Ahyoung and Jonghyun went to a nearby spot, she leaded the way and Jonghyun was behind her. She so wanted to look back to see his expression but decided it wouldn’t be a good idea after all.

Once they were apart from the rest of the people, Ahyoung finally turned around and looked at Jonghyun. He was looking straight at her eyes and Ahyoung got lost in those silver eyes for some seconds. It was the first time she saw them without any glimpse of arrogance, it made her wonder if something happened that changed him.

Since Jonghyun wasn’t saying a word, Ahyoung crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow.

“So? What do you have to say?” She asked with an impatient expression.

Jonghyun also crossed his arms and still looked at her in the eyes.

“Let’s be friends.”

Ahyoung frowned and blinked a couple of times in confusion.

There’s no way he said what I heard. She thought in surprise.

“What did you say?”

“Let’s be friends.” Jonghyun repeated in a calm way.

Ahyoung looked at him as if another head had grew from his neck, she couldn’t believe her ears and the frown on her face deepened.

“What are you trying to do?” She asked with mistrust.

“Listen I don’t know why and to be honest this is also frustrating for me.” Jonghyun started to say averting her gaze. “But I find myself constantly thinking about you, I’m really interested in your behavior and weird ideals, which I don’t share but seem to have some sense.”

“And the best idea you could come up with was being friends?” She asked in confusion.

“If you have any better idea then I’ll be glad to hear it.” Jonghyun answered looking at her again.

Ahyoung remained silent and looked away, even when Jonghyun seemed to be completely sincere, she still couldn’t fully trust him. She couldn’t stop thinking that it could be a trap or even a joke from the demon. She took a deep breath and looked at him again.

“How can I trust you?” Jonghyun remained silent so she continued. “How do you want me to accept being friends with you after all the stuff you have told me before?”

“Because something tells me you’re a better person than me.” Jonghyun stated. “Besides the fact that you clearly have a more open mind than mine.”

“You’re really good with words you know that?”

“But that doesn’t mean anything to you, right?”

“Right.”

Jonghyun frowned and scratched his head looking away again. Ahyoung sighed heavily, she was confused by Jonghyun’s sudden change but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t intrigued by it as well.

Maybe trying to get along with him for a while won’t be that bad. She thought.

Even when her mind was screaming at her that she was going back on her words about not involving with him anymore, leading to her losing face with Sanghyuk and Jonghyun, and that something inside her was thinking that agreeing to that proposal would be the worst decision of her life, in the end, she gave in.

“Fine.” She said and Jonghyun looked at her with a surprised expression.

“Fine?” He asked back as if trying to confirm what he just heard.

“Let’s try it for some days, we have nothing to lose anyway, right?”

Jonghyun smirked and seemed to be proud of what he just accomplished, Ahyoung noticed he was about to say something but she spoke first.

“Just in case you’re about to say something stupid, let me warn you that if you start with all that superiority and arrogant speech, this deal is over in this moment.”

Jonghyun chuckled and crossed his arms.

“Dealing with you will be for sure harder than what I expected.”

“You were the one to suggest this, you can back off whenever you want.” Ahyoung .

“I won’t.” Jonghyun answered with a determined voice.

Ahyoung narrowed her eyes, Jonghyun was being dead serious with that.

This’ll be interesting. Ahyoung thought with amusement.

“Well then if you have nothing else to say, I’ll be going, as I said, I need to go back home.”

“Just one more thing, Hyeri will come to you tomorrow.” Jonghyun said before she could go away.

“Hyeri?” Ahyoung asked tilting her head in confusion.

“Yeah, she’s my…” Jonghyun seemed to doubt about what word he should choose. “You could say she’s my assistant.”

I bet he was about to say ‘servant’ at first. Ahyoung thought with a snort.

“Alright, I have no problem with that.” Ahyoung answered with a nod.

“That’s all, I’ll be going as well.” Jonghyun said turning around.

“See you around.” Ahyoung answered turning around as well and walking away without looking back.

Ahyoung wasn’t surprised to see Sanghyuk standing behind a near wall from where she was previously talking with Jonghyun.

“You’re fast.” Ahyoung said to him crossing her arms when she was standing in front of him.

“What was it?” Sanghyuk asked in an ironical way, looking at the sky. “‘I don’t intend to involve myself with Jonghyun anymore’?”

