Hello babes,
here's the next part! Just a little heads up, the next chapters might take a day or two longer than usual again, cause my editor is a very busy bee 🥰 just for you to know!
I love you 🖤
~*~
Part 42: Havoc
Kyun hates this feeling. He can barely focus. All he can think of is how Anya feels after last night.
After he slept with her.
So many times as he watched her with other men, when they just put their clothes back on and left, he asked himself how these people could leave a woman like her just like that. She was never mad about it; on the contrary, she was happy when they were gone. The work for her was done. But Kyun always knew that she deserved more than that.
He was angry with these guys. They were capable of all the emotions that are required for cuddles, for sweet conversations. But they didn't give her those things, because she satisfied them, and what else could a man ask for?
He promised himself that if he ever lost his strength to resist and slept with her, he wouldn't leave her laying there like a piece of meat, he wouldn't just get dressed and go like an asshole.
But sleeping with her overwhelmed Kyun; it overwhelmed him so much that he acted like all the other men. He was so scared of whatever had happened inside of him that he didn't even dare to look at her.
And by then it was too late anyway. Anya already asked him to leave and never come back. Kyun felt an undefinable pain in his chest the moment she spoke those words, but he figured it was best for her. It really is.
And now she's with him. With Jooheon.
Kyun knows him. He's seen his soul. Jooheon is everything Anya deserves. She deserves someone that treats her well. Someone that brings sunshine into her life instead of darkness and frustration.
But why the hell does the mere thought of it makes him so fucking angry?
None of his thoughts make sense. Every logical explanation only leads to feelings that are impossible for him to feel! So what the fuck is going on?
So many questions are hammering in his head. Will she sleep with Jooheon right away?
He assumes she won't be able to wait; sex is important to her, and the only way for her to express feelings properly. But maybe it's different with Joo because she wants more. She's longing for someone who loves more than her body—and Kyun can't blame her. He knows how lonely she is. He's seen it from the beginning.
But why does she have the urge to settle now? In the middle of this deal?
It would be so easy to sneak up on her, see how the date is going. But that's pathetic as fuck and he doesn't want to make all of this worse.
He could check her apartment. Just for a moment. See if she's already home...
Yeah, this might work.
Before he can consider this more carefully, he already finds himself standing in her living room. In silence, he looks around, tries to find any hints of her being home. The lights are on but it's so quiet...
Suddenly, something catches his attention. Confused, he turns his head and sees something lying on the counter reflecting the bright light from the fixture above.
The closer he moves to it, the more he wishes he'd never come, and the moment he recognizes what's laying there, he has a feeling in his chest so painful that he closes his eyes, gasping. And then the anger in his gut spreads like a virus, infecting his body and mind.
With a hand fisted to control his wrath, he takes the necklace from the counter.
The necklace he gave her.
His momma's necklace...
How dare she! How dare she take off something so precious to him! She knew about its emotional value.
While staring at it, sunken in his anger and all the frustration in him, he suddenly hears Anya's muffled moans.
"Fuck..." he breathes, and his body trembles. Every inch of him wants to storm in there and rip that son of a bitch away from her, but before he can do anything stupid, he slams the necklace back on the counter and jumps away.
Without a set destination, he jumps randomly, pinging like a pinball from one place to another—bars, clubs, casinos, restaurants—looking for something, anything he can let his anger out on. But he never remains longer than a few seconds before realizing this isn't where he needs to be. He jumps again and finds himself standing in a fancy penthouse living room.
"Well, good evening, Changkyun!"
The demon turns his head and takes a moment to recognize Magnus lounging on the couch in the dim light of the room. Kyun has no idea why his subconscious brought him here. But anywhere is better than her house right now...
"To what do I owe the honor of a visit at this hour?" The warlock smiles and his yellow cat eyes light up.
Kyun ignores his question. Maybe not anywhere is better than her house at the moment...
"Where's Alec?"
"On the hunt..." With a pensive gaze, Magnus studies the whiskey glass in his hand. "It's crazy how fast you can get used to someone. I'm over 400 years old and god knows I've loved hard before. But I've been alone more often than I was with someone... and now? Four years with Alec and I can't fall asleep without him anymore..."
He takes a sip from his glass and Kyun grimaces. Being this addicted to another person is so pathetic. Magnus hasn't always been like this. He was...more outgoing. He never was a child of sadness, lived his life to the fullest. No one could ever resist him; every creature, human or not, has always been completely mesmerized by him. But Alec changed him. In a way Kyun never thought was possible. He had no idea how much Magnus was longing to settle down, be with someone...
