Double update this week! ^^ If you haven't read the previous one, go read it first n.n

Ahyoung woke up that day still with a headache, though not as intense as the previous day. When she opened her eyes, it was still dark outside, her alarm clock hadn’t even rang. She sighed and put an arm over her face.

Not even the dreams gave her a break. The whole night she was recalling in her dreams what happened with Hongbin. She was feeling a turmoil of emotions, sadness, disappointment, anger and even a little bit of guilt. She knew she shouldn’t feel guilty at all, since she didn’t do anything wrong, she didn’t have to return Hongbin’s feelings just because he was in love with her. But even so, the boy was also hurt and she couldn’t help but to feel bad about it.

The sight of Hongbin’s empty seat haunted her, she didn’t want to be the reason why the boy would start to skip classes or something like that. She just hoped that he wouldn’t be absent that day as well.

She decided to get up and take a shower, after all, she still had a lot of time before she had to go to school. Ahyoung was hoping the water would help her get rid of all her thoughts, but it wasn’t like that, it had the contrary effect.

At one point she ended up putting her arms against the wall and letting the water fall on her head. She was aware that she was overreacting over something that maybe wasn’t that deep, but she had a bad feeling about all that.

The way Hongbin behaved after she rejected him was completely unexpected, she never thought Hongbin would talk like that, the friend she had known for months, vanished in just some seconds, she didn’t know how to face him or if she still can even talk to him. She wasn’t ready to face him again.

Ahyoung got out of the shower and went to her room to dry her hair. Another thing that was on her mind was the fact that Hongbin and Jonghyun were cousins. That was a big surprise for her, they didn’t even look alike that much. And now she was tangled in a love triangle between them.

The girl stopped combing her hair and frowned.

Wait. Love triangle? Why would I even think that? She thought with annoyance.

>> “You sure it isn’t real? Can you swear with your life that you don’t love Jonghyun?”

Ahyoung sighed heavily and left the comb aside, there was already some light coming in from the window so she stood to turn the lights off, then went back to the chair, where she sat and then leaned on it to look at the ceiling.

It wasn’t only Hongbin the one who didn’t left her head, Jonghyun was also there.

She was afraid. Afraid of her own feelings and what could happen because of them. She couldn’t deny anymore that Jonghyun wasn’t indifferent to her, the boy was the person who she thought about the most in that moment, whichever the reason behind that was.

Ahyoung shook her head trying to get rid of all her doubts and continued to brush her hair. Once she was finished, she got all her stuff ready and went out of the house.

Sanghyuk still wasn’t there so she sat on the stairs and looked at the sky, it was a bit cold but she didn’t care much, actually that helped to calm her down. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, frowning a bit since the headache was still there and worsened with that movement, she put a hand over her head, hoping that would help it go away.

When will this headache go away? It’s not usual for me to have it. She thought in confusion.

Suddenly, she heard a car parking in front of her. The girl opened her eyes and lifted her head, showing a little smile when she recognized the car. Sanghyuk came out of it and approached her. He squatted in front of her with a worried frown.

As anxious as usual. Ahyoung thought with a smile.

Ahyoung felt how Sanghyuk put something over her, she looked at it, it was his jacket.

“Don’t take it off, it’s cold.” Ahyoung said trying to take it off.

Sanghyuk prevented her from doing it and tilted his head, still with the frown on his face.

“Why are you out here?”

“I woke up early and didn’t have anything else to do.” She tried to sound nonchalant. “I wanted some fresh morning air, that’s all.”

“Is your headache still there?”

Ahyoung snorted with a smile, she already expected Sanghyuk to know that, even when she never told him she was having a headache.

“Yes, but it isn’t as bad as yesterday, I think I’ll be okay in a couple of hours.”

“Do you want to stay home today? You haven’t been absent since you came here, so it won’t affect you.”

Ahyoung was able to see the genuine concern on the boy’s face, that made her thought that maybe she was looking worse than what she thought. Actually she didn’t recall looking that bad when she looked at herself in the mirror before going out.

“I’m really okay, there’s no need for us to be absent.” She reassured him and stood up.

Sanghyuk also stood up and looked at her from head to toes.

“I won’t convince you to stay home today, right?”

