Heaven's Shadow

Chapter 21 | The Confession

Remigius always knew Yun had a clingy streak to him, especially after an argument. There was once when they fought right before Yun left for the Real World and when Yun came back, he was on his knees crying and gripping onto Remigius's hands. Remigius had been so depressed during those few weeks that he didn't mind Yun following him around like a stray, though when Yun started sneaking into his room it got a bit much. Caius had whined so much that Yun was stealing his big brother from him and it wasn't until he tattled to Mr. Clarity that Yun calmed down.

Old habits seemed to die hard though.

He knew he should reassure Yun and tell him to stop looking like Remigius was going to run off if he took his eyes off him for one second, but the selfish part of him liked the attention.

He liked sharing a bed with Yun and watching the boy snore softly. He liked when Yun would take eons to let go of his arm when they had to part ways for class. He definitely liked it when he would smile at him after Remigius let him wrap his arm around his shoulder as they walked the hallways. 

How could he ever think he could live without Yun? 

Yun leaned across the counter of the Dawa. He poked at the side of Remigius's arm, trying to grab his attention away from the potion herbs he was slicing in preparation for a restock. It had been a while since Remigius worked for Ms. Bello, but now that he struck a deal with Eugene to make him potions, he needed the money for extra ingredients. Ms. Bello offered him a few shifts which he gladly accepted, meaning she got not one, but two helpers at the Dawa since Yun wasn't keen on leaving Remigius's side. 

"I totally bombed my in-class essay," Yun cried, melting into the counter and looking as if his body was joined with it.

Remigius was crying too, though for different reasons. The aculeoit—a shallot-like bulbous plant—he chopped emitted pungent fumes, stinging his eyes and making them puffy red. "Was the topic difficult?"

"I thought so but Aston said it was easy!" 

"What about Maven?"

"I'm not sure..." He then hopped onto the counter and swung his dangling legs. "She's been acting kinda weird for the past two days, haven't you noticed?"

"I guess. I thought she was still angry at me." Remigius hadn't talked to Maven properly ever since she confronted him, but he had noticed the girl was a bit more skittish than usual. He would spot her in the corner of his eye, flinching when people passed by or greeted her. She hadn't said a word to Remigius, no less look his way. He couldn't tell if she simply was having a recluse day or hated his guts so much that she fretted seeing his face. 

Yun seemed to disagree, reaching over to wipe the tears rolling down Remigius's cheeks. He would have been embarrassed if they were real tears, but this was simply a natural reaction. 

"Nah, she's probably over that. She would have said something 'bout it by now."

He supposed that was true. Maven thrived on scolding Remigius even though he was older than her by a few months, but that didn't matter to her. 

"Are you still angry with me?" he asked, half wanting a serious answer and half wanting Yun to play it off. They still haven't talked about it.  

Yun's head tilted. "What? No? I thought you were angry at me?"

At him? Remigius ceased his chopping for a moment, a bit surprised to hear those words that he might have cut his finger off.

He then thought about it. Was he angry at Yun? Currently, he could only feel the warm comforting sensation in his stomach whenever he spent time with him, but when he lay in bed with his own thoughts, the nasty and bitter emotions started to rise.