Ahyoung snorted with a smile and rolled her eyes, then gave Sanghyuk a light punch on his arm.

“Oh come on, it’s wise to change one’s mind.”

She started to walk towards the car and Sanghyuk followed her. The way there was in silence, when they were inside the car, Ahyoung noticed that Sanghyuk wasn’t starting it so she looked at him with confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

“I know I’ve said that you’d be free to move around as you please, but I hope you still remember in which moments I said I would interfere in your matters.”

Ahyoung knew where he was trying to go and sighed lightly.

“If you noticed I was going to do something potentially stupid.”

Sanghyuk finally looked at her with a serious expression and Ahyoung frowned a bit.

“I guess this has something to do with Jonghyun, right?” She asked tilting her head.

“You being friends with Jonghyun isn’t as simple as you being friends with Hongbin.” Sanghyuk started to explain.

“Why? Just because he’s the heir?”

“Precisely.”

“I still don’t get what’s the big deal about it, Sojin is also the heiress and there’s no issue with me being friends with her.” Ahyoung sincerely said looking through the windshield. “Do you think it’d be better if I just go back on my words and not talk to him anymore?”

“I’m not sure either.” Sanghyuk said also looking to the front.

After that, Sanghyuk started the car and they went back home. Once they were already in front of Ahyoung’s home, the girl opened the car door and was about to go out when she looked back and saw Sanghyuk’s thoughtful expression. She closed the door again and fixed her gaze on him. Sanghyuk finally seemed to snap out of his thoughts and looked at her again.

“You’re keeping something from me, right?” She asked him.

“Not exactly.” Sanghyuk answered looking away. “I just have a bad feeling about this entire situation.”

“Nothing will happen.” Ahyoung put a hand over his shoulder. “If I notice something is going wrong I’ll immediately retreat.”

Sanghyuk still didn’t look at her and Ahyoung smiled mischievously when she came up with an idea.

“Besides, nothing will happen with you by my side, right?” Ahyoung waited for an answer but Sanghyuk didn’t give any. “Well, I guess you’re not as capable as my father said.” She finished saying, taking her hand off his shoulder and crossing her arms.

“You’re kidding? There’s no one else better than me, don’t offend me.” Sanghyuk answered with arrogance, looking at her.

Ahyoung started to laugh and Sanghyuk chuckled as well.

“Finally I managed to make you laugh.” She pointed out. “Don’t worry too much, maybe things will go smoothly and you’re just making nightmares in your mind.”

Sanghyuk smiled lightly at her and nodded.

“Go inside, we’ll see how everything goes.” Sanghyuk said in a gentler tone.

Ahyoung nodded to him and ruffled his hair, it was kind of becoming an habit to her to do that, even more after she acknowledged that Sanghyuk apparently wasn’t bothered by her doing it. Sanghyuk chuckled lightly and Ahyoung finally opened the door.

“Thanks for the ride, until tomorrow.” She said with a smile once she was out of the car.

Sanghyuk just bid farewell to her with his hand and the girl turned around to go to her house. He followed her with the eyes until the girl disappeared through the door, he then remained there for a couple of minutes more, just looking at the closed door of Ahyoung’s house.

He had never said it out loud, but Ahyoung was the only person that actually managed to make him feel at ease and calm. He couldn’t lie to her and somehow the world seemed less awful by her side; not to mention she had the ability to light up the mood and make everyone at her surroundings feel good.

It was strange, but he wasn’t intending to delve deeper into the matter.

When he first met her, he thought she was naïve and kind of a nuisance; being a girl that has never involved with that world and was raised in a perfect bubble, he didn’t have many hopes in her. But then he started to get to know her better, with each passing day, he started to understand and care for her. He initially thought the heiress position would be too much for her but she adapted surprisingly fast and good to it.

Maybe it’s in her veins after all. He thought with a smile.

He then drove to his home, or what was supposed to be.

Sanghyuk stayed in a dorm with some other young assassins. He was told his parents passed away when he was young and since then he was trained by multiple teachers. Most of the assassins there had the same or kind of the same background as him, and there some others who stayed there by freewill.

He parked the car in the place assigned to him and got out, putting his backpack on his shoulder. He had a little smile on his face and was feeling at ease.

“Yo, seeing you smile like that gives me chills dude.”

