After seeing Aera off, the devil quickly got to work. He needed new souls, and he needed them now. Losing 50 years out of his hard-earned lifespan took a toll on him as well as his human vessel. Physically, he could feel himself getting weaker and that was not a good sign. 

Baekhyun changed out of his bloody clothes after tending his wounds. Fortunately, he was still able to regenerate the vessel which helped him regain some of his strength back. Without wasting anymore time, he headed out to hopefully make up some of his loss before it was too late. In order to reverse a fusion, he needed his life years to be the exact same as it was before the whole process. Meaning that he was already in a disadvantage. 

“Why did I do this to myself,” he cursed silently.

The devil successfully secured two souls that required small favors, adding only less than 10 years back into his lifespan. This was taking way too long, he thought to himself after checking the time. Only an hour or so more until sunrise, which meant his human vessel would be waking up soon. He made his way back to the car, deciding to resume his soul hunting session later. 

“What the…” he paused his tracks when he caught a glimpse of himself from the car window. 

Some black strands of hair were already peaking through his platinum locks. This was definitely a new side effect. Was Baekhyun already waking up before dawn? As a matter of fact, he was. Before even starting the car, the devil felt himself dozing off slowly. 

Within a few minutes, the CEO opened his eyes to an unfamiliar setting, but what really caught him off guard was waking up before the sun rises. His vague flashbacks also became more vivid as if he was present during the devil’s expedition. Out of pure curiosity, he wanted to explore his memories to see if he could possibly remember what the devil did with his body during the night.

~~~

Aera could not even take a minute off to check if Baekhyun had made it to the office. Since arriving to work this morning, she was immediately bombarded with advertisement drafts while having to meet with the PR team to discuss their potential investors. She took on this role because of the plan that she had proposed previously, and she knew well of what was coming for her. As lunch time finally arrived, Aera ran to Baekhyun’s office to see if he came back. Since the previous night, her heart felt uneasy about everything. It was more frustrating to not know what exactly was going on. She hated that feeling the most. 

To her dismay, Baekhyun never showed up to work. She also tried his phone, but it was turned off. Aera dropped her head in disappointment at the fact that she was running out of options. She only had his contact information with nothing else to follow up with. Just knowing the fact that she knew absolutely nothing about him, his life, his struggle, or even simply his favorite drink irritated her incredibly. For the first time in a very long time, she was starting to wish for these little things. And at last, she had an answer to the devil’s question. There was something that she wanted in her life,

…she wanted to be there for him.

Aera returned to work after a short meal. Part o