Luminous • Jisung

43 • Used to be

• Chapter 43 •

"Hello, fellow humans!" Chenle shouted proudly as he stepped into Jisung's living room where Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin had been waiting for them patiently. 

Not minding him too much, Cho-a walked past him and plopped down on the sofa a moment later. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. Meanwhile, the door clicked shut as Jisung was the last to enter the house. 

Jaemin looked from Chenle to Cho-a with excitement underlined by a feeling of concern. His eyes eventually stopped at the boy. 

"She really did it?" he asked the younger. "You're human now?" 

"Well no," Chenle said. "But I'm close to it." 

"Right so if anyone wants to kill him, now's the time," Jisung noted casually. "But hurry, it won't last forever." Jeno nodded, impressed. Jaemin's excitement seemed to have rubbed off on him.

Scanning over Chenle, however, Jeno's eyes stopped at the faint smudges of blood that ran over the back of his neck. Then he looked at Cho-a, whose fingernails were dyed crimson as well. 

"Cho-a," Renjun called, his sole focus lying on the girl. She lifted her head a little, gazed up at the older one right when Jisung walked past her into the kitchen. 

"Hm?" 

"Are you alright?" At which she nodded quickly but Renjun kept a strict gaze on her. "Really?" 

Again, she nodded. "I'm just tired," she mumbled, then glimpsed at Chenle who was still proudly standing in the entrance to the room, seeming happy with his newfound humanity. "He got hurt, not me." 

"Right!" Chenle stepped in. "Imagine, how weird it is Renjun! Even now it still hurts, I would've never thought." 

Jeno smiled sympathetically. "Yeah it must be uncomfortable but don't worry you--" 

"It's so cool!" Chenle interrupted happily, making both human boys frown and look at one another. Jeno's sympathy dropped at once and Jaemin let out a confused sigh. 

Sitting down next to Cho-a, Jisung took her hand in his as he started carefully cleaning the blood off it with a damp cloth. She gazed up at him. 

The light inside reflected in his eyes like tiny stars. Tiny stars amidst deep brown orbs. 

Cho-a exhaled a softly whispered,
"You're pretty." 

He glimpsed up at her briefly. He saw her gaze and noticed how lost it was, but he didn't comment on it. He just looked back down as if he never saw it. 

When Cho-a shuffled closer and put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, he also pretended not to notice. Even though his smile was evident. 

From outside the bubble of the two youngest came a confused hum from Jaemin. He tilted his head to the side. 

"Huh? Cho-a did your ankle heal?" he questioned, pointed at where the bruise had been earlier but wasn't anymore.

"Woah, really?" Chenle questioned, stepped closer and leaned forward to get a better look at it. All the while, Cho-a frowned. 

"Why would it have healed? It hasn't even been a day since I got it," she dismissed, yet quickly opened her eyes when she felt Chenle poking her ankle. "Dude." 

The boy in question looked up quickly, as impressed as ever, as he gave her a thumbs up. She narrowed her eyes at him before looking down at it.

"Oh?" she pushed out. "Jaemin's right."