CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
I felt my heart pounding against my chest. Why is Sehun doing this? He was standing behind me with his arms around my waist and I felt him resting his head against my back as he said sorry.
It was like all my senses stopped functioning at the moment. How am I supposed to react to this? When I felt his hold getting loose, I suddenly held his hands. I don't want him to let go. I just don't.
"You know I won't stay mad even if I tried."
I felt him relaxing after I said that. Meanwhile, I felt myself smiling. I know this is wrong and that everyone warned us about being too close but I can't help but feel comfortable with Sehun.
Silence passed by and neither of us made a move. I wanted to ask him why he's doing such a thing. Just one sorry for him is enough. I think that's my disadvantage, I just can't stay mad at Sehun.
"Your brothers will wake up soon," I spoke up. I regretted saying it though, I just wanted to stay like this longer.
Sehun then released his hold on me but I felt his hesitation. "Can you please look at me?" his voice was soft. "Just for a while," he added.
I swallowed the lump in my throat before I slowly turned towards him. "It's okay, we'll be fine." I assured him.
"I still need to tell you something," he somewhat looked troubled. I leaned back against the counter and waited for him.
"About yesterday... I said things that I shouldn't have," he began as he averted his gaze from mine. "I just want you to know that whatever I said... I didn't mean them and I'll never say those things."
I looked up at him, he's hesitating to say something. "So you know everything now?"
He pressed his lips into a thin line as he once again avoided eye contact. "Yes,"
So he knows how I feel now? Perhaps that's why he can't look me in the eyes.
"You can just forget about it if it makes you uncomfortable." I said.
"It doesn't," he immediately said which caught me by surprise.
Our eyes met and I could feel my heart racing again. Sehun placed one hand on the counter and he leaned down. He was slowly closing his eyes and I did the same. I don't want to doubt him anymore.
I could him getting closer. I've never been this close to him before, at least his normal form.
"What's for breakfast?"
Sehun and I suddenly got back to our senses when we saw Lay right by the kitchen entrance.
"Uhh... pancakes," I said as Sehun took a step back.
"I smell something burning," Sehun turned towards the stove.
"Oh shoot!" I ran towards the stove and switched it off. I burned the batch that I was making. Gosh, how long was I distracted?
"You burnt them?" Lay asked. "You hardly make mistakes in cooking, Paige." he pointed out.
"I was busy preparing the hot chocolate," I scratched my head.
Lay gave me a knowing smile before chuckling in amusement. "I'll go and prepare the table,"
Damn it, how will I face Sehun after what just happened? Last time at the balcony I wasn't sure if he really was going to kiss me but now I'm certain of it. We were about to kiss and I'm not being delusional at all!
"Is there anything I should help you with?" he asks. I felt a bit relieved that he changed the subject.
"I'm okay, I was just a bit distracted earlier." I told him as I poured some batter on the pan. I had to make a new batch since the previous batch turned into coal.
"I'm a distraction?" Sehun asked as he sat on the counter.
I suddenly got dumbfounded at his question. "I didn't mean it that way," I groaned. I felt my cheeks heating up.
I continued cooking and tried to maintain my composure. I somewhat felt conscious since Sehun's watching.
"Chen's right," he said and I looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"He teased you about being wife material before," he laughed.
"Shut up," I looked away in embarrassment. That was just too much, I hardly hear Sehun laughing and to top it all off he even said such a thing.
"Do I act like an old lady? I'm nowhere near ready for that yet," I grumbled as I finished off the batch that I made.
"It's not meant that way," he said. "It just means like you're ready to get married," he explained.
I eyed him weirdly. "I'm nowhere ready to get married. Besides, being a wife just doesn't suit me."
I actually find it weird that I'm talking about stuff like these with Sehun.
"Why not? You're responsible, caring, and you're mature for your age." he said.
"You forgot the part where I'm reckless and clumsy." I giggled.
"Well, that's why you have a husband."
He rendered me speechless with that. This is getting too uncomfortable for me.
"Sehun, don't sit on the counter." I found myself silently thanking Kyungsoo for arriving.
Sehun went down from the counter while I faced Kyungsoo. "I already made breakfast, I hope you don't mind." I told him.
"It's fine, I woke up late anyways," he said. "But I do smell something burning." he sniffed.
"Actually... I overcooked some pancakes earlier since I was distracted," I explained sheepishly.
Kyungsoo placed his hand on top of my head and messed up my hair. "I think I know why you're distracted," he chuckled as he sneaked a glance at Sehun. "You're lucky you didn't set the house on fire."
Kyungsoo helped me then with cooking. He also ordered Sehun to help us carry them to the table. Almost everyone was there.
"Good morning," I greeted them.
I heard the door opening so I turned and I came face to face with Baekhyun. "Good morning," he said with a yawn. Am I forgetting something?
