Many months had gone by since Krïs had died, and Baëkhyun’s and Minji’s lives had finally become normal. They had moved into a new home at the edge of the city, and she had had a lot of fun furnishing and decorating everything according to her tastes. Baëkhyun let her do as she pleased, not minding her happiness about it at all.

Their pet Mochi had, after some initial trouble, found its way to their new home and moved in with the couple. While Baëkhyun wasn’t too delighted about this, he decided to tolerate the small cat for her sake since the furball somehow made her happy. Not that he would understand, but… oh well, he was ready to make some sacrifices for her.

When the first anniversary of their relationship rolled around, they wanted to celebrate it and go on a vacation together. Picking a destination hadn’t been the easiest feat since the couple couldn’t decide where they wanted to go. It had taken a lot of help from their friends for them to make up their minds and chose a destination. Tao was the one who came up with the idea, and Minji had loved it so much that she had easily persuaded Baëkhyun to agree.

They ended up flying to the Canary Islands together, a Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. Kāi had offered to teleport them there (which would have been much faster and cheaper than taking a plane), but Baëkhyun had insisted that he wanted to try flying in one of those “weird human inventions” as he liked to call them. However, he had ended up regretting it since the flight was long and took them around half of the globe. Minji was the unlucky one who had to put up with his shenanigans when he got bored. That included making sure he stopped playing around with the lights inside the plane—some people freaked out when the lamps suddenly “malfunctioned” all at the same time, and Baëkhyun found that very entertaining.

By the time they finally landed and reached their hotel room, Minji was exhausted and ready to fall asleep, much to the demon’s annoyance.

“Why do you want to sleep again?” he whined. “I’m here to have fun, not to watch you sleep all night!”

“You know that humans need rest,” she said and rolled her eyes when he pouted at her. “We’ll have fun tomorrow. And every day that follows, okay?”

“Fine,” he sighed dramatically. Despite his initial sulkiness, he was quick to give in when she offered him a spot next to her on the bed. It was as cozy as it looked, so Minji sighed in contentment when she let herself sink into the pillows. Baëkhyun lay down next to her and curled his arm around her to embrace her. He nuzzled his face into her hair, breathing a kiss on her head.

“Sleep well, love,” he whispered. The husky tone of his voice almost made her want to stay awake to have some fun, as he had worded it, but she was too exhausted to even move, so she closed her eyes.

“Goodnight, Baëk,” she whispered. He hummed and drew gentle circles on her back to help her fall asleep quicker. Her breaths soon evened and she drifted off to sleep, leaving him alone with his thoughts. While it could be a little boring to wait for her to wake up in the mornings, he did enjoy the deep peacefulness and the calm that she radiated throughout it. The feeling was pure bliss to him.

And most importantly, in these moments, he had her all to himself and didn’t have to share her with anyone. Not even that stupid arrogant cat.

A barely noticeable smile settled on his lips as he watched her in the darkness. Silver moonlight fell through the windows and bathed her body in an ethereal glow. Her long black hair was spread around her head like a halo and looked dark blue in this light. He brushed its silky strands with his fingers, careful not to disturb her in her sleep. She must have been very tired from the long flight—he rarely saw her fall asleep so easily. Maybe she was having a little bit of jetlag too… He thankfully would be spared of that hassle.

Many hours later, when the moon had disappeared, the warm rays of the sun roused her from her sleep in a gentle manner. Minji found herself surrounded in pleasant warmth. It felt nothing short of delightful. The familiar scent of cinnamon that accompanied it made her smile. She blinked, opened her eyes and let them adjust to the brightness of the sunlight.

“Good morning,” Baëkhyun said, wearing a wide smirk on his lips. The cheeky glimmer in his eyes drew her attention, so she sounded curious when she replied to him.

“Morning,” she said. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, something very interesting,” he said slyly.

“Care to elaborate?” she asked. His arrogance was extremely noticeable this morning. It seemed like his ego had somehow grown bigger overnight and she had no idea why that had happened.

“You talk in your sleep sometimes,” he smirked, causing her to pale and then to blush. Mortified, her eyes widened.

“W-What did I say?!”  

“Oh… you repeated my name a few times,” he drawled arrogantly and raised his eyebrow. “Want to tell me what that dream was about?”

“I don’t remember,” she answered and flushed. “Did I say anything else?”

“Well, you declared your undying love to me,” he smirked. “And you also mentioned that I’m very handsome. Apparently, you like it when my eyes are red and you find my face chain attractive.”

He looked very pleased with himself, radiating haughtiness in such an exuberant way that she had to fight the urge to scoff at his attitude.

“Not like you didn’t already know that,” she said and pouted at him.

“It’s better to hear it from your pretty mouth, love,” he grinned, placing a teasing kiss on the corner of her lips. They were laying very close to each other, their legs tangled as their bodies touched under the cover. No wonder had she felt so comfortable when she had woken up—right now, it was so cozy in bed that she didn’t want to get up anytime soon. So she cuddled up to him, prompting him to chuckle.

“Clingy,” he teased, caressing the back of her head and planting butterfly kisses on her neck. She sighed, loving the feeling of his soft lips as they gently traced her neck.

“Please don’t stop,” she whispered, practically melting.

