I never thought that I would stoop so low. Jealousy was indeed pitiful. I could even taste the bitterness. And worse yet, it lingered in my tongue for a very long time.

                  I didn’t know how much time had passed by since I chose to stand in a comfortable corner and observed. My trained eyes solely focused on the pairing that took the center stage. One was a graceful beauty. The other possessed a deadly charm. Admittedly they looked really good together.

                  “Hey Beautiful, you want to dance?”

                  I tilted my head slightly to look at this pathetic creature who dared to offer me a dance when my mood was bad. He was not bad looking, no. His wolfish grin enhanced his manly features. He was very well built, boasting a height of 190 meters and possibly more. As a shortie, I felt small next to him.

                  “Why should I accept you?” I gave him a glare and turned my head back to the Lord.

                  “You’ve been eyeing that Demon for a long time now, while that girl he is dancing with is my best friend,” He gritted his teeth as he looked over. He gulped down a glass of beer in no time, his eyes red in anger. Oh, I knew where this was going. This man wasn’t interested in me, he was in love with the girl.

                  “You like her,” I said softly. It was amusing, yet adorable at the same time. I scooted closer to him so that the two of us could talk in hushed whispers. He didn’t seem to mind and closed in the distance between us, folding his hands as his eyebrows furrowed at the sight in front of him.

                  “Yeah, well, I guess I like her,” The man answered, almost shyly. His words sounded doubtful, but the dreamy look he had could not fool me. Though we were strangers, he struck me as the friendly and easy-going type. Perhaps knowing him a little better would not do me any harm.

“What is your name, and which clan are you from?”

“Lee Soohyuk, Warlock,” He nodded at me, before offering a glass of cocktail as a sign of blossoming friendship. “What about you?”

“Sora… Demon,” Surely there was no harm in introducing my real identity, right? Besides, he wouldn’t know much about what I did, or who I was. All he would remember after tonight was a name and a face. An idea flashed through my head, and I carefully turned around to face Soohyuk, “Say, do you want to make the Lord jealous of us?”

Soohyuk raised his eyebrow at me. My proposal didn’t receive an approval or rejection. So I smiled deviously, so unlike my pretentious ladylike character and whispered at him. The closer I looked, the more I realized that this young lad didn’t look like a warlock at all. His well-sculpted face could have passed on as a Faery. He didn’t have catlike eyes, or slit tongue. He looked almost normal, if not for the lack of ears on both sides of his head.

“How does that sound?”

He contemplated for a while and looked at me silently. It was ridiculous considering he was the first one to approach me in the first place. Soohyuk didn’t seem to hate on the idea, either. He rested his hands on the chin. I grabbed a glass of the strongest alcohol in the room and handed it to him, “Here. You probably need to man up first before we do the dance.”

“Man up?” He scoffed at me, but still took in the shot. I sensed his approval when he grabbed me by the hand and led me to the dance floor. Excitement rushed in immediately as I caught up to his steps in no time, both of us synchronizing moves to create harmony with the other.

“You are a really good dancer!” I exclaimed, clearly pleased that he was doing more of the dancing than I was. Because he was tall and well built, it was not a problem for him to lift me up and did a difficult twist in the air. My surprise turned to giddiness, as I started laughing and giggling. I spun around happily and did a little bow.

“Why, you are not so bad yourself,” Soohyuk started smiling. He looked even more pleasant with a sincere smile plastered on his face. “Oh, look. The Lord is just a few steps away. What do you want to do now?”

I bit my lips and sighed dramatically, “I don’t want to look at him anymore. The more I look, the angrier I get.” Startled, I momentarily forgot that I was supposed to pretend that I didn’t know him. I looked up at Soohyuk, but he didn’t seem to notice what was amiss. I heaved a sigh of relief and slapped myself awake.

“But…” Soohyuk wanted to say something, but a hand had rested itself on my right shoulder. Soohyuk’s words were left hanging mid air as his mouth gaped at me in shock. He bewilderedly looked at me and the hand, back and forth, before pulling his hands away from me as if I was a contaminated vessel.

Bingo! I smirked before turning back and looked at the man whose attention now focused on me solely. Finally, I thought, breathing in the scent of mint and spring. His eyes were almost furious, his lips were pressed into an attractive thin line, and I suddenly had an urge to kiss him, right here and right now.

“My Lord,” I curtsied before him and looked up. The Lord was at least a head taller than me. My face came in contact with his chest as he pushed me towards his embrace. I was so surprised that I tripped on my feet, and he had gracefully helped me up. His cold, calculating smile was by far, the scariest side of him I had ever seen.

“Who is this?” He shifted his gaze to Soohyuk, who looked at me for help. His best friend, the woman who danced with the Lord not long ago, came to his side and gave him a puzzled look. When she turned his attention to the Lord, it was apparent that this lady was completely charmed by him. I felt another wave of jealousy washing in and struggled in vain.

His Lord tightened his hold on my arms and wouldn’t let me escape, so I proceeded to introduce my new friend to him, “My Lord, this is Soohyuk of the Warlock clan. Soohyuk, my Lord.” I stopped because I was starting to choke on my words. There was a small sense of victory that he was now here by my side, even though he had broken the rules he set by himself tonight.

