Gehenna's Gate

Take Me Back To Eden

Vena nearly jumped out of her skin, turning around as fast as a rabbit to meet an unfamiliar face approaching.

Dark yet short indigo hair with eyes to match, a small stature as well, came to a stop just a foot away.

"Huh, you didn't tell me she was so soft on the eyes." An amused noise left the unknown boy's mouth, not bothering to hide how obviously he was dissecting Vena with his eyes before turning his attention to Xiao.

"I didn't tell her you were so hard on them either."

In a flash, the unknown man had tackled Xiao to the ground.

Vena flinched away, making sure to keep clear of whatever chaos was ensuing on the floor of the bar now, wondering how common of an occurrence this was considering nobody else around batted an eye.

If it weren't for all the laughter, maybe she would have been a little more concerned as the two continued to wrestle and throw punches back and forth.

Somehow in the whirlwind of movements, the back of Xiao's shirt was pulled up, revealing two long scars.

What could have caused those? They were huge and more disappeared into the rest of his shirt. Whatever it was had no doubt been painful.

"Give me back my shirt, fucker." Xiao laughed lowly as the two were now on their feet, the boy now shirtless yet standing proudly despite it, not the least bit shy about it.

Out of respect, Vena looked away, even if it was morally okay for a man to actually be shirtless in public unlike a woman.

"What do you think, Vena? Do we give it back to him or not?" The unnamed man held Xiao's black shirt in his hand, a wide grin on his face as he tossed a wink Vena's way, probably assuming she enjoyed the view.

He knows my name, too? So, he did tell him about me...

An idea popped into the girl's head, a playful smile spreading across her lips.

"Gimme."

Xiao's eyebrows arched as the other man tossed his shirt over to Vena, eyes settling on her with a mischievous glint as the realization kicked in.

"Vena..." His tone sounded like a mix between playful and warning, gaze not leaving her own for even a moment as he took a step toward her.

"You look cold, Xiao." Vena threw her voice theatrically, giving him a fake little pout as she took a step back toward the stairs.

Clearly this amused the other boy considering he started laughing along at Xiao's misfortune.

"Come here." The way he said it sent a juicy little ping of delight down to her core, only spurring her on more as she took another step away.

"Catch me if you can." The purple haired girl teased, wasting no time in turning on her heels and bolting for the stairs as fast as she could.

Right before she hit the first step, a hand firmly grasped her forearm, spinning her around and taking hold of her other, effectively securing both of her arms as she gazed up at him in surprise.

Since she was pretty active and often ran track, her speed was something she'd been pretty proud of, yet he'd caught her in a matter of seconds.

Heart thumping wildly, Xiao had backed her up against the wall, his face just a few inches from her own as he leaned down toward her ear.