▬ Chapter 6: Year 20: Go ▬

Since the time Taemin knew who he truly was, he became distant from those around him. He had long noticed how his senses surpassed those of his peers but he didn’t think much about it and thought that he was just one of those who was ‘special’ in a way. The thought that he was a demon never came to him and from the terrifying myths and stories of what he heard, he wished he would never come across a demon.

Then his father told him that he was one — half, but still a demon, nonetheless.

Taemin fell silent the moment his father disclosed the story behind his eyes, how one was like his mother’s and the other his father’s. Jinki then continued that even when Taemin was still a child, he suspected that his son had powers but couldn’t bring himself to talk to him as of yet fearing that one, little Taemin might not fully comprehend what he said and two, his son, much like humans, might take the news so bad that he may end up losing him. He didn’t want to risk either so he has kept quiet until now.

Of course, Kibum felt the tension between the two and whenever he asked either of them if they wanted to talk, both had the same ‘It’s okay, we’re fine’ reply accompanied by a small smile. He knew that the stubbornness ran in the family yet as a friend, he was still worried about them.

Jinki expectedly became worried when Taemin became detached to him but the latter assured his father that he just needed some time to process everything. One night, his son eventually voiced out that upon knowing about his powers, he didn’t want to take advantage of them around his peers and that’s why he tried to separate himself before he could end up hurting someone.

“Dad,” Taemin poked the chicken on his plate. Dinner that night didn’t look that appetizing to him. “How did you know that mom was the one?”

“Why the sudden question?” He replied after swallowing the contents in his mouth. “Don’t tell me you’re attracted to someone?” He meant to say it as a lighthearted joke but apparently, that didn’t make the young one laugh. Jinki returned his silence with a flat smile. “What is it, Taemin?”

“I,” he looked at his father with worried eyes. However, Jinki sensed a bit of fear. “I was just curious, that’s all.”

“Well,” Jinki started after both of them had a little staring contest. “Demons get this, how should I say it, tingling feeling whenever we feel attracted to someone on a romantic level.” Taemin listened to him intently. “Eventually that feeling gets stronger to a point and that’s how you can tell that the person is the one.”

“Is it like a craving or some strong desire that ends up eating you inside and make you go crazy?”

The choice of words coming out of his son’s mouth startled Jinki. Then his eyes furrowed and he gazed — almost glared — at the young man sitting across from him. “Where did you hear that? Who said that to you?” His voice was deep and his anger was starting to surge. What he hated the most out of all human tales about demons is the fact that they make their race seem like killers. Sure, demons are egotistical and think that they’re above all humans but they would never kill for no valid reason.

“The guys in my class talked about it,” he divulged, “and said that once a demon sees someone they like, they kill them.”

There it is again, humans and their love for exaggerating stories.

“Look,” Jinki massaged his temple to appease his frustration. “Humans have a knack for over exaggerating things about demons. They know close to nothing about the truth. Except,” he sighed, “what they said about that is partly true.”

Taemin’s eyes widened and he dropped his fork on the ground. “So mom…?”

Taemin didn’t even have to finish his sentence and Jinki already knew what he was insinuating. He felt a stabbing pain in his heart to hear that his son accuses him of the death of his mother, a woman whom he loved dearly.

Though Jinki thought that he was right to think that because he himself thought the same even after all this time.

He was the one who killed her.

[ • §§§ • ]

“Onew!” A tall man waved in the middle of the crowd.

The streets were bustling with people trying to head to work, to school, or wherever they were supposed to be. Jinki was waiting for the walk sign to pop up so that he could finally cross the street. That is until he heard his demon name being said sporadically for the last five minutes from such a far distance.

Jinki snapped his head back so fast when the voice got closer to him, he thought he almost broke his neck. He glared at the smiling man who was finally standing beside him. “I told you to call me Jinki in the human world, you idiot.”

“Please, as if people will know,” the man smirked. “They have celebrities here that use ‘stage names,’” he air quoted, “so just think like that.”

“Don’t push