Shadow | Huang Renjun

49

Whispers follow the Angel and Demon through the corridor, their intertwined hands being the topic of conversation and controversy.

"Are they dating?"

"Isn't that forbidden or something?"

Eunah leans into her boyfriend's side, reassuring him that others' opinions don't matter for the third time today. His other hand is shoved in his jacket pocket, squeezing the stress ball she got him the other day.

It's been a week now since the confrontation with Mark, and he hasn't bothered them once. She still sees him during lectures, and Jeno is trying his best to maintain their friendship, but he hasn't done anything new since.

They pass some more students, wanting to get to the cafeteria as quickly as possible.

"He doesn't deserve a girl like her..."

"I bet he forced her..."

Her head whips in their direction, usually soft eyes now piercing with a stony glare. The culprits freeze, blinking at her before awkwardly turning away to mind their own business.

Beside her, Renjun manages to breathe a slight laugh.
"I thought you said it didn't matter?"

"I'm not gonna let them insult you, no matter how irrelevant they are."

"Thanks."

Reaching the cafeteria, they scan the room for familiar faces and find Donghyuck and Jeno sitting together near the back. They seem to be deep in conversation, judging by the furrowed brows and hand gestures.

Eunah is encouraged to go sit with them, while Renjun heads in the direction of the serving counter for drinks. She picks her way past the tables, taking a seat beside Jeno who wraps his arm around her in a quick side hug.

"Hey, Eunie. How did the final review go?" the Angel asks, taking a sip of his coffee.

She shrugs, twirling a loose lock of hair around her finger.
"Not bad. Apparently, my writing needs to be more engaging, though. It's too 'descriptive', but also 'not descriptive enough'."

"...they do know you wrote a horror story, right?"

"Yep," she exhales, eyes half-lidded in resigned irritation.
"But obviously Mr Han knows better– he's a romance author with several published books, after all..."

"But they're two completely different genres?" Donghyuck adds, not quite picking up on her sarcasm.

"Exactly. Look at all the shit he wrote on my draft."

Opening her bag, she pulls out the most recent draft of a short horror story she wrote for the review assignment. It's covered in red, scrawling annotations– almost completely overwhelming the other, more positive notes in green from the rest of the lecturers who read it.

The two men flick through, frowning at just how much is written. Renjun joins them moments later, placing a glass of orange juice in front of Eunah before sitting next to her with his own coffee in-hand.

"What happened to your draft?" he hums, pulling her close with an arm around her waist.

"The review..."

"But I thought they liked it?"

"Most of them did."

He frowns, confused, and is handed the draft by Jeno to look through.
"What– who wrote this?"

"Mr Han," Jeno replies, glancing towards a tired-looking Eunah.

"You mean the idiot who writes self-insert, alpha male romance novels and calls himself a published author?"
The trio stare at him, which causes him to lean back slightly.
"What?"

"How do you know that?" Eunah asks, sipping her drink.

"I looked him up when you said he was condescending in one of your lectures. He writes like an incel on ketamine."

Donghyuck and Jeno share a look, having noticed how protective he's been since the argument. At least the two are happy.

~~~~

"Junnie, could you pass me that book please?"

Eunah holds her hand out, accepting the large book handed to her by Renjun. She thanks him, flicking through it until a certain page which is marked with a sticky label.

They're in the café right now, having borrowed some books from Sohee's library, and are trying to decipher the poem together.

"Here, blossom."
Renjun places a hot chocolate in front of her, which the waitress has just brought over.

The Angel glances up at him over the book, brow raised in confusion and a hint of pink on her cheeks.
"Blossom?"

"You asked me to call you that."

"When?"

"During the spring dance. Although, you were very drunk. Figured now it's appropriate."

She covers her flushed face with a hand, letting out a slight groan.
"Really? Oh, that's so embarrassing... I'm surprised you remembered."

"Honestly, at the time I thought it was weird and just chalked it up to the alcohol making you loopy."

"Sounds accurate."

He smiles, taking a sip of his coffee.
"You looked beautiful that night. Not that you aren't beautiful regardless."

Despite her rosy complexion, Eunah exhales a soft laugh.
"You're such a flirt."

"Is it working?"

"...maybe."

She drinks some of her hot chocolate, gaze returning to the book with a small smile on her face. The Demon watches her for a moment, a prominent warm glow to his cheeks and contentment swirling in the sanguine depths of his irises.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to enjoy these kinds of moments, before thinking about what's to come and the choices they'll have to make. Eunah can't stay an Angel forever, and she doesn't want to.

"Here, look at this."
She turns the book towards him, pushing it forwards with her finger tapping the page.
"The poem mentions a coven, which obviously means witches, but this list of recognised covens is massive."

Shaken out of his trance, Renjun reads the list with a hum.
"It'd take years to check them all..."

"If we had an approximate location, we could narrow the search, but– all it mentions is the environment."

"We could ask Jisung to get an audience with his father? He might know more about covens, since they count as 'dark magic organisations'."

Eunah scrunches her nose in thought, seeming hesitant, yet all he can do is admire the cute expression.
"I wouldn't want to bother Satan with an audience... I'm sure he has a lot more important things to do, and don't forget I currently can't stay in Hell without slowly burning to death. He hasn't even met me, and I doubt he'd want an Angel in his own home."

His hand reaches to cover her free one on the table– her other tapping a pen against her bottom lip. She looks up at him, brows raised and cheeks flushing once more. Now serious, he looks her in the eye.

"At some point soon, we'll need to speak to him. You can't stay an Angel now, it's much too dangerous."

"I know..." she sighs. "I just– it's a huge step and I wanted to talk to my parents about it first."

"How about we talk to them tonight?"

"We?"
Her head tilts in question, watching him nod.

"We're a team now. We support each other, so I want to be there for you."

Lips curving into a sweet smile, she closes her eyes in gratitude.
"Thanks, Junnie."

"Anything for you."

~~~~

Who let them be so cute?
Oh yeah, me.