Chapter 130 - 126. Overflowing Emotions
"Who..." Zein frowned as he yanked the door open in annoyance, but his words stopped in his mouth when he saw the blazing twin ambers below furrowed platinum brows. "Bas...?"
Wordlessly, Bassena gripped the surprised face tightly, and Zein stumbled back from the sudden movement, bringing the esper with him. "What the fuck?" the esper’s husky voice was hoarse and filled with agitation. "What the fuck, Zein?!"
Blinking in a daze, Zein stopped himself from moving backward, grabbing the esper back. He stared at the twin flames piercing at him and sighed. "What happened to your anger management?"
"Do you think I have time for that after I heard what happened?!" the low voice was getting higher now, and Zein felt thankful that the door was already shut.
Without averting the piercing ambers, Zein asked in return. "So what exactly happened? Tell me."
"You--!" Bassena started with a loud voice, only to stop and bit his lips at Zein’s emotionless face. The blue eyes, which were duller than usual, reflected his angry face, and it made him stiffen. When he opened his mouth again, his voice was quieter, weaker. "That you were...caught in a dungeon anomaly and...had a burnout..."
"Yes," Zein moved his hand to the messy platinum hair and gripped it. "Was any of that something I could control?"
The answer to that was no, but Bassena found his tongue lost its power and just parted his lips without managing to eke out any word. In the end, after staring at the stern blue eyes for a while, he slumped down, hands sliding over the guide’s arms as he ended up on his knees.
"...’m sorry," the esper said weekly, clutching into the guide’s hands and he stared hard at the floor. His spine, his nape, his eyes...all felt hot from anxiety. Even as he held into the guide’s hands and felt the man’s warmth, seeing Zein uninjured with his own eyes, his heart still thumping loudly.
Zein looked at the imposing esper that was sagging on the floor, clutching into his hands as if they were his lifeline, and sighed. Slowly, he lowered his body and crouched in front of Bassena. He pulled out one hand from the esper’s clutch and caressed the distressed head.
"You have to know that once we’re back to the Deathzone, something like this might happen more often than we anticipate," Zein said while stroking the platinum strands. He could feel the esper stiffen at his words, but he continued. "You can’t react like this every time I get in danger, Bas."