I was beginning to have my doubts about Blondie, Mr. Demon here. Having doubts about whether he could really help me like my grandfather had told me. Having doubts about whether he was helping me at the current point in time. The current point in time in which I was following behind him, down the street. We had been to two places since we left the hospital this morning.

A coffee shop.

And a bar.

The last being a place I refused to enter.

At the coffee shop, we sat down, drank juice, and left. That’s it. He didn’t say a word the entire time. He simply forced me to buy him apple juice before popping a squat at the table by the door. What? I should have asked him what we were doing there? Why in hell would I do something like that? That would just cause that same amused grin to form on his face. So for now, I was remaining silent. Waiting until he would say something. Waiting until he would be the one to crack.

As he exited the bar after that, however, the one I did not follow him into but instead ended up waiting by the door awkwardly, it was there. That grin of his. As though he was pleased with what he saw inside. As the door closed behind him, I snuck a peek over his shoulder. There were two women at the counter, their dresses so short my jaw dropped involuntarily. They were looking towards the door as well, sly smiles on their faces as they watched not me but Mr. Demon exit the building. And without a doubt, that’s what had caused him to have the grin he did now. 

The more time I spend with him, the more I can’t help but be amazed at how open he is. How far his mind is in the gutter that it’s become second nature for him to act the way he does. Maybe that’s what you get like when you live two thousand years. I forgot exactly how old he is. He told me when we left the house this morning. Though the reason I can’t remember is probably because as soon as I heard two thousand, the rest of it blurred out due to my shock.

He continued on from the bar, walking further down the street. I followed him, still not saying a single word. Not complaining a single bit. That is, until we made our third stop. Right in front of a building in which the music blared. In which inside it was pitch black aside from blue and green lights that would light up every now and then. They were strobe lights. And this, this was a dance club.

And Bang Yongguk walked right on in, a spring in his step.

And he disappeared into the darkness.

And that’s when I lost it. That’s when I cared less which one of us cracked first. I my heel and began walking down the street, mumbling to myself about how crazy he was. How much of an opportunist he was. How much of, well, I would have continued on, letting my curses stream from my lips. I would have if not for the crash I heard from behind me.

I glanced back and just as I anticipated, I saw Mr. Demon go stumbling through the door of the club, struggling to stand up. I snarled at him, my eyes narrowing, “Are you going to help or not?” I shouted across the fifty feet distance between us.

He breathed out and rotated his neck, his hands on his knees as he attempted to stand up straight again. That didn’t stop him from yelling right back at me, his rugged voice attracting more than just my attention, “What do you think I’ve been doing? Having fun by myself?”

I pretended to contemplate my answer before I nodded in response, my arms crossed against my chest, and he scoffed.

“Here?”

“Here.” Yongguk snarled, his upper lip twitching. He was still in a bad mood from what I had done earlier. Something I was not going to apologize for. Not now. Not ever. So, the unnecessary tantrum was just that, unnecessary. He didn’t wait for my consent as he walked into the building now in front of the two of us.

A grocery store.

It being the last place to look. Look for what? Well, after breaking my vow of silence and forcibly pulling him out of that dance club earlier, he told me. He was looking for a close friend of his. A man named Kim Himchan.

A gumiho.

A fox spirit currently taking on the form of a human.

A fox spirit my grandfather wanted me to find.

A fox spirit whose frequent hang outs were the coffee shop we stopped at, the bar Mr. Demon walked out of with a gummy smile on his face, and the dance club I dragged him out of just a hour ago. And now, a grocery store. Why? Because these were all places where he could pick up women. That’s what I heard according to Blondie anyway and I had to admit, I thought for a moment he was talking about himself. When I said that though, he threw me a look as though he were offended.

Mock offended anyway because right after that, he grinned widely as though I knew him so well.

I hadn’t realized that I had been standing still in front of grocery store as I thought over things. I only realized I had when a blonde head poked out of the doorway. Bang Yongguk’s blonde haired head.

“You coming or what?” He asked, knowing full well that he couldn’t go far into the store if I wasn’t with him. Something that was quite satisfying to me, despite the obvious drawbacks.

“So exactly who are we looking for?” I asked, still a bit suspicious as to what a Gumiho would be doing in a grocery store, as I followed him inside. Though I didn’t know the exact specifics of what a Gumiho was so who knows if their favorite hang outs are grocery stores.

“The showiest guy in here. That’s who.” Mr. Demon answered. I stared at him blankly and he rolled his eyes dramatically, “No, not me. The second showiest guy in here.” He gave me a gummy smile that made me feel like stomping down on that red tail of his again, “Though I guess I should thank you for the compliment.”

It wasn’t a compliment but he probably would take it as such even if I told him otherwise. So, I saved my breath and continued to follow him, all the while the slip of paper in my hand now. A pink sticky note. A pink sticky note with a series of numbers written on it and an ineligible signature at the bottom with a heart that made me gag a bit when I saw it. Something this spirit named Kim Himchan wrote over five years ago. Again, this was all information supplied to me by Blondie.

I saw reason to distrust it because of the simple fact that he was the one giving it to me. However, I had nothing else to go on at the moment but what he was telling me so I really had no other choice in the matter.

As the aisle came to an end, he stopped me suddenly. Not with his words but by outstretching a hand backwards that made me have to stop to avoid running into. I pushed it back down, out of my face, and he shot me a look. I mouthed an annoyed “what?” to him.

