? Did a gang send you to keep an eye out? If I saw you in the shadows, it would explain the alarm I feel in the dreams including you."

Hongjoong hastily wanted to pull his hands up to show his defence. The steely grip Seonghwa had on him blocked his movement. He could only step back slightly in protection.

"You must have seen me on the streets before. We live in the same city, after all," Hongjoong mumbled nervously. His eyes flickered around, avoiding Seonghwa in his distress.

The officer followed the little step Hongjoong had made away from him. When Hongjoong dodged him again, his back collided with a tree. How convenient.

"Then what has you so fidgety? What are you hiding? Now, and back then in San's flat, too?" Seonghwa dipped his head as his voice dropped. He spoke near Hongjoong's ear, horribly intimate.

And this time Hongjoong couldn't hide behind the pretence of being Wooyoung and Seonghwa's dear friend. It was Hongjoong who got cornered. And whose pulse throbbed in his neck like a deadly poison. All of Seonghwa's attention on him, inspecting him like a school project, made him weak.

"I'm not-"

"I studied human behavioural tendencies for my job. You show not only great distress but also every lie you've been telling me right on your face." Seonghwa's unbusy hand came up. His index finger met Hongjoong's forehead to angle his head back. Hongjoong's gaze flinched between Seonghwa's eyes that were so near. If it weren't so hot, he might have felt the other man's breath brush his nose.