The Start & The End

 

 

There was a little girl growing up in a big city, Seoul, South Korea. Her name was Choi Chaeyoung. Ever since she was young, she loved reading supernatural stories because she was fascinated by the supernatural creations.

 

Now she had just turned 16 years old, and was determined to find her own path to walk on instead of always following others.

 

One night, as she was walking home from work, she crossed a coffee café and stopped to see the posters hanging on the windows. The poster was filled with beautiful lanterns and food. It was the Mid Autumn Festival or as known as Chuseok (추석). It looked like so much fun.

 

But she realized that she had no one to go with. All of her friends and families had a busy life, doing all sorts of things. She let out a long sigh and continued walking down to her house.

 

***

 

At the top of the bridge in Seoul, someone teleported there and crouched looking at all the busy cars trying to get to the other side of the Han River. He had a mischievous smile on his face and his eyes were suddenly filled with hatred and disappointment.

 

"So this was the city that I am supposed to take down huh?"  He sat down on the top of the bridge and let his legs dangle down.

 

"Man, the wind is really nice though." He muttered as he felt the warm breeze braced his face, through his hair. He wore tight black pants, a black t-shirt, and a black jacket on top of that.

 

Most females would find him attractive as they stared at him. He had this mysterious cold vibe to him, and none of the females would have the guts to talk to him.

 

However, he was a demon. A handsome, but mischievous demon, to be exact. Not all demons were ugly, most demons looked human, but didn't know how to act "human" unless they were trained to.

 

And here he is, going to cause trouble or bad feelings to the city and people of Seoul.

 

"Takuya, you're really going to outdo yourself huh?" He asked himself as he smirked at the city.

 

He was Takuya Terada. And he was going to create disappointment and hollowness to the city that went by the name of Seoul. He knew what to just start with.

 

***

 

The following morning, Chaeyoung woke up and got dressed warmly with a scarf and her cute backpack. Later, in the evening, she was planning to go to the festival. She made up her mind about going because she wants to have a little fun in her life, and know when to take a break.

 

As she grabbed her thick jacket, she paused, it wasn't going to rain today. So she didn't bring it and she went outside. Instead, she wore a small thin windbreaker.

 

She began strolling and taking in the view of Seoul, the beautiful city. Just then as she passed the same café, a tall man brushed against her shoulder when he left the café.

 

"Sorry." He said as he stepped aside her and started walking down the sidewalk. Chaeyoung shrugged and was about to enter the café, when the man came back.

 

"Excuse me, do you know where Chuseok is? The autumn festival?" He asked her in a weird accent. "Ahh, yes. I'm actually going to head there after I get a coffee." Chaeyoung replied, respectfully.

 

The man pondered for a while and then asked her, "Can I maybe go with you?"

 

"Mm, yeah. That's fine. Having company is better than having none." She smiled at him, and he did the same back.

 

Chaeyoung got her coffee and conversed with the man as they walked to the festival. "So you're Takuya Terada? And you come from Japan, just to see the Korean festivals?" Chaeyoung asked him, for clarification to see if she got it right. Takuya didn’t see harm in telling her his real name, so he did as he wanted to since a long time.

 

He smiled and nodded. "I'm also here to take pictures for my report in Japan." He took his camera out and showed her. "Ahh that explains the weird Korean accent." She said and skipped steps.

 

She nodded in understanding and the two continued to walk until he interrupted the calming silence between them.

 

"You're Choi Chaeyoung and you're the only girl in your family? And you want to find your own path. That's nice, I would want to do that too." Takuya explained and looked up to the soaring sky.

 

"Why don't you?" Chaeyoung asked as she looked up to the sky too. "No one should make decisions for you. You make your decision and live with the consequences whether they are good or not." She explained as she shifted her gaze to Takuya. He was looking at her already, in amazement.

 

He thought she was just a random human girl, who did whatever she wanted and whenever she wanted. But this made him realize that there's more to her than he knew.

 

He smiled in satisfaction at her words. "Yeah. I need to make my own decision and do what I want."

 

She smiled at his resolution and said, "Fighting! I'll be supporting you all the way!" He smiled, but inside he was frowning, because she was naïve and willing to do something for a demon.

 

This girl was surely something else. His train of thoughts got interrupted as Chaeyoung smiled widely and pointed to the festival lights going on. "We're here!"

 

"Oh..." He mumbled as he watched her run up to the tteobokki (rice cake) stand and order some tteobokki. His frown changed unexpectedly as he watched her take a huge bite of the tteobokki.

 

He chuckled and walked over to her. "Is it that good?" She excitedly nodded and held out the tteobokki to him. And he took a bite.

 

He nodded in agreement. After she left, he turned to the tteobokki stand and with a wave of his hand, he made the tteobokkis taste bad.

 

He smiled mischievously and turned back to Chaeyoung who was looking at the fish scooping game. He had a straight face on now, and moved to Germany.

 

"Takuya-kun! (Japanese term) Come here, you should try to get one!" She waved him closer as she gave him a fish net used to scoop the fish.

 

"Don't break it. I paid good money for this." She pouted as she tried her own. He smiled at her excitement, not knowing he was growing attracted to her, more and more as he saw different sides of her.

