It had been days since the day the Demons kidnapped Taemin.

 

He is still in the dark side, inside the castle where he sat in the cell down in the basement. Other than the faint lights near the wall in front of him and the fire torches that lit up in hallways of each prison cell, the area was still dark. The aura in prison cell just had gone from scary to creepy to plain ignorant to the angel.

 

The force shield was still intact; Taemin could see the energy pulsing heavily as it shimmered from the top and faded to the bottom—it’s almost as if he was trapped inside a floating jellyfish. He had not moved from that same spot at all.

 

He endured every single day like this: no food, no water and no comfort.

 

Every day seems like a slow passing year to the young angel—regardless it was day or night. He was unable to identify the time and date as there was no window to allow him to see the sky; he remained trapped in this dark, old cell.

 

He shuddered from the coldness in the cell; he tugged onto his black shirt down to his knees, wanting to get some of its warmth.

 

His face was sunken and pale, completely dehydrated from lack of water. His stomach rumbled from starvation. He is bound to die like this if this continues any longer.

 

Sure, when time comes, he would ask Joon and he will—coldly—lead him to the toilets as he thinks it was “damned for an angel to do their crap in the corner of the prison cell.” (This is not acceptable for all of them, by the way.)

 

However, events have been happening to the boy with each passing day.

 

One night, when he was sleeping uncomfortably on the hard floor, someone managed to pass into his force shield and laid a blanket on him.

 

Taemin woke up confused of why he had a blanket over him, or who came into his cell and laid this on him.

 

He had asked Joon if it was he when he passed by to check on him and the male was surprised to see the blankets around him. He shook his head in denial and left him alone.

 

Few days later, the angel heard a clank on the floor and he turned to see a bowl of porridge inside his cell. He managed to catch a glimpse of black hair.

 

It was strange, he did not hear a single sound of the door clicking—it was as if he did it so secretly.

 

He called out after the demon, but he was already out of sight. This left him confused—he wanted to know who was that male who keeps helping him for survival.

 

The porridge tasted like home, by the way, after hesitating due to thoughts of things such as, “It could be poisoned…” or “This must be a trick. If I eat it, I’ll be killed on the spot.” He was surprised to see that the taste was delicious and not gross and disgusting as he thought it would be.

 

He was finally full after that.

 

A day after that, the unknown demon seems to have found his twin daggers and his white boots because he saw them next to his bowl of rice (yes, it was rice this time). He felt grateful to have his belongings back to him once again—especially his daggers in which he safely hid in his boots.

 

Sure, he was told by Joon that he had informed the Duke about him and that he was told of someone looking after the angel and make sure he does not get harmed in any way (because even so, a fight would still break out from the death of him).

 

However, Joon was not expecting him to be doing all this—making food for him and finding his belongings for the angel. Even he was confused with all of this as well.

 

Taemin wanted to know this someone who was looking after him. He needed answers.

 

Why was he helping him?

 

Why was he being so secretive?

 

Why he is doing this when he is a Demon himself?

 

As a result, he was planning to successfully catch him and get his identity.

 

 

He waited.

 

Taemin held his knees to his chest and buried his head into the blankets as he pretended to be asleep. He didn’t bother use the metal bed—it was too cold, too uncomfortable, too hard, it made him stuffy, it was hard to sleep on—all that childish and stubborn complaints came out from his mouth. He is better off sleeping on the rocky ground than having to break his back and wings on that hard thing.

 

He waited.

 

He could hear nothing but the soft roars of the flames on the fire torch. He assumed that it was night because it was so quiet. Yes, it was normally quiet, but this was just eerily quiet.

 

He waited.

 

He had his ears open for footsteps. Not rats scurrying across the floor. Not demons groaning. Not walls creaking in agony. He blocked out all but footsteps.

 

Taemin knew that this anonymous demon would come around when he is asleep at this time. He should come… he must come!

 

He waited.

 

…If he had not dozed off, that is.

 

He was so tired from all the waiting that he—without knowing it—fell asleep. He had not drunk anything yet, only ate, and even the liquids from the food were not helping with all the nutrients he needed at all. He did doze off, but his ears remained open.

 

Water sloshing—

 

His eyes snapped open, not moving as he heard the sound.

 

…

 

Footsteps going down the stairs.

 

He is coming!

 

He tried his best to make his breath stable so it seems like he was sleeping the entire time. He had the blankets up to his chin, so his face was out of sight.

 

He heard the footsteps echoing louder and louder—this mean he is getting closer to his cell.

 

One, two, three, four… Just a few more steps…

 

One, two, three, four… Come on!

 

One, two, three.

 

He can tell that he had stopped in front of his cell.

 

Do not move, Taemin.

 

Do not move.

 

Not yet.

 

His heart spoke out to him as he heard the soft creaks of bars opening. Taemin slyly moved on the rocky ground, acting as if he was trying to get comfortable. The creaking stop and he heard his breath hitch.

 

Few seconds passed before a sigh of relief emerged from the demon and the creaking sound resumed.

 

The light brunet averted his eyes and saw the bars opening, widening the narrow gap. No wonder why he did not hear the click—the bars were twisted open!

 

The demon then put down two bowls—a bowl of steak and a bowl of water. He had also laid down a towel and utensils to help him in eating.

 

His heart swelled with happiness and gratitude—for a Demon, he must admit, it was sweet of him to do all of this for him.

 

The creaking came again as the gap was now closing. Soft grunts and a rattle of chains echoed in the area as the demon got up from his crouching stance.

