289 Warm
‘What is this?’
His hand patting the kid’s back stopped and he moved his head back a little bit, staring at Ariyan’s hair with a blanck, shocked face.
‘Was this... like this before?’
He blinked his eyes several times to make sure that he was not seeing things.
‘No, I’m sure it wasn’t.’
He was sure that Ariyan’s hair didn’t contain any dark gray hairs before.
Kairen moved his hand from the kid’s back to his hair and stroked it. Once he did, he could see that only a small number of hairs were dark gray while the rest were still the same color as before.
“Ariyan what-”
“Sniff hic.”
.....
Ariyan was in no state to answer. Kairen wanted to get up and rush to Mrs. Neal and ask her if she knew what had happened to his hair, but he couldn’t do that right now because Ariyan was clinging to him and crying in his arms.
‘Dark gray...’
He couldn’t help but be reminded of something he had seen a few days ago.
‘The thread of fate...’
Kairen remembered what that white-haired man called the thread-like thing that appeared right before Kairen got killed by his attack, stopping the time and changing the attack’s direction.
He was also reminded of the things that had happened the day before the mission, the glow on the kid’s eyes when he was talking about Kairen being fine.
‘Fate...’
He had never heard anything about that before. He still doesn’t know what the thread of fate is.
The light that surrounded his body before he came here.
‘Was that also fate?’
Another thread of fate? Was that it?
Then... How does this fate thing work?
‘The Temple of Fate.’
That was the only place... and actually, the only thing he had heard with the name of ‘fate’ on it.
Could it be that they were related?
Temples.
A temple named after Fate.
Didn’t they have a conversation about this before? The first time that Kairen found out about these temples, didn’t Serria say something strange that day?
-I’m not really sure about it, but don’t these places seem to be named after... the unique powers?
Serria had pointed at the temples one by one as she said that.
-Look, Temple of Time for Time, Temple of Nature for Nature, maybe Temple of Rift for Space? There is also the Temple of Spirit here...
At her words, everyone had looked at the temples once again.
-It can be true but... there are 7 temples. We only have 5 powers.
-Rai is right. We have nothing like the power of Fate or Chaos...
Serria’s words were brushed off and no one paid them much attention.
‘Is it possible that she was right?’
Kairen was making bold assumptions based on only a few small words and information, but he oddly felt that he wasn’t wrong. It was only a feeling but he was convinced that this train of thoughts was moving on the right path.
‘Then... The Temple of Chaos...’
Was there a power named chaos? If there were then why didn’t anyone know about it? In the first place, no one knows anything about a power named ‘fate’ either.
‘Chaos...’
If there really was a power named chaos, then there was a possibility Kairen knew fully well what that power was.
“Cough.”
Kairen had to stop thinking and move up his hand to cover his mouth.
“Cough ugh cough.”
It was because of a familiar sensation of a hot liquid rising up in his throat.
“...Uncle? Sniff.”
Ariyan raised his teary and snot-covered face up to look at Kairen, who had stopped patting and stroking him and suddenly curled up and began coughing.
‘AAAHH the carpet will get dirtyyyyy!’
Kairen was desperately searching his pockets for a tissue while covering his mouth with one hand.
fortunately for him, his problem was solved as soon as a blonde guy and a middle-aged woman rushed into the room and one of them showed a tissue to Kairen.
“Un-uncle?”
Ariyan was pulling Kairen’s clothes and shaking his body with his two small hands, tears still falling from his face.
“I said I will take you back to the hospital-”
“Cough No!”
Kairen desperately shook his head. No going back to the hospital, please.
“I’ll get better if I rest.”
“Uncleeee uncleeeee!”
“Yes yes.”
Kairen half hugged the kid with his clean hand.
“Uncle is sick again hic!”
Kairen looked away from the angry Reyan and Mrs. Neal who was sending him pitting gazed and stroked the kid’s back instead.
“I’m fine. I’ll get even better if I rest- cough ugh ahem!”
“Then go rest.”
Reyan said, no, ordered, with a cold and scary tone.
‘Are you hear to help me or to kill me? I’m sure I will have a heart attack if I live with you for more than one day.’
