“Do you know why my eyes are dark?” Jongin said one day. I never asked. I just swallowed that it was a part of him. Same as his dark skin that always made his lips morph into a fine line when mentioned. So I avoided the topic of them altogether. 

“Does it really matter what the answer is?” I replied to him. Jongin had lived in my house with me all my life. He wasn't my brother, I knew that but he lived like a sibling did. His bedroom was always across from mine. It was his bed that I ran to when my imagination grew too vivid for my young mind and I had nightmares of demons and monsters.

“It’s like your grandmother says. The eyes are windows to the soul. I don't have a soul. I'm a demon. That's why my eyes are dark.” He said regardless of my beating heart.

I hit him on the head. “You're not a demon silly,” I shook my head at his clearly wrong statement. “You don't look like a demon. You look like a human only different.” You were sure then that you were right. But Jongin had already heard your grandmother talk about 'his kind'.

I went to my grandmother for clarification but she confirmed Jongin's fears right before my eyes. I gasped as his eyes welled up at the words that sealed his heart to his fate. “I knew I wasn't a good thing.” How broken Jongin was, to know he wasn't inheritably good; that apparently changed everything.

Then he was gone. Grandmother said it was in his nature. Grandmother and Father fought that evening. Father was hurt that Jongin was gone. He didn't understand Jongin had always known he was different but that didn't stop his child's heart from wishing he was human. I didn't learn why until years later.

He didn't expect me. He didn't think he meant enough to me that I would ever go after him. Jongin didn't realize that even though he was younger, he was the one that kept the nightmares away. I had to find him. They got worse and worse. I dreamt of a world covered in flames. I saw that all who lived there suffered. I also felt as if there was nothing I could do to stop this scene before me. I needed Jongin to assure me it would never happen.

“Jongin why would you leave?” I cried out even when a smart smile breathed life into his lips and eyes. My words stole away that sunshine. I was the cause of his pain. That wasn't what I wanted.

“I missed you every night,” He said with the face still bright with happiness of the past.

“I have missed you for every second that you have been absent in my life.” I didn't care that I was being dramatic. It was how I felt. He needed to know.

“I am now where I belong,” he informed me, his eyes quietly downcast. “I live with my own people. With other demons. I will live according to the laws.”

“I don't want to live in a world wreathed in flames, Jongin. Please let me sleep with you for this evening. Allow me this one favour before you turn your cheek to me one more time.” I took that final step from before as friend and into the future as love interest. I wrapped my arms around Jongin's body and closed my eyes when my cheek rested against his heart. “You have a heart, Jongin. I care not about your soul.”