*** Yoseob’s PoV ***

“I’ve missed you, little brother.”

His sentence trigged bad memories inside of my mind. The scenes I have been painfully trying to suppress. Yoon Doojoon and I were the only descendents of the most dangerous and feared demon that have ever existed. Yet, even though his blood ran in our veins, our mothers were different. Doojoon’s mother was a human, to be more specific, she was the sacrifice girl of the village from a few years ago. My mother, on the other hand, was a female demon who my father had had an affair, a few ual s. Nothing more.

“What do you want with me?”

“So, that girl is the one you fell in love with?! She is pretty.” Doojoon said, trying to ease the lack of warmth in our conversation. He chose the wrong subject though.

“Stay away from Heejin!” I shouted at him. I swore to protect Heejin from everything and everyone, including my own family. Doojoon got a little surprised by my aggressive reaction, but soon recomposed his steady face, adding a small smile upon his lips.

“Calm down, Yoseob. You, more than anyone, know that you can’t be nervous, don’t you?! Besides, I have no interest on her. In fact, the reason why I came here is that I want to invite you to my engagement party. Finally it’s my turn.”

So the cycle never ended, right.

“I’m getting marriage to the sacrifice girl of this village: Im Jinah.” A sly smirk followed his sentence and, for a moment, I pitied the human girl. She had managed to capture Doojoon’s interest. Let’s say it wasn’t a good thing for her…

“Congratulations.” I said nonchalantly.

There was a long time since I had last seen Doojoon’s face. He had grown a lot. His features were different, the boyish look was gone. He resembled our father so much now. He should be proud. The preferred son was faithfully accomplishing his duties. While me, the bastard son, was struggling to survive. Since I had been kicked out of my house by my own father – he abandoned me and my mother when I was still a child - I’ve never suppressed the revolting feelings that consumed me.

“Since this is an important day, I wanted you to appear at the celebration. Take your precious human girl with you. I’ve done researches about my fiancée and it looks like they know each other. To be specific, they are friends. It will be good for both of them.”

Noticing my hesitant state, Doojoon added an offer which I couldn’t decline.

“If you go, you might discover what truly happened with Kikwang.”

Then he disappeared.

Like everyone in my family.

I was alone again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*** Jinah’s PoV ***

“Honey, what happened with you?” My mom asked softly while we were entering in our house. She sounded worried about me. “Since we got out of the Doojoon’s castle you haven’t said a single word.”

How could I say to my parents that he had touched me?! Forced me to almost strip in front of him!

“Besides…. I know this is difficult for you Jinah, but tomorrow we are going to choose a wedding dress for you. After that, we will have to sort out the things for your engagement party.” I couldn’t believe in it. The more I tried to escape from this nightmare, the more my parents dragged me back to the harsh and cruel reality.

At least, for just one more night, I wanted to peacefully sleep and forget everything.

“I need some sleep.” With those simple words, I headed straight to my room. Knowing that, my life would never be the same anymore.

That night I had nightmare. I was in the same room as Doojoon, yet this time, he didn’t restrain himself from undressing me.

--------------------------- The other day -----------------------

*** Heejin’s PoV ***

“Good morning, mom!” I exclaimed excited, heading towards the table where I would be able to enjoy my delicious breakfast. Last night had been so wonderful. Every moment I spent with Yoseob was special.

“Uhm… I see you had good dreams. But, Heejin, you should have told me that you were going to sleep at Soojin’s house. You don’t know how worried I was when I went to your bedroom and didn’t find you there!” I chocked at the piece of bread I had just put inside my mouth.

Soojin’s house?!

“I’ve changed my mind about your friend. Even though she got pregnant at such early age and was rejected by the father of that child, she sounded pretty responsible yesterday. I called her and she assured me you were with her, but you didn’t want her to tell me. She told me you were afraid that I would forbid your sleep-over” Then my mother added a kind smile to her face and patteed my head softly. “And here you are, as she promised me. Safe and happy!”