Ahyoung denied with her head and smiled. Sanghyuk sighed and nodded.

“Alright, if that’s the case then let’s go.”

Both went inside the car and Ahyoung tried to give back Sanghyuk his jacket but the boy refused to.

“Keep it, you need it more than me.”

“Don’t act like you’re so almighty.” Ahyoung .

The boy chuckled and took another jacket from the back seat, showing it to her.

“I’m just a prepared man, I always bring an extra, since you usually forget things.” The boy answered without looking away from the road.

“You do a great job, guardian.” The girl answered with a smile.

Sanghyuk just chuckled and left the jacket on the back seat to then keep driving. After some seconds of driving, he spoke again.

“Try to catch some sleep.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh?’ me, your dark circles say it all, I bet you didn’t slept well last night. Try to sleep at least until we reach school.” Sanghyuk said in a serious way.

“Won’t you ask why I didn’t sleep well?” Ahyoung asked looking through the window.

“You’ll tell me if you want to, I won’t ask more than what you want to say. Besides, it isn’t that hard to know the reason behind it.”

Ahyoung snorted with a smirk and turned to see Sanghyuk again.

“Such a considerate guardian.” She .

“My pleasure.” Sanghyuk answered with a proud smile.

Ahyoung denied with her head. She thought about it for a moment and decided to listen to Sanghyuk’s suggestion, so she cuddled in the seat and closed her eyes.

“Alright then, wake me up when we’re there.”

“Sure.”

It wasn’t long before Ahyoung was already asleep.

Her dreams were peaceful, unlike the previous night. She didn’t know if it was because Sanghyuk was there with her or because of something else, but whatever the reason was, she was grateful. She dreamt about peaceful days at school, surrounded by all her friends: Sojin, Taekwoon, Sanghyuk, Minah, Baekho, Hyeri, Jaehwan even Jonghyun.

However, that peaceful dream didn’t last forever. Even when the scene in front of her was a happy one, she couldn’t get rid of a feeling of uneasiness and nostalgia. She had the feeling she wouldn’t see those bright days again, she felt something haunting them, something she couldn’t see.

Then all her friends disappeared and just Jonghyun remained there with her. They were looking at each other, not saying a thing. Jonghyun looked at her with a saddened and worried expression, which Ahyoung couldn’t understand. The demon then moved his mouth, saying something she couldn’t hear. She frowned and also tried to speak but not even a sound came out from . She put a hand on her neck and looked down, confused.

She then returned her gaze to Jonghyun and noticed Tiffany was behind him, Ahyoung frowned when she saw Tiffany holding something in her hand. Suddenly, Tiffany lifted her hand to her opposite shoulder and Ahyoung was able to see what she was holding, a dagger. She widened her eyes and in that moment, Tiffany threw the dagger to Jonghyun, Ahyoung tried to run to him but was unable to move, so she used her last resort, she screamed Jonghyun’s name, her voice actually worked that time and she was able to hear her own scream.

She snapped her eyes open in that moment and was faced with Sanghyuk’s worried face in front of her.

“Sanghyuk?” She asked confused.

“Are you okay?” The boy asked.

“Yes.” Ahyoung answered blinking quickly and moving in her place to then look at her surroundings and realize they were still in the car.

“You were groaning in your sleep and I couldn’t wake you up. Does your headache worsened?”

Ahyoung put a hand on her head and frowned.

“No, it actually is gone now.” She explained. “It was just a bad dream, don’t worry.”

Ahyoung then looked at the outside and noticed the sun was already up and it seemed it was since a long time ago.

“What time is it?”

“You woke up just in time for the break.” Sanghyuk answered with a smile.

“What?!” Ahyoung asked with surprise. “I told you to wake me up when we reached school!”

“Yes I know, but you needed some sleep, so I decided to let you rest.” Sanghyuk explained.

“And thanks to that I had another nightmare.” The girl whispered with angriness.

“By the way, what was that nightmare?” Sanghyuk asked in a more serious way.

Ahyoung looked down and recalled that last image of her nightmare. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment to then open them again and turn to the back seat to grab her backpack.

“Nothing important, we should go now, at least we can take the classes of the second period.”

Sanghyuk obviously didn’t believe her but decided not to pressure her, he trusted she would tell him when she was ready. He was sure that whatever she dreamt it clearly wasn’t ‘nothing important’.

