Chapter 3. False Hope

The shoes around the man caused annoyance to his ears. The constant splashes of puddles, the bottom of heels hitting the pavement, and the sound of the rain pitter-pattering on the ground. Every single sound could be heard with his demon ears, and he despised it, especially on rainy days. There wasn’t anything more aggravating than the sound of water, because it reminded him of everything he hated about himself. It was ridiculous of how such small things gave him the deepest of pain, and he could never be more ashamed to how weak he was.

He always pondered why he was so sensitive to these kinds of things and whenever given the thought it would always lead up to one reason. Because he was a Tria-demon. Born from a human, and a full demon, he was given this curse that didn’t have the slightest of blessing. He pitied himself, and those like Jongin who thought they would be of help to him. They would just be doing it in vain.

He let his eyes trail the ground as he walked.

The rain was really annoying him, but deep down, he also knew he found it comforting.

It was after all the spitting image of his himself. No one likes the rain. Everyone did all they could to avoid it, and he knew exactly how that felt. He stopped his footsteps and looked up at the gray colored sky. Closing his eyes, he focused on the feeling of the rain kissing his face. He never understood why others tried to avoid it so much. Although it could ruin the happy atmosphere, although it brought frowns upon children who were eager to play outside, he always sort of admired it’s gentleness.

A straight line pressed on his lips. But that was what made him hate the rain all the more at the same time. It was gentle, and gentle was weak in his dictionary. He wouldn’t consider his heart gentle. If anything he thought of it as more as a frail thing existing within his chest. Because of how light the rain felt lightly landing on one’s skin, it reminded him of how weak and how delicate his heart was. Everything about this weather left him feeling both love and hate for it. Love for it’s slight comfort and hate for the reminders of his weakness.

Ridiculous. He thought to himself, walking straight ahead. Using his powers, he let the rain hit everything else but his hair and his clothes. And because of this, he was being looked at. To be more specific, they were staring at his eyes. There was another reason why he didn’t like rainy days, and that was because the gray clouds that covered the sun enhanced the color of his eyes. He knew plenty had heard about him, hell he knew he had been the talk of the country when he was born. Even now people couldn’t get over it, and he hated that even more about humans.

They didn’t know when to settle down when it was necessary.

The Tria-demon sighed to himself and closed his eyes. He used his other senses besides his sight to lead himself back home. And this time, he sped his pace. He didn’t like too much attention on himself. So with that being said, he was able to reach his house within minutes. He took a few deep breaths and had a good idea who would be waiting behind those doors. He knew he had to speed up even more just going to his room so he could avoid any verbal contact with his parents. But he already also predicted that life wouldn’t be kind to him anytime soon. Right when he had entered, his mother was there to greet him with her smile, a towel in her hand.

“I-I have a towel for you.” She held it out towards her son before he shut the door behind him, “Here, wipe yourself so you don’t get si-”

She paused and became quiet seeing the same glare she got every day from those blue eyes.  Frowning, she hid the towel behind her back and stood there silently while the Tria-demon slipped off his shoes. He was relieved she didn’t push it any further than this, because he really wasn’t having a good day. He’d rather not have to deal with anymore bull from his ‘family’. He speed-walked pass ahead of her but was soon stopped by none other than his father.

He glared at him as well but only received the same look by his crimson red eyes. “I’m going to my room. Could you please step aside?”

His father remained silent, pulling him to the kitchen corner where they could talk and not be heard by the other. “You are my son. You know that right?”

“I’d rather not have you remind me it.”

“She’s your mother, isn’t she?”

“I don’t want to hear-”

”I married her didn’t I? She was the one who held you dear in her stomach for nine months, was she not?”

“Your point?” He said, irritation in his tone.

“She was the one who gave birth to you and did everything she could to save you from dying didn’t she?”

He rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath, “She should have just let me die.”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. What are you trying to prove?”

