There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 216 - 210. It Doesn’t Matter

Chapter 216: Chapter 210. It Doesn’t Matter

"I can tell you if you want, my past experience, or my adventure inside the dungeon," Zein said at the end of their dinner, before sipping on his drink.

"Really?!" the young guide replied excitedly.

At first, he only met Zein because the twins arranged it, and because he was intrigued by how different they seemed. He never thought of taking things further, because...well, he had no confidence of wasting the time of such a great person.

But...but he realized that Zein wasn’t that much different from him, from the other guides. And...wouldn’t it be wonderful, to have a cool friend like that?

"Hmm...but it’s part of my guild’s database, so we might need to sign a non-disclosure agreement," Zein stroked his chin in contemplation, earning a confused look from the young guide. "That nothing we talk about should be known by or spread to other people," Zein explained further. "Of course, it means what you’ll say to me won’t leave the room too."

"Oh! Like a secret? A secret for both of us only?"

It was astonishing how innocent this man could be. "With legal binding, yes."

"Oh, I’d still like that!" Ren exclaimed delightedly, clasping his hands together, before adding carefully in a lower tone. "But can I discuss it with Mizar and Alcor first?"

"Of course,"

The young guide was beaming, and looking at him like that, people might never know what kind of scar was hidden deep within. It was a testament to the twins’ care, if that smile was any indicator. Even if Ren was still afraid of other people, it was good enough for him to be able to feel happy in his own comfortable space.

Healing took time, as Zein knew too much already.

"Ren--can I call you Ren?"

The young guide almost stuttered as he replied, looking happy that Zein called him more intimately. "Yes."

"Are you happy with them?"

"Yes!" the answer came without hesitation, and the young guide added bashfully. "I’m...I guess, I feel safe with them. I know they’ll never harm me."

That was such a high level of trust from someone who couldn’t even step outside his bedroom without being chaperoned by someone trusty. It got Zein to wonder about something, seeing that the man was an exclusive guide.

"Do you...imprint each other?"

Surprisingly, the young guide shook his head. "No," he said, looking somewhat both bashful and distressed. "There are three of us, so..." he bit his lower lip, and fiddle with his napkin again, looking down. "And...and Alcor said...someday I might want to leave if I’m...not scared anymore, so...so they don’t want to bind me like that..."

"I see," Zein raised his brow slightly, genuinely surprised that the twins were actually that...thoughtful. Of course, they might just want to avoid putting themselves in a highly risky situation. But the vibe he got from the twins was honestly good so far.

But what about the guide himself?

"Do you want to?"

the young guide raised his head. "You mean imprinting?"

"Yes,"

"I..." Ren lowered his gaze again, staring at his now empty plate. "If there’s a way..." he gripped the napkin with both hands now, something that he seemed to always do to quell his surging emotion--perhaps a habit he grew when he had to suppress himself during all those abuses. "I just...I love them so much, you know? But if only two people can make an imprint, it won’t be fair to the other person, and, and...our relationship might change, and..."

Zein observed the scrunched face; he could see that the guide kind of blaming himself for that, and felt frustrated because of it. "Mizar said...if we make an imprint, and they were to...die...in the dungeon," the voice, which had been low and quiet from the start, became shaky, "I’ll...I’ll become miserable, and..." he was practically choked up and stopped talking.

For a while, Ren couldn’t say anything more, and Zein filled his glass with water, helping the young guide to drink the water slowly. After downing the whole glass, Ren took a deep breath and exhaled, repeatedly, until he stopped gripping his napkin.

As Zein rubbed his back gently, Ren raised his face and looked at Zein with his big brown eyes. "But you see--you see...even if we don’t have the imprint, I’m still going to feel miserable either way, right? I love them so much, so how can...how can I stand it if I lose them?"

Zein blinked at that statement, which unknowingly pierced his heart which was still in dilemma about the whole imprinting thing. He retreated his hand and walked back to his seat with a tingling in his heart.

"So...it doesn’t matter, huh?" he muttered as he took a seat back, fingers drumming the armrest and blue eyes staring at the twinkling lights outside. "If you love them, imprint or not, losing them will still be painful."

