✔️ Honey | Xiaoven

Chp.30 | Wondering What Happened

Xiao hasn't shown up to school for the few following days. Venti felt..extremely worried. His guilt only grew. He felt so concerned, he honestly forgot all about the days prior to this. He's tried calling him a lot, trying not to seem desperate. Although, that kind of seemed like the opposite. He just refused to go to Xiao's house uninvited for a matter like this—what if Xiao got upset when he seen him?

To be completely honest, Xiao hadn't answered a single one of his calls. Nor any of Venti's paragraph long spam texts on how sorry he was; and asking if they could talk. He knew this was probably because Xiao didn't want to see him, but he just couldn't brush it off that something bad may have happened.

He told himself he should ignore it, and Xiao was probably on a trip or something. Although, Xiao had never done something like that before. He'd usually answer right away..it's not like he was busy all of the time. He was usually at home, since he's not an outside kind of person. It seemed like the other had never even had a group hang out with friends.

Venti couldn't shake it off like usual, telling himself it wasn't his fault. Because, deep down, he knew well that this was his fault. Was Xiao okay? Venti was tired of his stupid excuses. He really couldn't take feeling like this anymore. He just wanted him and Xiao to be back to how they were before. Honestly, he just wanted Xiao.

On Thursday, Venti sat in class quietly. Actually, he'd been like that for a few days; ever since Xiao stopped showing up to school. His mind was way too occupied with the thoughts of Xiao, he couldn't even focus on school or his friends. Well, it's not like he focused much in school anyways..But it was odd of him not to talk with his friends and goof off like some elementary schooler.

Obviously, his friends took quick notice of this. And, it was starting to ruin the mood. Venti looked so glum.

As his friends laughed and immaturely joked around during class, Venti sat completely silent while staring at his phone. He looked like a kicked puppy, concern written all over his expression.

Bennett couldn't take it anymore, what's got him so down? "You okay?" Bennett finally asked the other,"Why have you been so upset all day?" He questioned Venti, leaning over the desk slightly to study his expression.

Venti didn't respond, lost in thought as he scrolled through his old messages with Xiao. The frown on his face only became more visible. He was so zoned out, all he could think about is where Xiao was.

"Hello?" Bennett waved a hand in front of his face, blocking Venti's phone from view. "You there?"

Venti didn't jump or flinch, he only looked back at Bennett, setting his phone down. "I'm fine...ugh.." he groaned, obviously not fine. He gently began to tap his foot anxiously on the ground.

Bennett pouted, but his expression immediately changed as he looked at Venti's phone screen. So that's why. "Why are you so upset that Xiao isn't coming to school? He's probably just sick." He attempted to reassure the other, although confused why he was so stuck on this. He knew they got along well, but not that well.

"Doubt it." Venti huffed out a response, laying his head on his desk in defeat. He wasn't even going to deny that the reason he was upset was because of Xiao not being there. He felt bad, really bad. He was done being such a jerk.

"Hey, man! Seriously, why are you so upset?" He nudged him in the head a bit, messing up his hair.

"We got in a fight..and he stormed off." Venti admitted, tangling his hands up into his hair to attempt fixing it,"He hasn't responded to any of my calls or texts since then." Discomfort and regret was written all over his expression, it could be seen exactly what he was feeling from a mile away.

"Why not just go to his house?" Bennett asked, as if it were a suggestion. "You walk home with him all the time, you probably know where his house is, right?"

Venti sighed,"I don't know if he wants to see me, that's the thing." He stayed silent for a moment, thinking back to Xiao's mom and then to all of the bruises. Childe had spoken about it too, and mentioned abuse.

Venti didn't want to believe it, but it was obvious his subconscious was slowly coming to that term. As Venti came back from his thoughts, he looked back to Bennett,"What do you think happened?" Venti asked, pouting childishly. He just wanted to get his mind off of the other thought.

"I thought you of all people would know. You guys hung out like..all the time." Bennett said, concluding his answer. Just then, Hisso walked into the classroom. She looked panicked, her hair a mess. She'd probably ran here.

"Sorry I'm late, miss!" She said to the teacher, bowing a bit.

"It's been 15 minutes—where have you been?" The teacher had asked, her voice raising a bit. Hisso only bowed again,"I was busy—" she tried to make an excuse.

The woman then muttered something off at Hisso for her to go sit down, and Hisso complied quickly. Hisso and Xiao had been close, right? Maybe Venti should just ask Hisso or something.

Bennett noticed Venti staring at Hisso, he smirked before whispering,"Woah! Almost thought you'd turned gay—" he joked.

Venti only responded with a soft glare,"I regret talking to you about this." He stated softly, also quieter than before. He didn't even blush—maybe Bennett was wrong once again.

"Never-mind." Bennett huff, pursing his lips, playfully annoyed as he rested his head onto his hand.

Venti concluded he should probably talk to Hisso after class, ignoring Bennett.

WORD COUNT; 1005