“What I’m trying to say is have some respect for her. She’s your mother. And it was her blood and sweat that has gotten you into this world. Can’t you even think of that everytime you disrespect her with your rudeness?”

”Like I said, I’d rather not.”

“Lee Taemin.” His father said sternly. “Go apologize to your mother.”

Taemin looked back and saw the shoulders of his mother trembling. She must have started to cry like she always did. He shifted his gaze back to his father and gave him another glare before prying his wrist away from his large hand. After setting himself free he ran up the stairs before the other could catch him and locked himself in his room. He could hear his father yelling for him to come back, but he ignored it, choosing to cover his ears to block out the sound.

Even with his ears covered however, the sounds only seemed to grow louder, infiltrating his head. His eyes scrunched shut in concentration, trying to block out the voice that decided to torment him, but it penetrated his ears, ringing his ear drums. “Leave me alone,” he whispered. He pleaded for it to go away.

Of all times, now was the one he didn’t want it to be present. He had enough throughout the day, all he wanted was some peace. The same quiet peace he could have being locked up safely in his room where no one judged him.

“You should be thankful to her as your mother!”

“She ruined everything...”

“She took care of you and kept you alive before you were born!”

“I didn’t want that. I never wanted that...”

“She cares for you!”

Shut up.

“She worries about you!”

Shut up....!

“She loves you!”

“SHUT UP!”

The light bulb above his head exploded as the windows flew open, letting in a gust of air. His eyes widened as the room darkened considerably, darkness going so far as to covering the open windows themselves. He glanced around the room, refusing to move from his spot as his feet and their surroundings were covered in the glass of the light bulb.

He felt himself panicking. He did it again.

This wasn’t the first time something like this, but it was indeed the first to where several things happened at almost the same time. He knew deep down they were no coincidences, but what confused him was of how the elements in those items had nothing to do with his major element, water. “Leave me be..” He whispered and cupped his ears from anymore sounds.

After a while of waiting, he forced himself to get changed into his home clothes and soon enough plopped himself into bed. He was still afraid but kept himself from curling into a ball of fear at the deepening thoughts of his horrible memories. He shook his head to himself and pulled the blanket over his body. Stop thinking.. He commanded and shut his eyes.

He wished not to get anymore flashbacks, but was left to having the sudden memories play through as if he had just lived through it.

The glass shattered and scattered all over the floor. Taemin’s heart froze as he looked at the mess he caused. His body was shaking so much he didn’t realize it would affect his grip upon his glass cup. But who could blame him, after dealing with years of abuse from family members he couldn’t help but be afraid. He could feel eyes at the back of neck as he continued to stare at the mess. He knew better than anyone where all those eyes were coming from, but he would rather not turn around to find.

Although, it’s not like he needed to anyway. “Can’t you even bring a cup to the table without messing up?” It seemed like his grandparents always wanted to remind him of their hatred.

“H-He’s only a kid.” He heard his mother say while she approached him. He looked blankly into the air when his mother hugged him protectively. “I’ll..I’ll clean it up so-”

“No. You sit back down here and make your kid clean up the mess he created. It’s the least you two could do after tainting our family’s bloodline.”

He felt his mother tense up. It was almost as if she had no intention of letting go. However, his mother was suddenly pried from him and forced upon her original place at the table. But it was more like she was pushed by a gush of wind inside of the house. “Pick it up.” His grandmother said coldly.

Slowly, he crouched down, not giving a single glance to those at the table. He picked up the first shard of glass, but had unfortunately pricked his finger. He held in a whimper and watched as drops of blood fell to the floor. Suddenly, he felt his own body fly across across the room and slam onto the wall. He heard both his parents scream his name when he got hurt, but he did nothing to resist the pain inflicted upon his tiny little body. “Umma, don’t you dare forget he’s my son.” His father growled.

“I didn’t do that. It was your father, but it’s not like I wouldn’t have done it. It looks like he just beat me to it.”

