Sanghyuk and Ahyoung went back to the classroom for the next class, they didn’t actually talked to each other, she imagined the boy was still angry; as for her, she didn’t know what to say to him, she had a lot of questions and her trust in him was now damaged.

When they turned to the hall where their classroom was, she noticed Hongbin was entering the classroom, she was relieved to see he was back. Sanghyuk and she went inside, they sat at their seats and tried to focus on the lessons, though none of them was able to do it.

The bell that announced the end of the day could be heard. Ahyoung sighed heavily and turned to see Sanghyuk, the boy wasn’t looking at her and was just putting his belongings inside his backpack. Ahyoung was about to ask something when someone stood in front of her desk, she looked to the front to see Hongbin looking at her.

“Hongbin.” She called him a bit surprised.

“Can we talk?” The boy asked her, looking down.

Ahyoung lightly sighed, she could see that Hongbin was feeling down, most likely because of what previously happened.

“Yeah, let’s go.” She answered standing up from her seat.

“Ahyoung.” Sanghyuk simply called her.

Ahyoung turned to the boy but he wasn’t looking at her, she snorted and looked away again.

“You can go back home alone, you don’t have to wait for me if you don’t want to.” She said with annoyance.

Hongbin frowned and looked at the two, he was confused by the change in their dynamic but didn’t make questions.

“You know I can’t do that.” Sanghyuk answered finally looking at her.

But Ahyoung kept her gaze to the front, not looking at the boy.

“Then you’ll have to wait, don’t worry I’ll try not to delay much.”

Sanghyuk didn’t answer to that, Ahyoung imagined it was because he was left with no other option. The girl then quickly put her belongings into her backpack and hung it on her shoulder, then looked at Hongbin.

“Let’s go.” She said with a little smile.

Hongbin just nodded at her and they went out of the classroom.

Sanghyuk sighed heavily and leaned on his seat after Ahyoung and Hongbin were gone, he closed his eyes for a moment.

Damn it, this is all wrong. He thought with frustration.

>> “What are you keeping from me Sanghyuk?”

Sanghyuk chuckled upon remembering that question Ahyoung made to him. He should’ve known better that the girl would start to lose trust in him, after all, she wasn’t as naïve as to not believe something was going on with him that he was refusing to tell her.

It wasn’t that he was a bad person, or at least he thought he wasn’t, but for sure he also wasn’t that good.

>> “Does she know who you really are?”

Ren’s words came back to his mind and he frowned, snorting with angriness. He didn’t want to tell her, he didn’t want her to know what kind of person he truly was.

>> “She doesn’t even know why you were labeled as the strongest among all of us, right?”

He rubbed his forehead, he didn’t want to see on her the same expression that everybody showed him when she knew his story. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her or thought she was weak but he couldn’t help but to be afraid of her reaction, what if she didn’t want him by her side anymore? What if he went back to being alone? With only Ren by his side.

He never thought that agreeing to be Ahyoung’s bodyguard would lead him to a new life, that would open a path to a new world he didn’t know he was allowed to be in. He started to talk to more people, people that didn’t look at him as if he was a monster.

Why did Ahyoung have to know about his true nature?

>> “She has the right to know what kind of monster the person she trusts the most can be.”

Sanghyuk finally opened his eyes after sighing deeply again, there was truth in Ren’ words, he couldn’t keep hiding things from Ahyoung, if things went on like that, she’d end up hating him and she’d most probably would start to make nightmares in her head.

She already lost trust in him, that was obvious and it scared him, he knew the solution to that was telling her everything from start to end.

But it was hard. Facing what he truly was once again, was hard, and thinking about the chance of Ahyoung looking at him as if he was a monster and not wanting him by her side anymore, leading him to go back to loneliness and darkness, scared him.

He was in between all those thoughts when a known voice made him snap out of them.

“Let me guess, things already got out of hand, right?”

Sanghyuk lifted his gaze with a frown, Ren was in front of him with crossed arms and a serious expression.

“What are you doing here? You came to mock me?” Sanghyuk asked annoyed and looking away.

Ren sighed heavily and sat beside his friend, on Ahyoung’s seat, then put his backpack on the floor and leaned on the chair. The classroom was already empty and just the two of them were left there.

“Why would I even do that? It’s clear that you have enough with your own thoughts.” The boy answered.

Sanghyuk sighed and didn’t answer. Ren turned to look at him and softened his expression, he knew his friend was having a bad time, he could understand him more than anyone, they’ve been friends since they were kids, Ren have seen his brightest and darkest times. He knew that expression on his face, he was slowly drifting back to the darkness he managed to come out from with so much effort. It worried him.

