The sky shifted from yellow sunshine to large splashes of orange and red until even they started dying out. The sun hadn’t set. Not yet. Sky a bit cloudy. The inside of the room was dark. It was considered to be ominous for a room to be kept unlighted at the eve of dusk. But Jung Taekwoon never gave a damn to those superstitions anyway. His logic to the reason of this unreasonable darkness was pretty simple. He felt lazy to get up from the chair and light up the bulb, therefore the room was still pitch black. He was also a bit perturbed at that moment.

And the lad that sat before him was the reason for this troubled Taekwoon.

He was covered in black from head to toe, wearing a rather obnoxious looking huge grim reaper hat on his head, making it almost impossible to see the face beneath it.  Although the lad had recently took that hat off to probably talk to him normally, the view had still left him quite puzzled. Because he couldn’t quite remember when the last time was that he had seen such a beautiful man. Even in this black atmosphere, he was beautiful.

Tanned skin. Small circular face. Lips pretty enough to be even casted for a lipstick commercial. It was rare to see men with such pretty lips. Eyes expressive, where the chocolate orbs sparkled with competitiveness. Eyelashes large enough to be compared to any female model.  But the eye lashes could have been fake. These days even males wore fake eyelashes. He had seen it on the television. The man had long neck. Longer than any usual man, Taekwoon included. There were a few moles on his throat. Although those could be fake as well, to intensify his beauty. Taekwoon couldn’t tell in the dark.

 “I’m Hakyeon. Cha Hakyeon.”

Jung Taekwoon repeated the name quite a few times in his own mind- Hakyeon, Hakyeon- rather subconsciously. His eye brow slightly furrowed. Why did he repeat his name? He couldn’t comprehend. Was he trying to remember his name? Why did he do that? Was it because of that latter’s unexpected beauty? If some ugly faced person were to tell his name to him, would he still do that?

  “Hakyeon, have you eaten lunch?”

  “No.”

  “It would be dinner time soon. I don’t have any dinner preparation made at my home.”

  “There is still water, right? You could at least offer me a glass of water, right?”

A soft giggle bubbled up from his throat. It was not an everyday incident for a pretty lad to also inherit a pretty laughter. Either it was their teeth which decreased the beauty or their smile being too wide which make it look horrifying. If all is perfect, then you could have found the sound of that smile being highly disturbing. Nature does not offer you with every blessing that there is on earth. But nature had disobeyed that law to bestoweth all its perfection upon him. His smile was beautiful. Even after his giggle was long over, his eyes still held onto that last trace of it. It was not a usual sight for Taekwoon.

Jung Taekwoon felt an uneasy pinch somewhere in his stomach. The lad had not eaten anything yet, and neither did Taekwoon have anything rather than water in his house to offer him.

  "Can I call you Taekwoonie?" 

  "Yes, you can…" 

  "Taekwoonie, don’t worry about my dinner. I believe it could somehow be managed." 

  "How?" 

  "I dunno. I’ve noticed it quite a few number of times, whenever I am hungry someone brings me food.     Even if that person is a total stranger, he will bring it for me." 

Taekwoon straightened up on his chair, eyes fixed on the lad’s eyes.

  "Hakyeon, what you are saying does not give any logical explanation." 

A chuckle left his lips, a bit deep in tone,

  "I talked about belief not logic though…”

 " Why don’t you just sit? I’ll go out to buy something…”

  "No. Just keep on sitting the way you are. You don’t have to go anywhere.”

Teakwoon stared at him, he was now slightly swinging back and forth now. He was sitting on a wooden chair, but judging his swing, it seemed as if he were to sit on a rocking chair. A teenage girl swinging like that could be appealing for some, but he was not a teenage girl. So for him it looked rather disturbing.

 "Hakyeon!" 

 "Yes?" 

 "You haven’t yet told me why you came here." 

 "I will…. After the sun sets completely." 

 "Will you have a problem if I lit up a cigarette?" 

 "Surely not." 

Placing the cigarette between his lips he continued- "If we were in North Pole, and you waited for that desirable sunset, I do not think you could have ever said whatever you want to say to me. There for six months is straight day and the other six month goes by being night." 

  "But we are not in South Pole now. We can think of it, when we go there. Do you want to have some coffee? Can I make you a cup of coffee? Those who smoke a lot prefers to drink champagne along with it. In some countries of South Asia they prefer to drink tea with it. But looking at your house, I haven’t noticed any kind of empty bottle of wine or champagne. And you seem like the type to prefer coffee more. That’s why I asked. If you want I could go ahead and make a cup of coffee for you."

He didn’t wait for Taekwoon’s approval, rather he stood up rather casually and wandered his eyes all around the room once,

 " Where is the kitchen?"

Taekwoon quickly came to some verdict. The traits that helped him to reach that conclusion were that the guy went to the kitchen barefooted. The slippers were left beside the chair. It meant that the lad walks around bare footed in his own house. Even in this unknown house he couldn’t abandon that habit of his, and he strode towards the kitchen bare footed. The floors of the house where he walks around like that should be utterly dust free, either marbled floor or the whole house covered with wall to wall carpet.

The lad was also swaying back and fro on a wooden chair. Probably because he had a rocking chair at his home. He spends a lot of his time on there. The habit is too strong to die down that easily.

The time when he stood up to leave, a light overwhelming aroma filled the room. He knew the scent. It was a perfume of a rich brand. He couldn’t recall the name.

The lad didn’t wait for his approval to go to his kitchen. He never waits for anyone’s approval. He is the owner of everything, doesn’t matter wherever he goes. He is not used to getting permission.

Taekwoon closed his eyes. Trying to connect the small dots to make a bigger picture. That was not a complex job for him.

The lad Haekyeon was definitely a respected rich character of his society, so he had definitely brought a car with him. And his car was most probably waiting for him outside. When it would be dinner time, the driver was most probably to bring him his food. He was sure of it. That is why he had not bothered himself by any of these thoughts.

  "Taekwoonie, your coffee is ready." 

Taekwoon took the mug in his hand.

  "I’ll send some people tomorrow. They would come and clean the kitchen- Hakyeon announced in a disgusted tone." 

  "I’ve never seen such a dirty kitchen in my whole life- he shuddered." 

He sat in his previous chair, viewing his watch.

  "Your driver is waiting with your dinner… you told him to bring it in when the sun sets. Am I correct?" 

  "Yes" - he grinned.

  "You spend hours in your house on your rocking chair. Am I correct on this term?" 

  "Woo~ Yes!"  - his eyes formed crescent while his grin got wider.

  "You are much more wiser than what I had thought of you to be. You are definitely the one to be able to help me. I’m not asking you to sympathize with me though. I do not ask for anyone’s sympathy other than the almighties. I’ll give you a proper award for this job."

 " You don’t take help from anyone else other than the lord?"

 " No."

 " But, he never helps one directly. He always conveys the help by someone. If you are sick you will go to doctor. If the almighty then wants to cure you, you will get the proper treatment and you will be healed."

 " WOW!" - he clapped, mouth forming a small ‘o’-" you are really good at debate. Therefore I would choose not to argue with you. What I am saying mainly is that I will give you the proper award for this job."

 " And that is?"

 " My apartment in Gangnam. It is a four bedroom apartment. I’ll give the apartment to you."

Taekwoon stared straight into his eyes. The latter also did the same. Taekwoon was 0nce again baffled by the man. It was his first time to meet a man who had not feared his eyes, rather he kept on staring back at him. No sign of blinking whatsoever. He was really good at this game, Taekwoon thought.

