Third Person
More often than not, we look for things that are not around. Thinking that if we find it, it will complete a part of us. A part of us that has been longing for something we can't even explain in words. Our thoughts succeeded to convince us that if we find that missing piece, it will make us whole. Our thoughts convinced us that we will be contented and be at ease. But what really makes a longing soul at ease?
A particular tall immortal toss the remaining small piece of cigarette on the ground and step on it before blowing the smoke out of his mouth. "How is he?" Haruto asked over the phone.
Yoshinori chuckled on the other line, finding the younger male's action interesting for some reason. "He's fine. I bought everything you wrote on the list and left their department after handing it to him."
"Did he ask anything about me?" Haruto asked, nibbling on his lips anxiously.
"He asked for your exact whereabouts." Yoshi paused and sighed. "I lied and told him I had no idea."
"Good. I owe you a lot." Haruto answered shortly, setting his eyes on the side just to see Yoonbin and Jihoon impatiently waiting for him while finishing their ice cream. "Keep him accompanied while I'm away. I'll return the favor when my business is done."
"No worries. Take care! Tell Yoonbin and Jihoon I want a deluxe cream puff basket from Victorian." Yoshi requested like a child that made the younger smile at his remarks.
"I'll buy that myself. I'm hanging up."
"Alright! See you guys in a few days!"
Then Haruto ended the call, cutting of Yoshi's cheerful voice blaring from the other line. He immediately turned his phone off and shove it inside his pocket. "Can we go now?" Yoonbin asked as soon as he approached the table.
"Can we finish this within the day?" Haruto responded causing Jihoon to grin as he drops the utensils to the bowl of ice cream.
"Depends if we can close the deal immediately with Uno."
Haruto darted his eyes on Yoonbin who just spoke while Jihoon furrow his brows in confusion and was about to raise a question when a man walks inside the restaurant with an intimidating woman following behind. The two immortals exchanged knowing glances before Haruto welcomes the two without much enthusiasm.
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"Where's Doyoung?" Mashiho asked with his eyes sparkling in curiosity. He hurriedly ripped the plastic wrapper and shove a cookie in his mouth.
Their eyes darted on Jeongwoo who shared a lecture class with the latter earlier in the morning. "He runs an errand for Atty. Bang." he simply answered.
Mashiho and Junghwan hummed as an answer while Asahi remained smiling while typing a message on his phone as if the others are not around. Since they arrived in the city and were welcomed with a cheerful Asahi in their unit, they did not bother asking him what happened between him and the engineer because judging from how it looks, you can easily tell things went very well.
The complete opposite of Doyoung who has been busy distracting himself and being all quiet whenever they were together. Jeongwoo still can't understand the older especially that he mentioned something about gathering the archangels for a talk but acted like he never said that when they went home.
Jeongwoo tried opening up the topic but whenever he does, Atty. Bang would coincidentally call for Doyoung's attention. The immortal would either ask Doyoung for help in the office or accompany him to sit in on a trial.
"Who gave all these, by the way?" Asahi asked after placing his phone down the table to grab a snack from the grocery bag.
"Yoshi dropped by earlier and said it was from Haruto." Jeongwoo answered, snapping out of his thoughts.
"Did he go somewhere?"
His eyes darted on Junghwan who asked the question. Jeongwoo examined his face before he sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "He said he needs to work on something but I have no idea what it is. I just know he won't be around for a few days."
"Ah, I see. That explains your sullen face." He automatically rolled his eyes upon the sight of Mashiho grinning at him with eyebrows wiggling up and down to tease him.
"Shut up. It's not because of that." Jeongwoo replied, now thinking of an idea to piss the older off.
Asahi scrunches his nose in curiosity and intervened. "What is it about, then?"
The younger male flashed a proud smile and leaned on the table. "I'm sad that it's Yoshi who brought the groceries when it was supposed to be Dr. Kim. I would be happier to see his face in the morning, excusing me in the middle of the lecture just to—"
"And why would he do that?!" Mashiho cut his words off. The pitch of his voice sounds a bit higher that caused random students passing by to momentarily glance at their table.
