#20190910

“Hello there,” you say. You always feel that you should treat the dead with respect, so you speak to them as if they were still alive and present. “I have an exam tomorrow, and I need some practice. I hope you don’t mind me studying you.”

You take out your notebook and pen from your backpack. First, you write down observations (“face swelling,” “bumps on neck,” and “rash on arm”). When you can no longer find anything else of significance from merely looking at it, you take some gloves from the box in the wall and approach the body.

“I’m really sorry,” you whisper, “but I have to pass that exam. I’m just going to take a closer look at you.”

You gently poke his skin. He’s still firm, confirming your suspicion of it being a recent death. Upon closer inspection, you can see that his skin is tinted a very pale blue.

Realization hits you. “I bet I know how you died!” you excitedly whisper. You write down “allergic reaction” on your notebook and check the blue tag, which says “anaphylaxis”. “I was right!” you cheer. You make a mental note to use proper medical terms on your exam.

Before you can look at other bodies, you need to put this one back into the fridge.

“Thank you”– you check the tag for the body’s name– “Hwang Hyunjin.”

You drape the shroud over him and tie the binding back together in a butterfly knot and prepare to push the body onto the cart.

It’s a struggle to get it on without making any loud noises. The cart won’t stay still, and Hwang Hyunjin is too heavy for you to handle, so he keeps slipping out of your grip.

“Stop moving!” you hiss at nothing in particular.

“Let me out then!”

You freeze. The body bag moves in your arms, and you drop it. You back away– far, far away.

Breathe, you tell yourself. It’s late at night, and you drank way too much coffee before coming here. It’s just a hallucination caused by your paranoia.

“Let me out!” the same voice repeats.

“Y/N, pull it together!” you say out loud. “It’s not real.” You slap your cheeks a few times. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“You’ll let me out?”

You walk back to the examining table. “Nice try, guilty conscience,” you mutter to yourself. You resume trying to load the body onto the cart.

“Wait! I’m actually alive!”

“You’re a dead body. Tag says you died.” Goodness, it’s moving again. Chan was right; no more caffeine after 8 PM.

“Just open the bag and check!”

“You’re a figment of my imagination.”

“I’m moving around!”

“Could you move yourself back into the fridge?” Look at yourself, having full-on conversations with a corpse. Your classmates would have a field day if they saw you.

“Only after you open the bag.”

Maybe if you indulge in this stupid hallucination, it will go away. You untie the bindings and throw the shroud off.

“See? It’s…” You trail off when you see that his eyes are open and staring back at you.

He already looks terrifying, but then he waves and gives you a teasing smile. “I told you so.”

The normal thing to do would be to run out of the morgue and back into your apartment where you would bury yourself under a pile of blankets and convince yourself that it was all a caffeine-and-stress induced nightmare.

Instead, you stand there and say “You’re supposed to be dead” in a strangled voice.

He stands up, not realizing he’s completely naked. Now that you know he’s no longer dead, the sight becomes too awkward. You quickly dart your eyes elsewhere, stammering incoherent nothings to try to ease your nervousness. He’s naked and he’s very attractive, you think. He, just as flustered, scrambles to lift his body bag in front of himself.

“So, why aren’t you dead?” you cough.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You must have done something!”

“Maybe you did something,” he suggests. “Are you a med student? Med students know how to do weird things.”

“Pre-med,” you correct. “And we can’t bring people back to life.”

He gasps. “I bet you’re a necromancer! That’s it!”

You ignore his nonsensical babbling and pull out your phone. You have to call Chan. It’s only 2 AM, thankfully; he’s still going to be awake.

“Hello?” you say.

He greets you with, “Are you in trouble?”

“Not really? It’s debatable.” There’s a not-so-dead body in front of you, and he’s going on and on about witchcraft and bringing the dead back. Why did you have to pick a crazy one?

“What did you do?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He yells something, but you continue. “Can you come to the morgue? And can you bring some pants?”

“Y/N, if you did something with a dead body-”

“I didn’t do anything!” you shriek.

Hwang Hyunjin takes this opportunity to chime in with “Yes, you did.”

You groan and glare at him. “Do you want to die again? I can make it happen.”

“Who is that?!” Chan shouts. You can hear him moving around, presumably to leave your shared apartment. “And what do you mean ‘again?’ Y/N, what are you doing?”