Hakyeon’s driver entered with two black lunch boxes in his hand. Probably containing his dinner.

The sun finally went down and he placed the boxes on his chair. Unlike the kitchen incident, he did not ask for the switches to light up the room. He straight went to it. Taekwoon realized it wasn’t the first time he came here. He came here before, probably to do enough inquiry on him.

There was no hesitation in his behavior. He knew what he was doing, he was confident about it. It didn’t seem like he had learned to be that confident about himself. He had inherited it since his birth.

Hakyeon was holding a chopstick in his hand, and munching his food with grave courtesy.  Taekwoon had lit up another cigarette.

   "So, have you agreed to take on my proposal?" 

The smile never left his face.

  "Which one? Solving mystery for your apartment?" 

  "Yup!" 

He nodded strongly.

  "I believe you have come here knowing all about me. I do not like to solve mysteries that much. Nature loves to preserve the unsolved. She doesn’t like it when the unsolved finds its solution."  \

He exhaled a long sigh, loud enough to be heard before replying.

 " Whether nature likes it or not. You do. And I have come to ask your help, not natures. So…help me."

 " Why should I?"

  " You will help me for yourself. You enjoy solving mystery. The more confusing the story is, the greater pleasure you receive. Currently, you have nothing better to do. What you do is just sit on that chair of yours and smoke. Your life is lacking all kinds of thrills that is there to lack in a normal human’s life. So by solving this, you will, even if it is for a brief moment, you will be freed from this boredom of yours. Even that is expensive, don’t you agree?"

 " Yes, I do…"

 " Your lifespan is quite the same as me, but look around you. Living in a rented apartment with one room. You probably do not even have any air conditioning system around here either. Even in winter you have to suffer a lot. Now if you own an amazing apartment, where you will get an amazing air conditioning system, don’t you think that would be better?"

  " This is still good enough."

 " Okay!"- he released another sigh of defeat-" If I were to be your best friend at this moment instead of a stranger and came here asking for help while crying, would you still refuse to help him?"

  " You are not crying." 

  " If you want I can do that as well.  I’m good at that. Do you want me to show it to you?"

His tears were already welling up as they threatened to fall over. Taekwoon felt a bit alarmed seeing the tears forming so quickly. So he accepted defeat silently.

  " Tell me the problem."

  " Thanks! "– His eyes immediately began to sparkle with satisfaction. He wiped off those tears with the heels of his hand. Taekwoon was really appalled at the latter’s behavior.

  "It’s all written in here" - he said as he brought out a brown paper bagfrom his bag.

 " I’m leaving this file to you. I have given my phone number in there. When you have finished reading it, just give me a call. But, if you find something confusing in this story then also make sure to inform me of it. I’ll run here to remove that confusion of yours"- He smiled brightly.

His driver entered the room to take away the leftovers.

  "You don’t have good silverware or nice mugs, cups in here. The next time I come, I’ll bring a new set." 

Taekwoon took the file in his hand. It almost contained a hundred pages. The whole writing was in English. Headline read-

                    Autobiography of an unknown boy.

Hakyeon blushed profusely- I copied the title from someone else. An Indian writer called Nirad Singh has a book named- Autobiography of an unknown Indian. I copied it from him.

     "Did you study in English?" 

     "No… I studied in Chemistry. I got a Ph.D. on Chemistry from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. I can understand that you are quite shocked. You thought I was a lot younger, didn’t you? But I’m 27, the same age as you. Now I want to shock you a little more. Wanna see?"

    " Go on."

   " I also wanna smoke. If you permit me that is."

  " Hm."

He shoved his hand in his pocket and brought out a packet of smoke. He also took out a lighter, and lit the smoke in a casual way.

Taekwoon didn’t get any shock from seeing him doing that. He never smoked. He did it to surprise him. The package was new. He didn’t even know how to light the cigarette up properly. And the moment the smoke hit his lungs he started to cough. His eyes red in high.

   "Are you angry at me for smoking?" 

   "No…" 

   "Annoyed?" 

   "No…" 

   "Please don’t be mad. Don’t be annoyed either. Albeit I brought this lighter and cigarette for you but yet I didn’t feel like missing the chance of surprising you." 

He was almost pouting. Taekwoon looked at him with no change of expression in his feature. The latter was doing everything that he as a man should not do at that moment. But rather than disturbing he found it quite amusing and enjoyable at the same time.

   "Can I leave now?" 

   "Leave." 

  " You better promise to start reading it from tonight!" 

Taekwoon just nodded at his demand.

He kept on standing. Taekwoon could see no trace of him even moving a muscle.

   "Anything else?" -Taekwoon finally said.

   "You are rather different from what I had imagined you to be…." 

Taekwoon perked his eye brow- what had you imagined?

     "Prideful, scary……..angry……I never thought that you would agree this easily. Thanks……  Thanks a lot."       

++++++++++++

Taekwoon looked over the autobiography. It was written using too many heavy words. If he were to put it in simple words the autobiography actually were to sound something like this:

The autobiography:

Father had named me as Methane. I was Methane and my little sister was Ethane.

In my childhood, if someone were to ask us our name there would always be a fun reaction of it. The person would become rather confused by knowing our name and would be confused some more and say- I’ve never heard this kind of name before. What is the meaning of your names?

I used to reply with all my childish energy to explain my name to that person that - Methane is Hydrocarbon. Its chemical formula is CH₄. And my little sister is Ethane. Ethane’s chemical formula was CH₃-CH₃.

That person would again receive another shock, bringing all the delight on my childish amusement,

Who gave you these weird name?

My father did. He is a chemistry teacher.

My father, his name is Jaehwan. Not too large for a man, but not too short either. He is taller than me however quite slim in form though. He has a rather huge nose which would be the first thing to notice when your eyes fall on him. He looked really cute. Adorable. Lovable.

When he talked, he sounded like a real kid. Students used to call him cupid.

My little sister was quite sassy for her own pretty face. It was not easy to catch her actual sassy nature only by looking at her. One day she had called father as Daddy Cupid. Father only looked at her for a while back then, not even blinking once. After a few minutes he finally managed to utter- "what are you saying my daughter?" 

And then Ethane’s eyes teared up and she cried repeating the same sentence, “I’ll never say it again” over and over again. Father had to pat on her head for quite a while just to calm her down.

My cupid father was a great man. Not only great, he was better than a great man. He used to love both of us siblings a lot. There are some human in this world who are born with some noble virtue such as love and affection but failed to show it. He was not one of them. His love was visible in every movement of his body. He never failed to express it. Even after mother’s death he never remarried. Only thinking that we would be hurt.

He was never the type to have blind faith in religion before. But after the death of my mother, he surprisingly got interested in it. Going to church, reading the bible every day, doing unknown rituals at dead night, all started gradually. His new nickname turned into a cupid nun. Why nun though…it still remained a mystery to me.

Too much faith in religion undoubtedly brought some changes upon him. He started suffering from OCD. Even after bathing he would feel that the floor that he had stepped on was unclean. So he again washed the whole floor and took another bath again. This disease was a dangerous illness. His illness increased as days passed by. And along with that added another illness- seeing-the-Lucifer disease. From time to time he started seeing the Lucifer around our house. He started saying that Lucifer had chosen this house on his own account. And his only motive was to keep father away from doing religious activities.

One day, after the sun had already set to the west he called us. Both of us were shocked at the sudden call, because after the sun set, it was rare for us to even see his face, he would just sit in his room and do something. We couldn’t tell.

