#rapmonster

[wkndxo]

im tryna make a finsta username and i js thought of rm’s instagram username and its so good. like

rkive.

thats just so tea dpmo

[orcacorak]

RapM is 2-0 with zain

Another thug final that my goat Luigi plays

That was such a hype match go watch it

[pauppermint]

Happy Namjoon Day! 🥳💜

[hopelessromanticdeviant]

The Rise, The Fall

Chapter 9: Baby Don't Hurt Me

Chapter Summary:

“Think of Haru,” Taehyung tried again.

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Okay. What of it?” Jeongguk asked.

“Do you share the same characteristics of love as you do with me?”

“No. But it almost seems vaguely familiar when it’s her.”

“Do you wish for her to cover such characteristics, anytime soon?”

Jeongguk gave him a confused look. He had no idea where his brother was going with him. All he knew was that he was stepping into uncharted waters. He wanted him to stop talking but keep going at the same time. This was so foreign.

~this is smut

“I’m going to call her,” Hyejin practically grabbed Jeongguk’s attention away from his job.

He sat behind an oakwood desk, stamping a few scrolls and contracts.

“You’re actually calling her?” he asked in disbelief.

“What do you mean? I did say I was going to, wasn’t I?”

“No, I mean…nothing. Leave it.”

And they both knew that he meant calling Haru was much easier for Hyejin, than it was for Jeongguk.

He sighed and stared at her intently as she dialed Haru’s phone number, placing the phone near her ear.

A few seconds passed, then Hyejin suddenly grinned.

“Hey, Haru. Can we talk?”

It had been 4 days since Jeongguk had yelled at Haru to stop seeking them. He hadn’t been stalking (Hyejin’s words) her either. Something about the prospect of following her was scary to him now – now, that she was in his life; part of it.

“Put the phone on speaker,” Jeongguk ordered Hyejin.

Hyejin signed a cross at him, her face contorting to that of mild annoyance.

“Hyejin-”

“Give me a moment,” She spoke into the phone and muted it.

“Jeongguk-nim, I’m not listening to orders from you right now,” She hissed-yelled at him, “I’m not doing this for you. This is a personal conversation between two women. What you did is on you. Fix it yourself.”

Not even a little help, huh? Jeongguk frowned.

“Why are you whispering?” Jeongguk disregarded her demeanour, “You muted the phone.”

Hyejin huffed and went back to her call. Jeongguk heard a few strings of sentences here and there, and was glad Hyejin hadn’t decided to stroll around while talking on the phone, astonishingly.

Following her around to eavesdrop on their conversation; how would he look doing that?

“5 works for me!”, “Sure”, “Oh, he doesn’t know”, “You don’t have to!” was what he made out from their chat.

They were meeting? At 5? Jeongguk pondered what Haru was saying on the other line.

Hyejin then hung up, and stared at her phone for a while.

“Well?” Jeongguk started.

“We’re meeting at 5 pm at a café. She’s free after a group study session there,” Hyejin said.

Strangely enough, she looked like an excited little girl when she answered.

“Did she say anything about me?”

“And what of it?” Hyejin replied, “I don’t get it, Jeongguk-nim. Why you want to look like that in front of her.”

Jeongguk paused for a moment at her choice of words.

“Look like what?”

“Like you don’t care.”

“I have no knowledge of what you speak of. Didn’t know I was coming off as you say,” he replied, nonchalantly.

“See, you’re doing it again,” Hyejin laughed pointedly.

“I’m doing what?”

“Well, anyway. At this rate, you’re never speaking to your human again. She’s not coming back to the mansion, master.”

“You could’ve called her here, Hyejin. Why go to a café? Everything would’ve gone back to normal if you did that,” Jeongguk sighed, exasperatedly.

“Normal, huh? I told you, Jeongguk-nim. I’m not doing this for you. Haru is my friend. You have to solve your own problems. If you want me to help you apologize, I’m all ears. Other than that, I’m steering clear if you’re going to bet it all on my head and think things will go back to normal with the way you act when it comes to her,” Hyejin explained, then added, “Stop acting like you’re doing her a favor by having me call her back to the mansion, boss.”

Jeongguk clicked his tongue, staring daggers at Hyejin.