 

"Don't worry. I'm the best at this. Don't you know where this originated from?" He smirked as he carefully scooped up a fish, which was hard for him because they could sense the demon aura around him.

 

Chaeyoung, who was on the other side, smiled when all the fish swam their way to her, away from Takuya. "You said you were the best. What now?" She as she tried scooping up a fish, but the net broke.

 

She sighed in defeat and looked over at Takuya, who was still working his way to get to the fish. She smiled at his frustration and ruffled his hair as she went to his side.

 

He looked up in surprise because of her touch. He didn't know but he was more determined to get a fish for her. And he caught one.

 

"Oh my gosh! You got one!" Chaeyoung exclaimed as she quickly grabbed the bag of water for the fish. "Told you." Takuya smirked victoriously.

 

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "You're going to keep him right?" He shook his head, "The fish is for you." He smiled.

 

"Thank you." Chaeyoung smiled as she carefully took it into her hands. He smiled because she looked at the fish in adoration. "I shall name you, Takuya Jr."

 

His eyes widened but he composed his facial expressions. He cleared his throat and smiled. "Let's go."

 

Before he left the fish scooping, he moved his hand in front of him and in a few seconds, all the fish were dead.

 

He let out a long sigh, how was he going to keep lying to Chaeyoung?

 

***

 

The festival was coming to an end. As so did, the fun between Takuya and Chaeyoung. And the fact that Takuya fell in love with Chaeyoung did not help his fate at all. He was a demon. And a demon cannot be with a mere human.

 

He sighed inwardly as he headed towards Chaeyoung with cotton candy. "Chaeyoung-ah." He called out to her.

 

She turned to him and gave him a breath taking smile. He paused before reaching her. "Here you go."

 

"Thanks." She said as she took a bite of the cotton candy. "People were complaining about the festival."

 

He got shocked as his eyes widened. "Why? I-It was so fun." He said truthfully, but was pretending not to know what he did.

 

"I don't know, but it seems to be everything we tried out and did. What a coincidence..." She trailed off as she continued biting into her cotton candy stick.

 

Takuya fiddled with his cotton candy and stuttered as he started blurting out words. He had decided to tell her. "Wait, stop." Chaeyoung's full attention was on him. "You did all of that?" She asked him in disbelief.

 

Takuya looked at her disappointed eyes, "Yeah." Chaeyoung was upset, and she had absolutely no clue what he was doing while being with her. "H-How?" She barely whispered it.

 

"I -" Takuya started but was interrupted by Chaeyoung, who was fuming with anger, that he totally lied to her. "Don't tell me anymore. I don't want to know. I don't even know you. But all I know is that you're not human. These people were just trying to enjoy the festival, yet you would go and do that to all of them?"

 

Takuya was surprised at her sudden outburst and was speechless. But he composed himself and told her four important words. "I am a demon."

 

"I thought we had a thing going on. But I can't be with a- a demon." She said with tears threatening to fall out anytime now. She was shocked and terrified.

 

"But I really-" he was again cut off by Chaeyoung because she left him. "like you." He finished as he watched her walk away.

 

He sighed and decided that his "mission" was over. He had completed it, but what he got in return was a broken heart. He sighed, wishing her the best of luck in life, before teleporting back to Japan.

 

***

 

2 Years Later

 

Chaeyoung smiled at the customers who were walking in. She had started working in the café that she met him, her first love. She remembered the memories of them when she saw one of the workers put up a festival poster.

 

She sighed, it was that time of the year again. It was the second time that it happened. She shook the thoughts out of her head and served the customers.

 

Just then as the bell rang, indicating that another customer came to the café, she said, "Welcome to Sakura Café."

 

The customer walked to the cashier where Chaeyoung worked. "Can I have a caramel frappé please?" He asked and gave her a smile.

 

She looked up from the screen and was absolutely shocked, but realized that it probably wasn't him. Takuya Terada. The demon that had her fall for him 2 years ago.

 

"Yeah, sure. Your name?" She asked as she drew out a cup with a permanent marker, ready to write his name on the cup. "Takuya."

 

She paused before writing his name down. "Is that it?" She asked him; not being able to look Takuya in the eyes. "Yeah." He said and she could hear the familiar voice.

 

She told him the total price and he payed her. And he went to go sit at a table nearby, waiting for his order.

 

Chaeyoung couldn't stop fidgeting with the orders because she could feel a particular someone's eyes on her. One of her friends asked her, "Yah, do you know that guy sitting there? He keeps on staring at you." She nudged Chaeyoung's side.

 

"No." She replied coldly and terrified because she knew he was a demon. "Well he's walking here now." Her friend whispered and walked away. Chaeyoung looked up and handed him his order.

 

He left a napkin on the counter and left with his frappé. Chaeyoung looked at it, realizing that something was written in Japanese on there, and shoved it into her pockets.

 

Takuya who was chuckling at her was standing outside, looking at her reaction. He smiled and left for the day. But he knew he would be back.

 

Chaeyoung got home and entered the Japanese letters. She was surprised and she smiled.

 

The napkin said,

"Chaeyoung-ah. I just wanted you to know that I love you and I have looked after you everyday. I will forever treasure the memories we had at the festival. And I will wait for you to come around, even if it is a hundred years from now. I won’t give up.

P.S. I am "human" now. And I'm back."