There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 352 - 344. For Granted

Chapter 352: Chapter 344. For Granted

Radia was right; his parents were just...normal. They were the kind of parents Zein imagined parents should be. A little bit pushy, a little bit nosy, with extra affection available for anyone related to their son.

"You’re getting way better at this than the last time," Calix patted his cooking partner he kidnapped away from the group.

Bassena chuckled proudly while flipping the meat above the grill. "I can cook a lot of things right now," he glanced at the table, where everyone was. "Laurel said another way to take someone’s heart is through their stomach."

"Does it work?"

Bassena just answered with a small bashful laugh that got his cheek slightly warm, and he received a ruffle in his platinum hair.

That cordial atmosphere, however, couldn’t be seen at the table, where the three waiting for the food drowned in a bleak conversation.

"He came last night," Radia muttered while twirling a bread stick in his fingers.

"Who?" Han Shin tilted his head in confusion, different from Zein who caught it immediately.

"Joon?"

"What?" the healer dropped his hand to the table, looking flabbergasted and offended at the same time. Why his brother would show himself to Radia first and not him?!

The frown and grievance on Radia’s face, however, prevented him from lashing out. "He gave me something before he went away again; a flash drive," Radia continued.

"What? They use that here?" Zein raised his brow. Unlike the digitally infused life of the higher zone which was connected by the interlink, people in the red-zone used flash drives to receive and pass information.

"No usually; that’s why it’s weird," Radia replied with narrowed eyes, before glancing at Han Shin. "I thought it was probably something like the materials he sent to Shin."

"You mean...clues?" the healer perked up, no longer feeling so offended.

"Mm," Radia threw the bread stick to the plate, frowning even deeper now. "So I went to a place that could open it, but the file inside was written in codes. It’ll need days to know what exactly is written there."

"Days..." Han Shin sighed, taking the bread stick that Radia discarded earlier and nibbling on it in disappointment.

Zein, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes as he looked at the summoner. Sure, the item he gave was cryptic, but Radia still got to see the man in flesh; meaning he could ascertain that Han Joon was still alive. If anything, he should be more relieved than worried, but...

"Hey, walk with me?" Zein nudged the summoner, who shrugged and stood up to leave the patio.

Waving to Laurel who looked at them inquisitively, they walked down the walkway to the fish pond in the backyard, which reminded Zein of their first ’outing’ together, where Radia picked him up to go to the fish store. It was fascinating how much their relationship had shaped since that time.

"How was he?" Zein asked quietly, staring at the fleeting fish.

"Bad," Radia shook his head; the restraint in his voice was probably the whole reason why he was getting grounded today. "He was bleeding. He came to me without addressing his wound."

Which meant the man didn’t have that much time to spare. Seeing as he immediately went after that showed he was on a tight schedule--or that was all the time he got before he could be traced.

Zein nodded in understanding. Being alive was one thing--being alive in lethal trouble was another. It felt like a race of time between whether we could save them first or the trouble finding them first. The unending gut-wrenching sensation of waiting for news, and the frustration of not being able to do anything--Zein knew too much of that feeling.

That was what he felt during the hours between the outbreak and finding his brothers under the rubble.

"I don’t want Shin to know this bit," Radia took a deep breath, glancing at the healer who was now talking cheerfully with his mother.

"Alright," Zein nodded. "Did you tell your parents? About everything?"

This time, a small smile sneaked its way briefly into the summoner’s lips. "Yeah. They already had a hunch about my relationship with Joon anyway," he paused for a little bit, recalling all the things he talked about with his parents this morning while his mother held his hand.

They didn’t look surprised when he mentioned Han Joon and even gave him some advice. "My father told me to bring the materials and a part of the flash drive to House Apsoro," Radia said.

"The one that excels in spying?"

"Yeah, but...at this point, I’m not sure we know who is on who’s side," Radia sighed. "I can’t risk going there just because I’m feeling impatient and finding out later that they are actually in the enemy’s camp all along."