The man bit his lip in anger and sealed his lips tight, knowing he couldn’t talk back to his father who had his eyes locked on the seven-year-old boy. He tilted his head while his eyes glowed a lighter red. The child hugging his knees in pain began screaming in agony. His body began sliding up the wall, like someone was holding him by his neck. “It’s bad enough you brought another disappointment to this family, the last thing I want is a stranger’s blood dirtying our kitchen floor.”

The physical pain was unbearable, but what was even more painful was the hate he heard leaking from his grandparents’ words. He knew he would never be loved, and yet why did he always have hope whenever they had a family reunion like this?

“Just..Appa..Just let him go. Please..”

He could see his father stiffening when his grandfather looked at him. “So you won’t punish him?”

“He’s already been punished enough.”

Both his parents and grandparents turned their heads to the one sitting and eating quietly. It was his father’s brother. “Let the kid have a break Appa.” It was  the eldest in the family, the one who would soon be the leader of their pureblood family. The other children, teenagers, and couples stopped eating before looking at the one who remained silent. Meanwhile the child was the only one making sounds with desperate gasps for air.

After having something almost like a stare down, his grandfather closed his eyes. Taemin was dropped harshly onto the floor. He gasped even louder between coughs, holding onto his neck. Those sitting at the table gave one short look, but not long after resumed to chit-chatting amongst themselves again.

“Taemin..” His father had gotten up from his chair.

“You’re not going anywhere.” His grandfather ordered.

“He’s my son..I have to-”

”He’s breathing is he not? If he dies then that’ll be of benefit of the family, but I doubt he will. It’s a shame he’s carrying our blood in his dirty human veins. Anyways, leave him be. He can walk here by himself.”

Hearing this, the youngest child who was still trying to fill his lungs with air used all his strength to get up. He fell down several times from the pain lingering in his body but nevertheless, managed to stand up on his two small feet. He shakily walked to the table filled with the food he hadn’t touched, and trailed his eyes all the way back to his father and mother.

Still carrying hatred for the women, he brushed her sympathetic eyes aside and looked desperately at his father. His breaths were slightly shallow and his body ached all over, but he still pushed on to get to him. He could slightly see the eagerness in his father’s eyes, and because of that it encouraged him. Taemin felt tears stinging at his eyes as he reached out to grab his father, but just then something below tripped him and he fell right before his grandfather’s feet.

He looked up slowly and saw those angered crimson eyes staring at him. A single tear escaped from his misty eyes and landed on his grandfather’s shoe. At that second he was kicked harshly on his stomach. He coughed harshly and covered his mouth to keep his blood from spilling onto the ground. If he made anymore of a mess he would only get hit again. “Taemin!” His father called, glaring at his own father.

Taemin’s father was just about to pick him up, but he was pushed back down on his chair by a strong force that came from his grandfather. The little one whimpered helplessly while he continued to cough. Blood stained his fingers as he cried softly. “Tch. How dare he let himself even come close to me.” His grandfather grabbed a napkin and wiped his shoe. “And to actually cry pathetically, he really is useless.”

“Humans are so entertaining.” His grandmother said, staring at his mother.

Taemin writhed on the floor, one hand covering his mouth firmly and the other covering his stomach, doing whatever he could to block his grandfather’s kick from causing more pain than he was already in. He lifted a pleading gaze back to his father, who was confined to his chair to watch as his son was beaten by his father. His wife sat beside him, staring with wide eyes at her son that she was unable to help.

Unable to continue watching her son beaten close to death, she lowered her gaze, looking away and letting her son’s pleas for help fall on deaf ears. At that moment, seeing his mother not even attempt to help, he gave up his defense, surrendering completely to his grandfather’s abuse. His father may not have been much help, but he had least attempted to save him. His mother had made no move to even stand since the moment she was pushed into her seat.

