“Lord Kai, no!”

Jongin startled and dropped the strange shiny thing he was holding in his hands. Not a second latter, the glass fell to the ground and smashed to a million beautiful pieces. Jongin watched in fascination. Each piece of glass glittered so prettily and he wanted to touch.

“Don’t touch them lord Kai.”

Jongin by then was squatting like a kid, looking at the scattered glass pieces across the marble floor. He has just wanted to look at the shiny glass thingy. But then the maid had startled him and now it’s broken. Kai knew he was bad and now the maid was angry and he wanted Jun. His Jun was so pretty to look at; prettier that the broken glass and all the flowers and the moon and the cake he ate for dinner yesterday. But Suho was not here and he wanted Suho.

“Please step aside lord Kai. Let me clean the glass before you hurt yourself.”

Jongin watched the maid removing the pretty glass pieces and now all of them were gone. He wanted to hide inside Jun so badly. It was always quiet and safe but now he is too big to get inside, and he hated that Jun can disappear while he didn’t look. But Jun promised that even if Jongin cannot get inside Jun, Jun will always hold him and protect him. But Jun was not here and he wanted to so badly cry. Sitting down in the middle of the floor, he tried to stop but he couldn’t help and soon fat red tears were rolling down his face.

Suho couldnt hear him though because he was already on his way to the palace healing house where he was about to meet a new healer. So far, he had managed fine without any intervention, but then again, Jongin’s progress had been terribly slow. Bomiya had found a healer from the demon realms who was a specialist in demon children. The demon king and even Sehun had felt that maybe it is time to try other treatment and without delay the healer was brought in. However, with no idea how Jongin would react to the new person, it had been collectively decided that Suho will meet him alone first. It sounded like a good idea then but now that Suho is away from Jongin since the first time he met him, he felt anxious and apprehensive. He reminded himself that there were 4 maids and sehun himself watching over Jongin in his absence.

Sehun was not a babysitter. In fact he was a hazard to children. But ever since Kai became a baby of sorts, he was increasingly ending up as a baby sitter to his best friend. He could always sass his way out of it, but this was Kai, the boy who saved him so many years ago, so Sehun tried his best. Sehun’s best was napping in the same room as Kai, which was why Kai had wandered out on his own to play with the glittery stuff. Sehun woke up on hearing loud ear-piercing wails and rushed to the adjacent room only to find Jongin was squarely sitting in the middle of the hall and crying his demon heart out.

Suho's guide had knocked on a door and after a brief greeting with whoever opened it, left Suho in the healers care and rode off.

“My name is Lay, I am a lore master and a healer.”

“Nice to meet you, I am Suho, I am from…” Suho bowed and introduced himself but Lay interrupted him with a gentle arm on his shoulder.

“Lore master remember, I know who you are.”

To Suho, Lay sounded frail. But his hand had a surprisingly strong grip with which he guided Suho to a chair nearby.

“Shall we get started then?” he asked with a smile.

“Sure, Jongi… I mean lord Kai, he …”

“I know all about the demon prince lord Suho, what I am interested in is you.”

Suho gave him a surprised look.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Bomiya’s report on the prince is exhaustive. But in order to treat lord Kai, I need to understand what happened, and to understand what happened, I need to understand you who has in a large way contributed to what he is now.”

Suho nodded, understanding Lay’s need to know more about him. He told him what he knew of himself and once again narrated the events that happened on the fateful night. Lay listened to him patiently and asked him several questions.

“You know, what you did is very unusual. Hybrids cause anomalies in the natural scheme of things and I believe that’s exactly what has happened in your case. Do you not remember your father at all?”

