The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

六十九

Sixty Nine
Updated: April 25, 2022

Author's Note
Be cautious with this chapter. It includes and mentions triggering topics related to sexual assault. Although there is no assault described in detail, please be careful. If you decide to skip, please comment, and I'll provide a short summary for you. I will not write a formal summary for this part, sorry!

It's been days since Yimu last visited him. Days that felt like centuries of torture. Each second was painful as he waited in fear, and never once did he sleep, staying awake for hours and hours at a time, only falling asleep for a few minutes before waking up from a sound that never even sounded in the first place.

He was delusional. He saw figures in the corner, through the rice paper doors, heard the sounds of keys and footsteps, and felt foreign hands all over his body, but none of them were actually there. It was all imagined. Fake. A delusion.

There were times when he saw his family in the corner of his room reaching their hand out to help him and other times when he saw them laughing at him, at his suffering. And after only two weeks, Renjun began seeing Yimu's face everywhere, even in his delusions. He saw his face on his cousins, on his mother, his father, his aunts, his uncles, and even Xiao Yue.

But, fortunately, Yimu's face never seemed to stain the faces of his fiancés. When they showed up in his hallucinations, they looked as they were, Jeno and Jaemin. He saw them walking around the room, talking to each other, laughing at each other. And... crying to each other. Watching them made him happy. He could still see them as normal people. As people he loved and as people who cared for him. He treasured these images whenever he saw them, replaying them over and over and over again even after they faded. He replayed them to keep himself sane, from going insane with madness and fear. He replayed them to reassure himself that he was going to get out. That he will be able to see the two of them again, to be enveloped by their warmth, their comfort, their smiles, their presence.

However, seeing them also pained him.

The images of the two younger crown princes would talk and interact with each other, but when Renjun called out to them, they didn't respond. Not like the images of his Yimu-infected family. They ignored him and walked through him like ghosts. They couldn't hear him, but he could hear them. He couldn't touch them, hold their hands. They would only phase through him.

The two of them seemed content with each other without him, happily talking, eating, playing, kissing.

The only time they would seem to remember him was when they were crying, especially Jaemin when he gazed at himself in the copper mirror. The scar across his face and his missing eye reminded Jaemin of his incompetence and his uselessness, and that was the only reason he would cry.

When they showed up, Renjun would crawl over to them pathetically, the chain on his ankle dragged behind him heavily. He couldn't walk as his lower half hurt. He would call out to his fiancés in a begging, pitiful voice, wishing they would look down at him and pick him up.

But, of course, they couldn't see him, couldn't hear him.

It wasn't long after when Renjun gave up calling to them, only crawling over just to watch them by their feet, listening to their conversations and observing their casual daily routines. Even if they weren't looking at him, it was enough. It was all he needed to get him through the day. To know that they are at least fine and aren't too worried. To hear their voices and see their faces. It was enough even if he wanted more.

He was satisfied as it was.

"Jaemin..."

Renjun gazed over at the familiar voice, eyes brightening excitedly. He's back!