In These Arms [mxm]

Chapter 27 - Chanyeol POV: System breach

A new day dawned as I woke to find Haneul sleeping so beautifully in my arms. He sighed in his sleep, breathing lightly through slightly parted lips. His closed eyelids blinked rapidly, and I could feel his fingers softly gripping my forearm. It was so warm with him beside me that for the first time since I could remember, I felt increasingly hesitant to leave the bed. The thought of leaving him behind left a sour taste in my mouth, which only the sweetness of his lips could overpower the bitterness. I moved carefully so as not to wake him, and gently kissed his forehead, and then moving a little lower, pressed my lips gently against his. He murmured and nestled deep into his pillow, smiling in his sleep. How he could remain the same after all these years, I could not begin to fathom.

I had contacted my father late last night after Haneul fell asleep, so I knew he was fine. However, he would perhaps benefit from a harsh talking to. Having frightened Haneul with his latest medical scare, perhaps he would soon consider taking his own life more seriously. Still careful not to wake him, I gently pulled away and slipped out of the bed. I turned to look at Haneul again, still struggling with the disbelief that he was here... he was back.

It was difficult to turn my back to him, but I had a day to prepare for. As I finished showering and dressing, I quickly scanned my brain to recall where I had left my wallet and key card. My eyes darted around the bathroom, quickly landing on my jacket pocket which I had left lying on the floor. It was unlike me to leave my belongings scattered around, but as I reached down to pick them up and place them back inside the basket, my phone started to ring. It was loud, startling me enough to drop the items of clothing and race to pull my phone from my pants pocket. I opened the door and snuck a glance at Haneul, relieved to find that he did not wake up from the sound.

"Hello?" I answered in a whisper, unsure of who was on the line as I had no opportunity to check. My eyes remained on Haneul, watching his arms move unconsciously to my pillow and pull it against himself.

"Mr. Han," came Mr. Kim's familiar voice. "There was an electrical surge through the hospital and the generator failed to pick up immediately. We may have lost streams of data, though there are a group of us trying to recover them now."

"It's fine," I said, closing the door slightly so that the bathroom light would not bother Haneul. "Most of our data is backed up threefold. There should be no trouble in recovering them."

"There appear to be glitches in our programmes," he said, and I could a mix of panicked voices, rustling papers, and the tapping of keyboards in the background. "It's as if the system has been hacked into and changed our coding. We're basically locked out at this point."

"What?"

"Sir, we will keep doing our best to recover everything. Visit your father first and come in at usual time. I will inform you if anything goes further south."

"I'll count on you then," I said, promptly ending the call.

Opening the door again, I continued to watch Haneul unconsciously cuddling with my pillow. Never in my life did I consider that one day, I might become jealous of an inanimate object; yet here I was, wishing more than anything that it was still me lying beside him. I switched off the bathroom light and watched the room return to darkness. Figuring I had everything with me, I opened the bedroom door and turned to leave. One last time, I turned back to look at Haneul, swept up once again in the disbelief that he was truly back here with me. Both a gift and a curse. Things would never be the way they were in the past, but I needed to treat him well. The only man whom I had ever shared my bed was back inside it once more. This very bed was the same one we shared together; I never expected that he would resume his place by my side. Finding every ounce of strength in me to turn away from him, I left the room and gently closed the door behind me.