“No… I vaguely remember a shrouded figure who could have been my father I think. I was crying because my mother wouldn’t wake up. I had gone out to play and I got distracted chasing butterflies. By the time I ran home it was evening. My mother usually would have lit a lamp and would be waiting for me, but that day the house was dark and no one was waiting. I ran inside and found my mother lying on the ground. I didn’t understand that she was dead at that time. I shook her and tried to wake her up. I was crying so hard and my vision was blurry but I could make out a dark shrouded figure emerge from the shadows. I was afraid but I didn’t want to leave my mother either so I just stood still. The figure just came up to me and scooped me up in its arms and after that, I don’t remember anything until I woke up to Yifan staring cross eyed right into my face.”

Lay gave him a contemplative look.

“If you inherited your power from your mother, she should have also received it from someone else, I wonder how a power like that can remain unrecorded for so long.” Lay had a faraway look in his eyes.

“I have wondered the same thing. I lived with my mother until the age of 6, but in all that time, I never met anyone like us. No one came to visit us, we didn’t have friends and neighbours avoided us. People threw stones at us sometimes…”

“People fear the unknown.… “

They sat in silence for a while and the Lay asked about his eyes

"Another point of interest is your eyes. Maybe…”

A loud piercing shriek broke out and scarcely a second later, Sehun flew in and dropped a crying Jongin on Suho.

Suho was up on his feet by then immediately scooped up Jongin into his arms.

“It’s alright Jongin, what happened?”
 

Jongin shook in his arms and wrapped himself around Suho securely. He tucked his head under Suho’s chin and made weird noises. But Suho thought he heard “Jun” among them.

“What happened Sehunah?”

“Great, not only you will insult me by calling Sehunah, but you are also now doing it in front of company.“ Sehun pouted.

“Sehun…”

“Alright, alright mama bear. I was taking a nap while Kai was playing, but then he had wandered to the next room I guess. I don’t know what happened but I woke to him crying and shrieking. No one was about and he wouldn’t stop. So I picked him up and brought him to his mama.”

Jongin glared at Sehun with his red eyes and weirdly, it looked like he was pouting in between hiccups. Suho noted that his features were more prominent than before. Even the head under his chin was fuzzy, like it had hair. On closer look, patches of dark brown could be seen growing in his arms and legs in between the smooth black skin.

“Jongin… tell me what happened please.”

Jongin emitted a garble of sounds that made no sense except for ‘Jun’ which was clearer this time. Seeing Suho’s confused expression, he let out a frustrated sigh and got up. He then enacted the whole sequence of actions mumbling to himself. After violently pointing at a similar looking glass cup, he pretended to drop it and then made some sweeping movements. Finally, he bounded over and clung to Suho, who still couldn’t understand as he couldn’t see the whole act.

Sehun who got an idea though laughed and translated.

“He saw a glass of wine, he wanted to drink, but he dropped the drink and to hide his crime, he swept it under the carpet and cried over the spilt wine.”

Jongin stomped at that in childish anger. He finally took a glass and threw it on the ground startling Suho. He then picked a glass piece carefully and gently ran Suho’s finger through an unbroken surface. He then swept the other pieces roughly away to make enough noise and then bound over to hug Suho.

“Hum, the demon prince has a temper. Was he this way before as well?” Lay asked Sehun.

“Oh yes, his temper is legendary.”

Suho though was not paying attention. Surprised at the intelligence of Jongin, Suho smiled and said, “you broke the glass and you or someone cleaned it away and then you wanted me?” Jongin nodded his head violently enough for Suho to sense it.

“I am here now aren’t I, everything is ok."

I am afraid I am tired now and should take my leave." Suho bowed to Lay.

"But before we go, meet Lay, our new healer.” Suho said pointing vaguely to where Lay was stainding.

Jongin glared at the new figure and with no more acknowledgement, went back to back hugging Suho and rocking from side to side.

“My, my, he is smart.” Lay commented.

“That he is, but he needs to learn a lot all over again and progress has been slow.” Suho bemoaned.

“That’s easy, he is unable to learn because you can’t teach him visually and he can’t speak clearly. You need to teach him to talk and communicate first.”

“I am no good at these things, shouldn’t an expert teach him?”