We went to sit before him. He sat on a rug. We sat a little further from him, on the floor. All the windows and doors were closed, darkness ensued inside of the room as if to prove that there was no living being still breathing in there. A small candle burning before father. He started talking, carefully as if someone would hear, voice barely above whisper-

"I’ve called you to tell you something, my children. Please listen to it carefully. Lucifer, the Satan has taken its place in this house, I have already met him a few times by now. I have also notified you of this. And I believe you will soon meet him as well. But I do not wish for you to be scared, and that is why I have called you here."

Ethane replied while grinning widely, -" father, if I were to meet Lucifer then what should I call him? Lucifer oppa?"

Father looked at her with incredulity hearing her words. There was no change of expression on Ethane’s face though, she yet kept that smile painted on her face, dimples smiling along with it.

" Which class do you read in my daughter?" - Father asked.

" High school first year." 

"A girl who is in high school is rather old enough I believe. Is it okay for her to always make fun of everything?" 

"No father." 

"Do you know who Lucifer is?" 

"Yes father. He is also known as Satan." 

Father interrupted, "no. he is not completely a Satan." 

Ethane was about to say something ridiculous again, but I squinted at her, signaling for her to stop. Father continued, "we have to be careful. Lucifer always hurts human in his most weak spot. He is not able to do any harm to me. But he will try to hurt you to harm me. Because you both are somewhat a part of my own beating heart. And that is my weak spot." 

Before father could even finish his talking, Ethane chimed in,

" Father can I leave? I have something important to do!"

" What?"

" I need to play games with my friends. It is the time we start playing."

" What do you play in there?"

" Just battle and etcetera." 

"Why do you need to play Etcetera?" 

"I love playing these etcetra father. I mean what can I do father? After all I myself is just an etcetra type of girl." 

Father voice deepened as he replied stonily, "Okay. Leave." 

Ethane immediately stood up and left the room. Father looked at me and said,

"You can leave as well, son." 

Slowly Ethane was getting too much engrossed in unnecessary stuffs. She had even started smoking. Every night before going to sleep she would raise the cigarette before me and say- "oppa, wanna try? Just once! Why are you looking at me like that? If olders can do it than high schoolers can as well. If you want, you can tell father as well. I don’t care. What could he do? Beat me up and lock me up in my room? I couldn’t care less about that."

The fact that she didn’t care about anything at all was proven to me after only a few days when she took out a packet containing some powder like content from her bag. And after that a can possibly containing beer.

" Oppa…choose… which one?"

What are those? - "I asked eyeing both of the things in her small hands." 

"This is beer," - she said shaking the can of the said content and then shook the packet of the powder - "and this is heroine." 

I stared at her in utter disbelief, it was obvious of what use both of the said things were but I really didn’t want to think of my sister actually using them nor did I understand why she would use them.

"You are drinking and taking drugs! Even I’m not old enough to drink. Why would you?" 

"Hmm…so what? It’s not like I’m drinking every day. Neither am I taking drugs. I just wanna try them one time to know how it feels like. And as for drinking, in Europe America people start drinking even from a younger age." 

"Who gave you these?" 

"Someone…what will you do with a name?" 

I looked at her bewildered, as she kept dangling her legs from the edge of the bed. Her wide smile shining on her face, along with the dimples. I thought to myself, that maybe father was right. Lucifer must have really started working amongst us siblings.

It was a must duty for me to notify father about her activities. But I didn’t for some unknown reason. Maybe Lucifer had something to do with it as well.

It was after six more month I believe. During the fall. It was raining cats and dogs outside. Us, two siblings had just returned home after getting soaked to the bone in the rain. We were ruffling our hair with a towel and then Ethane told me something ridiculous, "oppa, if I have a daughter then what should I name her as? Chemistry related name. Do you like the name Propane? What if it’s a boy? Why don’t you go and ask father!" 

"First get married. Then have a child, and then I can ask it from father,"  I replied to my sister jokingly, thinking it was just another of her little childish questions. She was still younger than me after all.

"But I need to know now." 

"Why? Why now?" -I realized my body suddenly got stung by an unwelcoming high tension, but I yet tried to keep my tone normal.

"I need to know now because I have a child in my womb" - she declared firmly, and I failed to see any lie in her eyes. I froze.

"Don’t joke around." 

"I’m not. Go and tell father, right now!" 

"Binnie, everything has its limit" -  my tone slightly above the usual. Binnie was a name that I used to call her by when she did something wrong. It was maybe because I didn’t want to believe my little sister Ethane could ever do something wrong, so I tried to blame it on the other person called Binnie that I had created. Silly right?

"Who told you that lie? Does the universe have a limit? No. it doesn’t. There is no limit to a human’s love for someone. Neither does hate has its limit. Even pride can’t be bounded by a limit." 

"Stop! Just stop it Binnie!"  - I cried.

"No I won’t! Oppa, I need a name! If father doesn’t choose a name then I’ll go and ask Lucifer. Won’t that be amazing? If Lucifer gives me a name like Mucifer for my child by matching it with his name, will that be great? Won’t people laugh?" 

+++++++++++++++++

Father’s room was again dark. The doors and windows once again closed. The light of the room was also turned off. But there was a candle burning beside the bible. Father was sitting with a rosary in his hand. He turned to me, just when I entered the room. Lighting up another candle between us, so that we could see each other’s face, he started- "the hard truth that you have come here to tell me, say it quickly. I feel like I know what you are about to say. If you are having trouble with the candle light, then I can blow it off as well." 

His voice still had an adorable tone, when he was saying that he knew about the harsh truth that I was about to say? I doubted it.

"No need to blow out the candle…. It’s somewhat soothing…"

He didn’t put his rosary down, neither did he look at me. He kept his eyes fixed on the candle, a small shadow flickered on his face.

I finished my talking. There was no difference in his expression, all he did was ask if the dinner was ready.

I looked up to with great incredulity, after hearing such a daring truth I didn’t think there was any father in this world who could actually ask for dinner’s preparation.

"Do you really want to know about dinner now?" - I asked rather loudly, anger lacing each word.

"I’m rather hungry. I thought maybe you are as well." 

"Will you say anything about Ethane or shall I leave? Do you need some time to think about it?" 

"My daughter does not have any fault my son… it’s all the work of Lucifer. She needs to be saved from the hands of the Lucifer. She needs to bathe in holy water. I do not believe he will do it easily. You have to-" 

I raised my hand in exasperation to stop him-" I think you cannot see the actual problem here father. Ethane said- she has a child in her womb. What are you going to do about that?"

" What should I do?"-he asked.

" I dunno father! This topic is too much complex for even me to understand" - I didn’t even know when my voice had became that thick.

"The boy who did this to Ethane, bring his address and name to me. I will surely marry her off with him. If needed I will get on my knees, beg just to get him to agree." 

"The boy who did this, I don’t believe he is a good one father. Will you really marry my sister off with him?" 

"Yes. I have to. It will save her dignity. Dignity is a huge deal my son. You just bring me the address and name. And listen, if the dinner is prepared, then throw it away. We would fast today in the name of almighty." 

He blew out the candle, and a daring silence ensued across the room. I walked over to Ethane’s room

Ethane was in her casual mood. Holding a kitkat in her hand, she dangled her legs from the edge of her bed. The moment I entered the room she said-" oppa! I downloaded a new horror game today. Silent Hill: the shattered memories Wanna play together?" 

"No. I have talks with you" - I replied.

"We can talk while playing the game. Wanna eat this chocolate?" 

