Chapter Text
NEW TERRITORY
Rumi and Jinu entered the penthouse, both with large smiles on their faces and laughing. In the living room Mira and Zoey were going through numerous bags, separating things into piles. They looked up once the other two walked in.
“Jinu, that is not normal!” Rumi was giggling as she set the three bags of records down on the kitchen counter.
“Fine, but I’m telling you that it’s normal for me. And you are the first person in four-hundred years to tell me it’s weird,” Jinu shot back, an amused smirk across his face as he bent down to pull off his shoes. Derpy, who was sticking his giant head into the bags strewn across the couch, turned upon hearing his dad’s voice and slowly made his way over to him.
Zoey came around the corner, her hair pulled back in a towel. “What’s not normal? I want to be the judge!”
Rumi jerked a thumb towards Jinu. “I just found out this loser is one of those weirdos with really flexible fingers. It’s gross, his fingers almost touch the back of his hand! Look!”
Zoey turned her head to Jinu after he kicked off his other shoe. He held up his right hand and with his left hand, pulled his fingers backwards as far as they would go. They indeed nearly touched the back of his hand. Zoey shuddered.
“That’s cool. My dad is like that. I didn’t get that trait though,” Zoey held her hand up and pulled her fingers but they remained straight up. “I don’t have any unique abilities like any of you.”
Mira had a hand on her hip briefly and stepped off to the side of the couch, a smirk on her own lips. “Loudest belch isn’t an ability, Zo.”
Zoey faced her with a frown. “I still wish I could brag about something though!” she face Rumi and Jinu again. “So? How was it today? Did you get any news on his health?” she nodded towards Jinu.
Jinu frowned and strode over to the kitchen and began to mindlessly dig through the bags of his new used records. Rumi watched him.
“The doctor diagnosed him with iron-deficient anemia,” Rumi answered calmly. “His red blood cell count is still too low for someone his age. It would explain why he constantly feels tired and cold and out-of-breath doing simple tasks. He’s going to need at least two iron-infusions at a blood and cancer clinic starting next week. Plus she gave him a couple of vitamins he should take since he’s lacking in that area too.”
Zoey frowned as Jinu pulled out his records. “Aww. That’s rough. I’m sorry Jinu. I never would have thought that you had something going on underneath that Saja Boys disguise you wore. You seemed so normal.”
Jinu sighed and pushed back the hair that was falling into his eyes. “Yeah well, I’m finding out every day what it truly means to be ‘normal’ in today’s world. I wouldn’t have given myself a diagnosis of anything four hundred years ago. At least not when I was in the palace.” He touched his left shoulder where his most recent shots were given. “I just have to accept this is the way the world works now.”
Zoey nodded with a sad smile and walked over to him. “Did they give you any more shots today Jinu?”
Jinu’s bottom lip stuck up like a child’s. He nodded. “I barely felt the first one but that second one the nurse gave me hurt. Needles are now at the top of my list of modern world ideas I do not like.”
Zoey’s eyes widened and she gasped upon seeing a couple of records poking out of one of the large black bags on the counter. “Is that Bobby?” she cried out, pulling out the Bobby album, Lucky Man.
Mira strode over towards Rumi as Zoey and Jinu talked excitedly about the new music that he had found at the record store. Mira pushed her glasses over her nose.
“Everything did go okay then today?” she asked in a low tone.
Rumi nodded, face set. “It did. Really. The appointment was straight-forward. A thorough exam. They ended up taking quite a bit of blood to run numerous blood tests. But Dr. Min came back with a diagnosis and a treatment plan right after. Jinu has his first infusion next Friday.”
Zoey gasped loudly again as she clutched one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers albums in the pile. “Friday? As in, July Fourth? Oh my god! Jinu, did you know that’s the national birthday of America?”
Jinu’s lips twitched in a tiny smile. “No kidding? Are we throwing another party to celebrate your country-of-origin?”