The solemn tone he used felt like he said it more to himself than anything.

* * *

"You’re done talking?" Bassena asked as Zein came out of the room. But he came out alone, without the young guide.

The younger twin, Alcor, immediately took his place in the room as if the twins couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Ren completely alone in a foreign place.

"Mm," Zein replied while looking at the older twin, who stayed there. From the fact that Bassena’s mood didn’t get worse, it seemed like their talk went alright at least. "You’ve done a good job."

Bassena raised his brow--hearing Zein throwing compliments was just as rare as seeing Radia being genuine. Mizar had the same reaction, looking genuinely in shock.

"That’s...nice, hearing that from you," the man smiled wryly. "There’s still a lot we need to do."

"It’s not something you can achieve instantly, but it’s good that he can trust you," Zein said, and then added. "We can do it again if you want--video calls and such."

"Oh?" the response came both from Mizar and Bassena.

"With non-disclosure agreement."

Mizar raised his brow. "That’s very thorough,"

"I have a thorough Guildmaster," Zein replied dryly, to which the esper responded with a nod.

"Fair enough," Mizar chuckled, turning his face toward the room where Zein just came from. "You can already see it, but...he is very dependent on us," the man frowned slightly, and Zein could see worry all over his face. "We’re happy, of course, we love him. But..."

Sighing deeply, the man shifted his gaze at Zein. "But what if something happened to us? If he can’t trust anyone else, and something happened to us, then..."

"You’re more pessimistic than I thought," Zein commented, feeling surprised at this vulnerable side of the Guildmasters of the second-rank guilds in Eastern Federation. Rina had told him the twins were eccentric, and there was an air of mischievousness around them, but he thought those two were pretty normal.

"I’m just being realistic," Mizar shrugged.

"Then just make sure you’re strong enough so nothing will happen to you," Bassena scoffed, chiming in even though he had no idea what the context of their conversation was. It awarded him a light bonk on his head, and Bassena replied defensively. "What--it’s the truth!"

"Indeed," Mizar replied with a laugh, before looking at Zein and nodded his head politely. "Thank you again."

"It’s fine," Zein said nonchalantly.

Well, Zein had a soft spot for twins anyway--but he kept that to himself. He was just glad that they didn’t turn out to be vile, overly possessive espers that would keep their exclusive guide hidden and chain him like a prisoner. If anything, this might be a chance for Trinity and Azure Sky to become allies.

He really should stop making assumptions and judging a book by its cover--Zein thought.

Well, the most notable example had been on his side all along after all. When Bassena came to meet him in that sentry box of borderland unit, Zein had never thought the esper to actually be this adorable, giant puppy who loved being patted and showered with attention--his attention, to be exact.

They bid their goodbye to Mizar and the secretary to go back to their own suite, since the young guide was still not keen on meeting other people, especially an esper as imposing ad powerful as Bassena.

By the time they came back to their suite, it was already empty, safe for Jock who was standing guard. But the man also vacated the premise once the two come back, knowing best the couple should always be left alone at night.

"Are you going to worry too?" Bassena asked in a playful tone as he took a seat on the couch, too lazy to even change his suit. But when Zein looked at the esper, he could feel that it wasn’t all a joke. "I mean...if something happened to me?"

The answer that Bassena waited for came with another bonk--this time harder than before, which meant the guide was truly annoyed. "I already have."

The amber eyes widened, and Bassena caught the hitting arm and grabbed it. "You do?"

"If even Celestial Being could meet their end, what more a mere mortal like you? like us?" the guide frowned.

He had been worried about Bassena even far before he admitted his own feeling. He had been worried about the esper as far back as their adventure in the Deathzone. Was this esper truly had no idea about this?

Perhaps not. Perhaps the worry was buried under all pretense and denial that Zein had been projecting. And he could only sigh as Bassena giggled innocently at his response, taking his hands and grasping it.

Stepping closer, Zein patted the platinum hair, and Bassena leaned closer to the touch. "You feel better now?"

Despite his contented look, Bassena replied hesitatingly. "Well...there’s this one thing..."

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