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Their roles were set in stone. Unspoken, but simple.
There was never any need for any sentimentality between the two. Grahf had his own agendas, Id never had a reason to question them. To find a connection to this world, even if it meant seeking its destruction…
However, this did not mean they were incapable of seeking out a connection through each other.
Id asked if he would teach him how to paint, Grahf never denied his request. Though he showed a knack for it, he always seemed to lack things to paint. Whenever they would find the time, they would wander to places unknown. Grahf would teach, Id would learn.
It was not lost on Id that the longer trips just so happened to be around his day of birth. He had no reason to feel any joy over it. No time to get all sentimental. No happy memories to reflect back on.
What reason would there be to celebrate something so trivial?
Id never asked.
Every year, without fail, Alice, Timothy, and the village chief will come together and celebrate the day Fei arrived at their village, even roping Citan and Dan into the celebrations — though the former would never ever admit that he had chipped in to help with the preparations every year. Were it not for their dedication, Fei most likely would’ve treated it just as any other day.
To celebrate one’s own birth… To fully comprehend the depth of another’s affection, where they devote their time to making it known they appreciate your existence… It feels like a foreign concept to Fei. That is not to say he is ungrateful - far from it actually!
Yet, something gnaws at the subconscious of his mind.
A sense of longing, sadness… envy.
Yearning for a warmth that feels so close, yet ever so distant.
Even entertaining the notion that Fei had a family as loving as the people he knows now…
The sadness he feels is soul-crushing.