Minji stood in front of the worst nightmare of her entire life. Never had she been faced with such a crushing view… it was horrifying, and the longer she had to look at it, the more terrified she became. She took a deep breath, attempted to calm herself, but no matter what she did, she could not shake off the dread that overwhelmed her. She might even die within the next ten minutes if nobody saved her from her terrible fate.

“Baëkhyun!” she called desperately, and when the demon walked into the kitchen, he looked more than annoyed.

“Yes?”

“SAVE ME!”

“I won’t do the dishes for you,” he hissed. “Wash them yourself!”

“But this is a war zone! When did we use so many plates? I don’t even remember!” she whined, hating that there was a literal mountain of dirty dishes piled up on the kitchen counter. They had cooked dinner earlier, and Minji hadn’t realized what a chaos they had left behind until now—it was absolutely terrifying. Only the idea of washing all that made her want to fall over. She refused to do it on her own! This stubborn demon would help her, and if it was the last thing he ever did for her, he WOULD do it!

“I’m not your servant. If anything, it’s the other way around,” he said snobbishly and raised his chin, crossing his arms to emphasize the point that he would not lift a finger to help her.

She gawked at him even though she should have been used to these kinds of comments by now. “Excuse me? You can’t be serious! I’m letting you live here for free, the least you can do is help me out!” she nagged, putting her hands on her hips. Her eyes were steely and filled with resolve. He would not get out of this easily!

Baëkhyun snorted and rolled his eyes. “Oh please, I’m helping you enough already! I’m babysitting you 24/7, if that isn’t sufficient, then I don’t know what is,” he retorted and smirked when he saw her upset scowl.

“I don’t need a babysitter, what’s wrong with you? I’m a grown woman!”

“Yes, one that randomly falls down stairs and cuts her fingers on paper. Definitely warrants a babysitter,” he drawled, leaning closer to her. The teasing glint in his eyes revealed that he was having fun testing her nerves. Nothing out of the ordinary.

She huffed. “Baëkhyun! You are going to help me!”

“No.”

He laughed lowly when he saw her almost explode, face going red with anger. Particles of light formed around her body, brought to life by her annoyance, but they didn’t stay for long and faded when she got another idea. If yelling didn’t get him to help her, then she would take another approach! She knew how to deal with his stubbornness.

Minji walked closer to him and laid her hand on his cheek while her lips formed a pout. “Please, Baëkhyun?”

She glanced at him with big doe eyes, capturing his gaze with hers. He fell silent, prompting her to hide a smirk. She stood on her tiptoes, leaning her body against his and putting her hand on his chest while her other hand caressed his cheek. His eyes flitted to , and just to a little more, she bit her lower lip.

Almost instantly, he locked his arms around her waist, leaning in to kiss her, but she didn’t let him go that far. Minji put her hand on his mouth and grinned at him.

“Only nice demons get kisses,” she said, seeing his eyes narrow, “And you have been naughty.” Giggling, she left his embrace and stuck her tongue out, seeing him stare at her in pure disbelief since he wasn’t used to her acting like this.

“Minji!” he growled.

“What is it, Baëkie?”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Help me!” she persisted.

“No!”

“Yes!” she shot back, stubbornly glaring at him. “I’m not going to kiss you anymore if you don’t help me!”

A low growl left his throat and his eyes turned ruby red, but no matter how annoyed he was, no matter how much he complained, in the end, she won. Watching the high and mighty demon scrub dishes was very entertaining. Minji had to hold herself back a lot to suppress the giggles—Baëkhyun was hilarious and his permanent scowl made it even funnier.

When they were done and the kitchen was clean, he looked livid, cursing under his breath.

“This is preposterous! A powerful demon like me should not do dishes,” he growled, pulling a face.

“I know that, sunshine,” she said sarcastically.

“I’m not a sunshine.”

“That’s true, I should have said honey instead,” she smirked.