 

He’s about to leave… now, Taemin, now!

 

He sprung from his position and quickly got over to the bars, the chains on his ankles rapidly rattling.

 

This startled the demon and he did not get the chance to react as he turned his head, his eyes slightly wide to see the boy clutching onto his wrist through the gap of the bars. His eyes showed determination and anxiety as he breathed heavily.

 

“Yah…” Taemin began, his energy already wasted as he panted heavily. “Who are you? Why are you doing this? Did you come here on your behalf?”

 

So many questions roamed around his head, but the demon only smiled and let out a chuckle. Seeing his face, he gasped silently.

 

He knew him. He had bumped into the tall demon back at the academy before.

 

He bit his bottom lip as he gazed into those dark brown eyes of his, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

 

Silence only droned on between the two of them until Taemin spoke again, “Yah, I’m asking you, who are you?” His voice was a tad louder now, just enough to catch his attention.

 

He only turned and grabbed Taemin’s wrist, prying his hold of his wrist as he stared at him, his eyes showing gentleness while his face showed no expression. He then had his hand on the angel’s head, patting him like a child. It was comforting, the way he felt his fingers would sneakily gather a lock of his shoulder-length hair. He felt even more tired than before.

 

“Let’s sit down. You’re exhausted.” His voice was deep and soothing. Taemin nodded meekly and shook his wrist out of his grasp, slowly going down to his rear as he sat down to gather his energy. He grabbed the bowl of water and drank it, having regained back some of his life.

 

The other sat down as well, staring at the boy from behind the bars before looking away, “As for my name…” He said, catching the angel’s attention.

 

There was a slow pause before the male turned back to Taemin and answered, “My name is Minho.”

 

 

“You’re Minho…hyung?” Taemin asked, uncertain if he was able to call him as that. He was shocked to see a genuine smile coming from the said demon.

 

“Yes, that’s me. So, kiddie angel,” he said with a smirk, Taemin glared back at him as he took a bite of his steak. I knew he would call me that. Something tells me he is about to scold me.

 

“I told you to be careful, but you ended up here. What the happened to you?” He asked, tilting his head to the side as he rested his elbow on his knee.

 

Taemin sighed and said, “I chased down a cat back at the academy after it got hold of my papers. I fell into the dark side of the building and they kidnapped me. They sent me into the throne room, and surrounded by Demons. Daehyun—I think that was his name—got caught by Joon-ssi after his attempts to taint me properly.”

 

Minho nodded, pursuing his lips. “I see. Then you got the shirt from…?”

 

The light brunet tilted his head in confusion before he looked down at what he is wearing and remembered that he was wearing the large black shirt. He then answered, “Ah, Joon-ssi gave it to me. I think he saw how uncomfortable I was when I was . I’m confused about something, is that guy bipolar?”

 

The dark-haired demon chuckled and shrugged, “You could say that, but that’s for you to find out. I cannot tell you as my lips are sealed.” He chuckled when the boy pouted before sighing and resumed eating his steak. Something popped in his head and he began to speak to the angel.

 

“So you fell for their trap, the cat thing, I mean.”

 

The boy looked up at him shocked, “It was a trap? That cat was a trap all along, and I fell for that shi—thing?” Just seeing his reaction was enough for the demon to laugh aloud.

 

“Oh, you can be so naïve. Yes, that was a trap, you idiot. How can you not know it was a trap? Did you not see yourself in a situation that seems like you had gotten yourself into a trap? Now look at you, stuck here in a cell that smells of dried blood and sweat, eating the steak like a hungry on the run.”

 

“Yah, I was starving, you fool!” Taemin hissed out. The latter chuckled. “It’s not even funny! Humph! You can give me food for the heavens I care, but I will ignore your sadist attitude towards me. Plus, they took my papers and I don’t know where the heck they hid it.” He huffed in aggravation, looking away from the male.

 

The dark-haired male chuckled once again, holding his hands up in defense and said, “Alright, alright, let’s start over. That was a bad start since you went off ing on me.” He paused before staring at Taemin straight in the eyes. His breath hitched from the eye contact, his cheeks burning red as he gazed into those sparkling dark chocolate brown eyes of his.

 

“My name is Minho. Tell me your name.” His voice was so soft that it almost caught the boy off-guard. Even if the demon knew his name, he will have to play along. He started stammering and stumbled over his words a bit after swallowing his nth bite of the steak.

 

“Eh, u-um, my name—cough—I’m…I’m Minho—I mean, Taemin! My name is Taemin! Yes! That is right. That is my name. Um…yeah…”

 

The other laughed at his cute reaction, finding his face flushing red in embarrassment amusing as well as him whining at the latter, “Shut up…”

 

He calmed down his laughter and sighed in bliss. “Taemin, huh?” Minho nodded, making a thin line with those pink, luscious lips…

 

Gah, Taemin, what are you thinking? Do not think of such a sensitive body part!

 

(A/N: The only sensitive body part on males, Taemin, would be . Just saying.)

 

He mentally whacked himself for being an imbecile around this male. He does not know why this is happening to himself. It is as if Minho is bewitching him.

 

Minho’s lips then grazed into a smile and stuck out his hand to him. “It’s nice to meet you, here in this forsaken place.”

 

Taemin stared at his hand then at the male’s face before looking back at his hand again. He then smiled at him and—his hand sliding through the gap of the bars—took his hand, shaking it.

 

“I can say the same to you… Minho.”