arrows of silk | nct renjun.

two | sailing with the stars.

Renjun's POV

"What do I do when I get there?" I ask Jaehyun once I'm done preparing to be sent down to Earth.

"There are two brothers I know that live down there. They were previously my 'clients'." I nod, gesturing for him to continue. "You are to live with them and go to their school. Don't worry, they will welcome you." He smirks. With him being the popular Cupid and whatnot, it's not surprising that he has everything go his way. 

"Okay. I think I'm ready." I sigh while looking towards the portal that'll take me to Earth. I turn around abruptly to meet Jeno and Jaemin's sad gazes. "I'm not ready!" I whine and run over to them to give them the biggest hugs I could possibly give. 

"Don't worry, Renjun. The whole of Caelum will be awaiting your return." Jaemin smiles and rubs my back.

"Or at least just us- I mean, you're not that popular." Jeno sniggers, earning a slap from Jaemin. 

"Be nice to the child!" He screams. 

"I'm older than you. Shut up." 

"Renjun! It's time to go!" I hear Jaehyun call out. Without my eyes straying away from the two boys who I have come to love with all my heart, I hum in response, getting ready to leave. 

"There will be a way for us to communicate...right?" I ask dubiously.

"We'll have our ways." Jeno eye-smiles reassuringly and turns me around by the shoulder, indirectly telling me that I should leave now. 

I stand by the entrance of the portal, the celestial blue and purple waves spiralling into an abyss. A faint, earthy smell greets my nose, mixed with the sweet, flowery scent that Caelum seems to hold. I feel a vigorous potency pull me by the chest, and eventually, I venture forward, the impetus growing stronger and stronger until I'm fully sucked into the egress and the voices of my friends and family become fainter. 

It feels as if I had been travelling for hours before my vision slowly darkens and my heartbeat sounds tumultuous and ultimately, it's the only thing I am able to hear. Almost all at once, I'm thrown out of the long passageway and I'm suddenly sailing with the stars. I look back to see where I had just come from. What once was an astronomical, luminous ball of gas, is now just one of the many suns in the sky. My home. 

There it is. Earth. I think to myself as I see a small, round globe encrusted in glaucous greenery and cerulean seas. The spherule grows rapidly and I feel my body heat up as I reach the atmosphere. Droplets of sweat coat my body and my vision once again grows dark before I completely black out. 

-----

My ears wake up to the sounds of people talking almost inaudibly. However, I'm fully awake once I hear an eldritch scream, followed by a throaty laugh. My eyes shoot open and I get up rapidly, my head spinning in the process.

"Oh, you're awake!" The same guttural voice acknowledges me. I steadily open my eyes to see two men sitting on my bed, staring at me as if I'm some sort of angel that fell out of Heaven. Oh wait- I kind of am. 

"Where am I?" I let out huskily. I look around to see that I'm in a room filled with posters of... pretty Asian men and women? "What's going on?"

"Okay, you must be really confused. Let's introduce ourselves. I'm Sicheng, the oldest of us two."

"And I'm Yukhei, the second oldest!"

"Yukhei, you're the youngest. There's no one else here but us."

Oh. So these are the two brothers Jaehyun told me about? How did I get here?

"As soon as you arrived you kind of passed out so... we assumed that you were just tired from your journey and put you to bed!" Yukhei, I think, reads my mind and informs me excitedly. It doesn't really answer my question though- I mean, the last thing I remember was almost being burnt alive by the Earth's surface. How did I end up in a comfy bed?

"Anyways, we have school tomorrow. Are you ready to join us?" Sicheng asks sweetly. He's the complete opposite of his brother. Yukhei seems to scream a lot compared to Sicheng.

Although I'm completely nebulous, I agree to join school tomorrow. Just like Jaehyun told me to do so. Maybe I'll find love there. 

Since it's late evening, Yukhei and Sicheng offer to take me out to dinner and show me around this so-called city of Guangzhou. We eat to our hearts' content and they show me the extravagant city lights that ignite once the sun falls to its slumber. People of all ages surround us on this busy night, but for once I find comfort being in a crowd rather than being alone almost all the time back at home, where the population there is not as much as it is here in China- supposedly the most populated city in the world. 

Laughter and music fill the air and the cool night's breeze kisses my face now and then. We walk along a bridge and I observe the wavering waters beneath us. Yukhei grabs my shoulder and guides me as we walk off the bridge, towards a park filled with gorgeous cherry blossom trees and fairy lights. I've never seen anything more beautiful. 

Despite the breath-taking view here at the park, I can't help but look back up the stars and already feel homesick. 

Please talk to me, guys. I miss you.