Zoey giggled mischievously, looking like a cat that had just caught a rat. “I already have all of my favorite snacks from America being shipped to me as we speak. But now that you are our new weird demon roommate and it’s up to me to teach you everything pop culture about the modern world, we are going to go totally hard core with our own Independence Day celebration!”
Mira glanced at Jinu then went back to Rumi. “Really though? You’re good? He’s good?”
Rumi bent down to give Derpy a stroke on the top of his head as he bumped it into her hand. “I told you yes. Why do you think I’m lying Mira?”
Mira crossed her arms over her chest. “When we were walking around in the Burbury shop on Twelfth Street, I could have sworn I saw a flicker bounce on the walls. But only for a second. I don’t know if I was seeing anything.” Her arms dropped slightly. “Maybe I was. Seeing as you don’t seem worried.”
Rumi’s eyes darted over to meet Jinu’s and for a moment they knew what the other was thinking; their run-in with Romance and Baby outside of the record shop. There had been a brief flicker as they stood outside during their ‘talk’. Rumi gasped when she remembered there had been an occurrence before that.
“Oh! That was nothing. When Jinu and I were in the record store, we were talking about a touchy subject and at that moment there was a spark from the honmoon. You know what I told you the other night? I have a feeling Jinu is still connected to it somehow and it reacts whenever he has a strong emotion about something.”
Mira raised an eyebrow that clearly meant ‘I know you’re lying but I’m going to wait to ask you about it later.’ She dropped her arms. “The party bus is coming to pick us up at 6:30 exactly. We’ll head down to Bobby’s place and we will all walk out together. That sound good?”
Rumi was smiling widely and nodded with her thumbs up. “Sounds perfect!”
Mira moved her head to look at Jinu as he was nodding along to whatever Zoey was saying about one of the BTS albums he had picked out from the record store.
“And him?” Mira asked.
Rumi huffed. “He wants to come too. I already asked Bobby days ago and he said he would love it if Jinu could join us. I think he’ll have a good time. This is what he enjoys doing, just like us. This is also the first time Jinu’s been able to go out and have fun and do fun activities like any other twenty-three-year-old. I want him to have a good time too.”
Jinu looked at Rumi and straightened his stance against the kitchen counter. “That reminds me, you said there was a surprise waiting for me?”
Zoey gasped and clapped her hands. “Yes! Oh my god, thanks for reminding me. Got distracted by all the albums you brought home. Come over here, we got you some things!” she exclaimed, pulling at his hand to bring him to the couch.
“’Some things’?” Jinu questioned, walking over. Derpy slowly got back up from his spot next to Rumi to head back to the bags strewn over the couch. Curious, Rumi went to take a look too.
“Well we were out shopping today with Bobby. We wanted to treat him to a new outfit for his birthday.” Zoey’s eyes lit up as she grabbed a medium-sized bag and looked up at Rumi. “Bobby got the cutest shoes to wear tonight by the way! You’ll see later. Anyway, since this is your first night out having fun we wanted to get you something to dress up in too.” She handed him the first bag.
Jinu took hold of it, confused. “But you already gifted me a full wardrobe two weeks ago. Surely there’s something I can put together from that selection for tonight?”
Mira stuck up her nose as Zoey shook her head.
“That’s casual clothing for boring things like grocery shopping, opening a bank account, or doctor appointments,” Mira stated evenly, hand back on her hip as she watched Zoey riffle through the bags.
It was Jinu’s turn to stick up his nose. He reached into the bag Zoey handed to him and pulled out two items of clothing, two tight-fitting t-shirts with a ribbed fabric and the sleeves of the shirts hitched up. One was in black, the other a dark gray.
“We didn’t know which one you’d like best but they both matched well with these”- Zoey handed over the next bag.
Mouth open, Jinu set the shirts aside on the back of the couch to pull out a pair of black pants with a flared-out style and made of another soft fabric. There was a bold stripe of deeper black silk on the sides of the pants. Along with the pants he took out a pair of dark gray calf-length socks that were also very silky and soft.
