He turned his back around, cracking his neck when tilted to the side and walked away just as Yongguk appeared in their sights.

Himchan passed him without a word and soon disappeared, letting a trail of silence grow the more he distanced himself from both siblings.

Once he was out of sight, Yongguk turned his head back to Sora. The girl was faintly rubbing from the pain of having being almost choked to death.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

“I’m fine… But Guk?”

“Hmm?”

“Be careful when you’re around him… He is definitely not in his right mind.”

He gifted her with a small chuckle, as his head shook at the sudden worry her status of big sister allowed her to give. “Don’t worry about me Noona, I’ll be okay.”

She walked towards him and surprised him with a sudden embrace, her arms wrapped around his neck.

“Wherever he is, I’m sure Dad is proud of you.”

“I miss him…”

“I miss him too, buddy.”

He held her closer against him, enjoying the moment from its rareness.

He truly missed his sister and knowing that Fate wasn’t allowing her any peace was hurting just as much.

They broke apart, Yongguk fixing up his jacket while Sora ran her fingers through her hair, letting out a heavy breath. “How about I take you home?”

“It’s okay, I can go back on my own.”

“I insist, please-”

“As much as I love you for pretending to be the big brother, I promise you I’ll be fine. I just need some time alone, it’s been a long day.”

“I don’t know if I still want to let you out of my sight anymore-”

“How can I make it up to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“For being the worst big sister in the world? How can I fix us?”

“Don’t think so low of yourself, you’re not the worst. Suzy is…. She forgot her big brother’s birthday!”

His sarcastic comment earned him to hear a giggle come out of Sora.

“That sounds like her~”

“It does, and it gets worse every year!”

The lovable sound gently left her lips. “How is she doing? How’s Mom?”

“She’s busy with school and Mom… She’s still at the hospital.”

“O-oh.”

“But she is doing better. At least that’s what the doctor tells us.”

A sigh broke through, tiredly rolling down her tongue. Her fingers entangled in her hair, she dropped her gaze down on the floor, trying to come up with something to say when Yongguk spoke up. “She misses you.”

“R-really?”

“Mhmm. She wants to know when you can visit her.”

“I-I’ll try and go tomorrow.”

He nodded his head, letting his hand rest of top of hers as he ruffled her hairdo; the corner of his lips tuned up as he watched her pry his hand off, coating their moment with a touch of brother-sister teasing.

“Can I at least walk you out?”

“Of course.”

Resting his arm around her shoulders, he lead her out from the cell and back towards the entrance. She was ready to go when Yongguk stopped her; he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to his sister. She looked back at him with confusion written on her face as she took the paper in her hands. “What’s that?”

“My phone number… In case you ever need anything, just call me.”

“Thanks.”

He was hesitant in his movements, his feet moving back and forth on their heels with his hands entangled in his hair. Just as she was about to bid him goodbye and leave, he suddenly pulled her in his arms leaving her completely baffled by the affection she was witnessing.

“Please, take care of yourself. If you ever need anything-”

“I’ll call you, noted.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, little bro’.”

He reluctantly pulled away and watched her walk out of the station until she was out of his sight.

She barely finished walking down the stairs when a groan escaped her lips.

Cheondung was standing right in front of her, a few feet away. He was leaning against the rail at the end of the porch while letting out a gush of smoke into the air, his head tilted back.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was waiting for you.”

“Waiting for me? How the hell did you even know I was here in the first place? You got to stop with the stalking, it’s creepy and annoying.”

She started walking passed him making him quickly catch up to her as he threw his cigarette away and placed his hands in his pockets, breathing out the last smoke.

“Leave me alone, would you? I just want to be by myself.”

“I’m bored-”

“Well too bad. Go find someone else to play with.”

“But its so fun more fun when I hang out with you~”

She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the stranger. “What is it that you want from me? Isn’t it enough you torture me by being one of the most despicable human beings on earth? That you pry on my pain by ing me over? Aren’t you happy with just that?! Get lost.”