“Doesn’t look like he is ready for that yet. For the time being, it’s all on you. But I suppose the death demon here can help.”

“Of course, there are some unique things I can teach him, how to piss off a nest of Goosits, how to be sassy to his father, how to escape work, and the best of all, how to not do anything and just lie around.” Sehun proudly announced.

Suho sighed. Sometimes he believed Sehun to be more childish than Jongin.

“Thanks Sehun, but I think I will manage just fine.”

Suho bowed to Lay and then gently holding Jongin’s hand, he dragged him along towards the door.

“Come on Jonginie, we have a lot of work to do.”

Sehun eyed the healer thoughtfully.

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing you don’t know already.”

“So, you can sense it too huh?”

“Yes…”

“What I can’t seem to understand is why? They usually don’t last this long do they. He doesn’t seem to know but I think his mother died saving whoever it was who had taken Suho to Asegi.” Suho asked.

“Yes, given that there were no other witnesses, it’s the only possible explanation unless everything was a coincidence.”

“Na, too many things to be a coincidence.”

“But why the eyes alone and how is Suho still alive?”

“The spell is no secret and I myself have reaped the souls of the caster immediately after the spell is cast and the other person is revived. It is the law of life, one life in exchange of another.”

Lay brewed some tea and offered to Sehun and then went about rummaging through some scrolls. He then pulled out one and read through it.

“There is one case I have on record in the more scrolls. It’s a man who used the spell to save a woman he loved. But unlike in Suho’s case, the woman revived completely and the man died immediately. Both were human though. Also, curiously, the woman forgot the man’s entire existence when she woke up.”

“So what do you think happened?” Sehun asked.

“My guess is that Jongin’s soul for some reason had latched on to Suho and had tied itself around its host.”

“Figures, he has always been a er. I have a different theory though.”

Lay looked at him curiously

“I think the spell is still working. Unlike the humans, this is a combination of a hybrid and a powerful demon. They are not meant to be compatible and yet the spell needs to work. I think the spell is doing what it should much much slower than normal. I think… I think Kai is draining Suho’s life force slowly but surely and someday, the spell will be complete ending in the same way as all other instances before.”

They sat in silence for a while.

“Do you think Suho knows?” Lay asked.

“I think he does.”

“I told the king about this. I had to, in order to explain why Lord Kai cannot be separated from Lord Suho. He didn’t seem concerned though.” Lay conffessed

“I don’t think he cares what happens to Suho as long as Kai is fine. In fact, I bet he is glad.” Sehun ground out in anger.

Lay gave him a curious look.

“And you do?”

Sehun schooled his expression into a mocking half smile.

“Not really, but souls like Suho are a pain to collect, and I am not ready for that kind of work yet.”

“That’s indeed a bother. Then we should find a way to ensure you don’t have to do that job just yet.” Lay said cautiously.

Sehun looked at him for a moment and then grinned.

“Yes, that would be more entertaining I guess.”

“Partners then?” Lay extended his hand.

Sehun didn’t take his hand but asked.

“Not until I know why you are doing this.”

“Let’s just say that the ex-king of Asegi is surprisingly easy on the eye.”

“That I agree. Nothing like collaborating with the competition to make a day interesting.”

Lay laughed and the healer and the demon shook hands like old pals.

Meanwhile, in an obscure castle in the far north of the city, lights were being lit. The cook was humming a tune and stirring a healthy chicken broth while the only other maid was setting up the dinner table. Curiously, there were no knives. In the bed room, Suho sat on the bed with his back resting on the head board. A content Jongin sat between his legs leaning comfortably on Suho’s chest.

Suho gently poked Jongin’s chest and said, “Kai, you are Kai, say Kai?”

Jongin gave him a confused look and shook his head. Then with great effort said, “Jo-in”

Suho looked surprised and then broke into loud laugher.

Startled at the sudden outburst, Jongin stared at Suho registering in his nascent mind how Suho looked the prettiest when he made that weird noise.