[ Kevin’s POV ]

As the whole crowd of families stand up in applause, Erian and his younger sister, Hyuna, walk through the crowd, their heads were held up high. Erian looked back towards our table and suddenly smirked with a cool smirk that also sent shivers down my spine, causing me to wince with intrigue. H-He.. How does he even know my cousin? I heard _____ tremble within her mind. I wonder what Eli’s thinking. With a calm state of mind, I concentrated my aim towards Eli and heard: That guy is giving me the creeps. And I swear, if Hyuna tries to hurt ____ again.

I looked back at the window where Ren was once leaning up against but he was nowhere to be found. My eyes scanned the room quickly, looking for a boy with golden hair. I mean, who else has hair that’s as bright as stars?

“Ke-Kevin. What are you looking for?” _____ chimed, covering up her fear. _____, why do you have to hide you fear? I stared back at her and smiled. If I told her anything about Ren and whatever Erian is, she’ll just freak out and eventually, she could hurt herself. And I don’t want that. At all.

“Nothing. I’m actually looking for the waiter… I’m kind of hungry.” I lied. She shook her head with disapproval and murmured: “Yah. Be patient. I’m hungry too.” I chuckled and rolled my eyes: “Whatever.” I couldn’t keep my eyes away from Erian, and I’m guessing he can’t keep his eyes away from _____. It’s starting to give me the creeps. What is this guy exactly? He can’t seriously be one of Ren’s kind… which is… what is it called again? Starlites? This is totally messed up.

Vibe. Vibe.

I slipped my phone out of my pocket and stared at the new message. “From: Ren” Mw-mwoh. I don’t even have his number. I tapped feverishly onto the phone as it took forever to open the message. Come on, come on, I repeated over and over. I shifted my body to the side to prevent from anybody taking a little peek of the message:

“To Kevin:

Hyung, meet me upstairs. Walk back to the hallway where we were talking. Keep walking straight until you see a long staircase leading upstairs. Once you make it up the steps, well. You’ll know where to go once you get there.  -___-‘  This is gna be a headache. ASKAKJSKJFIWN.

-          Ren.”

I chuckled and excused myself from the table quickly. “Wait! Kevin.” I turned around and stared at _____’s worried eyes. I smiled softly and patted her head. “It’s okay, ____. I just want to explore a bit. Don’t leave Eli alone. He might get the wrong idea.” She looked back at the table, where her boyfriend was looking straight at the both of us in confusion. She nodded her head slowly, and slowly let go of my sleeve, walking away. Every step she took, walking away from towards Eli, made my heart shudder and tremble in pain. I shook my head, snapping out of my own little world, and went to look for the staircase. And little did I know, that very staircase would lead me to such a hectic night. I never thought I’d learn so many new things, for instance: learning how to control something that I never knew any human would have.

***

[ Your POV ]

“Do you think Kevin’s mad at me?” I asked Eli, clinging unto his sleeve. I tugged on his sleeve and stare at him look back at me with such beautiful round eyes. I couldn’t help but giggle and poke his cheek. He made a playful face and kissed my forehead.

“Nah, he probably just needs some fresh air. Don’t worry about it, babe. And, why would he be?” Of course, you wouldn’t know. Kevin confessed to me, and I just shut him off completely. But god, it’s so confusing. I looked back at Eli to forget about Kevin: Eli started reorganizing the utensils on the table and stared at all of them. “Which one am I supposed to use. What is this.”  I laughed at his cuteness and pointed out at each of them, explaining every use. “Why can’t they just give me chopsticks?” He muttered, pushing one of the forks away from his plate. I rolled my eyes and kissed his cheek quickly, earning a satisfying blush from Kyoungjae. Hm. Kyoungjae. I never called him by his real name before.

“Kyoungjae-ah” I tested it out.

As he was chewing on bread, with a full mouth, he looked back at me wide-eyed, as if he was in trouble. He looked back at me with full cheeks of bread and pouted. I laughed loudly and patted his arm.

“W-What.” He mumbled while chewing.

“Nothing, I just wanted to test something out. I never got to call you by your real name, like your Korean name..” I explained, nodding my head apologetically. He swallowed the bread and looked back at me and gave a playful angry look. His hand made his way to the back of my head and my hair.

