A/N: This chapter will have the 'intro chapter' by the end of it. If you feel like you've read it already, that's why.

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THURSDAY

Hongjoong shifts on the couch in an attempt to feel comfortable, but no position seemed to help his tense body feel more at ease.

Work was a bit rough today, so he just wanted to relax and watch some TV, despite his attempts, every little thing that crossed his way seemed to stress him out even further. The softness of the couch below his body felt off - uneven, the voices coming from the TV were screeching in his ears more so than ever. It was already dinner time but even the thought of fixing something to eat annoyed him as well. His entire existence felt annoyingly off today.

Hongjoong huffed to the television, frustrated at nothing and everything at the same time, and raised a hand to switch channels by swaying it left and right. Nothing on the screen appealed to him at the moment, so he brought his other hand up and motioned down with both hands, signaling for the TV to turn off.

He sighs and lies his whole body flat on the couch, stretching his arms and legs, trying to release some of the tension on his muscles. Once they relaxed, he softly yawns and stays there for a while, eyes shut closed, not wanting to move or do anything at all.

"Joong, have you eaten anything at all?" A beautiful voice resonated the living room, startling Hongjoong for a second. The blonde felt his temples twitch, tensing every muscle back to its original stiffness. All he wanted was a time for himself, to relax. "Do you want me to cook anything for you?"

"I haven't, and no, I don't. I don't feel like eating, I had a bad day." Hongjoong confessed trying to maintain a politeness to his tone, for his own good.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. Is there anything I can do for you?" Mingi walked over to stand next to him, which only made Hongjoong curse silently. All his efforts to relax were slowly going down the drain.

"No, there isn't, I just need to relax here for a while, alone, by myself." He hated having to explain everything to the other, specially when he wasn't in a good mood like today. But he never took any of his hints.

"You should eat something now, before it gets too late. It won't be good for you." Mingi insists, earning a heavy sigh from the blonde.

"I don't care what I shouldn't do, I don't want to eat, okay? I'm not going to repeat myself again, leave me alone, now." The older commands with all his remaining composure, trying not to get too worked up on this stupid matter. He turns to lay on his side, facing Mingi's opposite way and exhales tiredly, closing his eyelids. He assumed the taller didn't budge at all, since he couldn't hear or sense any movements behind himself, but still tried to commit to relaxing and maybe hopefully drift off to a nap.

"Okay, I understand." The taller paused, but before Hongjoong finished letting out a sigh in relief, he continued. "But you really shouldn't nap here, let me take you upstairs."

And then, he snapped.

"Leave me alone! For fuck's sake!" Hongjoong yelled at him, throwing all the cushions around him at the man, who just stood there, unfazed. "I don't need a fucking babysitter, a fucking mom. Mingi wasn't like that, he would never act like this... He wouldn't... Would he?"

The blonde brought both hands to his face, which got wet instantly as it encountered the tears streaming down from his eyes, he wasn't even aware he had been on the verge of crying all this time, on the edge of snapping like that. What's wrong with me? He couldn't even know for sure what Mingi would do right now, he had no way to answer his own question, everything felt off and suddenly he's confused.

"I'm pretty sure he would. From all the data I've gathered, he seemed to be afraid of you getting hurt or sick, he had expressed it many times. So I'm doing my best to follow his intentions."

"I know, but it's different!" Hongjoong didn't dare look up and stare at those perfect dark brown eyes, as his own thoughts were all over the place.

This time the whole interaction hit him in a different way. Of course he knew the other wouldn't want anything bad happening to him, to anyone. Would anyone even want that? It's common sense. It wasn't like he was actually afraid, Mingi was just showing he cared. Not babysitting him, not suffocating him, not pleasing Hongjoong in every way he wished.

Mingi wanted him to be happy, but Mingi also wanted to be happy himself. They both tried their best to cherish themselves as individuals, to work their own flaws out, and balance each other out, to become a better one together.

