Realm of Noah

Chapter 10

12th November 2019

NOAH

"His name is Noah Stark."

The way she nearly whispered my name, the raw tenderness that laced through her familiar voice, made the nostalgia hit ten times harder. Clouding up with tears were her brilliant grey eyes, looking above and beyond when the person she truly wanted was right under her nose.

And yet, how could she know it was me when she didn't even remember my face?

I turned away on the guise of picking something up from my bag, wiping the unexpected moisture in my eyes that had transpired from seeing her again.

When I looked up, I found Renee sitting in the empty chair next to mine, her soft wavy hair now in a million tangles, her face flushed like she'd been crying.

"He risked his life to be with me, Sam," Her voice was shaking. "And now he's... He's suffering in a literal hellhole, all because of me!"

No, Ren, no. I wanted to say.

It was never your fault.

"Ren-" Clover started gently, but Renee simply shook her head, causing a single pearly tear to leak out of the corner of her eye.

What I'd give to capture that tear, pull her into my warm embrace, and tell her that I was right here.

And yet, I was this useless human called Oliver, who had vowed to protect his real identity like the idiot he was.

"I-I'm sorry," Sam let out an apology. "I thought Cloves was pranking me..."

"Of course, you'd think that," Clover hissed under her breath.

Sam glared at her but didn't say anything.

"How come you're here, Ren?" Clover focused her attention back on a distraught Renee. "I thought you weren't coming today."

"I did it," Renee chewed aggressively on her lower lip, her eyes stormy. "I destroyed it."

"You destroyed the meditation stimulator?!" Sam looked maddened, before throwing Clover a sour look.

Renee nodded, fighting hard to hold back her tears. The dark circles under her eyes were a play of shadows and light, with red streaks running through the whites of her eyes. Clearly, she'd been crying for the past few hours, looking too traumatised to even speak.

It broke me to see her like this.

"Why?" Clover's voice was filled with sympathy, as she scooted over to sit beside Ren. "You don't act so impulsively-"

"We can fix it, right?" Sam cut her off. "Ren, don't worry, I'll try to fix it back-"

"Fixing it isn't going to fix her problems," Clover snapped.

"What are you going to do?" Sam shot back. "Soothe her with words? Because that's exactly what your grandma did-"

"Guys, that's enough," I cut them off. I could see Renee looking at me for the first time, her eyes widening as if she... Recognised me?

As slight as the action had been, she averted her gaze, now looking at the floor.

"Fighting with each other isn't going to help her," I told them calmly, hoping that they didn't hate me for telling them off.

"He's right," Clover told Sam, who rolled his eyes.

We sat there awkwardly for a moment, with Clover and Sam staring daggers at each other, Renee still in pain, and I was a second away from revealing my identity.