The next day Ahyoung woke up early and made sure to quickly get ready, even when she and her parents had already talked things through, it was still awkward for her to face them.

While getting ready, her mind drove off again, thinking about all the things that changed in just a short period of time, to be honest, she didn’t even know how was she managing to cope with everything. And there was also that hidden side of her, she wouldn’t deny it actually concerned her, she never had the impulse to impose over her parents before, but the previous day something inside her made her do it, just as if she was allowed to and, what was worse, as if she had that right.

Ahyoung shook her head trying to get rid of all those thoughts and focused on gathering all her stuff. After that, she went out of her room and quickly got out of her house, she closed the main door and sighed heavily, she then turned around and jumped in surprise, suppressing a scream.

“What are you doing?” Sanghyuk asked while tilting his head with the same stoic expression as always.

“Gosh Sanghyuk, at least make some noise or something, you’re going to kill me.” Ahyoung angrily said, recovering her breath.

Sanghyuk chuckled and lifted an eyebrow.

“Don’t tell me you’re escaping from your parents. What? Did they scold you badly?” Sanghyuk teased.

“Shut up, they didn’t-” Ahyoung stopped and looked at him with a frown. “Hold on, how do you know they scolded me?”

“I have my ways, I know what happened yesterday with your parents, Sojin and Taekwoon.” Sanghyuk explained while putting his hands in his jean’s pockets.

Ahyoung remained silent, she now started to understand why his father assigned Sanghyuk as her bodyguard. It seemed the boy hid a lot of secrets and abilities. Ahyoung made a mental note to be aware of those abilities if she wanted to escape from him from time to time.

“Well, I guess I should’ve expected that, you’re my protector after all.” Sanghyuk just smirked to her, Ahyoung walked to him. “Let’s go then.”

Sanghyuk and Ahyoung got inside the car and he drove to the school. The way there was silent aside from some casual conversations. When they reached the school, Sanghyuk parked the car and they walked together to the main entrance.

“Yo Hyuk!”

Sanghyuk and Ahyoung turned to the side upon hearing that voice, Ahyoung was able to see a lilac haired boy waving towards them, she was surprised by his hair color, it was quite a sight.

“Come with me.” Sanghyuk told Ahyoung.

Both walked towards the boy who chuckled the moment they reached him.

“You like it?” He asked Ahyoung, taking a strand of his hair. “I can tell you where to get the dye.”

Ahyoung didn’t notice that she had been staring at his hair until they were just in front of him, so she just looked down embarrassed.

“Don’t Ren, don’t you know who she is?” Sanghyuk monotonously said.

Ren chuckled and crossed his arms.

“Of course I know, our little precious princess.” Ren answered looking for her gaze.

So he’s an assassin as well…

Ahyoung didn’t know why but she didn’t really trust Ren, so she decided to just escape from there.

“I’m Ahyoung it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She quickly said looking at Ren. “I have to go now, I’ll see you later.”

Before Ahyoung could take a step, Sanghyuk spoke.

“Wait, I’ll go with you.”

“Actually Hyuk, I need to discuss something with you.” Ren said.

Ahyoung saw how Sanghyuk glared at Ren, she didn’t know what to think, it seemed like Sanghyuk also didn’t quite like Ren, however, they seemed close enough for Ren to call him ‘Hyuk’.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go straight to the classroom, you stay here.” Ahyoung politely said to Sanghyuk.

The boy looked at her and thought about it for some seconds, then sighed and gave in.

“Fine, try not to get into trouble again, okay?”

“Sure!” Ahyoung happily answered and went away.

When she was far away enough for the two not to see her, she sighed heavily putting a hand over her chest.

“What was that?” She asked to herself in surprise. “I need to ask Sanghyuk about him later.”

Ahyoung kept walking to her classroom while trying to calm down. She constantly looked back, trying to see if Sanghyuk was already following her, she wasn’t sure that going away like that and leaving Sanghyuk behind was actually the right decision, what if Sanghyuk also wanted to go away but she made him stay? Ahyoung was so immersed in her thoughts that didn’t even cared to look in front of her again, she then suddenly crashed with someone and lost her balance, she would have ended on the floor if not because the one she collided with took her by the arm.

“Woah there.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” Ahyoung quickly apologized.

