Innocence
Cheonsa
Haneul woke up to midday sunlight pouring in through the partially curtained window and she looked around, noticing that all of the beds around her were empty. At the foot of her own bed were some clean clothes which she changed into, glad to find that they fit alright, before rearranging her bedding neatly on the floor. Though her head was pounding and her entire body was sore, she struggled her way out of the room. Following the sound of distant voices elsewhere in the house, she made her way to the kitchen, where she found the rest of Infinite.
"How long was I asleep?" she asked as she entered.
"A long time," Sungjong chuckled, "It's been two days already; we were starting to get a bit worried."
"Yeah," Sungyeol laughed, "Do angels hibernate or something?"
Haneul wasn't sure what that word meant, so she assumed that it didn't apply to angels or the essential vocabulary of humans, which is why it would be omitted from her knowledge. But as she stood beside Sungkyu, he stared at her as he tried to pinpoint what was different today. Then it finally struck him. "What happened to your wings?" he asked, noticing their absence.
"What do you mean?" Haneul fully extended both of them for him to see, and he gaped at the sight.
"Your wing… It's healed already?"
"The bone is intact, but it still causes me pain," she said as she folded it gingerly against her back. "Perhaps I forgot to mention, but angels have regenerative abilities. Although they aren't very effective when we use them on ourselves, healing major injuries like broken bones is possible."
"Whoa whoa, back up. You can heal people?" Dongwoo asked in amazement.
"…Yes. It only works well on others, though. Too much healing on ourselves, and the effort becomes counterproductive. I've done about as much as I can," she answered tiredly, and it was clear to the boys that she was still in pretty bad shape.
Sungjong frowned, "No wonder you were sleeping for so long…"
Haneul paused to think of the right words in her newly acquired language. Coverings? Cloth? Apparel? Garments? "Thank you for the, er…clothes, by the way," she said with a grateful smile, making a good guess. Her vocabulary may have needed some work, but the necessary language seemed to flow easily enough.
Sungkyu just nodded. "We can get more for you if you need them. You're welcome to stay here, if you want to that is. I– We just figured that you probably don't have anywhere else to go, so…yeah. Our home is your home," he scratched the nape of his neck awkwardly.
"Right," Haneul looked down at the floor. Home. Where was home? She only wished that she knew.
"You haven't eaten anything since you came here. Aren't you hungry?" Sungyeol asked, and Haneul realized how famished she really was.
"There's some leftover chicken," Dongwoo offered, pointing to the container that was still on the table.
Haneul picked up a piece of it, and it smelled very odd to her. "Chicken? What is 'chicken'?" she asked as she sniffed it curiously. She cringed from the odor. "That's…revolting. How do you eat that?" she dropped the thing back onto the plate as if it were infected with the plague.
Her stomach suddenly growled, and she squeezed Sungkyu's arm as she gripped her abdomen in discomfort. Once again, Sungkyu felt the strange sensation that he was unable to explain as soon as his skin made contact with hers, as if a current of energy was flowing between them.
"Guys, she's a vegetarian," Sungkyu suddenly blurted out. Haneul wasn't sure what that word meant, but she guessed it was something along the lines of 'one who does not like chicken'.
Woohyun raised his eyebrow, "How do you know?"
"I'm not sure. But she is," Sungkyu said certainly, unable to explain his sudden intuition.
"So angels don't eat animals?" Hoya asked, and Haneul shook her head defiantly.
"How could you possibly consume another creature?" If that was what the word meant, then as far as Haneul was concerned, everyone should be a veg…vege…vegematarian.
"Right… No meat; noted."
Hoya sighed, seemingly the only one who was really thinking this whole situation through. Ever since Sungkyu had insisted that the angel stay with them, it had meant making provisions like sharing their home, sparing a bed for her, getting clothes for her, practically babysitting her so that she wouldn't wake up and wander off, and now working around her eating preferences too. Problem was, produce was expensive. As far as Hoya was concerned, if she expected them to be so generous, she had better start doing something in return.
"So hyung, what’s the plan for
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