“I’ll explain it when you get here. And make sure to bring some pants with you.”

“Why do you need pants?!” You hear a door slam shut and Chan running.

“Just bring them.” You look over to the boy on the table, remember he’s naked, and switch your gaze back to the floor. “And come quick.”

“Did you hook up with someone? Geez, Y/N! Why would you even do it at the morgue!”

“It’s nothing like that!” you wail. “I’ll explain it all later.”

“Seriously, if you did something, tell me! I won’t judge!”

“Yeah, just tell him!” Hyunjin adds. “She did something really cool to a dead body! Guess what it is!” he says a little louder.

“You really have a death wish, don’t you?” you hiss over Chan’s screaming.

Chan won’t stop shouting, Hwang Hyunjin won’t shut up, and you can’t decide who you want dead more– the one who keeps accusing you of necrophilia or the one who keeps making the situation worse.

“See you later, Chan!” you say as cheerfully as you can. Before he can argue, you end the call.

You turn to Hyunjin and stab a finger at his chest. “I am going to kill you very painfully and slowly and make you wish you were dead again.” Your voice loses its venom when you realize that you have a bigger problem on your hands. “How did this even happen?”

“I think you brought me back to life,” he quietly says. “It sounds dumb, but there’s no other explanation. According to my tag, I’ve been dead for a week now; this can’t just be a Lazarus phenomenon.”

“If that’s true, then I should have brought back at least ten other dead bodies in my anatomy class. But guess what? There’s not.” You sigh. “Dang it, I promised Chan that I wouldn’t get into trouble. He’s going to be so mad at me.”

“That’s partially my fault.” He pats your head in you think is supposed to be a reassuring matter. “Sorry for pissing him off. I just wanted to get back at you for not letting me out sooner.”

Normally, you would say something like “It’s fine” or “It’s no big deal,” but you are tired and the additional stress of not knowing what is happening rains on your mood, so you instead mutter, “I’m going to kill you.”

The door swings open, and Chan stands hunched over in the frame, breathing heavily. When he takes in the scene in front of him, he groans.

“Y/N, I thought you said you didn’t hook up with anyone.” He walks over to you and tosses the pair of pants to Hyunjin.

“I didn’t!” You turn the other way and let Hyunjin dress himself.

“Why is he naked then?”

“She just brought me back to life. I told you she did something really cool to a dead body,” Hyunjin answers. “I’m decent now,” he tells you to cue you to turn back around.

“Is this a prank?” Chan asks. “Is this why you wanted my key? Who is this guy anyway?”

Animosity forgotten, Hyunjin asks Chan, “How did you get in if Y/N has the key? And I’m Hyunjin.” He sticks out his hand for the other male to shake.

Chan shakes his hand and flashes a thin silver key. “I’m Chan. I’m also the head janitor here, so I have a universal key.”

Is this really happening? You blink a few times to make sure you’re seeing things right. The two guys that were screaming at each other earlier are having a civil conversation, and you’re pretty sure they’re exchanging work out tips now.

“Can we focus on the issue here?” you interrupt. “He was dead and now he’s alive.”

“So, it’s not a prank?” He looks at Hyunjin. “You were actually dead?”

“Yeah.” Hyunjin replies. “I have a cat allergy. A cat scratched me, and I didn’t realize until it was too late.”

You’re standing in-between them, so you wave your arms and get both of their attention. “Back to the main subject: what do we do?”

“You study for the exam, and Hyunjin and I will figure it out,” Chan suggests.

The exam. In the midst of the drama, you almost forgot about it. Your grade is on the line, but Hyunjin seems to be the bigger issue here.

“We need to figure out what to do with this guy first,” you protest.

Chan shakes his head and pulls out another body. “You came here for this; you need to finish it. I’ll figure Hyunjin out.”

“But–”

“No but’s,” Chan says with such finality in his voice that you give in. You try to eavesdrop on the two males and their discussion on how Hyunjin is alive and what to do with him, but Chan catches you staring and scolds you until you turn back to your work with a huff.

