Jonghyun~

Taeyeon must've been asleep. That irritating sound of her fingers tapping on the buttons of her laptop had ceased to claw at his eardrums. It was yet another thing that Jonghyun had to deal with in being half demon. His sight, smell, and hearing had enhanced. The acute senses weren't as rewarding as one would think, however. Most of the time, the extra superhuman abilities would simply irk Jonghyun.

He slowly pushed his blankets off his still clothed self. Rubbing his face, Jonghyun made his way out of his room to reach the bathroom across the hall.

Don't look over there. Just ignore her. Taeyeon had surprised him with her apology; and slightly impressed him. Slightly. But that didn't mean Jonghyun would do anything for her about it. Despite himself, Jonghyun's eyes darted over to where Taeyeon had been working.

Hm. She was fast asleep. As Jonghyun neared her, he noted the slow rising and falling of her chest that matched her soft breathing. Taeyeon's long, dark her framed her gentle face, and her eyelashes brushed her vanilla cheeks.

Curious, Jonghyun glanced at her laptop screen, tapping the spacebar when he saw it was black. His lips pulled back from his teeth in an expression of distaste at the image that was displayed. It was what most of society probably depicted demons as: horrible, disgusting monsters. Jonghyun looked away from the picture and caption - "Exercise to Exorcise" - with a shudder. He'd never actually looked at himself in the mirror when he turned fully.

As a full demon, he was usually focused on getting his meal over with. Or maybe he was always too scared to actually look at himself.

Jonghyun shook his head and took the journal that Taeyeon was holding in her right hand. As he flipped through the first pages, he saw a few notes on stories that he personally could care less for. Then he landed on a page titled Cures for Stupid Dino Boy. He scoffed.

"'Stupid Dino Boy'?" he repeated under his breath. The list had about two pages worth of ideas, some of them starred with a red pen. One had a dark question mark scribbled beside it: ?  Return to the original place of possession and. The carelessly jotted down notes stopped there.

Guilt crept into Jonghyun's head as he realized that that was when he had thrown his fit. He flipped to the next few pages and wrinkled his nose at the title.

How to Get Evil Full Demon for Stupid Dino Boy.

1) Must find clues at original point of "possession"

2) first, gain clues/figure it out by getting Jonghyun to tell you. if desperate, ask Jinki or other connections(?)

3) sneak out to possession place (code word PP, hahahaha. PP.) or get Jonghyun to let you go "somewhere" (AKA lie)

4)

Before Jonghyun could finish reading, a sleep-muffled voice startled him enough to make him drop the book.

"Now who's snooping through whose things?" Taeyeon grumbled, rubbing her eyes. She straightened and gently pushed her laptop to the side, closing it, and squinted at Jonghyun. She blinked several times before her eyes widened with shock. She must've realized that Jonghyun had just leafed through the pages containing her plans. "How much did you read?!"

"First, like, ten pages," Jonghyun lied. He was used to lying. His whole life was a lie: walking through the streets, parading as a regular human, smiling at strangers as if he were genuinely happy . . . "You have some pretty boring crap in that book. Who the heck is Lee Taemin and why is it so scandalous that he's dating Song Naeun?"

"Son Naeun," Taeyeon corrected after letting out a small exhale of relief. She picked up her journal and calmly sat on top of it, still wary. "Lee Taemin is a really popular singer, although he's more known for his dancing. Naeun is a model. It's the type of story kids crave these days."

(A/N: haha, Taeun cameo 0~^)

"Whatever. How come there's nothing about my problem here?" Jonghyun continued to lie smoothly, gesturing to himself. "Did you actually do anything for my demon self yet?"

"Yeah, I just didn't write it in my book yet," Taeyeon replied, though not as coolly as Jonghyun. He suppressed a smirk. She was a bad liar; or maybe it was because he knew the truth.

Jonghyun nodded slowly, trying to be indifferent. However, he was a little bit irked that Taeyeon could lie to him so casually, like she had planned to in her journal. Would she lie to him again in an attempt to escape?

