𝐴𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑛𝑒 // 𝐿𝑒𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝒉𝑜

thirteen.

     "Absolutely not."

Haneul rolled her eyes, slapping Hyunjin's stealthy hand away from her plate before he could steal a bite of her dinner. "It's not exactly your decision, Ji."

Jisung scoffed, slumping back in his chair in irritated disbelief. "So what, you're just going to shack up with a demon? A demon who wants to cut you off from your best friends and doesn't care about what's actually best for you?"

     Apparently Jisung didn't mind who heard him speaking, although with how crowded the restaurant was, Haneul was pretty sure it was  safe subject to talk about.

"That's not a strong argument," Hyunjin reluctantly inserted before Haneul could speak. "We've kept our identities a secret this whole time too, she has a right to be around whoever she chooses. And besides, it's not her fault that her guardian is a demon, or that the local Underworld population is attracted to her on a level higher than usual."

They stared at him incredulously, unused to such wise words coming out of his mouth. Hyunjin shrugged modestly, stuffing in another piece of meat to chew before continuing.

"My divine informant told me that Heaven is fully aware of your situation, and nobody is very happy about it. Apparently your demon was given guardianship over you as punishment for a crime he committed as a child. Regardless of the Heavenly Father's agreement to this dynamic, most angels would rather you had a legitimate source of protection."

Haneul's brows shot up in intrigue. Minho had alluded to something like that before, but hearing confirmation was interesting.

"Wonder what he did," Jisung mused, running a finger along the lip of his glass. "Probably murdered a sibling or something."

Glaring, Hanuel swatted him harshly, ignoring the yelp of pain he let out. "No, he's not like that."

"Oh yeah, and you'd know," he muttered, dumping the rest of a soju bottle into his cup before tipping it back.

He was right, she knew it. Haneul barely knew anything about Minho, apart from surface level things like his temper and cooking skills.

"Can your informant find out anything else about what happened, and why he was punished with guarding me?" Haneul asked casually, her heart thumping as she spoke.

Hyunjin pondered for a moment, nodding slowly. "I could ask Chan to dig a bit deeper; it's a classified occurrence, though, so we most likely won't have much luck. You'd be better off asking the demon."

     Feigning agreement, Haneul's heart sank. Minho wouldn't tell her anything, he'd just hiss out some baseless threat and leave it at that. She'd have to get his guard down if she really  wanted to uncover the truth.

She had to get him to trust her more.

-

When she returned to the apartment, Minho clapped the book he was reading shut, following her with unreadable eyes as she unlaced her shoes. His fingers trailed along the spine of the novel, Haneul's eyes catching on the scattered scars that lay there, the lamp light drawing a gleam from the crooked lines.

     "You're later than you said you'd be."

     Haneul sighed with relief as her feet were freed, scowling over at the demon with an indifference she couldn't quite muster. A quick glance at her phone told her that she had indeed been gone two hours further into the evening than she'd anticipated. As if she would apologize for it.

     "It's normal for friends to hang out for longer than they planned, it's fine."

     "I need to know where you are, always," he reminded her, standing to stretch his legs. "You need to be more precise next time."