I wish you all a Happy Saint Nicholas Day!! I hope all of your boots are filled with presents the moment you wake up!

My update is my present to you all since it is the only present I can offer :D It comes together with my love

Kyuhyun listened to what she was saying with a serious look on his face. He enjoyed learning new things and he was happy that everyone shared with him and he had wanted to know more about Sia and the work she did within the House, her abilities and thoughts but now he was no longer enjoying the conversation.

“So....you’ll have to leave?” he suddenly got scared at that thought.

“Next year, we will have the only guest the House allows. The next caretaker. And once I am 40, I leave. And I can never enter the House again.”

Kyuhyun did not like that idea. If knowledge was power, he wished for another power,  one that made it possible for her to stay. He was not planning to be in the House forever but it did not feel fair for her to have to train the next caretaker knowing she would be replaced. She would never enter the House again and if she grew up with them, then she wouldn’t see her friends anymore. She looked sad at the thought of leaving the House and he was pretty sure it was not his empathy ability that also made him sad. She was not only going to be replaced but had to live with knowing that and prepare her replacement and that had to be even worse than being changed. Like in company, it was one thing to get fired and another thing to have to train the person that would take the position. If getting fired was stabbing in the back, having to prepare the replacement was probably like torture.

“What?” she noticed he was staring at her with a vague expression on his face.

“Nothing...” he quickly apologized. “I just...” he hesitated, not sure if it was a safe territory to enter. “I just ...it’s sad.” He finally spoke out.

“It is...” she let out a small sigh, giving him a smile since she was grateful for his concern. “But it’s also good.” She gave him another gentle look.

“How so?” Kyuhyun wondered, not really sure how could she find something good in being forever banned of entering a place where she grew up and worked.

“You know...” she took a deep breath to put together her thoughts. “I’ve been coming to this House since I was five. I spent hours in the library learning about the creatures that exist and that no one pay attention to. About people like me, people like you, people that can do special things.”

As she began talking about a more personal aspect of her life, she stopped touching the objects and left them in front of her, turning her head and body towards him so that both of them could focus properly on the conversation they were having. It wasn’t one of those conversations she could have while doing things and half paying attention but one discussion where she was sharing things about her and that could never be something she would talk about it lightly.

“So you’ve known the guys since young.” Kyuhyun realized, now understanding why they saw her room.

“Yeah. Donghae...” she chuckled a bit before even talking about him. “He is flirty and all that even if it’s not a mandatory thing for an incubus but he has a point about family. Remember how he said he has it hard because he can’t easily have kids?” she looked at him.

“Yeah... he would have to take the child with him and he needs approval for that.” Kyuhyun confirmed remembering.

“He is right. He can’t just take the child. A child succubus or incubus needs to be trained, looked after. They are fine until they ually awake, for girls their menstruation, guys first wood, but once it happens... imagine a 11 years old girl out there, with no control over her powers, making people mad in wanting to have with her.” she spoke with a frown on her face.

“That would be disastrous. They could the kid, boy or girl. And if the succubus or incubus cannot control the power, the humans could die as well.” Kyuhyun panicked a little, processing the information she had about these creatures.

“Exactly. So they are kept confined. Learning how to deal with their power. Little by little getting to interact with people. That goes against human laws. It would be seen as child abuse. What mother would allow her child to go through that? She would ask about how he’ll train the kid. Would you agree?” Sia pursed her lips together, looking even sadder than before.

“I see what you are saying.” Kyuhyun agreed.

“It’s hard for him to form a family. Basically ...close to impossible and he is an incubus and that is supposed to be impossible so...” she pointed out, letting out a sigh. “At first I did not know that.” She continued. “Donghae played with me the most when I was a kid.”

“He did?” Kyuhyun looked surprised. “I would have imagined he waited for you to be legal before hitting on you. But since you mentioned all of the above...” he quickly added.

“I didn’t know much about incubus. He was just an uncle that played with me and gave me toys. Once I learned about how they form families and procreate and all... I understood. The succubus can just disappear without the father ever knowing but the incubus... he can’t. Donghae might reach 500 before forming a family. He might never. Or he could find a lost succubus or incubus child and take care of it.” Sia spoke slowly so that Kyuhyun could have the time to register all the information and put things together.

“I understand that.” Kyuhyun confirmed. “But what does that have to do with the House? With you?” he asked her.

“I can’t form a family when I can leave the House only for maximum 48 hours. So the House gives me the opportunity, the chance, to form one after I turn 40. It’s pretty late but it is doable.” She smiled again.

“Yeah...okay.” Kyuhyun turned to face her completely. “But you’ll never be able to enter the House.”

