"What's taking him so long?" Baekhyun asks, pacing back and forth, twirling a small object in his hand.
"Give it a rest, brother," says the redhead, Chanyeol. "He's merely taking his time."
"None of us has taken this long," Baekhyun persists, throwing the object he's holding, his phone.
"Maybe he's lost," Luhan whispers, stopping the phone before it drops to the floor.
"Is that possible?" Sehun asks, staring at the phone suspended in the air.
"No," Chanyeol sighs. He stares intently at the phone. It bursts into flames within a fraction of a second.
The three Guardians aren't really surprised when they find themselves engulfed in darkness, the only light coming from the burning object.
"That was a good phone," Baekhyun hisses.
Sehun and Chanyeol laugh. The atmosphere turns cold. The wind shifts. The flame blazes into a shade of blue.
"Shall we play a game?" Sehun smiles darkly.
****
"But, Kai-ssi, I fell in love with you," a familiar voice whispers in my dream.
I open my eyes to find Kyungsoo leaning towards me, his form luminous, his face inches from mine, a taste of chocolate strong in my mouth. I can hear my heart pounding in my chest.
"What are you doing?" I ask nervously, blinking, unable to move.
Kyungsoo leans away from me, his face unreadable.
"I thought you were dead," he teases, tilting his head to the side.
"Funny," I grumble, bolting upright. I glance at the clock. Ten minutes pass twelve.
"Aren't you going back to sleep?" Kyungsoo asks as I move towards the door.
"And let you haunt me with nightmares?" I raise an eyebrow at him. He rolls his eyes at me. I laugh, slipping my sneakers on and putting on a coat. "Walk with me?"
"At this hour?" He frowns.
"Got a problem with that?" I ask, heading downstairs.
Kyungsoo follows me silently outside. The security, completely oblivious of Kyungsoo, is surprised to see me, but ask no question as we step out of the elevator.
The moon and stars are partially obscured by the clouds. But Kyungsoo's form casts enough light, illuminating my path just fine.
"You're like a walking streetlight," I comment as we round a corner.
"Behave," he warns, but a small smile shapes his lips.
We walk for a few seconds. Then I turn to him suddenly, raising my hands and forming claws.
"Ah!" I scream, hoping desperately to scare him.
I get a different reaction entirely. One I am not expecting.
Kyungsoo glares at me, his golden eyes flaring. For a second he looks really scary. I can feel hair standing on my arms, on my neck. I fall into silence, swallowing nervously, my heart drumming erratically.
His next reaction sets me off guard.
Kyungsoo covers his mouth, stifling his laughter. He bends down, shaking his head, his body rippling as he falls into a series of laughter.
"I must say, you were pretty scared," he manages to say.
I groan at him. "You should've seen your face, you were pretty scary."
"I am not Casper, the friendly ghost," he tells me, straightening up.
"Shut up," I say, narrowing my eyes at him. Kyungsoo just grins at me. I blink and shake my head. "You might wake the whole neighbor."
"They can't hear me," he reminds me.
I throw him a look before moving on. He trails behind me. It's really nice, hearing him laugh though. I smile to myself.
"Kai is scared of ghosts," Kyungsoo sings, going all spooky behind me.
"Stop it," I say coldly.
He does. He bites his lips and walks silently beside me.
A foul taste settles at the base of my mouth, making me gag.I hold out my arm, stopping Kyungsoo. I tense. I've encountered hostile spirits a hundred times, dark shadows haunting the mortal world. Grandmother had said they can't hurt me. But that doesn't mean they can't annoy me.
The majority of them ignore me, but some specters would follow me around, trying to get on my nerves. I would be throwing hexes at them, incantations in ancient Egyptian. They would be dragged by unknown forces into an unknown vortex, howling in agony, as if they are being burned.
Kyungsoo seems to sense something too. His form shimmers, the blue light radiating from him lightens into gold. I stare at him, mesmerized.