“You bought an entire new outfit for me, just for tonight?” Jinu asked, mouth agape. Derpy began sniffing the bag the pants had come in after his master tossed it to the floor.
“Like we said, it’s a special night. We can’t have you showing up at our manager’s birthday celebration looking like that,” Mira pointed out to the casual blue t-shirt and jeans Jinu was currently wearing. She then grabbed a black shoebox and thrusted it into the man’s hands.
“There’s more? You guys, seriously, you didn’t need to,” Jinu gasped, holding onto the box awkwardly as it sat across his forearms.
“Might as well see what shoes they got for you then,” Rumi was smiling at the alarming expression over Jinu’s face. She ran a hand into Derpy’s fur as he continued to paw at the dropped bags.
Jinu’s brows met in the middle as he set the shoebox on one of the barstools by the kitchen counter and opened the box up. He gasped again as he took out a pair of high-end leather Oxfords by Johnston and Murphy. They were black with brown accents, a white bottom, and simple black laces. He held up the shoes.
“These look expensive,” Jinu gushed as he stared at the footwear.
“It’s a good thing we have all your measurements for clothing and shoes now,” Zoey said with amusement, clapping her hands together again.
“Hey, don’t forget the last bag,” Mira pointed out a medium-sized bag on the couch.
“Ohh! The best one too,” Zoey exclaimed and reached for the bag. Jinu placed his shoes back in the box to take this next thing being offered to him; a slim blue velvety box.
“I saw what you guys were getting clothing-wise, but what else did you get?” Rumi asked, moving around the table to see what Jinu would open.
“Accessory pieces!” Zoey was beaming just as widely as Derpy usually did.
Jinu opened the box up to find a silvery chain necklace very similar to the one he wore during his Soda Pop street performance over a month ago. He slowly grabbed the jewelry with delicate fingers, finding words were escaping him. Zoey handed over an even smaller box. He opened this to find a pair of squared diamond earrings. It glittered magnificently up at him. He licked his dry lips, still afraid to speak. Mira came back with one final box.
“Zoey got the majority of all that but this is from me. I felt this was the final thing to bring your outfit together.” She hesitated before placing the small box into his empty left hand.
“Mira,” Rumi gasped, seeing a familiar Rolex logo on the front of the box.
“Relax. I got him the cheapest one in the shop,” Mira threw out, annoyed.
Jinu prayed the small box open to find himself face-to-face with a handsome metal Rolex watch with a blue inlay inside and simplistic notches where the numerals were. He stared at the watch, tilting the box so the pristine metal caught the sunlight from the window at just the right angle. He bit his lip as he felt his eyes sting with tears. He closed the lid of the watch. He peered over his shoulder when he felt Rumi place her hand on it.
“I knew you were getting him a new shirt and pants, possibly shoes. But the jewelry and a new watch?” Rumi looked flabbergasted herself but tried to not sound too harsh seeing as Jinu was taking his time to process these gifts given to him.
“It’s to fit in. Set the stage. It’s a talking piece amongst everyone else at the party tonight,” Zoey shrugged. “We don’t leave the house without all the glitz and glam for an event. Jinu shouldn’t be excluded from that either if he’s living with us and isn’t a demon anymore.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared up at him. “You aren’t a demon anymore, are you?” she demanded.
Jinu’s lips twitched in a smile. He shook his head. “No, I’m not. But these gifts… they are all amazing and I love them all. You didn’t have to get me any of it but I appreciate it. Thank-you.” He frowned as he set aside the watch and necklace next to his new shoes. “I do have one gripe however about what you got me.”
Mira’s mouth flapped open and her eyes flashed angrily. “Really? After spending how much on you just now? You want to complain about something?”
Jinu smirked and held up the earrings and touched his left earlobe. “There’s one problem- I don’t have pierced ears.”
