Chapter 3: Somebody Up There Hates You

“This was in the good old days, when monsters were fantasies.”

                Gayun woke up late. She wiped off the drool that had slowly collected during the night before sitting up. Her hair was a mess and her eyes still had dark circles beneath them from staying up till almost four in the morning reading about things that shouldn’t exist. She stretched her arms high above her head, arching her back until she heard a strangely satisfying crack.

                The cats followed her into the kitchen where she quickly the coffee pot which would remain on all day long. While the coffee brewed, she opened up three cans of cat food for the felines who were currently rubbing up against her legs.

                “Yeah, now you love me,” she grumbled before setting down the three plates. While the cats ate, she began to fry an egg and toast some bread. She didn’t like eating a huge breakfast; it never settled right in her stomach.

                After breakfast, she made her way to the only room in the house that didn’t have a stack of books in it. Though that was only because the water and humidity would ruin the pages, otherwise there would definitely be some reading material in the tiny, tiled room. She closed the door after entering the bathroom, not wanting the cats to follow her in. It was too late for her to take a shower but she washed her face and did all of the usual morning routine stuff. Gayun also pulled her hair up into a bun since it got frizzy after brushing all of the tangles out.

                The cats were waiting for her after she exited the bathroom. They followed her back to her room where she pulled on a comfy sweater and a pair of worn out jeans. She picked up Pudding and carried the feline to the entrance where she slid on a pair of shoes before unlocked the door and headed down to the shop.

                The second her foot hit the first stare, the same scent the incubus guy had released earlier hit her. Only this time, it was a lot heavier. The air felt thick with it but there was something else. She wasn’t sure how to describe the feeling; it seemed like there were sparks in the air, like electricity was running through her entire body.

                Minty and Oreo ran past her down the stairs, confirming Gayun’s suspicion about what was going on. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she finally saw someone sitting in her chair, petting her cats who were happily rubbing up against his fingers. Even Pudding jumped out of her arms to cautiously observe the man, though the cat still kept a certain amount of distance.

                “Stop stealing my cats,” she growled, “And what are you doing in my shop? I locked the doors.” She knew that she had. She’d double checked the night before, now even more afraid of the things that went bump in the night.

                “I’m a demon, remember? I don’t need to go through doors,” he smirked, “Besides, I can’t help that your cats like me. Cats generally gravitate towards demons, especially incubi like myself.”

                “Why’s that?”

                “Hyung thinks it’s because cats are one step away from demons themselves,” he shrugged, settling back further into the chair. He seemed to be very comfortable much to Gayun’s irritation. His eyes sparkled with amusement as he scratched underneath Minty’s chin.

                “That’s my chair,” she stated, glaring him down. His smile only seemed to grow the more annoyed she became.

              “Instead of worrying about a ratty chair, shouldn’t you be prepping the store for opening? It’s almost noon after all,” he replied with a smug look. She opened as she scrambled her brain to find a good comeback but there was none. So, she shut and walked over to the front door to unlock the door and change the sign to open.

                She stomped back upstairs to pour herself another cup of coffee before coming back down, actually a little bit happy that her chair was now unoccupied. She set her mug down before settling into the chair. It was warm, which made sense since most people left a certain amount of residual heat, but it felt like someone had warmed up like a hot water bottle. She didn’t realize she had been thinking aloud when she mumbled, “It’s hot.”

                “That’s the hellfire and brimstone in me,” he chuckled, “If I don’t keep a cap on my mojo, my body temp rises to about a hundred and seven or more.”

                “How do your organs function?”

                “How do yours?” he retorted, sticking his tongue out like a child. She rolled his eyes at the behavior but had to suppress her own desire to mimic the behavior. Oreo jumped up on her lap and she had a momentary urge to kick the cat off.

                “So… Is there really a hell?” she asked after a few moments a silence. He had been flipping through a new favorite book of Gayun’s about a boy going through hospice, but when she spoke his head immediately snapped up. He shrugged and Gayun thought that was going to be her reply so she took another sip of her coffee.

                “There are multiple hells,” he finally answered, “Everyone has their own personal little pocket of torture for the people who qualify. It’s not entirely like your religious books but it’s not entirely different either.” She was honestly shocked at the tone of voice he used. For once he wasn’t mocking or jerk-like; he was merely stating facts.

                “Do you live there?” she inquired, hoping to get a few more real answers from him. He snorted with laughter before closing the book and setting it back on top of the stack he had pulled it from.

                “What do you think I am? A low level creep?” he cocked his eyebrow, “I’m an incubus, I live in the human realm. The only time that I go to hell is when I want to meet up with hyung and that’s because he can only come up here when he has been summoned.”

                “You’re going too fast. What do you mean you go down there? Has to be summoned? Can you be summoned?”

                “Now who’s going too fast?” he sighed, “I mean that I can go down to where hyung is when I feel like it- like a road trip. In order to summon certain types of high-class demons, a human has to do a certain ritual in order to bring them up from hell; it generally requires blood sacrifice. I can be summoned but that ritual isn’t known to most.” Despite his annoyed tone, his face showed that he mildly enjoyed being the holder of all the answers.

                “Good,” she smiled before grabbing a book from one of the ones stacked on the desk, “If there’s a way to summon you that means that there’s a way to banish you as well.”

                “Don’t even think about it,” he glared.

                “Then quit seducing my cats,” Gayun retorted. His glare changed into a laugh while his eyes flashed purple for a moment before switching back to brown. She tried not to smile but, when it seemed inevitable that she was going to fail, Gayun hid it behind the rim of her mug. While he moved to browse through another stack, she began reading again.

                Gayun became completely absorbed within the pages of her novel. After the second page, she didn’t seem to care about the demon only feet away, reading a work of religious fiction with some amount of amusement. She even became used to the magic that crackled throughout the air.

                Suddenly, the magic disappeared along with most of the sweet, swirling scent. The bell of the door tinkled, signaling why the sudden absence. A pair of heels clicked against the wooden floor as a woman in her early thirties entered.

                She was curvy in a way that most media would saw that she was fat, but she wore clothing that accentuated all of her best features. Even though society standards dictated that Gayun should be deemed prettier because of her small figure, she was jealous of the woman who walked through the store with total confidence.

                “Can I help you find something?” Seunghyun asked with a playful smile. Gayun watched the woman’s eyes widen as the aroma finally reached her. She blinked a few times before giggling like a high school girl and nodded. “Well then, what are you looking for?”

                “Well what do you recommend?”

                “Well, I enjoyed reading this one.” Gayun noted how smoothly he lied as he pulled out a book from the shelf. The two flirted some more and the scent became stronger and stronger before she finally took the novel from him and, somewhat reluctant to look away from the demon, set the book down on the messy counter.

                “That’ll be eight thousand won,” Gayun said, looking over at Suenghyun with a raised eyebrow. He grinned at her with the same amount of self-satisfaction as a cat.

                “Keep the change,” the woman said as she laid down a ten thousand won bill. Gayun thanked her as she walked out the door with Seunghyun by her side but without the book she had just paid extra for.

                “Damn demons,” Gayun mumbled as she got up to put said book away. Though, she now understood what he meant by take-out. 

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[A/N] As always, thank you so much for reading and please don't forget to subscribe and comment :)