It’s 4 AM, and your head is filled with medical terminology and the whisperings of Chan and Hyunjin. For the past two hours, you identified causes of death for nearly fifteen corpses, none of which came alive. Meanwhile, the two made themselves comfortable on another examining table and chatted about solutions. They sometimes put back and pull out more bodies for you, but they always stop talking when they do so as to not distract you.

When the words start blurring on your notebook pages, you announce that you’re done and that it’s time to leave.

Chan seems satisfied with your work and agrees. “Hyunjin, you can stay with us.”

You shake your head. “What if they find out they’re missing a body? He can’t leave.”

“We can’t tie him back up and shove him back in the fridge either.”

“Yes, we can.”

“Y/N!” they both yell.

Chan pauses to think. “How about I’ll tell the higher-ups that I was taking the trash from the morgue tomorrow morning and when I came in, I heard banging from the inside of the fridge?”

“I don’t want to stay here all night,” Hyunjin complains. “Or appear on the evening news for being a medical miracle either.”

“What else can we do? We can’t just steal you!” you argue.

Hyunjin seems rather enthused about the idea. “Just do that! You guys don’t even have to carry me! I’ll walk out with you guys!”

“Chan, say something!”

“He can stay with us. At least until we figure this out.”

It’s 4 AM; you don’t have time for this. You stretch and gather your things. “Fine. But if we get caught, I’m telling the police it was all your idea,” you tell Chan.

“Thanks for letting me stay!” He heads for the door, but you stop him.

“Well just pants isn’t going to cut it,” you sigh. You thrust your hoodie towards him. “Here.”

He looks at it with a frown. “But you’re going to be cold.”

“I have a shirt at least,” you rebuttal. “Just take it. You’re the one who came out a freezer.”

“Just take it,” Chan supports. “She’ll be fine.”

You feel a soft weight plop on your head and recognize the sleeve of Chan’s gray jacket draping over your vision.

“You could have given it to me normally,” you grumble. You thread your hands into the sleeves anyway, liking how they can cover your hands.

Chan just sticks his tongue out at you, and Hyunjin quickly pulls your hoodie over himself now that he knows you will be fine.

“You smell nice,” he mumbles as his nose barely peaks out of your clothing.

“Thanks, I guess? Alright, let’s go.”

The walk back is the most stressful trip you’ve ever taken in your life. Every five seconds, you turn your head around to check for security guards while trying to look natural at the same time. You let out a sigh of relief when all three of you manage to make it to the front door of your and Chan’s shared apartment without getting thrown into jail.

Once inside, you and Chan wave goodnight to Hyunjin who makes himself comfortable on the couch. You and Chan head in yourselves, you ask him, “Did you figure out why he’s alive?”

“Not yet,” he replies. When you yawn, he chuckles. “Let’s just have you focus on getting some sleep and doing well tomorrow, okay?”

“I know, I know. Good night.”

“Good luck on your exam, Y/N!” Hyunjin calls.

He gives you an encouraging smile with a blanket under his chin, and your breath suddenly hitches.

“Yeah, thanks,” you reply while turning to the side to try to forget his unfairly beautiful face. Why is your heart speeding up? You curse at yourself. He was literally dead flesh not a tenth of a day ago; he shouldn’t be able to have this effect on you.

Despite getting only three hours of sleep, you think you did well on the exam. You almost fell asleep during the first five minutes, but you caught yourself thinking about Hyunjin’s smile, and that thought alone jolted you awake.

As you walk out of the lab, you see Chan waiting for you outside.

“Hey,” you greet. You look behind him but your other roommate isn’t there. “Where’s Hyunjin?”

He tosses you a granola bar. “At a job interview. How was the exam?”

“Not too bad. Spending two hours in the morgue last night helped. Thanks, by the way.” You gratefully unwrap and start eating the snack. “So, you just left Hyunjin alone?”

“He’ll be fine. It’s not like he’ll get attacked or anything.”

“And how the heck is he going to get hired when he’s technically dead?”

“I’m a criminal who burned his death certificate. He’s still alive now.”

You nearly choke on your granola bar. “What? Aren’t you supposed to be the responsible one?”

“Look, we already stole his body. Foot in the door phenomenon.”

“Have you been reading my psych book over my shoulder?”

He shrugs. “I didn’t have anything else to do.”

“Are you sure this is okay? We could get into so much trouble.”

