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Raindrops fall in a heavy downpour, colliding with everything in its way with a harsh splatter, uncaring of the piercing pain it could bring to those who end up as its victims. Soobin walked in the rain carefully, his trench coat hugging his body tightly as he wrapped an arm around his waist, trying to ensure the fabric of his cloth doesn’t end up damp and wet.
He reaches the brick arch of an alleyway that he remembers vaguely. It was designed by one of his friends, Kai, who loved to create and design the rapidly growing city’s architecture. Soobin was unable to attend the gathering that Kai had set up for all their friends, since he was too busy dwelling over a murder case trial that was to take place in court over the weekends. He looked up at the arch, noticing the intricate signature of ‘H.K.K’ placed in the middle of the arch, signifying who its designer was. His lips tug upwards to form a smile as he walks through the arch, and reaches the alleyways staircase, leading up to the main roads.
Almost, Soobin passed by the little girl sitting at the bottom of the staircase, looking off into the distance, into the red-colored brick wall opposite of her. Almost, Soobin simply walked up the staircase, going to the main road. However, as he almost walked past the girl, he catches her in his peripheral vision, and he stopped himself from taking a step up towards the stairs.
His head turned towards the girl immediately, worry plastering itself on his facial features. The girl looked to be around eight years old, with bangs covering her forehead and her hair length was only just a little above her shoulders. What was worrisome was how she was only clad in a dull pink, frilly sleeves shirt and a pair of thin leggings with no umbrella in the pouring, violent rain. She was merely sitting on the staircase, staring off, almost as if she was dead, but her body wasn’t limp, she wasn’t lying on the ground, her lips were slightly ajar, and her spine was curved in a way that proved she was indeed, living.
Soobin crouched in front of the girl, not minding how the ends of his trench coat currently was soaked in the water on the ground. “Hey there, little girl. Are you alright?” Soobin asked as a starter, eyeing the girl carefully, even though the girl seemed to be looking just past him.
The girl stayed mute and didn’t even flinch when Soobin spoke to her. She simply stayed there, the same as she was before. Underneath her folded legs, in between her back and the steps, Soobin noticed a foot. A foot, cut in half, without the meat of it. Alarmed, Soobin brought his hand up to the girl’s shoulder.
As he brought his hand down, where his hand reached, the girl changed from solid to liquid, until it spread and her whole being was now one with the rain.
Soobin looked up, just in time to see a woman coming down the staircase in a thick sweater and a pair of khakis, though the woman wasn’t shielded with an umbrella either, even though it was raining. Confused, Soobin opened his mouth to speak, but as he did, the woman slowly disappeared. First, it was her foot, and eventually, it goes up until she’s completely gone.
As the woman disappeared, so did the rain, and suddenly, everything was different, save for the spot.
Suddenly, Soobin wasn’t wearing his trench coat. Instead, he was secured with a thin, white shirt tucked into his black, ripped skinny jeans. He had no umbrella on him, and only cheap yet beautiful and chic jewelry adorned his wrists and ears. Soobin’s ears catches the sounds of girls laughing and squealing, cars honking and boys calling out to one another, a completely different setting to the calm and serene rain he was in just a few seconds before.
A group of girls clad in Soobin’s previous high school’s uniform walked together down the steps of the staircase, carrying their mirrors and phones in hand, chatting gleefully to one another. They passed by Soobin easily, only stealing quick glances and keeping a safe distance away from Soobin as he was a stranger.
The phone in Soobin’s front pocket vibrated, and Soobin fished it out easily. On the screen displayed Yeonjun’s beautiful face, and the words ‘Baby Love’ on top. Confusion washed away immediately and replaced with a bubbly feeling so familiar to Soobin whenever it comes to Yeonjun, he answered the call.
“Hello, baby?” Soobin asked into the receiver, leaning on the arch.
“ Don’t ‘baby’ me, Choi Soobin. Where are you?! I woke up from my sleep and you weren’t beside me. I called you a billion times and only now you’re answering my call? ” Yeonjun screeched, and Soobin pulled his phone away from his ears, just to make sure he won’t get an ear bleed.
“Wait, what? What do you mean? I was just walking in the rain and-”
“ What rain? It hasn’t rained in a whole week, Soobin. Just- I don’t care, just tell me where you are and tell me you’re safe. Come home, please. ” Soobin hears the crack in Yeonjun’s voice when he said ‘Please’, and along with that crack was also Soobin’s heart cracking a little bit, pained to hear his beloved close to crying.