He was about to go to the dining table but I held his wrist. At that very moment, I suddenly remembered what happened last night. I was talking to him about Sehun then I suddenly changed forms.
"Did I kiss you last night?" his eyes suddenly widened and all of the traces of his drowsiness got drained out.
"Baekhyun," I tugged his arm.
"It was just a kiss. You're not your normal self and I understand that." he said softly.
I sighed in disbelief. This is too much. Not only do I have to worry about changing forms while Sehun is around, now I have to worry about changing forms around everyone's presence.
"I'm really sorry. I-I caused too much trouble didn't I?" I felt really bad especially that it's Baekhyun. He's the one I'm closest to in the house and I didn't want to ruin what he have just because of my stupid demon form. Let's not forget the fact that we used to have mutual feelings for each other back then.
"I actually owe you an apology for it," Baekhyun said. "I kissed you as well... there's no excuse for it. I'm sorry and I hope you can just forget about it." he said with a sigh.
I suddenly felt confused. "You're not mad about it?"
He shook his head. "Trust me, we're okay. How about you and Sehun?" he asked.
"Huh? We... we're okay too." I said.
"Good," he sighed in relief. "He actually saw us last night but we were able to talk about it properly."
Sehun saw me kissing Baekhyun?! Oh gosh. This is more messed up than I thought, but Baekhyun seems to be calm about the whole thing.
"How did he react?" I asked.
Baekhyun smiled mysteriously. "That's something between the two of us. You're asking way too much."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Last question, how did I return to my normal form?" I asked.
"You kissed me again," he answered. "You lost consciousness afterwards. I was contemplating if I should stay with you at the living room or bring you to your room. I chose the latter and I ended up meeting Sehun again and that was when we talked."
I seriously wanted to punch myself in the face. It's a good thing that Baekhyun and Sehun are okay though.
"Hey, you two. It's time to eat." we heard Xiumin calling. We all took our seats and began eating.
After eating and cleaning up, we all rested for a while. Suho told us that they should take a break from training for a while. Some of the guys stayed in their room while the others are playing pool or darts at their game room. Meanwhile, I headed to the library to do some research for the activities that were given to me.
I decided to hang-out in the library for a while since I wanted to do some reading. I was scanning through random books when I came across an old picture. I immediately recognized miss Helena, Mr. Damon, and Aleister but there was one more person in the picture. They are all probably still teenagers during this time. I wonder who the other person is.
"So you were here all along. The others are looking for you." I turned and I saw Baekhyun.
"Oh, I just did my activities." I answered. "I'll go out soon,"
"You seem to be in deep thought," I was surprised to head a different voice. He's with Sehun.
"Oh... you two," I said. They exchanged confused glances. Seriously, these brothers don't know the meaning of the word awkward.
"What's that?" Baekhyun asked as he sat beside me. Sehun followed and took a seat beside Baekhyun.
"Do you know who the other guy is?" I asked. "Does your mother have a sibling?"
Baekhyun took the photo then he and Sehun looked at it. "I'm not sure, I just know that he's someone close to mother." he said.
"How close though? Friend? Brother? A relative?" I asked.
"Oh right," Baekhyun nodded. "I remember him visiting the house when we were still young. I think he's father's best friend or something. He even says that he gets jealous of this guy a lot." Baekhyun narrated.
"Where is he now?" I asked.
"We don't know," he shrugged. "He visited sometimes when we were young but one day he just stopped coming by, I just remember stories that father tells about him."
I looked at the guy in the picture again. I wonder how he's connected to all of them. He also looks... familiar.
"As far as I remember, he's friends with father but he's on bad terms with Aleister." Sehun commented.
"Oh well... I guess I should stop asking about him now," I stood up. "Let's go."
Baekhyun put the picture down and stood up as well. "Why are you two together anyway?" I asked.
"Is it bad that we're together?" Sehun asked as he and Baekhyun exchanged glances again.
I smiled then I shook my head. "Nevermind,"
"You know you need to stop worrying about us," Baekhyun said as he and Sehun followed me.
"I'm just worried about last night," I sighed. "I'm really sorry about it."
"It's okay, Paige. How many times am I supposed to tell you that?" Baekhyun asked.
"I just feel really bad about it." I scratched my head and looked away.
"If Baekhyun tells you that it's okay, he means it." Sehun said as he rested his elbow on Baekhyun's shoulder.
"He's right," Baekhyun nodded.
I then looked towards Sehun. "I'm still going to keep apologizing," I said which caused the two to chuckle.
"Don't worry Paige, you can kiss anyone in the house and I guarantee that no fight will happen." Baekhyun joked.
Sehun pushed him in a playful manner. "No," he said. "Don't even joke about it."
"So you're bothered by it?" Baekhyun asked as a playful smile spread across his lips.
