The Way It Burns - BbangNyu

[5]

Chanhee was back at university, once the marks had faded. The angel felt glad he could leave that mistake in his past, accepting the life that was laid out for him. Yes, it wasn't ideal, but there was nothing he could do about it. He just had to keep moving forward. He got back to his usual self, dressing in a white cropped hoodie, light blue high wasted jeans and white converse. He felt relieved that he didn't have to hide anymore.

He spent the day sitting through boring lectures, and catching up with the two days of work he missed. He finished up around 2 in the afternoon, so he decided to get lunch with his friends. It was only Changmin and Kevin, since Sangyeon and Jacob had extra classes to attend. They headed to their favourite lunch spot, 'Angels garden', which served the best salads on earth.

"Hmm I don't know what to get." Changmin whined to the waitress.

"Ugh stop being annoying, you do this every time." Kevin grunted, throwing his head in his hands.

Changmin dropped his jaw dramatically, shaking his head at the boy. "Well there are so many choices Kevin!"

"Oh my gosh, just pick the thing you always get." Kevin sighed.

"I might want something different! Give me time to decide-"

"He'll have the chicken salad." 

"No, let me pick."

Chanhee bit his lip, slightly embarrassed by his friends squabbling. He whispered a sorry to the waiter, as the poor girl backed away. Not wanting to get involved in the petty drama, Chanhee just waited until the boys stopped. He looked around the restaurant, the decor was white and blue, with big clear windows letting in natural lighting. It made it easy for Chanhee's eyes to fall on the dark figure sitting at one of the other tables.

It was very uncommon to see dark creatures hanging around uptown, and even more uncommon to see them conversing with angels. He couldn't take his eyes off the man, memories of the other night flushing back to him. He tried to forget about the demon, but he couldn't.

"Chanhee- Chanhee- hello?!" Changmin called, waving his hand in front of his friends face. 

Snapping out of the trance, Chanhee removed his eyes from the creature. "Do you guys know who that is?" He asked, pointing towards the figure.

"Oh that's Lee Juyeon, he moved into my building a few days ago. I spoke to him yesterday, he seems cool." Kevin replied.

"He's a dark creature right?" 

"Yeah, it must be tough around here."

"My parents told me his mum's a siren, apparently she lured in a rich husband. I bet she's just using him for his money." Changmin chimed in. 

Kevin looked visibly upset by the boys statement, furrowing his eyebrows at him. "Seriously! This is the exact reason people hate angels, we're no better than anyone else."

"Well we kind of are, our ancestors never killed anyone." Changmin muttered under his breath.

"Get off your high horse Changmin! I really don't understand how you can say stuff like that so lightly." Kevin snapped, raising his voice more than before.

"It's true though! Our parents warn us to stay away from his kind for a reason." Changmin barked.

"You're so ignorant." Kevin scolded, getting up from his seat. He looked really annoyed, leaving the boys at the table.

Chanhee really wished he hadn't pointed out Juyeon. Kevin was the only person he knew who didn't talk negatively about other creatures. This meant that fights like this one were quite common. 

"If he wants to socialize with people like that, then he can go ahead. However, I have just as much right, to not want to." Changmin said, gesturing for the waiter to come over. "I'll have the chicken salad."

After lunch, Chanhee walked to Changmin's apartment. He tried to check on Kevin, but the boy wouldn't answer his texts. He spent the night working on assignments with his friend, then headed home in the morning. 

The morning was pleasant, a cool breeze sweeping through the city, so Chanhee thought it would be nice to walk home for a change, instead of calling his driver. He only lived a few blocks away from Changmin, which meant it was a quick walk. On his way, he passed Kevin's building, hesitating for a moment.

He stared at the glass doors, debating whether to go in or not. That's when a familiar figure appeared in front of his face. His dark presence, sent chills down Chanhee's spine, causing goosebumps from just one look. 

"Hey I've seen you around university, aren't you Kevin's friend?" The boy asked, staring the shaking angel up and down.

"Y-yeah." He gulped. "I'm Chanhee."

"Lee Juyeon, it's nice to meet another person who'll actually talk to me." Juyeon laughed.

Chanhee felt bad hearing that from Juyeon, he didn't realize how hard it must be. "It's nice meeting you too, we should hang out sometime." Chanhee suggested, even though he knew his parents would never allow it, he didn't want Juyeon to feel isolated.

"I'd like that. I better go, my lectures starting soon."

"I'll see you around then."

Juyeon began to walk away, but swiftly turned back to the boy. "Hey Chanhee, by any chance were you-" He started to ask, cutting himself off after seeing the innocent look on the angels face. "Never mind."

The siren continued on his journey, not turning back this time. Chanhee did ponder what Juyeon was going to ask him, but decided to just ignore the weird exchange. He took the elevator up to Kevin's floor, and knocked on his apartment. He wanted to visit Kevin, make sure he was okay.

Kevin's maid answered the door, bringing Chanhee to the fellow angels room. The boy was painting something, quickly covering it as the door opened.

"Ah it's just you." Kevin sighed, uncovering the painting again.

Kevin's parents were against his creative side, they wanted their son to focus on academics. He had to hide his passion from them, or else they'd take it away from him.

 "Wow that looks really great, this might be my favourite painting of yours yet." Chanhee cooed.

"Hm thanks."

The blonde sat himself beside Kevin, who was sitting at his desk, on the edge of the bed that was next to him. "You alright? I know Changmin really irked you yesterday.

"I'm fine. I know what we've been raised to think, but we don't have to be like our parents. Shouldn't we judge people on how they treat us? not what creature they are. Think about it, we aren't friends with, or like every angel. There are good and bad in every species." Kevin ranted, in a way that made a lot of sense.

"You're right. I actually spoke to Juyeon outside and he seemed nice." Chanhee agreed.

Talking to Kevin, made him question everything he knew even more. He already knew his parents sheltered him from the majority of the world, so how could he trust what they tell him to think about other creatures. He can't assume they are bad, if he hasn't ever met them.

"See it's not hard, just give him a chance."