"Hee-Young!"
Screamed Areum while slamming the door open of the girl's room.
Gone.
Areum dashed towards the bathroom, hoping to find her daughter inside it while brushing her hair whereas listening to her blasting music. She slammed the door open.
"Hee-Young!"
Gone.
Her fingers immediately sank in her hair, every strand of it got pulled by the nervousness running through her veins. Not only the woman was upset and disappointed by her daughter's behaviour, but she was also desperate and worried to death which may sound obvious for most people, but wasn't taken for granted in Areum's case.
The woman was fully aware that in case of danger Hee-Young would've been able to protect herself thanks to her demonic blood that circulated in her body. However, the actual problem wasn't what could happen to her, rather whether she could cause harm to others, or worse, to Yunho.
As every terrified mother and wife, her first thought went to Hee-Young's phone which seemed to be turned off since the only voice that replied on the other side of the line was the answering service. So, Areum decided it was convenient to call San and tell him what was going on.
It had already been months since the couple had spent a night together: it was hard for both of them to live separately and it also had been difficult to persuade San that it was the best choice to keep him safe. In the end, he reluctantly agreed, though it could pass a single day without him driving in front of the apartment as if only by looking at the building was enough to convince him that his family was safe and sound.
Areum's shaky fingers messily composed her husband's phone number and it didn't take him too long to reply.
"Hey, love! How are you?"
San's jaunty voice filled her ears and heart with pure joy, a feeling that unluckily didn't last long, for the woman.
"San! Our daughter is gone!"
Areum shouted inside the mic of her phone so loud that San had difficulty hearing it since the sound of her voice that reached his ears glitched into an ear raping noise that almost made the man's eardrum bleed.
The man gasped and from his mouth, only incoherent sounds came out. Hee-Young was gone and he didn't know where she could be. Never he could imagine that his daughter had disappeared with a guy, her boyfriend, San rarely saw Hee-Young and even when they met, she never talked to him about her.
A weak, faint, and disheartened word was his answer.
"W-What..."
He whispered, heart shaking like his wrists and lips. No matter how complicated his relationship with Hee-Young was, she was nonetheless his beloved daughter, or so he thought. By the way, the main difference between Areum and San was right there feeling for Hee-Young: while the man couldn't care less of her true nature, the woman couldn't just ignore it and the reason was simple. She resembled Seonghwa. Areum couldn't look at her daughter without seeing the Incubus that had haunted her and was still haunting her, especially her blue eyes.
The woman had no doubt, anymore, unwillingly she had to give up and admit that Hee-Young was Seonghwa's daughter and, probably, there was nothing that could link the girl to who was supposed to be her real father, namely San.
Areum's voice shook before begin to talk again, but someone snatched the phone away from her ear. The woman lifted her hands to catch the device, but as soon as her eyes met a pair of blue ones, the blood froze in her veins, together with her movements.
Seonghwa was there and he was holding her phone. San's metallic voice could be heard on the other side of the line as the tension in the kitchen grew and the silence was thunderous. For a brief second, the only noise Areum could hear was her heartbeat pounding in her brain, her attention was focused on the demon in front of her. Tears started to fill her eyes, but none cut her cheeks.
"Who are you talking to?"
Asked Seonghwa with a deep and velvety voice that made the woman shiver and her stomach doing cartwheels. His long, cat-like eyes fell on the display of the phone and Areum could see his jawline clenching for the bother. His plump, red lips thinned into a line as he placed his stare back on his prey.
Areum gulped when he crashed her phone between his fingers and with ease as if the device was made of paper, an action that emphasized his demonic nature that the woman still hadn't gotten used to. The demon opened the same hand he used to destroy the phone and let what remained of it falling on the floor with his tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek.
"Why are you calling him?"
Sang Seonghwa with his dark voice while tilting his head to the right. Areum didn't know what to say, she still couldn't believe that he was back and that this time, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill her and her group of friends.
However, Seonghwa being the sadistic demon he was, wanted to hear Areum's voice, he wished to hear how her voice was broken from the fear and how desperate she sounded whereas attempting to push him away from her like the last time they met.
He smirked, before taking a few steps towards her, finally deciding that the fun part began at that moment.
"Why are you calling him when I am the real father?"
He asked with a pinch of malice in his tone. Even though Areum was already aware of the truth, that San wasn't Hee-Young's real father, hearing those words hurt her more than she expected. Her breath shook in her throat as she took a few steps backwards, hoping to create some space between her and Seonghwa.
"You're not her father, you can't be. We haven't met in three years, there's no way it's you."