"You have no business here," he says, his voice echoing, his eyes focused on the shadow lurking ahead of us. "You do not belong here."
His form blazes as he thrusts his hand out. I look away, blinking hard. I hear a piercing cry. I glance at the shadow. I watch as it is sucked into a vortex, the same vortex I have conjured a dozen times.
The light fades. I turn back to Kyungsoo, his body once again radiating blue light.
"What was that?" I ask, taking hold of his arm.
"I don't know either," he whispers, glancing at my hand.
"Oops, sorry," I apologize, releasing his arm instantly.
He looks disappointed momentarily. I feel warm all of a sudden.
"I only knew that I have to do something," he continues, frowning.
A thought comes across my mind. An impossible one, but still.
"By some chance," I start. "You must be a Guide too."
"No," Kyungsoo disagrees. "Like you have said, only Cleo's descendants can use his gift. Clearly, I am not his descendant."
Yes. Impossible indeed.
"Now I'm dying to know who you really are," I say, smiling, slipping my hands in my pockets.
We head back to Olympus. Kyungsoo doesn't talk until we reach my unit.
"What happens if you fail to do someone's...request?" he asks as I plop down on my bed.
"Fail is not the word I would use," I start. "There were a few times where I wasn't able to...accomplish their requests. Surprisingly, they were very understanding. What they were asking for weren't exactly that easy. I didn't have any trouble with them at all. I even escorted some of them to the boundary, well, somewhere near the boundary as I cannot go that far. It's not a place for the living after all."
"I see," Kyungsoo whispers.
I already know what he's about to say next. I beat him to it.
"I will do what I can to help you regain your memories," I tell him, staring straight into his eyes. "It's what I do. Don't think that you're making my life harder than it seems or anything along that line."
"But-"
I raise a finger, cutting him off.
"Kyungsoo," I whisper. My heart beats faster. "I don't know what have gotten into me, but I don't want you to leave now. In fact, I don't want you to leave ever. I rather you stay with me, even if you're a ghost. I rather you're here with me."
There. I said it. I want to slap my face for that. Hell I want to die now.
I haven't realized I am holding so much back. I haven't realized I am lying to myself. I haven't realized anything up until now.
I come to realize that I care for Kyungsoo. I come to realize that I've been craving for his attention. I come to realize that I've fallen for him. Am I really that dense sometimes?
But, Kai-ssi, I fell in love with you.
And I come to realize that I wasn't dreaming then.
"But, Kyungsoo-ssi, I fell in love with you too," I whisper.
I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Kyungsoo falls into silence, staring at me with wide eyes.
"This is wrong," he whispers suddenly, taking a step back. "I shouldn't have. I...this is...I can't..."
He turns and runs towards the door. I roll my eyes, completely unaffected by his reaction.
"Oh no you don't," I call out, taking off after him. "Are we playing a game? You can run, but you can't hide from me!"
I laugh darkly as I fly downstairs. Kyungsoo, you can't just turn away from me after all that happened.
I catch him easily before he reaches the front door, locking my arms around him.
"Running away now will do you no good," I whisper against his ear, my heart thumping loudly.
"Let go of me then," he whispers back. "I promise I won't run away."
I believe him, taking back my arms. He steps away and turns to me, glaring. I chuckle.
"The living and the dead can't be together," he says evenly.
"Yes you are dead," I point out nonchalantly. "But you are not like the dead."
"Yes, I am different, but I'm still dead," he points back, titling his head to the side conceitedly.
"You love me," I remind him, smiling angelically.
Kyungsoo stares daggers at me. I just laugh at him.
"That doesn't stop me from crossing the boundary," he snarls, infuriated, his form shimmering.
"Ooh scary. But I doubt that now," I say lightly.
"You're impossible!"
He turns towards the door. I reach out, grabbing his arm.
"You promised," I whisper, my voice laced with pain. I flinch. "Don't go."
Kyungsoo stops and turns around slowly for the second time. He stares at me, reading my expression. I try to keep my face straight, but fail.