Jeongwoo smiled teasingly and made faces that irked the older even more. "I don't know. Maybe because Haruto asked him to?" he answered proudly.
Their immature bickering went on but the last words drove Asahi to silence. Haruto asked them to? Why are they willingly accepting requests from him?
"I don't understand." Asahi blurted out causing the three to look at him.
"What do you mean?" It was Junghwan who spoke first before the others.
The archangel was about to explain his thoughts when his phone rang and the screen showed a picture of the engineer. Indicating an incoming call which he immediately answered in just a second. "Hey" Asahi shyly answered.
Mashiho was the first to react. A mix of confusion and amusement written all over his face. Asahi was the shameless and nonchalant type, he's not the type to get flustered over a phone call but the scenario displayed in front of them proved them wrong.
Maybe a handsome engineer named Yoon Jaehyuk is all it takes to break barriers. The conversation sounds even more flirty as the minutes passed by and the three had to fight the urge to leave him all alone at the table. The next thing they knew, Asahi drop the call and wave his hands directed at the entrance where they saw the immortal walking towards their table.
"Good morning? Is it still morning?" Jaehyuk cheerfully greeted, all smiles as he loosely hugs the archangel and waves his free hand to the three.
The archangels greeted him back with the same smiles and energy while darting a teasing look to Asahi.
"Do you guys wanna grab lunch?" Jaehyuk asked and when he saw that the angels exchanged glances, he immediately chuckled. "It's on me."
"Then let's go." Junghwan and Mashiho shamelessly answered in unison.
Asahi burst out in laughter and whispered an apology to Jaehyuk who only smiled sweetly at him. They went to the parking lot after that. Asahi took the passenger seat while the others made their way to the backseat, Engr. Yoon as their willing driver.
In just a few minutes they arrived at a fine dining buffet. The archangels happily thanked the engineer and went to the table. Asahi casually cling to the immortal and asked random things about his new project. Earning a slightly exhausted smile from the latter but assured him that everything's well.
"Uh, Engineer Yoon?" Jeongwoo mustered all his courage to interrupt the comfortable silence over the meal.
Jaehyuk beamed at him like a lost puppy. "Yes?"
"About Haruto...." The archangel nibbled his lips. "Do you know where he is exactly?"
"I'm sorry, Jeongwoo. I have no idea as well, I just found out he's not here because of Yoshi." Jaehyuk explained earning a couple of nods from the angels since he seemed to be telling the truth.
"But don't worry! I'll try asking the others, I'll tell you once I get some information from them." he added cheerfully.
Jeongwoo smiled at his unexpected friendly character and nodded in relief. "Thanks, Engineer. You can continue flirting with Asahi now."
They started teasing the two that only made them embarrassed but choose to laugh it off. The lunch went great and the immortal even drove them back to the university after explaining himself to Asahi that he needs to go back to the site he's currently working on.
"Can i get a goodbye kiss?" Jaehyuk whispered to Asahi but the other archangels were too close to miss his request that made them giggle and cringe at the same time.
The three archangels pretended to look away while Asahi hurriedly pecks a small kiss on his lips and he did the same to Asahi's blushing cheeks. "I hope you had fun. As well as your friends." Jaehyuk stated.
"We had so much fun! Please treat us again next time." Junghwan shamelessly interjects earning a warm chuckle from the older.
"I'd love to." He answered and talk a bit more with the archangels before turning to Asahi. "So? See you later? I'll pick you up at 7, alright?"
Asahi shyly nodded with a giddy smile. "Thanks for the lunch and yeah, see you. Call me when you get there."
"I will. Get in safe." Then he left and wave his hands one more time in Asahi's direction.
Mashiho immediately wrap his arms on Asahi's shoulder and leaned. "Do you wanna trade Engr. Yoon with Junkyu? Just for one night, I really don't mind."
The latter playfully pinch him on the side and walk past him. "No, thank you. I'll have Yoon Jaehyuk all by myself." he answered leaving the three amused at his words.