“Isn’t this insubordination?” Jeongguk stated, curtly.

Hyejin stood her ground, “Who will you complain to, Jeongguk-nim? The council?”

He clicked his tongue again. Why was Hyejin getting more and more insufferable by the day?

What would he tell the council? That his subordinate wasn’t helping him apologize to a human? They would stop listening by the middle of the sentence and he would be a laughingstock. Would he throw a tantrum like that?

“Well, then. What do you want me to do?” Jeongguk asked, maintaining his ignorance.

Hyejin placed both her palms on the desk and leaned forward.

“What do you think you should do in such a situation, Jeongguk-nim? The apology is common sense. But what would you do?”

Jeongguk leaned back in his armchair, mulling over Hyejin’s words as he stared at the ceiling.

Hyejin continued, “Besides, why do you need her at the mansion, anyway? Can’t you keep your end of the deal even if she doesn’t visit the mansion?”

Jeongguk sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“You said you’ll help me apologize. I will go with you to see her at the café,” was all Jeongguk replied.

Hyejin half smiled. She knew Jeongguk was a hard nut to crack.

“I take it you need her here so you don’t have to exert yourself too much by keeping tabs on her all time?” Hyejin did the job for Jeongguk.

“Yes, that.”

Hyejin laughed, much to Jeongguk’s annoyance.

“We’re taking my car though. I hate yours,” Hyejin said.

Jeongguk promptly swiveled his chair backwards and went back to staring at the ceiling, showing his back to Hyejin.

Hyejin was still grinning at his obvious annoyance.

.

She parked the maroon convertible at a parking lot behind a park, since the café skirted an intersection, with no parking space.

Hyejin was humming the whole ride. Jeongguk had offered to drive, but she’d declined; politely so.

Having friends was new to her, even though she was a long-term member of the brotherhood. Being friends with a girl did somethings to Hyejin, Jeongguk could tell.

He smiled inwardly. She deserved it. After all the girl had been through, she deserved real friendship, outside of Bangtan. He didn’t have a problem with Haru being her close friend, even with all the indefinite possibilities that lay in front of them in the future. Even if Haru was to disappear from their lives altogether; Hyejin deserved true friendship.

They had reached there half an hour earlier. Hyejin was being insufferable again, wanting to see Haru’s friends in real-time.

“Not everyone is a stalker like you, Guk-nim,” she said with an upturned nose, “I just want to see how she interacts with her schoolmates. You can come along separately if you want.”

“You’ve been awfully disrespectful ever since the human. I think some discipline is in action once we get back,” Jeongguk uttered.

“Again, go to the council, will you?” Hyejin reminded him, “See, master. I am your subordinate. You can behave like this with me; but you can’t do that to Haru. She is human, first and foremost. And she doesn’t serve you. Not everyone can be treated this way. You can’t use your subordinate as a pawn to manipulate Haru back to the mansion. I don’t want her to find out by herself and think any less of you. All I want is for my master to hold his head high and take responsibility for his actions.”

But why; she is a human!

Jeongguk could have said so himself, but then, the things he’d done for a mere human were beyond crazy. He had no defenses for himself. His hands balled into fists at his own situation. How stupid had he been?

“I am sure my master can keep his ego aside and think of it as a normal interaction; something you do when you’ve disrespected someone instead of blatant contempt for humans.”

It wasn’t contempt or ego for Jeongguk, that much he knew. He just didn’t know how to interact with Haru. Not after concluding that his human was gorgeous. It was like he wanted her to know that he was sorry, but he didn’t want to say it himself; if that made any sense.

“It’s not ego. It’s not even pride. I just don’t know how to interact with humans, let alone women. So it’s good you’re coming along with me.”

“Makes sense,” Hyejin agreed without doubt.

Jeongguk took a peek beyond the glass exterior, his human’s head visible among the side-booths.

She’d cut her hair; trimmed a little from below. Jeongguk sucked in a breath then promptly let it go after what he saw next.

It was obvious. She was way more bubbly and joyous with her hair bouncing like that. She was flaunting, subconsciously. Jeongguk almost smirked at how much he understood her. But he stopped himself when she grinned wide.

