The red flames of hell were burning brightly, reaching up to the eternal night sky. Hell was a bleak and dark place, and Baëkhyun couldn’t wait to show her the dazzling blue sky that was only visible on earth. He took her hand and grinned at her, seeing her curious eyes widen.

“Will you really take me there?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes,” he replied. “Just like you wished, Minā.”

She smiled and nodded, thankfulness swimming in her eyes. He squeezed her hand affectionately and tugged her after him when he created a portal that led to earth.

Minā was a young demon, not older than 200 years, and she was unable to open portals on her own. Since she had never left hell before, the human world was a foreign place to her that had sparked her interest ever since she had first learned of it. She had heard many stories about it from older demons, but none of them ever wanted to take her there. However, after she had pointed her wish out to Baëkhyun, he hadn’t hesitated to agree. She’d seen the amusement on his face when she had told him about it, but unlike the other demons, he hadn’t mocked her about her interest in humans.

She was grateful to have him, to be his girlfriend. He was always considerate when it came to her strange interests, and she appreciated that. Unable to contain her joy, she giggled and followed him through the portal, filled with nothing but anticipation.

As she reached the other side, she found herself in such a bright place that she had to shield her eyes for a moment due to the foreign brilliance. The two demons stood on a sandy plane in front of endless blue water that met the horizon in the far distance. It sparkled in the light, glimmered in all hues of blue. Minā had never seen anything like it and immediately fell in love with the sight. Her eyes widened in awe as she took everything in, never noticing Baëkhyun’s amused gaze following her every move.

She looked up at the sky that was not dark anymore but blue. There was a huge source of light up there, and she figured that this had to be the sun. She’d read about it before in the books she’d asked Baëkhyun to bring her from his trips to earth, but the pictures and descriptions could never compare to reality.

The sun was beautiful. So bright, so warm. She wanted to bask in its light all day long and never leave.

“Where are we?” she asked Baëkhyun curiously.

“This place is called Jeju,” he explained. “It’s an island surrounded by the sea and I thought you might like it.”

“I do like it,” she gushed. “Hell is so dull compared to this. No wonder many demons come here often. Thank you for showing me!”

He smiled softly and hugged her, pecking her lips. “It’s great to see you so happy, honey.”

“Can I meet humans now? I want to see them,” she asked eagerly, almost jumping up and down in excitement.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, rolling his eyes. “They’re not all that special. You’ll be disappointed in the end.”

“Oh, don’t be a buzzkill, Baëk. I want to see them with my own eyes,” she grinned.

“You won’t stop begging, huh? Fine, let’s go. There’s a small town nearby where we should find some of these creatures.”

“Don’t be so mean, they’re not just creatures. I’m sure they are nice,” she said while he took her hand, linking his fingers with hers. Since she was a frost demon, her skin was always slightly colder than his, but that never bothered him. She was perfect in his eyes, from her silver-blonde hair to her Arctic blue eyes and lush lips. Ironically, she appeared more like an angel than a demon, and in hell, she was often mocked because of it by the other demons. Baëkhyun made sure to always give them a piece of his mind when he saw them. Sometimes he used the opportunity to fight them, but usually, they took off just seeing him.

“Minā, don’t be so impatient,” he laughed when she kept pulling at his arm, her steps going faster and faster when they reached the street and saw the first buildings appear in front of them. “We can come here again, no need to hurry.”

“I want to see everything now, though! Who knows when I’ll get the chance to return,” she replied and glanced around in wonder. The houses looked strange and foreign to her since the ones in hell were different, built to withstand the heat and extreme conditions of the place.

She stared at a weird thing that rolled by them and made very strange noises. It had four wheels and seemingly moved on its own.

“What’s that?” she asked and pointed at it.

“It’s a car,” Baëkhyun laughed. “Humans use it to move around. I doubt you’d want to hear the technical details though. Knowing you, they’d only bore you.”

“You’re right I guess. Humans are smarter than I thought, I wonder what else they invented,” she grinned, and they walked on while she observed the humans who passed them. Her shameless staring was noticed by many who scoffed at her only to be met with Baëkhyun’s smoldering hot glare that sent them far away from the demon couple. He wanted to make sure she had fun today, and none of those stupid humans should ruin it for her.