That was right. Before this whole fiasco, they didn’t think it was an Old House that colluded with the Deathzone. And if they were in the right direction, they had to think that House Horin wasn’t alone in this, seeing that the materials Joon gave them came from several sources.

"What do you think inside that flash drive?" Zein asked with a frown.

"The missing piece of the puzzle," Radia rubbed his lips. "I have a feeling it had something to do with why House Horin came in touch with the Deathzone."

Zein blinked in surprise and lowered his voice more as he replied. "Hey, we had this thought yesterday that what Joon did might have something to do with what that...Celestia guy was saying. You know--about how House Horin used to be able to control the government?"

The crimson eyes narrowed slightly, and Zein added immediately. "Obviously, we don’t know what it is. But the timing of Joon’s disappearance and that just..."

"That’s worth thinking about," Radia nodded. The new idea seemed to bring a new light to his worried eyes.

Unfortunately, their thinking session had to end there, because Laurel was calling them loudly, whining about how her two eldest sons couldn’t even sit still around the table. "What are you talking about there that you have to go into seclusion?"

"Our love life," Radia replied nonchalantly.

"When I’m right here?" Bassena gasped while putting a big plate filled with grilled clams on the table.

"How could you talk about that without me!" Laurel pursed her lips and shook her head, prompting Radia to roll his eyes as he sat down.

"Who talks about their love life with their parents?"

"Wait..." Han Shin tilted his head in confusion. "You have a love life?"

Radia shrugged, and Laurel ruffled the black hair with a laugh. For some reason, Han Shin still hadn’t connected the relationship between Radia and his brother to be a romantic one, and everyone seemed to be on board to just let the healer find out on his own.

"He said our," Bassena narrowed his eyes at Zein, who just chuckled and patted the esper’s cheek.

"We’re not talking about us,"

"That sounds even spicier," Laurel smirked, and Radia had to shush his own mother with a mouthful of grilled lobster his father just delivered.

Calix also shoved a whole plate in front of Zein, as if telling the guide he could have everything for himself. "Here, I heard you rarely have seafood."

"Oh, thank you," Zein replied stiffly. For some reason, he felt awkward in front of Radia’s father--or rather, in front of Radia’s parents.

Perhaps...because he couldn’t help but wonder about his own parents since they met them. The way Radia said they were ’normal’ made him imagine the scenario when things were also ’normal’ for his parents.

With a small laugh, Bassena whispered that he too, felt awkward when he first met Radia’s parents. Being treated normally like a child who needed affection and a bit of pampering was something that teenage Bassena couldn’t easily wrap around his head. He even thought they wanted to scam him or use him at first.

It was the awkwardness of shifting between chaos and normalcy, Bassena said.

Maybe, Zein nodded while taking a bite of the lobster meat. Maybe someday, when he wouldn’t feel awkward about having this kind of normal dinner, he could say that he knew peace for what it was; something normal.

"This is good," he muttered.

"I taught Bas how to do it himself, so you can ask him to do it again anytime you like," Calix laughed in response. "I’m sure he’ll be happy to do it for you."

"Of course I will," Bassena replied without missing a beat, all the while taking out the clams from their shells so Zein could eat them easier.

Calix scoffed, although he himself was continuously grilling things for his wife and son--well, sons--to eat. Laurel, on the other hand, piled more and more food on Radia’s and Shin’s plates.

Looking at the view around the dining table, Zein couldn’t help but smile to himself. Good food, good company, a conversation about mundane things...

This was what peace looked like, and this kind of normalcy was something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. It reminded him of what he was working hard for these days. Because he knew, there were still a lot of people who couldn’t enjoy this kind of piece; this kind of normal.

"What is it?" Bassena tilted his head when Zein was only sitting wordlessly with a solemn look in his eyes.

"Nothing," Zein shook his head slightly, before patting the esper’s cheek and looked into the amber eyes with a smile. "I just think I’m lucky."

Yes. He was lucky to experience this, so he would like this to be a part of his future from now on.

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