Luminous • Jisung

47 • Prohibited

• Chapter 47 •

She didn't sound very convincing though. 

She quickly put a hand in the air and the other above her heart, giving the others a sweet smile which made everyone, including Renjun, frown. He turned his head slowly and looked at the younger one doubtfully.

"Are you taking an oath? Put your hand down," he ordered in a shouted whisper, at which she scrunched her nose.

"I'm just showing my sincerity, blockhead," she retorted and slapped his side. Renjun rolled his eyes. 

"Cho-a," Kun called her, reminding her of the topic at hand. "This is kinda important."

She nodded, agreed with an apologetic smile and continued. 

"Right." She put her hands down. "When I saw Jeno and Jaemin like that, I wanted to do something for them. I didn't know how I could make them feel any better though, but I thought it would help if they had someone around." 

Innocent thoughts of an innocent kid that really just wanted to help. Kun felt proud upon hearing her say that. 

As he watched her and listened to her, it got obvious that she was lost in thoughts. The scene played in her mind vividly. Way too vividly, after not trying to think about it for years.

"I walked over to them and just sat down next to them," she said but then stopped.

She didn't continue, suddenly ripped out of her own memories when the scene stopped playing and the colours faded. 

"What then?" Haechan questioned at which Cho-a pushed out a stretched uhm.

"Things get kind of blurry here. I'm actually not sure what I did." She bowed her head apologetically after letting down the rather curious, rather excited boys. "I remember that I just... held on to them for a while so that they knew I was there and so that they were less scared. That's it, actually."

At her vague explanation, Kun frowned. "Held onto their... hands?"

Which quickly made her frown. "Why would I hold a dead person's hand, that's creepy," she deadpanned. "Their souls~"

"You took their-" Haechan was about to question, eyes wide, utterly baffled. Yet he got interrupted by Cho-a.

"No no," she tried to calm him down. "I didn't take them out completely."

Which did not help. At all.

In fact, it made it worse. 

Haechan leaned closer to Jisung and asked in a whisper too quiet for Cho-a to hear,
"Is that even possible?"

Jisung merely shook his head.

But the girl wasn't quite done talking yet and so the boys prepared themselves for whatever she was about to say next. 

Her smile was unusually polite and the step she took back to somewhat distance herself from them was suspicious. 

She cleared her throat, glimpsed at every boy for a second. 

"I fainted after everything and Renjun took me home," she explained. "But before that, I put them... back in." 

"You put their s-" Haechan began but paused to take an extra moment to try and understand what she had just said. 

His eyes quickly found Jisung's, who looked surprisingly calm. 

"Cho-a," he called her name, gently. It was the first thing he said since they got here.