He watched her tense in her seat, but continued to ignore his calls for her. He reached out a hand towards her, which was quickly stepped on by his grandmother. The woman chuckled at his horrified expression, giving him a sickeningly sweet smile before pressing her foot down.

“Foolish little child, aren’t you? Don’t you know that this is her fault?” Taemin stared at his grandmother, and turned to his mother, whose eyes had widened but still refused to look his way. “It’s her fault you’re only a Tria, with those disgusting blue eyes. If it wasn’t for her, your father would’ve married a beautiful woman, and you could’ve been a pureblood like the rest of us.”

His mother still wouldn’t meet his eyes, and he faintly heard his father protest to the accusation before his hair was roughly gripped and he was forced to his feet.

“You’re a disgrace to this family because of her,” his grandfather added. He tugged his head back before pushing him forward, so that he landed right at his mother’s feet. She stared down at him, eyes wide in shock as he looked up at her, pleading for her to deny what they told him and to tell him that he was fine just the way she was. opened and closed, never finding the proper words to tell him, and simply closed her eyes to avoid his gaze.

His father watched on as his wife sat helpless in her chair, too afraid to touch her own son. He saw as the look in his son’s eyes shifted from desperation and disbelief, to anger and disappointment, and finally a look of utter demise fell over his son, taking over his usually sweet appearance. Taemin stared blankly at his mother for a moment, before wiping his hands, still left with traces of blood, on his pants. His sleeve went to wipe the blood at the edge of his lips as he stood, wobbling and unbalanced.

Without another word, Taemin stumbled back to his seat, head lowered in defeat as he stared silently at the food left on his plate. All previous appetite had left him in the brutal kicks his grandfather attacked him with. He felt eyes watching him, but did nothing other than sit silently in his seat. His father spoke up, urging him to finish his meal, but he simply stared at it, giving his father no response.

As his father went to pet his head, he flinched away from the touch, surprising his father with his action. Even if his father had tried to help him, he was just as guilty in the end, falling for a human and creating him. Had his father not done so, he could have been born from a pureblooded mother, who would make he and his family proud. His father was weak to have fallen for a human.

Their dinner continued, the rest of the family, the proud purebloods, speaking casually amongst themselves, as if they hadn’t just watched a child being beaten. His father watched him with wide eyes and his mother still refused to even lift her gaze.

The things around him slowly diminished, piece by piece ripping away into nothing but darkness. After a few minutes he was no longer in his kitchen. He was no longer a little boy. He was his normal self, and he was standing in the middle of nowhere. A cold breeze brushed up against his body. The darkness around him had also seemed to gain color and before he knew it, he was back at his school.

Jongin was standing behind him, and those two humans he bumped into were facing him. “Minho is a clutz. You can’t categorize all humans like him.” He heard him say.

That’s right..he was the first human to ever talk back to me.

“No, but nonetheless, humans are all still the same. They are manipulative and uncaring, and they put themselves in places they have no business being in.” He found himself replying back.

“Well whatever human you’ve met, isn’t the same as us all. The human that has made you think this way of us is horrible for doing so. But I guarantee you, not all are uncaring, or manipulative as you say. There are those who put others before their own selves, who care for their friends and love everyone they know to no extent. There are sweet, cheerful, and heartwarming people who exist among us humans. You probably just haven’t met one yet.”

He scoffed in annoyance. Although this was a memory that sentence still never failed to make him laugh. Because this person had no idea how much pain humans have given him. “You’re right. The human I’ve met is horrible. But it doesn’t change the fact that foolish and stupid is what you guys are. Putting another’s sake before their own? That’s real hilarious.”

“We’re not stupid or foolish. And it’s not funny really.” He felt irritated seeing the blonde smile at him. It was a reaction he hadn’t wanted or expected. “It’s this thing called kindness.”

“Kindness?” He said to himself.