Said that, my mother went to her bedroom. Every sunday she would go there, take a sum of money and head to the market to buy food or things for our house. As she left the kitchen I swallowed the whole glass of water standing in front of me, trying to calm myself. I had almost been caught. Soojin had protected me. But what should I tell her? Should I lie about Yoseob?

I didn’t have time to think about a solid response because in brief seconds, I heard a knock on the door of my house and saw Soojin standing there. She was dressed in her usual black clothes, hair tied in a clean bun and a serious face, eyes glued on me.

“Welcome Soojin. Why don’t you eat breakfast with Heejin? I’ll be out for a while, I have groceries to buy.” Soojin bowed politely and then entered the house, making sure she closed the door as my mother headed to the market. She sharply turned her view back to my face, this time, worry was reflected on her eyes.

“You are meeting a demon, aren’t you Kim Heejin?!” I’ve always known that Soojin was a straight forward girl, but her bluntness made me in shock. And worse, how in the world she knew that I was meeting a demon?

“De- Demon? I don’t know what you are talk-“

“Stop lying to me!” Soojin shouted. It was the first time since I had met Soojin that I saw her in this state. She was beyond furious.

“Your mother called me yesterday! She was so worried about you. Saying you were out at night. Your favorite dress was missing and the bottle of perfume was out of place, as if you had used it before you going at night.”

“Okay, I confess, but not all demons are bad! The one I’m g-” I did my best to protect Yoseob, but she wasn’t listening to me. I touched the key hanging on my necklace - the key which represented my relationship with Yoseob. I was hoping it would give me the strength to convince Soojin to stop with her sudden attack.

“Demons can be pretty seductive to get what they desire! They can do any sorts of low things to make you fall into their trap! Don’t be stupid Heejin!”

Why Soojin was acting like this? She was even worse than my mother would be if she discovered it.

“Soojin, I love him!” Finally I confessed what my heart truly felt towards Yoseob. I was in love with him. Soojin stopped, her eyes widened after she heard my confession. She realized that no matter what she said, I would never give up on him.

“Heejin, you know how much you mean to me. You are the sister I’ve never had. Therefore it’s my duty to wake you up!” I didn’t have time to realize what Soojin had said. In a few seconds she dashed towards me, her hands aiming for my neck. Was she trying to kill me?

Everything happened so fast.

I tried to defend myself but Soojin was stronger than me. I felt a brief scratch on my neck and something tearing before my hands pushed Soojin away. My trembling fingers touched my neck and finally I understood what she meant. Panic was shown in my face. Soojin had broken my necklace and snatched my precious key.

“Is this the key of the balcony doors on your bedroom? If I destroy it, you will have no other entrance for the demon you are meeting. I mean, unless you are crazy enough to risk your own mother’s life by opening the front door of your house, or the window of the living room. You haven’t achieved this degree of craziness, right?” For a moment I stopped in my track. The person I loved the most was my mom. I would never be able to risk her life.

But my love for Yoseob was messing with the rational part of myself. I headed towards Soojin, ready to retrieve my key. Even I didn’t recognize myself anymore. It was my first time fighting for someone. For my entire life I had always been quite and educated, sometimes even a little dumb for not doing what I wanted to do. But now I was changing.

“Give me back my key!” I tried to pry Soojin’s grip on my key but suddenly she threw it out of the window.

“I’m sorry Heejin.”

“No!” I screamed as I hurried went to the window. My key had flown to the place where Junsu used to live - yes, used to, because he had moved yesterday to another house (still in this village, but away from me). Since they had decided to demolish that house, there were lots of dust, barrier and places forbidden for people off of the work. My hands tightened its grip on the frame of my window. How could I retrieve my key now?

Angrily I turned my face to Soojin. “I hate you!” I shouted before running towards the front door of my house. She still tried to block my way with her own body, but I pushed her away.

“Heejin, please wake up before it’s too late!”

I took a long breath. Hands placed at the doorknob. My last sentence sounded more like a mumble, but I was sure she heard me.

“It’s already too late. I’m in love with Yang Yoseob.”

