•Breaking the Forbidden Charm•

He had to admit. This girl before his eyes was utterly appealing. She wasn't like any other woman, giggling and gossiping with friends, crying whenever things don't go right. She was the opposite. She swears, she's cold, she cares nothing. One of a kind, indeed. However, there was this thing that caught his curiosity - Her eyes that was filled with melancholy. He was never one who trust people easily. He trusted only in concrete things, the evidence of his sense. But, the pair of eyes made him believe everything wasn't exactly he saw. There was something behind.

He was tempted to uncover that mystical mask of hers to reveal her true self. Aware of the purpose he was sent here, the thought evaporated. Regardless of the tough mission, he still had to execute it. Without him knowing, the smile that was actually hanging on his face promptly went to nowhere. He had to restrain the thought from haunting him before his control was completely relinquished.

She slid him a skeptical glance, "What are you looking at, cocklump?" Jiyeon set the table cloth aside as she focused her eyes on him. Again, she swore. It had been a month since he came here. He had a frost in his manner, just like her. For some reasons, she had a feeling that she was shackled to him. She had never seen anyone who resembled her. In fact, she fancied the fact that she had found someone who she wasn't pissed off of. She knew he was the person she thought he was, yet-

"Looking at you, of course." There, there came his cheesy remark again. She was unequivocally sure that wasn't him. It was just him concealing how he genuinely was. She knew, deep down inside, the real him was still there, longing for someone to tell him that his lie was exposed and he could revive his true self once again. It's just that... she couldn't bring herself to do so. She had been cold for years, and changing this might lead to the change of her life. She didn't want that.

Reveal your true self, she wanted to say that but her mind refused to shape them into words. Through slitted eyes, she saw the real L back. She knew it was him through his eyes. His eyes was dark yet full of despondence, as if winter had come. "Shut up, will you? Just for one darned second. How hard is that?" she bawled.

It wasn't his intention in being cheesy and he, himself knew it very well that it was just an act to make Seo Yul fall for him. He had to find out her name. He had to kill her. He had to. Without any valid reason, he just had to murder such a girl that made him felt so attached to. "A second is over," L tapped his chin dramatically with his index finger. "It wasn't as hard as I expected, actually."

Miffed, she got to her heels abruptly. It had been 18 years and still, she couldn't control her vigorous emotions. "Right. As though you couldn't sense the hyperbole." Crossing her arms, she rolled her eyes, unconscious of how strong her desire was to explore his past to see what shaped him to what he is now. 

There was a furious knocking at the door out of a sudden, drowning out L's voice as he was speaking. "God damn it," Jiyeon cursed under her breath, raking through her tousled hair with her slim fingers. The opened door revealed the man that stimulated her waves of rage she had been keeping within the walls of rationality. The anger had never abated since the day she was born. It was always there, like a haunting ghost filled with dark hatred. Some tiny instinctual voice in the back of Jiyeon's brain was screaming at her: Kill that ing bastard! Her fingers balled into a fist, as she stifled a murdurous wrath.

Memories of the past invaded her mind. She tried to resist, but to no avail. The images formed in her head relentlessly. She could still clearly remember how her father abused her when he wasn't even her biological dad. Every spare time she had in life, it would have to end up with lashes and blood. Blood... She could feel that metallic taste on her tongue again. Every night when he came home, drunk and dazed, he would throw his fists at her. As a fragile and petite girl, she couldn't do anything but hide until the day she lost her ity to that beast. 

She ran away.

As far as she could. From that day onwards, that broken girl was no longer the girl who would tolerate every single messed-up in her life. She worked hard as a labor every day, hoping it would make her life better, hoping it could erase the terrible hurt her father had engendered. Unfortunately, things never went smoothly the way she wanted it to be. Even though she had left her father, his debts had never stopped pestering her. She knew, she could never get away from him. They were shackled together with unbreakable chains and no keys were meant for them.