“I’m at Kai’s alleyway, and I’m safe. I’m coming, love. I’ll come home immediately.” Soobin said as he heard a sniffle from the other side.
“ Okay. I’ll be waiting. I love you. ”
“I love you too, only you.”
Soobin hung up the phone, pocketing it back to where it was and proceeded to jog up the staircase and back home to Yeonjun. What in the hell just happened?
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Reaching his condominium’s glass doors, he walked in after inserting his code. He greeted the security guards and the man at the front desk, who waved and smiled back at him in acknowledgement to his presence. Now that Soobin thought of it, when Soobin was at the alleyway, it didn’t feel like he was in this century.
When Soobin was at the alleyway, when he was walking towards the alleyway, it felt like the city wasn’t as developed as it is now. He remembered seeing cobblestones and evident bricks instead of those covered in concrete and there was a significant absence of high-rise, modern buildings. He pushed the thought at the back of his head as he got in the elevator and pressed on number ‘17’, standing near the elevator’s doors, so he could walk out and reach his home with his husband even just a second faster.
A second later without Yeonjun meant a second wasted without Yeonjun . Soobin hated that.
Once in front of his room’s door, which was just adjacent to the elevator since their floor merely housed two different apartments opposite of each other due to the large size of the apartment, Soobin punched in his passcode on the security lock installed. It clicked, buzzed, and there was an evident sound of the lock sliding from inside.
Almost immediately, Yeonjun pulls the door open and pulls Soobin into a tight hug.
Soobin could feel the elder’s labored breathing, his trembling fingers as he wrapped Soobin in his arms, and though he couldn’t see Yeonjun ’s face due to him having his forehead on Soobin ’s shoulder, he knew the other’s eyes were shut tight as he tried to calm himself down. Soobin wrapped his arms around Yeonjun ’s waist, mindful of his beautiful boyfriend’s fragile state as he entered the room slowly, shutting the door behind.
In the silence of the two, the click of the door locking automatically was the only sound provided temporarily. Soobin rubbed the small of Yeonjun ’s back with his hand, pressing a soft and lingering kiss on his forehead. He felt Yeonjun ’s fingers clenching even tighter at his back, and Soobin replied by holding Yeonjun closer to him if possible.
“I’m here, I’ll always be here.” Soobin whispered gently, and Yeonjun let out a choked sob, nodding his head.
“I just got so, so scared.” The elder sniffled, voice rough and croaky from what Soobin guesses must have been crying while waiting for Soobin to return home. Soobin simply kept his lips sealed, allowing Yeonjun to calm down first in his arms while he buries his face in Yeonjun ’s hair, inhaling the soft and sweet scent of shampoo and conditioner that always lingers in the shorter male’s locks.
“It’s okay, baby. You know I won’t go anywhere from you.” Soobin murmured softly, gently, his voice seeping into Yeonjun ’s skin and settling itself there, comforting and familiar, a voice that makes Yeonjun feel safe and secured.
“I’m sorry.” Yeonjun began, and he really tried to keep the tears in but they fall from his eyes like a vigorous waterfall, their quest to drench Soobin ’s shirt is evident before he continued his speech. “I shouldn’t have just bursted out on you like that, I’m really sorry. It wasn’t your fault, I’m sorry. I’m just so sorry I spoke without thinking again, I’m so sorry.”
Soobin vaguely remembered how in the previous night when Soobin finally arrived home from a long day of looking through the papers of his students’ assignments, Yeonjun had been in a mood so terrible, he spat out venomous words spoken without any filter, without any care about how wrong he was. He picked on things Soobin had done in the past, brought them up and accused him of having treating Yeonjun like a slave, saying that all of the ‘I love you’s Soobin had all said were empty words when he couldn’t even help Yeonjun around from time to time. In truth, they hurt Soobin a lot. They will always hurt since they came from Yeonjun , the man who means everything to him, the man who will always have his body, heart and soul, but he breathed it out, knowing Yeonjun had been through a lot with his boss’ evident favoritism towards another worker in which every single work is given to Yeonjun , but none was recognized as his own. He let Yeonjun speak, and the last thing he remembered was that they still slept together in the same bed, next to each other, wrapped in each other’s arms, finding solace and sanity in the heat of the other who acts as their anchor and pillar of strength and weakness.
