Luca led Ren to the room. The invisible servants pulled out a chair and set it in front of a dressing table with a large mirror. Luca pulled out a pair of scissors and a sturdy comb from the drawer and set them down on the table.
“Sit down.” Luca said, patting the chair.
Ren followed through the door, and shut it quietly. He moved towards the chair and took his seat. Luca untied his hair, and his fingers gently grazed through the long strands.
“Your hair is pretty long. It must have been a while since you’ve had it cut.”
Ren nodded.
“How short do you want it?”
“Any length’s fine.”
“Even completely shaving it?”
Ren wildly shook his head, his hair flailing wildly. Short hair was fine, but no hair was not.
“Alright, alright. You’ve made your point, but you have to be more specific.” Luca said, laughing. Ren lightly kicked Luca, annoyed at being teased again. Luca only started laughing harder, as he fondly rubbed Ren’s head.
“What about this length?” Luca asked, his fingers grazing the nape of Ren’s neck. Ren almost shivered. His neck felt especially sensitive where Luca had touched. Luca seemed oblivious, as he waited for Ren’s response.
Ren didn’t trust himself to say anything, so he just nodded.
Luca reached for the comb beside the mirror and started brushing Ren’s hair. The knots in those black locks loosened. Luca’s movements were a bit stiff at first, but afterwards his hands moved naturally. Then he used the pair of scissors and alternated between combing and cutting.
They were both silent throughout the entire exchange. Ren could see through the mirror’s reflection that Luca was concentrating very hard, and didn’t want to disturb him. Despite Luca’s playful nature, he could be pretty serious and reliable at times.
“Like it?” Luca asked, breaking through Ren’s thoughts.
Ren stared at his reflection in the mirror, and saw it to be familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. His head felt lighter, like some weight had been lifted off of him. Luca really wasn’t exaggerating when he said he was good at this.
“Thank you. I like it.” Ren said, turning around and slightly smiling.
Luca felt an arrow strike him straight in the heart when he saw Ren’s sincere expression. This child was really too cute, especially when he smiled.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Efc uba eq jcv kfca ab atf yjatgbbw ab kjrt eq. Ktf lcnlrlyif rfgnjcar kfgf jigfjvs mifjclcu eq atf ylar bo tjlg bc atf ugbecv. Oemj jrxfv atfw ab yglcu tlw j uijrr bo kjafg.
He had been feeling slightly nauseous when he came home from work, and the stress he faced made it worse. Luca grabbed a bottle of his medicine, and swallowed a bitter pill.
Ari had told him, much to his dismay, that he had to increase the amount of times he took the pills. Now, instead of once a day, it was twice, one at day and one at night. His situation was looking more hopeless, but Luca couldn’t say he was surprised.
By the time Ren was done showering, Luca was feeling a bit better. He lay on the bed, ready to go to sleep. Ren crawled up on the bed next to him. He pulled the blanket over him and looked at Luca, looking as if he wanted to say something.
“Is something wrong?” Luca asked, frowning.
Ren hesitated.
“I think . . . Maybe- that I’ll miss this place once I leave.”
“Then just stay.” Luca said directly.
Ren looked at him surprised.
“I could use some company, and I happen to find yours particularly enjoyable.” Luca continued.
‘Plus, you’re really amusing.’ Luca thought, but decided against saying it out loud.
“But you’ve already done a lot for me.”
“Then how do you plan on paying me back?”
Ren tilted his head in confusion.
“You yourself admitted that you’re deep in my debt, so how will I be compensated?” Luca asked, smiling.
Wait, when did he ever say he was indebted to Luca? But thinking about it, Ren couldn’t disagree with it. He did owe a lot to Luca, who had taken good care of him the past few days.
“I’ll work hard to cover all of the expenses you spent on me.” Ren said seriously.
Luca pretended to consider it.
“Not enough. There’s food, living expenses . . . and the cost of that one night at the hotel to consider. It’s not something an ordinary person can afford.”