Then I parted to find my key.

I will find it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*** Nara’s PoV ***

“I will ask you for the last time, how was your relationship with Kikwang?!” The tallest demon named Dongwoon yelled at me while both of his hands were gripping my shoulders, shaking me as if I was a broken machine which would work after a few slaps. Luckily, he hadn’t slapped me, I mean yet.

Although Dongwoon was the one who threatened me the most, I was more afraid of the other demon, Junhyung, he seemed to be entertained by my resistance. From times to times I could see he was smirking at my hopeless state. Just looking at his eyes, I felt shivers running down my spine.

I was tied to a chair, in the middle of some strange room where I supposed it was their house. It was quite dark and uninviting. As soon as we reached here, I had said this to them and almost received a slap in return.

“So, what is your answer?”

Seeing my non cooperative state, Dongwoon groaned. “I really didn’t want to hurt your pretty face, but you give me no other choice.”

Suddenly he approached my face with two fingers and in a blink of eyes they turned into claws. Okay, things are getting a little out of control. I’m too young to die!

Oh my god!

I had to think of something real quick. Come on Nara, remember how good on acting you are!

“I love Kikwang!” I made it sounds like a blurt, a confession of what was hidden in my heart. But the truth was: it was a lie. I didn’t know who this Kikwang was. However if I wanted to stay alive, I should lie.

It worked. Dongwoon stopped with his claws a few meters away from my face. In fact, he backed away slightly, surprised by my confession. Junhyung shifted in his place, the smirk on his face had gotten lighter, it seemed he had achieved his goal. I had gotten the attention of both of them.

“And he loved me too.” I continued with my lie. If I wasn’t risking so much, I would be laughing at how good I could lie. I even closed my eyes and tried my best to sound like a lover in pain. I had never been in love before, but based on the books I’ve already read, I should try to act like this.

I thought that with those two sentences they would be satisfied, but I was terribly wrong. When I stopped talking and bowed my head - faking a sadness of lover’s apart - I felt a cold hand cupping my chin and forcing my face upwards. Although the movement was gentle, the grip was firm. My eyes widened in surprise.

“Continue.” Junhyung said while keeping my face on his hand.

I gulped and worked my mind about the issue. But nothing came. How should I create a love story between myself and some unknown demon in less than one minute with a stunning demon piercing me with just his eyes?

“It’s a secret.” Another good response.

I tried to stop the conversation and turn my face to the side, but Junhyung leaned closer and pulled my face near him. “You are lucky I’m in a good mood today. Since she is the one we were looking for, Dongwoon, let’s spare her life for today. Tomorrow, if she isn’t willingly to cooperate with us we can throw her away.”

I exhaled a long breath, expecting they would leave me alone. But, things weren’t over for me yet.

“Before we leave, I’m curious about how you managed to capture Kikwang’s heart.” As this sentence left his mouth he moved his thumb over my lips. They stayed frozen while Junhyung slowly and sensuously brushed his thumb over them.  I trembled under his touch. The lust sparkling in his eyes made his intentions very clear to me.

“Care to show me?”

Obviously it was a rhetorical question. Before I could mouth a sound as a response he covered my lips with his. I widened my eyes and gasped in shock. He took this opportunity to deepen the kiss. I whimpered when I felt his tongue touching mine, but Junhyung just placed his hand on the back of my neck and kept me still. Although he looked rather calm while trying to get answers from me, he was pretty aggressive in his kiss. His lips ravaged mine not bothering if they would be swollen.

When I was lacking of air, he parted away. His tongue moved on his bottom lip as if savoring the taste of the kiss before he moved his face closer to my right ear.

“Really tasty. Better than all demons I’ve already had.”

If I wasn’t tied, I would have punched his beautiful face.

Jerk.

“You better be ready for tomorrow.” He touched my swollen lips once more before standing up and leaving the room with Dongwoon who had a stupid grin on his face.

I shut my eyes tightly and angrily groaned. I was left, alone, in a dark room, tied and breathless.

"I need a plan."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~