"Father has asked for the boy’s address and name." 

"Which boy?" 

"The one with whom you did this magnificent piece of work, that boy." 

"Which magnificent work?" 

"Listen Binnie! Don’t kid around with me now. You know very well about what you have done!"  - My patience was at its limit.

Ethane started giggling. Which soon escalated into a full volume laughter and she rolled on the bed in an attempt to cease it. I found myself rather confused." Why are you laughing?"

" It was fun to make you a fool, that’s why. Oppa! I haven’t done anything with anybody. I just wanted to see what reaction you would give me by hearing this complex matter, and what would my father even say on this" - her words barely understandable through her laughter. I remained dumbfounded.

"You made this story up?" 

"Yup!" -she finally sat down, wiping a drop of tear from the corner of her eyes- so what did our Cupid nun say? Did he faint?

"I let out a deep exhale that I did not know that I was holding in. She again asked in a cheery voice, now, will you play with me." 

"Hmm…. I think so..." 

"Thanks! It’s not fun to play scary games alone I think. It’s fun if someone is watching. And seeing you play would be amazing, considering how jittery you are." 

I groaned, a grumble from the base of my throat- "I’ll go and tell father about what a play have you played on us. Tch.." 

"Please do so! And do tell me what cupid nun does after hearing this happy news." 

I again entered his room. Lighting up a candle I went to sit beside him. I was quite shocked to see his feature though. Face pale as if he had seen a ghost somewhere, droplets of sweat formed on his forehead, his body trembling a bit, and lips quivering probably because he was reciting something of Bible. He signaled me to keep quiet.

I waited till he stopped reading and looked at me, his eyes rather filled with an unknown kind of sorrow, his lips parted, "my son…. I just had a conversation with Lucifer. He told me that, my daughter would deny this story now. She would act as if she was joking around, pretend to lie, but that story is real." 

"When did you talk to Lucifer?" 

"Right after you left my room. Did Ethane tell you that it was all a lie?" 

"Yes…" 

"Do not believe her words…" 

"And I am to believe a Satan?" - I retorted back.

"In this case we have to. Satan Lucifer always mixes lies with the truth. He does it in a way, that nobody can ever differ the lies from the truth." 

"Even humans do that father…" 

"They do. But their attempts somehow fails one time. It’s almost like oil and water, you can always see the two different layers. But you can never distinct milk from water. Once they are mixed, they are joined at the hip, and that is what Lucifer is capable of doing."

" One drop of lemon juice is all it takes to separate the water and milk from each other father"- I reminded him, thinking perhaps he had forgotten it.

"Not everyone has that lemon juice my son. Enough, I do not want to go on an argument with you about this topic. I do not have that kind of energy within me now. You were to play games with your sister, go and do that." 

"Did Lucifer informed you about us playing games" - I asked curtly.

"Yes." 

"Did he tell you what type of game? Name perhaps?"  – I possibly couldn’t believe that, could I now?

"He didn’t give any name, just said that it is supposed to be a scary game." 

Without giving me any further chance of asking any sorts of questions he stood up, blowing the candle out before me.

We didn’t even realize that it was 2:00 am in the night when we finished playing. Fixing the dinner table I went to call on father. His door shut from the inside, even after I had knocked for quite a times there was no sign of him opening that door.

I looked over at Ethane, she hadn’t eaten a single bite, chopsticks muffling with the rice in the bowl.

"What’s wrong? Won’t you eat?"  - I asked, trying to sound as much as casual as I could.

"I feel like vomiting oppa. These days whenever the smell of food reaches my nose, I feel like puking"  – She replied.

I kept staring at her, unable to find any words. She stood up from the chair, but didn’t leave. She just stood there, holding the chair with one hand and other on occupied in playing with her hair strands.

"Do you have anything else to say?"  – I asked just to make sure, if there was still anything left to say at all.

"Yes…. Before playing the game, the story that I said was fake was real oppa. I really am pregnant. I did a test and it came out positive." 

I didn’t say anything. Well more like I couldn’t. Was it fear or was it surprise that was evident in my eyes at that time, I couldn’t tell. But for the first time ever I had noticed regret in her eyes.

Ethane continued –" I know, that you guys would want to marry me off with that boy. But that is not possible." 

"Why?"  - My voice barely above whisper.

" ‘Why’ that is something that I cannot tell you. There is no explanation for everything in this world." 

That was the last thing that she had told me that day. And a rapid terror grasped me, my heart beating fast making my body jerk, I found a shiver run down my spine, finding it hard to breathe. Everything that happened rather seemed so surreal to me as I just realized that misfortune was yet to visit our small home before it torn apart our small family for real.

[the end of chap 1]

Taekwoon closed the file, Lit up a cigarette, Walked up to the kitchen to put a kettle on the stove to boil water. The night was still not that deep. Perhaps 9’o clock. At 9:30 pm his dinner would arrive. Fried chicken. That is all he gets for dinner, sometimes beer comes along with it. But he doesn’t enjoy that, he was never a drinker, and he did not wish to be one. The chicken always held the main spot. It was not as if he had a maid or slave. He just made some arrangement with the nearest chicken place owner. The dinner is always on them. He enjoys their food. Taekwoon thinks that they make prepare his food with special care. Well he had a reason to think like that though. The reason was the owner, Han Sanghyuk. He would always bring the food by himself and only leave after he had done eating. He gossips with Taekwoon about a lot of various topic with severe consideration. There was no flow in these chats. Each day a different topic. Like yesterday’s topic was – "why are all bat use echolocation to find food." 

Taekwoon replied that, not all bat do that. In fact some don’t even use it. There are bats who can see.

Sanhyuk snorted back- "Taekwoon-sshi, I know you are a very intelligent man, but in my whole life I have never seen a bat being able to see. So how could you say such an illogical statement?" 

Taekwoon didn’t bother quarrelling with him. You could never make a blind believer see the light of truth. Sanhyuk was fond of him a lot. He just could not insult that fondness for such a trivial matter now, could he?

Sanghyuk had gifted him a mobile set last week. It was not as if he had brought a new set from the market and gifted it to him him though. One of his customers had left his mobile at the store so he had changed the number and brought that phone for Taekwoon as a gift.

Taekwoon asked- "what if the customer returns to get his phone back?" 

"He left it in the morning, and then returned in the afternoon to get it back! We said that we haven’t found anything like that" - Sanhyuk giggled. There was still a childishness working inside of him that betrayed his manly sharp appearance.

"Is it right to do this?" 

"Of course it is! You won’t walk around carefully! Won’t keep your stuffs in its place, and would expect others to keep it healthy for you!" 

"I won’t keep it-"  Taekwoon sounded deflated.

"Why won’t you? You didn’t steal it. I’m giving this to you as a present." 

"I am in no need of a mobile." 

"Of course you do! It is the realm of technology! I’m giving you as a little brother. And you must keep it." 

Taekwoon didn’t want to get into any further trouble so he kept it. But he yet had to use it, because he never truly felt the need of.

But he could really use it now. He needed to ask a few questions to the lad named Cha Hakyeon.

1. His father Jaehwan, if is he still alive or not.
2. If there was anyone else living in that house except for those two siblings and their father or not.
3. The whole thing that Hakyeon had written, was it true or not. His writing style reminded him of fiction. A fiction writer, always have a habit of mixing various types of color even when he is writing the truth. And it becomes hard to differentiate the black and white from the mixture of all shades.

Lucifer had a chat with their father, told him that they were to play a scary game within moments is undoubtedly a lie. Whether it was Jaehwan who lied at that time, or Hakyeon lied to make his writing a bit more mysterious.

