- how could you say all that?
----
"Tae? Where are you? We were supposed to go and find that ghost, like, hours ago."
Just visiting, but the words go unsaid. The marble beneath his fingers felt colder than it had before. Everything was so familiar, but yet he was the one out of place. It all moved ahead while Tae remained the same. Like he was one of the carefully crafted sculptures that decorated the streets of Heaven. Sometimes, that was all he felt like.
"Tae, answer me, what's going on?"
But here Tae was, standing aside silently while watching his little brother practice calligraphy. It was forbidden for him to reach out, to pat him on the shoulder and tell him he was doing great. A god must not interact with their mortal family, because what if they answered prayers based on bias? Tae ground his teeth together and swallowed back the lump in his throat. He should leave. It only hurt him more to see his family moving forward. He was so very selfish, wasn't he?
"I'm not playing around, you know! It's not that hard to answer me back!"
Zhao Fei's voice in Tae's head was the only thing there to remind him of his duties in the Heavenly Realm. The communication array never failed to take him away from the fantasies of going back to his family. Every time he returned, the temptation to descend and take care of his little brother once again grew stronger and stronger. Tae could only briefly wonder what Zhao Fei might think of that idea before the devil was ringing in his ears again.
"Tae! If you don't answer me, I swear—"
"I'm here," Tae cut Zhao Fei off through the array. "Must have lost track of time." He didn't. "I'll be back soon."
