||Koi No Yokan|| Park Seonghwa

||Chapter 2||

"I fucked up!"

That was the only thing he was able to say as soon as he saw Hongjoong.

He had asked Yeosang to tell him he needed him for an important matter. All the divine messenger could do was scoff and murmur something like "Why can't we use phones like mortals do" before flying away in the deep night sky. He had kept his hand and the crimson arrow hidden in his quiver until he was sure that Yeosang had flown away: nobody on the Olympus but Hongjoong needed to know what happened, at least at the moment.

"Tell me now... how badly did you fuck up? You made someone fall in love with a bull, again?"

"That was one time, Joong, and it was on Zeus orders!"

Seonghwa sat on his bed, ready to tell him what he saw just a few hours prior.

Hongjoong was powerful enough to control anyone's sleep, including deities like himself. And judging by his friend's miserable state, he knew he would have needed some.

"I-I don't know how I did it... but there was this girl on the beach. She was beautiful, and then she started glowing and I got distracted because well she was beautiful and glowing and a human doesn't glow like that and... I stung myself with an arrow"

He sighed, falling back on his bed. He could already feel the effects of his mistake: every time he mentioned the girl, he couldn't help but feel restless. Like he had to run back to that beach, to wait for her to show up again.

Hongjoong quickly glanced at his wounded hand, until his attention went to the crimson red arrow in his quiver. He furrowed his brows, sitting next to him on the bed.

"I can't believe I have done this. What is going to happen now?"

"Well, since you only barely stung your hand, you should be able to resist its effects for a while... but it won't last long. You are going to fall in love, and pretty hard, judging by this"

He pointed at the arrow.

The only proof that Cupid had fallen in love.

Seonghwa looked at the god in the eyes, silently pleading to put him to sleep, literally. He only wanted to rest for a little, before he had to go on Earth again and fulfill his duties. He was still the god of love, after all.

Hongjoong rested one hand on his eyes, and it was a matter of seconds before Seonghwa was out like a light.

He made sure that the poor Cupid slept without any dreams. Just a dark, peaceful slumber.

Hongjoong looked at the arrow again and noticed something different.

The feathers had started to shift color.

White made its way towards the arrowhead, but it stopped midway. He knew way too well what it meant.

"The perfect balance..." he murmured to himself, before getting out of the house. He had some work to do.

He could only hope that Aphrodite never found out about it.

***********************

If there was one thing Carys loved, it was a rainy day.

She liked staying inside, cuddled in her bedsheets, maybe watching a movie or listening to music.

Today was one of those days: she was debating whether to get up or not. Sure, she was hungry. But the bed was so comfortable and it was still early... plus, she felt like she was drifting to sleep again. She didn't know that there was someone in her room, trying their best to enter her deepest thoughts.

Hypnos was slowly making her drift off to a peaceful slumber, pulling her back to sleep with a melody only he could understand: as the rain kept tapping on her windows, as the far sound of thunder echoed in the air, Hongjoong granter her access to her dreams. Just a couple of minutes would have been enough.

As the god of dreams and sleep, he was also able to condition mortal's minds without them knowing.

Countless books had been written by humans about dreams and their interpretations: Hongjoong was amused by their obstinacy to logically understand the realm of dreams, where nothing was as it seemed and everything was real and fake at the same time. Men had always encouraged one another to trust and follow their dreams: but would a man follow a map without coordinates? Would he be willing to get lost in a maze with no compass to guide?

Carys was sound asleep.

Hongjoong thought one last time about the consequences of his actions. It was dangerous to mess with dreams, even for a god, but it had to be done. Fate was inevitable, and it was his duty to contribute to the realization of its plans.

And so, he opened the realm of dreams to her.

Carys was on the beach. She recognized the beach she had walked on the night before, but there was something different.

A boy was laying on the rocks.

He was shining in the night sky, his halo reflected by the water below him. She couldn't see his face since it was half covered by his enormous wings: they were shining even brighter than him.

Then, she saw him. It must have been an angel of some sort, or some other celestial creature because there was no way that a beauty like him was of human nature: his hair was literal gold, falling on his forehead and down to his neck, which was adorned with jewelry. The ivory of his clothes only made his glowing skin stand out even more.

He was truly a sight to behold.

The angel turned to look at something behind her. She turned too, only to see herself, in the same clothes she wore the night before, humming the same song, walking the same path.

"Cupid, draw back your bow. 

And let your arrow flow

 Straight to my lover's heart for me.

Nobody but me..."

She observed the angel, only to discover his arrows and bow hidden behind the wings.

Cupid.

Then he took one arrow and stung himself while looking at her. Well, herself from last night.

His had started bleeding, the arrow turned red and soon another light started burning, brighter that Cupid's one.

She was on fire. She could feel the warmth on her skin, but she didn't burn. And soon, everything was enveloped in the same fire, until she could only see the gentle flames burn down into the sea. 

***********************

HeLlO! yOu KnOw wHaT iT Is!!!!! AnNyEoNgHaSeyYoOo

(pls ignore my headassery)

The plot starts to thicken... (well, not yet but almost hehe) 

What will happen next? Will our Cupid be able to see Carys again? You'll find out next week ;)

-Medusa