“You really think I should tell her?” Sanghyuk suddenly asked. Ren remained silent and Sanghyuk turned to see him, he had a worried expression. “You know, to Ahyoung, about me.”

Ren sighed heavily before answering.

“You already know my answer to that question.”

Sanghyuk chuckled and looked down again.

“Yeah, ‘she has the right to know what kind of monster I can be’.” Sanghyuk said almost repeating what Ren previously told him.

“You really think she won’t accept you? That she won’t want you by her side anymore?” Ren asked him with genuine curiosity.

Sanghyuk thought about it for some seconds in which he remained silent.

>> “If you do something I don’t like then we can talk about that and come up with a solution and if you turn out to be different than what I thought, then I just have to accept who you are.”

He recalled those words that Ahyoung told him before, the words that gave him hope that even if she someday knew the truth she’d probably accept him and not toss him away.

“By what I know from her and some things she had told me, I think that’s not the case, but still…” Sanghyuk was still unsure.

Ren looked to the front and tilted his head before answering.

“Somehow I also think she won’t do that to you, I would be too disappointed if she did, after all, she’s the next leader. What kind of leader will she be if she can’t deal with something like this?”

Sanghyuk chuckled and also looked to the front.

“That’s true, she wouldn’t be the Ahyoung I know if she did that.”

Ren smiled with satisfaction when he noticed his friend cheered up a bit, he so didn’t want to see back the Sanghyuk from a year ago, he didn’t want to face again that hollow and fierce expression. He was definitely considering destroying Ahyoung if she dared to toss away his friend, even more after all Sanghyuk has done for her. Even when he knew that’d definitely anger his friend.

“You’re right, I need to clear up this mess.” Sanghyuk suddenly said, looking back at Ren who also looked at him. “I’ll tell her everything about me today.”

Ren smirked and snorted happily.

“That’s more like it.” He said standing from the chair and taking his backpack from the floor. “Now let’s go look for your princess.”

Sanghyuk snorted and stood from his seat, also grabbing his backpack, but then looked at Ren and gave him a little punch on the arm, Ren chuckled and rubbed the place in which Sanghyuk hit him.

“Stop calling her ‘princess’, she’ll get mad at you someday.” Sanghyuk said walking towards the door.

“Oh come on, I’m sure she loves it.” Ren answered in between laughs.

Hongbin and Ahyoung went to a quiet and calm place under a tree and sat there. They remained silent for some minutes until Hongbin spoke again.

“Are you okay? There are some rumors here and there about something happening between Tiffany and you.”

Ahyoung sighed heavily and looked down in a tired way. Hongbin waited for her answer in silence.

“Well, I had kind of an argument with her.” The girl answered looking back at him.

Hongbin changed his expression to a concerned one and was about to say something when Ahyoung put a hand in front of his face.

“Please don’t scold me, I had enough already with Sanghyuk and Sojin.” She quickly pleaded.

The boy sighed and took her hand to put it down, he now understood why she was behaving like that towards Sanghyuk, she was probably still mad at him for scolding her. Ahyoung was a bit surprised that the demon took her hand, so she immediately retreated it and averted her gaze. Hongbin smiled lightly upon that action from the girl and spoke again to calm her down.

“I won’t scold you.” Hongbin assured her and Ahyoung looked at him again. “I just want to know what happened, that way I can also protect you.”

Ahyoung frowned a bit and tilted her head.

“But I don’t need you protection Hongbin, I can take care of myself and there’s also Sanghyuk.”

“Well, I know Tiffany better than you so I can be of some help in case something happens, don’t you think so?” Hongbin said with a smile.

Ahyoung narrowed her eyes, she wasn’t stupid, she kind of knew what Hongbin was doing. She liked him as a friend, but nothing more than that, though by what she has been seeing, he was probably seeking for something more.

“Maybe you’re right, but even so, you don’t have to do it.” Ahyoung answered with a calm voice.

“I want to.” Hongbin firmly answered.

Ahyoung couldn’t keep refusing his help and just smiled lightly at him. After that, she told him what happened with Tiffany, though she only told him general things, not the details.

“Everything is Jonghyun’s fault.” Hongbin angrily said and Ahyoung frowned a bit while looking at him. “If he didn’t insist on talking to you and having your attention, none of this would’ve happened.”

“I don’t think it’s his fault though.” Ahyoung answered looking up to the sky, being the reason why she missed the look of disbelief on Hongbin’s face. “Tiffany is the one at fault here, the fact that Jonghyun wants to talk with me shouldn’t lead to something like this.”

“You’re defending him?” Hongbin asked with disbelief.

