⊱Jamais trop tard⊰

Never too late

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"Fancy seeing you here, sister."

Choking on the green tea I was drinking, I coughed a few times before turning my head to see the orange haired smiling girl and the maroon haired chatterbox approaching me. The latter apologized for making me nearly die. Well, not really.

"I can understand Seoyun coming to this private party but Jaesung? Why are you here?" I asked as they sat around the table I was at. "These businessmen are anything but lazy."

Diligence clutched his chest as if he was shot, dramatic as ever. "Are you shooing me? Is that it?"

I shook my head quickly. "No no, I'm sorry, I'm just wondering-"

"I'm just here for the party," he said, grabbing a glass to pour himself wine. "Seoyun and Hyunwoo were talking about this party and I just tagged along with whoever was coming."

"Uh huh," I hummed and grabbed a bottle of water to chug it down to cleanse the taste stuck in my throat. Even if I couldn't taste well, green tea was a horrible thing to be choking on, leaving a bad taste in my throat.

"How have you been lately, Sae? You're rarely seen in heaven lately," Kindness mused, brushing away strands of my hair sticking to my chin and cheek as I gulped water. "Busy with work, hm?"

"As she should," Diligence quickly butted in. "Better to use your time to cleanse the world than to lie around aimlessly like a couch potato. Well, heaven potato."

"Heaven potato sounds nice," Kindness giggled.

I cleared my throat again and again until it started hurting. Smiling sheepishly and scanning the other tables of posh dressed men and women, I said, "It's just that I realized I couldn't see the world much when I was alive because I was mostly bedridden. I can teleport anywhere now!" My eyes darted to Diligence. "C-Cleansing the world is my top priority though. I swear."

He hummed before cocking an eyebrow and sipping his wine. "But I don't see you working right now."

I pouted.

He chuckled gleefully and pulled my arm to make me sit back down when I sullenly stood up. "I'm just kidding, Saejin. I'm not that harsh, you know? This isn't some office work with strict rules."

Nibbling on my lower lip, I nodded slowly. "Okay, but I really should be doing what I should. It's why I came here in the first place anyway."

Kindness stood up as well with her usual solemn expression whenever her duties were involved. "Me, too. I'll be making some people double over tonight- Not that I'm eager to..."

The maroon haired man raised his equally dark red glass in the air with a childish smile. "Cheers, ladies. Crash this shady party if you have to."

Kindness nodded and let me lead the way as I maneuvered through the round tables filled with all the delicacies in the world, some I had never even encountered in my life. Most dishes were touched once or twice and discarded, never to be partaken of again. A waste of luxury. A squandering of wealth that was acquired through time and health of countless people working under these men and women. Temperance would have snapped.

In her place, I was.

Absorbed in my sudden resentment, I slammed into a body, nearly hurling ourselves across the marble floor if the other person didn't find their balance and hold me up as well. It was baffling. I should not be seen or touched by humans. Puzzled and out of sorts, I moved my gaze up the silver sequin jacket and white satin blouse with a knot on the collar, up the pillowy plump rosy lips and narrow straight nose. Chocolate brown eyes stared back and immediately narrowed into blissful crescents under the golden curtains of his hair. He looked positively ravishing as always.

"Angel," he drawled with an intoxicated grin, eyes flitting across my face. "When did you come here?"

His hold around my waist immediately loosened and his arm left me as if scalded once his eyes found the Virtue behind me, expression sobering up. As if he was caught in a scandalous affair by a paparazzi.

I turned my body to catch a glimpse of Kindness whose lips were flattened and gaze flickering between Jimin and I in what seemed like suspicion. Looking back at him, I uttered, "A while ago" as apathetically as I could.

"Okay," he mumbled and nodded curtly before striding away, a bit tense in gait and tone.

It was a pity that our conversation was cut short because of Kindness, but I shouldn't be blaming her. Between her and Jimin, she was more important to me and we only spent little time together lately. Jimin would come around any time.

"What was that?"

I stared at Kindness wide-eyed. "What was... what?"

She scoffed, a hint of suppressed smile on her twitching lips. "That flirting right in front of my salad. You two seem awfully close. What happened between you two?"

With a sheepish smile, I shrugged, feigning innocence. "Flirting? Was he?"

She stepped closer, her gorgeous face coming near mine, side fringes brushing my cheek. "Are you still... you know? He seemed to have grown close to you."

"He's just flirty by nature, I wouldn't be so sure this early. It's only been a couple of years since I tried getting closer to him." Bringing my eyes up to hers, I fidgeted. "But do you really think so?"

The times I spent glued to his side for the past years flashed by in my mind.

After that day we brought a stray animal to the shelter, we had been running into each other in the most random places. We met up in street food vendors where I wanted to try new food and where he looked so out of place with expensive outfits, around festivals where we both wanted to enjoy ourselves, at charity events where we always bickered and so on.

One time, I ran into him in an alley. He had a few stray cats meowing around him and one or two of them purring and snuggling into his legs as he sat on the dirtied ground, feeding them. When he found me, he was uncharacteristically flustered, blushing and struggling to say his usual playful remarks.

It was... cute.

"Sae. He looked genuinely happy to see you. I wouldn't say you have zero effect on him. You two are literally the friendliest Virtue and Sin pair among all of us."

A round of deafening applause erupted around us and the both of us turned to the stage area where one of the hosts, clad in fur coat and glittery brand suit, had open arms and a boastful grin. Judging from the wide screen lit up behind him, he was about to make a speech to the others.

"Ah, fuck," Kindness suddenly cried out, startling me. "I gotta fly, Sae."

Without waiting for my response, she dashed to the front towards the man. As soon as she reached him withing mere seconds while the clapping continued, her hand flew out to touch his forehead and the man groaned out loud into the microphone, jerking forward, clutching his chest. Murmurs grew among the crowds, claps dying out, and I scanned the massive ballroom, looking around.

"What is that idiot doing?" One of the politicians clicked his tongue before taking a sip from his champagne.

"I know," another one joined from the group around the former, grimacing. "This is worth billions and I expect no less. The network is already in place."

My eyes slipped to the side, caught by an emerald green haired man dressed in a classic black suit. On reflex, I almost told Kindness that Envy was here through telepathy, but when I turned to her, her eyes were already locked with Envy's.

"Ruining our night again, aren't you, heaven ladies?"

Flinching, I jumped to the side away from the voice and saw Jimin smiling at my reaction next to me. He took a step forward to close the distance between us, bending down slightly to my eye level. I pursed my lips to keep my whimpers at bay.

"Tell me, angel." His eyelids lowered, shifting his expression into somber one. The air between us turned heavier from his hardened gaze. "Do you want to help all these worthless filth around us and let them enter the gates of heaven?"

A breathy sound escaped me and my hands flew up to my chest when he leaned closer, eyes darkening.

"Do you seriously think they deserve that?"

Gulping whatever was stuck in my throat, I found my voice and clenched my fists. "I-It's never too late."

A humorless chuckle left him, fanning my face, and he moved back, giving me some air to breathe. "See? This is why we're enemies. My way of dealing with these garbages is too different, unacceptable in your view."

I stared back at him, unable to deny or say anything. From what I understood through the years, the Deadly Sins were all consumed by their grudges. Consumed by their hatred. Beneath all that, they were utterly sad. Overflowing with grief. Inconsolable.

I nodded. "I know... and I'm so sorry about that," I whispered, voice cracking near the end.

From his expression, I knew he heard it through all the ruckus happening around us.

"It's not your fault, angel."

His eyes softened, a glimmer of pain in their depth.

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A long chapter whew 😅

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