Chan flashes you an assuring smile. “When has anything I’ve done ever gone wrong. Besides, you can just tell the police it was all my doing if it does,” he adds with a wink, referring to what you said that morning.

You open your mouth to point out a time he did mess up only to discover you can’t remember a time he did.

“Can you come to the library with me?” he asks. “I want to do some necromancy research.”

You groan and roll your eyes, but follow him anyway. “You seriously bought into his conspiracy theory?”

“It doesn’t hurt to check.”

“What are we supposed to do?” you whisper to Chan once you are there. “Go up to the librarian and ask if they have any books about raising the dead?”

“Yeah, we can do that.”

Chan drags you to the circulation desk, and you frantically pull his jacket sleeve to stop him.

“I was kidding!

“It’s RACHA U. They’ll just think we’re a bunch of weird kids.”

You sigh and let go of his sleeve. “Whatever.” You wait for him to continue walking, but he doesn’t. “What’s wrong?”

“Y/N, you have to go ask. You look like you’re into occult stuff more than I do.” He gestures to your oversized sweater and black combat boots. “Besides, you have a weird enough face for it.”

You glare at him, but that only further justifies his point. He gently shoves you forward, and you smile brightly at the librarian. Chan owes you big time.

“Good morning!” you say in a chipper voice that you can hardly believe is yours. You can see Chan wincing at the sound.“I was wondering if you have any books about raising the dead or witchcraft?”

The middle-aged lady only glances at you before telling you, “Third floor, 100-199. Make sure you put the books back in the right place.”

You enthusiastically nod and say in the same bright voice, “Thank you so much!”

The bookshelves labelled 100 to 199 are tucked in the back corner of the floor. You pick a random one and scan the selection. It’s mostly books on philosophy, and you wonder if the librarian sent you here to tell you to reconsider your life choices.

“I’m done with this,” you groan after a few minutes.

“Fine.” Chan sweeps your book towards himself.

You let out a sigh of relief and pull out your textbook, something actually worthwhile and realistic. You and Chan fall silent as you both dive into your respective texts. He drops a few books onto the table, and every time he does, you scoff at the titles.

“You nonbeliever,” enters a new voice. “Shame the nonbeliever.”

You and Chan look up to see Hyunjin who moves to sit by Y/N. He slides you both a coffee and your fingers brush as you take it from him.

“The interview went well then?” Chan asks while raising up his cup in thanks.

Your hand burns in the spots where he touched you. You place the fingertips of your other hand on it to try to ease the alien feeling to no avail.

“Yeah, I got the job, and they gave me some coffee as congrats.”

“Oh, nice. Make sure to give us discounts when we go over to the cafe.”

“Which cafe?” you ask to distract yourself from your still burning hand.

“Yellow Wood. It’s pretty quiet there, so you can study there sometime.”

You nod, suddenly gaining an interest the corner cafe you usually pass without notice.

“So, what have we found so far?” Hyunjin inquires, peering at Chan’s book.

“Not much. Although I think a recurring point in these books is that necromancers all need to say a spell before their magic works. It’s different for everyone,” Chan answers.

You can feel their attention shift to you.

“Y/N,” Hyunjin begins, “Do you remember saying something before you said hello to me? That was the first thing I heard.”

You thought for a second and then nearly spit out your coffee when you remember the one and only thing you said in the morgue before greeting him. There is no way you are admitting to saying that. No way.

“No,” you squeak out, your voice even higher than it was when you were talking to the librarian. “I don’t remember anything.”

“She’s lying,” Chan calls you out. “She pulls her sleeves over her hands like that when she lies.”

You quickly hide your hands under the table. Dang it, Chan knew you too well.

Hyunjin chuckles. “Aww.”

“If you heard me say hello, why didn’t you move then?” you ask in an attempt to change the subject.

“I couldn’t move yet,” Hyunjin answers. “And because you said you had an exam to study for. I wanted to help.”

“What did you say?” Chan tries again. “Don’t dodge the question.”

“I’m not going to tell you,” you reply as you heat creep up your cheeks. “It’s something personal.”

“We’ve been friends for ages,” Chan reminds. “You can tell me. I won’t judge.”

Yes, you will, you think. Because even you’re judging your poor choice of words.