“I can try.” Ren insisted, stubbornly.
Luca chuckled. “I admire your dedication, but . . .”
Luca leaned closer to Ren and whispered the total amount to him. Ren’s expression changed.
“That much?” He asked in disbelief.
Then Ren shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. No matter how long it takes, I’ll pay you back.”
“But what if you run away? I’d prefer if you stay here so I can keep an eye on you.”
“And if I don’t want to?” Ren challenged.
“You can leave, but won’t your conscience hurt, abandoning me just like this?” Luca asked, pouting.
Ren stayed silent. He had no idea how their conversation had gotten to this point. He had just wanted to say a proper goodbye, but now Luca was trying to convince him to stay. Luca could force him to stay, but Ren doubted Luca would ever make him do anything against his will.
Why was leaving suddenly so hard? He planned on it the moment he arrived here. But maybe it was because . . . he was actually starting to trust Luca. It felt so strange, to feel this towards a vampire, especially one that he had known for only about a month. He had grown so used to Luca’s company, he hadn’t even noticed how much this place had grown on him. He was a bit reluctant to leave.
Still . . . He couldn’t bring himself to stay. Ren couldn’t continue to take advantage of Luca and intrude in his life. At first, Ren was worried about what might happen to him, if he lived with a vampire, but now he worried for Luca, who’d unintentionally gotten himself involved in Ren’s situation.
Luca may have said that he’d taken care of the McAllisters, but at what price? Ren wasn’t a fool. He knew what the family was like, and what he was worth to them. They would never truly let him go, knowing what he was.
Ren had troubled Luca enough. It was best if he didn’t get too attached to Luca.
“My conscience would hurt more if I continue to stay here.” Ren replied, turning around. Luca was confused by Ren’s answer.
“What do you mean?” Luca asked. Ren didn’t respond for a moment, and Luca thought perhaps Ren was ignoring him.
Luca poked Ren to get his attention, or at least annoy him enough to react even a bit, but Ren stayed still and silent, like a statue. In the end, Luca could only give up.
Luca huffed, and also turned around too.
‘Fine then. If you ignore me, I’ll ignore you too!’
Ren saw Luca’s childish actions and almost laughed, before realizing that he still had to explain himself.
“You’ve already done a lot for me. I don’t know why you did, but you did . . . and I don’t want to be a burden to you or anyone.”
“You’re not a burden.” Luca said, still turned away from Ren.
“Yes I am. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t need to deal with the McAllisters. I don’t know how you got them to stop chasing me, or really, why you’re bothering to protect me, but I know it wasn’t easy, and I don’t want to cause you anymore trouble.”
Luca finally turned around facing Ren.
“You seem to know a lot about them.” His expression was serious, and all the playfulness usually present in his voice had vanished.
“Don’t look so surprised, I know what kind of people they are . . . I’ve had to deal with them for a long time. They were the ones who found me.”
That was the most Ren had directly said about his past. And judging by Ren’s expression, he was done talking about it. Luca wondered what exactly Ren meant by ‘found’, but decided not to push it and changed his tone to switch the mood.
“Since you realize that I went through all that trouble for you, you might as well listen to me and stay here.”
Ren looked like he wanted to argue back, but Luca shut the light.
“Let’s sleep, we’ll both talk about this tomorrow.”
Author’s note:
This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write, second only to the ones where Luca and Ren stayed at a hotel. Fluffy moments always make me smile, whether I’m reading them or writing them (tho I guess only the first part of the chapter was really fluffy). Also, if you guys liked Ren being jealous in the previous chapters, look forward to Luca drinking his share of the vinegar in the future~
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the chapter~
Now, instead of once a week, it was twice, one at day and one at night
I think it’s day and not a week? Since he has to take one at day and one at night
Thank you for the chapter!!! ❤️❤️
Whoops, yeah you’re right. I’ll fix that. Thanks for pointing it out!
thanks for the chapter <3