“Uuummm, I think I found a typo.” Soo Jin said as she looked up from the contract Yoongi had given her. He had called her the day after he had helped her to move and asked to meet her. She told him that she was working at the café all day and he had asked her for the address. She took her break when he arrived and he had presented her with a contract. He sipped on his coffee as he watched her read it over. “There's no typo.” He assured her. She looked up at him, shock clear to see on her face. “No, seriously. Look at this amount, there's no way this is right. There has to be an extra zero in there or something.” She said.

He glanced at the paper, already knowing that the amount was correct. He also knew it was far more than she would have been expecting. “Nope, no mistake.” He said as he sat back in his chair. She read over the contract again. “So, let me get this straight.” She said. “You want to pay me this much money to sing at your bar every Friday and Saturday night?” she asked incredulously. He nodded, “Yup. Of course if you ever need a night off that can be easily arranged, also you’ll accrue holidays which you can use providing you give at least forty-eight hours’ notice.” He said, expanding on the details which were already clearly marked out in the contract.

She gave him a sceptical look. “So the contract is just to sing, right? You're not expecting me to do anything… weird, are you?” she asked. Yoongi almost spat out his coffee at her words. “No!” he said, startling the people around them from his sudden shout. “No, all I expect you to do is what you’ve done before. Turn up and sing and that’s it. You don’t even need to talk to any of the customers, let alone do anything else. What kind of place do you think I run?” he asked.

She held her hands up in innocence. “I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just that this is way more than I've ever been paid to sing before.” She said, hoping she hadn’t offended him. “It’s a long term deal so I don’t see any problem with paying you for what you do. And from what I've heard, you're pretty good. I spoke to Seokjin about you last night and he couldn’t praise you highly enough. And I already know that Jungkook is your fan.” He said, enjoying the proud smile that appeared on her face from his words. “You’ll be doing me a favour if you sign.” He said. “Good, reliable talent is hard to come by.”

She laughed. “I thought you were meant to be the one doing me a favour.” She teased, her eyes once again landing on the ridiculous amount on the contract. “But then again, maybe you are.” She mumbled as she took the pen he offered her and signed the contract.

That Friday, she turned up at the club half an hour before she was due to perform. She didn’t know why she felt so nervous. The club was packed as usual, the line to get in stretching halfway down the street outside. She had performed in front of this many people more times than she could count, but she had never felt as nervous as she did now. Jungkook waved at her from his place behind the bar and she went up to him, smiling as she squeezed herself into a space at the bar. He appeared in front of her a minute later with her favourite drink. “Thanks, Jungkook!” she shouted over the loud music. “I really need this.” She said as she took a large sip. “Nervous?” he asked her. she nodded, “Yeah, kinda.” She admitted as Seokjin appeared by her side.

She smiled at the tall, handsome man as he hugged her tightly. He felt like the older brother that she had never had. “Soo Jin you're here.” He said as he released her. “Are you ready to go?” he asked her. She nodded, despite the twist of nerves in her stomach. She followed him to the back of the club where she shed her leather jacket, knowing that as soon as she got up on the stage she would be far too hot in it. “Hey, you're here.” She turned around to see Yoongi standing in the doorway.

A smile covered her face when she saw him. “Hey.” She said as he stepped into the room. “You look nervous, are you ok?” he asked, a note of worry in his voice. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She said, not wanting him to worry. “Come on, let’s go get you set up.” Seokjin said as he headed back out to the stage. Yoongi gave her an encouraging look as she followed Seokjin out the door. He took in her outfit as she walked down the hallway.

Her tight, black jeans hugged her hips and legs perfectly, her t-shirt was artfully ripped in a way he was sure Taehyung would have appreciated, her hair was left loose and a pair of black boots completed her outfit. She was dressed comfortably so that she could move on stage but the simplicity of her outfit made her look even more breath-taking. He shook his head. “What the hell am I thinking?” he muttered as he headed out towards the bar, set on getting a good view of her as she performed.

She gave her all as she sang and danced. His eyes didn’t leave her for a single second. He didn’t know why he was so attracted to her. Something about her just drew him to her.

This routine continued over the following weeks. She turned up around half an hour before her first performance and would often spend her time at the bar chatting with Jungkook, something which hadn’t gone unnoticed by Yoongi. He often interrupted the pair, finding some excuse to pull Soo Jin away from the handsome, younger demon.