It had been a while. His human looked well. Did she worry over him as well? Did she not want to come back to his lair? Did she want to see him again, even? His mind ran rampant with a myriad of thoughts as he watched her pull at the seams of her sweater’s arms. Was she cold, or nervous?

Sitting in front of her were two boys her age. They were probably from her class because he recognized one of them from around their school perimeter, often chatting with Haru and her classmates.

She sat beside her other friend, the one he’d met earlier but couldn’t remember the name of.

They were upbeat and chatty, passing notes and stationery between each other. Haru looked so engrossed in her friends; it almost made Jeongguk want to stay and just watch her interact with them.

Until she handed her phone to the blond dude in front of her, showing her something they both shared a laugh at; fingers brushing at the exchange.

Jeongguk blinked, and blinked again. Clenching his jaw, he turned to Hyejin. She had a huge smile plastered across her face as she looked at Haru.

She gasped, “So this is school friendship!” It would’ve been comical how Hyejin was acting like an old outsider if Jeongguk wasn’t seeing red currently.

“Let’s just sit at a table away from her. We can wait up for her to finish her studies. Her study group was going to leave around 4:30.”

“Sure,” Jeongguk pursed his lips into a thin line, resisting the urge to punch the glass wall. Hyejin was too excited for Jeongguk to ruin the mood with unneeded violence.

They sat at a booth furthest away from Haru, Hyejin peeking at her study group from time to time.

“He’s dyed his hair blond,” Jeongguk stated, rudely.

“Who?” Hyejin asked, “Oh that boy with Haru? He looks like a sweet boy. I hope he’s good friends with her.”

“You hope for unwanted things sometimes, yes, that’s a habit of yours,” Jeongguk bit the inside of his cheek after saying so.

Hyejin gave him a poker face, because she didn’t understand a word he said.

“Lighten up a little, Jeongguk-nim. We asked to meet her here. You can’t just go and talk to her with a sour mood like that.”

“How long before her friends leave?”

“Around 20 minutes or so.”

“Fine. I’ll wait.”

Hyejin smiled by herself; her master was quite an impatient one when it came to his human. How was he even planning to apologize to Haru? She had a hard time envisioning him apologizing to anyone who wasn’t from Bangtan, her included.

Had he even practiced or rehearsed what he was going to say?

Their heads turned in the study group’s direction as the other girl stood up, probably to use the restroom.

The blond boy promptly got up and replaced himself in the girl’s seat, right beside Haru.

Jeongguk almost stood up and walked over to them. Almost.

His human wouldn’t like it. It would make her think less of him, he remembered.

He stared at them, kind of hoping Haru would be the one to move away or do something to break their contact. But she simply took his phone and laughed at a few stupid pictures.

They both exchanged familiar glances and smiled while Haru swiped at his phone.

How many minutes had passed? Because it was getting more and more annoying being in their presence.

Jeongguk chanced a glance at Hyejin, who was staring at Haru intently with a small smile on her face.

Jeongguk scoffed and looked back at them. The boy had put an arm around her shoulder, held her close and snapped a picture.

Jeongguk stood up.

“I’m leaving,” he stated with no explanations.

“But Haru-”

“I just remembered I have some business to attend to. Besides, wasting time waiting for a human isn’t my cup of tea. I came here for niceties, but I guess it’s of no use here.”

“Jeongguk-nim, you said you want to apologize,” Hyejin held a solemn gaze.

“I said I’ll come along with you, not that I’d apologize,” Jeongguk corrected, “I’ll smoke out in an alley. You can drive back home.”

And he immediately walked out of the café.

.

Jeongguk slumped into his bed, throwing his coat across the bedroom floor.

Of course.

He timidly ran a hand through his hair. He kicked his shoes off, almost flailing them away from him.

Of course.

Haru was a human. A normal human.

It was obvious she was a good human. An exceptionally good human too.

There was no way.

No way it could be.

She was obviously going to be a heaven-dweller after her time on earth.

It had to be acknowledged by him. There was no use circling around this blatant fact over and over again, hoping for a different outcome.

In all the three and a half years he’d been watching her, he’d been avoiding that simple obvious fact. He threw his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes.

Did she have to do that to him? Act all familiar with that guy right when he was watching her? Four days he hadn’t seen her, and this is what she first did when he finally saw her.

