Love Again

162. Unnecessary Burden

Niel watched Elric quietly, his hands on the baby bassinet as he rocked both Luca and Lusha to sleep. It had been a daily struggle doing it alone for the twins never surrendered to a slumber without Niel's presence, often leaving Elric feeling dejected. 

The two infants had their googly eyes wide open with not a wink of sleep in sight, as if mocking Elric's attempts to coax them into sleep. They appeared entertained by his relentless efforts waiting for him to give up, or maybe it was the fact that him and Niel had just fought yet again, shifting the air in the room to a rather tense one.

Elric had wanted to leave and follow up on what had been happening with Yeon's situation but his fated vehemently refused, labelling him a hinderance to the operation.

It had been a tug of war, each of them daring the other to go to the extreme while none of them acting on it; and seeming how heated their arguments had become, the help was dismissed by Niel after Elric had gone to breastfeed once the twins had awoken.

It didn't end there. They continued to debate inside the infants' too, Elric often loosing it however, despite his raised voice, somehow, Luca and Lusha seemed unbothered while they sucked away onto their pacifiers. 

"We can take them with us!" Elric had whispered.

"No, we don't have to be there! Why risk even more danger upon ourselves? Yeon's dad already assured us they have enough manpower as it is..."

"I promised Yeon I'll be there if something like this were to happen in future!"

"And what are you going to do there? You'll only be a burden to everyone!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"None of us know what Mora is capable of, or whoever may be behind this. It may be her father or it could as well be Mijin calling out for attention by using her brother. Nothing has been confirmed yet."

"Then you go!"

"Absolutely not! You'd sneak out as soon as i leave!"

"Do you have any idea how Yeon felt when he didn't have any witnesses during his first attack? He was dejected! What about second time when Mora blackmailed him and he had to share the same roof with her? He was scared shitless! His life may be in danger babe he needs a us!"

"Keep your voice down will you? And stop swearing in front of our kids!" Niel whispered back, pointing at the bassinet. "Look, even if I wanted to go I can't leave now. Yeon's parents assured us all would be fine since the police are involved. Stop meddling and being irrational about this."

"Irrational?"

"Be smart about this Elric, you've already done enough by tracing Yeon's location..."

As much as Elric hated to admit it, he knew Niel was right to have stopped him from going. He'd concluded moments later upon calming down. Still, finding out that Mora had a team to help her escape just showed how much influence she had while under supervised detainment and outside.

"Can't you just use your scent? We have been at this for hours and they are still gazing up at me." Elric spoke begrudgingly, his eyes on the Luca and Lusha.

"I told you they'll become dependent to it. They need to rely on their own scent and sleep normally."

Elric looked up at Niel, his expression sarcastic. "You've done that several times whenever you'd want a quickie. What's stopping you now?"

"Can we argue later please? I'm exhausted."

Sighing, Elric replied, "We've never fought this long, and I hate that you were right about the matter. Who knows? Anyone of us could have been shot dead today."