Zoey’s smile faltered and Mira gasped as well. “What? I thought you had pierced ears. Didn’t he have pierced ears?” Zoey asked aloud, about to grab her phone to pull up pictures of Jinu from the various events he was a part of from the Saja Boys weeks ago.
Rumi faced Jinu. “Now that you mention it Zoey, I thought his ears were pierced too. Were they just another part of your disguise all this time?”
Jinu nodded, still touching his ear lobe. “Mmhmm. I never got them pierced. It wasn’t a requirement as a human four-hundred-years ago in my village or in the palace and I had no reason to get them pierced from that point till now. But doing my boy band research leading up to the Saja Boys I noticed that it was the ‘in’ thing for men to do. So all of us Saja Boys made it a part of our disguise.” He held up the new earrings again. “These are great but I won’t be able to wear them.”
Zoey rubbed her chin as she began to mull this over, a piece of hair falling from her wrapped head into her face. Her eyes suddenly lit up again. “I got it! We can pierce your ears right now! Before the party!”
“What?!” Jinu and Rumi spluttered out at the same time.
Zoey waved a hand. “It’s easy, I did it years ago when I was eleven. You just take a couple of thumbtacks and ice and just”- she made a thrusting motion with her fingers.
Jinu cringed and shook his head. “No way man. No way am I going to do that after just coming back from the clinic being poked as many times as I did.” He set a hand to his inner left arm where he still had the special tape wrapped around it from his blood draw.
Rumi was also shaking her head. “When you said ‘piece his ears’ I thought you meant we’d take him to a shop to get them pierced right now, Zoey.”
Zoey was still beaming widely. “We can do that too!”
For a second Rumi contemplated this; however one glance at Jinu told her that wouldn’t be a good idea.
“Umm, maybe another day. He has gone though a lot already and the day isn’t even over yet,” Rumi stated.
Jinu bowed his head at Rumi. “Thank-you Rumi. I have no interest in piercing my ears right now when there are other things I need to worry about. No doubt getting them pierced involves needles. But umm, perhaps another day,” he trailed, still seeing that Zoey looked excited about the prospect, He gathered up his new clothing and jewelry. “I’m going to shower and get ready for tonight. Thank-you again.” He looked behind at Derpy who got excited, and got up from his spot by the couch to follow him to the guest bedroom.
Rumi gathered up the many records strewn on the kitchen counter. “I’m going to take these to the studio and get ready myself. Thank-you again you two for picking all those pieces out for him. I think he’ll look very good in them,” Rumi admitted, cheeks pink. She took hold of the albums in their bags and hurriedly stepped inside the elevator to head to their recording studio a floor down.
The late afternoon quickly turned into the evening with all four members of the penthouse getting themselves ready for a night out. Each one of them met up with each other several times throughout the timeframe as they asked the other about their opinions on every aspects of their outfits. While the girls went back and forth with shoes and bags of make-up in their hands, Jinu was finding it relatively easy to put himself together. Zoey and Mira had picked out every piece of his outfit and he genuinely liked their choices, so he had no issue getting himself ready.
“Has anyone seen my turquoise pendant ear rings?” Rumi’s voice was heard outside the guest room door. Jinu opened it, hair pulled back with a fluffy white headband as special facial serum sat on his face. Rumi was standing in the hall. Mira opened her bedroom door, curlers setting in her own hair with a face mask setting on her face too. For a moment her and Jinu shared a look of interest at the other before looking at Rumi.
“Are they not in the dressing room?” Mira asked her.
“I checked but I couldn’t find them. Ohh, I haven’t worn them in forever. They’d go perfectly with my outfit but now that I want to wear them, they’ve disappeared!” Rumi moaned.
Jinu turned his head left and right as if expecting to find a secret door. “There’s a dressing room in here? Where?”
Rumi sighed. “It’s on the floor below us. We have an entire floor space with our costumes and a dedicated make-up and hair studio for shows and other important engagements.”