“You’re so pathetic.”

He didn’t know why he said that and who he was referring to.

Was he ready to talk to her? Not really. What would he say to her, anyway?

“I am sorry for throwing you on the couch even after knowing our power dynamics. I am just an ignorant man after all.”

He had a hard time believing Haru would buy that or even consider his apology.

Taehyung knocked on his bedroom door. The dude would just smoke himself in in any corridor of his mansion whenever he wanted. Jeongguk was fine with it, because Taehyung was his brother. As long as he avoided smoking into personal rooms, he was fine with it.

“Come in.”

They had a small chat about today’s gaffe and Taehyung was already done with him.

“I’m going to change the conversation topic to something else now, Guk-ah.”

He was that done with Jeongguk.

“Now Manshik knows about her. And he saw her in person,” Taehyung reminded him.

Jeongguk gave out an airy laugh at his own stupidity.

“I’m going to smack you,” Taehyung was serious, “You could’ve asked me for information on Park Doyun. I would’ve got it for you from Yoongi-hyung himself.”

“We know how that would work hyung,” Jeongguk sighed at the end of the sentence.

“Well, it worked well; because I did speak to him, dumbass,” Taehyung said proudly and Jeongguk immediately sat up, his eyes wide.

“Hyung-”

“Uh-uh-uh,” Taehyung clicked his fingers in front of Jeongguk’s face, “You have a serious apology to make, don’t you think?”

“Sorry, hyung. Please.”

“See how easy that was. Now do this with Haru as well!” Taehyung smiled victoriously.

“It’s not that easy.” Jeongguk was getting impatient, “Please, just tell me about Doyun. I really need that information.”

Jeongguk looked at Taehyung with pleading eyes, something Taehyung wasn’t used to. Yet, as much as he wanted to explain things to his younger brother; sometimes things were harder to explain than to understand. It was like muscle memory. Someone wouldn’t learn to drive a car if you just told them about it in theory. The older man’s eyes almost seemed distant as they looked at each other.

“Haha,” Taehyung chucked dryly, “how simple yet trivial but important.”

Taehyung sighed and turned his head away, looking through the stained glass window.

Before Jeongguk could plead again, he’d already started talking.

“We have love between us, right, Jeongguk?”

Jeongguk held his stare while Taehyung still looked into the distance. He knew Taehyung was going to drop a bomb on his head that he would understand much, much later.

“Hyung, I don’t understand.”

“Just answer the question, Guk-ah.”

“I think I don’t know what love is?” he replied, scratching his head.

“What is love, from what you’ve seen?” Taehyung asked, as he finally looked at Jeongguk.

“Spending time with each other?”

“And?”

“Being there for one another. Knowing someone is always ready to help you, no matter what it is?” Jeongguk thought intently, “A familiar feeling you get when you know someone is sharing the same level of understanding as you for something?”

Taehyung waited as Jeongguk pondered more; but when no other answers came, he replied, “That’s good. So by these definitions, do we have love between us?”

“I think there’s more to it,” Jeongguk answered immediately.

“Really? I think it’s as simple as that,” Taehyung didn’t miss a beat.

“How so?”

“Think of Haru,” Taehyung tried again.

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Okay. What of it?” Jeongguk asked.

“Do you share the same characteristics of love as you do with me?”

“No. But it almost seems vaguely familiar when it’s her.”

“Do you wish for her to cover such characteristics, anytime soon?”

Jeongguk gave him a confused look. He had no idea where his brother was going with him. All he knew was that he was stepping into uncharted waters. He wanted him to stop talking but keep going at the same time. This was so foreign.

“Okay, do you feel she almost steps into a Venn diagram of these characteristics; or think she could easily encompass them if she wanted to?”

If she wanted to.

The answer to that made Jeongguk shiver in fear and uncertainty.

Did she want to?

“Yes,” Jeongguk half-whispered, half-said.

And Jeongguk suddenly ached for something like sand slipping between his fingers.

It was like he’d had this ache for eons.

Oh, he ached.

<-Previous Chapter

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More chapters here!