“It doesn’t matter. This ‘necromancy’ thing is a load of bull, anyway.” The last part comes out louder and harsher than you intended, and you awkwardly sip your coffee and try to ignore the stares from the both of them.

Chan sees your discomfort and decides to drop the subject. He goes back to gathering books, but Hyunjin stays by your side, with his head resting on his forearms.

“You’re not going to help him?” you ask, taking care to sound nonchalant.

“I’m just trying to figure out how to apologize to you.”

You laugh. “Shouldn’t you be thanking me? I supposedly brought you back after all.”

His voice is soft when he says, “I know I’m a bother. I want to know why I’m here, but I don’t want to make you stress over it.”

“Chan’s the one stressing over it, not me.”

“Then what did you say before you said hello?”

You shut your textbook and stuff your papers in your bag. You can’t tell him, and there’s no way he’s going to give it up like Chan did.

“Thanks for the coffee. I just remembered I gotta go… buy a new notebook. I’m running out of pages in mine,” you make up. “Bye.”

You practically run out of the library, and you hear him call your name. He doesn’t follow you, thank goodness.

When you’re finally outside, you pause to rest. With nowhere else to go and because you need to keep up the lie, you head to the campus store and buy an overpriced notebook. Your bank account cries, but it’s better than Hyunjin finding out.

Returning to the library isn’t an option, so you go back home. You’d have to face the two boys again later, but at least for now you can relish in your moment of not being under an interrogation light. It doesn’t last long, however. You only get through reading half of the next chapter of your textbook when you hear Chan’s keys jiggling in the doorknob.

“Did you buy your notebook already?” Chan asks, raising one eyebrow.

Jokes on him though. You smirk and hold up your brand new purchase. “Isn’t it nice?”

“Not nice enough for fifteen dollars.”

You silently agree. “Are you guys done with your ‘research?’”

Chan ignores your sarcasm. Or maybe he doesn’t care. “Almost. We just need you to test out our idea.”

“I already told you. It’s not gonna work anyway.”

You swear you hear them murmur, “Nonbeliever.”

“You can try on your own and tell us if it works or not after,” Hyunjin offers.

There’s a very big flaw to his plan, but you don’t say anything about it. “Look, even if I believed in this theory of yours, we can’t exactly go back to the morgue and bring back another dead body.”

“What if you tried on an animal?” Hyunjin suggests. “RACHA U has a lot of animals around.”

“Great. You can kill a squirrel for me then.”

“Roadkill, Y/N,” Chan sighs. “We’ll just find some roadkill.”

“Even better. You can run over a squirrel, and I’ll wait on the sidelane.”

Chan sighs again, but you can see Hyunjin suppressing a smile. You and Hyunjin exchange looks, and he gives you a small, secretive grin.

“Dinner?” Chan changes the subject. “We can go to Yellow Wood and make Hyunjin give us a discount.”

You start packing as Hyunjin says, “I’m not even working the evening shift!”

“What? They don’t give out employee discounts?” Chan looks to you. “Ready?”

“You’re buying me dinner for making me ask the librarian.”

Hyunjin interjects, “It’s okay, Y/N. I’ll buy you dinner.”

“I didn’t give you $50 for you to do stuff like this,” Chan tsks.

“I’ll buy yours too.”

“Now we’re talking.”

Much to Chan’s disappointment, there are no employee discounts. Much to Chan’s pleasure, he doesn’t need to pay today.

“Thanks, Hyunjin,” you say as he places a turkey sandwich in front of you.

“No problem,” he replies and immediately turns to get you a cup of water.

“Is this the roadkill you were talking about, Chan?” you tease as you flip open the sandwich to add a few stripes of mayo.

“Try saying the words loud and clear if that’s what you think,” he shoots back.

“Abracadabra,” you humor him with a scoff.

Before Chan can retort back, Hyunjin returns with the cup of water.

“Where’s my water?” asks Chan with a childish pout.

“Get your own.” You stick your tongue out at him before thanking Hyunjin with a smile.

“No problem,” replies Hyunjin. You think you see him blush, but you don’t want to believe he would do that because of you.

The three of you eat your sandwiches while making light conversation. About halfway through your sandwich, Chan’s phone rings, and he excuses himself from the table. When he comes back, he doesn’t sit down but instead stuffs his sandwich in his mouth.

