[SJFF] Fragments of a Memory - Chapter 3
Title: Fragments of a Memory (Sequel to Angel of Death)
Characters: Kyuhyun, OC, SJ members
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama
Type: Novel
Summary: Even if he may have been released from those invisible bonds tying him down, even if he has been allowed to return, what are the odds of a separation occurring once again?
~ * ~
Chapter 03
“Wake up, sunshine,” a voice giggled next to his ear, and a warm pair of arms snaked around his bare waist. Without sparing any thoughts, he also wrapped an arm around the person who was clinging onto him, pulling her closer to him on the very comfortable king-sized bed of his.
There was definitely no place like home.
“Kyuhyun, seriously, get your lazy bum out of bed this instant,” the voice said again, this time sounding sterner than before. He cracked an eye open at this juncture, eyeing the figure in bed with him, a disappointed pout on his face.
“Aww, baby, I feel so loved,” he commented sarcastically with a tint of exasperation, pressing a hand against his chest over where his heart was beating to prove his point. “I just got back yesterday. Don’t you think you should cut me some slack?”
Hyeonmin pretended to think for a short moment, before prying herself out of his embrace albeit fully reluctantly. “It’s because you’re back after so many months that I want to spend more time with you being awake instead of having you sleep away, Kyuhyun. It’s already an hour past noon. The breakfast I’ve prepared has gone cold,” she frowned, remembering how he didn’t even budge when she nudged him earlier. She could only wonder whether he was able to get any sleep at wherever he came from.
Even though she was curious about the circumstances surrounding Kyuhyun’s reappearance, especially how she was dead sure that he had disappeared for good - at least to the naked eye - three months ago, Hyeonmin decided not to enquire about it. To her, there was nothing else that mattered, as long as he was back.
She was thankful that she did not decide to give up hope that he would return, although she was dangerously close to doing so. Others may think that she was hopeless, but Hyeonmin decided that there was a need for her to reciprocate his trust in her then, when he desperately wished that she would not doubt his feelings for her.
“Fine, only because you asked,” Kyuhyun finally yawned and stretched moments later, pulling her into a long-drawn kiss as he sat up on the bed. He grinned satisfactorily when Hyeonmin smiled giddily at his actions and fell onto the bed in a smiling mess, pulling his shirt and pants on before he disappeared into the bathroom.
There was a sense of déjà vu when Kyuhyun sat across Hyeonmin at the dining table ten minutes later, with a plate of pork cutlets set on the table between them. The only distinctive point was that he was no longer an angel of death now, and that the relationship between him and Hyeonmin was significantly different right now.
A few months of separation, two longing hearts, and one passionate kiss was more than enough to change things.
“So how are my cooking skills? Did it get better with time, or did it deteriorate by a lot? I haven’t been cooking much since you left,” Hyeonmin asked eagerly when Kyuhyun placed the first slice of meat into his mouth.
He wanted to reply ‘I know’ to her in referral to the last part of her sentence, though he kept that to himself. She didn’t have to know that he was monitoring her closely while he was still in the realm of death. In the end, Kyuhyun decided to be funny, chewing the pork cutlet slowly and held it in his mouth, pretending to be savouring the taste of the dish as though he was tasting wine.
Nevertheless, he groaned painfully and clutched his shin a full minute later, shooting a glare at the girl seated across him when the initial pain had subsided. Hyeonmin had apparently caught on to his antics, and decided to speed up his answering process on her own.
“Why did you do that for?” he cried foul, still massaging the sore spot on his left leg.
Hyeonmin childishly stuck out her tongue at him. “I asked you a question, Kyu, and I expect to get an answer in return,” she declared, this time grinning innocently at him. He frowned at her without missing a beat.
“I don’t remember you to be this aggressive, baby,” he commented with a smirk, knowing full well that she wasn’t anticipating what would be coming out of his mouth next. “The aggressiveness should be channelled elsewhere, like say… when you’re in bed.”