"Since when did he became possessive and territorial?" Jeongwoo muttered.
Junghwan laughs and shakes his head. "Since the engineer came."
And they carried on with their small chitchats while walking back to the palace. Jeongwoo suddenly felt the obvious absence of Haruto. He just sighed and stole a quick glance to his phone only to disappoint himself when he saw nothing, not even a single text message.
The day ended just like that. Jeongwoo wasn't sure if he's being dramatic or it's normal that he misses Haruto's presence. He also tried calling the latter multiple times but received no response. He's too occupied with his thoughts that he only realized he's standing in front of Haruto's apartment building when a voice interrupted from behind.
It was Yoshi curiously looking at him. "Jeongwoo? What are you doing here?"
The aforementioned archangel panicked that he even failed to blurt out an excuse. Jeongwoo sighed before confessing the truth. "I just miss him so much. Can I at least sleep in his room? I mean—"
"Of course. Come on!" Yoshi said and gently drag him inside the building.
Jeongwoo expected the atmosphere to be awkward but the immortal made him comfortable enough. Yoshi accommodated him once they reached the unit, asking if he had eaten yet, and volunteered to cook for the two of them when he answered that he hasn't. He watches his every move and smiled at the memory of Haruto in his head complaining how the older almost seems like the owner of the unit because he spends time staying in more than Haruto does.
Haruto explained that Yoshi hates the idea of living alone, thus the reason he ended up bugging the younger 24/7, he'd only go home to get some clothes.
"Do you like it spicy or not? I mean for the sauce." Yoshi suddenly asked that made him look straight.
"I'll have the normal one, I don't really eat anything spicy." he explained.
The taller only nodded and do his finishing touches on the food before neatly placing it on the table. Yoshi gestured him to sit down while pouring a fruit juice for Jeongwoo and a glass of wine for himself.
"Thank you. I'm sorry for the trouble."
Yoshi chuckled and pulled the chair before comfortably sitting on it. "Don't mention it. Come on, eat before the food gets cold." And he thanked him once again before digging in.
They exchange a few questions mostly about Jeongwoo's curiosity towards Haruto. Now that he thinks of it, Yoshi seemed to be easygoing and kind compared to the intimidating look on his face. The older even assured him that Haruto is doing just fine and will come back once everything is done.
"You can take a rest first, I'll clean up the kitchen." Yoshi stated, standing up and putting the plates on the sink.
"No. Let me help you!"
Jeongwoo was eager to do something, feeling bad to bother the immortal's supposed to be peaceful night by himself. The younger grab the plate from Yoshi but the immortal pulled it closer to him, failing to notice that he put too much force that even Jeongwoo scoots closer to him until they are only inches away.
A wave of emotion grew into the air, filling it with immortal energy that Jeongwoo failed to notice at first because of how intoxicating it is until their gazes locked and Yoshi's breath hitched along with the cold air from the exhaust. Jeongwoo felt suffocated, trailing his eyes down to Yoshi's polo with three buttons down. Showing a glowing mark on the right side of his partially exposed chest, and there, everything makes sense.
Lust. It was the intoxicating energy emitted from the immortal standing close to him— Yoshinori is the embodiment of Lust. He was right about his suspicion.
Both of them were stunned but Yoshi was the first to pull away. He quickly put the plate down and face the other side before awkwardly glancing back at Jeongwoo. "I think I need to smoke, please take care of the dishes. If you don't mind?"
The archangel nods and smiled in hesitation. "S...sure." he mumbled and watch the taller make his way out of the kitchen.
Jeongwoo releases a deep and heavy breath before lifting his shaking hands to wipe the cold sweat rolling down on his temple. Knees wobbling that it almost failed to keep him standing straight. His hands reach for his pocket to find his phone and dial Doyoung's number.
He's certain Yoshi is harmless but he needs to leave the place as soon as possible.
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A/N: AAAAAAAAH HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MASHIHO AND TO ME!!! I know I don't usually post an update in the middle of the week but i guess this is an exemption hehe. Have a great day and thank you for reading!!! The next chapters will be a double update 💛