𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐌𝐄

#.. EIGHT

seungmin was already laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling as he waited for gunil to finish up and turn off the lights.

jooyeon stayed over at hyeongjun's for that night, feeling like he needed some company after that heavy relapse.

so seungmin was on his own, stuck in his thoughts. he could not remember his past life.

technically, he shouldn't know his death cause either, yet the angels have found a way to look at their cause of death through hypnosis.

so once an angel turns fifty, it goes through that said hypnosis, where the reason gets revealed.

seungmin was a hero in his previous life, why was he damned to be one in that one, too?

if he doesn't manage to save gunil, if gunil decides to kill himself, seungmin would perish, too. that's the deal with guardian angels.

their soul is linked with the human, that's what took them so long to figure out.

but it scared seungmin, knowing that his time as an angel was limited. then even if gunil dies a natural death, he'll still disappear to.

where? no one knows. there's no afterlife in afterlife.

gunil entered the room again, freshly showered. in only his boxers and a loose shirt he lazily put on, he walked towards the mirror to comb his hair.

"sorry i took that long" he smiled nervously, turning back to look at seungmin. "had to get ready."

ready for what? once finished, he faced seungmin and walked towards him. undressing his shirt, the younger started to get more than just confused.

"gunil, what are you doing?" he asked, brows furrowed. the elder leaned over seungmin and smiled.

"i want you to like me" he mumbled, leaning down to kiss seungmin's neck, his hands sensually on the other's waist.

stop. what? seungmin pushed gunil away. "but- gunil- what?" "you like me because of my body, don't you?" the elder asked, a sad smile on his lips.

"so i'm giving you what you want - people only like me when i do that."

seungmin was thrown off-guard. was his teacher really the only one who took advantage of him?

the angel barely thought about what gunil just tried to initiate, immediately sitting up. "gunil, this is not okay" he started, placing his hand on the elder's shoulder.

"you should not offer your body to anyone so they will like you. that's not a reason to start liking someone."

the man looked away, suddenly ashamed. "but that's the only way people have liked me so far..."

seungmin did not know what to answer. his thumb drew circles on gunil's tense shoulder as he thought of something to say.

"who?" gunil took a shaky breath. "my choir teacher, my former boyfriend, my supervisor, hyeongjun.."

it seemed like the list could go on, and with every single person gunil named, seungmin felt his heart rip. but hyeongjun?

he spoke his thought out loud, gunil's pupils immediately widened.

"hyeongjun was scared of me at first. so i blowed him to show that i'm nice and worthy of love.. now he likes me."

that was so wrong in so many ways possible. and so sad that gunil came to a point where he doesn't feel valued unless he stills someone's sexual desires.

"i'm pretty sure that's not the reason why hyeongjun likes you" seungmin sighed, sitting up again to face gunil.

"and about the rest. you were exploited, gunil. people took their chances with a young naive boy. it's not you they started liking."

the elder was on the verge of tears, just closing his eyes and sinking his head. a stray tear fell down straight onto the mattress.

seungmin put his hand on gunil's cheek, softly lifting his face again. "don't be ashamed" he spoke comfortingly. "you don't know it any different. but i'm here to show you."

gunil didn't seem to believe him, but just accepted it. "so you already like me?" he asked, not quite understanding what seungmin implied. the angel nodded, guiding gunil to lie down without saying more.

lying down, both of them wrapped themselves in separate blankets as gunil turned off the fairy lights.

"you're a great person, gunil" seungmin whispered. "you just need to heal, that's all."