“Really?” Jinu asked, eyes wide.
Rumi touched her ear lobe. “I’ll find something else. I don’t want to take up too much time getting pieces together if we need to leave soon.” She turned around and faced Jinu. A smile formed at her lips and she clasped her hands together shyly.
“What?” Jinu raised an eyebrow. He touched his face, shiny from the serum on it. “Did I miss a spot?”
Rumi chuckled. “Nothing. You look cute, is all.” Her head swiveled to Mira still standing outside her door, this time leaning on it with her arms crossed. “I mean- the headband is cute. but you look silly wearing it!”
Jinu raised his eyebrow. “This was the only one Zoey would allow me to borrow to keep my hair out of my face as I get ready.”
Rumi huffed, clearly wishing she hadn’t said anything. “Forget it Jinu. I’m going to finish getting ready,” she clarified and marched back to the direction of her bedroom.
Mira and Jinu faced one another next.
“Mira,” Jinu stated, and bowed a head, taking a step back into his room.
“Jinu,” Mira stuck up her nose and turned around and slammed her door.
Forty minutes later all four people in the penthouse were getting the final touches together for their night out. Jinu had finished getting himself dressed, his face washed, and his hair tidied long ago and was currently sitting on the couch, flipping his arm every few minutes to check the time on his new watch. His leg was crossed over his knee. Derpy was sitting on the floor next to him for the occasional pet. Sussie was resting on top of his head looking with a watchful eye.
“We are just about ready. I told Bobby we’d be down in fifteen,” Zoey spoke, coming into the living room.
Jinu sighed, getting to his feet. “Finally. I was getting tired of”- his eyes widened briefly as he stepped around to see Zoey’s appearance. She was dressed in a tight-fitting black dress covered in sequins. The sleeves of the dress were long and the material also covered her chest, however there was a lacy fabric peeking out at the hem of the dress that came up several inches above her knees. She wore black heels and bold, silver and red jewelry.
Jinu coughed, mouth to his lips. “Umm, you- you look good Zoey. Um,” his averted his eyes as Mira came into view next from the other side of the penthouse.
“I’ve been ready, I kept telling you and Rumi that,” Mira said in a bored tone. Again Jinu found himself staring as the next girl walked into view. Mira was dressed in a silky royal blue cropped top that showed off her midriff with a short sequined jacket over her shoulders and flared blue pants decorated in other gems. She wore blue heels decorated with tiny spikes and her hair was pulled back in a matching band. Mira set a hand on her hip as she stared at Jinu. She walked over to him, heels clicking on their smooth floor.
“You need to get rid of those, you’ll look ridiculous when we go out,” Mira reached over to try and pull at one of the band-aids still over his shoulder, but he flinched back.
“What are you doing?” Jinu gasped, covering the spot on his arm.
Mira looked annoyed but Zoey stepped forward.
“Jinu, it’s fine to take the band-aids off from where you got your shots earlier. They don’t really fit in with the rest of your otherwise smart appearance,” Zoey made an up and down motion with her hand.
Jinu still had a hand over his shoulder protectively. “You mean I’m not going to bleed out if you remove them too early?”
Mira continued to look at him with a judgy expression. “No, you won’t bleed out. You barely bleed from receiving an injection in the first place. There’s no reason to have them on. The sleeves on your shirt are pinned up so they reveal your shoulders and it looks silly to see band-aids on them. Take them off.”
“But my shoulder is still sore. Are you-?” Jinu looked at Mira and Zoey as they both shook their heads. Frowning, he walked over to the kitchen to carefully peel off the band-aids to throw them in the trash, still half-expecting he would start bleeding out if he did so. He still didn’t fully understand how modern first aid worked. He looked down at his left shoulder and sighed in relief when he saw that he was still intact.
“Are we all ready?” Rumi’s voice was heard behind him.
