Since Baëkhyun and Minji hadn’t found any helpful clues in the area, they made their way back and were about to leave the park when Minji spotted something else. This time, it was a much scarier creature than a ghost. It looked like a spider but with a larger body and glowing red eyes. Its hairy legs were the most disgusting thing Minji had ever seen, and paired with the huge number of eyes on its head, this creature could have come straight from a nightmare. She had always hated spiders, but THIS took the cake. A strange dark mist surrounded it, and when its gaze fixated on her, it let out a low sound that made her shudder in revulsion.

She quickly hid behind Baëkhyun, clutching his shirt in panic. “Eww! Make it go away,” she squeaked, horrified by the unnatural being. This abomination was the epitome of disgusting.

“Oh, come on, it won’t dare come near me. Stop being scared,” Baëkhyun said, turning around to throw her an amused glance. “That’s a low-class demon belonging to the element of darkness. It’s not particularly dangerous… unless you’re human.”

“You’re not helping,” she hissed, glaring at him. “I would have preferred not seeing those creepy things everywhere.”

“Not seeing them doesn’t mean they’re not there,” he retorted, taking her wrist to lead her out of the park, which meant they would walk by the creepy spider demon. She clutched his arm, eliciting a chuckle from him. Her wide eyes were fixated on the spider—it hissed when they passed by.

“So those monsters have been roaming around me all my life without me noticing?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“That’s terrible!!” she forced out, looking over her shoulder only to see that the demon had disappeared. Minji shuddered, shoving the unsettling encounter to the back of her mind. “Would this thing have attacked me if I had been alone?”

“Hard to say. Lower-class demons are unpredictable. They normally keep to themselves. However, when they crave blood, you shouldn’t be anywhere near them,” Baëkhyun said and shrugged, not caring about weaker demons. “High-class demons, on the other hand… are even more unpredictable, and since most of them look like humans, you would only notice the danger you’re in when it’s too late.”

Minji sighed deeply. This was worse than she had imagined. As her eyes darted over her surroundings, she noted certain beings that hadn’t been there before. She spotted a light demon, the kind that was already familiar to her, sitting on a lamppost and peering down at her and Baëkhyun. This one appeared like a bird and glimmered softly, not nearly as frightening as the spider. On the other side of the street, another ghost hovered over the ground, staring into space. She flinched when she raised her head toward the sky, seeing a creepy apparition fly by.

“I’ll have to get used to it,” she whispered, but her voice quaked and betrayed her fear of the unknown. This was reality. It had been like this all her life; she just hadn’t been aware. She had to convince herself somehow that nothing had changed.

“You’re clingier than usual today,” Baëkhyun commented, smirking at her since she still held on to his arm. Minji let go of him as if she had been burned by his touch, her pride not allowing her to act like this any longer. She was a grown woman, not a child.

“Don’t mock me.”

“Just stating facts,” he grinned.

Back at home, Minji got comfortable on the sofa, opening her laptop. Mochi soon joined her, snuggling up to her thigh and purring softly. “Aww, missed me?” she smiled, gently petting it behind its ears. “So cute.”

“I will never understand your infatuation with this lowly creature,” a haughty voice commented.

She rolled her eyes, not budging when he sat beside her on the sofa. “What does it matter to you? I like Mochi because it's cute and cuddly. Besides, it’s not like you ever kicked it out; you also have a soft spot for it, admit it.”

“Maybe I’m only tolerating it because of you,” he grumbled, leaning back on the sofa and stretching his legs.

“Oh? Are you attempting to be nice?” she grinned, raising her eyebrows.

“No.”

Minji sighed, opening her emails in the internet browser to see if Yixing had already sent her the video files. And indeed, he had. Anxiously, she opened the message and downloaded the attached files. She didn’t know how the demon had gotten his hands on the CCTV footage, but she assumed supernatural beings had their ways to achieve things a mere human couldn’t.

Opening the video file, she watched it with bated breath, Baëkhyun moving closer to take a look as well. She skipped ahead until she found the exact moment she hurried back into the parking garage. Seeing herself run for her life, looking around in fear, proved once again how dangerous the situation had been. A person appeared the second she jumped in her car and locked the doors, passing the rows of vehicles. It was a man dressed in dark clothes. He was quite tall and lean, moving with a certain elegance she wouldn’t expect of a criminal. The man strode in the direction of her car, getting too close for comfort, but when she sped off, she left him behind. The way he stared after the car sent chills up her spine. His hands clenched into fists, and she could have sworn his eyes glowed red for a brief moment. He ran towards the exit and disappeared around a corner, vanishing from sight. Minji paused the video and took a deep breath, her heartbeat accelerating in panic.