How did he manage to live in the same dorm room as this man for so many years? He must’ve been so brave in the past.
Grab
Kairen was grabbed by the arm and pulled up.
“Ugh!”
‘It hurts crazy bastard!’
Kairen screamed in his mind. His arm was threatening to be cut in half from the force in Reyan’s grip. And just like that, he was dragged to his room and thrown on his bed.
‘Oh, my bed.’
His bed. His precious bed he missed so much. He was back!
Oh no, wait.
“Mrs. Neal!”
Kairen turned around and called for the woman who was leaving the room saying that she would bring Kairen something to eat. She stopped and slightly tilted her head at Kairen’s call.
“This.”
Kairen pointed at the head of the kid who had come to his room while clinging to his feet. He was now climbing the bed while holding one of Kairen’s hands, and of course, still sniffling.
“What is this?”
Kairen showed the woman the strands of dark gray hair. Seeing them, the woman gently sighed and Reyan slightly frowned.
“I don’t know.”
Mrs. Neal said with a complicated tone.
.....
“They just... appeared?”
“Appeared?”
“Yes.”
She nodded her head. She then turned to Reyan before glancing at Ariyan and then back at Reyan. Reyan nodded his head before stepping towards the kid, who was now hugging the half-sitting Kairen.
“Kid you seem to be thirty.”
Ariyan didn’t even look at Reyan, and Reyan seriously didn’t need his attention.
“Let’s go to the kitchen.”
Grab
The blonde boy grabbed the kid by two hands, lifted him up easily even though the kid was hugging Kairen with all his might, and turned to the door.
“Wha-”
Ariyan was frozen stiff for a moment, before starting to throw his small fists and kicking the air.
“Noooo let me gooooo! Uncleeee! Uncleeeee! Let me GOOOOoooOoOOOOo!”
Ariyan’s shout, which almost sounded like a puppy wolf’s howl, got more and more distant.
“....”
Kairen stared at the departing back of Reyan.
‘Poor kid.’
He gulped and looked at Mrs. Neal. Making sure that the kid was gone, she moved closer to Kairen and whispered.
“That happened on the same day that you left to work. I don’t really know what happened as I was cooking in the kitchen, but the little brat suddenly started crying so loudly I thought he had gotten thick. It was only after he had calmed down that I saw the gray strands of hair. I asked him a lot, but he didn’t know how they appeared either.”
Kairen’s eyes opened wide and his head tilted to one side.
‘He started crying... and then there was some gray hair on his head?’
Kairen didn’t understand what that was supposed to mean.
“By the way...”
Mrs. Neal looked at Kairen up and down once again, face slightly frowning and eyes a little bit concerned.
“Should you really be staying home with such a body?”
“What is wrong with my body?”
Kairen pouted his lips and leaned back.
“I will be fine if I rest for a few days!”
“Sigh.”
The middle-aged woman sighed again.
“I hope you are telling the truth.”
She took one step back.
“And I hope you can soothe that kid soon enough. He had been crying day and night for the past few days.”
Kairen lowered his head and stared at his hands, but the woman wasn’t done yet.
“He couldn’t eat much or even go to his school. He didn’t get proper sleep either. I planned to beat you up after you returned for hurting a little kid so much.”
Kairen sent a scared glance to his landlord before lowering his head even more.
“...Sigh.”
Mrs. Neal sighed again. She, who had moved back as if she wanted to leave, approached Kairen again, making the scared boy flinch.
“I thought that... you had died.”
Pat
The woman placed her hands on Kairen’s shoulders as she said those words in a quiet, warm, worried, and at the same time relieved voice.
“I’m glad you are back home.”
And then she moved even closer, pulling Kairen into his arms.
“Take care of yourself a little bit more.”
She stroked Kairen’s back a few times before slowly moving away from the frozen Kairen.
“And get better soon.”
She gave Kairen a gentle small, straightened her posture, turned around, and walked out of the room.
Kairen stared at her back with a blank face and gaped mouth, not understanding what had just happened.
She suddenly hugged him and told him some... nice things? And then gave him such a smile.
It was warm.
The places the woman had patted still felt warm.
And those words.
They all felt warm.
Her smile was soft and loving, just like that of Kairen’s mom.
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