“Do you like my name?” He smirked. Pft. This guy. I rolled my eyes and pinched his cheek, causing him to wince and snarl lightly.

“It’s very pretty.” I complimented, winking at him once. He rolled his eyes and layed his arm around my shoulders, pulling my chair closer to his. “Yah.” My eyes flickered to my daddy, who was busy talking to some friends. “Don’t do anything too…you know. Rash. Or overly-romantic. Or whatever! I have a lot of family here in this banquet.” I whispered as I kept an eye on my father.  He smirked and kissed my right temple.

“Do I embarrass you, _____ Kim?” He whispered, his warm breath tickling my ear. I shook my head and pouted. “Hey. I just realized your last name is Kim.” He pointed out, smiling brightly.

“Yeah, so?”

“You already take my last name!”

With that comment, I blushed furiously. Embarrassed, I slapped his leg playfully and looked away. Wh-What kind of comment was that? That’s so unexpected. I cupped my own cheeks and avoided his loving gaze. Aish, this guy. I concentrated at Kevin’s cup. I wonder where he went. What is he up to?  I placed my balled fist onto my chest and felt my heart pound. One heart beating for two. That’s just horrible. I stared back at my plate, it was shiny enough for me to see my reflection. As Eli started talking with my mom, my mind started to wander. One heart beating for two. How selfish could I be? I covered my eyes with my bangs and puffed my cheeks. This is going to be one long night..

***

[ Kevin’s POV ]

“Woah woah. Slow down. I don’t understand a word you just said.” I growled while leaning against the large door. My brows furrowed as I stared at Ren who was giving me the you-got-to-be-ing-kidding-me look. Sorry, last time I heard I was human and not some freaking star, I growled mentally. Ren rolled his eyes: Yeah, yeah. I know. But humans could possess this type of energy that was passed down by generations. Like for instance, your ancestors could have been a starlite, meaning you might have some of their power. And I can sense it, you do. Surprisingly. I heard him think. This is ridiculous, I growled. Psh. Your face is ridiculous. Ren growled back mentally, shooting a death glare. I rolled my eyes and slipped my two hands in my pocket and approached Ren slowly.

“Look.” Ren muttered. “As we both noticed, Erian is NOT and I repeat, NOT. Human. In fact, I can’t read his thoughts and sadly, he could read mine but not as detailed . But as for yours… I used up most of my energy, constructing a mental barrier around your mind so then he could not read yours. Alright?”

I nodded and concentrated on his explanations. Usually, I hate lectures but if it means protecting ____, I guess I have no choice, now do I?

Ren continued with a serious expression: “Erian is a fallen star. Not as luminous or as good as me, well, my kind. They give out false negative energy and fulfill dark wishes that revolve around hate and revenge and well, Hyuna… We, stars, we live longer based on the amount of wishes that we grant and the amount of stars that we have successfully bring through. There are two ways of killing off a star: locking them up in a cell, preventing them from granting any wishes or you simply make them disappear..” He looked at me.

“Wait. What?”

“You have to make him disappear. Right now, there is no way we could lock him in a cell, even if you do put him in a cell it’ll take 1000 years for them to completely disappear. We need to weaken him. ” Ren repeated, staring back at me with convincing eyes. His hand balled into a fist and his golden hair glowed fiercely through the dark room.

Ren, I can’t take someone’s life. That’s practically murder. I can’t kill him. And plus, that’s Hyuna’s brother. I mean..

“YAH! Snap out of it.” Ren snarled, punching the table beside him. “If he doesn’t disappear, ____ will be in perpetual suffering and she will most likely get killed. By him. Depending on Hyuna’s negative energy, and I’ve measured it. She’s so tainted, she’ll get rid of whatever is in her way. Erian is not her REAL brother. Erian was made, banished from the starlite society. Erian only lives on negative energy because of his own tainted mind that’s filled with hatred. My guess is, he’s using Hyuna to keep living on. And it’s about time Erian is to be put away, atleast weak enough for me to bring him back to the Starlite Realm to get judged fair and square in court, so then he could get locked up.”