"I've already lost too much," I continue, looking away. "I don't want to lose you too."
I find it hard to breathe all of a sudden.
"I can't stay," Kyungsoo reminds me, his voice bleak.
"I know." I clench my fists. "But please don't leave me now. Stay, even just for now. At least until you find out who you were."
My life gets more complicated.
I let go of his arm.
"Don't go," I whisper, turning around. I don't wait for his answer. I just go back to my room.
I've never felt so...lonely, up until now.
****
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.
"I never thought you would answer," I muse, pushing Suho aside as he tries to snatch away my food.
Suho laughs, turning to Xiumin.
"Why? The dead can't use the phone now?" Kyungsoo asks sarcastically.
I snicker.
"What is it?"
He sounds bored.
"I forgot my assignment," I tell him. "I want you to send the file from my computer, the one folder in my desktop, to my phone. Can you do that?"
"Of course-"
"Why? The dead can't use the computer now?" I say, cutting him off, in a poor imitation of his voice.
Kyungsoo laughs, bells ringing in my ears.
"I'll do it," he says and hangs up.
"Your cousin?" Chen asks as I pocket my phone.
"Mm."
"What's his name?" Lay asks, sipping his coke.
I pause.
"Dyo," I say.
"Deo? As in deodorant?" Suho says, laughing.
I smack him in the arm.
****
I arrive in my unit twenty minutes pass six. I leave my backpack in the living room as I poke around, looking for Kyungsoo. I find him in the kitchen, cooking. I gape at him.
"Dinner time for the human?" he asks without looking at me.
"Yes please," I reply, settling in one of the chairs. "I'm hungry."
Kyungsoo starts humming softly to himself.
"Since when does the dead cook?" I ask as he sets the food in front of me.
"Just eat," he says, sitting across me.
I raise an eyebrow at him. He just stares at me.
"Whatever," I mumble, taking my first bite.
"I found out something," Kyungsoo informs me as I start to cleanup.
"From your past?"
"About me," he whispers.
He reaches for the glass in front of him. He takes a breath and flexes his hand slightly, a strange mark flares on his right hand. The glass shatters into pieces.
"Kyungsoo!"
I move towards him, afraid that he's gotten himself hurt.
"It's alright," he assures me, holding out his hand. "I'm not hurt."
"You broke the glass, just like that," I speculate. He must've came from another planet entirely. An alien? I find the idea ridiculous. I clear my head.
"I'm sorry. I broke another one a while ago," Kyungsoo says sheepishly.
"If you're that strong," I start. "My place would've been a mess the first time you got here, worst case scenario, Olympus would've collapsed then."
I shiver. Just thinking about losing my place, tons of rocks crashing down on my cars, tortures me to death, enough to drive me insane. Gah!
"I wasn't aware of it," Kyungsoo says. "Besides, why would I destroy your place?"
"Not aware? That makes you even more dangerous," I mumble.
"If you don't stop making a big deal about it, I'll tear this place down," he warns.
I glare at him. He laughs darkly.
"That proves you're not really human," I say as we head upstairs.
"You're not human either," he points out.
"That proves that we really belong to each other," I say, grinning at him.
He rolls his eyes.
"But I'm still human in some ways," I continue as I sit down on my bed. Kyungsoo sits a foot away from me.
The blue light emanating from his body, once struck me as strange, creepy even, now gives me a sense of safety, a sense of tranquility.
Kyungsoo stares blankly ahead. I wonder what he's thinking.
A thought crosses my mind. I feel blood rising to my face, embarrassed.
"I want to try something," I whisper. I bite my lip nervously, clenching my fists.
"What?" Kyungsoo asks, snapping out of his reverie.
He turns to me. I close the distance between us awkwardly. His eyes widen. My breath quickens, my heart pounding loudly.
"Hold still," I whisper, cautioning him with my eyes as I lean towards him, pressing my lips softly to his.