Ahyoung looked back at him and sighed.

“Well, about this matter, yes. It’s true he was at fault before in the way he tried to do things, but from that to be guilty of what Tiffany did, there’s a lot of distance.” The girl calmly explained.

Hongbin was about to say something else but then both heard some steps coming from behind them, they turned around. Hongbin snorted with angriness and Ahyoung frowned in confusion. Jonghyun walked to them and when he was in front of the two, he spoke.

“Ahyoung, can I talk with you?” He politely asked.

Ahyoung was taken aback by that, it had nothing to do with the Jonghyun from that morning. Also, looking at his eyes she noticed he seemed worried about something, she saw that he genuinely wanted to talk to her.

“I am talking with her, you’re interrupting us.” Hongbin suddenly spoke up.

Ahyoung sighed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. She expected the two to start arguing again, but for her surprise, Jonghyun remained silent, she opened her eyes again and directed her gaze to him, Jonghyun was also looking at her, as if waiting for her answer and not caring about what Hongbin just said.

Ahyoung innerly smirked.

It seems that at least one of them actually listened to my words. She thought with irony, since she didn’t expect Jonghyun to actually think about what she said to him and consider it; meanwhile Hongbin seemed to have forgot about them.

Ahyoung then turned her gaze to Hongbin.

“I thought I told you I didn’t need you to speak for me.” She seriously said to him, Hongbin widened his eyes upon acknowledging his mistake. “I’ll let it pass this time, but you really must remember it, I won’t allow it again Hongbin.” Hongbin was about to say something but Ahyoung cut him off. “I’ll have a talk with Jonghyun, thanks for worrying about me but as you can see, I’m fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The girl stood up, not leaving room for discussion and nodded to Jonghyun, then they walked away, leaving Hongbin behind. The boy stared at their backs walking away and clenched his fists with anger.

Jonghyun and Ahyoung went to the garden that was becoming their spot for conversations, even when that day she had a bad experience there, being with Jonghyun that time, felt different, the place felt lighter.

The demon suddenly stopped his steps and remained silent, Ahyoung stopped behind him and also kept silent, she somehow knew the boy needed some seconds to prepare for what he was about to say.

“I’m sorry.”

That took Ahyoung aback, she was expecting everything but for him to apologize. Jonghyun turned around, he had a serious expression on his face and Ahyoung frowned a bit upon that. How come Jonghyun, the heir of the demons, the most arrogant and prideful person she knew, was apologizing to her? It didn’t have sense.

“Why are you apologizing?” She asked him with confusion.

“I’m apologizing for what happened with Tiffany.” He explained further. “Listen, I don’t know why she did that, but it has nothing to do with me. Or well, not directly.”

Jonghyun sighed heavily and looked down, Ahyoung noticed he was having troubles to express himself, so she tried to encourage him.

“It’s okay, take your time.” She kindly said.

Jonghyun returned his gaze to her, surprised by what she said, just to be even more surprised by the warm smile she was showing him. Why? Why would she be so kind with him after all he has done to her? He couldn’t quite understand it. The demon took a deep breath and spoke again.

“Tiffany and I aren’t in a relationship. It’s true we are betrothed, but that was an agreement between our parents, there’s nothing more than that between us.” Jonghyun started to explain now more calmed. “A lot of people think we’re actually in love because she almost always sticks around me even if I don’t want to. But I have to put up with her because of the betrothal. To be honest, we don’t even get along at all.”

Ahyoung attentively listened to what the demon was saying, when he was finished, she crossed her arms and sighed heavily.

“First of all, you don’t have to apologize for something you didn’t do, even if you’re betrothed to Tiffany, that doesn’t mean you’re responsible for her actions.” Ahyoung said in a calm tone. “And secondly, you don’t have to explain anything to me.”

“You’re wrong, I have to.” Jonghyun seriously said.

“Why?” Ahyoung asked confused.

Jonghyun didn’t answer that question, instead, he kept looking straight to Ahyoung’s eyes. For some reason the girl couldn’t take her eyes off him. His determined gaze was settled in the very depths of her existence. His eyes were always mesmerizing to her, she was always attracted to them; she thought it was because he was a demon, since their eyes were meant to do that; but she didn’t have the same feeling with Hongbin or Hyeri, even with Jaehwan; she had tried to not think about it that much because deep down inside she knew that wasn’t the real reason.

The demon was looking at her not only with determination, there was also something else hidden in those eyes. Ahyoung had to accept that Jonghyun changed since the first time she met him, his actions spoke volumes. The things she previously told him that she didn’t like, he little by little stopped doing them or tried to change them. Something really unexpected to her.