", you think you can get away from me? You're just like your mother," his breath hissed out through his teeth. "Pathetic." Again, he was drunk. His cheeks were flushed red and his hand was gripping an empty bottle of soju firmly, his eyes were barely open - Even though they were, they would have seemed dazed - and his face was strewn with purplish-black bruises, with crimson red blood forming a thin line down the egde of his lips. For some reason, that enraptured Seo Yul. 

A frown puckered her forehead. "Don't you dare say a word against my mother!" she snarled, her tone as concentrated as acid. Promptly, she grabbed the empty glass bottle from his grip and smashed it against the bulk man's bare head. The shattered pieces of glass brought fresh blood down his forehead, dripping onto the floor and formed blotches of red liquid. His eyes dilated into large circles, as if awakened from a dream. His temper flared. Suffused with exasperation, he lifted his arm that ended with a large fist and hurled it at her but before it can reached any inch of her skin, his wrist was grabbed by a strong force. His movement was so quick that even the man didn't realize he was already standing before him, hand stopping him from striking that girl. The man stared at him, mouth gap opened with surprise at the ferocious glare he shot. 

"You shall kill yourself by the first ray of sunlight," L hypnotized with a fierce tone. He did not regret what he just did but he knew his life won't last long. He couldn't let his cover as a Reaper blow off by using magic but this was the only thing he could do to save her. And the only thing to do was to break the Forbidden Charm. It was a charm detested by many of his own kind. To them, it was witchcraft performed by humans and they find it to the most filty thing on Earth. They do not tolerate any users of their kind. Once used, the user shall turned into ashes and never come back to life, not even in the afterlife. 

And, that moment, he knew it. He knew that he was in love with this girl. He was infatuated with her, like falling into a well where there was no way climbing up. In order for her to be safe, he was willing to risk his life, even though his love may not be reciprocated. He turned around and looked into Seo Yul's eyes. They weren't full of destestation. Instead, it was replaced with a dark concern.

Was it for him?

She parted her quivering lips, "L, what did you just do? Is that some sort of... hypnotization?" She couldn't figure out why she knew but something in her head was telling her the answer. Her chest was rising and falling fast. A shock ran through her, a jolt of realization when he said nothing in response. She knew she was right and nothing would stop her father from killing himself. She wasn't worried about her father at all - She wanted him dead so badly - and instead, L was the reason of her concern. He could have been prisoned. And it was all because of her. 

L freed the muddy man's wrist and the man walked out of the door naturally, as if eagerly waiting for the first ray of the deadly sunlight. Gently, he wiped of the tears that was streaming down her cheeks unconsciously. Tears. Hot tears. She thought her tears have all dried up. Her knees went weak and she collapsed but with another swift moment, L caught her, landing her slowly on his lap. "Why did you do that for? You're an idiot, an idiotic !" she swore, her voice barely audible.

L her soft hair that laid disarrayed across her shoulders. "I can't possibly see you getting hurt by your father, can I?" he said, as his fingers reached a tangle within her hair. Gently, he untangled it. "I love you, Seo Yul. And I want you to stay within my protection without any sorrows nor worries. I want to be the only man you can count on, the only man you ever lay your eyes on, the only man who has your heart. Will you give me a chance to be that man before I'm gone forever?"

Her heart fluttered and was screaming a yes. She knew it all along - He was the man. She nodded, "You won't be gone forever. I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes. I don't care how much time we have left, all I know is that I want to be right beside you." She leaned her head against his broad chest, soaking his black shirt with large blotch of tears.

His fingers move instinctively to her chin and raised it. Slowly, he moved closer to her. She closed her eyes, letting the nearness of him wash over her like a tide. His lips pressed against hers. Savoring every moment of this opulent sweetness she might lose soon, she parted her lips slightly, allowing him to lean in, yielding to the soft strength of his kiss that engulfed her. Their lips embraced in long, loving kiss they would remember for the rest of their life.

Until the day he is burned down into ashes.