The Gifted (Txt x Itzy)

七十一

Yeonjun found Taehyun standing quite far away from the entrance of the cave, staring at the horizon. Time really flew, it was nearing the evening.
"You shouldn't have followed me," Taehyun said without looking at Yeonjun, "You're injured."
"How did you know it was me?" Yeonjun managed a wobbly smile.
A light laugh, "No one has such a gloomy aura other than you."
They didn't say anything for a while.
Then Yeonjun couldn't help himself, "Why don't you want to stay?"
Taehyun shook his head weakly, "I didn't want this. I didn't want all this madness and leadership and this power and everything. It only came crashing down on me when I actually killed that man."
Yeonjun's face was pale and frozen. "My power kills people too," He managed out, "It's-"
"Fine?" Taehyun shot at him, "No, it isn't. I...I have enough of killing. I actually really wanted to take the cure, you know, but when I learnt it wasn't permanent..."
Yeonjun's heart clenched. "I wanted to take the cure too," He said softly, "I wanted to be...normal. Not a killing machine. A normal boy."
"But you didn't."
A pause.
"Why didn't you?"
Yeonjun released a long sigh, his eyes fixed on the horizon. "Would I be able to forgive myself if I drained an innocent kid of his blood just so I could be 'normal'? That's not very fair."
Another long bout of silence.
"My...mother left me some money before she died, it's with a family friend. I could always go to him and get that, to restart, to have another shot at a less shitty life," Taehyun said softly. Yeonjun stayed silent for a while, before asking, "Was this life very shitty?"
Taehyun blinked at the unexpected question. Yeonjun let out a breathy sigh again, looking down at his hands, "I thought my life was pretty shitty. The pills, the abuse, the constant voice in my head. I only lived for my sister, mostly, and my brother, but when I couldn't take it I ran away from home. I think it broke my sister's heart. Literally. She passed away from a heart attack, I think, a week later, after my brother got hospitalised."
Taehyun's expression was sympathetic and sad. "I stopped taking my pills, of course, since one I didn't like them, and two they were a waste of money."
"You...never told us you took pills," Taehyun managed out slowly.
With a light laugh, Yeonjun replied, "Yeah, I'm not wondrously proud of it."
"What were they for?"
Yeonjun shifted his weight to his left foot, "Bipolar disorder. I got it when I first killed someone. I didn't mean to, I met this homeless dude who tried to attack me as a kid, I got pissed, I ripped his soul. Didn't expect that man to be bipolar. I got it immediately. My parents couldn't understand why, then they started to blame each other. My sister always tried to make sure I could take my pills and get treatment. Once I stopped...it was hard, hard to hold back, hard to keep it down. Getting angry was so easy. Getting sad was so easy. And becoming numb was even easier. I had to tread so carefully like I was making my way through a minefield. I didn't want to hurt Yeji or anyone else."
"Oh."
"But, I mean, I did try. Like crazy. I just wanted to...fit in. Be normal. Honestly, I'd give anything to be a regular human."
"But you wouldn't have met us," Taehyun said teasingly.
"That's true," Yeonjun nodded, then said simply, "You guys are the best thing in my life."
That made Taehyun feel kind of taken aback, like he had an awakening. "Yeah...me too," He whispered, too soft for Yeonjun to hear.
And they just watched the golden sunset stain everything yellow.