“I can still meet you guys...” she chuckled again, gently pushing him in the shoulder.

“I guess....” he agreed, still not fully convinced.

“Hyukjae...” she mentioned the werewolf. “Him and Sungmin sometimes took turns in looking out for me when I had to go home at late hours. Kangin always told me that if anyone bullies me, I just need to call him. I actually almost called him once since 14 years old finishing high school and preparing to graduate from college online does not bring you many friends.” She chuckled, emembering that.

“You graduated high school at 14?” Kyuhyun looked at her, surprised and amazed.

“Yes. Since I had to enter the House at 15, I had to finish my pre-college studies until then. It’s weird to graduate from high school when you are not at high school age. So I had my few bullies. But I never actually asked Kangin.” Sia made sure to make that crystal clear.

“I had my bullies too.” Kyuhyun agreed. “I never went through with getting help either.” He sympathized with her feelings.

“Leeteuk... he always had a good advice. He took care of explaining some of the things I didn’t get while Heechul was worried about my fashion. Yesung scared the out of me at first.” She laughed, remembering even more from her childhood.

“Let me guess. He just appeared next to you.” Kyuhyun joked as well.

“Yeah. Touching my philtrum. At first I thought he was trying to scare me off but realizing he was using his daily teleporting pass to do that with me, I realized he just had a weird way of playing with me. He is quiet and mostly avoiding people and conversation but if I need his help, he is there.” Sia thought about it, knowing very well who were the people and creatures she grew up with.

“I’d be sad as well if I’d die, knew how and how it felt and then came back to life.” Kyuhyun agreed.

“Siwon... we grew up together. Until his powers appeared. Then he was abandoned.” Sia hesitated a bit in sharing that information. “One of the residents was leaving so I brought him to the House and the House took him in. Ever since he was 13.”

“Seriously?” Kyuhyun was taken aback. “But I thought his room was more like a penthouse. I would have taken him for a second generation chaebol or something....” he gaped in surprise.

“He learned how to control his ability and then put it to good use. He is a shareholder in several companies and that does make him rich. He could move out at any moment and live like royalty. Shindong came about 6 years ago, Ryeowook a few years before.” Sia continued explaining.

“So you’ve known them for a really long time.” Kyuhyun smiled, starting to understand why she did not feel uncertain about leaving the House.

“Yes. At Christmas or Halloween or birthdays, he and Heechul make the candles float and things move around. Ryeowook is a chef so if any of us get sick, he makes food for us.” she recalled again, happily.

“That’s nice of him.” Kyuhyun agreed, starting to feel warm and nice hearing her story tell about her childhood.

“Even if I leave the House...” she chuckled “I have confidence I can still meet with them.”

“Won’t you miss the House?” Kyuhyun wondered.

If she had so many good memories with the creatures and people with abilities that lived in the House, she surely had memories about the House as well. All the books and the information she had learned came from within the House and she would have to forever stay away from it if she couldn’t enter the boarding house anymore. All that information, she could not read it again unless she wrote it down and took it with her. She had 16 more years and she knew that and maybe it was just enough time for her to gather everything she cared about and make sure she never forgot about them, the House or all she learned but if it would have been him... he was not sure he could have confidently waited for the day to come. Even if so much time to prepare, he would have never been ready to leave.

“I will.” She agreed, looking down and biting into her inner lower lip. “But I also want a family. A family would make me extremely happy so surely it would compensate for the loss of the House. It would replace the happiness from here with another type of happiness. It might go wrong but it might also be the best thing it could ever happen to me.” She moved her hand over his, making eye contact with him.

Yeah, she had more chances at a happy family than him. Her power was probably not even noticed by normal people. Her ability could interfere with the powers of creatures and humans with abilities but if she met a nice, non-seer, without ability man, he was probably never ever going to find out that she met angels and demons and was aware of werewolves and got fashion advice from a wizard or anything else. With him, on the other hand, it was a completely different story. It didn’t really matter who the girl was, as long as she couldn’t cancel his ability like Sia, he was going to get flashes about her, know when she is lying, knowing if his kids are lying. Even with all the control he could achieve in managing his abilities, he was still going to see things he didn’t want to see and hear what he didn’t want to hear and if he got even the slightest hint of something he should know, he was going to pry and try to find out. Marriage was supposed to have no secret and he was going to take the idea literally unless he always wore gloves and never had skin ship with a woman. Basically, the moment he kissed a woman, he was never ever going to be able to not know everything although he did not want to.

“Are you alright?”

When Kyuhyun snapped out of his thoughts, he gasped in surprise and his chin instantly went down, head leaning backwards, gulping nervously since Sia was now looking very attentively at him, her face extremely clos