As expected, Hyeonmin turned beet red at Kyuhyun’s words, hiding her face behind the sleeves of her sweater immediately. “Shut up and eat, Kyuhyun,” she mumbled miserably, completely regretting everything she had said up till then. Sometimes the man could be so sweet to her that she would forget that he had this sarcastic, witty side to him.
He eyed her for a moment longer as he stuffed another piece of meat into his mouth, swallowing it at once when he noticed the pout on her face. Kyuhyun mentally slapped himself when he recalled everything he had done that particular morning, realising that he hadn’t been the nicest person in the world to her. It’s just that he was so comfortable being around her, to the point at which he could truly be himself whenever he was with her.
Without sparing another thought, he settled his chopsticks on the table and got up from his seat. Hyeonmin, on the other hand, appeared to be rather distracted still, as she didn’t seem to have noticed his movements. She was still staring blankly into the distance, her expressions looking less than happy. It was an expression which Kyuhyun didn’t want her to wear when they were together. He was, after all, back to make her happy.
Heaving a sigh, Kyuhyun lowered himself slightly and snaked his arms down her front, hugging her tightly despite him being in a rather awkward position. A surprised gasp escaped her lips when he could feel his warmth enveloping her, and she looked up at him with a questioning expression.
He took the opportunity to catch her lips in a light, chaste kiss, before turning her around to face him completely. “I’m sorry if I made you upset with what I said, Min. It’s just that… I keep forgetting that there are things which aren’t proper when I talk to the opposite gender,” he smiled wryly, though Kyuhyun quickly amended his words when he realised how they could be taken in the wrong way. “I’m not saying that I don’t think you’re feminine enough, though…! I’m just comfortable being myself around you. You’re important to me, Min; nothing’s going to change that fact.”
To his surprise and confusion, Hyeonmin burst out laughing upon hearing what she thought was an awkward, yet cheesy and adorable confession rolled into one. She cupped his face with her hands, pulling him in for yet another kiss to tell him that she wasn’t upset. He lit up like a Christmas tree at the reassurance.
“Silly Kyu,” she teased with a chuckle, eyes crinkling in amusement. “I’m not offended by your words - it’s part and parcel of who you are. Do you think I haven’t experienced enough of that yet when we first met?”
Kyuhyun pondered over her words for a brief moment, shrugging when he realised how true they were. He was indeed nothing less than mean to Hyeonmin when he first joined her company after all. “Well, I guess you do have a point…” he agreed easily. He wanted to point out how fun it was to tease her and push her buttons whenever he had the opportunity to do so, but decided that she already knew about it.
Hyeonmin could after all read the intentions behind his actions rather clearly sometimes. Sometimes.
“Of course I do,” she chirruped haughtily, brandishing the brightest smile at him when he let out a snort.
“Then why were you zoning off earlier? You really had me worried back there,” he frowned, absentmindedly playing with her hands. She bit on her lip as she watched him, trying to string the words together.
“I was just wondering… how long will this last? I mean, everything just feels so surreal to me, especially the fact that you’re back,” Hyeonmin enumerated her worries. Although she initially hesitated whether she should bring up the matter to him, she decided to go ahead with it. She wanted to make sure that the world she was living in right now isn’t a part of her private fantasies. She wanted to know; to be assured that this was real.
Kyuhyun smiled softly at her, caressing her cheek gently. “You don’t have to worry, Hyeonmin. I’m back for good. I’m real, and I need you to trust me on this. I know that it’s difficult to wrap your head around this for now, but I’m here,” he said, voice on the verge of breaking when the emotions overpowered him. It was definitely stronger than the feelings he had experienced several months ago.
It was also one of the reminders that he himself wasn’t dreaming - alongside the fact that he no longer had the abilities of an angel of death - that he was back as a human. Kyuhyun knew that it sounded rather pathetic, especially considering the fact that he was the one who wanted to be human again. However, through his past experiences, he could never really trust his master at all.
