“You are so foolish.” A scoff ran down his tongue, entangled with his words as he shook his head, breaking off the gaze he held with her.

“I am foolish? It was your idea-”

“Since when do you listen to a stranger?”

“Since that stranger made sense with what he was saying.”

The look in his eyes shifted to something darker, something deeper.

He straightened himself up and stepped closer towards Sora. A sudden chill ran down her spine with fear gently climbing up to her heart and creating a faster pace. She walked backwards, trying to distance herself from him; she found herself cornered against a brick wall with the boy hovering dangerously near to her.

She was heavily breathing, her lips shaking as every breath seeped out of .

A light gasp escaped when she felt his hand pressed against her chest, his fingers close to her neck. He slid his hand up until he held , but not too tightly.

All so suddenly, flashes of his nightmare came to view, blinding his vision for the mere second; she whimpered at the grip tightening around her neck, a slight pain lingering from his touch.

“D-do it. Just ing do it.” There was venom in her voice, her teeth stuck together as she spoke with hatred.

The only response she got was a smirk across his lips.

His other hand traveled down her waist and slid towards her back; skin to skin, his fingers gently her bottom while the tip of his nose brushed up against hers. She was lost in her thoughts while intently staring at the darkness that painted his irises.

They stood like this until he squeezed her backside and created friction between their lower bodies; she rocked her head back, her eyes shut close as hung open with a silent moan coming out. He took this chance to cut her breath short as he stuck his lips against hers, his tongue gliding sensually upon her own.

His grip around tightened slightly where his finger dug gently into her skin.

He wrapped his other arm around her, pushing her further against the wall and kept rolling her hips into his.

Her knees weakened at the slow high that grew inside her; numbing warmth took over the beating of her heart as it pumped her blood with more of a lustful approach.

The wind blew with unexpected violence, throwing off both individuals away from their moment of intimacy.

Her chest heaved up and down, part out of relief, when he backed away from her. She shuddered at the breeze that enclosed her body; once again, an odd heat ran down her skin gifting her with calmness in her unbalanced waves of emotions.

“I’m g-gonna go…”

He barely got the time to answer when he watched her walk away from him.

He grew angry at the intended interruption nature put him through.

Jealously and greed took part within him, its hands grasping every living particle in his body and sending tremors throughout the small red light that is buried deep inside his heart.

He tried shaking off the feeling but the shadow just grew darker and darker, lingering behind his footsteps when he started marching on, desperate to brush aside the craving that lived in the pit of his stomach, growling every time she echoed in the back of his mind.

D a y  E i g h t y - F i v e ^(#85)

She was up, preparing herself for another day.

Looking through her clothes from yesterday, she found the piece of paper her brother gave her last night and dialed the written number with the phone that hung on the wall in the kitchen.

It rang a few times until Yongguk had finally picked his own device, making Sora smile with her brother’s greeting.

“You said that if I ever needed anything to call you…”

“Of course! What do you need?”

“I-I wanna see Mom… I was wondering if I could hitch hike a ride with you?”

“At what time do you want me to pick you up?”

“In an hour maybe?”

“I’ll be there~”

“Thanks.”

She hung up, gently throwing the piece of paper on the counter before leaning her back against the edge and breathing out.

Silence wandered heavily across the walls of this home.

She promised herself that she wouldn’t depend on any of her supplies for the moment being; she wanted to stay sober for her mother.

She had to stay strong just for these few upcoming hours before she could doze off into a different world.

She was all ready, having dressed up a few minutes earlier; she walked around the apartment hoping that the time would fly by quickly until her doorbell was to ring.

She finished her round as she found herself right back in her kitchen.

It used to be one of her favorite places in the whole world but for the past eighty-five days, she found it dull and depressing.

She walked up to her fridge and glanced at the memos that hung here and there until her eyes landed on an old picture. Her heart squeezed when her mind filled its space with the associated memory; the times before she even met Seungho, in the times – more than ten years ago – when she was counted as the eldest of her sibling and one of her father’s pride and joy.

She gave that title up willingly and there was no regret in her decision; when Seungho came into her life, it was her turn to dedicate the rest of her future to their own children but the opportunity never presented itself. It left her more morose imagining an existence without a husband or even a child, a piece of the puzzle that filled the void her late Love had left.

Her fingers moved on their own when they tended to that photograph, delicately caressing the surface.

Once upon a time, she loved watching her mother dance around the kitchen.  From the small apron embracing the Mrs.’ waist to the melodious voice that danced across her vocal chords, little Sora would follow her mother around, helping her through the cooking of a full-fledged meal and the baking of pastries and desserts.

There was something about prancing around in the kitchen that created a sense of serenity and excitement.

