Who lit up the candles?

‘’So, here you can see pictures of the previous residents of this despicable house.’’ Jongin said with a mocking tone as he extended a graceful hand- pointing at the wall. He called them pictures but it was obvious they weren’t. Perhaps, Jongin liked trying to sound modern, or perhaps he was fooling around. Sora didn’t pay much attention to it. Instead she eyed the paintings with care; Sora was quite fascinated by the artwork. The human faces were done so well, it looked they were made of flesh and blood. The details were impressive; Sora breathed out as she stood before the painting of an old man, her hands unconsciously touched the golden frame. This old man had a suit on made of dark blue suede which made it seem like he was a person of a high rank. He sat on a small throne; Sora wouldn’t want to refer to it as a chair since it looked far too expensive to be a simple chair. It had beautiful patterns carved into the golden frames; the upholstery was richly filled and made of red velvet- giving the chair an even more luxurious aura.

The man wore a powder wig- if Sora’s memory served right, that’s how those wigs were called. The powder on the man’s shoulder was actually visible. He looked confidently at the painter while holding a piece of paper. His arm sought support on the desk (which Sora wasn’t even going to begin to describe, let’s just say that it fit with the throne) he had papers on the desk accompanied with a bottle of ink and a huge, white feather.

‘’This man, Sora, seriously, he was an arrogant prick. I'm glad he’s not around anymore. It was hard doing business with him.’’

Sora frowned and balled her fists. What exactly was Jongin? She found that question running around her head constantly. Sora knew Jongin wasn’t sharing information out of history books right now, no, rather- he was voicing out his feelings, his experiences with this apparent arrogant guy.

‘’Why was it hard doing business with him?’’ Sora turned to face the blonde as she intensely observed his expression and body language.

Jongin didn’t seem surprised by the question. He glared at the painting and ran a hand through his silk-like hair. ‘’He thought he could boss everyone around-especially me¸ he also had stupid nicknames for my kind which drove me insane…’’ Jongin scoffed, and pulled Sora by the arm.

‘’Let’s move on.’’

Sora absentmindedly nodded as her feet followed his lead. For some reason Sora became more and more interested in Jongin’s life. His kind? The brunette wanted to scream since she missed her golden chance of asking about his kind. Sora had so many questions which were burning on her tongue. However, she was hesitant to speak them out. Sora had already learned that Jongin had a short temper; the fact that she didn’t know where his boundaries were didn’t help the situation either.

Jongin wasn’t a ghost, like some people might call him- Sora could touch him and feel the warmth of his body and she was pretty sure that she weren’t imagining him. Monggu had felt his company, too.

Just what exactly could he be…?

‘’What are you thinking about?’’

Sora jerked her head up as she eyed Jongin. He was still holding onto Sora’s arm but he wasn’t looking at her. The human girl started to think he understood more from her smell, body heat and -language than her facial expressions. Should I say the truth? Should I ask him the questions? Or, should I come up with a lie about having school stress?

‘’Is it a secret?’’

Sora chuckled and shook her head. Jongin’s voice sounded soft and unsure. He sounded like a small child asking his mother for a lollypop minutes before dinner.

The brunette realized Jongin couldn’t see her shaking her head, so she spoke up. ‘’No, it’s not. Though, I'm not sure if you want to know.’’

Jongin scoffed. ‘’I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t curious, Sora.’’

Sora flinched and blinked. How could he go from speaking in a soft voice to such a mocking tone in mere milliseconds?

‘’I was only wondering about you…’’ she answered truthfully as her voice trailed off.

Jongin abruptly stopped walking and turned sharply on his heels. Sora didn’t miss the dirty smirk on his face as he asked, ‘’wondering if I'm seeing someone? Did you fall in love with me, Sora? Isn’t it a tad too soon? Then again, I understand, I am pretty irresistible. ’’

Sora gasped and froze. The nerve to speak like that!

Suddenly, Jongin’s laughter filled the empty air in the house. He clutched his stomach before wiping his eyes with his sleeves.

‘’You should’ve seen your face, Sora.’’