“We’re going to need some supplies for this demon-hunting-slash-exorcising,” Taeyeon piped up, waking Jonghyun from his thoughts. He raised an eyebrow.

“We just went grocery shopping.”

“Idiot,” Taeyeon muttered, grabbing her journal and smacking him over the head. He cried out in protest. What kind of idiot of a human hit a half-demon with a book?! Apparently, her type. “You don’t need lettuce to get rid of the demon blood possessing your soul!” She paused, a sudden sheepish expression coming over her face. “We need a magician wand. Or maybe a stick. Some roots.”

Jonghyun growled in annoyance.

~~~~~~~

Another groan escaped Jonghyun’s lips as the duo ventured into the sixth market area that morning. They had been to one plant shop, two herbal stores, one magic shop, one bakery (because Taeyeon got hungry), and one stand that a creepy old lady had been selling ancient looking objects at.

“Why is it that whenever I’m with you, I end up having to carry your bags?” Jonghyun griped as she shifted the paper and plastic on his arms.

“First of all, those bags contain the things you need,” Taeyeon rebutted, shaking her head as she looked through yet another rack of seemingly useless things. “Look in the bag from that weird lady at the stall.” Jonghyun rolled his eyes but did so, pulling out a stack of paper?

“Symbols?” Jonghyun concluded after making a grunt of puzzlement.

“Runes,” Taeyeon corrected him as she pulled out a bag of marbles. She shook them around. “I don’t know if I can even use them; I’m not a mage or whatever, but some of them like Darkness and Spirit looked useful. I’ll have to look deeper into those.” She frowned and tossed the marbles aside, instead choosing a net that encased several opaque and transparent rocks. “Mm, there should be a few roots in one of those bags.”

Jonghyun tugged the items out of their bags as Taeyeon listed them out, making sure she had what she needed.

“I looked it up, and Judiasm sometimes used poisonous roots to exorcise,” Taeyeon rambled as she moved onto the next aisle.

“Eh?! You’re going to poison me?”

“Those aren’t poisonous,” Taeyeon assured him. A pause. Then she mumbled, “I’ll have to find some poisonous ones later . . .”

“I can hear you!”

“Holy water!” Taeyeon exclaimed as she clapped her hands, ignoring Jonghyun. “We need to get some water of holiness!” Is that a word? Jonghyun thought.

(A/N: It is. 0-0 I looked it up)

“I saw a bottle online for only five dollars. We can get a tank for a little over three hundred -”

“What?! Who’s paying for all this exactly?” Jonghyun demanded. “Because I only saw you take my credit card all day.”

“I used my own for the bakery,” Taeyeon protested. “Plus, I paid for the groceries yesterday.” The two bickering people stopped in front of a food stall. “Yah! I paid for the tarts, so you pay for the sundae, hm?”

“Are you crazy? I paid for all thi~s,” Jonghyun sang as he waved his occupied arms in the air. “I have no hands to grab my wallet anyways.” Taeyeon pouted, and Jonghyun wrinkled his nose as her bottom lip poked out. There was still no way he would pay for the food.

“Fine,” Taeyeon grunted as she pulled out a few bills. She received the food on a steaming tray and glared at Jonghyun.

“What?”

“You want some?” she offered, still pouting, but she held out the skewer of cooked snacks. Jonghyun raised his eyebrows, blinking in astonishment. Nonetheless, he didn’t turn down an offer of food. Leaning forward, Jonghyun opened his mouth willingly, only for Taeyeon to jerk the skewer back and stuff the food in her own mouth. Jonghyun stared at her as she chewed and swallowed, then promptly stuck out her tongue at him. “Mehrong.”

“Did . . . did you just ‘mehrong’ me?” Jonghyun stuttered dubiously. Taeyeon grinned, pleased with herself, and waved the snacks in front of his face. Irritated, Jonghyun grabbed at her hand, catching it, then brought the food forward by her hand so he could steal a piece. Taeyeon’s eyes doubled in size.

“Yah! That was mine! I bought it!”

“You’re living in my house right now,” Jonghyun argued as he munched with satisfaction.

