a quiet mind | huang renjun

Chapter 30

The dawn rose and the rays of warm yellow bathed the two bundled in a cluster on the floor. The tears from last night dried to leave puffy red rings around his eyes. Her arms was still around him, and his body curled up in a tense ball.

Renjun woke up first, raising his head to meet Xinyi's face that shone against the rays of sun that peaked through the curtains of her dull room. He spread a smile, rising himself up and planting a soft kiss upon her forehead. It was never made clear that they were official. They were too scared. Commitment was too heavy in the hands of children reeking of doom.

Renjun took himself out of her embrace, taking the quilt from her bed and draping it over her shoulders. He whispered "Thank you". As he was about to make his way to the kitchen, a screeching fluency burst in his head. He knew who was calling.

Taeyong. Whenever he called, it was never something good.

—

"You're being unreasonable" Renjun chased Taeyong. His face was drawn with seriousness and adamancy.

"No" Taeyong whipped around, yelling with ferocity "Do you not understand what you almost did?!"

"I want to be human. I want to make sacrifices and I want to be able to feel the pain of love again" Renjun exclaimed "She's making me realise things I've never realised before. Of course, you wouldn't understand what it feels like to want to stay by someone's side, no matter how much pain you have to endure"

"You almost killed a kid, Renjun" Taeyong gripped the younger's shoulder, his eyes piercing through his.

"Don't act like you haven't left her to die before" Renjun sneered. Renjun had changed, so incredibly much that his halo had broken into two and carved into a pair of horns.

"There's a difference between a disgusting monster and an innocent kid" Taeyong spat.

"Don't you fucking call her that" Renjun howled. Silence swept over the whole area.

"Keep your voice down" Taeyong hissed.

"You're making me raise my voice" Renjun retorted. Taeyong stuck his tongue to the side of cheek. With a snap of a finger, Taeyong and Renjun abruptly transported to what seemed to be Taeyong's office.

"Renjun, I want you to listen to me. You only fell in love with her because of that bracelet. That bracelet is the only reason you feel this love thing" Taeyong shook his head, making his way to slump into his office chair.

"It's not. I know it's not" Renjun slammed his hands on the table

"How do you know? How could you possibly know that you've fallen for someone who couldn't give another shit about you" Taeyong didn't want to listen to him. It wasn't the first time someone had barged up to him and claimed they've fallen for a human. He let the last one send themselves into a windmill of torture; he won't let it happen again.

"I don't care if she cares about me or not. Kun said there are no benefits without sacrifice. Then I'll make a sacrifice. Sacrifice everything I have as an Angel to become a human. I don't care, the pain or not, the torture or not. I can take it. As long as I don't have to leave her. Ill fight for it. I'm willing to fight for it" Renjun's tone became convincingly rational. Taeyong almost bought into it. But he's seen far too many incidents where lovestruck teens dove into hell and regretted it.