[westleiighmusic]

Westleiigh | Hip Hop from Kisumu, KE

Hip Hop | Kisumu, KE

[hopelessromanticdeviant]

The Rise, The Fall

Chapter 4: To Twilight or Not To Twilight

Chapter Summary:

“Okay, Jeongguk. I won’t argue with you on this one. I still want to live to be a hundred years old, you know.”

“Only 3-4% of humans live up to that age. But I don’t want to argue about it either. You’re free to have your own goals, as unrealistic as they may be.”

He was such an airhead; it was ridiculous. He simply didn’t know when to understand satire and when to joke, or have the tact to protect someone’s feelings for that matter.

Haru sighed and smiled, “Yeah well, I’m the bigger person here. I was the one who said they don’t want to argue about it.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Jeongguk laughed, and Haru noticed his little dimples forming in.

~this is smut

Hearing her say his name felt foreign, yet welcoming. It was like hearing his name in the dialect of a new language, like uttering a word repeatedly until it started to lose all meaning in your brain.

He’d have never thought that she’d be making herself comfortable in his mansion, let alone saying his name over and over whenever she’d wanted to ask him something.

It felt…different. If ‘different’ was the proper way to describe the warmth he felt in his abdomen when being in her presence – then it definitely felt different. There were always peculiar feelings involved with his human, the little enigma whose soul had no color.

When abruptly, half of the ‘name-taking’ attention was divided between him and Hyejin. Since she’d invited the girl to herself if she seemed to have any questions that needed quick, direct answers. Jeongguk and Taehyung seriously lacked the human tact and patience required to explain such complicated things to a human. Hyejin stepped up as a livesaver this time.

“It’s good to keep regular touch. We don’t know what will happen if your soul decides to dissipate again like that,” Hyejin said to Haru, “You can come visit us after your classes and make yourself comfortable in the study; if you just want to study or relax for a while.”

“That’d be great,” Haru said more to herself than Hyejin, what with the surreal way a demon was telling her, a human, to cozy up in their lair. They’d shown zero signs of hostility or slyness, reassuring her that they were mostly safe.

In a corner stood Jeongguk, a little annoyed at the fact that the girl had slowly began talking openly to Hyejin and Taehyung too. The latter had gone about his business and as per their agreement, and was going to show up after a week with an immediate plan of action.

Jeongguk slowly slid out the room without letting the women know and went into his room. He could use up this spare time to read up more about the girl’s ‘soul-no-soul’ situation.

“I’m sorry for talking like that about your feet,” Haru looked at the floor in guilt “But in my defense, I wasn’t even talking about you. I was talking about demons portrayed in the media I consume, just in general.”

“I got that after a while,” Hyejin replied, “after a few minutes of sobbing, that is,” smiling.

Haru seriously did not know if the woman in front of her was being satirical or that was just the way she talked. She stared at her for any hint of jest or spite, but couldn’t find either.

She didn’t know how to carry the conversation after that remark either.

“I’m a chimera,” Hyejin stated bluntly.

“What?” Haru asked, surprised, “like those hybrid people?”

“Yes. Except I was born out of a demon and beast mating. It’s an exceptionally rare occurrence.”

“Sounds so cool in theory,” Haru commented, “I thought only demons existed here from your realm but now you go talking about ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’.”

Hyejin chuckled at that comment.

“Yes, well…that’s just the way it is. Us demons, beasts, and spirits have to follow the rules of the mortal realm to house-in safely. Otherwise, our council of elders can throw us back to actual hell. To Mr. Satan or Lucifer, that is. Any name you might acknowledge him with.”

Haru was so relieved at having a girl to talk to. She didn’t even need to ask questions, because her questions were being answered within the conversation itself. All thanks to Hyejin; because just an hour earlier Haru felt like she was about to cry from all the confusion.

“I can’t help but ask anyway, even though I know the answer.” Haru asked, her curiosity piquing more and more. "Is Mr. Satan good-looking; like the way he is portrayed in most media series? And why are demons made to look like humans?”

“Umm, I think you already know this, but no, he’s not good-looking at all. In fact, he’s the worst-looking creature someone might ever see; you’re still a mortal who doesn't know any better. Our demon bodies have similar attributes as our previous human incarnations, reminding us of our humanity while we dwell in the current human society.”