That was until she laid eyes on the stranger from across the room.

The moment he had swept her away, she found those same qualities in his arms.

Slowly, pieces after pieces were falling apart in one place to be rebuilt into another home; Seungho gifted her with the most beautiful kitchen she had ever seen. Knowing that her dream was to open her own restaurant, he went to unbelievable strength to procure everything she ever needed until his very last breath.

As she watched his body getting lowered in the ground, her world fell into fragments sharp as a knife.

Her dream, tailed into the backseat, caved with it.

She lost the inspiration as well as the comforting passion that let her two feet step into a kitchen, reaching out for one ingredient after the other.

The doorbell suddenly resonated in between her ears, waking her up from her reverie.

She wiped away the flour that reached her skin against the apron that was tied to her waist and walked to the door, letting her brother in.

He hasn’t put one foot inside her house, too shocked from the sight in front of him. “N-Noona-” Left speechless, he gestured to her face on his own.

“It’s flour, Yongguk. It’s flour… I was cooking.”

“Cooking?” She could see the smile spread across his lips. Partly surprised by her revelation, he was equally happy about what he was hearing.

“Y-yea, hmm, co-come on in…”

“What were you cooking?” He spoke up in anticipation as he stepped inside, but that quickly changed when he took notice of his surroundings; the last time he was here, he had barely paid attention due to the prior reason of his ‘visit’, but now that he was on his own, he couldn’t help but feel guilty from the conditions his sister was living in.

His thoughts were soon brushed aside when her voice made him look back at her. “I was just baking cookies for mom… I thought she might like them.”

“She’d love that.” The reassuring smile that re his lips made her feel more at ease.

She walked back to the kitchen, attending to her batch of snacks while Yongguk ventured himself to her table, taking a seat and quietly watching her. “You look just like mom.”

She stopped what she was doing, receiving the arrow of his words straight to the center of her heart. The moment went by quickly without Yongguk noticing what had just happened. “You can always go back to opening up a place of your own, you know-”

“No.”

Tension rose between the two bodies.

“Why? To the very least you can try! You need to move on and opening up that restaurant is the perfect way to do it-”

“I said no!” Out of anger, she had slapped her hand on a hard surface, but during that glimpse of a moment, she had forgotten where she was standing.

A yell escaped her lips soon after, feeling the palm of that hand burn from having it hit against the oven.

Yongguk just as quickly got up from his seat, as he ran towards her. He caught onto her hand and pulled her towards the sink where he the cold water, letting the slightly burnt skin contrast against the icy liquid.

She whimpered from the pain and tried to get herself away but he wouldn’t let go; he gently rubbed her hand to let the ache dissipate until he finally let it out from under the water and picked up a towel to wrap the bruise.

“Are you okay?”

“Do I look like I’m okay?!” She pushed herself away from the boy, taking a couple of steps backwards for some needed space while he stood in the same spot, taken aback by the angered outburst he received. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean too-”

“I know, I know… I’m sorry.”

She breathed out a heavy gush of air, exhaustion seeping through her bones. She sat down at the table, holding onto the towel that was stuck to her hand, and looked down, her gaze catching sight of the ring on her left hand.

While she stayed quiet, Yongguk cleaned up the mess that was scattered across the counter and made sure to fetch out from inside the oven the last batch of chocolate chip cookies she had prepared and placed them in the Tupperware she had already prepared.

Once he was done, he went by to sit next to his sister, quietly sighing.

He gently held her hand in between his, making her look up at him, where he smiled softly, trying to regain a happier atmosphere.

“How about we go see mom, hmm? She’s been waiting for you for quite some time~”

“Sure.”

The morning rush sent him straight to the witches’ house, still not satisfied about how they had ended things the last time they met.

He violently knocked his fist against her door, shaking the glassed-wooden surface to its core. “Open up! I know you’re in there!”

From the other side of the door, he could hear the loud barking from Caleb as he stood on his guard, ready to attack if necessary.

Cheondung was about to knock again when Armina appeared with a stern look on her face; this soon changed with a subtle smile appearing across her lips when she sensed something off with the boy. “Come on in.”

She left the door open as she walked on, leaving him to follow her as he stepped in, ignoring the grunting dog beside him. The door closed on itself, startling the demon but quickly went back to his steps, tailing the witch as she climbed up the stairs to her attic.

She walked into the room, still with the tensed silence hanging over their heads; standing on the other side of the room while Cheondung was still by the entrance, she turned around, breaking the ice. “Now, where were we?”

“We were talking about that damn cat of yours and those stupid red marks she left on my neck!”

“You shouldn’t be blaming others-”

“That ing cat screwed me over. You screwed me over. You think you can scare me with that nightmare?”