With the word repeating in his head, he found himself no longer staring at a person. Instead he saw a bright light shining right at him, blinding him the second his eye had made contact. Instantly, he sat up to rub his sore eyes. “A-Ah-God that hurt.” He hissed. He had realized now that he was wide awake. But it was truly an unpleasant way of waking up. Although, he knew he preferred this over having to have his cousin nagging him with that same nonsense of caring for his existence.

The unpleasant feeling in his eyes quickly ceased, and soon enough he was just sitting with a blank expression pressed on his face. Kindness. Out of all the things that had recently happened to him, that one specific word stuck out like a sore thumb. The curiosity he held for what that human meant was endless. He knew deep down that he shouldn’t have even been thinking about it, but he couldn’t help himself. It was almost like he had been given just a slight glimpse of hope that he could be accepted somewhere. But as soon as that crossed his mind, images of the horrible memories he dreamt of replayed almost like it was cued. It was was like it played in order to have him hugging his knees at the familiar pain that began to grow in his chest.

He spared a glance at the clock adjacent to his bed.

6:03 am

A sigh of both relief and annoyance came out of his lips as he let himself fall back so he was now looking at nothing else but the ceiling. What was it about the words the feline-eyed man had said to him that had him itching to know? It was eating away at him so badly. Just the fact of how much those words mattered to him made him irritated. They were just mere words said by a human. For all he knew they could have just been lies being fed to him on purpose to fuel his fire and have him feeling like this. But he felt as if there was more to come, like those words wouldn’t be the last he heard from this guy.

Not to mention that he knew he would encounter the other one that was just begging to be made fun of with how clumsy he was. The man seemed unsuited to be friends with the feline-eyed man. He was nothing like him. The other seemed somewhat wise, and if he hadn’t been human he would mistaken him for some sort of loyalty in the demon kingdoms. The other one however, was even more useless than the creatures that served his family. He was uncoordinated with all that he did. He didn’t even seem like he held anything special about himself besides a record of just how much one could fall within a day. The poor guy didn’t even seem too good looking. He was quite..quirky.

Even when the uniforms for students weren’t too bad, he was the only who wore it the most awkward. It was always like he had just woken up wearing the uniform. Then again, he wouldn’t be surprised if that was the truth. He knew that if he had just fixed those clothes a little, and adjusted his hair he would at least come off as decent looking.

He looked at his clock again.

6:10 am

As he saw the numbers that didn’t seem to make much of a difference from before he rolled his eyes. So now you decide to take your sweet time. He thought, turning to his side and eyeing the door that had been locked. He had forgotten about last night when he had returned home. He had no regret saying the things he did, but he did know he would regret it soon since he knew his father all too well.

Going out of the house without a lecture was surely one of the things he knew would not happen.

 

A/N:
*Bows down* MIANHAE. CHINCHA MIANHAE. GUYS, I’M SO SORRY WE HAVE LEFT THIS STORY FOR PRACTICALLY DECADES. I think it was more because we never had the time to come back to it, considering how we both do have stories to put up with, and most of all Unnie had started her college so she was very busy too. I had school to deal with as well, so I couldn’t find much time to come back to this ): Not to mention, I kinda broke my leg. Ehehe. I’m still currently in a cast so yeah! But at least I have my hands c: So yeah,  we sincerely apologize for how long we’ve taken and hope this chapter kinda makes up for it! Happy reading lovelies! Annyeong~

College life is so difficult... Not to mention that we have different schedules, so it’s difficult for us to find time to write together considering we are doing this via Google Docs, but hopefully we’ll be able to update more often! We’ll try not to leave this story abandoned again because it’s actually really good (in my opinion and I hope you think so too) and I like the theme? So, we’ll try to update this more often and I’ll try getting my other fics updated and don’t forget (or if you didn’t already know) that I have a oneshot/drabbles shop(?) -can I call it a shop?- open where you can make requests called At Your Service! Look it up!

Thank you very much for reading our story!

Please comment and let us know what you think!

Bye bye~