The woman claimed in a murmur, almost as if she was talking to herself. Seonghwa scoffed and tried to repress an evil laugh and his want to explain to her that she was terribly wrong, other than delusional. Though he had to be quiet, his plan was only at the beginning.
"Are you sure?"
He replied, proceeding his slow walk to reach Areum. The latter's eyes trembled and the demon realised that she, in the first place, wasn't convinced about what she was saying. That question rumbled in her mind and let it take control over her entire body. No, Areum wasn't sure about anything that had happened in the last four years, she had accustomed herself to live her life the way it was, without searching for plausible explanation and meanings, because sometimes there weren't any.
Even so, the way Seonghwa skillfully played with her mind and heart... She hated it and also despised the control he had over her, starting from prohibiting her to sleep.
Areum gulped a knot of tears that was lumping in her throat before managing to reply.
"I didn't hesitate."
And Seonghwa adored her stubbornness and tenacity, in his opinion, it made their relationship even more interesting: not only the woman could see, talk and touch an actual thousand-year-old demon, but she also had the gut to stand up to him meanwhile being acquainted that he could end her life with a snap of his fingers.
Nevertheless, this time, the demon wanted to have more fun and decided to not do anything, or rather, to mess her mind so that she would lead Areum to find herself drowning in her own thoughts, with no one there to rescue her, not even her teacher who she admired so much.
"Are you sure?"
He repeated with a voice tone that spurred her to question her words. No, of course, she wasn't sure, she knew that Seonghwa was Hee-Young's real father, she just didn't know how that was possible.
With his stable walk, Seonghwa made Areum's back meet the wall, pushing her physically to the partition and on the verge of a mental breakdown, mentally. His hands soon laid against the wall, next to the woman's head, his face lowered a little to be on the same level as hers, his lips and nose brushed imperceptibly.
Areum's whole body quivered, something between her legs burned, her knees trembled and what she wanted to do was to caress his broad shoulders and back to feel yearningly his muscles stretching under her palms. The woman came back to her senses when a moan coming from Seonghwa caressed her mouth and only at that moment she realised that she was actually touching him. His expression in pure bliss reminded her of the time they spent together, all the emotions and everybody contact they shared.
The woman didn't even realise that Seonghwa had connected their lips, as his were soft like a cloud. However, the minute her mouth moulded onto his, a deep and low growl escaped from the demon's throat and Areum immediately pulled away from him.
Soon that growl turned into a satisfied giggle. That just proves to him that she was still addicted to him, even if just a little. Areum's eyes thrust open once she took notice of what she had just done and tears started to fill her eyes when she rapidly came to the conclusion that she had betrayed San.
"I'm her father. Hee-Young is my daughter. Our daughter."
The woman shook her head and pushed the demon away from her by placing her hands in his solid chest while sobs started to take control of her body shaking it uncontrollably.
"No, no! It can't be!"
Screamed the woman while closing her eyes and turning her head to the right, hoping to erase the demon's face from her brain. Her attempts to sneak away from his firm grip turned out to be completely useless as he was clearly too strong for her and every other human being.
Seonghwa's fingers sank in the flesh of her cheeks and finally created and eye contact with Areum, who shrugged when his blue eyes devoured her and immediately Hee-Young's visage surfaced in front of her. Of course, how could she ignore those inhumanly beautiful features? How could she keep lying to herself and San that Hee-Young was their daughter when the girl's visuals told the opposite?
And when she burst into tears was the moment when Areum gave up in front of the obviousness, the raw and cruel truth. Her hands covered her mouth and sobs took control over her whole body, mind-numbed and empty, what could she think about?
The corner of the demon's mouth curved into an evil grin, somehow he felt excitement seeing Areum falling apart in front of him. Moreover, he loved making fun of her while she was in a weak state, because that was what he had been doing since he appeared, that day.
His arms wrapped around Areum's waist and tightened the grip around her, making his curves adhere to hers, their ribs almost wedged together. His lips brushed against her ear and, with sheer lungs, he inebriated his nostrils with her scent, the sweet flavour of fear and despair.
"We made a pact, kitten. A blood pact."
He claimed whispering before grasping her wrist and caress the thin, rosy, and sensitive patch of skin with his thumb. Areum gasped at the sudden caress, so delicate yet it burned on her skin.
"You're mine."
He declared before vanishing into a cloud of grey smoke. The woman didn't change her position as if she could still feel Seonghwa's steamy body against hers, until her knees finally ceded and let her back slip into the wall and she found herself sat on the floor, alone.
And suicidal.
____
*I haven't reread the chapter*
Whey, I'm late
Uhm, just a quick reminder: nothing is what it seems!
Luv ya ♡︎