“Can we go over there?” she asked and pointed to another street with lots of shops and colorful advertisements decorating their windows. They piqued her interest; she wanted to see them up close.

“Sure,” he replied and let himself be pulled along as they crossed the street and walked down the sidewalk so she could peer into the shop windows.

“Ohh, look! Do you see that?” she sputtered when her eyes fell on a flower shop selling many colorful bouquets. “So beautiful! Those are flowers, right?”

“Indeed,” he grinned. “I figured you would like them. If you pick one of those bouquets, I’m going to buy it for you.”

“R-Really?” she asked and gaped at him as if he just revealed to her that cars could fly. She didn’t need to be told twice and walked over to the flowers, letting her eyes drift over them undecidedly. There were red ones that looked rather elegant with layered petals… but there were also pink, yellow, white, and orange ones. Minā didn’t know where to look first, standing around undecidedly for a while. Baëkhyun studied her silently and did not rush her—they had all the time in the world. Eventually, she picked a white bouquet, and Baëkhyun entered the shop with her to buy it. They were greeted by an elderly woman who smiled at them.

“Hello you two, what can I do for you?” she asked politely and Baëkhyun handed her the bouquet.

“I want to buy this one,” he said curtly and tapped his foot impatiently when the woman let her eyes move from him to his girlfriend.

She hesitated for a moment, before she said, “I see. That’s an unusual choice for a couple.”

She proceeded to wrap the lower half of the bouquet in paper so it would be protected and look prettier, not noticing Baëkhyun and Minā exchanging a questioning glance.

“Excuse me, but what do you mean by that?” she asked and tilted her head.

The woman looked up from what she was doing and observed the blonde demon over the rim of her glasses. “Don’t you know what kind of flowers those are?” she asked and saw her shake her head. “Those are called chrysanthemums. They are commonly used to decorate graves since they symbolize death. I thought you were familiar with them. If you want to choose a different bouquet, please go ahead.”

Minā frowned and gnawed at her lower lip, thinking about it for a moment. Those flowers were her favorites, and she didn’t want another bouquet. “No, I want this one,” she smiled. The woman seemed surprised, but nodded and continued to wrap the flowers, handing the bouquet to her after Baëkhyun paid for it.

“Have a nice day,” the elderly woman called after them, seeing Minā wave at her before they left the shop.

The young demon beamed and stuck her nose into the flowers, noting that they smelled sweet. She sniffed them like a dog and ended up sneezing. Baëkhyun rolled his eyes at her and snorted.

“What are you doing, idiot? You’ll ruin them.”

“Sorry. It’s just that they smell really good. Want to try?” she asked and held it in his face, but he quickly dodged her and grimaced.

“No thank you. Those are not the kind of flowers I like.”

“Huh, do you have a favorite type of flower?” Minā wanted to know, not having expected that. He seemed a little reluctant to admit it, but he nodded, deciding there was no harm in telling her. She was the last person who’d mock him for it.

“Sword lilies,” he replied.

“Did they have those at the shop?”

“No,” he said and saw her face fall.

“Oh, I would have liked to see them. But maybe some other time,” she said, staying optimistic about it.

“Yes, maybe some other time,” he said absentmindedly as he watched the people who passed them. The street was crowded since it was early evening and he spotted several humans heading home from work.  

They strolled down the street for another while, and Minā took everything in with wide eyes. She couldn’t get enough of this foreign place, wanted to spend days here, maybe even years. In her opinion, Baëkhyun couldn’t have picked a better place to visit. If all towns on earth were this beautiful and b with life, then she wanted to come here more often! She was sure he would agree to it as well.

There was one more thing she wanted to do today and seeing that the sun was starting to set already, she’d have to hurry up a little. “Can we try the food they sell here?” she asked him. “I want to eat ice cream; it’s supposed to be very sweet.”

“I’ll get you some ice cream. There’s a parlor just down the street,” he said, but seeing that she had gotten distracted by another shop window, he smirked to himself. “If you want to look around more, you can wait here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Okay, thank you so much,” she smiled and he playfully ruffled her blonde hair before he left. She watched him disappear in the crowd, already looking forward to tasting ice cream for the first time in her life.

Today had been very eventful and she knew that she would hold those memories in her heart forever. Looking down at the flowers in her hand had her smile brighten. Chrysanthemums… they were truly beau