Diaphanous | Hua Cheng X Reader X Xie Lian

Chapter 30: Love the house and its crow

An awkward silence filled the air around the trio after the situation that had happened in the forest.

(Y/N) sat on a wood floor with her gaze on the planks, which held up the place they sat in. A large trunk grew from the middle of the surprisingly large treehouse, with a roof, slightly darker than the rest of the wood laying atop it for protection from the sun, rain, and snow.

Xie Lian had sat to (Y/N)'s left with Hua Cheng to her right, forming a small circle on the floor. While the silence was awkward, many thoughts ran through (Y/N)'s mind.

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng observed the girl in front of them, and while she was no longer running away, it was clear she had changed. For better or worse, they wouldn't know quite yet.

Deciding to break the silence, Xie Lian leans over, gently placing a hand on her knee.

"Are you okay?"

(Y/N) looks up at him with tired, dull eyes. Though there was no hint of hatred of the question, just sadness.

"Do I look okay?" She scoffs. She turns her head away slightly, gazing out the window of the treehouse. Xie Lian sighed, observing her posture.

She had built a wall around herself.

"What happened to Chaoxing?" Hua Cheng questions. Not being one to beat around the bush, he got straight to the point.

(Y/N) kept her gaze out of the window, pressing her top teeth into her lower lip. Her hand curled up into a first once more as she did her best to remain calm.

"Didn't." She pauses as her voice cracked slightly. "Didn't you guys see? You were there."

"No," Xie Lian replies, shaking his head. Her head snaps toward him at those words, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What do you mean 'no'?" She questions, looking up at Xie Lian, then Hua Cheng."I saw you guys..."

It was Hua Cheng's turn to shake his head. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against one of the walls. "You were passed out on the ground when we found you, no one was around,"

"There is no way..." She choked, startled by the information. Her hands had begun to grip her clothes as she stared at them in surprise.

The shoes she saw did exist.

Her eyes widen as she realizes one thing. They never made noise. She never heard anything from them. No footsteps, nothing.

Did that mean they didn't exist? Were the two which sat before her even real, or much like that night, did her mind conjure the two up to help her cope. To help her finally rest.

Sitting on her knees, she reaches forward, brushing a hand against Xie Lian's cheek. She was close enough that their noses were touching. At the feeling of his skin under her hand and the warm breath touching her skin, a part of her felt relieved.

"You are real..."

Xie Lian's face grew a bright red at the closeness she was to him. Despite that, he brings his hand up to hold her own, which rests on his cheek.

"I am real," He replies back, snapping her out of her daze. She retracts her hand quickly, scrambling away from him and back to where she sat.

She pulled her knees close to her chest as she looked between the two. She hadn't made any movement signaling she would speak. Rather, she rested her head on her knees, waiting to see what they would do first.

"Will you tell us what happened?" Hua Cheng questions. While it may have sounded harsh, she knew he had her best interest at heart.

"When I looked down at the list to read the parents' names, I saw my parents. But when I looked up, you were gone. Both of you, " She replies. Her eyes shut tightly as she recalled the events. "I was surrounded by ghosts, and they eventually won, bringing me back home."