Zenith's Academy

Chapter 10 | A Father's Star

Remigius woke in the infirmary of the academy.

His first thought was the ache in his muscles. They strained with a dull pain as he pushed himself upright on the hospital bed. He would think passing out from exertion would wipe away the memory of his rampage, but every detail was engrained in his head like a hellish nightmare. The markings on his arms had disappeared already, but the sweltering burn on his skin still lingered as if insects had crawled all over him. Remigius wanted to rub the prickly sensation off with a harsh rag.

His second thought was Yun.

Yun's head rested at the foot of the bed with his hair fanned out like tree roots spread in rich soil. Bruises splotched his cheek and his hands clung to Remigius's leg as if they were a pillow. Asleep. His eyes were closed with his long, thick eyelashes laying on his skin like a blanket. Remigius wondered how Yun was able to look so angelic, even asleep. 

Yun's lips were cracked with dried blood smeared on the edge. It tainted his image. Remigius reached out, trying to swipe it away with his thumb.

Yun's eyes then opened.

Remigius drew his hand back. What in Hell was he doing?

"Rem." Yun jolted up, hands scrambling around until they held Remigius's arms. Remigius winced despite the gentleness of the hold. Yun released his hold, guilt eating away at his face. "Shit, sorry."

"It's okay," Remigius said. He ignored the part of him that craved Yun's touch again.

Yun opened his mouth and then closed it, looking like a gaping fish. Remigius took the time to take in his face, his presence. After weeks of unrest, it was like he could finally breathe.

"You cut your hair." It was the first thing that came out of Yun's mouth.

"What?" He hadn't even noticed that his hair was no longer tied up, but loose, falling to his neck and tickling his collarbone. His hair tie was nowhere in sight.

"You cut your hair," Yun repeated, then pointed at his own hair. "Your top layer."

"I—" How did Yun notice that? It felt so long ago that it was cut. "Malachi cut it for me."

Remigius didn't like how heavy his hair was getting, so Malachi offered to cut it. They had gone to Malachi's dorm and he pulled out a pair of scissors while following a manual in some book he got in the library. It was supposed to be a small trim, but one wrong snip and Remigius's front layers were to his jaw. He almost punched Malachi in the stomach as he spluttered out apologies through his wheezing laughs.

Malachi proceeded to cut the top layer evenly. Remigius's bottom layer still was to the bottom of his neck, but now if he tied his hair, his top layer surrounded his face and made him look like a mushroom. Malachi insisted it was a popular hairstyle and raved over it; Remigius wanted to yank the scissors out of his hand and cut Malachi's 24-inch hair into a millimetre. At least Malachi didn't fuck up his bangs.

"It looks good." Yun blew out a deep breath.

"Thanks."

Remigius knew Yun wanted to say something else from the way he fidgeted in his chair. He didn't push him to spit it out and merely waited, trying to erase the wounds on his face in his mind.

It was minutes later that Remigius realized that Yun's eyes glossed over with tears. Yun covered his mouth with the back of his hand, and Remigius was sure he would have chomped down on his wrist to muffle his shaky sob.

"God, fuck." Yun shut his eyes and tears rolled down, shining under the lights of the infirmary. Remigius had never thought Yun could still look handsome, even crying. "I thought, I thought you, you—"