Jongin didn’t lose his smile as he continued walking through the large hallway; he shook his head as the last remains of his laughter died out. Sora glared at the back of the grayhead’s head and slowly picked up her pace. They hadn’t left the third floor yet, Jongin insisted on leading Sora upstairs to the attic, but the latter was a bit reluctant. For some reason her gut didn’t trust the attic.

Not to think about the dust and spiders that would be up there.

‘’You seem hesitant about going up.’’

Sora focused on Jongin, again, as she stood still beside him. He pulled a random rope that hung from the ceiling- with it came down a wooden staircase. Sora sighed and nodded her head. She wasn’t going to deny it.

‘’Don’t be, I'm here. Nothing will harm you.’’

Jongin gave a reassuring smile- and to be honest, it did help shake the worry off of the girl. Sora could even feel her cheeks slightly heat up. Jongin could be quite charming when he wanted to be.

‘’So, about your thoughts from earlier, what were you exactly thinking about?’’

Sora shrugged- trying to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal, ‘’oh, you know, about your whereabouts and family and stuff…’’ she said and carefully scanned his eyes, Sora had a hunch they would turn red again.

Instead, Jongin’s eyes remained having a dark colour. His expression did change- like Sora had expected, he bit his lip and slowly bobbed his head.

‘’I see.’’

And his ice-cold voice had returned.

This side of Jongin gave Sora goosebumps. He was unpredictable. She couldn’t fully trust him and that made her stomach turn and turn- over again.

‘’I thought I had informed you about the fact that I can smell your fear, Sora.’’

Jongin didn’t look at the girl but his tone made it clear that he wasn’t pleased with the fear she felt in her cells. Sora took a deep breath and tried to calm her beating heart. She didn’t want to walk on egg shells around him. It made her feel bad, like she wasn’t a real friend, as if she took his kindness for granted.

It wasn’t like that.

Sora wanted to be his best friend, someone he could rely on. Someone he could talk about whatever he wanted. She wanted to comfort him and make his cold side disappear, because Sora was convinced his cold side was a simple mask for his insecurities and pain.

‘’I don’t want to be scared of you, Jongin. But you have to cut me some slack. You keep changing your tone and I don’t know what to expect.’’

This was probably the first time Sora voiced out her mind so freely. She hoped it wouldn’t annoy the grayhead, because that would mean she couldn’t be honest around him. Sora really wanted to bond with Jongin, and if she couldn’t speak her thoughts openly, then how could she truly bond?! She pouted as she followed him up the squeaking stairs.

Jongin sighed as he sat down on the floor of the attic. As Sora had expected it was full of dust- the girl restrained from coughing, she wondered how long it had been since a human had set foot in this place.

‘’I guess you want to know what I am, right? And what my business here is?’’

Sora snapped her head and felt a spark of excitement race through her body. He must have known about her questions the whole time, and finally he was going to answer them! Sora eagerly nodded her head as she took a seat across him.

Jongin lifted an eyebrow and balled a fist- his other hand disappeared into his hair. He took a deep breath and tried to relax his eyebrows. Sora frowned- he seemed reluctant to speak, so she patiently waited until he would begin his story.

‘’I am not here out of free will.’’ Jongin started slowly, ‘’I am trapped here.’’ Jongin paused as he contemplated on something before he finally spoke again. ‘’I am a Jinn. Do you know what that means?’’

Sora firmly shook her head- Jinn, is that the name of his race? She shivered as she hugged her arms to her body. Did the attic somehow become colder?

Jongin didn’t look impressed, ‘’I am created of smokeless fire. You humans, on the contrary, are created of a mixture of different soils. Angels, on their turn, are created of light‘’

Sora lifted an eyebrow as she thought about it. A mixture of soils? And the Jinn from smokeless fire?  He even knows about Angels?

‘’What do you mean with smokeless fire?’’

‘’We, the Jinn, are created from the pure flame of fire which doesn’t produce smoke.’’

Sora gulped and decided to not ask Jongin more questions because his glare was sending chills over her body. The human girl quickly nodded- hoping the Jinn would continue his story.

‘’Anyway, like I said, I am trapped here because I've lost something which belongs to me.’’