Kyun doesn't get how Magnus can live like that, knowing he will outlive his husband, knowing he will watch him die as an old man. The time Magnus will spend with Alec represents only a tiny fraction of the time he's already lived, and an even tinier fraction of how much longer he will live without him. Kyun doesn't understand how someone could choose this kind of tragedy for themselves.
And at the same time, he would sell his doomed soul once again just to witness this kind of love for himself.
"So?" Magnus says, scrutinizing the demon with a frown. "Wow! Why are you so angry? More than usual..."
Kyun hates how well Magnus can read him. "Don't wanna talk about it!"
There's a beat of silence.
"Then we won't." Magnus takes another sip. "How are things with your babygirl?"
Kyun groans. "I said I don't wanna talk about it!"
Magnus raises his eyebrows and Kyun realizes this question was only a conversation starter. But he gave himself away.
Damn it.
"What's up?"
"Nothing..." Kyun shrugs while walking around the living room, looking at the relics of Magnus' life. Stuff so old that it's almost ridiculous to keep them. "I've fucked her..."
He has no idea why he's telling Magnus that. It's not that it's a huge achievement considering his impact on her.
"Is that so?" his friend replies with a smirk on his face. "So you finally decided to go back to her after avoiding her for—how long? Three weeks?"
Probably the worst three weeks of his life.
"Needed to remind her of her work..."
That wasn't exactly the reason but he won't tell him that.
"And how was it?" Magnus asks. "The sex, I mean."
Addictive.
But he won't tell him that either. Instead, he lets his index finger run over a painting that looks like Monet himself painted it for Magnus.
"It was just sex..." he says nonchalantly.
They never wasted a minute talking about sex before. They're both very driven by lust—even though Magnus' lust is also connected to love and emotions. Kyun couldn't relate.
"Yeah, maybe," Magnus sighs. "I'm just surprised it only happened now. I mean, how long did you resist? Nine months?"
"Ten!" he says without looking at his friend. "And you know that I want consent...that's something you taught me, if you remember."
He glances at the warlock, who laughs and rolls his eyes. "Oh gosh, bro. With all due respect to your integrity, this girl's had 'Rail me, Kyun!' written on her forehead since the moment she met you!"
These words make him so angry. It's not like Anya had a choice. Of course she wanted to sleep with him since she met him, that's all part of the lure!
"What is this now?" he growls. "Are you really blaming me for not taking advantage of her?"
"What? No!" Magnus shakes his head vehemently. "There are just many things I don't understand. Like why you're so obsessed—"
"I am not obsessed with her!"
He hates that word. Being interested in someone doesn't mean obsession—even though he has to admit that doesn't know why he's so fucking interested in her.
Magnus rolls his eyes. "Fine. And what is your girl doing right now that makes you so angry?"
Kyun takes a deep breath. He wanted to get distracted from her, not reminded of her.
"She's on a date, but that's not what makes me angry..." he mumbles.
"With whom?"
"Some musician. I don't care!"
"Ah, you don't care!" Magnus gets up and walks to his little bar to make himself another drink. "Just to be clear here. Did you sleep with her before or after you found out about her date?"
What kind of question is that?
Kyun turns to him. "After?"
"Wow! Aren't you a toxic manipulative little bitch!" Magnus laughs and raises his glass to him. "I salute you, wish I wasn't the one teaching you this behavior..."
The demon is slowly losing his patience here. He never manipulated her! At least not on purpose. There are qualities about him that are hard for her to resist, yes. But she wanted the sex! She initiated it, gave him consent. He told her what would happen if she took another step closer...
"What are you assuming?" he asks and has a hard time not sounding annoyed. "She's mine, she knows that!"
"Ew!" Magnus grimaces. "This is so not sexy!"
Kyun couldn't care less what Magnus finds sexy or not. And it's not a lie. Anya belongs to him, whether she likes it or not.
For a moment they both fall silent and Kyun feels the warlock's eyes resting upon him.
"Wait a damn minute!" Magnus suddenly whispers. His head tilted in confusion, the demon watches him walking around the bar. "Changkyun, why are you standing in my living room in the middle of the night?"
His voice sounds like he knows things Kyun doesn't. "Is it to keep yourself from watching her fucking someone else?"
The demon's frown deepens. "No?"
"Because it's painful?" Magnus keeps asking and takes another step closer to him. His cat eyes look at him as if he's trying to read something on Kyun's face.
"No!" he groans.
"Because you suddenly can't stand the thought of her with someone else?"