“What’s wrong?” you ask.

“I have a shift right now. I have to go,” he apologizes.

You and Hyunjin wave goodbye. It’s just the two of you, alone. You avoid eye contact with Hyunjin while still trying to maintain a normal, friendly conversation.

Hyunjin, however, has other ideas. “Is this a date?”

You flush red and try to cover your face with your hair. “No. It’s just two people eating together.”

“So, a date?”

“Two people eating together is not a date.” The back of your neck feels hot, and you focus on the traffic lights outside.

He senses your discomfort and offers you a smile which makes you lose your sense of objection.

“Ask me out properly next time,” you grumble into your bread.

Hyunjin’s face lights up like a puppy but then falters. “Will Chan be okay with it?”

“Yeah, I think so,” you blink, confused. “Why wouldn’t he?”

“I thought maybe–” You can see him visibly relax. “Nevermind.”

You are relaxing with some BGA music when Chan rudely obscures your vision by dropping a dissection tray in front of you.

“Chan!” you yell. “What the heck!”

In the tray is a very-much dead squirrel.

“I found it while on my shift. We can test out the necromancy theory now,” Chan grins victoriously.

“And you bring it into my room?!” You bring a hand in front of your face. The dead animal smell is going to permanently taint your room now.

“Unless you wanna do it in the living room? Hyunjin’s there getting ready to sleep,” shrugs Chan.

“Restroom,” you propose while pushing past him. “I’ll try it there.”

You slam the door behind you and turn on all the faucets to drown out the noise. “No eavesdropping!” you yell.

You look at the rodent in front of you with a sigh. You tuck your nose inside your hoodie and begin with, “Hi Mr. Squirrel. I’m sorry I have to use you to indulge in Chan’s stupid plans. You could’ve been resting peacefully in some compost bin right now.”

You let out a huff of air and place your hands above it. “Here we go.” You close your eyes and whisper, “Wow, he’s hot.”

You quickly tap the corpse with your fingers for some extra magic before opening your eyes. Sure enough, the little brown animal begins to blink awake. A yelp of surprise leaves your lips and you jump, bumping into the towel rack.

“Y/N! Are you okay?” Hyunjin bursts through the door with worry evident in his eyes.

“I-it–”

“It worked!” Chan exclaims from outside.

The squirrel twitches, and you hide behind Hyunjin.

“There’s another problem now! We have a squirrel in our bathroom!” you squeak out. “What do we do?”

The squirrel moves again, and Hyunjin reaches for a towel. You and Chan watch as he wraps the towel around the creature. He picks the squirrel up and runs outside to release it.

“So, it worked,” Chan repeats.

“It did work,” you echo.

“What did you say?”

“I told you many times! It’s something personal! It’s none of your concern.”

“It’s about Hyunjin, isn’t it?”

Caught off guard, you pause for a brief moment. “Pft, no, it’s not.”

“You’re doing the sleeve thing again.” When you don’t say a word, he continues with, “What was the spell?”

There’s no point in hiding it from your longtime friend. You check to make sure Hyunjin’s not back before answering in a whisper, “Wow, he’s hot.”

You expect him to laugh, to threaten to tell Hyunjin, but he just gives you a look of disgust.

“You saw a dead body and the first thing you thought was that he’s hot?“

“I’m not proud of it either! Please don’t tell him.”

“I won’t. Because you will.”

You stammer some incoherent sentences before getting out, “No!”

“What’s the problem? Aren’t you two gonna start going out?”

“How do you know about that?”

“He called me during my shift and rambled on and on about it. He’s so excited. It’s a little concerning that he’s so happy to date you. I should teach him to have better taste.”

“Rude. But that’s not the point! It’s such an embarrassing thing to say!”

The front door opens, and Hyunjin walks back into the bathroom with the towel and a few scratches on his arm. You jump, and Chan gives you a look.

“Hey, I’m back,” he announces. “That squirrel seemed pretty mad that he was alive again.”

Conversation with Chan forgotten, you reach for the first-aid kit under the sink and hurry to help Hyunjin. While you’re busy disinfecting the wounds, Chan keeps trying to send you signals.

“Chan,” you ask to interrupt his eyebrow raising and nodding, “can you put the towel in the hamper?”