“I know,” she breathed. “I’m sorry, I’m the one who’s being completely silly now,” Hyeonmin shook her head with a chuckle.
“You’re not,” Kyuhyun disagreed. “Your worries are completely justifiable. I know that this is all too supernatural to begin with, but we can make this work, can’t we?”
“We definitely can, though before we can restart our journey, there’s something we have to do,” she mused, causing Kyuhyun to quirk an eyebrow at her.
“And what exactly is that?”
“Eat,” Hyeonmin stated bluntly, before abruptly stuffing a slice of the long-forgotten pork cutlet into his mouth. She immediately broke into a run for his bedroom when he chased after her for revenge, leaving her in a burst of giggling fits.
* * * * *
“I don’t see how you’re able to tolerate such injustice without saying a word about it,” she commented disinterestedly, watching as the man went about his assigned tasks like a true slave. “Such a pitiful fall from grace.”
He stopped in the middle of his tracks and glared sharply at the woman. “I didn’t know that angels of death come with human emotions now. Did Master suddenly decide to reactivate them for his own amusement?” he asked. Human emotions were easily recognisable to him now, having spent a large amount of time lingering around those beings which he would gladly term as ‘pathetic excuses for a living’.
“Apparently so,” she shrugged at his query. “He’s always doing things according to his whims and fancies. Also, you have not answered my question,” the woman added, disappearing for a split second before reappearing next to him.
“Well then. Do you actually expect me to be able to do something about this? Master meted out this punishment-”
“-Actually, a certain Cho Kyuhyun did-” she corrected him, but was duly ignored. He did not appreciate that particular name being mentioned in front of him. If he still had half his abilities intact, he wouldn’t have had any second thoughts in crushing this woman’s throat. Anything at all to stop her from yapping away.
“Like I was saying,” he stressed. “Master was the one who approved of this punishment. Surely he expects me to work like a slave for several hundred years before he would even reconsider doing anything about it. You know how much he loathes it when any one of us disputes his decisions.”
“True, anyone but Cho Kyuhyun would be lucky to escape his wrath and be able to live on to tell it,” she agreed, having no shame in curling her body around him seductively.
Ever since they were imbued with emotions again, she had been feeling particularly attracted to this man she had her fingers around. It wasn’t something that was familiar to her, yet that was precisely why she yearned to delve deeper into it.
“One more mention of that accursed name, and you’re going to regret it Hyorin,” he snapped, trembling with the emotion which he recognised as fury. Apparently his master didn’t spare the slaves from the humane aspect either. He thoroughly disliked the feeling, as it messed up his judgment and rationality greatly. He hated the fact that their master was just using them as mere playthings even more.
“What do you think you can achieve even if I do repeat his name repeatedly?” she purred, pressing her face close enough to his for their lips to brush against each other’s when either of them spoke. He didn’t seem to be particularly fazed by her actions. “Your abilities now are only a quarter of what I have. You would lose your life even before you can raise a finger,” Hyorin added lazily, biting lightly on his lower lip and reappeared at a distance away before he could even react to it.
His eyes were narrowed as he traced his lip with the tip of his finger, spitting out the blood Hyorin had drawn from his lip as a result of her actions in a frustrated manner. He wanted to retort against her words, but couldn’t. She could read his mind clearly; there wasn’t much of a point in coming up with arguments.
“What exactly is your goal in approaching me, Hyorin?” he finally questioned cautiously. Even though the female angel would appear around him frequently in the past, there was something in her advances that particular day which piqued his curiosity greatly.
“I was beginning to wonder when you were going to ask. Looks like your senses aren’t completely dulled yet, Chungho,” she smirked.
“Cut the crap. I’m not interested in such blatant baiting,” he growled.
Hyorin rolled her eyes at that, though she wrapped her arms around his neck a split second later. Chungho was about to ask what she was up to, when he stiffened at the words being whispered into his ear.
