Lead The Way (BL)

FIFTEEN

(unedited)

Gene breathed out in relief when he was released.

He was surprised his heart hasn't given out due to all this rough treatment that he has been receiving lately. If he was in his original body, he'd have handed the treatment back tenfold but sadly, he had Cias body with muscle that was (apparently) only for show.

"How...did you know I killed a man?"

Gene stared in disbelief at his friend, a hand lightly placed on his lower back. "...Is that all you have to ask? I mean, are you not interested in how I became like this?"

Han merely shrugged. "This is just my way of digesting everything that is happening right now."

Gene didn't know whether to laugh or cry from that reply. After being told his best friend was still alive and standing right in front of him, han appeared to be handling it all pretty well. Well, after the momentary shock that lasted all of three seconds, he was handling it better than gene expected. Sometimes gene can’t understand this friend of his the most in the world.

And was it just him or was nothing going the way he planned? Speaking about plans, gene switched to more pressing matters seeing as this one was going nowhere.

"Right, there is another reason why I wanted to get in contact with you."

Seeing the other man turn suddenly serious, han replied hesitantly. "...What is it?"

Gene thought over how he was going to approach this matter earlier but since nothing was going the way he planned anyway, why not just lay it all out on the table? His friend was handling his reincarnation pretty well, surely dropping another thing on top won't change much of the current situation.

Thinking along these lines, Gene decided to just lay it all out.

"I need your help getting in contact with my parents."

Hans expression instantly turned trouble and he started to rub the back of his neck. He only ever did this when he was nervous or unsure.

"That...I don't think that is such a good idea right now."

Gene was a little put off by this reply and asked worriedly. "Why? Did something happen?"

Han shook his head and sighed as he let his hand fall back by his side. "No, besides burying their only child...its just a tough time for them right now."

Genes chest tightened. Since reincarnating, he hadn't forgotten about his parents but he also hadn't thought about them as much as he felt he should have. With everything that has been going on, they were shoved to the back of his mind. But hearing that they were grieving over their only son who wasn't actually dead, made gene feel all sorts of pain and grievance.

How could a child do this to their parents? He knows he didn't do it intentionally, but it felt like he may as well have.

Steeling his heart, gene said. "So can you pass on my message to them?"

“And why can’t you tell them this message yourself?”

Gene had thought about doing this earlier but then he remembered he had a different appearance now and in all honesty, he believes it will be harder to convince his parents about everything that happened with this appearance. He summarised that it’ll be better if han, who his parents have pretty much accepted as their own child, should be the one to pass the message on. At least that way gene knows it will get through to his parents.

When gene told han all this, his friend couldn’t help but sigh in agreement, even if it did trouble him. For some reason, he had already come to fully accept that this young man in front of him is Gene. Of course, he wasn't going to tell gene that yet.

"Fine, just say it."

Gene told han some coordinates and even made the other man type it into his phone just for safety measure. Han was both curious and confused as to why genes message to his parents were some coordinates but he didn't question the man, since there must be a good reason behind this. Gene always had a reason for the things he did.

After that was all said and done, the pain in genes chest lightened a little. He still had plenty of other things to do but for now, he will continue taking it one step at a time.

"Is there anything else?" Han asked, tucking his phone away and staring unblinkingly at the man standing across from him.

Gene shook his head. "No...that's all." He added, "Thank you. For believing me."

Han suddenly smiled, his expression now a hundred times lighter than it had been earlier. He said. "This is what friends are for, so don't worry about it."

Gene shook his head, saying seriously. "No, I mean it...I just told you I was your supposedly dead friend and then asked you for a massive favour straight after...honestly, I'm surprised you hadn't called the mental hospital yet."

Han laughed throatily. "Oh, I did think about doing that...but you know too much of my secrets so things changed."

Gene chuckled. "I see."

Both men stared at each other for a second or two before falling into a bout of laughter. When they came too, gene heard his friend saying. "I'm just glad you’re still alive."

Gene opened his mouth to say something in reply but his friend raised his hand and cut him off. "You don't need to explain. If I was in your position then I probably would have done the same things. Whatever it is, I'm sure there's a good reason behind it all."

Gene said softly so only he could hear. "A good reason?"

"What is that?" Han asked, wiping the sweat from his brow.

But gene shook his head and said, "Nothing. Anyway, so what happened at my funeral? Did you cry like a baby?"

Gene laughed when his friends face turned sour as if he was remembering something unpleasant. His friend then walked over to the swings and sat down, gently rocking back and forth as Gene took the swing next to them. Only when they were both seated did he speak again.

“Claire came and so did your son.”

Gene paused a little before asking. “Oh? Did they stay long?”

“They cried.” Han looked up and chuckled wryly when he saw Gene staring at him in surprise. “Yeah, I thought it was surreal too...why would they cry for the bastard who left them?”

Gene smiled miserably. He wasn’t offended by his friend comment nor was he angry, because it was the truth. He was the bastard who left them and he felt like nothing could make up for that.

Not wanting to stay on the subject any longer, gene asked. “And how is the business going?”

Gene wasn’t asking because he missed that part of his life, he was asking mostly out of habit. His life use to live and breath around his work. Anything he did was mostly to the benefit of his work. Of course, there was a reason he signed over the business four years ago but even then, he was still working for it.

But now, he couldn’t care less what happened to it. Well, maybe he cared a little since his friend was the new boss, but not as much as he use to. Gene thought it was amazing what dying could do to a person.

“Never better...in fact, we’ve recently signed a partnership with an international exports company.”

Gene glanced at his friend. “Oh? Who?”

“SIN Corporation.”

Gene stilled on his swing. When his friend saw this and asked what the matter was, he waved it off and said it was nothing.

Gene continued talking to his friend like this for the next hour until they parted ways. His friend seemed to truly be accepting of the new gene and was talking like they had before the accident.

They also made arrangements to meet each other again before Gene called up a taxi to bring him home. Han offered to drive him home, but he refused the offer kindly for various reasons.

During his ride home, gene only had one thought on his mind.

They cried for me...