“You have court in your world?! I always thought of being a lawyer but—” I asked in amazement.

Ren’s jaw dropped as he face-palmed: “You got to be kidding. We’re talking about life-death situation and… omo.  You’re really air-headed. YAH!”

I raised my hands in surrender and apologized, repeating sorry about three to four times. Ren was actually getting a bit scary despite his cute-girlish appeareance. Sheesh. “This whole negative, positive, energy whatever mumbo jumbo, is giving me a real headache. Stop beating around the bush and skip the details, just tell me this crap about what I should do to keep ____ safe.”

“You really do love her.” Ren pointed out.

“No , Sherlock. You just noticed that now.” I growled, approaching him threateningly. He moved backwards, avoiding any physical contact from me and bowed.

“Sorry, I just had to say it.” He pouted, patting his own head. He took out a crystal ball, probably the size of an apple, in the palm of his head.  “Take this.” I grabbed the ball and left it on the palm of my hand. I looked back at the golden boy and waited for further instructions.

“Wait. What if _____ or Erian comes here?” I asked, gripping onto the ball.

“We’re not exactly at the banquet anymore.” He smiled proudly. Then he suddenly limped to the side, and winced. “Sorry. It took a lot of energy. I haven’t used THIS much of asterisk energy in such a long time..”

I nodded: “You’re doing so much for us. Why?”

Ren looked back at me and smiled: ‘Because. Both of your hearts are beautifully pure and..well, you’re my friend. I haven’t felt this happy before with you guys. And I understand how it means to sacrifice everything for a loved one. I respect you… Anyways. I’m going to give you a stone with which we’ll see what you’re capable of doing.”

I wanted to press on about what he meant by he knew and understand about what it means to sacrifice… but I felt it was getting too personal. And right now, the one objective on my mind was to keep _____ safe and get Erian out of here. I stared back at Ren with respect and nodded. Let’s do this, I said mentally.

“Alright. Concentrate of the ball and well, yeah. Think about light.”

“Light?”

Ren nodded. I closed my eyes and then opened them, targeting the crystal ball. Luminous light, eh? I inhaled a great amount of air and tried to concentrate. Light. Stars? I closed my eyes shut once more and frowned. Nothing was happening. I stared back at Ren worriedly. “Nothing.”

“Try again.” I felt a sudden pulse on the crystal but it felt heavy. Very heavy, I thought. “GET DOWN!” I heard Ren yell.

Before I could react, the crystal ball shattered on top of my hand as the crystal shards scatter through the room, no light was shed but I felt energy. A few shards stuck onto my arm, I winced in pain and fell on the floor. “W-Was that it?” I looked back, as I held onto my arm, at Ren who was sitting on the floor as he shook his head. He looked around the room, glaring.

“Get out here. I know you’re here. You’re pretty skilled to be able to come into this room.” Ren called outloud, getting up slowly. This time, Ren wasn’t wearing his waiter tux anymore. He was wearing dark pants and a metal veil over his chest. In his hand, was a …. A rod? I stared at the rod as it pulsed with radiance and light: Starlight, Asterisk energy? The energy he was talking about? “Come out, come out, wherever you are. And when I mean now, I meant now, don’t you dare let me get you. I know what you are, Erian.”

Erian!? My eyes scanned throughout the room, trying to find the same wicked guy in the banquet. Suddenly, a tall figure merged from the wall and took its first steps in the room. This-This guy isn’t Erian. I stared at him and braced for an attack but he just stood there. “Y-You’re not Erian.” I muttered, staring back at Ren attentively.

“Mistake. That is Erian. It’s just his real form.” I observed the new figure in front of me. Long dark raid hair that reached to his shoulders. His eyes blazing with a bright ember but it had a different color, a dark purple that pulsed evilly. I felt an aura around him, a heavy aura, the same kind of feeling I felt in the crystal ball. He was the one that triggered that explosion, he was trying to stop us. His dark robe touched the floor and in his hand was a sharp knife, the same length as a chopstick.

