“About what you said last time,” Aera turned to Sehun, “What do you mean by running out of time?”

She didn’t want to believe his words at first, but her curiosity grew. Trusting Baekhyun was one thing, but she also knew well enough that he was hiding something from her. What Sehun had disclosed the other day never left her mind, though she didn’t want to believe everything he told her. The devil beside her smirked, to be asking him this meant Baekhyun had not revealed the ill fate with his dying vessel to her yet.

“You see…to fully bind with a human vessel, that body must be…” he paused, trying to come up with an easier term to describe this whole process.

“Dead.” Sehun bluntly said. 

Aera tilted her head in confusion, “That’s impossible…he’s alive. I mean Baekhyun, he’s alive and well.”

“For now he is. But the longer the devil stays inside his body, the faster his life years will run out.”

Her heart sank upon realizing the reality of Baekhyun’s current situation. He can’t die like this, she kept repeating to herself. 

“So how do we save him?!” she raised her voice out of frustration.

Sehun stopped the car once her house was in reach. He turned to her with a straight expression before firmly stating, “The devil must leave then.”

“And then what…?” Aera continued.

“And then he’ll live miserably in the endless darkness of his own shadow for however long he wants to continue living. He’ll make deals after deals to extend his immortality until he will grow sick and tired of the same old routine.”

She kept silent, trying to recollect her thoughts before speaking again. “But you’re living a normal life in a human body…how-“

A small chuckle escaped his lips as his cold eyes pierced right into hers.

“That’s because unlike his weak heart,” Sehun whispered the last part, “I’m not afraid to kill for what I want.”

The subtle indication that he killed the body in front of her, sent shivers down her spine. Aera quickly got out of the car and stormed towards her house without looking back. Her mind, now preoccupied with this new information, did not help with her closure one bit. If anything, she may have accidentally opened up a Pandora’s box instead. 

~~~

It was already past 8PM, but Aera headed back to the company after cleaning herself up. Thankfully her injuries were just minor and that she was mostly dehydrated throughout the day. She decided to once again, distract herself with work in order to take her mind off of everything. Nothing made sense to her anymore, with what she had learned in the short time. 

“Found you,” a voice echoed through the empty office. She didn’t look up because she already knew who it was.

“Sorry it took so long, I was looking everywhere for you,” Baekhyun informed