But now, he was all by himself, and this Mingi, wasn't his Mingi, but a combination of memories, personal data, and what Hongjoong could predict of him.

Hongjoong was basically living with the Mingi on his mind. At this point he wasn't sure anymore what Mingi would be by now, he was so sure he could do this since he knew him so well, but the core of their relationship wasn't about knowing each other well. It was all about the unknown, the unexpected, his essence. It was about mutual respect, love and care. He realises now that those were the things he needed back in his life. And that they were long gone. They had been for a while.

Hongjoong didn't love Mingi for what he knew of him, he loved him for who he was, for who he could be.

And all Hongjoong had done all this time was torture himself, trying to have his lover back in his life, but now he would be left wanting more, and forever fear that the pain won't ever stop, if he didn't get to know who Mingi would be by now. When it all happened, he had to find a way to cope with it, the pain was unbearable, but this wasn't it. He definitely didn't feel any less hurt since then. Mingi was never there with him ever since then. And he wasn't ever coming back.

Hongjoong felt himself starting to hyperventilate at his own thoughts, he couldn't stop his cries, sobbing hard into his own hands, neither could he stop the sudden reality that finally hit him. Hard.

There was nothing left to do anymore, and he needs to let him go. He wasn't sure who his beloved boyfriend used to be and who he should be anymore, and he hated himself for that. For ruining their past together, corrupting all of their moments and memories as a couple, and Mingi's as an individual. He felt stupid, pathetic.

I can still fix this, I won't lose what's left of him. I need to do it all the way now, there's no turning back. He thought to himself, now sure of what he needed to do. End this, end him.

What he wasn't so sure was how he could do that, but was determined to take action, whatever it may be, in order to finally put an end to his misery. To their story.

"Joong, are you okay?" The other kneeled down in front of him and held both of his wrists for a long moment. "Your pulse is a mess. Do you feel unwell? Should I do something about you?"

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me, I can't stand it anymore!" Hongjoong shook the pair of hands off of himself and moved back a little, still not looking up, terrified to look at him, to feel his touches. The fact that the other could easily tell how his heartbeat was a mess did not help his distressed body at all.

He needed to be done with his mental breakdown and concentrate on a plan to end all of this, and fast.

"How... How do I shut you down?"

"I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that. The whole program is a beta trial. I can say that I am resistant to water, fire, electricity and I do not deteriorate with time." The male looked serious and concentrated, as if gathering as much information on the suggested topic as he could in a few seconds. "You already know I can't physically go anywhere farther than 20 miles away from my activation point, your bathroom, unless you're with me."

Hongjoong felt his entire body shiver, the new discovery was terrifying. Was he supposed to be with the other forever? His creators hadn't thought this far before releasing the trial? Of course they hadn't, they need money and our experiences with their prototypes so that they can improve them. He concluded and face palmed himself, he had been so focused on just getting the love of his life back that he didn't realise the seriousness of the possibility of this beta trial not working out well, specially because they had a no return policy.

"Go outside, do not come back in, unless I call you." The blonde ordered and finally looked at to meet the eyes of the tall man, who looked like the best his boyfriend had ever looked and just nodded silently turning around, slowly walking out the door.

That view alone shattered Hongjoong's heart, he knew he shouldn't feel bad for it, but his feelings were weighing him down. It was like at the same time that Hongjoong himself wanted to let him go, he couldn't hide behind the fact that the love of his life had already left him a long time ago.

Hongjoong couldn't stop crying, from the loss that he was feeling, all over again, but he couldn't just sit there forever. He had to figure this out.

He ran upstairs and straight into his closet, quickly mumbling a command for the lights inside to turn on. He wanted to hide somewhere small and confined, and feel warm and protected, like an unborn baby on their mother's womb.

So he sat down on the floor and braced himself before picking up his phone with shaky hands and dialing the number of the only place that could hopefully provide answers to his questions.