“You like it?” he asked amusedly with a glance in her blissful face.

“Yes,” she smiled. “I love it.”

“Good answer,” he replied before he continued where he left off.

The first day on the island, they spent exploring the area around the hotel. It was located near the beach, their room offering a magnificent view of the ocean and the shore. Not far from it was a town called Santa Cruz—Minji already made plans to visit it within the next few days. She wanted to go shopping, maybe buy some souvenirs for their friends. At first, she had suggested for them to come along, but Baëkhyun had been adamant about wanting to be alone with her. And as it usually happened, he ended up winning, convincing her with his irresistible kisses.

On the second day of their vacation, they decided to stay at the beach, later returning to go sunbathing near the pool area of the hotel. Minji was still struggling a little with jet lag, so she used the opportunity to take a nap.

When night fell, they had dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, sitting on the balcony that overlooked the moonlit ocean. The rushing of the waves mixed with quiet music and the voices of people as they conversed with each other. The atmosphere was romantic, almost intimate, and Minji enjoyed it to the fullest. So far, she loved their vacation since it was all she had wanted it to be. Spending time with him from morning till late at night was happiness in its purest form.

She could tell that he enjoyed it too since he had been much more relaxed than before. Not even the countless humans nearby bothered him. He was fully fixated on her, watching her over the flickering light of a candle. His eyes gleamed blue, though a hint of red was visible as well.

When the waiter brought the salads they had ordered, Minji got to witness a rather entertaining scene. The demon shoved the food into his mouth and chewed—but then he gagged, coughing and forcing himself to swallow. Thinking he had choked on his food, she worriedly glanced at him only to be met with his smoldering glare right after.

“Minji!” he exploded. “What is this crap?”

“H-Huh?”

“Don’t tell me you humans eat this green poison for dinner! What’s wrong with you?” he said offendedly.

Before he could cause a scene, she tried to calm him down and find out what the issue was. “You don’t like the salad?” she asked.

“The salad is fine, but this is a problem,” he grumbled and picked up a piece of cucumber with his fork.

She snorted, hiding her wide smirk behind her hand. It was hard to hold back a chortle when she realized that he made such a fuss over a little bit of cucumber. “It’s a regular vegetable,” she grinned, a little surprised he had never tried it. “Very healthy.”

“Hell no, this is poison!”

She snorted, hiding her smirk before he saw it and fighting to keep her composure. He got all worked up over the cucumber in his salad and began a long rant over how humans couldn’t make proper food.

So much for their romantic candlelight dinner—the demon was always good for a surprise, not meeting her expectations at all. But that wasn’t a bad thing since she absolutely loved the way he made everything ten times as entertaining and exciting as it would have been without him.

The cucumber incident wouldn’t be the only peculiar situation they came across during their vacation. The next day, something even weirder happened—they encountered an amateur exorcist when they visited Santa Cruz.  

“A-A demon!” the man cried, making a big show out of fetching a bottle from his backpack. He opened it and threw a load of holy water straight at Baëkhyun.

“Run for your life!” the exorcist yelled at Minji, but she just gawked at him. She was flabbergasted and didn’t understand yet what was going on with this guy. He was human and she could tell that he didn’t pose a threat to them.

“What are you waiting for?” he shouted, staring at her in disbelief at her supposed imprudence. “Get away from him before he will drag you to hell!”

“Huh?” she said, completely confused. “What? I… uhh… I already visited hell a few times and it’s not that bad.”

The man’s eyes nearly fell from their sockets. His jaw dropped. His expression looked ridiculous to Baëkhyun who was torn between being angry and amused at his stupidity—as if an amateur like him could do anything to a century-old high-class demon. When his warnings didn’t push Minji to move away from Baëkhyun, the exorcist decided to change his approach. He sprayed holy water at her too, but Baëkhyun wasn’t having it. He stepped in front of her and stared him down.

“Mind your own business, human,” he grumbled. “This idiocy is getting annoying.”

“W-Why isn’t it working?” the man stuttered, slowly inching backward.

“I’m not some low-life demon scum,” Baëkhyun growled. “Of course holy water doesn’t work.”

“What is even going on, Baëkhyun?” she asked and peeked over his shoulder, confusion visible in her expression.

“This idiot is an exorcist, apparently. The lousiest I have ever come across,” Baëkhyun snickered.

“Ohhh, I see. You shouldn’t bother demons,” she said directed at the man. “If you had encountered someone else, they might not have let you off the hook so easily.”

“W-Who are you?” he asked, wide-eyed. His face was white as a sheet.

“Me?” she asked. “Uh, I’m just—"

“She’s my wife and you better not bother her anymore,” Baëkhyun cut in, prompting her to blush. That was finally enough to make the exorcist leave. He his heels and hurried around the next street corner, disappearing. Minji looked after him, shaking her head.

“What a weirdo,” she mumbled.

Baëkhyun glanced at her, noticing that she looked flustered. He grinned and took her hand to pull her along. They continued to walk down the street as if nothing had happened.

“Why are you blushing, sugar?” he drawled.

“I’m not blushing.”

“Yes, you are,” he smirked. “Is it because I called you my wife?”

She didn’t answer and his smirk only widene