She lifted her face and her eyes widened when she encountered with a beautiful boy with silver eyes and hair. Ahyoung was sure opened a bit upon that sight.

“Don’t worry, are you okay? It’s dangerous for you to walk like that.” The boy answered and freed her arm.

Ahyoung smiled awkwardly at him when she realized how random she must have looked while walking like that.

“I know it’s dangerous, I’m sorry for crashing into you.” Ahyoung then remembered what Taekwoon once said about introducing herself and her status the moment she met someone. “Oh right, my name is Ahyoung, I’m a High Status assassin, nice to meet you.”

Ahyoung stretched a hand towards him, the boy smiled and took it, she was mesmerized for a second by the dimples that shown on the boy’s face the moment he smiled.

“I’m Hongbin, nice to meet you miss Ahyoung.”

They freed their hands but Ahyoung frowned lightly and kept looking at him as if waiting for something, so Hongbin chuckled.

“Don’t worry about formalities, just call me Hongbin, my status is lower than yours anyway miss.”

“Don’t call me miss, you can also forget about formalities with me, I actually don’t like them.” Ahyoung answered with a smile.

“Are you sure? If others know about this they could tease you for that.” Hongbin said in a doubtful way.

“I don’t care about that.” Ahyoung crossed her arms with a smirk. “I don’t see why there has to be a difference in how you treat someone just because of the family you were born into. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“It’s a rare stand to have in here, not everyone thinks like that. It’s good to know you do.”

Hongbin smiled at her and Ahyoung did the same, for some reason she felt like he understood her and that made her happy.

“Well it was nice to meet you, I need to go to class now.” Ahyoung politely said after seeing the hour on her wristwatch.

“Yeah me too, let’s meet again to have a longer talk next time.”

“Sure, see you around Hongbin.”

Ahyoung said before going away, missing the fact that Hongbin never took his eyes off from her until she couldn’t be seen anymore.

When she reached the classroom, there were already most of her classmates there who turned around to see her. Ahyoung smiled politely and greeted everyone before going straight to her seat.

How I miss Sanghyuk right now.

Even when she wasn’t actually the introverted kind of person, it was hard having that much attention over her, she should’ve expected it though, being the newcomer and also the heiress of the assassins, it was something that was most likely to happen. Even with that, she didn’t know if she would manage to grow used to that at all. She could just hope that after some time that sudden ‘hype’ that her arrival provoked would cool down and everyone would see her as just another classmate.

Ahyoung then took out the book and stuff she’d be using that class and patiently waited for it to start. While she waited, her mind brought Hongbin’s face back again. Ahyoung sighed and put her chin over her hand in a thoughtful way. It was quite a surprise to meet a demon as polite and sweet as him. Well, not that she actually had met anyone else than Jonghyun, who was a terrible reference, but by what Sanghyuk had previously expressed, she expected all demons to be arrogant and bad. Hongbin didn’t seem like it, though it still could be a façade he used to lure people to him. She’d need to make sure of that later.

Sanghyuk then came inside the classroom and Ahyoung let out a breath of relief she didn’t know was keeping. The boy walked towards his seat beside her and sat down.

“How was it?” Ahyoung simply asked.

“It was just an insignificant matter, nothing you should worry about.” Sanghyuk said while taking out the things from his backpack.

“Sanghyuk, about Ren…” Ahyoung didn’t finish her question since she wasn’t sure how to ask.

“Don’t mind him.” Sanghyuk answered and looked at her. “He isn’t a bad person and he won’t do anything against you, but he isn’t actually loyal to anyone and doesn’t care about almost anything, that’s why he talked to you like that despite your status.”

“Which status does he belong to?”

“Mid.”

Ahyoung nodded in understanding and remained thoughtful, Sanghyuk looked away and finished taking out all that he needed, then another question came to Ahyoung’s mind.

“Do you not like him?”

Sanghyuk stopped what he was doing and frowned, then turned to see her with a confused expression.

“Why do you say so?”

“It seemed like it, by the way you talked to him and now by how you’re describing him.”

Sanghyuk tilted his head thinking about what Ahyoung had said.

“Well, he’s actually my best friend, we grew up and trained together.”

Ahyoung blinked rapidly after Sanghyuk’s statement, it was hard to believe that.