He would have asked Jaehwan another question if he could. He once said that Lucifer ad Satan are different and then once called Lucifer the Satan. Did he really say it in his own subconscious or was it just something that Hakyeon had used to express his words. He needed to know that.

Hakyeon’s description seemed a bit sour to him as well. He was moderately certain that the time Hakyeon was writing about, Silent Hill: the shattered memories was not released by then. Jung Taekwoon does not play games. But Sanghyuk once forcefully made him play this game, because it plays with people’s nerves. And according to Sanghyuk, Taekwoon also has an amazing ability to get on people’s nerves. Taekwoon could not tell if that was a compliment or insult though.

Hakyeon said to call him if he had any question. The stolen phone that Taekwoon had in his possession, morally speaking he could not bring himself up to use it. Albeit he did not start reading the second chapter either. Let the problems of first chapter get solved first, and then he could start with the second. He was waiting for Cha Hakyeon.

++++++++++++++++++

A middle aged man was cleaning the kitchen. Jung Taekwoon could hear the sound of broom running across the floor, he could hear the water running, the stinking smell of phenyl across his face. Even his bedroom was awarded with a lot of change. New bed sheet, new pillows. Everything was rearranged nicely, properly. All his books have been transferred in the new bookshelf. The previous broken bookshelf have been kept in the balcony for now. Probably going to the junkyard from there.

A new side table have been placed beside Taekwoon’s bed. A table lamp on it, and an alarm clock beside the table lamp, followed by a crystalized ashtray.

The place where a few wooden chair was placed for guests to come and sit down, perhaps have faced the most daring change according to him. Floor covered with a red colored carpet, two comfy couch facing each other. And before them was an expensive rocking chair. Hakyeon was sitting on it then. He wore a red turtleneck with grey jeans. He was giving all the orders by swaying on that rocking chair. Taekwoon was sitting before him with a coffee mug in his hand filled to its brim, with great amusement in his eyes as he looked at his place being reconstructed.

Other than the middle aged man, Hakyeon also brought in a teenage boy of 11-13 years old. He was very active. Name Wonshik. Taekwoon had thought that he couldn’t talk. He hasn’t seen him utter a single word by then.

"Can you leave this house for one day?" - Hakyeon asked.

"Why?" - saying that Taekwoon wasn’t taken aback by the sudden request would be a lie.

"I am going to distemper your house. These old curtains have to be replaced, also there are some jobs that needs to be done with the doors and windows…" 

"Ow… I see…" - Taekwoon nodded.

"After giving this a lot of thought- Hakyeon stood up to stand next to a window, finger running on the wooden frame, - I realized that even if I do give you a new apartment, you won’t go there. You would prefer to stay in this one roomed house of yours –"  he looked up at his fingertips. A thick layer of dust somewhat smiling at him, he scowled –" So I’ve decided to fix the place that you would live in. That is for the best isn’t it? "– he turned to Taekwoon dusting off that grime from his finger.

" Yes…"

"I’m also leaving Wonshik here. He will keep this place steady from now on. He is also good at cooking. You can do grocery one day a week….actually no… he can do that as well. You won’t need to go out to do grocery anymore. I even brought a 12 CFT refrigerator for you, along with a microwave oven. A worker would be sent here to set the connection."

Taekwoon somehow shook his head. It was barely a nod but Hakyeon took it as an agreement from his side.

" But isn’t that child labour? He is 11…"

" It doesn’t matter. He knows house works too well. I feel like the electrician will have to change the main electric line as well. Because an AC would be attached here - he smiled – the AC is not for you though. It is for me. I can’t stay too long without AC you see. Since I would frequently visit you, and spend some time with you here, hence I’d need to care about my accommodation as well, right?"

" All day sitting in an AC room…this habit of yours must have grown onto you after your marriage, right?"

" Yes…. My wife is quite rich you see….I think she herself dunno how much money she has "– he giggled.

" Is she sick now?"

The giggle stopped, and tremor took over. Yet he tried to keep his voice stable while asking Taekwoon the next question –" why would you think that she is sick?"

" Just…"

" No… you did not say it for just… You do not speak without thinking."

" That boy….he is the reason. The way he swept the floor, he was making sure that his steps were light. So that it doesn’t disturb the silence that he was accustomed to. It’s already woven in his mind that he is not allowed to make a sound when he works, It can only mean that the place he used to work before, your place, there was someone who is sick enough to not to be able to even take a single sound normally."

" That sick person could be my mother in law, or father in law or my own father as well instead of my wife."

" Yes they could be…"

" Then why did you specifically asked for my wife? Why not them?"

A small chuckle left Taekwoon’s lips.

" Don’t laugh"- Hakyeon demanded- give me the answer to my questions. I am asking for an answer!

"Why?" 

"I want to know how you solve mystery. No… I want to learn it." 

Taekwoon replied as he took a sip from the coffee mug that had been left untouched in his hand by now-

"Hakyeon, the only thing that I do is find the holes in someone’s logic. When I find it, I think about it. I think about why it happened, and then I notice the hole in someone’s behavior." 

"What’s that?" 

"Like, you know… someone who is a lot jolly suddenly turning all gloomy. That is the loophole of his behavior." 

"What else do you see?"  – he again sat on his rocking chair, but not swaying, eyes locked into Taekwoon’s.

"And the last thing I notice is how much truth that person speaks. Humans are not angels. They never tell the full truth. They all lie… but there are also two types of lies." 

"Two types?" 

Taekwoon observed the other one’s face. His eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm now, a little smile playing on the corner of his lips.

"Hmm… Direct lie.. and the type of lie that you cannot consider as lies." 

"I don’t understand" - Hakyeon said placing his elbow on his thigh and resting his chin on his palm. Again not suitable for his age, but managed to look good anyway.

"Meaning, you are telling a lie, but you have accepted it as the truth. This type of lies are not frequently told, but mostly written." 

"How much have you read?" 

His eyes no longer focused on Taekwoon. They looked at somewhere in the distance,

"1 chapter.." 

"How was it?" 

"Good…" 

"Quite Good or so so?" – his eyes again back to its previous fixationm voice held a sharp edge to its tone.

"Quite good." 

"If quitw good, then why did you stop after one chapter?" 

"I found a few problems in that chapters. After that is solved, I’ll again start." 

"I’m listening… - he tilted his head a little youthfully, chin still rested on his palm." 

"You said that you two played Silent Hill: the shattered memories. I do not believe that the game was released by then. You inserted lies in your writing. Well, if there was one lie, that means there could also be a hundred over there. This is good enough for a fiction to me, but a autobiography, by which I am to fix your problem… I do not think this is that kind of writing."

" If you find the faults then I will fix them for you"- he beamed.

"But I’m unable to find all faults." 

"There are no faults though"  – he laid back on his chair, upper lip protruding rather cutely –" let me clarify the game topic. That night we two did finish a scary game, but I was more scared. The name was in English. But when I started writing I couldn’t recall the game’s name. Hence the name of the game that I had played recently, is the name that I have used. Was it really that much of a big deal?"

" For me, yes. The smallest hold the most importance. So that means you still play scary games?"

" Yes.."

" Both of you used to?"

" Yes.."

" When your father said that he talked to Satan Lucifer, you believed it?"

" Yes, because he doesn’t lie. Anything else?"

" Still alive?"

" Yes."

" Still religious?"

" Yes…"

" Lives with you right?"

" Yes… at this age, I do not wish for him to live alone. Why would you think so though?"