Yes, Jonghyun definitely changed.

Ahyoung was the first one to look away, since she knew she could keep looking forever at those eyes.

“Well, thank you for explaining things anyway. I appreciate it, and don’t worry about what happened” She said as calm as she could. “I need to go home now, Sanghyuk is waiting for me, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ahyoung started to turn around when Jonghyun grabbed her by the wrist, making her stop. Ahyoung turned to look at him with confusion.

“Is everything alright with Sanghyuk?” Jonghyun seriously asked.

The girl tilted her head and frowned a bit.

“What do you mean?”

“Hyeri thinks there’s something off with him. I just want to make sure you won’t be in danger.”

So they have noticed it as well. Ahyoung thought with a frown.

She sighed and then looked at him again with a serious expression.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that today.” She firmly answered.

Jonghyun acknowledged her confidence and decided to trust in the girl, so he nodded before answering.

“Alright, make sure to take care.”

Ahyoung nodded and then noticed that during all that little conversation, Jonghyun never let go of her wrist, he wasn’t putting pressure into it, he actually was holding her with delicacy. For some reason she also wasn’t bothered with that hold, even so, she cleared directing her gaze to their hands, Jonghyun also looked down and immediately freed her hand. After that, both bid farewell and Ahyoung went away.

She was completely and utterly confused, not only by Jonghyun’s behavior but also hers. Even more because she wasn’t feeling nervous nor anxious, she was actually feeling calm after talking with Jonghyun.

This doesn’t have sense. She thought with a chuckle.

She kept walking towards the parking lot and saw Sanghyuk leaning on the car from afar, he was looking down with his hands in his pockets.

>> “Hyeri thinks there’s something off with him.”

Ahyoung sighed and started to walk towards Sanghyuk. She needed to put an end to all of that intrigue.

Sanghyuk and Ahyoung remained silent for a couple of minutes. Ahyoung was waiting to see if he was going to say something, but then she acknowledged the boy wasn’t intending to say a thing. She waited until they reached a place where Sanghyuk could park.

“Stop.” Ahyoung suddenly said.

“What?” Sanghyuk asked confused not looking away from the road.

“Stop the car.” She said in a more serious way.

Sanghyuk parked the car and Ahyoung opened the door.

“Come with me.” She told him before getting out of the car.

Ahyoung looked at her surroundings, they were in the forest, exactly between the realms. She knew it wasn’t a good place to talk with Sanghyuk in case he really was planning something against her. But something in her insides still believed and trust in him, she somehow knew he wouldn’t harm her.

She walked in between the trees and stopped some meters ahead. She waited until she heard Sanghyuk’s steps behind her.

“What are we doing here?” She heard Sanghyuk ask behind her.

“Enough with the games Sanghyuk.” Ahyoung started to say in a serious tone, then turned around to face him. “What are you keeping from me?”

Sanghyuk chuckled upon that and shook his head.

“You’re still too reckless, why bringing me to an isolated place to ask me that? I could do anything to you here and no one would notice.” He said in a menacing tone.

Ahyoung narrowed her eyes and walked towards him. Sanghyuk didn’t move an inch.

“You won’t harm me.” She confidently said.

“How can you be so sure? You don’t even know me.” Sanghyuk answered with a frown.

“Then tell me about you. Tell me those secrets that are crushing you. Tell me the truth and even if you want to kill me after that, it’ll be okay.” Sanghyuk widened his eyes in horror after hearing that. “You once asked me if I trusted you and I answered ‘yes’ back then. Well, my answer is still the same. I’m not gonna lie, I doubted you, but I’m here again, making a gamble, because I decided to trust in you again. But for me to keep trusting you, I need to know the truth.”

Sanghyuk surrendered to Ahyoung’s words and fell to his knees, Ahyoung was taken aback by that action and remained still for a second. She then went to him and kneeled beside him, she noticed he was restraining the tears and put a hand over his shoulder to try to comfort him. It hurt to see him in such state.

“I don’t deserve your kindness Ahyoung.” He finally said in a low voice.

“Come here.” Ahyoung said guiding him to a near fallen trunk for them to sit down.

Sanghyuk then started to tell her the truth, his story.

He didn’t know his parents’ names, all that was told to him was that they died at a mission little after he was born and since then he lived at one of the dorms. He wasn’t a really sociable kid, he was known for being quiet and really observant but didn’t talk to anyone.

All the other kids labeled him as a freak or a weird one. Just one of the kids talked to him and that was Ren, another one that was labeled as a freak among the kids, because of his strange behavior. The two eventually ended up developing a friendship despite their different personalities, since Ren was really outgoing and Sanghyuk was more of an introvert.

