a quiet mind | huang renjun

Chapter 24

A bowl of congee. A boy and a girl. Silence. Again.

It was 9pm and the awkward tension between the guy and the girl filled the otherwise silent room. Mireu's eyes dragged from Xinyi to Renjun, like watching a slow-motion tennis match, bouncing back and forth between the oddly quiet pair. He tugged at Renjun's sleeve.

"I want to go to sleep" He spoke softly, as if afraid that if he spoke any louder it'll break whatever trance the duo was in. Renjun pulled himself out from his thoughts, turning to Mireu and lending a finger to him. Mireu wrapped his hand over his finger as they scurried away.

Renjun took the child to his temporary bedroom in the living room. Tucking Mireu in like has had for the past couple nights, he patted his blanket flat.

"Tell me a story" Mireu spoke, words a little muffled by exhaustion. He must be tired from the day out.

"Once upon a time" He had started his story off as he always has "There was a fairy. He was quite big for a fairy. With rosy cheeks and a smile like a cartoon character; black hair and a pale skin. All the people around him told him he was a bad guy, and no one wanted to play with him."

"Was he actually a bad guy?"

"No, no he was not. He was a boy that didn't know much about the world. Everyone liked to play simon says with him; he did what everyone told him to. It soon became his favourite game"

"I like playing simon says. My dad always played it with me before"

Renjun clenched his fist, blinking back a tear

"He-he then realised that he didn't want to be told what to do. He realised what other people were telling him to do were what bad guys do. He didn't want to be a bad guy. So he ran away from home with his torn wings and broken shoes a-and" Renjun couldn't help the tears. It just all crashed down at him the more he talked. Every word he said wove his own emotions in as Renjun processed the sad reality of this little boy's life.

"and...and he-"

Mireu leant into Renjun's body, patting his back like Renjun would for him. That was it. Renjun's tears fell. Some would call him sensitive, though, he was really just trying to protect others.

Renjun leant his head on Mireu's holding him closer and fluttering his eyes shut.

"I'm sorry" Renjun brushed his finger down his head.

"Does the little boy become happy in the end?" Mireu whispered, still tightly curled in Renjun's embrace. Renjun exhaled shakily. Who knew what was going to happen to Mireu in the future. Once Renjun himself is gone and finished his mission, Xinyi would be nothing but a shell and Mireu would be left alone again. There was no happy ending to this story.

"I dont know" Renjun's guilt and pressure gathered up into the lump in his throat and the tears in the corners of his eyes.

"If I was the little boy," Mireu smiled "I think I would be happy in the end"

Renjun looked at the little boy

"Because I have you, dad"

—

"I have a mission a bit later" Xinyi slung her bag over her shoulders "Make sure the piece of trash doesn't cause any trouble"

"OK OK" Renjun grabbed her by the shoulders, driving her towards the door. This was not the first time she's left the two alone while she went off for missions. Xinyi gave them one last look, before taking off with a couple of her gang members around her, all carrying heavy backpacks and weapons along their waist.

She clambered on the bus, taking a seat next to Jungwoo.

"We're heading to the bottom basement of the house we visited last time. We talked with the owner of the house and apparently there's a room inside the basement no one had touched. We got permission from the owner to attempt to break the door open. And..."

His words morphed into pure buzz. She leant her head on the window. The cold, empty glass was against her head and her dull eyes traced the blurred objects that passed by her. In her eyes, everything were just different shades of grey. A monotonous universe of emptiness.

She twitched upon hearing a ding, bringing her eyes away from the grey mass outside to the subtle glow of her phone.

Come back soon. Mireu says he wants to eat the congee we had yesterday

She switched off her phone. Renjun had a habit of sending her messages every 5 minutes after she left the house. Everytime she set out for missions, it was either life or death. A game of chess and a race to checkmate. That's what it's been like for her. She had never cared but, be that as it may, she didn't want to die. Not in the hands of her enemy.

"It's not a long drive so we'll be there in 2 minutes" Jungwoo looped an earpiece around his ear, handing one to her. She saw the hand in her peripheral. Frigidly, she took it and strung it around her ear.

Words of test, test flew inwards and outwards from her mind until she found herself jolting forwards as the van came to a halt. Members clambered off, all geared and ready. Every member who joined a gang as dangerous this had always considered every day as their last. They couldn't afford to think of a future once they've committed. One bullet and their future would be no more.

She followed them, arriving at the mansion. The keys were given to them already so it took no time for the whole team to get down the basement, facing the huge wooden door. There was no lock nor passcode. It was just a door.

Xinyi placed her hand on the wood, pressing against it. It didn't budge. If they didn't know it was a door, they would've easily mistaken it as a wall.

"We can try bashing-"

An eruption. Footsteps and trampling. Heavy trampling. A couple bangs and a bullet that merely missed her head. They were here.

Xinyi glanced at Jungwoo, and with a thundering whistle, war erupted. Xinyi slid across to the room, loading her gun with fluency and pulling the trigger mercilessly.

"Who has the gas bomb?!" She screamed over the deafening firing of bullets.

"Doyoung!" Someone called back. She switched her gaze to the male who just gave fist to a jaw, then dodging two knives to the throat. Aiming her gun, she fired twice consecutively, flawlessly taking the lives of the other gang. Bee lining towards Doyoung, she pulled him closer and helped him fend off a couple that were armed mainly with melee weapons.

"Use the bomb when we've got too many injured. They wouldn't dare fire blindly" She whispered, grabbing someone's arms and throwing them to the ground. Foot pressed against back and knocking a weapon out of another with a kick of great accuracy. She was skilled. One look and anyone would know she had been training for years.

Doyoung got the message and rolled away from her, loading his gun and joining the mess again. She heard a gruelling groan. Someone was on the floor. It was Jungwoo. His hand was drowned in blood and his face screwed up in agony, clutching his arm as the endless waterfall leaked between his fingers that were doing a futile job of stopping it.

Doyoung glanced at her direction. He was going to throw the bomb and they were going to get out of there.

"I cant undo the tab, Xinyi!"

Xinyi snapped her eyes at the struggling Doyoung. Cursing, she spun in his direction and took the bomb from his hand, firing at someone else in the mean time.

The bomb was in her hand, though, this caused her to stumble and drop her gun. Furrowing her eyebrows, she moved herself towards the corner, ditching the gun. It was more important to get everyone away safe. Her finger looped around the tab and with one ripping tug, the tab was off. Her eyes widened in joy, but diminished the moment she rose her head.

There was a gun aimed directly at her skull.