" Guess… two children. The daughter died, and the son is still alive. So he will live with the alive one, that is only normal."

"You just said that you read only the first chapter! - Hakyeon scoffed –" The fact that Ethane is dead is written at the end. That just means that you have read it full but saying that you have read only one chap! Liar! "– he squinted at Taekwoon, who also laid back on his chair, legs crossed over another.

"I only read the first chapter" - he replied in a calmed tone – the first chapter is enough to understand that the sister you are wriytig about is not alive anymore.

"Okay… lets say you are right." - he said deflated.

"Anything else?" 

"Nothing at this moment. But I want to meet your father.." 

"I wont let you meet him. Why? I wont reply to that so don’t ask" - Hakyeon snnounced jolting up from his chair. Taekwoon took a small sip from his mug again as he said,

…..hnn…

The clock’s hands slowly made a turned towards 11. His whole body humming in a comfortable warmth. It was raining outside, a cold breeze entered through the window, creating a chilly atmosphere across the room. Taekwoon had covered half of his body with a blanket. It could have been more comfortable If he had covered his body to his throat with that blanket, but that would create a few problems for him to read the book. Well, not exactly book though, he was going to read the autobiography of Cha Hakyeon tonight, second chapter. Albeit the way his eyelids felt burdened was quite informing of how he would not be able to read much of it.

Wonshik was standing by the door.

"Son, you can go to sleep" - Taekwoon told him only a few moments ago, but he didn’t. Most of the time he couldn’t recall the name Wonshik. He calls him son that time. He didn’t try to sound rude, but his tone always betrayed him. And he tries to act as much as nicely as possible. He thinks if that was his own child, even he wouldn’t have taken care of him the way this kid was. Like today during dinner, he had to finish it standing near the stove. Because Wonshik wanted to serve him hot meat wrap straight out of stove. He put a single piece of meat straight from the pan into the lettuce and fed him. Taekwoon was glad they he wasn’t cooking outside, that could have been really dangerous for the kid and tiring for him in this cold weather. There was practically no need for this type of love.

Taekwoon opened the file, with that also Wonshik opened his mouth – "Appa, do you want anything else?" 

   "No. You can go to sleep, son." 

He instantly hid behind the door frame. Everytime that 27 year old man would call him son tears would start to well up in his eyes. He didn’t want anyone to see that tears of him.

"Appa, do you want beer?" - again peeking inside Wonshik continued.

"Don’t call me appa. Appa is someone who is married to your mother, calling me that is not only a mistake but also wrong. I don’t even have a wife for you to call me that." 

"I don’t care! I will only call you appa." 

Taekwoon heaved out a sigh in defeat, - "Okay. Call me whatever you want. Do you know how to read and write?" 

He slightly shook his head.

"I’ll teach you how to read and write. You seem quite like a genius, you will be able to learn quickly. Now go and sleep, I can’t read when someone looks at me." 

But he didn’t, rather he brought a wooden chair from somewhere and sat by the door, with a small grin on his face. From there he could see that block of wood type man clearly. He just started reading-

He flipped the pages. In the beginning “2^nd chapter” was written. Only this one little sentence was written in Korean, othes were in English just like before.

The Satan Lucifer, for whom all my father’s concerns were, I saw him one day. He was tall, black. He had worn a blue colored polo shirt. He had the face of a person who had suffered from fever for a long long time. His eyes sparkled like fox in the dark.

Let me get to the story.

We siblings were the only ones at the house. Father was absent. He didn’t live at home on Saturday night. He used to spend the whole night in church.

Just in case we don’t get scared, a pion from father’s college used to stay with us. His name was Youngi. He was suffering from some disease I believed, hence he couldn’t see properly at night. He used to come home on Saturday evening, and after coming he would straight go and sleep on the couch, pulling a blanket over his body. And woke up in the morning. Although he had to be awaken once during the night for dinner though.

I think my writing is getting a bit messed up. I’ve written the later story before the previous one. Ethane saw Satan Lucifer before me. I should write her story before, then I’ll write mine. One Saturday night, holding a hair brush in her hand she came and sat before me, asking,

"Oppa, how much brave are you?" 

"I believe I’m quite brave. Why?" 

"Hmm…you have to be braver oppa, if you become a coward, then you’ll get in trouble. Every Saturday night father will leave for the church, and you will be left alone in here." 

 "Why would I be alone? You are here!" – I replied.

"I won’t be here. I’ll die soon. I’ll die in order to abort this child, or Lucifer will kill me before that anyway." 

"Do not speak gibberish, Ethane!" – I growled.

"I’m not speaking any gibberish oppa. I know Lucifer lives in this house. I’ve seen him." 

"Where?" 

"One time on the terrace, one time in the kitchen. The one in on the terrace was different from the one in the kitchen. The terrace one was pure black and the kitchen one was pure white." 

"Ethane! Do not try to scare me!" 

"I’m not. I’m just telling you exactly what I’ve seen. Wholly! Not even missing a single punctuation in between." 

"No need" - I said waving my hand at her.

"There is need! You’ll be able to be cautious if you know from before. Or else you’ll freeze when you’ll see it suddenly. I’ll tell you what I saw on the terrace first. On Saturday evening, I couldn’t find my sweater. All of a sudden I was reminded of the fact that I left it to dry up on the terrace. Not only sweater, there were two more skirts of mine. As I went up on the terrace, I found the door of the terrace closed. I pushed on the door, but it won’t still open."

" Where was I that day?"- I murmured under my breath.

" You were in your room that day. You had really high fever, so you slept the whole day away sleeping under a single blanket. Remember?"

I made the face as I replied –" NO!"

" Wait, I’ll remind you. You had a really high fever, but yet father left you to go to the church. You became really sad about it, now?"

I nodded in affirmative.

" Look what you have done, you just destroyed the flow of my story. Don’t interrupt me anymore. Ask after I have finished it whole. Where was I again?"

" Couldn’t open the door… 

"Ah! Yes…. The door.. I was slamming on it real hard. I reached a point where I felt like just door apart. But since I couldn’t , I thought of returning back. I only had taken two steps and the squeaky sound of the door being opened on its own flowed towards my ear. The fact that this was a paranormal activity, did not even cross my mind. I almost went to the terrace jumping. There I saw the Satan, standing in the middle of the terrace. Looks quite like any normal ugly human being, just his throat was unusually long. The thing that actually frightened me to death was that, that thing was . Because of being too long, the throat was bending over the body a bit too much. Seeing me that beast started to walk forward. I should have turned around and run for my life, or at least scream with the last bit of energy left in my body, but I couldn’t. As if I was somehow paralyzed by fear. I just stared at it, without even blinking.

In horror films, these types of beast walk really fast, fly through the air. But that beast was walking on it toes, almost like when a baby first learns to walk. His steps were uneven, as if it will fall on its back any moment then. It was when he was standing right before me, his scarce hot breath raffled my hair, then sense poured into me and I asked myself what I was doing. Without any hesitation I ran around, almost jumping on the stairs."

Ethane exhaled a large sigh and I realized I had been holding a breath of my own.

" That black thing didn’t follow you?"

" No.."- she shook her head from left to right.

" How about father? Have you informed him about it?"

" No."

" Why?you should have? Why haven’t you?" - I was starting to panic.

"Just didn’t feel like it…let me tell you what I saw the second time." 

"Not today….later…."  – I said lying on my bed, back facing her.