Ahyoung and Sanghyuk went out of the car when the break started so they went to eat something. After that, they went to the classroom to take the lessons of the second period.

The first thing Ahyoung noticed was the absence of Hongbin, she thought he wasn’t in the school but then she saw that his backpack was actually there, she frowned in confusion.

Maybe he got to know that I arrived for the second period? She wondered.

As she expected, Hongbin didn’t show up for the rest of the day. When the last lesson was over, she was wondering about what to do. It was a fact that she didn’t want to face Hongbin but it was also true that the boy couldn’t keep being absent because of her. Those were two different things. When she was in the middle of that thinking, Hyeri arrived to the classroom along Jaehwan. Ahyoung looked to the door and was about to smile when she saw Hyeri’s expression, the girl wasn’t smiling like she usually did, she had a completely serious expression.

Something must have happened.

Ahyoung grabbed her belongings and went to Hyeri, followed by Sanghyuk.

“What’s wrong Hyeri?” Ahyoung asked her a bit worried.

“We need to talk.” Hyeri said in a serious way.

Ahyoung turned to see Sanghyuk and the boy nodded, he was about to go when Jaehwan cut his pace.

“Actually,” Hyeri started to say and both looked at her. “I was instructed to bring you both.”

Sanghyuk and Ahyoung followed Hyeri and Jaehwan to an empty classroom. When they reached the door, Jaehwan spoke up.

“I’ll leave, I’ll be near if you need something.” The boy said to Hyeri in a warm tone.

“Yes, thank you.” The girl answered in the same tone.

Ahyoung saw how Jaehwan went away and before Hyeri could open the door, she made a question.

“Why doesn’t he stay?”

“He isn’t allowed to.” Hyeri answered with a serious tone.

“Why?” Ahyoung asked confused.

“You know that demons manage the status thing different than the rest of the races, we still have a very strict system; because of that, Jaehwan isn’t allowed to be near Jonghyun, since he’s a Mid Status.”

“That .”

“Yeah, I agree.” Hyeri answered after a snort.

Once that conversation was finished, Hyeri opened the door and let Sanghyuk and Ahyoung go inside, after them, she also entered and closed the door.

“Hi Ahyoung.”

“Hi Jonghyun.”

The demon was seating on one of the desks, Ahyoung could see he had a worried expression, that wasn’t something common in him.

Why does everyone seem worried today? Ahyoung thought with uneasiness.

“What is it? Why did you bring us here?” The girl asked with curiosity.

Jonghyun sighed heavily and stood from the desk to approach Ahyoung, he then looked at her for some seconds and lifted a hand to put it on her cheek.

“Haven’t you been sleeping well?” He asked with concern.

Ahyoung softened her gaze upon those silver eyes, enjoying his touch on her cheek. However, when she realized what she was doing, she immediately looked away and took a step behind to retreat from his touch.

“I just had a bad night, nothing to worry about.” She hurriedly answered.

“I see.” Jonghyun answered in a low voice.

Ahyoung looked back at him, expecting to see his angered expression, but the demon was calmly looking at her, that look also managed to calm her heart down which started to race some moments ago upon his touch.

“I called you both here because I think Tiffany is plotting something against Ahyoung.”

The girl frowned upon hearing that and Sanghyuk did as well, though he was already aware of that.

“And she isn’t alone.” The demon finished.

“What?” Ahyoung asked confused.

“We think Wonshik, Sunny and Hongbin are with her now.” Hyeri said.

Ahyoung turned around to see her with disbelief.

“Hongbin? That can’t be.” She said with a chuckle. “I’m not impressed about Wonshik but, what about Sunny? I don’t even know her.”

“I know this may be hard to believe but Hyeri saw Hongbin talking with Tiffany and by what I know he has been absent from classes since yesterday.” Jonghyun started to explain and Ahyoung looked back at him. “As for Sunny, I don’t know what her intentions are but she has been sticking with Tiffany for a while now and both constantly skip classes.”

Ahyoung turned to see Sanghyuk who just had a thoughtful expression. It was true she didn’t know Sunny or who she was for Sanghyuk but she was aware that she was someone important to him; so hearing that, most likely was hard for him. She looked down with a bit of sadness.

