NOVEL WEB 59
Chapter 59: Talk
Ellis was thunderstruck. He immediately let go of his mate’s hand, taking large strides to reach Angie. Kneeling, he felt the rough gravel through his thin pants, the spring’s dry dust dirtying his clean clothes.
“Angie, Angie,” his trembling hands brushed aside Angie’s hair, revealing a familiar face now marred by two scars on the right cheek. “My god, Angie, you’re alive, you’re actually alive!”
Ellis’s voice shook as he cradled Angie’s face, feeling the warmth of his skin.
“Ellis, I can’t get up with you like this,” Angie tried to smile, his voice muffled by Ellis’s hold.
“Oh, oh!” Ellis quickly withdrew his hands, then hesitated and began gently checking Angie’s body for injuries. “Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay now?”
Xi Tian approached from behind, placing a hand on Ellis’s shoulder. “Ellis, help your friend up.”
Angie nodded toward Ellis, but Ellis didn’t notice.
Finally, Ellis, reassured that Angie was alright, relaxed. He noticed the pain in his knees and the tears that had gathered in his eyes.
He extended a hand to Angie, who grasped it. After four months of thinking Angie was gone, the contact felt surreal. They stood, the light of the sun almost blinding. Ellis instinctively shielded his eyes, reducing the glare and focusing on the scene before him.
Xi Tian offered a handkerchief, softened by multiple washes, to dab at Ellis’s tears.
Angie watched with a teasing smile and a gleam in his eye.
“Ah!” Ellis awkwardly took the handkerchief, bowing slightly. “Th-thank you.”
Ellis wiped his face roughly, even the soft cloth stinging his skin.
“I’m staying with a friend here. Would you like to come in?” Angie invited, as casually as if nothing had changed.
“Sure,” Ellis heard himself say, his voice unfamiliar. He looked around and found Xi Tian by his side, just like always, holding his hand.
His heart settled.
Angie walked with a limp, refusing Ellis’s help. Ellis kept glancing at him, a thousand questions swirling in his mind: how had he survived, and why was he on this planet?
As they stepped through the wide doorway, the light dimmed, and Ellis belatedly realized they were entering Garon’s home.
“This is Garon, my friend. My belongings were stolen days ago, and he’s been taking care of me since,” Angie said, sitting on the bed and sighing in relief as sweat trickled down his forehead.
Nearby, Buma and Garon were arguing, while Rody played with a model aircraft on a stool.
When Angie spoke, Garon paused his argument, nodded in their direction, and said to Buma, “Let’s talk outside.” They left the room.
Xi Tian also found an excuse to leave, taking Rody with him.
Ellis and Angie were left in silence.
“Do you have questions?”
“Do you have something to say?”
Both spoke simultaneously, falling into silence again.
Angie smiled, tilting his head and flashing the familiar grin Ellis knew. “Forget it. I know what you want to ask. I’ll just tell you. You can ask me anything.” He gestured for Ellis to sit beside him.
Ellis sat next to him, just like in their university days, ready to share jokes and secrets.
“I was hit by shrapnel and passed out, buried under sand stirred up by the explosion. The Third Army’s rescue team found me. I was in the airship’s medical bay for two days, and when I woke up, a week had passed. The rescue team leader told me the shrapnel was just centimeters from my heart. They said if I woke up, I’d survive. And I did.”
Angie unbuttoned his coat. Ellis moved to help, but Angie only pulled out a jagged piece of shrapnel from his neck. “This is the fragment. I wear it now.”
“But Owen told me he found your body the next day, within a hundred meters of the explosion.”
“Owen asked me about it too. I checked the rescue logs. They found another body near my location, and another bomb dropped that night, disfiguring the corpse. That’s why Owen thought it was me.”
“Why did I find your dog tag? They’re always around the neck. How did it get so far away?”
“I had wrapped the dog tag around my hand, so it got thrown off.”
“Isn’t it required to be worn around the neck?”
Angie looked slightly embarrassed. “I went to see Owen earlier, and he wrapped it around my hand.”
“…You two…” Ellis paused, unable to continue. Angie and Owen had been together for only two months at that time, in the throes of new romance. It wasn’t surprising they were that intimate.
As Angie recounted his story, his experiences during that time came to light. When the higher-ups ordered the Fourth Army to return to the zerg star, Angie was still recuperating. Once he healed, new reinforcements arrived, allowing him to stay with Owen and lead the troops until they returned to the zerg star two months ago.
They chatted a bit more until Angie looked fatigued. Ellis remembered what Garon had said about Buma taking something crucial from Angie and asked him about it.
“It’s nothing important, just a portable medical device. My leg’s been injured for almost a week now, and it helps with the pain,” Angie said nonchalantly.
Ellis glanced at Angie’s injured leg, clenching his fists. “I’ll get it back for you.”
Angie smiled and couldn’t help but yawn. Ellis finally said goodbye.
Outside, the bright sunlight gently kissed his face. The late spring breeze was cool, but his heart felt light for the first time in a while, making his steps lively.
The trees, still clad in their conservative winter attire, had yet to sprout new leaves. Beneath them, Xi Tian sat on a wooden bench, eyes closed, letting the sunlight lazily caress his young face. Beside him was a young female, about five or six years old, dressed in a red cotton jacket with two braided pigtails, focused on kicking a shuttlecock. The colorful feathers fluttered, and the metal plates clinked with a rhythmic “da da” sound.
“My friend Hasang Song,
He was born in a white egg,
He cried among the crowd,
Oh,
He rolled to the ground,
Scattered in the room,
Never to be pieced together,
Into a whole form again.”
Ellis walked up to Xi Tian, who seemed to sense his presence and opened his eyes.
“Ready to go home?”
“Ready to go home.”