Cho Kyuhyun is no longer an angel of death.
Characters: Kyuhyun, OC, SJ members
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama
Type: Novel
Summary: Even if he may have been released from those invisible bonds tying him down, even if he has been allowed to return, what are the odds of a separation occurring once again?
~ * ~
Chapter 03
“Wake up, sunshine,” a voice giggled next to his ear, and a warm pair of arms snaked around his bare waist. Without sparing any thoughts, he also wrapped an arm around the person who was clinging onto him, pulling her closer to him on the very comfortable king-sized bed of his.
There was definitely no place like home.
“Kyuhyun, seriously, get your lazy bum out of bed this instant,” the voice said again, this time sounding sterner than before. He cracked an eye open at this juncture, eyeing the figure in bed with him, a disappointed pout on his face.
“Aww, baby, I feel so loved,” he commented sarcastically with a tint of exasperation, pressing a hand against his chest over where his heart was beating to prove his point. “I just got back yesterday. Don’t you think you should cut me some slack?”
Hyeonmin pretended to think for a short moment, before prying herself out of his embrace albeit fully reluctantly. “It’s because you’re back after so many months that I want to spend more time with you being awake instead of having you sleep away, Kyuhyun. It’s already an hour past noon. The breakfast I’ve prepared has gone cold,” she frowned, remembering how he didn’t even budge when she nudged him earlier. She could only wonder whether he was able to get any sleep at wherever he came from.
Even though she was curious about the circumstances surrounding Kyuhyun’s reappearance, especially how she was dead sure that he had disappeared for good - at least to the naked eye - three months ago, Hyeonmin decided not to enquire about it. To her, there was nothing else that mattered, as long as he was back.
She was thankful that she did not decide to give up hope that he would return, although she was dangerously close to doing so. Others may think that she was hopeless, but Hyeonmin decided that there was a need for her to reciprocate his trust in her then, when he desperately wished that she would not doubt his feelings for her.
“Fine, only because you asked,” Kyuhyun finally yawned and stretched moments later, pulling her into a long-drawn kiss as he sat up on the bed. He grinned satisfactorily when Hyeonmin smiled giddily at his actions and fell onto the bed in a smiling mess, pulling his shirt and pants on before he disappeared into the bathroom.
There was a sense of déjà vu when Kyuhyun sat across Hyeonmin at the dining table ten minutes later, with a plate of pork cutlets set on the table between them. The only distinctive point was that he was no longer an angel of death now, and that the relationship between him and Hyeonmin was significantly different right now.
A few months of separation, two longing hearts, and one passionate kiss was more than enough to change things.
“So how are my cooking skills? Did it get better with time, or did it deteriorate by a lot? I haven’t been cooking much since you left,” Hyeonmin asked eagerly when Kyuhyun placed the first slice of meat into his mouth.
He wanted to reply ‘I know’ to her in referral to the last part of her sentence, though he kept that to himself. She didn’t have to know that he was monitoring her closely while he was still in the realm of death. In the end, Kyuhyun decided to be funny, chewing the pork cutlet slowly and held it in his mouth, pretending to be savouring the taste of the dish as though he was tasting wine.
Nevertheless, he groaned painfully and clutched his shin a full minute later, shooting a glare at the girl seated across him when the initial pain had subsided. Hyeonmin had apparently caught on to his antics, and decided to speed up his answering process on her own.
“Why did you do that for?” he cried foul, still massaging the sore spot on his left leg.
Hyeonmin childishly stuck out her tongue at him. “I asked you a question, Kyu, and I expect to get an answer in return,” she declared, this time grinning innocently at him. He frowned at her without missing a beat.
“I don’t remember you to be this aggressive, baby,” he commented with a smirk, knowing full well that she wasn’t anticipating what would be coming out of his mouth next. “The aggressiveness should be channelled elsewhere, like say… when you’re in bed.”