“You’re smart.” Erian smirked. He stared back at me and back towards Ren. “Trying to weaken me,eh? That won’t work, Choi Min Ki.” Ren growled and his rod started to glow feverishly. “Tsk. Amateur, don’t mess with me. I may seem small but I could easily pebble you!” Ren yelled.

Ren lunged towards Erian with his rod. But before even laying a hand on him,  Erian transported to the opposite side of the room, meaning, right behind me. The slicing sound of the knife could be heard, it felt so close, almost next to my ear. I knew. He was behind me. He was going to hurt me. I turned around and found Ren standing in front, Erian’s knife sunken in Ren’s arm.

Ren yelled in pain and pushed Erian back, both of them merging into the wall, into a different room.  I fell backwards and tried to catch my breath. I couldn’t move, the fear got to my body immobilizing me on the spot. But Ren.. he.. . I got up quickly and ran to the door.

***

[Ren’s POV]

I hissed at him in pain and pulled the knife out of my arm, throwing it out the window. I held on to my arm and glared at Erian who was smirking in front of me. “Protecting a mere human. You’re part of the Starlite society. Are you not proud?” Erian hissed, unraveling another weapon, the very same knife, coated with my blood. Tsk. A Auto-Replacement Technique. An amateur skill. I know you could read my mind, Erian. I’m no fool.

Erian chuckled and floated towards the fireplace, sitting at the edge. “You’re an idiot for merely sacrificing yourself for that Kevin. He won’t live as long as you do. Why, bother?”

Shut up, I hissed in my mind, spitting out blood. I wiped my lips and got up, bracing myself for another attack. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you anymore. You weren’t my initial target.”  He chuckled lightly, wiping his knife as if it was nothing.  He snapped his fingers and I watched the knife disappear with a flash of light.

“Why are you here then, Erian? Mind sharing some details?” I said, in between gasps of pain. I held onto the bleeding wound, applying some pressure to stop it from bleeding openly.

“Isn’t it simple? I’m here for ______. I’m not going to hurt her. Yet. Don’t worry. It’s a technique that you being just a wishmaker, cannot do. You’re not allowed.”

A technique I’m not allowed to… No! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! I yelled in my mind, unable to speak. I felt myself go limp. Th-That knife, I closed one eye as I couldn’t breathe well.

“Yeah, about my knife. Another technique. Cool,huh? See you later!” Like that, he disappeared into the darkness.

Sh-.

I crawled to the chair and tried holding myself up. It stings, I growled.

“REN!” My head turned to the door and Kevin was standing there, shocked of what he had in front of him. I felt stupid and weak when he came to help me up. I kept showing off my techniques and powers and here I am, practically falling apart. “. You have to go to the hospital.”

I grabbed his wrist and shook my head: “I’m fine. The pain is just for now. I heal faster than you humans.” I smirked. “Anyways, enough of me. You better head down there and go to ____ as fast as you can.”

“Okay. Is Er-Erian going to hurt her?”

“Worst, he’s going to erase her memories and turn her into him. An act that is highly prohibited even for Elders. Only used when there is a risk of being unraveled to an unnecessary amount of people, for instance, telling people about the star tattoo.”

“What?”

“He’s going to change her into a fallen star. His servant. I was able to read his thoughts when he was taken by shock by my attack.  I still don’t understand why _____, out of all people. But then again, he is fulfilling Hyuna’s wish. ______ is the perfect one. Her heart and mind right now is unstable, not strong enough to fend off against Erian. She’s in trouble emotionally and physically.”

Before I could continue, Kevin started to run towards the door. I stared at my wound who was now a bright pink, a scar. I never knew love could be the reason one could get killed. Erian planned this. Erian made sure that _____ was stuck in between Kevin and Eli. I knew it. That day, outside the mall, it was Erian that was racing in that car, that almost hit ______. It was him. That was also the same day that made Eli’s heart waver even more for ____ and vice-versa. . I got up slowly and changed back into the waiter tux.  

Time to call some reinforcements.

Erian’s got to go.

***

[Kevin’s POV]

I rushed down the stairs and ran to the table. I notced then an empty space beside Eli who was eating is filet mignon.

“Dude!” I grabbed Eli’s shoulder and tried to be as calm as possible. “Where’s _____?”