“That’s not my fault, is it, Jonghyun?” Taeyeon pointed out with a quirk of her eyebrow.

“Jonghyun?”

The two turned to where the voice had come from. Jonghyun immediately stiffened, and Taeyeon must have noticed, because she put a hand on his shoulder and wore a concerned look on her face.

Jonghyun’s eyes traveled up and down the speaker, and he prayed that his irises weren’t red at the moment. She was still the same: a tall, curvy figure; challenging eyes; smoky makeup; styled hair. She wore a top that cut off just above her midriff, ripped stockings, and high heel boots. Beside her was a man that was a couple of inches taller than Jonghyun. He had a stoic expression and wore a business suit that hinted at his nice figure. Holding back a snarl, Jonghyun let his lips twitch up into a fake smile.

“Se Kyung,” he greeted monotonously.

“Oh, my gosh, how long has it been?” Se Kyung squealed, raising one drawn on eyebrow and pulling up the corner of her lipstick-red lips. Jonghyun decided that he liked girls naturally, without loads of makeup. Like Taeyeon, he thought for some reason.

“Since you told me that you cheated on me? Was it this guy?” Jonghyun inquired, jerking his head towards the man next to her. Se Kyung’s expression fell. “It’s been about five or seven years. Sorry, I wasn’t counting.” Jonghyun gave an unapologetic shrug. He glanced over at Taeyeon when she let out a soft gasp.

She must’ve figured it out. Se Kyung, Jonghyun repeated the name a few times in his head, not feeling remorse for the loss of his girlfriend, but rather bitterness towards her. The first human I fed on.

Taeyeon~

“This is Doojoon,” Se Kyung said through her teeth.

(A/N: I don’t know, I just looked her up and I saw her do a photoshoot with him so ???)

Jonghyun was a man of principle, apparently. Since Doojoon - as far as he knew - hadn’t done anything to offend him, he held out his hand for Doojoon to shake. With an expression of slight confusion and suspicion, the latter took his hand and was thrown off when Jonghyun pumped it up and down in a casual handshake.

“And, yes, he is the one I was with when we were dating high school,” Se Kyung admitted with a nonchalant shrug. Jonghyun calmly nodded and put his hands in his pockets.

“What?” Doojoon exclaimed, but Se Kyung put her manicured hand up and uttered a brief “talk about it later.” Taeyeon observed the girl with - not judging - but analyzing eyes. She was pretty. Showy, but pretty. Pretty enough for Taeyeon to feel a small pang of jealousy. Girls like her were the ones that made fun of her back in high school. Se Kyung noticed her looks and smiled sweetly.

Somehow, Taeyeon could feel that the smile wasn’t as sweet as it appeared.

“And who’s this? Your girlfriend?”

Taeyeon’s eyes widened as Jonghyun put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

“Yep. Her name’s Taeyeon. Taeyeon, this is Shin Se Kyung, a girl from my high school.” Jonghyun gestured toward the frowning woman. Taeyeon didn’t fail to notice that he didn’t acknowledge the fact that they had dated, most likely on purpose, and she could tell that Se Kyung noticed, too. “Taeyeon have been dating for about three years now.”

We’ve known each other for three days.

“And if you heard our conversation from before, she’s already moved in with me.”

You forced me to be held hostage in your apartment while I find your demon maker.

“Do you want to catch up? I can tell you some more things about my Taeyeonnie.”

Ew. Taeyeonnie? And you don’t even know my family name.

Taeyeon forced herself not to punch Jonghyun’s lights out, and instead she smiled and went along with the lie. Because honestly? She didn’t like this Se Kyung very much either. She weaved her arm through the space between Jonghyun’s and his body, linking their elbows successfully. Sensing Jonghyun’s shock, Taeyeon turned and grinned up at him, trying her best to look lovestruck or something of the sort.

“My full name’s Kim Taeyeon,” she said, turning to Se Kyung with a bright smile. She was looking at her, but she directed the comment towards Jonghyun. She made that clear by elbowing his side lightly. He did the same.