During this time, Soo Jin had come up with countless ideas on how Yoongi could repay his favour but none of her ideas ever worked. No matter what Yoongi did, their marks remained as clear as before on their skin. After two months of knowing each other, they were sitting at one of the booths in the club after she had finished her last performance of the night. “I don’t understand why none of my ideas have worked.” She said as her fingers ran over the rim of her glass. Yoongi sighed, his head resting on the back of the booth. “Me either. I was sure that when you called me in the middle of the night when your pipe burst that we would surely have been even.” He said, a slight teasing note in his voice. “Shut up, I panicked.” She said as she nudged him. He chuckled, “Well at least you now know that I am not waterproof and how to turn off the water in your apartment in an emergency.”

She laughed at the memory. She had went into her bathroom in the middle of the night only to find it completely flooded. She had panicked and instead of calling a plumber, she had called Yoongi who had just been leaving the club. He had rushed over at the sound of panic in her voice and had helped her find the stopcock to turn off the water until they could get a plumber to go out the next morning.

She leant back against the booth, mimicking Yoongi’s pose. “Maybe it has to be something more dramatic than saving me from a mini flood.” She pondered. “Do you know anyone else that’s had the mark before?” she asked. He nodded, his mood turning serious. “Yeah, a couple.” He said. “Well? How did they get rid of their marks?” she asked, surprised that he had never volunteered this information before now. “I only know of two demons who had this mark. One of them saved his human’s life and the other…” his voice trailed off. Soo Jin impatiently waited for him to continue.

“The human made him kill someone.” He said so quietly that she was afraid that she had misheard him over the music of the club. “W-what?” she stuttered, his words catching her completely off-guard. He nodded, confirming that what she had heard was right. “The human he was indebted to asked him to kill her ex for cheating on her, he couldn’t refuse and the mark disappeared.” He glanced up at Soo Jin who looked horrified. “That is awful.” She said, disgusted at the thought of asking Yoongi to do something so vile.

“Who would ask someone to do that?” she asked. Yoongi shrugged. “It wasn’t the first time something like that has happened. Lots of demons have been made to do horrible things because of these contracts.” He said as he held out his wrist, the lights from the club changing the colour of his skin. “That’s why you were so angry when I saved you.” She said, suddenly feeling even guiltier for putting him in such a situation. He nodded. “I had no idea who you were or what type of person you were and suddenly I owed you a favour. You could have asked me to do anything and I wouldn’t have been able to refuse if I wanted to get rid of the mark.”

Soo Jin bit her lip as she reached out and grabbed his hand with hers. “I promise that I will never make you do anything so disgusting! We’ll find a way to break the contract in a way that we both agree on, I promise.” She said, her eyes searching his, hoping he could feel her sincerity. He glanced at his hand which was encased between hers before looking up at her face. He nodded at her. “I know you'd never ask me to do anything like that, I trust you.” He said, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face.

“Come on, I’ll take you home.” He said as he slid his hand out of hers and slid out of the booth. She followed after him, knowing better than to argue. Ever since she had started working at his club, he had insisted on taking her home. She had protested at first, telling him that she was more than capable of getting herself home, but he was always so insistent. She had asked him why but he always told her that it was an excuse for him to leave early without Seokjin whining at him. But the real reason was that he didn’t want her going home alone. The thought of her having to walk through the dark, dangerous neighbourhood alone made him uneasy, but he would never tell her that.

Jungkook had passed comment on it, cheekily pointing out that Yoongi had never offered to give him a ride him before, to which Yoongi had playfully threatened to fire the handsome bartender. Jungkook only laughed, knowing that the older man liked him too much to fire him, something which he often playfully used to his own advantage.

They chatted easily as Yoongi drove her home, his elegant sports car seeming to fly through the quiet streets. He killed the engine as he pulled up outside of her apartment, not wanting the noise of the car to attract too much attention. “Thanks for bringing me home, as always.” She said as she gave him a smile. “No worries, you know you don’t need to say thank you every time.” He said. She shook her head, “Of course I do. Either you accept my thanks or I’m taking the bus.” She teased. He held his hands up in mock surrender. “Fine, fine.” He said, smiling at her. “I’ll see you next week, get home safely.” She said as she opened the door. “See you next week.” He called back.

He waited until she was safely in her apartment, her light flicking on from upstairs before he started up the engine and made his way home.

Author's note

Hey everyone, I'm uploading this chapter a little earlier than planned because I'm heading off to China and Korea for a holiday tomorrow so I won't be able to update as normal. I promise I'll have a new chapter up as soon as I'm home.

L xxx