As expected, Hyeonmin turned beet red at Kyuhyun’s words, hiding her face behind the sleeves of her sweater immediately. “Shut up and eat, Kyuhyun,” she mumbled miserably, completely regretting everything she had said up till then. Sometimes the man could be so sweet to her that she would forget that he had this sarcastic, witty side to him.
He eyed her for a moment longer as he stuffed another piece of meat into his mouth, swallowing it at once when he noticed the pout on her face. Kyuhyun mentally slapped himself when he recalled everything he had done that particular morning, realising that he hadn’t been the nicest person in the world to her. It’s just that he was so comfortable being around her, to the point at which he could truly be himself whenever he was with her.
Without sparing another thought, he settled his chopsticks on the table and got up from his seat. Hyeonmin, on the other hand, appeared to be rather distracted still, as she didn’t seem to have noticed his movements. She was still staring blankly into the distance, her expressions looking less than happy. It was an expression which Kyuhyun didn’t want her to wear when they were together. He was, after all, back to make her happy.
Heaving a sigh, Kyuhyun lowered himself slightly and snaked his arms down her front, hugging her tightly despite him being in a rather awkward position. A surprised gasp escaped her lips when he could feel his warmth enveloping her, and she looked up at him with a questioning expression.
He took the opportunity to catch her lips in a light, chaste kiss, before turning her around to face him completely. “I’m sorry if I made you upset with what I said, Min. It’s just that… I keep forgetting that there are things which aren’t proper when I talk to the opposite gender,” he smiled wryly, though Kyuhyun quickly amended his words when he realised how they could be taken in the wrong way. “I’m not saying that I don’t think you’re feminine enough, though…! I’m just comfortable being myself around you. You’re important to me, Min; nothing’s going to change that fact.”
To his surprise and confusion, Hyeonmin burst out laughing upon hearing what she thought was an awkward, yet cheesy and adorable confession rolled into one. She cupped his face with her hands, pulling him in for yet another kiss to tell him that she wasn’t upset. He lit up like a Christmas tree at the reassurance.
“Silly Kyu,” she teased with a chuckle, eyes crinkling in amusement. “I’m not offended by your words - it’s part and parcel of who you are. Do you think I haven’t experienced enough of that yet when we first met?”
Kyuhyun pondered over her words for a brief moment, shrugging when he realised how true they were. He was indeed nothing less than mean to Hyeonmin when he first joined her company after all. “Well, I guess you do have a point…” he agreed easily. He wanted to point out how fun it was to tease her and push her buttons whenever he had the opportunity to do so, but decided that she already knew about it.
Hyeonmin could after all read the intentions behind his actions rather clearly sometimes. Sometimes.
“Of course I do,” she chirruped haughtily, brandishing the brightest smile at him when he let out a snort.
“Then why were you zoning off earlier? You really had me worried back there,” he frowned, absentmindedly playing with her hands. She bit on her lip as she watched him, trying to string the words together.
“I was just wondering… how long will this last? I mean, everything just feels so surreal to me, especially the fact that you’re back,” Hyeonmin enumerated her worries. Although she initially hesitated whether she should bring up the matter to him, she decided to go ahead with it. She wanted to make sure that the world she was living in right now isn’t a part of her private fantasies. She wanted to know; to be assured that this was real.
Kyuhyun smiled softly at her, caressing her cheek gently. “You don’t have to worry, Hyeonmin. I’m back for good. I’m real, and I need you to trust me on this. I know that it’s difficult to wrap your head around this for now, but I’m here,” he said, voice on the verge of breaking when the emotions overpowered him. It was definitely stronger than the feelings he had experienced several months ago.
It was also one of the reminders that he himself wasn’t dreaming - alongside the fact that he no longer had the abilities of an angel of death - that he was back as a human. Kyuhyun knew that it sounded rather pathetic, especially considering the fact that he was the one who wanted to be human again. However, through his past experiences, he could never really trust his master at all.