Sehun just averted his gaze. "It's just that it sounds wrong if Paige would kiss other guys. It's just like how we felt when Jiyong kissed her," he explained.
"You mean it's wrong when Paige kisses other guys except you," Baekhyun laughed.
"Baekhyun!" Sehun and I said in unison. I'm probably blushing right now.
"It's always fun to tease you two," he kept laughing.
"Shut up," Sehun covered Baekhyun's face with his hand.
"Hey! That's no way to treat your older brother!" Baekhyun groaned.
"Just stop saying stuff like that," Sehun scoffed as he walked ahead of us.
Baekhyun grinned and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Sehun might say he's okay with it but he's still obviously jealous," he whispered then we both shared a laugh.
It would be nice to think of that too but I don't want to start assuming right now. Still... a jealous Sehun would be cute.
We all attended class that night and some classmates were still being so nosy about yesterday. Good thing Jiyong talked them out of it. Meanwhile I just decided to keep quiet since I might just make things worse if I tried to defend myself.
Three days passed and I never expected that I'd be this close with Jiyong. I have friends in class too but for some reason, I'm more comfortable with Jiyong. The guys were actually worried for me since they didn't want me to be too close with anyone else but I told them that we could trust Jiyong. He hasn't told anyone about Sehun claiming me and that I'm turning into a demon.
"Are you feeling different, Paige?" Jiyong asked. "Are you okay?"
"Not really, but I've been switching forms more often. No matter how cautious I act, sometimes I still end up switching forms. It's like a glitch." I sighed.
For the past three days, I kept switching forms and it's honestly getting way too frustrating. Somehow it could only end up in two ways. One, I end up hurting someone by suddenly getting superhuman strength or two, I end up kissing Sehun. It's seriously destroying whatever progress Sehun and I are having... if there's even progress in the first place.
"But Paige, your demon scent is starting to get more noticeable. Soon enough, everyone will know and you might end up becoming a full demon." Jiyong said.
"I know," I groaned. "They told me about it too. I just wish I could find a way to not lose control of myself. I just hate the thought of how many more times do I have to hurt others or how many times do I have to keep giving random kisses to Sehun."
"I'm sure Sehun won't mind," he snickered.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "And what makes you say that?" I cocked one eyebrow.
"Free kisses from Paige Dee. Who would say no to that?" he grinned cheekily.
I pushed him and he still kept laughing. "Knock it off!" I grumbled. That's exactly what Kai told me yesterday.
"By the way Paige, how did you even get involved in their uncle's schemes?" he asked.
"I guess I just happen to be an easy target. Maybe it gives him more satisfaction to affect their side of the family even more."
"That's sick,"
We walked in silence for a bit. It's our break time and Jiyong invited me to get some fresh air. He asked permission from Xiumin and the others then afterwards we went out. We stopped when we came across Sehun sitting on a bench.
"Oh... you're with him," Sehun said the moment he saw us.
"Is this where you usually stay at?" I asked and he nodded as a reply.
"Why Sehun? Is it bad if I hang-out with Paige?" Jiyong asked. I elbowed him to make him stop. He likes to provoke Sehun a lot. It's just in his nature but I don't want Sehun's demon form to suddenly appear.
Sehun gave Jiyong a piercing stare. "Don't worry, Sehun! Paige and I are just friends. It'd be good for her to make other friends as well. Besides, after seeing you two in the classroom last time I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't want to interfere with you two." Jiyong smirked.
I narrowed my eyes at him. Seriously, this guy.
"There's this strong sexual tension between you two, are you aware of that?"
I ended up pushing Jiyong way too hard while Sehun looked at him in disbelief. "I'm kidding!" Jiyong laughed loudly.
"Look, Paige made a new friend,"
I suddenly got alarmed while Sehun stood up and stepped in front of me. "What do you want?" he glared.
"Who's he?" Jiyong asked.
"I'm her stepfather," Lucas said. I looked around for Aleister but he isn't there.
"I got you something," he suddenly threw a bag which Sehun caught. "Those are some stuff that you and your mother left. I had to get rid of them."
"You came all the way here for that?" Sehun asked.
"I came to give you a warning," Lucas said and I flinched when I saw his eyes changing into red. He's a demon too?!
"You must be having fun with your demon form, Paige. I think lover boy over there is enjoying it too. You're a demon now as well, you now have the ability to claim him too." Lucas chuckled.
Sehun and I exchanged looks. Heck, that's the least of our concern right now.
"And one last thing" he smirked. "We'll be waiting for you, Paige."
He then disappeared after that. Sehun, Jiyong, and I were all left dumbfounded. I looked at the bad that Lucas brought then I heaved a sigh.
Something doesn't feel right.
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Paige + Jiyong = PaYong. Which literally means umbrella in my language. XD