“Are you sure about this?”

Before Jonghyun could answer, another voice joined the conversation.

“More than sure princess. Those guys are definitely plotting something and it most likely is against you.”

Everyone turned to the window which was now opened and from where Ren was sitting, looking at them with a smile. Hyeri immediately took out a dagger and Jonghyun walked to Ahyoung. Sanghyuk sighed in disapproval and introduced his friend.

“Don’t worry, he’s harmless.” The boy said signaling his friend. “He’s Ren, he’s my friend, you can rest assured.”

Jonghyun and Hyeri visibly relaxed, Ren jumped from the window and closed it, this time locking it.

“You guys are so careless, with that unlocked window anyone could have come inside.” Ren nonchalantly said, walking towards Sanghyuk. “I’m impressed that you made such a mistake Hyuk.” He teased.

“Shut up Ren.” The boy answered rolling his eyes.

Ren chuckled and then turned to look at Ahyoung, he walked to her and put an arm over her shoulders, not caring about the angered look Jonghyun was giving him.

“Just as Sanghyuk already said, I’m his friend and an assassin, I’m the second bodyguard of our princess.”

“Say what?” Ahyoung asked him while getting his arm off her.

“Nonsense.” Sanghyuk simply answered crossing his arms.

“I decided it today, I’ll be on Ahyoung’s side and yours as well Hyuk.” Ren said in a melodic voice.

“Even against Sunny?” Sanghyuk inquired with a serious voice.

Ren remained silent for a moment and kept his gaze on Sanghyuk, the two were having a silent conversation, until Ren snorted and smirked.

“Against anyone who dares to try hurting Ahyoung.” Ren said with determination.

“You’ve never been loyal to anyone, how can I trust you?” Sanghyuk asked him with a frown.

“You need all the backups you can gather to protect her, right? You have no choice but to trust in me.” The boy retorted.

Sanghyuk sighed heavily and closed his eyes, not saying anything more.

“Sanghyuk.” Jonghyun called him.

The named one opened his eyes and put his arms down.

“Ren is right, we’ll need all the backups we can gather. I trust him enough to know that he at least won’t do anything that could harm Ahyoung for now.”

Ahyoung still thought that the friendship of those two was one of the weirdest she has ever known, it was as if they trusted each other blindly but at the same time were expecting the other to betray them the next second; as if they cared for each other but at the same time could forget about them completely. She couldn’t understand those two but despite that, she trusted them.

“The first thing we must know is what they’re plotting, it won’t be easy but we have to find a way to know it.” Jonghyun said.

“Maybe there’s someone who can help us with that.” Ren spoke up and everyone looked at him.

“Who?” Sanghyuk asked him in confusion.

“Jessica.” Ren said with a smile. “She’s also a witness about Sunny and Tiffany’s suspicious behavior and she’s been Sunny’s best friend since childhood, she maybe can look into Tiffany’s plans through Sunny.”

“That’s risky for her.” Jonghyun answered.

“We can let her decide, you can’t deny this is an option we can’t let pass just like that.” Ren said in a serious tone.

“You think she’ll agree to this?” Sanghyuk asked a bit concerned.

“I don’t know, but as I said, we can let her decide about it.” Ren said in a calmer tone. “I’ll go look for Jessica.”

Sanghyuk nodded to him and the boy directed to the door to go look for Jessica.

She usually didn’t do things like eavesdropping conversations but she couldn’t help it when she heard not only Sanghyuk’s voice but also Ren’s, and when Sunny’s name was said she knew she had to stay to keep hearing what they were saying.

Jessica was determined to discover what was going on with her friend. Sunny completely changed, she wasn’t the girl she has known anymore and she couldn’t deal with that. She was hurt and confused by Sunny, Jessica wanted to know what made her friend change in such a way, why she changed to the point where she couldn’t recognize her anymore.

When she heard Ren say that he would even go against Sunny to protect Ahyoung, she was also surprised. She also knew that the only person Ren cared about was Sunny, so hearing him say such a thing was completely unexpected. Jessica thought that maybe he had a plan that could lead him to know what happened with Sunny and, maybe, getting her out of the darkness she was in.