"No!" - pulling me up by my arm she made me sit up on my bed, and she continued – "I’ll finish saying it today. Who knows, if I’ll be in the mood to say this story on that other day. It was again another Saturday. Father, as expected, out of house. Only us and that sleepy Youngi. I fell asleep early that day, because my tummy was hurting, without eating any dinner. So I woke up in the middle of the night thanks to the continuous grumble of my stomach, notifying me that I was hungry. There was food in the fridge. So I was mentally having an argument inside of my mind about whether to sacrifice my sleep in order to feed my stomach, or to ignore my stomach and again try to fall back to sleep. Sleep won, and I covered myself fully with the blanket. Then I heard noises coming from the kitchen’s direction. Someone was meddling with the dining chairs. I even heard the tap water running and hitting the sink’s surface, you know that splatter sound? That sound! I sat up, turning on the lights I walked out of my room. The hall way was pitch dark, so was the kitchen. But even a little kid could tell that there was someone standing there. His back towards me, a plate before him, eating something. I whispered – who’s there?

He stopped, and turned his head to me. A face of a human but eyes of a hyena. Seeing me, he again turned to continue what he was doing before, eating. Like, the fact that I was there did not make any difference at all. Then I woke you up, asking you if I could sleep on your bed with you that night or not. You were baffled but agreed anyway, remember?"

" Yes…"

" Do you remember how I didn’t let you sleep that night? We spent the whole night chatting, laughing, then before the dawn I started playing a Japanese movie on the tv. We watched it! Remember?"

" I do.. "– my voice only above a whisper.

" Next day, in the morning , I saw a plate half empty on the table."

" What food?"

" Just the usual, rice and omelet."

" Angels eats rice and omelet?"- I scowled..

" I dunno what angels eats  and what they don’t. also I’m talking about Lucifer and he ain't an angel."

" Lucifer is a fallen angel.Can’t it be possible that you yourself had eaten it but then saw a nightmare later?"

She didn’t reply, her face showed an unreadable expression, as if she was not entirely denying my words. She was always curious on this topic, what angels eat? What they wear? She used to ask father that type of question very frequently, and father being the lovable one he was, used to get annoyed a lot. But never replied anything.

"Father, what does the angel eat?" 

"Dunno my princess…,"  he used to reply with a feign smile.

"You are a religious person. How can you not know?" 

"I may be religious, but I still dunno a lot of things my daughter." 

"Then ask the one that knows. Ask the father of the church." 

"Do you not feel bothered to talk about this ludicrous topic?" - That was one of the rarest moment when I saw my father looking at her with sheer disgust.

"You never talked about this with anyone, so how would you know if I’d feel bothered or not." 

"Don’t disturb me." 

"Until I find my answer, I’ll keep on doing so." 

"What will you do with angel's food?" 

"I’ll gather all his foods and then display it on the table. So that he could come and eat. I’ve also decided to write two books on it. One’s name would be- the food of Angel. And the next one would be– Health and Nutrition for the angel. The last one would be a recipe book."

Father blinked at her several times before finally parting his lips a little.

" I think your mental health is at risk my daughter"- he mumbled.

"It’s only the start…just you wait.."  – Ethane replied firmly.

We didn’t have to wait that long to see how her sickness was rapidly spreading its wings. From some kind of teacher, she had learned that Angels like sweet things. Angels visit the sweet stores such as cake shop or chocolate store at late night and leaves by paying for all the sweets. That is why these shops could be found open even at the late of night.

Every night, before going to sleep Ethane would keep 29 candies on a plate and keep it on the dining table. Every morning the first thing she would do is count the candies to see if there were still 29 on that plate, or it was missing one or two. The secret behind the number 29 was that it was her birthday, 29, September.

It was on the morning of the fourth day, that she started all the fuss. The reason was instead of 29, there was now 28 candies. According to her, Angels had eaten one. She was jumping from excitement, while I squinted at the plate hard. I whispered into her ears,- "I do not think that Angels ate it." 

She furrowed her brows – "why?" 

"The way you have described their love for sweets, I think he wouldn’t have left right after eating only one candy. Also.... There is a glass of water by the plate" 

Ethane’s face dropped, as she strode towards father. She asked dryly- "father, have you eaten my candy last night?" 

Father faltered before murmuring, "only one… couldn’t resist the urge…" 

Ethane started bawling over that simple matter, and father became frustrated asking her repeatedly why she was crying so much, - "there were still 28 more candies for the angels." 

Ethane did not even touch a single drop of water that day. And that night, we didn’t find even a single candy left on that plate of hers.

And right on the next week, I saw the fallen angel or Satan Lucifer, talked to him. I’ll write bout this incident in detail.

One day in the winter, I believe. It was raining that day, along with hails. Thanks to Ethane I had to bathe in the hail. At first I thought I’d get out of the rain only after a few minutes, but thanks to Ethane’s craziness, I could only get out right after I was soaked to the bone. Result, I was blessed with a horrible migraine, along with fever. Ethane always kept medicine with her. So I opened the door, to go to her room, take the medicine and if possible also share her bed with her. I had a bad habit of not being able to sleep alone, when I got ill.

I stopped as my gaze dropped on the balcony. A man wearing a long sleeve button up shirt and blue jeans pant sat down on our wooden swing. He had thick brown framed glasses on his eyes. Hair a light shade of brown. A calm faced person, seeing him it seemed as if I had seen him somewhere before.

It was 2:00 am in the morning. Nobody reads a newspaper at that hour that much tentatively. I walked up to him, - "who might you be?" 

The man, folding his newspaper looked at me, a fake smile plastered on that face of him as he said, - "are you well?" 

His voice was not that deep, neither too sweet. It had a normal balance. There was no hesitation in his way of speaking. As if I were his all known buddy. Well, he also seemed like someone that had known but I couldn’t recall. I again asked,-" Who are you?" 

"First sit, then I’ll say"  – he said, signaling me to sit beside him on that swing.

"I didn’t,"  - Do I know you? Have we ever met before?

"Surely we have. I’m Satan Lucifer" - And he burst out into a howling laughter.

It was then when I realized that I was just dreaming. Surely Satan Lucifer won’t get all dolled up to sit on my balcony and read a newspaper at 2’O CLOCK IN THE MORNING . The fear that I obtained by seeing him at first vanished in an instant.

"Ow, Are you well Mr. Satan Lucifer?" - I asked with a smile.

"Why are you not sitting Mithu? Or would you prefer Yeonnie more? Please sit…" 

And again I was shocked. My name was Mithane, but there was one per who would call me by those two name. When I was in high school first year, he used to teach both of us math. His name was Park Hyoshin. The one that I have taken as Satan Lucifer, was none other than our private tutor Park Hyoshin.

"Did you recognize me now Mithu? We Satans can take the form of many people. And I decided to take the form of your very favoriteone." 

"He was never my favorite one"  - I retorted back.

"Of course he was. Do you not remember how he slid his hand in your clothe to wrap around your waist, while tutoring you one day. Despite of being a man you enjoyed it. Or did you forget how an odd sensation ran down your whole body when you saw him touching your own little sister’s bare thigh with his fingertips on the very same day. Your breathing became fast that day, seeing another man ually harassing your own sister. You didn’t say anything, you enjoyed it all. Kept quiet and saw how your sister trembled with his each touch, how his smirk grew wider to see your sister in that vulnerable state. Hahaha.."

" It’s true that I didn’t say anything to him that day, neither to his touch. But the reason was because I didn’t want to embarrass him. Since you already know so much, then you should have also known how that was the last day when Park Hyoshin hyung ever entered my house as well."