And here I was worrying about him. She thought a bit annoyed.

“You’ve got quite the relationship there.” She just awkwardly answered.

Sanghyuk chuckled and turned to his desk again.

“Yeah, you could say so.”

Ahyoung was glad that her relationship with Sanghyuk didn’t seem to worsen after their first discussion, it was refreshing having someone who she could talk freely aside from her parents, despite the short time she had known him, she now labeled him as part of her family.

She hoped to make some more friends soon, it was really awkward to just walk around with Sanghyuk by her side as if she was some kind of outsider. Maybe she could look for Sojin and Taekwoon later, despite of what had previously happened with her parents, they seemed to be nice people and Sanghyuk also told her she could get close to them.

Ahyoung was giving it a thought when her eyes flew to the door and she saw what caught her attention, Hongbin’s silver hair came into her sight. The boy stopped his pace and looked at her, he then showed her a smile, Ahyoung smiled back and Hongbin walked again, going to his seat, Ahyoung followed him with her eyes until she couldn’t see him but she was able to hear that he had a seat almost at the end of the classroom.

“Let me guess, you met with Hongbin while I was with Ren.”

Sanghyuk’s voice made her snap out of her thoughts and she quickly turned to see him, Sanghyuk was looking at her with an eyebrow up.

“Your guess is right, I didn’t know we were in the same class though, I didn’t see him yesterday.” She answered with a smile.

Sanghyuk sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with closed eyes, Ahyoung knew he was stressed but she couldn’t help to find that scene funny.

“I swear watching over you is harder than taking care of a toddler.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault.” She defended with a pout. “Besides, this time you don’t have to worry, he isn’t a High Status after all.”

Sanghyuk opened his eyes, put his hand down and looked at her with a frown.

“That’s what he told you?” Sanghyuk asked with confusion.

“He actually didn’t tell me his status, but he said it was lower than mine so I should just address him as Hongbin.” Ahyoung explained.

Sanghyuk leaned on the chair and looked to the ceiling in a thoughtful way.

“Well he indeed has a lower status than yours, but he actually is a High Status.”

Ahyoung dropped her jaw and turned around to look at Hongbin again, he was calmly taking his things out of his backpack, she then looked back to Sanghyuk.

“You’re kidding right?”

Sanghyuk denied with his head and looked at her with a smirk.

“Remember that I told you yesterday the only High Status in the class aside from you was absent? Well, now you’ve met him.”

“But, if he’s a High Status demon, how can he be so…?”

“Kind?” Sanghyuk finished her question and Ahyoung nodded. “He’s one of the rare demons who don’t label his race as superior, as you may have guessed, he also doesn’t care about status and stuff like that. Actually, everyone addresses him by his name despite the race or status.”

Ahyoung nodded in understanding and smiled looking away from Sanghyuk.

>> “It’s a rare stand to have in here, not everyone thinks like that. It’s good to know you do.”

Hongbin’s words came back to her mind.

That’s the reason why he said that. She happily thought. It’s nice to meet someone else that thinks like that.

She then frowned and turned around to see Sanghyuk again with a complete serious expression.

“You said he is a High Status but that he also has a lower position than mine.” Sanghyuk nodded. “How low is that?”

Sanghyuk sighed and narrowed his eyes while crossing his arms, trying to remember everything.

“He’s part of the fifth strongest family, if I’m not mistaken. He’s in the last place of the High Status.”

“Is he related to Jonghyun?”

Sanghyuk looked at her with a frown.

“Why are you interested in that?”

“Jonghyun and I didn’t have quite a good first meeting; I want to avoid him the most, just thinking about him makes me sick.” Ahyoung explained a bit angry. “But Hongbin on the other side, despite being a demon and a High Status, is the total opposite to him. I want to try being friends with him and it’d be a shame if he’s related to Jonghyun in any way.”

Sanghyuk seemed to think about what she said for a moment and then sighed.

“As far as I know, they aren’t related and it’s actually well known that the two don’t get along. Mostly because Hongbin is in favor of equality and, as you already know, Jonghyun is completely against it. So I think you can rest assured about that point.”

Ahyoung sighed in relief and smiled, but Sanghyuk spoke again in a serious way.

“However, I don’t know how good it may be for you to become friends with him.”

The girl frowned and tilted her head.