“Oh come on~ Don’t be so sour. I just wanna hang out.” He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, making his carefree attitude more annoying for her. “I don’t believe you. What is it that you ing want?”

“Like I said, I’m bored. You’re here. The weather is decent. Why don’t we just hang out?”

“You’re unbelievable.” She shook her hand. Feeling her anger about to burst if she stayed any longer with him. She walked away, stepping on the sidewalk as fast as she could; not wanting to give up, he ran after her and walked quietly by her side, letting the silence surround both of them.

She ignored him the best she could but his presence was too immense to simply brush aside and pretend like she was by herself; she sighed in defeat, giving up on pushing the man away.

He looked at her from the corner of his eyes and somehow understood this as his green card.

“So… What’s your name?”

Instead of going back to the precinct, he went straight to his car and drove away.

His mind was boggled about everything that was going on with his sister. Was it just human insanity for having witnessed the loss of her future husband or was it something just as powerful playing with her mind?

He needed answers and he only knew of one person who could deliver them.

He drove across town until he arrived at a quiet neighborhood. With the moon high up in the sky, every house was sleeping. With no lights coming from the street lamps, he could barely see where he was going; only when a white silhouette stood right in the middle of the street did he stop his car. He stared right at those luminous blue eyes, just as his heart pounded violently against his chest.

The wolf turned his back and marched.

Yongguk followed him, driving carefully behind the pet.

Within just a few minutes, the dog disappeared making Yongguk tilt his head to the left to see that he had finally arrived at the wanted destination.

He parked his car by the sidewalk, took a moment to himself to breathe out the anxiety, and got out of his car. He walked quickly up towards the house and barely gave knock when the owner welcomed him.

“Oh my, it has been a long time, hasn’t it?”

“Hello to you too, Armina.”

“Come on in, we have a lot to discuss.”

She let the boy in and closed the door behind him before she led him to her kitchen where she offered him a cup of tea. He took a seat at the table and ran his ten fingers through his hair while he sighed deeply.

“You look troubled.”

“I am… I’m worried about Sora. Something isn’t right. If she continues like this, I’m going to lose her. I can’t lose my big sister, not when I’m so close to getting her back.”

Just then the blue-eyed cat appeared from nowhere, taking the boy by surprise when it had suddenly jumped on the table. He was about to reach out and pet it when his wrist stopped mid way. He looked up to see that the old lady was holding him in her hand, stopping him. “Don’t pet the cat. I still haven’t gotten that enchantment to wear off. Whatever you do, don’t touch it.”

“As long as I have the amulet, I’m immune to magic-”

“I know, but something went wrong so it’s best if you don’t come in contact with the cat.”

She shooed the feline away, letting it jump off the table as it walked away into the next room before taking a seat at the table, sitting next to him. She let the boy talk, sensing that he had more to say.

“Does it have anything to do with Sora? I think she’s going mad… Losing Seungho did a number on her and I don’t know how to fix it.”

“You don’t fix it. You just let it be.”

She was calm, showing no distress and barely any concern for the woman she took into her home just a few days ago.

It only angered him.

“Let it be? How the hell am I supposed to just let it be?! She’s gonna get herself killed if she doesn’t stop! The woman is hallucinating her dead boyfriend! That’s not normal! I need to know if its something that has to do with her grieving or if it has something to do with magic. I need to know if someone is messing her up and giving her false hope.”

“Yongguk, Destiny is a tricky thing. No matter what you do, you won’t ever be capable of changing it. Take as many detours as you like, at the end of the day, you will still find yourself walking down that destined road.”

“What is that supposed to mean? Where are you getting at?”

“What did she say to you? Her exact words about her hallucination?”

“S-she said that she saw Seungho, that he talked to her… He said something about waiting for him because he’ll be there to catch her, something like that…”

“This is what I feared.” She got up from her seat and walked out of the kitchen only to come back a few minutes later with the cat in her arms. She sat back down, placed the pet on the table; the little furry feline was sitting up calmly, her tail gently moving from one side to the other. Once Yongguk looked at her eyes, his own opened wider, taken aback by the contrast in each iris. “What’s wrong with her eyes? The last time I saw her, both sides were blue, not red and… blue.”