Jessica was so immersed in those thoughts that she didn’t listen where the conversation was going until she heard Ren saying something that had to do with her.

“I don’t know, but as I said, we can let her decide about it. I’ll go look for Jessica.”

The girl widened her eyes in surprise since she could hear Ren’s steps approaching the door, she took two steps behind and when she was about to turn around, she felt a hand covering and dragging her behind the wall.

She didn’t know who it was and tried to hit that person but she was only dragged downstairs and remained there, she could hear Ren exiting the classroom and walking to the opposite side. She sighed in relief and put a hand over the one that was covering .

The person freed her when Ren’s steps disappeared and Jessica immediately turned around, she frowned when she saw who it was.

“You?”

“You know what? You at getting info from others. If not for me you’d have been caught.” JR said with a smirk.

Jessica’s frustration overwhelmed her and she attacked JR, the boy managed to dodge her attacks and they got entangled in a little fight, in which they kept going further down the stairs until they reached the outside of the building. Jessica actually was a skillful assassin, maybe not as skillful as Sanghyuk or Ren but she was one of the top ones. However, at that moment she was already mentally and emotionally collapsed and she just attacked out of instinct and rage.

JR dealt with her attacks for a while until he was tired of it and outbattled her in just two movements, keeping a hold of her. Jessica struggled to free from him but wasn’t able to.

“Let go of me!” She demanded.

“Not until you calm down.” JR answered in a calm tone.

“Stop with the bull just let me go already!” Jessica said rising her voice.

“I’m not even putting pressure on you, calm down and think about how to free from me!” JR said in a more authoritative tone.

Jessica finally stopped moving and thought about it for a moment, the next second she was already free from JR. The boy looked at her with stoicism and Jessica chuckled denying with her head.

“Better now?” JR asked her.

“No.” Jessica answered closing her eyes. “Nothing is alright, everything is a mess and I can’t do anything!” She raised her voice.

Jessica then collapsed to her knees and started crying, JR didn’t move from his place and just looked at how she vented out everything she was carrying on her shoulders.

“I’m frustrated and done with everything!” She said in between cries. “Sunny, Sanghyuk, Ren, Ahyoung, the races, everything!” Jessica kept crying and put a hand on the floor while the other was on her face, trying to dry the tears that came out nonstop from her eyes.

She continued to cry for a while, she didn’t care that JR was looking at her and since almost everyone was already gone by that time, she didn’t have to worry about anyone else seeing her in such a state.

“I can’t do anything with the way I am now.” She said when she managed to control her cries a bit.

Jessica looked up and noticed that JR was still there, just looking at her, he wasn’t pitying nor judging her, he was just standing there, making her company. The girl then looked at him with a determined gaze.

“Train me as a spy.”

“What?” JR asked with a frown.

“You heard me, I want you to train me as a spy. And don’t even try to deny you are one, I’ve known it for a while now.” Jessica repeated with determination.

JR sighed and crossed his arms.

“What for?”

Jessica then stood from the ground and dried the last tears that fell from her eyes.

“As I said, I can’t do anything with the way I am now. I’m a good assassin but that isn’t enough anymore. I’m sure I can be more useful if I turn into a spy.” She said in a serious way. “Besides, I also don’t have a family that waits for me and I already lost who was precious for me.”

“What about Sanghyuk and Ren?”

“Those two can take care of each other pretty well, they don’t need me to look over them anymore.” She said after a chuckle.

JR seemed to think about it for a moment until he sighed and looked at her in complete seriousness.

“It’s true that you have what it’s needed to be a spy, but your life will be even harder than what you’re thinking, being a spy isn’t easy and it’s a risky job.” JR started to explain to her. “So I’ll ask you now, are you aware of what you’re asking for?”

“Yes.” She firmly answered.

“I’ll ask you one last time Jessica.” JR approached her until he was just centimeters apart from her. “Do you want to become a spy?”

“Yes.” Jessica repeated with the same determination.

“Very well. The first thing you have to know as a spy is that…” JR made a pause. “All information has a price.” He finished saying with a smirk.

The wind blew and just like that, the two disappeared from the place.

A/N: Double update this week! ^^ Since last week I didn't post any chapter.

As always, thank you so so much for reading, comments are appreciated ^^ stay safe and have a beautiful day <3