“Yeah.” He takes the towel from Hyunjin and suddenly pauses. “Oh, Hyunjin. Y/N said she wanted to tell you something.”

“I wanted to let you know that I think we should get ice-cream for our first date.” It’s a good thing your hands are busy, otherwise you would be hiding them with your sleeves again.

“No. The other thing.”

“Oh, right.” He is going to get it now. “Chan said he would personally fund our date, so I think we should try that gourmet ice-cream parlor.”

Chan chokes and starts coughing. The two of you stopped by in the beginning of the year to check it out, and the two of you immediately left after seeing the absurdly high prices.

“That’s really nice of you, but I’ll treat Y/N with my own money. I’ll pay you back the $50, too,” Hyunjin adds.

Chan smirks at you and thanks Hyunjin for being such a gentleman and treating you so well.

You finish patching up Hyunjin, and he thanks you in appreciation. When he goes to lie down on the couch, Chan pulls you aside.

“Just tell him!”

“Only if you fund the date!” You know he’ll never agree.

“I don’t have that kind of money!”

“And I don’t have that kind of courage!”

You head back into your room and bury yourself in your blankets. Without meaning to, scenarios of you admitting to Hyunjin the words run through your mind. All of them end with Hyunjin mercilessly teasing you, and for some strange reason, Chan is there as well, laughing.

You groan and put your headphones on.

The first official date with Hyunjin happens after Hyunjin receives his first paycheck. As promised, he pays back Chan, who is still won’t stop pestering you.

He laces his fingers with yours as the two of you walk down the street to the less expensive ice-cream parlor. You’re shocked at his boldness but don’t let go. It’s only when he wraps his arms around your shoulders at a stoplight do flinch and look at him uncertainly.

He apologizes with one of his warm smiles and holds your hand again.

He buys you an ice-cream cone, and no matter how much you insist on paying for it, he ignores you and drops his money on the counter.

“I’ll pay you back,” you promise.

“Y/N, you’re my girlfriend now. I’ll buy you anything you want.”

“How about a house?”

“Only if we can live together.”

As the two of you, still holding hands and eating ice-cream, stroll through a park, he points out a dead bird.

“Look! You can bring it back to life!”

After all the squirrel commotion, no one ever really brought up the necromancy thing again. Well, Chan kept bothering you to tell Hyunjin the spell words, but that didn’t really count. Hyunjin, on the other hand, just seemed glad that his hypothesis was right and that he could spend time with you. And you just pushed the newfound part of yourself away and kept quiet during anatomy classes.

“I’m not doing that again.” You try to drag him away from the tiny corpse, but he’s rooted to the ground. “Let’s go.”

“You don’t want to help it?”

“It’s dead already. I just want to forget my powers and let nature take its course. Besides, you said the squirrel was angry when I brought it back.” You try moving him again. “Let’s go get coffee.”

He gives in and lets you lead the way to Yellow Wood. “You know, you never told me what you first said to me.”

“It’s personal.”

“Fine. You don’t have to tell me the exact words. What was it about?”

“I’m not telling you,” you say with the most childlike voice you can muster.

“Y/N.”

“If I let you hug me, will drop the subject?”

He pouts, “Don’t think you’re getting out of this,” but he’s more than excited to hug you and bury his nose in your hair. Your face heats up, and he grins at your bright red cheeks. He’s happy which makes you happy, and you don’t even have to tell him the words yet.

And you never will. Or so you think.

You cried when he proposed, and you cry now when he reads his vows. At some point, you can no longer hear him speak because he’s sobbing as well.

It takes several breaks and some throat-clearing before he can end his speech with, “And I know people usually promise ‘until death do us part,’ but I know I’ll love and be with you to death and beyond. Literally.”

You laugh at the inside joke and reach forward to brush his tears away.

“Hyunjin,” you choke out, “I love you so much.”

Chan, who is both the best man and the maid of honor, is the first to start cheering at your statement, but the rest of the guests soon join in.

“So, will you tell me now?” he jokingly whispers into your ear.

With the loud noise from the guests and the euphoria you feel, you murmur, “Wow, he’s hot.”

For some strange reason, he’s surprised. “You think I’m hot?”

“Of course I do.”

His eyes are bright as he gently lifts your chin up. “I love you, too,” he replies back right before he kisses you.