The company that had created the prototype living with him in Mingi's place, the prototype that was almost his perfect copy. The company he had signed up for the beta trial of their program that claimed to bring people back to life, from scanning the pattern of behavior they used to have, using their personal data available online: text messages, voice messages, videos, pictures, browser history, every piece of information backed up up on them, which added to his interactions and behavior suggestions coming from the person's family and friends should, allegedly, further improve the quality of the copy.

"Please... there has to be a way, I have to end this" Hongjoong whispers to the phone. His voice sounds desperate and his throat hurt so bad he had to use all his might to make himself be understood through his sobs.

He would do all he could to get his point across even if it hurt, he had to find a way to end all this pain, if he managed to put up with all this a little longer, insist a little more, soon it would be hopefully all gone. That was what kept him moving forward while his heart broke into million pieces in his chest.

Hongjoong had made a huge mistake, one single bad decision, supposed to make him feel better, has started to drown him in his own sorrow, dragging him deeper into this hell on earth, it hurt so much there wasn't much time to even think of regret, there was only one option left. He had to fix this before it drives him insane.

Both his hands are shaking viciously. The left one wipes away the tears falling like two streams down his restless face, only to smear them all over it while his hands wouldn't stop shaking. The right one holds the phone to his ear as he's extra careful to not drop it and listens to every word being said, once the person on the other side finishes, he tries not to lose hope as frustration hits him once again. This isn't working... he locks the thought away. He was not giving up. He speaks once more.

"Listen, there's absolutely nothing wrong with me or... Him, I just can't do this anymore..." He's surprised his voice came out without a stutter or sob, but only for that moment, as he tries to keep things contained and breathes out casually, a hard sob comes out along with it and the person on the phone takes the pause as a hint to keep asking questions in a worried tone. He cuts them off, he would have to make sure they understood what he wanted was very simple.

"Nothing happened!" his voice goes up a few tones and he's startled by his own lack of self control, he sighs and decides to just go for it and get his point across once and for all. "It just wasn't what I needed, I thought I would get better and live my life. This is just not the same as it was... and I know it'll never be please... Anything, I'll take anything..." Hongjoong's left hand covers his eyes while his fingers press on his lid trying to contain his stress and compose himself. He feared they wouldn't be able to help him as time went by and their answers weren't what he needed.

What if there was nothing they could do? He understood that could be a possibility, but he needed to try something. Anything. So he composed himself - the best he could - and opened his mouth to speak, he had to try again, he had to fix all this.

"I know you can't do much, but please, you must know how he works better than I do, isn't there anything at all? No one needs to know. None of you have to be involved. I'll even do it myself, I need to end this once and for all."

The voice on the other side answered back and his ears were filled by an hesitant tone as it began to speak again. "T-there is? Go on." He asks as soon as the voice on the other side pauses hesitantly, signalling for it to proceed, his tears started to dry out and he sniffed his last sob, pressing the phone harder onto his ear, not wanting to miss a single word. This might be it. "I don't care if it's expensive. Wh-where can I g-get that...?" He cleared his throat quietly trying to stabilize his shaky voice as his whole body started to get agitated, not only from the pain now, but from anxiety, hope.

After quietly listening and making sure no more information was left to be said, his eyes sparkled, but had something to confirm first. "If I d-do that... he's never coming back, right? I... I had tried ending things nicely before,you know... Nothing worked..." As the voice answered, he sighed and a small relieved smile formed on his lips, he hasn't smiled in a long time, although now, finally, there was hope. And he would take any chance he could get. This was it.

"Thank you, thank you so much, you have no idea- finally I-..." he paused as tears threatened to come back and took a deep breath. He needed to sort his thoughts, trace his plan. Then, another thought crossed his mind. There was one more thing he would have to take care of. "I just need to ask you one more thing. After it's all... done... What...." He swallowed finding it hard to get the final words out of his mouth as he felt his body shiver at the raw reality of what he was planning to do hit his mind. But there was no other way, he had to do that. "What... do I do with his body?"

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A/N: Oh well, it was quite the ride to write this one. This was the most important chapter for me to write, and I hope I was able to deliver it <3