“Why do you say so?”

Sanghyuk sighed heavily and seemed to be uncomfortable with what he was about to say.

“He’s still a demon after all, even when he hasn’t done anything bad since I know him, that doesn’t mean he isn’t plotting something.”

Ahyoung was about to become angry at him, but she thought about it for a moment and realized she previously thought almost the same thing. She wasn’t just a simple girl, she was the heiress of the assassins and needed to beware of anything and anyone, after all, she couldn’t know who may want to harm her. Even when that world had its rules and was apparently in peace, she did knew one thing, that ’peace’ was fragile and everything could change at any moment. She smiled at Sanghyuk before answering.

“I get your point but I still want to try.” Sanghyuk was about to speak again but Ahyoung cut him off. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

Sanghyuk acknowledged her determination and resolution, he saw the change in her eyes and also in her mind. It surprised him how quickly she adjusted to everything.

How resilient. Sanghyuk thought with curiosity.

He nodded to her in agreement and Ahyoung nodded back. After that, the teacher of the class finally arrived and the lesson started.

During the break, she and Sanghyuk decided to eat something, so they went to the cafeteria and then found a spot to eat. While they were there, Ahyoung started to talk.

“Yesterday we couldn’t do it but I guess right now is the perfect timing. How about you introduce me to the rest of the High Status and the people I can actually get close to without worrying too much.”

Sanghyuk started to look to their surroundings and then took another bite from his hot dog.

“I don’t think there’s any High Status that you don’t know here.”

Ahyoung sighed with disappointment but another idea crossed her mind.

“What about the ones in our classroom? I mean, I already know their names and status but I don’t know who I can get along with.”

Sanghyuk put his hot dog down and finished chewing before answering.

“Let’s start with the assassins, as you know, Jessica and JR are Mid Status assassins, you can easily get along with them. From the vampires, I guess you can try to talk to Minah, she’s a Mid Status but she’s friends with Sojin, so it should be alright. As for the demons, I would suggest not getting along with them that much, but I guess it won’t do much harm for you to talk to Hongbin from time to time, besides, you have already decided to do it.”

Ahyoung nodded in understanding, she kept eating her lunch, as well as Sanghyuk, until she spoke again.

“Well, even if I can’t see them here, at least tell me about the other High Status, maybe I won’t see their face but at least knowing their names could help, right?”

“You got a point there.” Sanghyuk agreed. “Well, not all the High Status children are here, some of them are too young or already old enough. On the assassin’s side, there’s only you so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Actually.” She cut him off. “I think you’ve never told me your status, I find it quite strange to be honest.”

Sanghyuk looked at her with a serious expression before answering.

“I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t important, since your status is the highest among the assassins, but I’m just a Mid Status.”

Ahyoung nodded in acknowledgment and Sanghyuk continued with his explanation.

“On the vampires side there’s Sojin and Taekwoon that you’ve already met. Sojin is the heiress and Taekwoon is the son of second strongest family. They’re engaged.” He reminded her. “However, there’s another High Status as well, Wonshik, he’s the son of the third strongest family. Though he isn’t as nice as Sojin or Taekwoon, if you want an advice, it’d be better for you to avoid him, he kind of reminds me of Jonghyun.”

Ahyoung didn’t need more reasons to attend Sanghyuk’s recommendations after the last thing he said.

“And lastly, the demons, you already know Jonghyun, the heir, and Hongbin, son of the fifth strongest family. But there’s also another one-”

“They’re here! What a rare sight!”

“They’re perfect together, don’t you think so?”

Sanghyuk was cut off by a lot of voices almost screaming. Ahyoung started to look to her surroundings and noticed that everyone was looking towards a specific direction, so she also directed her gaze there and was able to see Jonghyun walking beside a girl with long brown hair.

“Who is Jonghyun with?” Ahyoung asked out of curiosity and looked at Sanghyuk.

Sanghyuk, who was also looking at them, answered.

“The last High Status demon I was about to introduce. She’s Tiffany, the daughter of the second strongest family, and also… Jonghyun’s fiancée.”

A/N: New chapter is up! ^^

Btw, everyone, have you heard LEO's new song 'Losing game'? If not, go check it out because it's really a masterpiece <3 Let's support our boy with his comeback Starlights!

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