“My Lord, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Soohyuk bowed a bit, his face rigid and drained. He glanced at his lady friend, who was still staring at my Lord, waiting for him to continue their unfinished dance. None of us spoke. I tried to move again, but the Lord wouldn’t give in. He seemed to understand my intention as he gazed at me and smirked that bold, daring smile that managed to melt down the hearts of the ladies in the room. I swooned.

“Will you dance with me?”

My heart tightened and I looked at him in disbelief. He chose to ignore the two gaping friends and pulled me onto the dance floor swiftly. Another indescribable emotion just wired through my brain to my heart, as I clenched onto his hands as if my life was clinging on it. I smiled discreetly and let him hold me closer until our chests were touching and our feet were in sync.

“Why the sudden change, my Lord?”

He leaned in closer until he was close enough to whisper the words to my ear, “You enjoy making me jealous, my Dearest One?”

Ah. How could I not give in when he called me with that sweet nickname? I bit my red lips and blushed as I settled at the crook of his neck and rested my head there. He seemed to like it, as well, because he urged me to nuzzle closer to the nape of his neck. I left a trail of light pecks on his neck so that no one would notice.

“I like to see your protective side,” I muttered back at him. “I like to see you jealous so you would know how I felt when I saw you dancing with those ladies.”

“Oh yeah?” He challengingly asked me as he pulled away. Lord Chanyeol raised his eyebrow at me in amusement, as this was my first time being so open and frank about my feelings to him. He suggestively asked me with his low, husky voice that sent delightful shivers down my spine, “And what do you intend to do to me now?”

I let him in on my thoughts. On all the dirty little secrets I had been keeping for too long. I wanted him to kiss me, to take me, to Mark me. But first of all, I had to declare to the whole Shadow world that this Lord was mine.

“Just wait and see,” I smiled deviously and pulled him down by the collar. His lips crashed on mine, his eyes widening in surprise at my boldness. This kiss was nothing like the one we had a week ago. My second kiss was full of passion and emotion. This one was raw, full of hunger and insatiable lust.

Both of us struggled for dominance, but in the end, I let him devoured me as he wished. At first he tried to be gentle, but desire had pushed him to be impatient. He pinched my waist and I gasped, letting him in as he explored what was rightfully his. My mind was blank. My knees turned weak.

“Had enough yet?” He panted after a long minute and pulled away. We ignored the gasps from the other guests and continued to stare at each other. His eyes were burning with intensity that could set this room on fire. He didn’t care anymore, and neither did I.

I my lips wet and sultrily dropped my eyes until I was gazing at his lips, “Not even close.”

He ran his hands on my waist, before he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the staircase. I was flabbergasted at his reaction, but when I looked at the crowd, I could spot Jinki’s pitiful look from afar. The whole Shadow world was watching us, and yet, this felt like a forbidden fantasy that finally came true.

The Lord didn’t wait for us to get home. He continued to kiss me in the carriage. The sleeve of my dress had dropped to my arms, and so was my bra string. But he didn’t care. I gave in to him, and kissed him back, thinking that the night I had been waiting for my entire life had finally came.

“Is this your first time?” His eyes pierced at mine. I looked back at him, searching in the depth of his green orbs. He had found his answer before I spoke. Yes. I was a . I had been saving it for someone that I truly loved. Lord Chanyeol caressed my cheeks and pulled away. His eyes were stormy, but they were soft and gentle. “Do you trust me that much?”

Yes.

“My silly, innocent Queen,” He chuckled affectionately and lifted me up by his arms. Both of us exited the carriage and into his mansion. The ride wasn’t even that long, but it felt like a lifetime had passed by when we gazed at each other’s eyes. “How can I ever…?” His words were left unspoken as he swallowed them down. There were mixture of sadness and joy, of agony and irony, of longing and contemplation, as if he had finally came home. At last.

He gently placed me on the huge bed. “I will mark you tonight.” He kissed the scar on my neck that had healed. “I want you to understand the full consequences of this. Once I mark you, there will be no going back. Our souls will forever be bounded, by life and by death, no longer separated no matter where we go, or what we will be.”

I smiled and opened the buttons of his shirt, “Wherever you go, I will follow you. To life or to death, always by your side.” By the time I finished, one drop of tear fell onto the white sheet. That was the first time I ever looked at him fully, and I realized that until now, I had never really looked at him.

I wasn’t looking at his beauty. I wasn’t observing his eyes. I wasn’t analyzing his lips movement. I was just staring. He kissed me everywhere and I moaned. I felt feverish. I no longer felt insecure in my bareness. Because it was the way he looked at me. It was the way he had always been looking at me.

He ed, at first gently, then relentlessly.

Yes, he had been looking at me with that stare that told me his love was beyond words and beyond life. I looked at him once more, savoring the sight of his glory. All mine. I was deeply, completely, utterly in love with him. I guessed I had always known it even before I met him.

This was the man I wanted to spend my forever with.

My Lord .             .                .