“Same as me, Kim Jonghyun. So when we get married, we don’t have to worry about the whole changing names thing,” he added. Taeyeon nearly choked on air.

Se Kyung’s eyebrows shot up. “Married? Have you proposed?”

“No,” Taeyeon answered before Jonghyun could, her teeth gritted in a tight smile. “But there’s always the future waiting ahead of us,” she added when Jonghyun gave her puppy eyes for her lack of enthusiasm in the fake relationship. How did he do that? He was always so hostile with her, but no, when Se Kyung was here, he could easily pull off aegyo.

Was that jealousy burning in her chest? No. Just annoyance, probably.

“Well,” Se Kyung practically bristled, “Doojoon and I have been dating since high school, as you know.”

“Mm,” Jonghyun murmured, leaning to the side so that his head rested on top of Taeyeon’s. She struggled to stay upright and not shove him away, screaming threats at him for getting too close. Se Kyung’s eyes followed the movement.

“Still into skinship, as always, Jonghyun,” she noted under her breath, but everyone could hear.

“I still don’t understand. You were dating Kim Jonghyun while you were with me?” Doojoon questioned. “The dropout?” Taeyeon felt Jonghyun tense beside her, and out of habit, she patted his arm in a gentle beat. It was what her mom used to do was she was little, humming as she rubbed her back after Taeyeon had cried because of another of her dad’s fits.

Her mind drifted off, back to the darker memories of her childhood as she unconsciously continued to pat Jonghyun. She stared endlessly into space and was only pulled back when Jonghyun nudged her softly. Startled, Taeyeon jerked her head up and stared at him. It was weird to see his eyes, a gentle brown and flashing with worry instead of blood red.

“Y-yes?”

“Se Kyung was just talking about how well she’s been doing, and she was wondering about your profession,” Jonghyun told her. Taeyeon suppressed a shiver; how odd it was for him to be talking to her in a smooth tone rather than a harsh one. “Are you okay with telling her?” Somehow, Taeyeon caught the deeper meaning behind his words. Are you okay?

“It’s fine.” I’m fine. “Sorry, I spaced out. I’m a journalist, by the way. For SM Times.”

“Oh,” Se Kyung commented. “SM Times. That’s a nice online paper. Are your articles on there?” She didn’t sound very impressed though. She sounded like she didn’t like the fact that Taeyeon worked for that place.

“Um, none of my writing has gotten on the website, but a few articles are in the regular paper,” Taeyeon admitted with a slight bow of her head. There were times when she got good stories, like the one with Taemin and Naeun, but she was always beaten by one of the other journalists! Shame flushed her cheeks with pink as Se Kyung let out a half-amused, half-uninterested “oh.”

“I’m actually helping her on a story right now, though,” Jonghyun defended her, pulling Taeyeon closer protectively. “This one is sure to get her on the website.” Taeyeon shrugged half-heartedly, offering an awkward smile. At least Jonghyun wasn’t lying this time. Well, sort of; he wasn’t exactly helping with the story. He was the story.

And she wasn’t even allowed to publish it because he would kill her.

“Oh. That’s. Interesting. Well, I’m currently doing filming for a new drama. You’ve probably heard of me, right? I’m a pretty successful actress right now, and Doojoon is a popular singer,” Se Kyung informed the two smugly.

Oh. That’s why they looked familiar, Taeyeon thought. She wasn’t usually into the social network and whatnot, and she only remembered their faces because she searched for good topics with Tiffany to write on once in a while. Taeyeon figured Jonghyun wasn’t the type of person - or half-demon, for that matter - to sit and watch those sort of things either.

“Jjong doesn’t really watch dramas or music videos,” Taeyeon told her, using the nickname she’d heard Jinki call him before. Se Kyung and Jonghyun looked at her - Se Kyung because she had use a nickname on Jonghyun, and Jonghyun because Taeyeon was a really good judge of character.