“Like I said, the enchantment went wrong. Someone interfered with my spell.”

He looked deeper at the cat; his mind throwing all kind of thoughts. He was afraid of the worst of things.

With magic, anything was possible.

“You sent her to Sora, didn’t you?”

“Indeed.”

“Why?”

“So she could dream of happy memories of her past, so she could feel better about herself and at least give a try to move on. She didn’t just lose the man she loves. She lost her soulmate.”

“I know, but still, it doesn’t mean that she has to give up on her life! She could find someone else out there! Someone that could even be better than him.”

“You know it doesn’t work like that, dear. Soulmate are connected, if-”

“I-I know, I know… What can I do though? I may be magical, I may be a demon hunter but I feel so useless! Sora doesn’t even know of that heritage and-”

“And it should stay that way. She doesn’t have those memories for a reason. If she ever finds out the true nature of everything that has been happening to her over the past ten years, her future will be ruined.”

“She is looking for the one who murdered Seungho. She is going to find out either way because no mortal has the ability to rip a demon’s heart out of its chest! His death wasn’t normal. It’s not something that humans deal with. I need you to cast an enchantment and protect her. She may have lost the ability of being immune to magic, but it doesn’t mean that she can’t be protected with it. So please, save her.”

In desperation, he took hold of the woman’s hands right in his own, begging her for her help.

She was the matriarch of her coven; hence, she was a powerful witch.

“If I chose to protect her, if I shield her from harm, it still won’t protect her from her destiny. There are powers that are beyond anybody’s control, even my own. That cat is proof of it.”

“What do you mean? You’re one of the most powerful witches-”

“The one who interfered with my magic came from the Other side. That red eye affected the dream that Sora was supposed to see… Oh dear, she dreamt of Seungho because he made it so.”

“But he’s dead.”

“He is a prince, Yongguk. He has powers and used them to find a way to contact her. He used her state of weakness so he could reach her.”

“To reach her? Is he coming back? I thought nobody could revive the dead!”

“He can’t.”

“Why do you sound so sure? If he was able to at least show himself to her, who knows what else he could do!”

“Soulmates are emotionally connected, thus, they feel everything. As long as she feels weak and vulnerable, he will be affected. Because she is in such pain and dwells on her loss, he was able to pray on that weakness and gave her what she wanted, or at least part of it.”

His eyes glanced from the cat to the woman, her latest words still freshly echoing inside his head.

His heart stopped beating when a thought grasped itself onto his brain, the claws digging deeper and deeper until it hit a nerve.

Fear was rising within the pit of his stomach.

He looked straight into the woman’s eyes and that’s when she knew of the sudden sorrow that enveloped him tightly.

“I’ll be there to catch you.”

‘Soulmates are connected… He gave her what she wanted...’

The corner of his eyes were filled with tears, his mind draining as his thoughts slipped out of his tongue into a defeated heavy breath. His heart broke, the pieces unable to be glued back together.

“Sh-she’s not g-going to make it… Is she?”

“So… What’s your name?”

“My name? Seriously?”

“Well yea… I still don’t know how to call you~”

“It’s Sora…”

“Cool. I’m Cheondung!”

“Yea, yea.”

He noticed how agitated she suddenly seemed to be.

From his back pants pocket, he reached for his pack of cigarette and silently offered her one. She stopped in her tracks and took one while nodding a simple ‘thank you’ for his gesture.

Just as she placed the tip of the bud on her lips, he went quick into lighting it up; she nodded at him once again and voiced out a quiet ‘thank you’ before going back on her walk.

She let the small puff of smoke slipped out of her tongue, leaving it floating into the air with her head titled backwards.

