Love Letters Through Corpses

Chapter 42: You're afraid?

"What?" Vienna asked as she noticed the surprised faces staring at her. Even the agent made a quick stop after hearing her sentence.

"Did you ever think before blabbering?" Daexoen irritatedly asked her. .

The other felt offended, "I was just speaking my mind out." she tried to defend herself. "And you two really do look good together" she teased, her cousin gave her a deadly look, unamused by her teasing.

"Vienna." their uncle called her, "That's enough." he scolded her.

The other pouted, upset at the three's serious approach with her joke. However, her sulking expression didn't last long as she remembered an important question she's been meaning to ask.

"By the way, Dae you never told me Styx was hot" she suddenly blurted out.

"Vienna!" Daexoen's tone was harsher than usual, his voice also raised completely surprising everyone in the car. Luckily, Agent Brook didn't manage to hit or suddenly pressed on the brakes or else it could have been a bad car accident for them.

Daexoen leaned forward at his cousin, "Enough with this. You're not 12, act your freaking age." He bursted, Sage had to hold the male down while Vienna was frozen on her seat seeing how his cousin reacted. "Could you leave my friends alone? You haven't even been here for more than a day and you're already For freaking out loud, if you want to mess around freaking move back."

Everyone sat in silence; Vienna couldn't find a word to say, Agent Brook quietly continued his drive, still in shock by the male's outburst, while Sage was silently holding onto the male. It may seem like it wasn't much but the grip on his arm grounded him. His eyes were still burning with anger.

"Daex," Sage called out to him, "Relax." she said.

Daexoen leaned back in his chair, trying to calm himself down. The ride was extremely silent, the atmosphere weighs heavy around them.

As soon as they parked in front of Sage's house, they saw her aunt and uncle who was waiting patiently for the female.

Except for Vienna, everyone in the vehicle got down to help assist the female with her luggage as well as Agent Brook needed to have a conversation with her guardians.

"Hey," Daexoen called her attention. The male looked hesitant but decided to continue his approach. "Can we talk?"

The female tilts her head, "Sure," she answered, looking at the male's uncle who is now currently talking to her aunt and uncle. "You want to stay over for a bit?" she reluctantly asked, unsure on how to address the situation.

The male nodded, "Yeah. Sure," he timidly said before approaching his uncle with the younger's bag in hand.

"Uncle, I'll stay here for a moment," he told the older. The agent raised his eyebrow, unexpected to hear the boy's request. However, it seems the college student was determined to stay with his friend a little longer.

He sighed, "Alright. I'll just drop your things and Vienna home then," he said before looking at the still shocked teen sitting quietly in the car. "I need to go back to the station. Do you want me to pick you up?"

"Depends. But I can go home on my own," Daexoen answered.

The agent nodded, turning towards Sage's guardians. "I'll leave him in your care then. Thank you for your time."

The couple smiled, "Of course. Thanks for bringing Sage home." Hyuna answered.

As the agent left the street with his niece, Sage and Daexoen decided to talk in the female's room. Luckily, her aunt and uncle were understanding and trusting people, unfazed with the idea of the female bring a boy in her room knowing quite well that their niece was to be trusted.

"Daexoen, would you be staying for dinner?" Hyuna asked before the two could continue their way upstairs.

Daexoen shook his head, "Thank you but I think I'd be back home for dinner," he answered which earned an understanding nod from the lady.

As soon as the two entered the female's room, Daexoen gently placed her things on the floor before mindlessly climbing on top of her bed. He slammed his body facing away from the female and onto the bed's mattress.

"What's going on?" Sage bravely asked, seeing the almost depressive state of the male.

"I don't know" he confessed, his head buried under the female's pillows.

The smell of jasmine and cherry blossoms filled his nostrils, soothing his anxious state. Honestly, the male felt weird. He was unsure of his emotions and thoughts that he felt like he was about to collapse.

"You were" The female started, walking towards the seat of her study table not so far from the bed. "Different."

The male sighed, lifting his body and positioned himself to sit crossed-legged facing the female. His head was lowered and his body was defenseless, something the female witnessed seldomly to none.

"I know," he said, looking worriedly at the other. "Did I frighten you?"

"No. However, you did confuse me."

Daexoen nodded, "I don't really understand it myself." he started, "I've been feeling overwhelmed lately and as the days past I kept getting anxious and anxious," he confessed to the female.

Daexoen was feeling all sorts of emotions that time. Everything was piling up on him and it seems like today was the day it was too much. Sage remained quiet, observing the male's every move.

"Could it be you're afraid?" she suddenly said, making the male's head snap up to look at her.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, I've noticed since the first day of our 'case' you've been tense," she said, conveying her thoughts about the matter. "You're afraid that you're not able to prove yourself. You're afraid that you won't be able to be good enough."

Daexoen lowered his head. It was partially true. It may not seem like it but everyday he's been stressing over the same case and possibilities. He begins to overthink the future pessimistically.

"Maybe. I just got so worked up and just now in the car," he mumbled, guilt eating him as he recalled the previous scene. "I don't know why I snapped."

Sage nodded, "Were you worried for your cousin?" she suddenly asked.

And that hits him. It wasn't just the pressure and overthinking that got to him, it was everyone else. He felt responsible for placing himself and his friends in their current situation. He felt as if he needed to protect the two and that just became an invisible burden for him. He was holding in all that stress and when Vienna suddenly came he felt a bigger weight fall onto his shoulders.

Their case wasn't a joke. It was dangerous and to make it all worse there were no leads on the pattern of the victims, making it hard to identify who could be the next one. He's been unconsciously protective and worried for his female friend that it weighed him down and when his cousin came and knowing she would be staying while the case is still fresh added to everything that he just couldn't take it. When his cousin joked around, involving his friends who he tried so hard to protect, he subconsciously took it all out on her as a defense mechanism.

"Maybe" he whispered, continuing to look at his fingernails as a distraction.

Sage looked at him patiently. She was scolding herself, she felt useless at that time. She didn't know how to react or what to do so she just ended up not doing anything. She wanted to help but she doesn't know how.

"Daexoen?" she called out to him. "You don't need to worry you know" she suddenly said, it was as if she could read the other's mind.

"W-what?" he stuttered.

She shrugged, "If you're worried about me and Styx you know you don't have to right?" she said, a serious expression appeared on her face. "We have each other, the agents. We're not going to leave each other."

Daexoen felt like a boulder was lifted off his chest hearing that from the younger. She was right. They had each other, and even if his guard was down just a bit lower they were always together. It's not just him.

"Right," he said, trying to picture out the other male friend in his head. "Together."

But he still couldn't let the fear go. He's still afraid.