Interns

Chapter 16: I Love You

Baekhyun had succeeded. Heaven had ejected Naeun and decided that she could continue her human life, so she went back to work for Minseok and so forth. The angels also decided to let Kyungsoo and Jongin go as well. However, Hell had kicked out both Jongin and Yixing, and now they were roaming Earth as humans once more. They did not want Jongin anymore as he was previously tortured for information and he did give some stuff away even though it was not exactly what Heaven was after. Luckily he was reunited with Kyungsoo and they stayed safe together.

As for Yixing, he was miserable. All he felt was guilt. It consumed him and was about to eat him up alive. Firstly he could not get over his role in causing Naeun to fail her job as his guardian angel. Of course, part of it had to do with her love for him which made her spoil him, but he had made her job so much more difficult when he decided to follow the demons rather than what was right. And then he failed her a second time when he ultimately decided to hand her soul over to Hell. He could not blame Yifan's prompts or the necessity of his mission. It was a decision that he had consciously made in spite of his growing feelings for her. He had once again chosen Hell and the demon way over her, and he could not forgive himself for that.

Yixing still had to go to work at the Conservation Department like Naeun did, but he could not bring himself to do that because he could not face her anymore and he did not think there was any meaning to this pathetic human life that he was now condemned to live. When the morning text that Naeun received was a simple 'I'm sorry', with no selfie, she immediately felt that something was very wrong. She had to go to him. She had to go to him now.

There was no way she could go to work knowing Yixing was not fine. She was about to throw her phone onto the floor in frustration, but that was when her phone rang. She did not want to talk to anybody unless it was Yixing, but when she saw that the caller was Baekhyun, she had hope once more, and she picked up the call.

"Are you dressed?" Baekhyun asked but he did not really care for an answer. "I'm swinging by your place in 10 minutes. We're going to check on Yixing."

"What? Now? How do you even know..." she scratched her head in confusion.

"I'll explain everything once I see you." He then hung up.

~

Hurriedly and anxiously, Naeun hopped into Baekhyun's car.

"Here, have a croissant," he said, handing a paper bag to her. "I'm sure neither Yixing nor I would want you to skip breakfast and starve."

That was thoughtful of him. "Thank you," she cleared her throat. As soon as she dug in, he drove off.

On the way, Baekhyun did explain everything like he said he would. It turned out that the demon Jongin had informed Kyungsoo and Baekhyun of what had happened to Yixing. Knowing that Yixing had been cast out of Hell and was now all alone, Baekhyun combined this with his prior knowledge of Naeun's and Yixing's past lives, and it was not difficult to understand why Yixing was emotionally compromised and fragile right now.

"Baekhyun, I'm super worried about him. Not just because I was his guardian angel but because I did love him. I...I think I still do," Naeun replied somberly. "But...how do you have his address? And how do you know where I live?"

"It wasn't difficult. I checked Minseok-hyung's files and found your employee profile as well as Yixing's," Baekhyun shrugged. "And here we are," he announced and dropped Naeun off; she was going to go up alone while Baekhyun had to drive back to the office.

"Thanks, Baekhyun," Naeun sighed and gave him a weak smile in gratitude, in spite of how worried she was about Yixing. "I do appreciate what you've done for us."