“Your subconscious spoke to you. And you know what it said? That you felt guilty, that you are afraid that the girl will find out and kill you, because she will eventually find out the truth and when she does, you better prepare yourself.”

“I’m not feeling guilty. I’m a demon, damn it! I don’t have pathetic human emotions.”

“Of course you are remorseful, I can see it in your eyes. Maybe not when you had the soulless body of a demon but now that you are human, you feel their weakness. You have a soul growing inside of you. That small red light in your heart is its birthing point; the more time you spend with the girl, the more it grows and once it turns your heart back to red, it will break and then you will feel an excruciating pain. You will feel your heart squeeze and break into thousands of pieces all because that one girl will look you in the eyes and hate you for what you did to her.”

She witnessed the growth of that family and it was tearing her apart to see the eldest daughter fall into such a pitiful state.

She was in discord with the underworld, as all good witches and other creatures of good nature were, but with the man that stood in front of her, with the blue blood that ran through his veins, she had a deeper hatred for the Source of all Evil, the King of this Underworld and his heirs.

His fists were trembling as they stood by each side of his body, a deathly glare coating the dark color of his eyes. “I did nothing-”

“You robbed her of her future! You doomed the rest of her existence because of your stupid and selfish character! You couldn’t be content with your brother choosing a different path, you had to destroy it and destroy her in the process.”

“I know you’re supposed to be a good witch and all, but why do you seem so obsessed with all of this? Seungho is dead. You should be happy about that.”

“You’ve disturbed great powers with your action, powers that affected the good side just as the bad one. You are the cause of her self-destruction. You will drive her to her own death.”

“What kind of powers did I disturb?! All I did was simply rip out the heart of my own damned brother. Nothing else. One life lost doesn’t equal destruction.”

“You’re such a fool.” She stepped closer, though she made herself reach the centerpiece where the rusted golden vessel lay. “You didn’t just kill your brother, but the poor child is grieving the loss of her soulmate!”

Her words hit him straight into that small light inside him.

He shouldn’t be caring but he was.

An unfamiliar emotion left him weak in the knees, his body suffering from its rippling effects. He stared at the woman, his throat dry as his breath grew heavier, total shock seizing his bones. “Impossible… Seungho can’t be her other half. They are not even from the same world, let alone the same generation! He is over a hundred and fifty years old!”

“But he is and you know very well the story of how it ends, demon. Soulmate don’t survive without one another; one dies and within the next hundred days-”

“She is not going to die. I won’t allow it.”

“You can’t stop this.”

“I’ll make her fall in love with me then.” Those words were spitted out before they had the time to register inside his mind; it was in the spur of the moment and yet, it was the goal he set out for himself. His humanity was growing and he wasn’t even aware of it yet.

“It won’t work.”

“What makes you so sure these two were destined to be together?”

“The alignment of their stars creates perfect harmony.” She gently hovered her hand above the empty bowl, filling it with water before mirroring the constellations. Right on the surface twinkling stars showed their faces, their bodies creating a beautiful set of arrangements.

The boy walked closer, hesitating at first until curiosity took the best of him. Standing next to Armina, he lowered his head until he saw what she was talking about. He gulped down, feeling the lump in his throat taking an uncomfortable place inside him. “What about ours? Wh-what does it create?”

Within the next second, the water was set on fire, destroying the vision of the night sky.

“Chaos, revenge and death.”

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“Drugs? Really?! And smoking?! Have I not taught you better than this Sora?”

“It’s nice to see you too, Mom.”

“And what’s this?” She took hold of Sora’s bruised hand, making the younger one slightly hiss at the sudden contact. “I burnt myself, but I’m okay, it’s just a small bruise.”

A sigh came out from her pale lips, giving up on the anxiety she was feeling to let happiness settle in. She still held onto Sora’s hand, pulling her towards her while she pushed herself a little bit to the side to let her daughter sit next to her, all the while with Yongguk watching by the entrance. He walked in and took a seat by the couch at the corner of the room, watching his mother and his older sister interact after so long.

Once Sora was settled comfortably next to her mother, she handed her the box of cookies with a shy smile on her face. “I thought you might like them… And plus, it can help wash down the bitter aftertaste from the food the hospital has you eating.”

Her mother laughed light-heartedly, easing up the atmosphere that surrounded the broken family.

Sora looked at her mother, slowly reciprocating the smile onto her own lips.

“I missed you… Sorry I haven’t been around much-”

“It’s okay sweetheart.”

“It’s not. I should’ve at least allowed you more visits than just right now.”

“Sora, you just lost someone that was dear to you. You have more important things on your mind, it’s not the end of the world.”