“No,” he snapped, his glare smoldering hot.

“Angel.”

“Shut up!” he hissed lowly.

“Cutie pie.”

“I swear, Minji, if you don’t shut up right now…”

“Sweet cheeks?”

He growled dangerously, approaching her like a predator that was about to kill his prey, but she had fun and did not even think about stopping. She had an endless amount of ideas for stupid nicknames.

“Muffin!”

He had it with her shenanigans, grabbed a wet cleaning rag, and threw it right in her face.

“Ewww!” she squeaked and threw it back in the sink, glaring at him. “Hey, I was just joking!”

“This is not my idea of fun, honey,” he said, smirking evilly.

“Now you’re imitating me!”

“What are you going to do about it, cupcake?”

“Baëkhyun, be quiet!”

“No can do, princess.”

“Will you stop?” she stuttered, getting flustered.

“I’m not done taking revenge,” he smirked devilishly, pleased that he got under her skin. “Kitten.”

She blushed, no longer able to look at him. “Stop!”

“You still owe me something, sugar,” he drawled and closed the distance between them, pulling her towards him so abruptly she collided with his chest. When she looked up at him in surprise, he claimed her lips with his, kissing her hungrily.

A few days later, they received a surprise visit from Suhø and Xiůmin. The demons appeared right outside Minji’s flat and when she opened the front door to let them in, Xiůmin pulled her in a hug, smiling his adorable smile while Suhø simply nodded at her and followed her to the living room. He threw Mochi a look when the cat stuck its head out the bedroom door, curiously watching the intruders.

“What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Baëkhyun said, a tinge of sarcasm in his voice when they sat down on the sofas.

“We wanted to check if you guys are still in one piece,” Xiůmin said, getting right to the point.

“What do you mean?” Minji asked, not liking the way the air grew colder around the frost demon. His eyes darkened and he frowned.

“It’s about what we told you last time we met. It has gotten a lot worse this past week… We’ve had some trouble in hell,” Suhø explained seriously. He looked exactly like the last time she saw him, except for the fact that he was wearing a red suit that matched his hair color, leaving the front open.

“What happened?” Baëkhyun asked sharply, his voice dropping.

“We’ve found another group of demons actively seeking out bonded humans. They were aggressive and when we attacked them, they retaliated with determination. We managed to kill all of them, but I’m afraid there might be more around,” Suhø went on to explain.

“You must keep your mark and your magic hidden, Minji,” Xiůmin said worriedly. “I don’t understand why they do this; it’s not like humans are a threat to us. It must be hate that fuels their actions.”

“Thank you for warning us,” Minji replied, mirroring his serious expression.

“At this point, it would be safer for both of you if you broke the bond,” Suhø added gravely. “I assume you still haven’t found a way to do it.”

Minji realized that they had stopped searching for a way to break their bond long ago. It had been a while since Baëkhyun and her had talked about it, and somehow, she had forgotten about it altogether. Besides, she was so used to having him around her that she didn’t mind his presence any longer. What had seemed like an endless nightmare at the beginning was now a rather entertaining situation. She couldn’t imagine living on her own anymore, it would surely be lonely. How would she feel, eating dinner all by herself? Watching tv without hearing his snarky remarks now and then? Who would be there for her if she got herself in trouble again?

She began to realize just how much she depended on him, and it scared her. Hadn’t she vowed to get rid of him as soon as possible when all of this had started? Yet here she was, not doing a thing. She knew that she would miss Baëkhyun if they broke the bond and he would leave… she knew it and it terrified her. How had she gotten so attached to a demon?

“You need to be more careful this time, Baëkhyun,” Suhø said seriously and sent him a heavy glance that Minji couldn’t read. There seemed to be some sort of unspoken conversation going on between them, stifling sorrow hanging in the air. Xiůmin frowned, not meeting her eyes as he stared at the ground.

“I know that. I’m the last person you need to tell,” Baëkhyun repl