The Black Saint is My StalkerCh75 - Are you really

Han Li was never quite bothered by the cold.

Even the winter jacket that he wore over his shoulder didn’t do much for him, but he supposed it was still necessary to put up some form of appearance in front of his normal friends. dHIOk9

The sky was dark and the cabin finally quieted after Simone passed out from one too many shots. Mark and Kevin had retreated to bed after Han Li offered to clean up the mess. As for Graham…who even knew? The Saint of Eternity did that annoying thing again where he excused himself and disappeared for hours on end.

And after Han Li finally put all the trash into bags and washed all the dirty plates, he was feeling much like an abused Cinderella, delegated with all the annoying tasks. But at the same time, he didn’t really mind.

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The lull of normalcy was nice, dreamy, and calm. A corner of Han Li’s heart felt restless, but he wasn’t exactly anxious either, just…

“…” Dw2AdM

He sighed and took a drink of the beer he had next to him. Sitting on the porch, he eyed the darkness that stretched on from between the tree lines and the subtle imprints of animal tracks left in the snow, soon to be dispersed by the gusting wind. He left on a dim light in the living room that escaped outdoors through the window, but aside from that, the woods were obscured with darkness. The sky featured a myriad of glittering constellations and the moon hung brightly.

When he looked up, he had the keen impression that he was trapped in some sort of dream, that he was a stranger in his own skin, some sort of impostor.

An echoing recollection reminded him that Prince was still out there.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a pack of cigarettes being offered.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” he quipped, pushing the cigarettes away from his face.

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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By now, Han Li was beginning to understand that there was more to the man than the pristine appearance that he bore, the oppressive aura, and the facial paralysis. As for the depth of the person known as Graham Astley, Han Li felt like he had only a mere glimmer. VxdMUd

He wondered what this Saint of Eternity even needed comfort for.

Graham looked up and caught Han Li staring. “What is it?” he asked, his voice charming and melodic. Han Li felt like he could melt from the sound of it.

With a cough, he straightened and buried his face into his beer can, glad that the sky was dark enough to hide the heat in his cheeks.

“I-It’s nothing,” Han Li lied, suddenly very interested in the top of his beer can. He couldn’t exactly admit that he was just simping, now could he? HOMAwu

“…” A small sigh left Graham’s lips, perhaps having expected a different response. In the end, the two sat there in silence and Han Li decided to reword his answer. “Are you really immortal?”

Graham had to pause. His eyes widened only slightly. “You…mean you were not aware?”

Han Li hissed, only feeling his face heat further. In truth, he had meant to do more digging on the Saint of Eternity but he was still locked out of the Hunter’s Network. In the end, Laura was his only source of information, and she often came up with the oddest and strangest celebrity rumors. Han Li never quite kept up. But recently, while Han Li was holed up at home, he had nothing better to do than to message her and ask about talks within the hunter’s community.

The fact that it was common knowledge that the Saint of Eternity was immortal, really made Han Li feel like an imbecile. To be fair, he’d never been interested in celebrity news and never kept up with who did what, when, and where. He was only concerned about his immediate surroundings, a flaw that Laura never failed to remind him about. ift8TN

The harder he glared at his beer can, the harder it became to ignore the muffled laughter that came from the Saint of Eternity’s direction. Han Li couldn’t take it anymore, feeling the need to jump out of his skin. “Stop laughing at me, dammit!”

Graham turned his head away, his shoulders hunched and trembling, unable to stop. “You— how could you— ah I truly should not have let this oversight slip past. I didn’t think there was a person who did not know…”

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“…” Han Li crossed his arms and sulked, “I’m sure there are more people who don’t know. Not everyone’s following the news about every S-ranker like they’re some social media star, you know? You’re not even as popular as that Saint of Frost girl. She does vlogs. And I knew the Saint of Shields before too! He was on a Housian cooking show as a judge before. It was kind of weird, so I searched him up.” Han Li rambled, hoping to hide his embarrassment and blunder.

Privately, he already realized that this meant it was likely that Graham did in fact know his mother. But that was another point that Han Li didn’t really know how to bring up. ihcLEH

Graham cleared his throat, recovering from his amusement. Even with his gloved hand in front of his face, Han Li found him fascinating to look at, those sharp eyes of his just slightly crescented. Han Li had to force himself to look away. “I suppose Ramirez and Kaminsky do have much more popularity amongst young people.”

“Y-yeah,” Han Li nodded vigorously, “why would anyone be interested in some boomer who doesn’t even get involved in all the latest drama and news?”

Feeling restless, he hopped to his feet and stretched, feigning composure and lack of awkwardness.

“Is it not a good thing? To not be involved in drama,” Graham said. Han Li could practically hear the smile in his voice, and it made his stomach do weird little twists. “Are you going back inside?” bjYzrF

“Don’t you know what they say nowadays?” Han Li rambled on, not even caring what kind of shit left his mouth, “Any publicity is good publicity. Oh, and nah, I think I’m going to take a walk.”

“At this hour?” Graham asked, his gaze veering towards the vast darkness that stretched beyond the woods.

No shit Sherlock, Han Li hissed in his thoughts. How else was he going to stay awake the entire night? He already hopped off the patio and began strolling through the thicket of snow. “Yup. Still feeling a bit too on edge or something. You can go to bed first, gramps. Get your beauty sleep or whatever, I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I’ll come with you.” Before Han Li even knew it, Graham was there, sharing the space next to him. bjutOU

Han Li couldn’t decide if he wanted to speed up or lean in closer to the warmth offered by Graham’s body. “You don’t have to, you know better than anyone else that I’m not some damsel in distress. Some creepy dark woods aren’t going to phase me.”

“I never said that,” Graham pointed out with a hum. “Is it hard to believe that I just want your company?”

Han Li almost choked on his own spit. “Honestly, yeah. I thought you already had enough of me invading your home and all. I was being nice offering you a break from me. Who knew you’d worm your way into my friend group and follow me all the way out here to some remote woodlands? A bit weird, dude.”

It wasn’t long until the cabin light grew too dim to cut through the dark woodlands, leaving them enshrouded by black. Luckily, mobile phones are a thing, so Han Li just prayed that 53% was enough for his walk and turned on the flashlight mode. 8cdF9w

“I wasn’t aware that it’s considered weird to desire company from a person that I like. Is this another one of those things that have changed over the ages?” While his voice was mostly even, Han Li could pick out the subtle mirthful pitch. When he dared to peek at the Saint of Eternity, he saw that bright twinkle in those dark eyes. Dammit, what deity out there decided it was okay to create a human being so attractive?

Han Li scrunched up his nose, ducking beneath a birch branch that hung a bit low. He’d never admit that he almost walked straight into it. “Don’t say things like that, old man! Going to give a person the wrong idea.”

He sped up his pace, hoping to create distance between them, only to fumble over his own two feet, having suddenly come across a cliffside. He could have recovered his own balance just fine but Graham was faster and caught him by the waist.

“What kind of wrong idea might you be talking about?” Han Li swore that there was a shit-eating smirk on Graham’s face and his heart was doing all sorts of weird things without his permission, dammit. Without even thinking, elbowed the Saint of Eternity right in the gut. rs TE9

Author: T__T I swear the weeks go by so quickly nowadays. Is this a sign of aging? AHHHHHH PLEASE SEND H  E   L   P.

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