" Why are you getting so angry Mithu?"

" Don’t call me that?"

" Okay, I wont. Come sit, let’s have a chat."

" I do not wish to."

" Even if you don’t you have to. There is nothing called your will here anymore. Whatever I wish is something that you have to agree on. So, now that I have told you to sit, sit down."

So did I did. I sat down right beside him, the place where he signaled me to sit on.

" Now, what shall I gossip to you about?"

I didn’t reply, was too baffled by the words that had already left his mouth. He leaned on me and exhaled, his hot breath raffled a little part of my hair, a shiver ran down my spine.

"Before going to the complex matter, let me talk about a simple mistake of your sister. Your sister thinks Angels eat sweet. But no, be it fallen angel or actual, no one eats food like how human eats it. Human eats meat, rice ,fish, carbohydrate, protein and so many things. Trees only eat water and sunlight. A few types of cactus also takes in water. But only sun light is enough for them. They all live the same earth but so much difference"- he said getting his face away from mine.

"Your sister needs to understand this. You cannot judge everyone by the humane logic." 

"Have you finished your useless babble? Or is there more?" 

"Now that I have finished the knowledge sharing seminer let’s get on with the Doubt sharing one." 

"What?" 

"What is the work of Satan? He sows the seed of distrust into people’s heart. A human’s heart is the best soil for distrust to grow on. It doesn’t even take a few days for the plant to start growing its branches, amazing, right?" 

"You want to plant a seed of doubt in me?" 

"Yup… A doubt about your mother…" 

"what?" 

"Listen carefully, surely it wouldn’t have affected you even a bit if I had informed you about your mother before, but now when your father is this much into religion, and your sister is in that state, surely your mind is affected as well. And now it’ll make more sense to you than ever before.

Now answer my questions, have you ever seen your mother’s grave? Say no. Because I know the answer is no."

" No…"

We really have never visited her grave, because it was situated in Jeolla-do, and we haven’t actually had the time to visit that.

" Are you certain that your mother’s grave exist? Have you seen her being buried?"

" No…father took it alone all by himself. We were both sick at that thime. Ethane was suffering from pneumonia." 

"Any relatives from your mother’s side…has they ever visited you? Again say No- because I know the answer of this question as well." 

"No…" 

"Now, if we put together all the broken pieces, what picture do we get? Now if I said that your ideal religious father had married a e. But that lady never gave up her job and you two…being the children of her, never contained any of your father’s gene anyway? That explains your tanned skin and your little dear sister’s dimple mystery so perfectly…HAHAHAHA!!"

" Don’t laugh!"- I cried! My voice thick from unshed tears.

" Why? It’s fun? Two illegitimate children of a religious father, and among them even one is holding another illegitimate child in her own womb! Ha ha ha!"

He was laughing. That deafening laughter only increased in sound. As it got louder, his face started to change with it. His skin turning dark, fangs sticking out, as his hair started to turn red. A familiar aroma filled the area. I couldn’t recall what it was.

"Can you smell something? Surely you can? The perfume bottle in your room. Your mother used to apply it at nights sometimes right? HAHAHA! Listen Mithu, I’m leaving now. Of course we will meet again… we have to.. Just like you liked your teacher, I also loved him. And the next time I come, I will surely make sure to wrap my arm around your waist, letting your bare skin feel the touch on my cold fingertips. You will surely enjoy it. Okay sweet heart…"

" It’s all just a dream. It’ll all go away as soon as I wake up.. go away!" – I cried.

" I’ll go away either way, I still can’t keep on holding a human’s form for that long you see….But, it is not a dream. People can’t smell within dream. But you did… You smelled the aroma of your mother’s seductive perfume. If it was a dream, then where is this scent coming from? But before leaving, what have you thought about your sister’s abortion though? Its getting too late. If you want I can help. It wont be that hard to push her off from the edge of the terrace. But I don’t like to kill people. I like to play with them. Killing them means ending the game. I don’t like it. I want to see them playing games… And seeing them I want to laugh! Hahahaha!!"

I woke up with the sound of laughter. The smell of my mother’s perfume was coming from my own clothings. Yesterday night I was missing my mother a lot, so I applied it. It made me feel as if she was with me, sleeping by my side.

After exactly one week, Saturday, father again getting ready to leave. It was almost the eve of dusk. Ethane entered the room with two cup of tea in her hand.

"Oppa, let’s go.." 

"Where?" - I asked peering over the book that I was reading.

"Roof…. I like to drink tea during the evening, while sitting on the roof. But I’m scared to go alone. So come along." 

"No" - I replied.

"You have to" - she insisted.

Ethane will say something, and won’t make sure that will happen, is something impossible. It’s impossible to say to her. I had to go there. Our terrace was really beautiful, almost like a small garden. There were a few numbers of flower bushes decorated there. A few alliums were in full bloom. They looked beautiful. She even planted carnation’s in a corner, it’s rare but they actually used to bloom in the winter, even though they were on terrace. Mother had always loved the carnations. Whenever they were in bloom she would come on the terrace and look at them. It was sad that they were not in season then.

We siblings sat down there and took silps from our tea. Ethane looked really happy. Well, not like she was not always jolly, but today she seemed extra excited. She said – "Oppa! I’m going to give you a fun news today. Shall I?" 

Something fun according to Ethane meant something extra annoying to us. I perked my eye brows at her.

"Our mother was really not that much of a holy princess you see… I feel like she was a hooker.." 

"Who told you that?" - I asked sharply.

"Nobody, I myself found it by acting as a lady Sherlock Holmes. The closet in father’s room, where all her belongings are kept… I found some dresses that I do not think normal ladies will wear. I even found some love letters. Approximately 10! Every letter started with – Kyungri. A little too much extra sweetness in those letters. The fun in reading father’s love letters are really on another level. I brought one with me, wanna read?"

" No."

" If you read it, you will feel good. Extra sweet just like tea made by you."

" Is it okay to read the love letters of our parents?"

" No… but we do not do the correct things all the times. Oppa, don’t look at me that icily. I lied a little, I didn’t see through any closet or anything. Satan told me. I think we have earned ourselves a truthful Satan."

" You really believe that Satan is telling the truth?"

" Yes… father himself is the proof. I asked him honestly, and after awhile, he started saying everything like a little toddler. Actually, father is scared of me I think."

" You are the type to be feared"- I replied taking a sip from my mug.

"Hmm… Even Satan is scared of me. He calls me little noona." 

"Little noona?" 

"Yup… even I take him as a little brother. We chat for awhile. You know something oppa? Every story that Satan says has a deep moral. Interesting. Let me tell you a story by him. If you fail to see the fun, I’ll change my name into formaldehyde. The chemical formula of Formaldehyde is HCHO, right?"

"I stood up on my feet. Getting ready to escape this crazy conversation.

Ethane tugged onto my clothes, -" oppa are you leaving? Wait till the dusk arrives. Then you will see something fun."

" What fun?"

" The place where mother jumped off from, I will also jump off from there. All your problems will be over. You won’t have to think about this child in my womb anymore. I talked with Lucifer on this matter. He said that the idea was appealing. Hehehe."

There was no meaning in talking with her about this matter anymore. Father called from beneath, probably because he was leaving. I went down. I just locked the door behind father and turned around, and the sound came across my ear. The sound of something heavy falling from up. I feared to turn around and look. And that is how my little sister Ethane had met the end of her life.

A post mortem was done on her later, there was no child in her womb. The whole story was a joke made by her.

++++++++++++

please read the next chap ^^