Jinu turned and this time felt his heart skip a beat at the sight before him. Rumi was dressed in a light blue silky dress that came over her left shoulder, leaving her right one bare. The dress itself was decorated with gems going up the shoulder and on the skirt of the dress. Her heels were simple and silvery, sparkling at any angle the light hit it. She also wore long floral blue and silver earrings that dangled elegantly. She clutched a silky small purse in her hands as she stepped over to Jinu.
Jinu’s mouth flapped open as he struggled to find words. “Uhh- you look- uh- the dress looks- I mean”- he ran a hand through his hair, feeling stupider by the second.
Rumi smiled brightly and touched his shoulder to pull at his sleeve. Her cheeks were tinted pink as she stared up at him. “It’s fine. You look good too. Very handsome. Zoey and Mira really know how to dress you.”
Jinu laughed nervously, his face feeling warmer the longer he stood. “I doubt I’m difficult to shop for compared to you. You look stunning. That color really brings out the purple of your hair and the jewelry lights up your eyes. You couldn’t look any more beautiful Rumi,” he said sincerely, finding his voice again.
“Aww! Did you hear that?!” Zoey cooed, standing next to Mira and elbowing her off to the side.
“Yeah yeah,” Mira passed off and pulled out her phone. “We need to meet Bobby at his place now you two. We need to go.”
Rumi smiled widely and pointed to the barstools where a black box sat upon one. “Want me to bring your shoes to you Jinu?”
Jinu stood, hands in his pockets as he watched Rumi grab the box. “Yeah. If you were going to put them on my feet for me too, go ahead.”
Rumi glared at him but went to undo the shoelaces of the shoes so they would be easier for Jinu to slip on. She was about to hand them over when she gasped.
“Wait! Jinu, you remembered to brush your teeth right? I don’t want to nag but I don’t want you to forget either.” Rumi frowned. “We’re meeting with a lot of people tonight.”
Thankfully this time Jinu didn’t look annoyed with the reminder. He held up a finger in the air. “I forgot. I’ll go do it now then we can leave. Thanks,” he gasped and turned on his heel to head into the bathroom.
Rumi gave an audible sigh. Zoey took a step towards her.
“Hey, you know what they say, it takes a person at least fourteen times of repeated actions before something new becomes habit. It’ll be second-nature for him soon enough.”
“Feels as if I’ve already reminded him a hundred times since he’s been here,” Rumi muttered. Seconds later she heard muffled shouts coming from the direction of the guest room. She looked at Zoey and Mira before hurrying in that direction, Zoey following behind. Rumi poked her head inside the bedroom and to the bathroom where Jinu was currently standing by the sink.
“Jinu? Are you okay?” Rumi asked carefully.
Jinu held up his new electric toothbrush as it spun around freely in his hand, toothpaste dribble slowly running down his hand.
“This thing is attacking me again!” he said with fright.
Rumi chuckled. Just outside the door Zoey stifled a laugh behind her hand too. Rumi took hold of the brush and pressed it off.
“Remember, put the toothpaste on it first, then put it in your mouth and then press the button down only once. That’s the sensitivity setting. I think you had it set on the higher setting,” Rumi explained.
Jinu quickly washed his hands and the wet toothbrush, nodding. “Ahh, okay. I keep forgetting.” He placed a dab of white-colored toothpaste on the brush head again. “Being difficult again, aren’t I?”
Rumi was smiling as she watched him outside the bathroom. “Not difficult. Just have a lot to learn. Remember to change the area you’re brushing once the toothbrush buzzes in your hand.”
Jinu gently pressed the toothbrush to his top teeth on the right and turned the brush back on. It began to spin around each tooth a thousand times a second. “You’re confident I belong on this side so I’ll learn how to use this eventually.”
Rumi began to step out but raised an eyebrow at this comment. “Uhh, yeah. I do feel you belong on this side Jinu.”
