The Way It Burns - BbangNyu

[41]

"How could everyone just forget? This makes no sense." Chanhee said, totally unable to wrap his head around the revelation. 

Eunji sighed, bringing her hand to the angels shoulder. She'd gone over every little detail that she knew, which for once, wasn't much, but Chanhee still wasn't processing it. This was exactly what she was afraid of, Chanhee finding out things he never should have. She couldn't protect him from this dark world anymore. "It was 18 years ago Chanhee, you were barely 1 years old. Your father has so much power, I wouldn't be surprised if he wiped every trace of her from existence." 

"No, this is too much." Chanhee muttered, resting his head in his hands. His whole world was imploding around him, this was such an overload of emotion. Tears welled up in his eyes, as he whispered to himself. "Everything has been a lie..."

"Chanhee, this is a lot, I know. You need to get some rest, we'll go home-"

"Go home?!" Chanhee screamed, tears streaming down his cheeks. The angel took deep breaths, looking towards the fairy, you could almost see the pain in his eyes. "How I am supposed to go home?! My dad killed my mother, and could very easily kill me. So tell me again, tell me I should go home!" He shouted, forcing his head so far down, his hands were grasping at his hair. He couldn't keep himself together, he just wanted to disappear. 

Eunji glanced over to Mama Kim, who looked equally worried about the angel. Neither knew how to make Chanhee feel better, since that was pretty impossible, due to the circumstances. 

With a slight nod to the right, Mama Kim signaled for Eunji to follow her out of the room. They headed out, into the dimly lit hallway, bumping into one of the angels employed by Mama Kim. "Jieun, go sit with Chanhee. He's really upset right now." The demon commanded.

"Oh no, what happened? Is he alright?" Jieun questioned, immediately worried about her friend. 

"He will be, now go." 

Jieun rushed into the office behind the creatures, while Mama Kim started her discussion with the fairy. "He needed to find this out, that boy is the only one who can stop his father."

"This isn't a revolution, he shouldn't be stopping anything. He's to be married in a weeks time, that's all he needs to be concerned about." Eunji stated. She knew that things had to change, but she never wanted Chanhee wound up in the mess.

"Oh for fuck sake, that's the last thing he wants!" Mama Kim exclaimed, gripping her hands against her hips. "Chanhee deserves to be happy, be with that demon he loves. He'll never get the chance if he doesn't take action." 

It would've been dumb for Eunji to assume Chanhee hadn't been involved with Younghoon again, but she definitely didn't realize that the two were in love. "It can't happen, he was an idiot for getting involved with demons in the first place. He's marrying Sangyeon; the way it was meant to be." She said, knowing it was what's best for the angel. 

"Getting involved with demons." Mama Kim scoffed. "I'm so sorry we can't all be light creatures, like you. Cause we're the ones putting Chanhee in danger, not his father. That bigoted asshole would never hurt him." She continued, voice laced in sarcasm.

"Oh come on! I'm obviously not blaming demons. Whether we like it or not, this is how the world works. Angels, and demons, they can't be together. Eventually Chanhee will be happy with Sangyeon, it'll keep him safe, and he'll have a good life." Eunji responded, feeling her body tensing up from all this stress. 

"He'll have a good life with that demon."

"He won't have a life at all." 

The corridor fell in silence, upon Eunji's eerie statement. The women just stared at one another, realizing they'll never come to a conclusion. In their minds, they were both looking out for Chanhee. Though, each in their own way. 

"My priority is keeping that boy alive, it doesn't matter if he's miserable right now, he'll learn to cope."

This conversation was over, Eunji had nothing left to say. Turning towards the office, she made her way down the hall, ready to take Chanhee home. Hand on the door knob, Eunji froze, hearing those last words from Mama Kim.

"He's going to hate you for the rest of his life."

Gritting her teeth, Eunji turned the knob. "I can handle that."

____

The stereo played on low, humming the sound of smooth jazz through the silent vehicle. Eunji took occasional glances at the devastated boy beside her, who still wasn't fond on going home. His hair was disheveled, and his cheeks were stained with tears, his face was expressionless right now, but his eyes told a different story. 

"You need to act normal, and if you can't, then avoid them. You rarely see them anyway, so it shouldn't be hard." Eunji remarked, to no response.

Chanhee had not wanted to go home, she had to basically beg him to go with her. He just kept talking about Younghoon, saying how he was going to stay with him. It was becoming clear, really how much Chanhee relied on the demon. It made her wonder, if Chanhee would be fine without him. 

"Once you've married Sangyeon, you'll be out of there. Then you'll get two years away from them. By the time you start working alongside your father, you'll hardly remember all of this." She added, hoping it would bring some comfort to the angel.

"Eunji?"

Eunji's ears perked at her name. Switching off the radio entirely, she was relieved that Chanhee was finally speaking. "What is it?"

"Do you think I'll turn evil?" 

Never in her life, had Eunji felt more affected by a question. Her heart literally sank to the bottom of her chest. "Of course not, why do you think that?"

"I was just wondering." Chanhee mumbled, leaning his head against the window.

Biting her lip, Eunji felt a single tear run down her face. It was getting harder to reassure herself that this was the right decision. All she wanted was for him to be safe, even if he grew into a person he didn't want to be. Though, no matter how bad Chanhee would become, he could never be evil, he wasn't anything like his father. 

____

Good news, I had a sudden burst of inspiration, so the chapters will be uploaded as normal!
Next chapter will take place during the wedding, since I don't really feel like writing about the week before it. Nothing interesting would have happened anyway.

Hope everyone had a good day🥰