Having her left hand holding up the cigarette, Cheondung took notice of the diamond ring that coated her finger. A strange feeling took over his heart, its darkness slowly dipping its feet into a soulful lake, the water cleansing just the smallest part, letting the tiniest spot of light twinkle in the dark.

“So~ you were married?” ‘That would make her Queen… Which means…’

He waited for an answer but seeing like she wasn’t going to respond, he moved onto his next thought. “Any children?”

“No.”

“Hmm, how come?”

“I can’t have children.”

“Why?”

Hating how noisy he was, she knew that the only solution was to simply give him answers, hoping that it would shut him up in the long run. “Tubes tied. I went for a surgery not too long ago.”

“That’s… drastic?” She stopped once again, taking in a deep breath to calm herself down. She turned around to face the boy, trying to put her anger at a minimum. “Well, what are you going to do about it? Hmm? I did this because I don’t want to have children-”

“Without him, is that it?”

She stopped breathing, as the air got stuck in . She tried to find something to say but instead, she ignored him and continued her walk trying to brush aside the pain that dwelled inside her.

“You love him that much to private yourself of becoming a mother?” His words made her stop again, her back facing him. The cool wind made her slightly shudder, goose bumps traveling around her body.

“Y-yes. I don’t want to have a family where he can’t be in it.” She was getting tired of his questions, and was longing for some time alone. She turned around where he could clearly see new tears right by her eyes, ready to fall at any moment. “But what’s it to you anyways, hmm? I’m following that advice you gave me. I’m going to join him, aren’t you happy about that?!”

The problem was that… He wasn’t.

As strange and completely taken aback as he was, he wasn’t even in the slightest, amused by what he was witnessing.

He despised humans. He didn’t care for them at all and never understood why his older brother did.

“I lost the only man that I’ve ever loved, the only man that’s ever loved me! I lost my future, my soulmate, my everything! He was my world… I gave up everything for him and I’d do it all over again, in less than a heartbeat I would do everything that I can to get him back.” Her voice was getting louder as well as her anxiety; she threw the cigarette bud on the floor and ran her fingers through her hair as she crouched down before getting back up just as quickly.

Her body trembled from the intensity of her pain, sending tremors through every speck of her being, body and soul.

“I can’t live like this anymore! I-I can’t keep waking up all by myself and realize that I’m all alone because it ing hurts! It hurts so much I can barely breathe at times. I feel so empty inside, I have nothing else to live for and if dying is the only solution to stop my misery then so be it, because I seriously don’t care anymore… I give up.”

Her weakness reached him, endless ripples affecting his soulless self.

And he was the cause of it all. He was the cause for that melancholy.

It ate him; something inside was actually making him feel like for what he did.

Who knew that a demon, a creature without a hint of humanity, could feel guilty?

It was as if her vulnerability hit him straight into that small light, igniting a strength that he had never dealt with before; that same light give that piece of his heart its first breath, making it pound for the very first time.

She was heavily breathing, her eyes never looking away from the stranger that was standing in front of her, just a few feet away.

She saw him approach slowly but didn’t think much of it. “I don’t want to live anymore, I can’t – I just want my life to-”

He abruptly stopped her words, knowing how such carelessness could attract danger.

He was holding her against him, his hands on her cheeks while he was deeply kissing her.

The caress was tender; it had no ulterior motive.

It was just a kiss, the sweetest of touch.

Lost in that effervescent sensation, how could they know that it was the breakthrough they needed?

He was to be punished, to become mortal and to live as a human for a hundred days, but only now did he find out the true struggle of carrying such emotional ties deep inside.

She could remember the last time she was kissed with such passion, and yet, right at this moment, she was sinking into the blooming emotions that made her heart race. Was it because of him? She was doubtful. Though her body caved into the desire of his touch, her soul still felt hollow.

Out of breath, he finally broke away from her lips, the redness of her lipstick all smeared. He was breathing deeply, his dark eyes staring right into those familiar blue ocean waves. “Be careful for what you wish for.”

“Why are you saying this?”

“Because the universe can hear you.”