⊱Mot de gratitude⊰

Word of gratitude

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"Care to explain why we're roaming the busiest street in the city? For two fucking hours for no reason?"

Rolling my eyes, I slowed my pace to match his sluggish one and shot him a glare. "Since when did you start hating walking down the street? From what I know, you loved carrying around a camera and capturing the busy streets filled with crowds."

Pursing his lips, he muttered in a low voice and a threatening tone, "That's a long time ago. Just get to the fucking point, Kindness. You're not being so kind to me right now."

I groaned internally. "Busy street means many people and many people means higher probability of running into a person who's not jealous of you."

"Wow, genius," he exclaimed sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest. "And the result?"

Gulping, I searched the sea of bodies around us for any potential candidate and nearly bumped into a tall man who threatened me with a frown and yelled, "Watch where you're going, blind bitch."

I apologized quickly and passed him but when I turned around, I saw Envy standing still among the crowd with his eyes boring holes into the man's head.

"Envy," I called, snapping him out, and gestured him to follow me.

"Your plan sucks, you know that?" He scowled, making me feel small.

Maybe I didn't think this through...

"Come on." Envy suddenly grabbed my wrist and led me into a less crowded area, specifically, into a dark alley where uneasiness crept up my spine.

"What are we doing here? You're trying to mug me? Our financial capabilities are the same, Envy. Why-"

"No, you idiot," he hissed, pointing at a group of bulky thugs who were gathered around a trash can, smoking and laughing obnoxiously with each other. "It's better to ask people like them instead searching a needle in the haystack of crowds."

"No, Envy-"

Before I could pull him back, the seaweed haired idiot marched towards the men and kicked the trash can to grab their attention. Hugging my body in vague fear, I could only watch him and do nothing else from where I stood.

"Who the fuck is this?" One of them mocked while snickering and they all faced Envy with amused grins.

"Look, I'm just here to ask if any of you are not envious of me," Envy stated with his confidence overflowing.

This idiot...

Another one scoffed. "Who would be envious of a flower boy like you? Your jewelry though, hand them over and we might let you go with only a few bruises."

"No can do. I would like to see you try though," he jeered at them which, to me, was a really dumb thing to do. Envy was so confident that I wondered if he became stronger over the years.

I was proven wrong when he received numerous blows from the group of thugs even though he managed to knock one of them out in the beginning. I panicked when he fell to the ground after taking a punch to his jaw. My legs finally broke out of their paralysis and I darted towards him to push the men away and hold him up.

"Envy! Look at me!"

With a loud grunt, he opened one of his eyes to behold me and gritted his teeth before pushing me out of his way. "Stay away, Seoyun! You'll get hurt."

A whistle from my behind made me turn around to see the men eyeing me with disgusting looks and smirks.

"What do we have here?" One of them squatted down and grabbed my hair to sniff them and my neck, causing Envy to jump forward with a growl. "A pretty doll just waiting to be ruined. I wonder how loud your screams can be."

"Leave her alone!" The bruised man on the ground shouted, lifting himself off the ground with much difficulty. "I'll rip you pieces of shits to shreds!"

"Oh, we'd love to see you try," the one holding my hair snickered and pulled me up against his body to kiss me, and I snapped.

Touching his forehead, I made him fall to the ground, making the others freeze momentarily. Leaving them no time to process what happened, I did the same to the other thugs and had them fall ill from a deadly disease, watching them gasp for air with an annoyed frown.

Turning to the bruised man with his mouth hung open, I sighed in disappointment. "First of all, you forgot that you were pretty much mortal now." He bit his lips but hissed in pain. "Second, you forgot that we both still have our powers and that I could easily knock these worms out in a second."

Wrapping his arm around my shoulder, I teleported us back to the hotel and sat him down on his bed as he hissed louder. Finding a first aid kit in the bathroom, I placed it on the floor beside myself as I kneeled down before him.

"Take off your shirt," I ordered while rummaging the kit.

"What?"

"I'll do it then," I mumbled in exasperation and quickly undid the buttons of his dress shirt before pulling off and throwing the dirty clothing away despite his protests. His tan skin was littered with purple and red spots, some even bleeding.

"What an idiot you are..."

"Hey! I was growing tired from walking all day for- Ah!" A painful cry left him when I dabbed a damp tissue on the wounds to clean them. "It hurts!"

"Of course it hurts, dumbass. Now shut up and get treated."

While I was working on my task, a sudden chuckle left him, convulsing his body, and I looked up to see his eyes glinting in amusement.

"A person who hurts people is treating wounds. Interesting," he drawled and I pressed harder on the wound on his ribs, making him cry out in pain. "Why?!"

"Third of all, you shouldn't have done something so stupid," I finished my rants and scooted closer to him, placing my free hand on the bed beside him to clean the bruises on his lips. "Don't do anything like that again."

Obliging in silence, Envy quietly watched me treat him and it was difficult to do that for me when our faces were so close. Hushing my beating heart, I tried my best to focus on the blood on his pink lips and gently wiped it as well as I could.

I had done this many times before whenever he got beaten up by boys from other classes while we were in school. He was such a headache back then.

Unknowingly, a soft smile appeared on my lips and I snapped out of it when Envy's hand grabbed my free arm. His gaze was piercing me but I was unable to hold it.

"Rest. The important thing is to rest," I whispered and grabbed the first aid kit to put it back in its place. Walking back to where he was sitting, I ordered him to take a nap before dinner and he nodded.

"And Kindness?" He called just before I teleported.

"Hm?"

His eyes fell on his interlocked fingers. "Thank you."

To say that I was shocked was an understatement. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His words echoed in my mind, making me wonder if it was the Taehyung I knew appearing just for a moment.

"It's fine," I whispered and teleported into my own room before falling on my bed.

I had to teleport to the outside and walk inside the hotel like a normal person, but for the next few minutes...

I let his words sink in my mind.

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