Loveless (Book 1) [Completed]

Chapter 43.

VIE GHOULS.

"Corn is a... Fairy Prince." Cupping her hands around his ear, Kyoko whispered.

Her warm breath softly caressed the skin of his ear and his neck, sending jolts of current throughout his body, but even that was not enough to distract Ren from the shocking revelation. She actually... still... believes it? He failed to hide the surprise from his face but Kyoko was too much lost in her fantasies to notice it.

She opened her mouth and started rambling on and on excitedly about Corn and his fairy kingdom, only adding more to Ren's shock, that she still believed in all the balderdash stories he had made up as a ten-year-old child.

She still believes in... fairies of all things...? Just keep it in! Ren commanded himself as he struggled hard to keep a straight face, but failed when a chuckle bubbled out of his throat, which he immediately tried to disguise as a cough.

Kyoko ceased her ramblings. She cocked her head at Ren and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You laughed just now, didn't you?"

"I did not."

Kyoko blushed hard and spat angrily, "Corn really is a fairy whether you believe it or not!"

"I never said otherwise," Ren's face remained expressionless but he still held his breath, not trusting his stomach which was bursting inside from suppressing the rising fits of laughter. He wasn't sure how long he could keep resisting.

When he finally parted his lips to breathe, he gave in and ended up laughing so hard that he sank down on an empty bench on the side of the road.

Kyoko's face became as red as a tomato. She humphed and sat down on the opposite side of the same bench with her eyebrows creased in an intense frown. She kept glaring at him the whole time he chortled.

"Hey, I said I'm sorry..." He said through his chuckles. "I was not making fun of you..."

"Dont look at me that way!" Her tone suddenly turned soft and hurt which immediately stopped Ren from laughing. "I'm not making this up. I thought you of all people would believe me."

"I shouldn't have laughed, I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely.

"I know you must be thinking that I must have misunderstood Corn or maybe he lied about being a fairy," she went on. "But Corn would never lie. And as for me, I know what I saw. That stone is a proof that Corn was real and I did not just imagine him. I even saw him flying!"

"Really?" Ren remembered no such thing. "Are you sure that you actually saw him levitating in the sky?"

"Well... Not exactly... but that's only because his wings weren't fully grown yet." Kyoko tried to remember as she stroked her chin. "To be precise, Corn had said that his wings had grown several times but whenever he tried to fly off, they got clipped by getting trapped in his father's larger wings and he came crashing back down." Just the memory of it flooded Kyoko's eyes with tears. She looked up at the sky and exclaimed, "wherever you are, Corn, do your best!"

Warmth rushed through Ren when he heard those words. After all these years Kyoko's trust in him hadn't subsided at all. He stared at her from the corner of his eyes. The sight of her slightly wet lashes and her pink cheeks was making his heart ache with craving.

"I think Corn must be fine," Kyoko continued with a small smile. "It's been ten years, he must have grown up by now and his wings must be even larger than his father's."

"I wonder about that" Ren mumbled absentmindedly.

"Why would you say something like that?" Kyoko narrowed her eyes. She stood up and punched the air victoriously before exclaiming, "I'm sure that Corn is even greater than his father now. The only reason he couldn't surpass him before was because back then he was still a child. Now, however, he must have grown up to be a fine adult. He was born to be a king. He must have surpassed his father long ago."