ɢᴜɴꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴏꜱᴇꜱ | 𝙽𝙲𝚃 𝙼𝚊𝚏𝚒𝚊 𝚊𝚞!

18

Finally. I know. It's been so long :D

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"Lavender's green dilly dilly, lavender's blue—"

"Shut your mouth please dilly dilly, or I will make you hah!"

My eyes twitches as I glare at the interrupter. The interrupter being Huang Renjun who is currently watering the plants as per requested by granny. Your beloved protagonist is also doing the same, it's just that I'm taking a rest.

"If you're done dilly dallying help me pluck those weeds up that pipe." He points upwards at the roof. And true to his words there are a bunch of dried branches and leaves clogging it.

"But it's so high up." I squint my eyes under the strong sunlight to look at him.

"So? There's a ladder for a reason." He states like it's obvious.

I sigh deeply, "Fine."

Renjun flashes me a mocking smile, "Thank you~" He said in a sing-song voice before turning away and watering the other half part of the garden.

"Curse him and his height. Hope your shoulders continue to shrink. I'm gonna rip your hair off when you dye it again. Let your scalp die." I murmur curses at him under my breath as I make my way to the ladder.

I lift and settle it on the wall. After making sure it won't stagger, I wear the gloves granny gave me this morning and climb it.

The weather is superbly hot today and the steel ladder is burning me alive. My sweat gland is broken I swear because the amount of salt water running down my face and body is unnatural. And it definitely did not ease my frustration when I encounter a disgusting sight.

"Uh Renjun, is there suppose to be a dead bird in here?" I gag and cover my nose with my shirt as the pungent smell hit my nose.

Renjun looks up, his straw hat helping him to see clearer without the light striking into his eyes.

"Is it grey?" He asks and closes the water pipe.

"Yes?" I frown at the corpse.

"No..that's granny's pet bird. No wonder I haven't seen it since yesterday," He said in disappointment. "Throw it in this plastic." He lays it out on the ground.

"You want me to throw a bird?" I ask in disbelief.

"No, I mean drop it here," He rephrases and step aside from the plastic.

I hesitate as I look at the dead bird . . . The churning worm — yup, nope, it's going down.

"I'm sorry, birdie. Rest in peace." I pinch onto its wing. The texture of its flesh making me whimper in disgust. I bring it up quickly while shrieking and drop it to the ground without looking.

"Ah— shit!" I can hear Renjun yelping as he lets out strings of profanities. "Watch where you're dropping!"

I snort, "Sorry."

"Sorry sorry, I'll make you fall down next time!" He shouts in agitation as he walks back to where the bird is.

He clicks his tongue and sigh, "Niao, what happen to you ... "

A vibration in his pocket pulls him back from the thoughts of the bird. He takes off his gloves and pick up his call.

"Hello?" He greets the person on call as he inspects the precious pet bird he has gifted granny last year.

"Renjun, where's Heejun?"

Renjun's eyes widen and instantly straighten up hearing the voice of his boss, Lee Taeyong. What even more surprises him is the state of urgency when he talks.

"She's here with me, why?" He whispers, afraid of anyone hearing their conversation.

"Listen to me. You need to get out of there. The polices found your whereabouts and it won't be long before they arrive at your grandmother's doorstep," Taeyong said quietly through the call.

"How'd you know?" Renjun asks.

A sigh can be heard on the other line, "Doyoung. He's working on our case remember?"

"Then what will happen to my grandmo—"

"She'll be fine. I promise. Just tell her you're going to buy groceries," Taeyong suggests.

"But I won't be back, I can't lie to my grandma." Renjun protests. The thought of his grandma having a liar as a grandson isn't appealing to him. Moreover a criminal.

"Renjun, you've been hiding your job from her this entire time. Why are you suddenly feeling guilty of lying to her now? This is not the time to have second thoughts or you'll get caught. Get out of there. Now." Taeyong's adamance shuts Renjun up from retorting back.

"You'll head to our second base and be there before midnight, do I make myself clear?"

Renjun fists his free hand to stop himself from lashing out, "Crystal." He said through gritted teeth.

And then the line disconnected. He stands there unmoving for awhile which catches my attention.

"What's wrong? It's bad isn't it. Can you see the worms wiggling their butts and doing a wave? It's like they're dancing to eh macarena. I—"

"Get down. We're moving," Renjun interjects before I can finish my sentence.

"But we just got here yesterday. Your grandma will feel sad if you're leaving this early," I said in hopes of changing his mind.

"No. We have to go." He said as he wraps the bird with the plastic.

"Why?" I frown.

He stops and turns to look at me. Our eyes connect and that's the moment I know something is wrong.

He inhales deeply, "We're in trouble."