“You know what? That makes lots of sense,” Haru spoke, “Do you all – demons, beasts, and spirits live together or do you have singular territories?”

“We live in different territories, but spirits can be found everywhere,” Haru answered, “My case is different though. I don’t belong in any of those categories.”

Hyejin looked at the floor and grimaced, having re-opened an unhealed wound all over again.

“Huh? What does that mean, Hyejin?”

“My feet, Haru. Look at them,” Hyejin’s voice was shaky as it went down an octave, “I have nobody. I’m neither a demon nor a beast.”

Hyejin looked like she was exhausted of having a conversation over and over that led to nowhere.

“Hey…Hyejin,” Haru stepped forward and slowly reached out her arms to the poor woman, and engulfed her into a warm embrace, “It’s okay. I don’t see you that way at all. You already have Jeongguk and that dude Taehyung with you. Don’t say you have nobody.”

“I know. It just…hurts when everyone decides to just bring it out around me time and time again. Besides, Jeongguk and his brotherhood are the only people that have accepted me for who I am. They don’t pay heed to those bullshit filthy remarks some other demons we clash with usually spew.”

Racism and untouchability was a recurring theme in the devil’s realm, especially in the middle world where it was difficult to properly divide their domains.

“Shhh, shh. It’s kay. I’m sure you have a good bunch of people at hand that will stick with you no matter what. Besides, now you have me too. I’d love it if we could be good friends,” Haru suggested, smiling.

“I’d love that, Haru,” Hyejin replied, wiping the lone tear from her right cheek, “I was going to say I’m used to all this and don’t really cry over it anymore. But having a human comfort me just makes me sadder.”

Hyejin was pretty sentimental for a demon, but having to fight for your existence your entire life would make anyone pass off racism with a scoff. Even so, having a human suddenly acknowledge the fact that she was bullied, made her feel pitiful.

It was as if she lost all power in front of someone who was theoretically weaker than her.

“Hey now, that hurt,” Haru stated, “I know I’m not one of you but you can still use my shoulder.”

“I know,” Hyejin gave a small smile, “I didn’t mean it like that. Besides, you don’t know the reputation humans have in our realm. Not every demon is like Jeongguk and me. You must be careful with who you decide to acknowledge.”

Haru nodded in understanding.

“So Jeongguk and his brothers are like Twilight then?” Haru asked, piquing Hyejin’s ‘humans are so weird’ senses.

“What’s a ‘Twilight’?”

“Are you serious? You don't know about Twilight? I have to let you in on so much, now that we’re friends,” Haru sighed.

Hyejin could only raise her brows in anticipation as Haru began to roll up her sleeves.

The rest of the evening was spent by Haru showing Hyejin the latest social media trends, memes, anime, and the most popular movies. She’d began learning words like ‘fandom’, ‘cult-classic’, ‘memes’, ‘Instagram’, and so much more.

“You know what? I’ll get you my Twilight Extended Edition DVD collection when I come back tomorrow,” Haru suggested, happy to have a new girl-friend.

“I’m pretty sure I can watch the series on one of those apps you recommended.”

“No no no, you have to watch the DVDs I give you. You’ll never find Haru’s secret Twilight Extended Edition anywhere else, that much I can promise.” Haru was practically jumping at wanting to show Hyejin her Twilight Extended Edition series.

Hyejin laughed at the way Haru was so excitable when it came to sharing the things she liked. It made her feel fond of Haru.

Just then, Jeongguk walked in, making a clicking noise with his automatic car keys, simultaneous with his car making a beeping noise outside at the parking area.

“It’s 7:30. Let me drop you home before it gets too late,” Jeongguk gave a firm look to Haru.

“Yes Haru, you should be back before it gets dark. Let Jeongguk-nim drop you off. I’ll be eagerly waiting for your Twilight Extended Edition movies.”

Haru chuckled again at the last part, not in jest but in fondness.

Jeongguk suddenly looked at the both of them, out-of-the-loop.

“What’s a ‘Twilight’?”

The girls immediately looked at each other and chuckled.

.

The car ride was mostly peaceful. Jeongguk’s black Mercedes barely made a sound on the road. Even the revving engine was silent.