Years passed by and the trainings for them to become assassins started. Unexpectedly, Sanghyuk and Ren ended up being two of the bests among the other trainees, they quickly stood out from the rest and were complimented by their teachers and trainers.

But with those passing years, Sanghyuk also started to notice something else. That was his bad temper and a side of himself unknown to him. There was something that changed inside him during the trainings, especially the fighting ones. At some point of them, he was almost blinded by rage and he could beat anyone in that state. He started to fear that side of him, even when it helped him to be strong and fulfill all his tasks marvelously, it was something he sometimes couldn’t control, especially under pressure.

He exposed that worry to one of his trainers who just told him he had to work harder on the meditation training. He did that and even when it actually helped a bit, there were still times in which he out during the fighting trainings or the simulations, though he was calm at some extent because he always managed to take back control over himself before he could actually seriously harm anyone.

Things remained like that until they turned 14 years old. Sanghyuk and Ren were already the best among all the trainees, Sanghyuk was even labeled as a genius among them, kind of a prodigy, he was more than excellent at every skill of the assassins and whatever someone taught him, he would learn it in record time.

One day Sanghyuk and Ren were notified that they’d have a fight against each other since one of them would be promoted from trainee to an assassin. Both were excited about the match and promised to give their everything in the fight. The two trained hard until the day of the match.

Sanghyuk was confident about the match because of two reasons, the first one, he knew he was a better fighter than Ren, and the second was that he lately managed to be in control of himself, he hadn’t lost himself to rage during the last weeks so he was sure he had succeeded in controlling it.

The day of the match finally arrived and everything was going well. It was a really hard fight for both Ren and Sanghyuk, not only because the two were really skilled and were giving their best, but because of the fact they were best friends.

At some point, when Sanghyuk was already overpowering Ren and when both knew the match was about to end, what Sanghyuk feared the most, happened. The only thing he remembered was starting to feel dizzy, his vision blurring and the red color tainting everything; when he regained control over him, he was being held by four trainers and two more were screaming at Ren to open his eyes. Sanghyuk was confused and didn’t know what happened, until one of the trainers that was with Ren moved and allowed him to see his best friend laying on the floor covered in blood, unconscious. Sanghyuk widened his eyes in horror and his legs lost strength, making him collapse to the floor. He was aware that his trainers were talking, even screaming at him, but he couldn’t avert his gaze from his best friend covered in blood.

Sanghyuk was named as the winner of the match but he refused to become an assassin. Not until he could control himself, despite all the people telling him it wasn’t his fault, he still refused to become an assassin, so he remained as a trainee.

Fortunately, Ren survived his attack but he was seriously injured, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Sanghyuk almost killed his best friend. He started to fear himself once again, but also he started to hate himself.

The next months after that incident were a living hell, everyone feared him, nobody dared to speak or even look at him, he felt like a criminal. Ren wasn’t allowed to leave his room for months, since his injuries were too serious, even so, he tried to contact Sanghyuk, but the boy didn’t dare to appear in front of his best friend again, he felt guilty, so guilty.

Sanghyuk eventually asked to be trained outside of the dorms or even be assigned to outside missions. The trainers and leaders agreed to it, so Sanghyuk was out of the dorms for a year, that until Ren completely recovered and went to look for him.

By that time, Sanghyuk had kind of a relapse on his anger control, he constantly would go berserk during missions, though he fortunately didn’t hurt anyone else; actually, he started to be less afraid of that sadistic side of him and started to become one with it, he came to the conclusion that if he couldn’t get rid of that side of him then he would gain control over it, he’d own it, though that also turned out to be a dangerous tactic, since he started to like that sadistic side of him, he eventually started to enjoy the killing and the pain of his enemies. However, he swore to never use that power against innocent people.

Sanghyuk became quieter and aloof, he didn’t communicate with his teammates though since he did his work marvelously, nobody really cared or complained about it. He continued like that until one day Ren showed up and managed to convince Sanghyuk, after a lot of effort, to return to the dorms.

Even when the ones at the dorms didn’t look at him as if he was a freak anymore, nobody socialized with him more than needed, nobody aside Ren and Jessica, a friend he met through Ren who genuinely didn’t seem to care about his dark side.

After a couple of months, he enrolled to high school along Ren and then received the proposal of being Ahyoung’s bodyguard, he at first rejected it since he found it almost laughable that they’d consider someone like him to actually take care of someone when he had the ability to kill the girl at any moment.

In the end, he agreed to the proposal, he had nothing to lose after all. And that was how his story with Ahyoung started and his life completely changed.