Kyun feels the heat spreading in his gut. He's so close to ripping this warlock's throat out!
"Stop this bullshit!" he growls but Magnus shakes his head.
"No, Changkyun, talk to me! What the fuck is going on with you? These aren't—"
Suddenly Kyun hears something and raises his hand to shut up his friend, who instantly obeys.
Fuck...
It's her.
His head snaps over to Magnus, who is still looking at him in complete disbelief.
"She called!"
"What?" Magnus' eyes widen. "Now?"
"Yes now!" the demon says and he feels himself becoming nervous, though he couldn't say why. "Gotta go!"
"Wait!" Magnus grabs his arm. "Kyun, wait! Did you know that Anya can hear you calling her? This is—"
Before the warlock can end the question, the demon jumps away, pulled by an intense force he has no control over.
What did Magnus just say?
The thought slips through his mind the second he arrives in Anya's apartment and sees the sheer devastation in her eyes.
The moment the wrong name slips past Anya's lips, she rips her eyes open in panic and looks directly into Joo's shocked face.
Fuck!
FUCK!
"Excuse me?" he asks and crawls off of her.
Oh god, what did she do? What the fuck did she just do?
"I'm sorry!" Gasping, she sits up. "I'm so sorry! I just got carried away there for a moment. I didn't mean to... Joo, please wait!"
"For what, Anya?" Scoffing, he gets up and puts his boxers back on. "For you to magically forget about this dude and finally focus on me?"
"I am focusing on you!" Tears fill her eyes as she tries to find a way to make this up to him, make him stay. "I was just—"
He stops and looks at her, pure devastation in his eyes. "Pretending?"
Crying, she shakes her head vehemently as he pulls over his shirt and slips into his pants. "No Joo! I wasn't! I really really like you! Please don't—"
Overwhelmed, she stumbles out of bed, grabs her robe, and yanks it on while following him out of the bedroom.
"Please, Joo, wait!" she cries behind him and tries to get ahold of him. "I wanna talk about this!"
Abruptly, he stops. "There's nothing to talk about!" he yells and she flinches at the sudden volume of his voice. "You fucking played me!"
Seeing him this hurt because of her is so damn painful. This hurts so much that Anya can't breathe.
Again she shakes her head wildly, still trying to find a rational explanation, a reason why this happened, but no matter what she comes up with, it doesn't excuse what she just did.
"I didn't play you!" She sobs. "Please believe me! I didn't! I really wanted this to work, I'm just..."
She can't believe she let it go this far. How could she lie so shamelessly, and so convincingly, to herself? And why did she have to hurt the only person who truly cares for her?
She's never hated herself more in her entire life than she does in this moment.
Unable to control her sobs, she stands there crying, pitying her pathetic self as usual, and he watches her. She knows she doesn't deserve his forgiveness, but there's nothing she wants more.
Suddenly he takes a step forward, places his hand on her cheek, and makes her look at him. His eyes are glassy. His face screams heartbreak and this destroys her to the core.
"I had this..." he begins in a soft, shaky voice and clears his throat, "strange urge to save you from whatever is haunting you..."
Anya stops breathing. There's something unreadable in his eyes. As if he knows exactly what's haunting her. Who's haunting her.
Joo saw every part of her, every inch, he saw how broken she is, how fragile, how much the world hurt her, and still, he adored her.
And she thanks him by lying to him. But after his words, she also realizes something else.
"I cannot be saved, Joo..." she whispers.
The demon warned her that getting out of this deal would feel like actual hell. It truly does. And she knows as long as she's stuck with Kyun, she can only hurt Joo.
"Yeah." He nods. "I can see that now..."
With a contemptuous gaze, he lets go of her and heads toward the door. She trails after him, still hoping for any kind of absolution, anything that doesn't make her feel like the worst person on this planet.
"I'm sorry, so sorry, Joo!" she gasps. "I never meant to hurt you!"
He opens the door and turns around her another time. "I know! Goodbye, Anya!"
With these words, he turns and walks out.
"Joo!" she cries but the door has already fallen shut and her words drown in her tears.
Sobbing, she leans her forehead against the door. She never meant any of this to happen. She knew she had to end things with him, that it was a mistake sleeping with him in the first place, but she was so needy to be loved.
She should've known it wasn't that easy. But she was so selfish, and now?
Her whimpers filling the room, she turns around and her eyes fall on Kyun, who's standing a few steps away from her, watching her, tense, his eyes dark, his jaw clenched.
~*~
Don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter 🫶🏻