Jeongguk took a few small glances at the girl as he drove. The girl had managed to break the ice with Hyejin, unsurprisingly. Jeongguk suddenly tensed up, being in a confined space with her all alone made him uncomfortable in many ways. Although ‘discomfort’ was not a way to describe it, somehow it was uncomfortable for him.

“Can I turn the heat on? I’m freezing,” Haru asked and reached out to press the button, her hand softly clashing with Jeongguk as he reached out at the same time, sending shivers up Haru’s spine.

“Your skin is so cold, Jeongguk,” Haru immediately covered for herself. The man beside her was excruciatingly beautiful, and having touched him suddenly made her nervous.

“Just like a Twilight,” Jeongguk clicked his tongue as he turned on the heat and put his hand back on the steering.

“They’re called vampires, Jeongguk,” Haru chuckled, easing off her previous tension, “Your signature look is pretty similar to some of them. All black and cold, sparkly white skin.”

“Sparkly white skin?” Jeongguk droned in wonder and looked at Haru.

Haru had slipped again. It was always difficult around men who were beautiful and didn’t know it. ‘Airheads’, she and Raemi called such men ‘airheads’.

“I said it in a good way,” Haru covered again, “it’s good skin. Many girls my age would kill to have skin like you, Jeongguk.”

Jeongguk looked at her in surprise.

“Ah yes, I get it. But what’s the point of all the maintenance when you live only a feeble few decades.”

Haru was seriously stunned at his choice of words, so bold and simple. How did you explain to a demon something so basic and customary without blowing up at some point?

“Just like a Twilight,” Haru muttered under her breath.

“What’s that?” Jeongguk leaned in closer to hear her better, his breath fanning over the both of them in the cold, since the heat was just turned on.

“Well, you could say we’re just trying to make the most of our ‘feeble few decades’, Jeongguk. A few decades are enough for us to find contentment and joy in the little things,” Haru explained without being too bitter about his choice of words.

Why was the air so thin suddenly? There was no reason for them to argue over who was better or show contempt to human nature.

“Are you angry?” Jeongguk asked, holding a solemn face.

This dude seriously did not know how to hold normal conversations. He just insulted her existence and was asking her if she was angry.

Definitely a Twilight, she thought. Unaware of their own space as well as others. An airheaded one at that.

“No.” It was no use explaining something so trivial and simple to a demon. She’d just have to be sated with her previous answer and not go off on tangents like ‘how could you even say something like that, you asshole!’

Jeongguk pursed his lips and tried to gauge her current emotion, going nowhere with it. He continued to drive silently.

“Who else do you have with you – in your brotherhood, I mean – how many people do you have?” Haru decided to ask the questions herself.

Jeongguks lips curved into an unnoticeable smile, happy to be able to answer her questions again.

“We’re 7 brothers, with Hyejin as my subordinate. She’s not part of the brotherhood but an equally important member.”

“Will I get to see them in person?” Haru asked, “I’m still very disgruntled about the whole situation and can’t believe it all.”

“No. I really don’t think so, Haru.”

That was the first time Jeongguk had taken her name in front of her. It was just like any other word he had spoken, but he liked uttering it nonetheless.

Haru’s eyes slightly widened when she heard her name, but then she frowned.

“Oh, why? Is there a problem?” Scared was an understatement.

“You’re in a pretty uncertain position here, Haru. Nobody except Taehyung and Hyejin know about you. If word gets out about you, we’ll be held accountable at the council. I can’t risk getting my brothers in on this. The more people who know, the riskier it will be.”

That was the first time Haru had heard him speak for so long, altogether. Hearing him explain things to her like she was a docile little being felt familiar, a trait all airheaded men shared. One of them being her own father.

“Okay, Jeongguk. I won’t argue with you on this one. I still want to live to be a hundred years old, you know.”

Jeongguk chuckled at the sudden declaration.

“Only 3-4% of humans live up to that age. But I don’t want to argue about it either. You’re free to have your own goals, as unrealistic as they may be.”

He was such an airhead; it was ridiculous. He simply didn’t know when to understand satire and when to joke, or have the tact to protect someone’s feelings for that matter.

