Apart from the initial shock, I’m not personally bothered by walking in on two - demons having really harsh with each other. It’s not that big of a deal, on that level. Happens all the time. A dude has needs. I figure that.

It’s the utter disgust running through me that they are doing this in a school, in a classroom where children are every single day. And what really makes the taste in my mouth so vile and bitter is the inherent disloyalty that is usual amongst demons.

It’s that Jun made Joshua believe that he was special, and was lying out of his goitre.

Jun slows down when he sees me, coming to a halt, the young demon under him moving to look at me upside-down.

“Jeonghan,” Jun smiles. “Want to join us? I’m sure Hao wouldn’t mind getting .”

I fold my arms unhappily. “You want to explain what you’re doing? You want to explain this to the Head Prefect?”

Jun freezes, thinking it over. He obviously hadn’t thought about that. “Aha, I see.”

“Get your damn out of him, Jun,” I mutter tiredly.

“Can’t.” And unbelievably, Jun starts up again. “Or I’ll have a for the rest of the day, man. Sure you don’t want to join?”

I shake my head in amazement. “You make me sick!”

“Thanks,” he says again, sipping his water weakly.

“Cut it out, you don’t need to thank me a thousand times.” I gently my palm over his hair. “Are you okay?”

He gives me a weak smile and I squirm uncomfortably.

“Do I look okay?”

“You look like an angel just crapped you out on the sidewalk.”

“Very eloquent. Nice.”

“I know, right?” I give him a quick once-over, standing back so I can see his insides properly. He seems to be alright, but for the hormone imbalance, and that’s expected, I suppose. Then I just go back to his hair gently. “…I don’t know what to tell you,” I admit quietly.

“Can you just – just um, talk about something? To take my mind off it.”

I make a bit of a face at him. “What kind of cinematic release- story can I tell you to take your mind off that?”

“Just anything, please,” he mumbles, wiping sweat off his forehead.

I consider it for a long moment, because I can only think of one story, and I don’t want to tell it.

“Please?”

“Do you…” My voice goes really quiet. “Do you want to hear about how I became a demon?”

He blinks in surprise, but then nods.

Well… .

Jeonghan sits in the chair opposite me in the nurse’s office and moves to take the elastic from his hair before binding it up again out of his face. “It’s… I guess it’s been a little over 200 years, now. I say 200 ‘cause it’s easier. I don’t really remember. You forget things after a century or so. When you’re bound to the realm of demonic evil for all of forever, time tends to lose its meaning.”

It’s funny. Jeonghan’s telling a story, and when he tells it, his voice changes. It’s a little softer, a little… wispy, almost. Like he’s bringing out whispers from a past long forgotten, a time that history didn’t take notice of. He slumps over a little more in his chair, and his eyes become unfocused, as if they can see into his past.

It’s a little eerie, but very calming. He’s quiet, and Jeonghan is never quiet: there’s always a restlessness about him of devil’s eyes darting and shoulders hunching, but now he’s still as a statue.

“So… I guess, it was really simple. I was born the illegitimate son of a royal chef – born of his slave – but his own wife never bore any children, so I was the only boy. Because of that, he had to make me legitimate and give me an education. So I learned the classics, Confucius, poetry, arts, politics, history… all under the watchful eye of the madam of the house. And she wasn’t the type of lady to take things lightly. I got beaten a lot. I guess that’s what happens when your husband starts paying too much attention to somebody else, knocks her up, and decides that the baby is more important than you. Anyway.

“I was fifteen when I was chosen to be part of the Royal Guard. My fighting skills were excellent despite my age, and I was lithe enough to make an impression, but I didn’t do very well, so within a year I was training to be a royal chef like my father. That was alright, I guess. The problem was one of the royal guards I met just a few days before I left. His name was Kim Mingyu.

“He was… good-looking. To say the least. The very least. And to my eyes, the most good-looking. He was tall and slender but very strong, with dark hair and dark eyes but a handsome smile and good posture. And good teeth – good teeth were hard to come by in those days. Anyway, he was… a scallywag and a scoundrel, but the cute kind. I was young. I guess it was natural to feel that attraction.

“In his defence, he did well in holding off. He kept reminding me I was very young, and that he wasn’t interested in me, and kept sending me away. But… I wasn’t that kind of kid, back then. I was stubborn and foolish and I was just a child. Just a very, very young child. I didn’t know anything. It’s actually kind of hilarious how little I knew back then. About me, about the world, about the way things worked… eventually, Mingyu gave in. I was so infatuated with him. I wanted to watch him the whole day, if I could. Watch him smile and laugh… listen to him talk… I was really, really in love with him. And I guessed he was in love with me, too.

“When I was seventeen I got my Ovo. I expected it to say Kim Mingyu. I was so sure, you know? You just know, when you see somebody and it clicks. But… his name never showed up on my wrist. It was somebody else entirely. When I asked him… I guess it was the first time I noticed he didn’t have one.

“He told me like he expected me to leave him. That he was a demon, a denizen of hell; always was, and always had been. That that was why he didn’t want me falling in love with him. And I was… kind of okay with it. I mean… we were living in difficult times back then, especially when you live in a palace – sorcery and intrigue aren’t to be taken lightly, you know? But