“That’s it, I’m killing him,” Baëkhyun snarled with a finality that proved he wouldn’t change his mind.

“But you can’t just take his life! We need to involve the police; they have to interfere… this case is too big for us,” she said, tearing her eyes away from the screen to look at his blazing red eyes. He was furious, and he didn’t hide it.

“You don’t understand,” he growled. “This person isn’t human. Whatever creature he is, if you leave this to the police, they will never catch him. He would probably kill them all.”

“W-What?”

“I’m going back tonight. If I kill the bastard, you’re safe, and I won’t die early. Problem solved.”

“How can you make it sound that easy?” she sighed, unhappy about his reliance on violence to solve everything. It was disconcerting to her, an ordinary law-abiding citizen.

“Because it’s that easy,” he drawled, leaning closer to her and fixating her with his heavy gaze. “Don’t you trust me?”

“I… I don’t think that would be a good idea,” she breathed.

“You might be right about that,” he answered huskily, moving in until his lips hovered over her neck. She was overwhelmed, her body tensing in anticipation, but he only breathed a kiss on her pulse, feeling the nervous beats of her heart beneath his lips. His hand moved up to her cheek, and his thumb ghosted over her skin as he looked up at her with hooded eyes.

“What are you doing?” she managed to say. The demon could make her melt in a heartbeat; his touch was addicting and intoxicating like a drug.

The only answer she received was a knowing smirk that made her treacherous heart flutter. Baëkhyun tilted her head back, supporting her and maintaining eye contact. His iris was the color of endless sky-blue, and she froze under the intensity of his gaze, getting an idea of what he would do, but she didn’t mind at all. Baëkhyun’s attention moved lower to her slightly parted lips. He closed the gap between them and kissed her. She clutched his shirt to pull him closer and felt his lips curl in amusement at her impatience. He kissed her with astounding gentleness, making her forget her earlier trepidation. A pleasant warmth flooded her body, chasing the fear away the longer the kiss held on.

She tried to stop herself but got lost in the moment, forgetting everything around her despite knowing his only intention was to play with her. He hated humans, it wasn’t exactly a secret, and she didn’t understand why he would kiss her. The only explanation she could come up with was that he wanted to mess with her. This alone should have been reason enough for her to end the kiss, but she couldn’t. He had a sort of power over her that made it hard to resist him. Perhaps it had something to do with him being a demon…

His tongue brushed over her lower lip as his mouth moved against hers, deepening the kiss. Now he got more demanding and did something unexpected. He put some of his weight on her, and she fell back, lying under him on the sofa. The position felt familiar, and not in a good way. She shuddered, still feeling his lips on hers, but the fire in her body had burned out, leaving emptiness. He encased her wrists with his hands, pinning them to the sofa. His grip wasn’t tight, nor was it painful, but it instilled an old fear within her.

Memories flashed before her eyes. She wasn’t in her apartment anymore. It wasn’t Baëkhyun hovering over her; it was Dongmin. Her body hurt when she remembered what he did to her, when she recalled the relentless punches and the agony she had endured. He was here again, holding her down, caging her and not letting her go. Her eyes started to burn, tears running down her cheeks as she pushed against his grip. She breathed unevenly in panic.

“S-Stop it, Dongmin,” she pleaded, closing her eyes tightly. Her entire body tensed when she remembered he usually didn’t appreciate her fighting back. It only made things worse. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for the inevitable, but his hold slackened and disappeared entirely. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. Her blurry sight cleared, and she found herself staring at a familiar ceiling.

“Minji?” Baëkhyun sat next to her at a considerable distance and studied her cautiously. His earlier smugness was gone, and she came to realize that her mind had tricked her. Dongmin wasn’t here; he hadn’t been near her for years.

“What’s wrong?” Baëkhyun asked. She wiped the tears from her eyes and shakily sat up, pulling her legs close to her body and hugging them with her arms.

“Please don’t do that again,” Minji merely answered, and he frowned, creasing his brow.

“I won’t.” He ran a hand through his white hair, not meeting her eyes anymore. Silence encased them, heavy and suffocating. Minji didn’t know what to say to break it. She could only imagine how peculiar her behavior must have looked to him, and judging by his reaction, he wasn’t sure what to make of it. Biting her lip, she rested her chin on her knees and concentrated on keeping a calm façade, not letting anything of her inner turmoil out. However, she forgot that he could feel her pain—she could not hide it.

“Who is Dongmin?” he asked out of the blue, causing her shoulders to tense.

Again, the room was silent until she had collected herself. “My ex,” she said curtly, and that was the only answer she gave him. The pain in his chest intensified, and he raised his eyebrows in suspicion. Baëkhyun obs