Haru sighed and smiled, “Yeah well, I’m the bigger person here. I was the one who said they don’t want to argue about it.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Jeongguk laughed, and Haru noticed his little dimples forming in when he smiled wide enough.

She stared at him holding his expression for a bit longer, eyes traversing to the chisel of his jaw, his shapely nose, and beautiful, clear skin. She felt heat bubble up her cheeks as she tried to hold herself in her seat.

It’s a demon, she reminded herself. Not a beautiful man, but a demon.

Jeongguk parked the car in front of her house; her neighborhood had a quaint little parkway for him to position his car. A few kids were playing with a football around the block.

Haru got out of the car and hurried to the driver’s seat.

“Jeongguk, wait. I have to lend Hyejin my Twilight Extended Edition series!” she was panting as she ran inside her house, “I’ll be back in a minute, just wait for me!”

Jeongguk sighed and waited, but then decided to wait outside the car.

Abruptly, a football came hurtling his way. He swiftly kicked it into a distance before it could collide with his body.

A boy with transparent-framed glasses came running to him, annoyed.

“Hey, dewd. You just kicked our ball into Mrs. Cho’s backyard. How are we supposed to get it back? She’ll kill us if a single blade of grass is put off in her lawn.”

Jeongguk hated kids. No, he really despised them. They came after you with their slimy hands, snotty noses and looked at you as if you were responsible for everything around them.

“Yeah well, you shouldn’t have kicked your ball at me then. You can tell your Mrs. Cho to suck it.”

“Hey, that’s going over the line!” Another ball came crashing at Jeongguk which he kicked it into Mrs. Cho’s backyard, yet again…

“What the fuck, Dan-ah” Kid One spat at Kid Two, “You just saw him kick the ball at Mrs. Cho’s lawn and you threw it at him again?”

Kid Two laughed nervously, “I kinda, too, wanted to target practice at him. He really is wearing all-black. Wow. And he has a Mercedes.”

How far would Jeongguk have to punt the kids for them reach the Sun? It seemed easy enough. He could just whip his leg on one without a sound and no one would ever know Kid Two just went on a one-time trip to the Sun.

“What did you just say?” He picked both the kids by their collars and stared daggers at them.

Just then, Haru ran out the house and Jeongguk put the kids down.

“What’s going on here? Jeongguk, why were you holding my cousin hostage?” Haru asked.

“It was Sungho’s idea! He wanted to check if he could score a goal on this dude in all-black. Then this dude kicked both our balls in Mrs. Cho’s backyard,” Kid Two hurriedly said, and ran home.

“Sungho, what is this? Mom told you not to scare off visitors. You’re at it again?”

“I was just doing some target practice-”

“No excuses, Mom’s not going to listen to any of it. You better go and apologize to Mrs. Cho before she complains to mom.”

Sungho nodded while pouting his lower lip, then walked to Mrs. Cho’s house, looking back and poking his tongue out at Jeongguk while Haru wasn’t watching.

Sonofa-

“I'm sorry about my cousin," Haru said, holding out a pair of DVDs, "Here’s Twilight, Extended Edition. Please give this to Hyejin.”

Jeongguk slowly held out his hands as Haru placed the DVDs in his hands. Their fingertips brushed at the exchange, shooting rays of warmth at Jeongguk’s chest.

It felt different. All over again.

Haru peered up through her lashes at him and smiled, yet again, giving Jeongguk that distinct and unfamiliar feeling in the pits of his chest.

So…different.

Haru said her goodbyes and began walking inside when suddenly-

“Can I watch it too? The Twilight Extended Edition?” Jeongguk called from behind.

Haru’s eyes widened at first, surprised Jeongguk would even consider watching the series. Then, her lips slowly curved and a bright grin broke out from her lips, showing her pearl whites.

“You can borrow it from Hyejin after she’s watched it.”

All Jeongguk could make out from their evening together was – the different was a good kind of different. It wasn’t a problem talking to her; she wasn’t as much a nuisance that humans were reputed to be.

“Thanks, Haru,”Jeongguk took her name again to ensure he had said her name before.

“You’re welcome, Jeongguk,”Haru matched Jeongguk’s tone in emphasizing each others’ name during conversation.

It was…different.

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[ainahdiaries]

“Nobody can save you except you.”— Namjoon