But of course, I’ve been with Eli side by side for many years. He knew something was up just by the tone of my voice and the sense of my touch. This guys is my best friend also, I can’t betray him and take away the woman he loves. 

“She went to the bathroom, why? Where were you, man?” Eli asked, placing his utensil down on his plate.

“I was taking some fresh air.” I lied.

“She thought you were mad at her when you left. I don’t know why you would though. Did something happen in between you two?” Eli asked, concerned.

“Not that I know of. I’ll look for her.”

“I’ll come.”

“No! It’s best if I go.” Eli stared at me and I knew suspicion was rising.

“I’m coming with you.” Eli murmured and walked ahead of me towards the bathroom. .

***

“______? Are you in there?” Eli knocked on the bathroom door, placing his ear against the wooden panels. “______? Answer me, are you okay? I’m coming in.”

Eli opened the door wide as we both entered the bathroom slowly. We made sure everything was clear that no other girls were in here. “We’re clear.” Eli said. “_____?” He called out, but there was no answer.

“Where could she be?

Eli and I separated as we checked each stall. Each stall was empty. She was nowhere to be found. . _____, where are you?

“Kevin! OVER HERE.” Eli yelled, and I knew that he knew something was up. I could feel it in his voice.

I ran on over to where he was. He was standing in front of a stall. I looked into the stall and stared at a black clutch that was on the floor, _____’s clutch. Everything was on the floor, from her compact mirror to her lipstick. . He took her. Erian took her.

“Kevin. What the hell is going on?” Eli growled, eyeing my expression.

“I…” I didn’t know what to say.

“They can’t be far!” I turned and stared at Ren wide-eyed. Yah! Ren, Eli is here. You’re so dead. I growled mentally, I tried covering Ren but Eli pushed me aside.

“It doesn’t matter now. He took her. “ Ren growled. I stared at where his wound once was and it was perfectly healed. It was only a matter of minutes, and I have freaking worried…

“Who the hell are you?” Eli asked, approaching us both. “Kevin, what the hell…?”

“No time!” Ren urged Eli. “I’m someone that you’ll know later on. I mean. I’ll tell you on the way. Right now, _____.. she’s well. AGH! Whatever! Kevin, she can’t be far. Erian can’t be far away. He’s here. I mean, I think. I THINK.”

“You think? What do you mean you think?” I felt my heart start to beat feverishly as the blood got to myhead. 

“I can’t fully detect his aura. But I know he’s here. Well, I have some help.” Ren explained.

“Help?” Eli and I said in unison.

Amongst the wall, two figures merged from the wall. Two young looking men. They both had the same pale milk colored skin and glowing blond hair.

“Ren, what a mess. You should have called us earlier. “ They growled.

The younger looking one stepped forward and took out his hand: “My name is Taemin. I’m here for assistance.”

I stared at the other who did the same towards Eli: “Name’s Changjo. I understand you’re confused. Don’t worry, we got this covered, we’ll explain everything to you from day 01.”

Eli looked back at me and back at the glowing trio. This is probably very hard to take in for him right now. But… Where the hell is she? Who are these guys… I heard him thought. So many thoughts were jumbled in his mind that confused and gave me a migraine. I pulled away from Eli’s mental region and looked back at him:

“Right now, you have to believe every single word we say, it’s hard to take in but right now, our priority is ______. So please, please bear with us.”

Eli looked back at us and simply said: “Well, hurry and explain. I want my girlfriend safe and sound.”

Girlfriend. His girlfriend. Right.

What a mess.

Erian, I’m going to come for you and make sure you'll disappear.

______, where are you?

*** How was it? I hope it was okay... I wonder what will happen next! Comments and subbies are welcomed and GREATLY, and I mean GREATLY, appreciated. I don't bite, comment! Your comments and your participation are what motivates me to keep writing! Haha, Sorry if there are any typos. Anyways. Enjoy, love Khay xoxox. I'm gna try typing some more for the next update! I usually write a minimum of 2k words. This was 4k! so wiofnaviuebjn. haha, ANYWAYS. i'll stop, loveoyuguys! my beautiful marshmallows <3