“Then why do I feel like it is? I don’t see myself making it… M-om, I miss him so much.”

The blue waves seeped out, the storm cracking as her tears rolled down her cheeks. She hid her face on her mother’s shoulder where the sound of her cries were muffled against the limb; Yongguk watched from where he was sitting and held a brief eye contact with their mother where she showed deep sadness for her daughter’s misery.

“It’s okay to miss him sweetheart. Of course you do, he was very special to you.”

Mother and daughter were lost in their little reunion, Sora getting the comfort she needed even though nothing could make her feel better; not even the embraces and kisses from her dear Mom. Mrs. Bang threaded her daughter’s hair with her fingers, while her mind was caught up in a swirl where thousands of thoughts were drowning, one next to the other.

“Sora, promise me something.”

“What is it?”

“When I lost your father, I thought that it was the end for me too. I didn’t think I’d be able to live through another day without him but I survived. I’m not saying its easy, because its not. Life is not easy, but it doesn’t mean that you have to give up.”

Sora was still looking at her mother, her doe eyes hinting something that leaned towards admiration for her strength but also with a hint of guilt for the girl’s failure.

“Promise me that you won’t let Seungho’s death affect you more than it is now. You need to stay strong. You can’t let your grief destroy you. You have so much to live for, you are still young sweetheart; you can’t allow yourself to be destroyed because you are struggling with one of the most horrible emotions humanity has the mishap to feel.”

“B-but Mom, I see him. I can actually see him-”

“But it’s not real. It’s only a figment of your imagination and the more you dive into that, you’ll end up giving up and I am not ready to lose my child. The worst thing for a mother is to outlive her kids. Don’t do this Sora. You have a destiny, you have a purpose in your life-”

The young got out from the bed, her anxiety leveling up more and more every second.

“What destiny? I lost the man I was supposed to live with for the rest of my life. Life ing ripped him away from me and you expect me to move on? I know that losing dad was hard on you, but I’m not like you mom. I don’t have a purpose. I lost that privilege. I don’t have anything to live for and I’m fine with that.”

She took a moment to herself, before laying down the rest of her crapped emotions.

“I-I’m sorry but I can’t do what you do. At this point in my life, I don’t care if I self-destruct because at the end of the day, it will be my ticket to be with Seungho. I don’t care how it happens, but it will, and I’m welcoming it.”

“You are willing to throw your life away for a boy?”

“How can you say that when you clearly know that it wasn’t even the case! He wasn’t just a boy! I gave up being your eldest daughter and accepted Dad’s hatred for my choices because of him, for him. I can’t say it enough, but Seungho meant the world to me, we’ve been through so much in the past ten years and we were planning out our future when he got brutally murdered. I’m not letting that go. There’s no way in hell that I will let his death just be. I’m going to fight and find whoever did this and once I do, I will rip out their own heart and shove it down their throat until they choked to death. If I go with them, then so be it.”

Poisonous venom meshed with her words as they rose from the back of down her tongue. She hated herself for the sudden outburst towards her mother, but the fuses exploded and she needed an outlet; her mother was the unfortunate victim.

With the back of her hands, she wiped away the tears where her make up stained her wrists. She barely cared for it despite the intensity of her gaze down her arms. She felt her brother’s presence by her side with her mother’s eyes directed to her, tears lining along her eyelids.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to yell like that, it’s just-”

“I know, sweetheart. Believe me, I know.” Her voice was soft and sorrowful, holding in her heart the constant reminder and picture of their broken family.

“My destiny was him, its still is. We were meant for each other, we were meant to be together. How can I go on with my life knowing that a part of me will always be empty, that I’m stuck with an unbearable void inside me that only he could fill?”

Mindlessly, her fingers were playing with her engagement ring while her eyes were displaying a new set of waterworks with her gaze still on her mother. “Sorry… I just want him back. If it was that easy, I’d do anything to have him alive again.”

“Noona-”

“Sweetheart, be careful with what you wish for.”

Just when those seven words spewed out from one mouth, they reached the miles that separated the city and the peaceful neighborhood.

The magical seven words, more powerful than ever in moments of desperation, were heard through the thickness of the ground, where the dead and the living were separated into two different worlds.

When Cheondung had left the witches’ house, she was still in the attic, tidying up some of her stuff when a light tug caught her attention. The sound resonated through the wolf’s ears, sending a signal of warning and guard. She looked around until her eyes landed on the moving object, rolling slowly from one corner of the wooden board to the other, spelling out the desired letters to formulate the message.

She carefully approached the magical object, spelling out loudly what she was seeing. Her heart stopped Just as the arrow did.

Impossible. It can’t be. “He’s back.”