Sanghyuk’s smile vanished and he closed the car’s door, he then turned around to see Ren leaning on the wall with crossed arms, looking at him with a smirk.

“Get lost.” Sanghyuk said in a monotonous way, turning around to go away.

“And there he is, the ice king.” Ren mocked him.

Sanghyuk stopped on his track and sighed heavily, he then lightly turned his head to the side.

“I’m not in the mood for your sarcastic remarks.”

“Stop it Ren, don’t make him angry.”

Sanghyuk recognized that female voice and turned around, he was then faced with a girl with long brown hair and eyes who was walking to them. He softened his gaze.

“Jessica.” He simply called her.

“Hi Sanghyuk.” She answered with a little smile and a nod.

“Tch, you always take the fun out of things, Jess.” Ren said with a smile, putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“No, it’s just that I know you enough to know that you like to be a nuisance.” She said to him with a smirk.

“That hurt, dear.” Ren answered with a chuckle.

Sanghyuk snorted with a smile and looked at Jessica again.

“By the way, Jess, how’s Sunny?”

“She’s alright, though she still isn’t back from school, she told me she had something to do.” The girl explained him.

Sanghyuk just nodded in understanding and didn’t ask more. Ren narrowed his eyes towards Sanghyuk and lifted his chin a bit.

“What? You’re worried about her? Then maybe you should be her bodyguard and leave your precious princess to me.” Ren said with intrigue.

Sanghyuk then looked at him with a cold and menacing gaze, Ren was used to it, but if anyone else received that gaze, they’d be frozen and scared to death.

“It seems you have grown attached to her, and by what I’ve seen, she as well.” Ren said to him in a more serious tone.

“So?” Sanghyuk asked in an annoyed tone.

“Does she know who you really are?” Ren asked looking straight at his eyes.

Sanghyuk remained silent, he held Ren’s gaze for some seconds until he looked down again.

“There’s no need for her to know.” Sanghyuk answered.

“You really think so?” Ren pushed a bit more, since Sanghyuk remained silent, he continued. “She doesn’t even know why you were labeled as the strongest among all of us, right?”

“What are you trying to say?” Sanghyuk asked with an impatient tone, looking at Ren again.

“What I’m saying is that this whole ‘good boy’ act is interesting, but she has the right to know what kind of monster the person she trusts the most can be.” Ren finished saying with a dark tone.

“Ren!” Jessica called him in a disapproving tone.

Ren didn’t answer her and kept his serious stare towards Sanghyuk, who chuckled and looked at the sky.

“Well, she will eventually know, and when that time comes then I can worry about it.”

Sanghyuk didn’t give more space for further discussion and went away, both Jessica and Ren followed him with the eyes. Once the boy was gone, Jessica punched Ren’s arm.

“Did you really have to do this? He was so happy when he arrived, I’ve only seen him like that counted times. Why did you have to ruin his happiness?” She recriminated him.

“You’re right, I’ve also only seen Hyuk that happy counted times and that’s precisely why I needed to do it.” Ren answered still looking in the direction his best friend went away. “Because that happiness is created from an illusion, a lie about who he truly is, so if he gets attached to that happiness and in the end Ahyoung can’t bear who he truly is and distances from him, it’ll be a huge blow, almost unbearable to him.”

Jessica understood the point and wasn’t able to say anything else, so she remained silent.

The next day, Ahyoung went out of her home and smiled when she saw the car parked in front of her, just like everyday. She went into the car and they started the journey to the school, Ahyoung still had to read something for a class so they were in silence almost the whole ride.

“Ahyoung.” Sanghyuk suddenly called her.

“Hm?” Ahyoung asked without looking away from her book.

Sanghyuk didn’t say anything else, that caught the girl’s attention, who finally looked up to see the boy who was looking straight at the road in front of them.

“What is it Sanghyuk?” She asked now focused on him.

“I have a question to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

Ahyoung could sense something was bothering Sanghyuk and he seemed to be doubtful about saying something. Sanghyuk then parked the car for a moment and turned to see Ahyoung, who was looking at him with a curious gaze.

“Do you trust me?” He asked with complete seriousness.

Ahyoung frowned, Sanghyuk was being way too serious, she’d never seen him like that. She was also confused by why would he ask such a question when he actually was her bodyguard, how could she not trust him?

“Of course I do, with my life, literally.” Ahyoung firmly answered.