“I know,” she breathed. “I’m sorry, I’m the one who’s being completely silly now,” Hyeonmin shook her head with a chuckle.
“You’re not,” Kyuhyun disagreed. “Your worries are completely justifiable. I know that this is all too supernatural to begin with, but we can make this work, can’t we?”
“We definitely can, though before we can restart our journey, there’s something we have to do,” she mused, causing Kyuhyun to quirk an eyebrow at her.
“And what exactly is that?”
“Eat,” Hyeonmin stated bluntly, before abruptly stuffing a slice of the long-forgotten pork cutlet into his mouth. She immediately broke into a run for his bedroom when he chased after her for revenge, leaving her in a burst of giggling fits.
* * * * *
“I don’t see how you’re able to tolerate such injustice without saying a word about it,” she commented disinterestedly, watching as the man went about his assigned tasks like a true slave. “Such a pitiful fall from grace.”
He stopped in the middle of his tracks and glared sharply at the woman. “I didn’t know that angels of death come with human emotions now. Did Master suddenly decide to reactivate them for his own amusement?” he asked. Human emotions were easily recognisable to him now, having spent a large amount of time lingering around those beings which he would gladly term as ‘pathetic excuses for a living’.
“Apparently so,” she shrugged at his query. “He’s always doing things according to his whims and fancies. Also, you have not answered my question,” the woman added, disappearing for a split second before reappearing next to him.
“Well then. Do you actually expect me to be able to do something about this? Master meted out this punishment-”
“-Actually, a certain Cho Kyuhyun did-” she corrected him, but was duly ignored. He did not appreciate that particular name being mentioned in front of him. If he still had half his abilities intact, he wouldn’t have had any second thoughts in crushing this woman’s throat. Anything at all to stop her from yapping away.
“Like I was saying,” he stressed. “Master was the one who approved of this punishment. Surely he expects me to work like a slave for several hundred years before he would even reconsider doing anything about it. You know how much he loathes it when any one of us disputes his decisions.”
“True, anyone but Cho Kyuhyun would be lucky to escape his wrath and be able to live on to tell it,” she agreed, having no shame in curling her body around him seductively.
Ever since they were imbued with emotions again, she had been feeling particularly attracted to this man she had her fingers around. It wasn’t something that was familiar to her, yet that was precisely why she yearned to delve deeper into it.
“One more mention of that accursed name, and you’re going to regret it Hyorin,” he snapped, trembling with the emotion which he recognised as fury. Apparently his master didn’t spare the slaves from the humane aspect either. He thoroughly disliked the feeling, as it messed up his judgment and rationality greatly. He hated the fact that their master was just using them as mere playthings even more.
“What do you think you can achieve even if I do repeat his name repeatedly?” she purred, pressing her face close enough to his for their lips to brush against each other’s when either of them spoke. He didn’t seem to be particularly fazed by her actions. “Your abilities now are only a quarter of what I have. You would lose your life even before you can raise a finger,” Hyorin added lazily, biting lightly on his lower lip and reappeared at a distance away before he could even react to it.
His eyes were narrowed as he traced his lip with the tip of his finger, spitting out the blood Hyorin had drawn from his lip as a result of her actions in a frustrated manner. He wanted to retort against her words, but couldn’t. She could read his mind clearly; there wasn’t much of a point in coming up with arguments.
“What exactly is your goal in approaching me, Hyorin?” he finally questioned cautiously. Even though the female angel would appear around him frequently in the past, there was something in her advances that particular day which piqued his curiosity greatly.
“I was beginning to wonder when you were going to ask. Looks like your senses aren’t completely dulled yet, Chungho,” she smirked.
“Cut the crap. I’m not interested in such blatant baiting,” he growled.
Hyorin rolled her eyes at that, though she wrapped her arms around his neck a split second later. Chungho was about to ask what she was up to, when he stiffened at the words being whispered into his ear.
Cho Kyuhyun is no longer an angel of death.