Minji never got to answer Baëkhyun because Eunsook opened the door, interrupting their moment. The elderly woman glanced at her with a smile before her gaze moved to Baëkhyun who she scrutinized from head to toe. His enraged expression stuck out to her immediately, and she decided to be cautious around him, knowing that demons were especially unpredictable when they were irritated.

“Hello you two, please come in,” she said and stepped aside so they could pass her. Baëkhyun shot her a glare, never saying anything to the elderly witch as she showed them to the living room. “I want to introduce you to someone,” she added secretively, making Minji wonder what she was planning. She was in a good mood, so it had to be something great.

Minji was the first to walk into the living room and when her eyes met the gaze of a stranger, she stopped so abruptly that Baëkhyun nearly stumbled over her. He cursed under his breath, but she didn’t react to him, her attention captured by the man sitting on the sofa. His hair was white and messy, and his eyes were as blue as the heavens. When he got up to greet them properly, the large light brown wings sprouting from his back rustled softly. They were beautiful, a sight to behold, and Minji looked at them with wide eyes. Silky feathers glimmered golden when they caught the sunlight that fell in through the window.

“Hello,” he said in a velvety voice, and that was when her jaw dropped. She must have looked ridiculous, but that never crossed her mind because she was too busy gaping at the angel that stood in front of her.

“What is an angel doing here?” Baëkhyun hissed hatefully, grabbing her wrist to pull her behind him as he glared daggers at the unwanted being in the room.

“I’m not here to cause you any harm,” the angel said and held up his hands in an attempt to calm the demon. Minji felt his magic pulse angrily and she bet that the angel felt it as well, judging by his cautious expression.

“Yeah, right, because I would rip your wings out one by one if you tried anything,” Baëkhyun snapped aggressively, shocking Minji with his behavior. She tugged lightly at the back of his shirt and frowned.

“Baëkhyun, calm down please,” she said and hugged his arm as she put a pout on her lips, knowing that this trick always worked with him. “I don’t like it when you are like this.”

He rolled his eyes at her but didn’t shake her off. “I don’t trust him! Why did the witch want us to meet an angel?”

“You are one rude boy,” Eunsook nagged as she passed them to stand next to the angel. Baëkhyun’s eyes narrowed and he already took a deep breath to give her a tongue-lashing, but the witch shut him up. “Get yourself together and don’t make this harder than it has to be! You’re not doing Minji any favors by acting like a jerk.”

A growl rumbled in his throat and his eyes colored deep red when he looked at her. Minji knew that she had to change the topic before he lost his nerves completely since that would not end well. “May I ask who you are?” she said to the white-haired angel who regarded her with an adorable smile.

“My name is Lucas. I hurt one of my wings by accident, and Eunsook helped me out and took care of the injury,” he explained. “She told me about your situation, and I thought I could offer help.”

“You… you mean the bond?” Minji asked breathlessly and subconsciously held Baëkhyun’s arm tighter. Fear settled in her stomach and she was hit by a sense of foreboding—maybe coming here had been a mistake.

“Yes,” he replied. “You might want to sit down for this.”

She froze and exchanged a glance with Baëkhyun, reading caution in his eyes and something else.

They all sat down around the coffee table, Lucas folding his wings so they didn’t take up too much space. Minji found herself glancing at them from time to time since she had never seen anything like them. They looked majestic even when he didn’t spread them.

“You’ve been trying to find a way to get rid of your bond for a long time,” Eunsook began seriously, folding her hands as she gazed at Baëkhyun and Minji. She bit her lip because she knew that this wasn’t entirely true—lately, they hadn’t bothered with it anymore. Now that the topic came up for the second time within only a few days, she felt restless and uneasy but for entirely different reasons than Eunsook thought.

“Lucas told me that angels have the power to sever bonds,” the witch said, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she smiled joyfully, though her bright expression dimmed a little when Minji didn’t react as enthusiastically as she had hoped.

“I see,” she simply said before she cast her gaze to the ground. Cold seeped into her body and her stomach churned uncomfortably. This wasn’t what she had expected from this visit. Anything but this. If only she had known what she would get herself into when Eunsook had called this morning. If only she had told Minji beforehand…

“How does it work?” Baëkhyun asked, suddenly more interested in the angel than he had been before. He kept his face guarded and didn’t give away what he thought of the matter. His voice was emotionless as well, so Minji had no way to tell what was going through his mind. This wasn’t a good sign; he was usually quite straightforward and didn’t hide his opinions, especially not from her. She swallowed, curling her shaky hands into fists.

Lucas tilted his head and grimaced. “I guess you won’t like this, but I can use divine magic to purify the mark and eradicate it from Minji’s body. Consequentially, your bond would be broken.”

Minji saw Baëkhyun stiffen slightly at the mention of divine magic and wondered if it was dangerous to demons. “Does it hurt?” she asked Lucas who was about to answer, but Baëkhyun interrupted him rudely.

“It doesn’t,” he said and sent Lucas a smoldering glare that shut him up. “What kind of compensation do you want for helping us?”

“None,” Lucas grinned adorably.

“Typical angel,” Baëkhyun said, rolling his eyes. “Great, then let’s do it right away.”

Minji’s blood turned to ice. She looked at the demon in shock and didn’t know what to say. Her tongue was tied. Was he so keen on being rid of her that he couldn’t even wait one more day? Or a week? Did it really have to be right away? Stabbing pain invaded her heart and made it ache. It broke in her chest, shattering to pieces. Tears formed in her eyes. Drawing in a shaky breath, she gazed at the demon and felt crushing disappointment seeing his vacant expression—all this didn’t phase him at all, but why? She didn’t understand.

His eyes were red but his face was blank, mouth set in a straight line as he waited impatiently for Lucas’ answer. He didn’t look at her at all like she wasn’t even in the room. Minji knew that he was well aware of the emotional pain this caused her but even so, he didn’t react to it. She felt betrayed, didn’t understand why he was behaving this way now when they had been joking around with each other only fifteen minutes prior. He hadn’t acted this coldly around her in a very long time.

Lucas hesitated and regarded both Baëkhyun and Minji for a while without saying anything. His light blue eyes took in the young woman’s distraught frown and the sadness in her eyes, as well as her slumped posture. Other than the demon, she wasn’t ready for this step, so Lucas decided to reason with him.

“Are you sure that you want to do this? What happened to you was an accident, and I understand that you want to reverse it, but you should think about this carefully. Breaking a bond isn’t something to be taken lightly,” the angel said gravely. “You will always feel like something is missing for the rest of your lives.”

A heavy and tense silence fell over the room. Hearing this, Minji wanted to break it even less than before, but she was the only one who thought so.

“Doesn’t matter. I want you to do it,” Baëkhyun said decidedly.

Lucas sighed quietly, not liking the demon’s rash way of thinking and acting, especially not seeing Minji’s sad frown.