I was facing all the twelve gods in a makeshift classroom in Jonghyun's library. According to Seongwoo, everyone has been binded by Jonghyun's power to stay in the library. Nobody could leave until Jonghyun lifts his control.

"So what now?" Sungwoon, the most impatient one, said.

I cleared my throat. "I honestly don't know how to do this," I shyly answered.

Some of the gods groaned. "We are wasting our time," whispered one.

"Hey, lets give it a chance! We might actually get something from this." Daewhi, ruler of Aquarius, quickly commented.

I saw Seongwoo nod. "Its not like we have a choice. We need to do what Jonghyun commands us unless we want to stay here forever," he said, earning a convinced look from most of the gods.

"How about you start by telling us something about yourself," the ruler of Taurus suggested to me.

The other gods murmured. "Good idea, Jinyoung."

And that was how our first lesson started. I simply talked about my family, friends, college and others things I could think of. While most gods were quiet or disinterested, some were surprisingly chatty like Daewhi and Jisung.

The meeting ended when the library doors suddenly opened prompting the most disinterested ones, led by Sungwoon, to hurriedly leave the room. 

The meeting was so far bearable -- some gods refused to call it "lessons". They argued that gods didn't need "lessons" so we settled by calling our session "meetings" instead. 

 

 

I sat by the large window of the library as I watched the gods play on the field below. We just finished our long discussion about basic human needs. 

We have had fair amount of meetings but I have yet to have idea on exactly how long I have been staying in the realm of gods. Gods were not affected by time. There was no day or night. Staying here has also turned me into an immortal temporarily. There was no human needs to satisfy like hunger and sleep. 

"Soo Min-ah." I turned to Minhyun. The god was sitting on one of the couches inside the library. 

Whenever Jonghyun gives us free time, I would spend most of my time reading in the library with Minhyun, given he was not preoccupied with other things. The library was full of books written by humans. Seongwoo said Jonghyun placed it there for gods to read. But the gods were too proud to even touch it, except for Minhyun of course. He liked reading.

Minhyun frowned. "I dont get why humans need to complicate eating by doing this," he said pointing at the book he was holding. "You can simply eat anything as it is."

I looked at the book. For the Sweet Tooth. It was a cookbook.

"Well, we want to improve the taste of what we eat and to add variety. Like, instead of eating raw egg, we whisk it and add sugar to make a meringue." I tried to explain.

"Why do you need to improve the taste? The point of eating is to simply survive, isn't?" Minhyun argued. 

"I guess eating something tasty makes us happier? Being happy is also a way to survive." 

Minhyun hummed, satisfied with my answer. "Tell me something about the taste of foods then," he added.

I sat beside Minhyun and took the book from him. "This one," I said as I pointed at the picture of a chocolate cake. "It tastes sweet."

Minhyun nodded and looked at me expectantly.

"Why?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "How does 'sweet' taste?"

I stared at him in disbelief. How am I suppose to describe that?

 

 

"Hey." I looked up and was suprised  to see Daniel.

I was sitting on the corner of an empty room. I settled there after the failed cooking session I started awhile ago. The supposedly bright idea came after the failed attempts of describing to Minhyun what 'tastes' were like. I hurriedly went to Seongwoo to help me contact Jonghyun.

"Call for him and he will grant you answers." Seongwoo said.

I did what he told me and the next thing I knew, everyone's standing in a kitchen. There were cooking utensils, appliances and never ending variety of ingredients. Everything was exactly as the ones in human world. 

I wanted the gods to experience the taste of human food. And for the first time, the gods seemed eager about it, too. I was overjoyed. Everything was going according to plan until the time we took a bite of the cake we baked. It tasted nothing. Human taste did not seem to exist in this world. It was upsetting.

Hence why I was sulking alone on a corner. 

I turned to the god beside me. "I'm sorry," I said softly to Daniel. 

He looked at me, confused. "You know, for being rude before," I continued.

Ever since our first encounter, this was only the second time we directly interacted. Even during library 'meetings', he never talked to me. I wasn't sure if it was due to our unpleasant introduction or he was simply disinterested. 

Admittedly, I was quite curious about Daniel. He may not be as magnificent as Seongwoo or as elegant as Minhyun, but Daniel was rather charming. In contrast to his large frame, he has the friendliest smile among the gods. He smiles and laughs easily which made him really pleasant to be around. Even the gods seemed to adore him.

I looked down and played with my fingers. "I-i got really scared that time, you know. You might not understand but fear is really terrifying for humans," I explained, hoping he would understand and forget our feud.

Daniel chuckled. "That's actually  the first lesson I learned from you."

"You're not mad?" I whispered.

"Gods are not easy to anger," he reassured.

I huffed. "I thought you were avoiding me because of that."

My heart jumped when he suddenly run his fingers through my hair. "You asked me to stay away," he said, smiling.

I pouted. "I didn't mean to say that... Can you stop avoiding me now?" I pleaded. Having another god to talk to would definitely make my stay more bearable. 

Daniel chuckled. "Sure."

I quickly changed the topic out of embarrassment. "Anyway, what brought you here?" I asked.

"I came to check if you're okay," he said worriedly. "It's quite regrettable we didn't get to taste the cake."

I sighed. "Yeah, sorry for getting everyone worked up over nothing."

Daniel frowned. "It's not your fault."

I ducked my head over my knees and closed my eyes. My heart felt heavy again.

"Daniel, I miss home," I said after a long silence. 

I felt Daniel inched closer to me. When I looked up, I found him looking softly at me. 

"I really want to make you happy right now but you'll get mad again if I use my powers," Daniel whispered, his eyes full of sincerity.

I fought the blush. "Daniel, you don't need powers to make someone happy."

"Then how?" he asked, almost pleading.

I did not answer but I smiled, touched by how he seemed to care.

Daniel fixed his eyes on me. It was such a captivating stare, I found myself melting. My heart pounded when he slowly leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. It was chaste and short but it had me gasping for air when he pulled away.

For a moment, I forgot who we were.