He jabbed his thumb to the side, gesturing to the aisle beside the one we were currently in. Before I could even utter a word, he held a finger up to his lips, telling me to hush, as his lips spread into that smile of his. Then, without a word, Mr. Demon rounded the corner and I heard laughter. Laughter followed by a voice that was dangerously as rough as Blondie’s.

“Yongguk, long time no see!”

I peeked around the corner, not exactly sure if I should have followed or not. What I saw I can say caused my jaw to drop.

There was another one.

Another blonde one.

Looks like I wouldn’t be able to refer to him as Blondie anymore. Now, Bang Yongguk was Blondie number 1 and the one who greeted him Blondie number 2. I had to admit, he was definitely the showiest one here in those flower printed paints of his.

Blondie 1’s smile didn’t falter as he pulled Blondie 2 in for a quick hug. A manly hug I guess though I’ve never exactly seen Sehun hug another male before so my judgment probably isn’t the best. When they parted, Blondie 1 went on to say the usual things anyone would say to someone they haven’t seen in awhile. At least, I had hoped he would.

The thing is though, not a single “how have you been?” or “what have you been up to?”” escaped his lips. No. Not at all. Which I should have expected. Blondie 1 was a demon after all. And Blondie 2, he was a spirit wasn’t he? Normal conversations are the kinds of conversations they have the least.

“Eat any humans since the last time I saw you?” Yongguk jested with utmost seriousness.

“You know I’ve quit them. Humans actually go looking when someone goes missing now.” Blondie 2 laughed, answering back in a rather disappointed tone. Then, he became chipper once more, throwing his arm around Yongguk’s shoulder, “On another note, got any tributes worth telling about?”

There it was again. The tribute nonsense he always mentioned. Blondie 1 grinned widely as he looked to where I now hid. Was I hiding though? Well, I wouldn’t say as much. I was simply waiting for the right time to show up. A time that was apparently now as he continued looking off into my direction.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” There it was, the signal that I knew meant it was time for me to show up even though we hadn’t decided on one. Of course, what followed that signal was something I couldn’t help but cringe at; Bang Yongguk’s raspy voice calling me a rather intimate nickname. “Come on out baby, don’t be shy.”

I breathed out, chanting a mantra to myself that I had to remain calm and not do something to jeopardize the plan that Blondie 1 seemed to have. If this all turned out to be for his own amusement in the end though, I was definitely not going to let that tail of his swing back and forth unharmed. Then again, he was probably amused right at this very moment.

Blondie 2 looked me up and down, his lips curving upwards, his teeth not showing, as he looked me over, “Is she as feisty as she looks?”

“Feistier.” Yongguk replied as he continued to take enjoyment in my current misery.

Blondie 2 looked pleased to hear his answer as he unhooked his hand from Yongguk’s shoulder and held it out to me, his smile irritatingly large, “Nice to meet you, Miss-” He paused, waiting for me to fill the gap.

“Sora.”

His lips parted, his teeth now showing as he continued, “You’re as beautiful as your name, Miss Sora. My name is Kim Himchan. You could say that since I’m Yongguk’s best friend, I’m yours as well.”

Or I could say that I’d really rather not be friends with you, you sweet-talking Gumiho.

As I reached out to shake his hand, Yongguk grabbed me, stopping me. He shook his head no, his eyes darting to Kim Himchan, Blondie number 2, the sickeningly suave Gumiho, in a panic before his smile returned.

“You’d regret it: touching her.” He supplied as justification for stopping me from shaking his hand. He earned a nudge from Kim Himchan who obviously misunderstood his words. Even I didn’t know what he meant but he definitely didn’t mean that he would take action if Blondie 2 did end up touching me.

I may have not been able to read Mr. Demon’s pitch black eyes but I could read the look on Kim Himchan’s face that showed without a doubt that he thought this was the case.

“But,” he continued, surprising both me and the Gumiho, “I can’t take responsibility for what she does when I’m not looking.”

Like he’d take responsibility at all. I had to restrain myself from jeering at his comment.

“Why don’t you write down your number for him, babe?”

Oh, now things were starting to make sense.

I ignored the rather excited smile on Kim Himchan’s face as I pulled from the pocket of my cardigan the pink sticky note my grandfather gave me. As I looked up, about to ask for a pen, something black was in my face. A black pen. A black pen that Kim Himchan had ready and waiting. As I was about to write down my name, right then and there, Yongguk suddenly turned, showing his back to me, as he leaned over slightly.

A pseudo-table.

“You don’t want to mess up do you, baby?” He spoke, a message that meant more to me than it did to the seemingly clueless Blondie 2. I placed the sticky note on his back, making sure that when I took a step forward, one of my feet planted itself right on top of that red tail of his. He half-groaned half-laughed, trying to play off the pain he was feeling as I dug my foot into it. I put the pen to paper and right then and there, and wrote my name visibly on it.

Wrote my name while Kim Himchan leaned over to see it, his lips parting as he whispered, “Hey, wait.”

But, it was too late to wait. Too late for him to stop either of us.

He stood there, dumbfounded as I held the paper in my hand still, slipping the pen he gave me into his pocket before backing away. He was frozen still, his eyes the only thing moving as he blinked, processing what had just happened. And there was an odd feeling. A tug. A pull that I felt towards him. The same pull I had felt after I signed my name on Bang Yongguk’s contract. There was nothing mystical about it. No. But it was there.

From the shocked look on his face, he felt it too.

Bang Yongguk’s laughter resonated through the building as he stood up, gaining attention he could care less about. He stuck his tongue out at Kim Himchan before turning to me, gesturing outwards with his hands, towards me. And again, he showed that gummy grin of his, “Welcome to my hell.”