“It’s okay. I’m here. I’ll never leave you.” Soobin replied, answering the silent ‘Don’t leave me.’ Yeonjun ’s tears are screaming as he kisses Yeonjun ’s ear tenderly, carefully.
“Where did you go?” Yeonjun questioned, pulling away slightly. He was still shaking, and Soobin could still see the ache, pain and guilt pooling in his eyes as tears that threaten to fall, but Soobin knows Yeonjun wants to end the tears, wants to leave this behind, so Soobin leans in to kiss Yeonjun ’s lips this time, capturing them gently, hoping the elder could feel just how much Soobin loved him.
“I don’t know, honestly. I just remembered I was at an alley. I don’t think I’ve seen it before.” Soobin answered honestly.
Yeonjun ’s brows furrowed, confusion etched onto his face. Disbelief was prominent in the way Yeonjun spluttered, trying to find words to voice his thoughts, but as Yeonjun eyed Soobin carefully and saw no traces of the gaze that tends to waver and unsteady pupils that expose Soobin ’s lies, he merely nodded his head. “Do you want to tell me?”
“I do, and I think we should call Beomgyu and Taehyun.” Soobin suggested, hands moving from the back of Yeonjun to his hands. Soobin interlaces their fingers together, eyeing just how perfectly their hands seem to mold into one another, how fitting they are together. Soobin can feel a soft smile edge its way onto his face as his lips tug upwards, his thumb caressing Yeonjun ’s knuckles soothingly.
“Beomgyu and Taehyun? Why?” Yeonjun questioned as he tilted his head to the side, confusion so obvious and apparent, almost like neon lights.
Soobin merely chuckled, answering with a short, “Just because.”
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
“It’s an alternate universe.” Beomgyu said, wide eyes widened to saucers even bigger than the one he has in front of him as noodles from his jjajangmyeon stick out of his mouth. Soobin wondered how Beomgyu didn’t choke from eating like that, but Beomgyu had many talents aside from changing into a cute and whiny baby when Taehyun is involved, so Soobin doesn’t really question it.
“It’s definitely an alternate universe.” Taehyun said, coughing out the last remnants of a choke that he had experienced after Soobin finished telling his story of the events of earlier today.
“How can you be so sure it’s an alternate universe, though? It exists?” Yeonjun questioned warily, eyeing the two scientists in front of him with genuine curiousity.
“Astronomists like to play with the topic,” Beomgyu started, slurping up the noodle that hung out of his mouth limply before he wiped his lips clean with the tissues beside him, giving full attention to the adults in front of him. “And it’s been in question and research for a long time, along with some proofs.”
“But the proofs found were mostly cold spots in the galaxy, or a hole that could mean a lot of things. It’s never been proven, because there’s a possibility that people who do go in there, could die because though it’s been identified as a cold spot, what it can do hasn’t been discovered fully yet.” Taehyun continued for him, bringing his spoon full of the jjajangmyeon’s sauce up to his mouth.
“Hence, it’s always been a controversial topic, and I just like to play with the idea too, though Soobin ’s experience sounded eerily real. The way he described everything was so intensely detailed, that it’s like he was actually there. I mean, I don’t know for sure even though we did say it’s definitely an alternate universe because this is just some wack stuff, but yeah. It’s just one of the possibilities.” Beomgyu finished, shrugging his shoulders as he uses his chopsticks to play with his noodles, mind going ablaze with this newfound information.
“I mean, at that time, it really did feel like I was there, and I could feel everything there but like, y’know. Maybe there’s another explanation for this.” Soobin said, turning to his side to give Yeonjun a smile and a short squeeze on his thighs, trying to comfort the worry he can feel radiating out of his lover.
“Yeah. It’s just a possible case scenario. There’s a lot of things that could happen in the world, after all. It might not even happen to you ever again.” Taehyun said, smiling his signature blinding Sun smile towards Yeonjun , who breathes out a small smile.
“It’d be really cool, though, if alternate universes were actually real. Do you think we’d still be dating each other in another universe?” Beomgyu asked, looking at Taehyun who’s already looking at him with a face that screamed he knew Beomgyu would ask something as stupid as that.
“You really think anyone else could deal with you, you dumbass?” Taehyun snorted, pushing Beomgyu’s shoulder and erupting a laughter from the others around the table.