As Cheon Sa walked out of the hospital two weeks later, she tried to take in all of her surroundings.  The people that looked like ants from her hospital room were, indeed, people-sized.  The city was noisy, and yet she was glad.  The sun, whose rays extended from just above a skyscraper, cast a beautiful glow on the early Seoul morning.  Cheon Sa squinted at the sight, captivated, loving the warmth of the rays against her skin…until someone’s hand blocked the sun from her eyes.

“Humans will go blind if they stare at the sun for too long,” Jongin whispered.

“I know that,” she snapped, her cheeks turning pink.  She did not think that Jongin had noticed her fascination with the world outside of her hospital room.

Jongin hailed a cab; once Cheon Sa was safely inside, he slammed the door behind the two of them.  He reached over her, their faces inches apart, and quickly secured her seatbelt.  Cheon Sa cleared , her eyes immediately shifting toward the window.

“Where to?” the cab driver asked.

Jongin shrugged.  “Yah, human, where do you live?”

“Eighth Avenue,” Cheon Sa replied without taking her eyes off of her surroundings.

“You heard the girl.” Kai nodded.  Leaning back, he crossed his arms and stared at his human companion.  She was a petite girl with soft features and jet-black hair that reached the middle of her back.  Due to her strict diet at the hospital, she was thin, which caused Jongin to wonder if she was hungry.

If he were a human, he figured that he’d probably feel attracted to her; however, he was a demon.  Demons were only allowed to collect human souls, and they rarely spent time in the human world.   Many of them hated the human world, mostly because of the sunlight.  Jongin was one of few exceptions, which was why the devil constantly sent him out on errands.

Jongin’s job was to keep the human records updated.  He’d patrol hospitals, noting which humans would go to heaven and which humans he’d send to hell.  Most went to heaven, which Jongin liked (as it meant less paperwork for him), though some didn’t make the cut.  Each human soul sent to hell would require ten pages of paperwork, which drove Jongin crazy.  In fact, on the day he met Cheon Sa, he had already sent five human souls to hell.

A strange aura had been coming from her room, one that Jongin had never seen before.  It was dark red, which made him wary.  He could usually determine a person’s fate from their aura, and red usually meant hell.  He read the nametag: Park Cheon Sa.  He raised an eyebrow, wondering what a person with the name of an angel could have done to emit the red aura.

As he walked in, he was shocked to see her staring right back at him.  He tried to convince himself that it was just his imagination.

“Are you here to help me?” she whispered.

He paused.  Humans were not capable of seeing demons, at least, according to the devil.  “You can see me, human?”

She nodded.  “Are you here to help me get revenge?”

“You’re about to die,” he pointed out.  “That’s why I’m here.”

She shook her head.  “I can’t die yet.  My brother was murdered, and I must get revenge.”

“Are you…cheating death?”

“I will not die yet,” she repeated, fists clenched.  “My brother…I must help him before I die.”

Jongin spoke.  “How about we make a deal?”

“What are you thinking about?”

Jongin snapped out of his flashback and made eye contact with the girl.  Her eyes, once a dark brown, now appeared pinkish, which was a result of the demon contract.  Humans that survived a demon contract would have different characteristics after the contract.  In Cheon Sa’s case, her eyes had changed color.  Jongin had heard of cases in which a human’s hair had turned color; he had even heard of a case where a human had grown five centimeters after making a contract.  Depending on the success of the contract, the changes would be less severe.  Jongin was proud of his success.

“Nothing much,” he replied.

The cab began to slow, and Jongin finally noticed his surroundings.  The houses on Eighth Avenue were gigantic, to say the least.  Each had a fancy garden; he could’ve sworn that some of the houses had swimming pools.  He glanced over at the girl, who didn’t seem fazed.

“You live here?” he asked.

She blinked.  “Yes.”

When the cab came to a halt, Jongin swiftly paid the driver, stepped out of the car, opened Cheon Sa’s door, and reached out for her hand.

“I could’ve done it myself,” she grumbled, but took his hand anyway.

He whispered, “Welcome home, Cheon Sa," and took her in his arms.  As Jongin carried her, he could feel her steady heartbeat, which made him feel secure.  Welcome home...