“I’m not talking about being your bodyguard, but as a friend.”

Ahyoung tilted her head in confusion.

“Isn’t it the same? I trust you as a bodyguard because I trust you as a person, as a friend.”

“Then…” Sanghyuk looked away and clenched his fists. “If someday I do something that you may not like or I turn out to be different than what you thought, would you still label me as a friend?”

“I don’t see why not.” Ahyoung calmly answered.

Sanghyuk looked at her again with a surprised expression and Ahyoung smiled to him.

“Our friendship won’t break for something like that.” She started to explain. “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; after all, only you know your real self, what I think you are is just my vision.”

Ahyoung had a way to make things seem simpler than what they were. Sanghyuk had been overthinking his conversation with Ren the whole night, the words his best friend said were true but what Ahyoung said also was.

I was worried for nothing. He thought with a little smile.

“Why are you asking me this?” Ahyoung asked him.

Sanghyuk smiled at her before answering.

“Nothing in particular, just curiosity, I already got the answer I was looking for.”

Sanghyuk then started the car again and continued with the drive, even when Ahyoung was still a bit confused by what just happened, Sanghyuk seemed to be in a better mood and more relaxed so she just let him be.

Just when they arrived to school and Ahyoung closed the car’s door, a girl of light brown hair and silver eyes put herself in front of her.

“Hey there, you’re Ahyoung, right?” The girl happily said.

Ahyoung had to take a step behind in order to put some distance between them, she didn’t sense any intention from the girl to hurt her but she wasn’t really comfortable with the sudden closeness.

“Who are you?” Sanghyuk asked.

She didn’t know when but from one second to another, Sanghyuk was now already by her side putting an arm protectively in front of her and glaring towards the girl. The girl started to laugh and Ahyoung looked at her in confusion.

“Easy there boy, I won’t do anything to her, Jonghyun would kill me if I did that.”

“Jonghyun?” Ahyoung asked with a frown, she then remembered her conversation with the demon the previous day and realization hit her. “You must be Hyeri.”

“Correct.” Hyeri answered with a smile of satisfaction.

Both Sanghyuk and Ahyoung finally relaxed and let Hyeri speak.

“Quite a nice bodyguard you got there.” Hyeri said looking at Sanghyuk from head to toes who just frowned to her, she chuckled and then looked at Ahyoung again, also looking at her from head to toes. “I can see why Jonghyun took an interest in you.”

Ahyoung then got to know Hyeri wasn’t precisely subtle with her remarks and showed her an awkward smile.

“Well, as you already know, my name is Hyeri, I’m a Mid Status demon and Jonghyun’s bodyguard.” She finally introduced herself.

“And the one behind you?” Sanghyuk asked.

Ahyoung didn’t notice the one standing a couple of steps behind until that moment. Hyeri turned around and told the other boy to approach them. He was a tall guy with brown hair and silver eyes.

“He’s Jaehwan, my boyfriend, a Mid Status demon.” Hyeri said in a warmer tone. “I told him to come with me because we’re usually together so it’d be better if Ahyoung knew him now, since we’ll see each other quite frequently from now on.”

Jaehwan said hello to both of them and they did the same.

“Why do you talk to her like that?” Sanghyuk asked Hyeri.

“What do you mean?”

“Without any honorifics or property.”

“Oh that, well to be honest with you I’m in favor of equality, all that status and superiority complex stuff are trash for me.” She answered looking at her nails.

“You address Jonghyun by his name as well?” Ahyoung asked in curiosity.

“Unfortunately no.” Hyeri snorted in annoyance and crossed her arms. “I could get myself killed if I did that.”

Ahyoung chuckled a bit, she started to like Hyeri more with each word she said.

“So you’re the bodyguard of the most conceited and arrogant guy who also happens to be completely against of equality?” Ahyoung asked lifting an eyebrow.

“It’s not like I wanted to, I was assigned to that task, but from that to be in favor of all that crap there’s a huge gap.” Hyeri clarified.

Ahyoung smiled to her and looked at Sanghyuk, she nodded to him and he did as well, she then looked back at Hyeri.

“I have the feeling we’ll get along pretty well, it’s a pleasure to meet you Hyeri.” She said extending a hand towards the demon.

Hyeri also smiled to her and shook her hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too Ahyoung.”

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