There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 154

Chapter 154: Chapter 149. Rainy Night

"Huh..."

Han Shin stopped unwrapping his chocolate and stared at Zein, blinking slowly. "Bas...didn’t tell you?"

"I haven’t heard from him since Sunday," Zein replied dryly.

The healer raised his brow; was that...annoyance he hear within the dry, flat tone? Zein was still looking at the screen silently, but there was a slight frown above his eyes.

"Umm...I knew because when I called Radia for something last night, he said he was on the way back, and that the meeting had concluded," Han Shin fidgeted awkwardly, suddenly feeling a bit guilty toward his friend.

Although to be fair, he also found it weird that Bassena hadn’t contacted Zein for that long. No wonder he wasn’t around and latched into the guide as usual. Why would a simp as big as him just--

Han Shin paused, and exclaim softly to himself. "Ah..." he reached out to the guide’s hands and put his unwrapped chocolate there, as if giving a peace offering. "I think I might know why..."

Zein looked at the chocolate on his palm, and then at the healer’s wry expression. It was then that he realized he was strangely felt...slightly pissed. It was a strange feeling for him, getting annoyed because of...what? That Bassena didn’t contact him despite the meeting being over?

But why would he feel pissed about it? It wasn’t like there was an obligation for Bassena to contact him every day and told Zein about his day.

Perhaps he just felt annoyed at the jarring feeling of absence, a daily occurrence that was getting cut. Or perhaps he felt annoyed because Bassena promised to give him an update about Golden Viper’s logs as soon as possible and...

Zein inhaled quickly and fiddled with the chocolate wrapper to distract himself from unwanted thoughts. "What are you talking about?" he replied to the healer’s remark with a nonchalant tone.

"About why Bassena hasn’t been contacting you," Han Shin took another piece of chocolate cube for himself and twirled it between his fingers. "Tomorrow...no, it’s the day after tomorrow, if I recalled correctly."

Putting the unwrapped chocolate in his mouth, Zein asked casually. "What is?"

"His mother’s death anniversary."

Zein coughed, almost choking on the chocolate in his mouth. He looked at Han Shin who innocently gave him a glass of water to calm his throat. As the healer thought, Bassena didn’t tell Zein about it.

"I don’t know what he’s doing right now, but..." it was rather rare for Han Shin to defend Bassena, since he preferred to see the hunk magician getting in trouble usually. But he reckoned he could throw the other esper some bone for this special occasion. "He’s usually pretty sensitive and temperamental around this time, so he might have hidden himself somewhere? Don’t be too hard on him, yeah?"

It was rare for Zein to look flabbergasted and flustered, but Han Shin had the honor of witnessing it this time. "I...have to go to Mortix," Zein said and stood up abruptly, a frown and a slight redness were the only sign of his fluster. But before he walked away, he looked at the surprised Han Shin first. "Thanks...for the info,"

* * *

His mother’s death anniversary...and Zein sent the man to the poison swamp of Golden Viper’s vault.

Zein couldn’t concentrate on his work for the rest of the day, just staring blankly at the shard, not even trying to talk to it. And today, he just ended up exercising all day, since he couldn’t use his mind well, ending it with watching the heavy pouring rain from his room’s balcony.

As the rain was pelting on his face, he recalled the face Bassena made on the night they talked about Zein’s father; the hardened eyes, the lips that were drawn in a tight line, the clenched jaw.

He wondered...as he looked up at the churning, dark sky, he wondered if Bassena was making that kind of face again.

Zein also remembered the joy on Bassena’s face when he talked about his mother, and sighed heavily at the pouring rain. He never met his mother, and while it was unfortunate, Zein also didn’t have to face the feeling of being sad about her. So he couldn’t say he would understand the feeling of losing one’s mother.

But if it was the feeling of losing someone precious, Zein knew all about it.

"Where are you?" Zein muttered to the rain. He had tried to call Bassena today, but it seemed like the esper’s commlink was turned off, since the call didn’t even come through.

Zein lowered his head with a frown. He suddenly recalled the day of their Deathzone expedition, when Bassena was getting isolated inside the void barrier formation and he couldn’t contact the esper for two hours. He recalled the same feeling of anxiety that filled him, then and now.

"Should I try again?" Zein sighed and looked at his commlink, just in time for it to vibrate and blinked.

He almost jumped at that, since the tone was the special one he set for Bassena. His heart beat a bit faster, but then he saw another name there, and remembered that he had set the tone for another person too.

Zein swallowed his disappointment and answered dryly. "Yeah?"

[Hey, do you have time?] Radia’s soft and smooth voice flew from the speaker.

"Now?" Zein raised his brow, and walked inside so he could hear the voice better. "Sure, what is it?" he closed the balcony door and the clamorous sound of the heavy rain was instantly muffled.

[I need to talk to you about something]