✔ choosing you - old ver.

choice twenty

almost a week later, venti was slowly getting better, making both xiao and jean less worried. though his illness had laster a little over 2 weeks now, he was getting better. he was.

venti looked to his phone, seeing nothing but his lock screen of xiao. he flipped over onto his stomach and picked up his phone. he stared at the picture, it being from when they just met. he smiled, recalling the memory. suddenly there came a buzz, snapping him out of the pleasant memory.

cute emo boy<3: "hey ven. you feeling better? the snow has already started to melt."

venti read the message, a smile creeping onto his face.

me: "yup! all good >_< and i know!! the snow it's gone!! it's crazy..."

he had to wait a moment for xiao's response but it finally came after a minute.

cute emo boy<3: "has hu tao said anything? to you?"

venti sat up, all most confused by his message. venti and hu tao hadn't talked a bunch lately, despite being neighbours.

me: "not at all~ why??"

cute emo boy<3: "no reason, don't worry about it."

venti sighed, hitting the call button on xiao's profile. there was two rings before xiao picked up. "what?" he asked. venti didn't say anything, instead listening to his voice. 

"i haven't heard him speak to me in so long~" he giggled, xiao grunting. 

"what do you need?" venti's face straightened. 

"are you feeling okay?" xiao shifted his position in what venti assumed was his bed. 

"i'm fine." he responded plainly, as venti thought he would. 

"you sound tired," he teased, xiao sighing. 

"no, i'm good ven. stop worrying." venti huffed, getting out of bed. 

"for science purposes," he said, looking around his room for something. "whats your address?" xiao stayed silent for a moment. 

"excuse me?" he asked, venti chuckling. "i need your address, so please send it to me." xiao stayed quiet, taking the phone from his ear. venti started humming a random song, while he waited for xiao's response. his response was sending venti his address. venti smiled. 

"thank you xiao!" he quickly hung up the phone, grabbing his shoes from the floor beside his closet.

"see you soon then."

+

"venti!" childe happily said, leading the boy inside his house. "it's rare to see you over here, what's up?" venti smiled.

"nothing! just to say hi to xiao." childe looked suspiciously at venti. 

"that's a long way to drive just to say hi." venti shrugged. 

"anything for xiao!" venti went past xiao, upstairs, before childe called after him. 

"careful venti! he probably doesn't want you to be here!" venti ignored his words, waltzing into the room he assumed was xiao's. what he saw shocked him, but he tried the best to hide it. 

"xiao-xiao!" he said, closing the door behind him. xiao's room was a mess. no, a mess was an understatement. xiao looked up at venti and he immediately looked down, avoiding any kind of eye contact. 

"why are you here?" venti walked over, slipping his shoes off, throwing them in the corner near the door. 

"what happened?" the boy asked, xiao's poster stiffening. venti kneeled down, putting a hand on the other boys face, clearly making xiao a little nervous. 

"xiao," venti's tone softened, "what happened?" xiao mumbled something under his breath before letting his head fall onto venti's chest. venti stayed silent, wrapping his arms around the other boys head. xiao's hand moved the venti's back, clenching his shirt. it was clear to venti something had happened, but again, he wasn't sure what. what could cause him, xiao, to cling to venti?

"xiao it's been 10 minutes, my arm is starting to fall asleep," venti patted his head. "can we talk now?" xiao lifted his head, leaning is against the side of his bed, as they where sitting on the floor. 

"xiao," venti leaned forward, poking xiao's cheek. "what happened." xiao stood up, catching venti off guard. he walked over to his desk, grabbing a piece of paper. he looked to venti, who was now sitting criss cross on the floor. he threw the paper to the boy, leaning on his desk. 

"read it, maybe you'll get it. but you where stuck inside during everything. you wouldn't probably understand." venti shrugged opening the neatly folded piece of paper. 

"venti told me more than enough, about you, and school. i know a lot about you xiao." xiao rolled his eyes. 

"creepy." venti ignored his remark, analysing the handwriting before even reading the actual letter. the writing was neat, and some of it was in cursive. a mix between cursive and print. 

"i hate reading writing like this." he complained to himself, looking through the two paged latter. 

"they're handwriting is huge..why the heck would all this take two pages." 

"are you reading it or just staring?" xiao said, snapping venti out of his little analysation session. 

"i'm reading." venti nodded, staring to read the letter.

"dear xiao tartaglia,

how are you xiao-xaio?" 

venti already disliked this person. that was his nickname for xiao. even so, he continued reading.

"i've seen you hanging around hu tao and ganyu. finally fitting in? took you a while bud. 

how are you feeling since your friend passed? you know i can't help but think it was your fault, even a little? making him go alone.. i bet you feel a lot of guilt for staying home.

if he were still alive, i bet he would never forgive you.

it's weird, i saw you the other day, and it seems like you're all good! all happy and smiley, you've even hooking up with the child's brother! you're really doing well. 

well, i hope you had fun with everyone while you abandoned me and everyone else. everyone died while you where fooling around. you don't understand the pain they went through. damn you. damn you xiao. 

theres no reason why you should deserve to be here if you couldn't even help us. we where your friends xiao. the yaksha. you named this group. 

we held you close and you let the rest of them die. you're full of shit xiao. i'll never forgive you and what you've done to me and the others.

- yaksha 3"

venti felt the anger building up in his usually happy body. "xiao-"

"i knew you wouldn't understand, so there's no need to get so angry about it." 

+

hiya, this is chapter 20 !! we're at 6.7k. what? 6.7.....k..... holy cRapPPPPp THANK YOU??? you guys literally are the best. i was re-reading my other chapters and the ones in the begging where trash- maybe once i finish the book i'll re-do them. dunno, but i have many ideas for when i'm finished for what to write next. gahh this is so exciting.

author xing