“B-but you used to love singing,” Se Kyung stammered. Jonghyun shrugged in response. “Uh . . . Well, Jonghyun, it was nice meeting you and . . . Taeyeon.” Her dazzling imitation of a genuine smile reappeared. “Doojoon and I better go. We have to do some things.”

“We do?” Doojoon muttered, but he was dragged away by his girlfriend before anyone else could question the actress.

“Wow,” Taeyeon quipped as soon as the model-perfect couple was out of sight. She withdrew her arm from Jonghyun’s. In the back of her mind, she noted - distantly - that it was much more comfortable when it was rested in the crook of his arm. “You had awesome taste back then. I applaud you.” To further prove her point, Taeyeon clapped unenthusiastically, earning a few glances from some passersby.

“She was a mistake, and I know that,” Jonghyun said with a growl. “Let’s go home. We have nothing else to get.”

Actually, that wasn’t true, but Taeyeon didn’t say anything until they reached the apartment. As Jonghyun unlocked the door, she decided that it was okay to tap on his shoulder.

“What?” Jonghyun retorted as he turned his head slightly toward her. Taeyeon reeled back at the expression on his face, which was a bit lost and distressed. She had seen his threatening leer before, at the abandoned building. She had seen his irritated scowl, when she had asked him about where he had been possessed.

“Ah!” Taeyeon exclaimed under her breath, remembering that she had to figure out where that was. She took a peek at Jonghyun again. His face now was scrunched up in confusion.

“What?” he repeated.

“Are you jealous? Is that’s why you’re acting like a . . . wounded puppy?” Taeyeon had no idea why that was the first thing that came to her head. Jonghyun’s eyes narrowed in a look that crossed between pity and utter bewilderment. He shook his head, deciding to ignore Taeyeon’s ridiculous observations.

“No. It just irks me how much better she thinks her life is than mine,” Jonghyun scoffed.

“Well, looking at it from a practical view . . .,” Taeyeon trailed off as she looked at the ceiling, sensing Jonghyun’s glower. “YAH! Don’t look at me like that! Do you have a job right now? Huh? How do you pay off this small place?”

“W-well, my temper doesn’t help me get a job, and I’d have to skip a few days a month around my transformation anyways,” Jonghyun said defensively. Taeyeon pursed her lips. “So Jinki helps me with the money . . . So what?”

“Hmm, not only does that actress have a well-paying job,” Taeyeon continued, secretly envious of Se Kyung as well, “but she has a boyfriend. A pop singer boyfriend. Yeah, um, are you dating anyone at the moment?” Taeyeon continued to follow Jonghyun as he stomped into his room. “Exactly. Who cares if she lives a more successful life than you? What’s important is that -”

“Will you shut up?!” Jonghyun roared, whirling on her. Taeyeon slammed back against the door, but not because he had pushed her there. She was frightened. His eyes were a deep pitch black again, but not to the point that they turned red. However, his fangs had slid out and were bared in his frustration.

Taeyeon’s eyes darted down to his hands, which claws had appeared from. Jonghyun followed her gaze and quickly clenched his fists. Keep calm, Taeyeon. Use this to your advantage, she told herself, the gears in her head whirring.

“Using your demon blood to your advantage, huh?” she taunted, searching for the right buttons to push in that complicated brain of his. “Are you trying to intimidate me with your demon half on purpose, because it’s not working!”

Jonghyun growled and spun so that he was facing his bed, hiding his dark eyes and sharp teeth.

“I’m not doing this on purpose! I didn’t choose this way of living! That damned demon did!”

“What, so he turned you at your old family home? Big whoop, that’s passed, and we need to worry about the now,” Taeyeon breathed, trying to figure out how she could get the address. “Now, we need to find that demon and where he’s near. Where is that old home anyway?”

“It’s none of your business! It doesn’t matter!”

