Taemin- Impressionable

The next morning, Fei was a whole new person. She was radiating and even the souls were taken aback by the level of sparkle and life she was emitting. It was like a slap to the people that just died and had to be judged and placed in their rightful place.

Hikaru came back to life as well. The skinny boy whose limbs seemed ready to fall off, whose face was so sharp that his cheek bones were showing and chin could actually cut someone was now a tall, muscular trendy boy. His eyes glinted in the light and he smiled and acted according to the personality of each customer in order to make them come again.

The library was busy from the opening hour and Minjae was shocked how many customers were reading inside. Of course, anyone with half a brain could see that some of them were just there to ogle at Hikaru, who didn’t mind it one bit.

“Nice to see you back to normal.” The raven said as he approached his worker. “The girls are happy too…” He joked making Hikaru chuckle. “Don’t kill them please. They weren’t there, holding your hand when you believed you were falling into the sea.”

Hikaru rolled his eyes and walked out of the staff space. He took Minjae by surprise when he wrapped an arm around his neck and hugged him.

“You know I like you the best, my adorable hoobae.” Hikaru said loud enough for the whole library to hear.

“What about me?” Fei asked coming from the back room. She had to complete extra paperwork for what happened with the rogue reaper and she did get a letter from Hades on how she should behave.

Hikaru sighed and shook his head, still having a tight grip on Minjae.

“This is bromance, Fei. You aren’t a bro to be part of it.” He answered with a wink.

Hikaru, or better known as Icarus, has not changed much since he fell in the sea. He was from Crete, the same birthplace as Fei but their fates were rather different. Fei was still alive while Icarus used to work as a messenger between the living world and Hades. The lord of the Underworld was the same one who sent Icarus to her, allowing him to use whatever shell he wanted. Existing habit are hard to change so blinded by hubris he chose a handsome shell.

“I never expected you to be so cheesy when I first met you, Hikaru-kun~” Fei tried to act cute and even raised her pitch but Minjae and Hikaru shook their heads as they took their respectful working places.

“That was…don’t do that again. It crept me out.” Minjae admitted shuddering at the memory.

“I think I vomited inside my mouth a bit.” Hikaru added making gagging noises.

Fei rolled her eyes and went to make coffee. The machine was right in front of the front door so she shuddered a bit at the cold air coming in every time someone came in or walked out. Because it was a busy day, she didn’t notice when her special guest arrived.

“Hello,” he said right next to her, making her jolt in surprise. His eyes widened when he saw extra hot coffee spill on her hand. “Oh!”

Fei didn’t even bother flinching at the burning sensation because she was sure with a bit of time next to a plant, everything was going to heal. But Dohyun grabbed one of his tissues and wiped the coffee off before blowing on it.

From the side, Minjae and Hikaru were watching with brotherly vibes.

“That man looks like-“

“I know.”

“When did they get so close?” Hikaru asked when he noticed Dohyun blowing on her hand.

“I know.”

“We should have a chat with him. Us two, no nymph around.” The Japanese man added seeing the hearts in Fei’s eyes.

That did not prove to be as easy as they hoped. Fei was giving Dohyun a speed introduction to Greek mythology and he was absorbing every word coming out of . Hikaru leaned against the wall near the counter from where he could see everything. Fei was on a sofa while Dohyun was typing relentlessly on his computer, his ears perked like a cat.

“He really looks like a fox. A sly, messy, quick fox.” He commented to himself.

Dohyun looked at Fei and put his laptop aside before he leaned towards her like a preppy kid. Fei laughed and brought joy to the whole library. The atmosphere around a happy nymph had powerful effects over humans, especially the girls. Many of his own fans seemed to be drawn to the fresh flowery smell inside the library, which they said helps them with their stress and anxiety.

“And why does she have that stupid looking patch on her cheek?” Hikaru wondered not remembering her to like anything connected to children.

“We need to make her leave so we can have a men talk with that Lee Dohyun,” Minjae crept behind Hikaru and whispered in his ear. The Japanese man felt the raven come so he wasn’t surprised by the sudden body heat so close to him. “I already called the warehouse and told hyung to her in.”

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, doubting Minjae’s plan.

“If he her in, we don’t know where she will land. It’s a labyrinth down there and hyung is the only person who knows how to go around without getting lost.” Hikaru said thinking about the worst case scenario.

“Good. That gives us several days.”

“Minjae, she has to log in every night or else Hades pays us a visit. If she’s not back by 10 pm, we are in serious trouble.”

Minjae rolled his eyes and huffed, having to rethink his plan because of the circumstances.

“I’m surprised, you wrote everything down. I thought you just wanted me to tell you the story of how the Gods were created and little stuff about each of them.” Fei started while taking a break. She talked for several hours and Dohyun had many, many questions that she was obliged to answer with honesty.

“I like the little inputs you had on them. It’s funny how most stories are just that but when you talk about it, it sounds like history.”

“It is history, it’s just so ancient that it’s boring if it’s not told as a story. Besides, mythologies are more real than people believe. Just because it seems so far, you’d be surprised how many creatures from books still live in the 21^st century.” She defended her time, it was much more than history for her, it was home.

“What are you thinking of?” He asked seeing how peaceful she looked.

“Home. It’s been so long since I last went to Crete. I bet it looks different now. When I was young there were so many forests and so many lakes that me and my sisters played in. There was no pollution and the smell of fresh rain was-” she stopped, sensing that he was staring at her with too much intensity. “Anyway, let’s take a break. I need a break.” She said and quickly went upstairs.

Left all by himself, Dohyun got up and stretched a bit. He checked the time and realized his lesson was two hours long. Walking a bit through the sofas, he noticed how happy all the customer looked and he smiled, feeling very positive. He checked his messages and noticed that his hyung, who was actually his editor, didn’t send him anything.

“I guess he trusts me now.” He muttered to himself.

And then his eyes fell on the arrow once more. He leaned in with his hands behind like an old man and truly looked at the artefact. It was old, that much was obvious, but why was it so important that Fei and her associate placed it in the middle of the library? Besides, was that really leftover blood? There was a story around this arrow for sure and he knew it could help him at work.

While busy with his own business, Dohyun never in his wildest dreams thought a dark abyss will open up in the corridor behind him and will him inside. He didn’t even have time to process what happened, it was like he was vacuumed into nothingness. And then he fully registered what happened and screamed but he fell unconscious when he fell on concrete.

When Fei came out, she looked everywhere for Dohyun since he wasn’t where she left him. His laptop, phone and bag were still there so he definitely didn’t leave.

“Have you guys seen Lee Dohyun? He was here just a few minutes ago.” She asked approaching the counter where both men were.

Hikaru and Minjae glanced at each other, both feeling like hitting themselves for being too naïve.

“Great,” they said in synch.