“It does!” Taeyeon shouted, raising her voice to trigger Jonghyun’s rage. He wouldn’t be able to think straight in a state of anger. “It’s important to me if I’m going all the way to Busan just to find that demon murderer thing!”

“You don’t have to; it’s in Seoul, even Onew knows! Damn!” Jonghyun froze suddenly. “,” he cursed under his breath. “Screw this. I’m heading out.” Jonghyun trudged to his dresser and rifled through his drawers until he pulled out a black jacket. “You stay here. I’m coming back late.”

Perfect, Taeyeon thought.

“What the hell?” she said aloud.

“You can’t tell me what to do!” Jonghyun hissed, eyes glinting with a crimson tint as he shoved past her and out of his room. Taeyeon stood stock still for about another minute, listening to Jonghyun thump around the house searching for his wallet, and then there was another door slam.

Silence.

Taeyeon crept forward and checked around the hallway and into the living room. No one. An evil smirk made its way to her soft lips. She then sighed, looking for a home phone, since she still hadn’t gotten a new one to replace the one Jonghyun had broken. When she found it, she pressed the menu button and scrolled to the contacts. There were only three numbers: Me, Jinki, Pizza.

Taeyeon shook her head as she pressed on Jinki’s name, briefly memorizing the numbers before she hit the call button.

“Hello?” Jinki answered after two rings.

“Jinki-ssi!”

“You don’t sound like Jonghyun . . .”

“Huh? No, it’s Taeyeon.”

“Oh. Oh! Of course! Hello, Taeyeon-ssi. Do you need something?”

“By any chance, do you know an Onew?”

“ . . . I’m sorry?”

“I need to ask him about where Jonghyun lived before. You’re close enough to know about him being a demon, so you must know Onew. Where was Jonghyun possessed, I need to ask him.” Taeyeon waited tensely for Jinki to reply. Suddenly, muffled laughter came from the other line. “Jinki . . .?”

“I never did tell you, did I? I’m Onew, Taeyeon. That’s my nickname.” More laughter. “Aish, that’s really funny! WAH!!”

“Jinki?! What happened?”

“Nothing, I tripped over the cable while I was laughing,” Jinki replied. Taeyeon tapped her fingers on the table impatiently. “Ah, right. I knew Jonghyun way back when I was a kid, so I visited his house all the time. Of course, when the house burned down and Jonghyun was stuck in the hospital, we stopped going. Let’s see; I had the address written down in my notebook . . . Ah!”

Taeyeon straightened eagerly, pulling out her trusty pen and journal as she scribbled down the address Jinki read off.

“Jonghyun is going to go with you, right?”

“What do you think?” Taeyeon responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“Um . . .”

“Thanks for your help, Jinki,” Taeyeon said, deciding to leave the question answered with a question as she shook her head. “I’ll talk to you again later? I’m just going to check around the area for some evidence of the demon. Visit soon! It’s so boring living with this stupid dino.”

“So you think he looks like a dinosaur, too! It wasn’t just me,” Jinki cheered mostly to himself.

Taeyeon laughed as she hung up, dragging herself to the door and tucking her pen and journal away. She felt in her pocket for spare change, hoping to catch the bus or get a taxi. She wasn’t exactly sure where this place was, but she knew she had to go there. She wasn’t sure where Jonghyun went either, but she hoped that he would stay out long enough for her to get all the information she needed.

Unlocking the door, all the rules Jonghyun had placed on her ran through Taeyeon’s head. She would probably break a couple of them by leaving at that very moment.

Smiling devilishly, Taeyeon shrugged and threw open the door, stepping into the hallway.

Oh, well.

A/N:

AAAAAAY

I don't even know about the title of this chapter...

Don't ask...

^^^ my efforts in making a clever title...

I have been SO busy this weekend

Par-tay-ing~~~

I'm having a BIT of a writer's block

I still plan on updating frequently though

Because I am loyal to my readers

Let me know . . .

Whatever you guys want to let me know in the comments!

See ya!