Jinu kept his lips over the brush to lessen the mess he was making. He flipped the brush down on his bottom teeth once it buzzed in his hand. He finished up this task a minute later, giving one last spat into the sink. Blood still came up as it had been. He shuddered, trying to remind himself that would eventually stop if he kept daily dental hygiene up. He stared at himself in the mirror and fixed a piece of hair sticking up.
“You know you didn’t sound too confident just now like when you first told me I belonged here,” Jinu stated, still staring at himself in the mirror.
Rumi, having thought supervising his hygiene was over, turned back around as she was about to step out of the bedroom.
“’First time’? What do you mean the ‘first time’ I told you? I never specifically told you that you physically belonged here. Only that this is something you should give a shot at,” Rumi looked at him oddly, hand on her hip.
“You didn’t?” Jinu voiced, baring his teeth one more time and turning off the light. “I know I heard you tell me that before.”
“When did I tell you that?” Rumi demanded, following him out of the bedroom.
“You really don’t remember?” Jinu began to fiddle with the watch on his wrist again as he glanced at Rumi as they stepped back into the foyer.
“You guys, we need to go,” Zoey was urging, standing by the elevator, ready to head down.
“I’m ready but Jinu is being weird and cryptic again all of a sudden,” Rumi walked right past him as he bent down to put on his new shoes.
Jinu stuffed his foot into the first shoe, adjusting the tag inside and went to lace them. “I distinctly remember you telling me that I should come back to the real world because that is where I belonged. I was standing on one side of a doorway or something and I heard you on the other side telling- no, begging me to return to the other side,” he elaborated.
Rumi froze in her steps, slowly turning around as she faced the man bent down tying up his shoes. Her eyes flashed yellow briefly as her demon side took over. What was he getting at? She had never said such a pathetic thing to him before. At least not directly to his face. Doorway? What doorway? The only thing she could even remotely recall was- suddenly Rumi gasped aloud, dropping her purse to the floor. As soon as Jinu stood back up she marched right over to him and grabbed the front of his shirt to pull him down.
“Hey! What the hell?!” Jinu bit back, trying to regain height but she brought him to his knees.
“How do you know about the doorway Jinu?! Answer me right now or I swear I will slice off your arm!” Rumi shrieked, one hand gripping his shirt, the other held up, ready to catch her sword out from the honmoon.
Mira groaned, finger to the elevator button. “Really you two? Now? We’re going to be late!”
“Save the fighting for after we get back,” Zoey stressed, standing behind Mira.
“I knew it!” Rumi raged, facing her bandmates before turning her blazing eyes at Jinu. “I knew that you were aware of everything I was saying! Doing! Thinking about you! All this time you said you had no idea but this is proof that you knew all along! Damn you Jinu! I am going to pull you down and stomp all over your stupid face so I never have to look at that stupid face ever again!” she screamed.
“Hey! Hey! Not the face!” Jinu begged, holding a hand up to protect it as Rumi continued to advance on him.
Mira groaned and made her way over, slamming her own purse onto the kitchen counter. “What is the problem now? Just tell me so I can break his face for you. Or don’t tell me if it will save time,” she glared at Jinu who was still cowering under Rumi’s hold.
“I asked him days ago about the honmoon and if he had any indication that I was trying to contact him! He lied and told me he had no way of contacting me!” Rumi shouted. Derpy, who was napping by the couch, woke up and shrank back, his ears pinned behind him in fright.
“Rumi, can I just”-
“And now he told me that I told him that he had to come back because he belonged on this side. The human world,” Rumi continued to yell, still not letting go of the neat and pristine t-shirt Jinu was wearing.
It was Zoey’s turn to come forward, confusion on her face. “You aren’t making any sense Rumi. Calm down and start from the beginning.”
Rumi glared down at Jinu who was looking up at her fearfully, arm still raised and ready to shield his face if she were to hit him. She loosened her hold slightly.
“The night when I was trying to piece together the events that led up to Jinu retuning, I asked him if he had any awareness that I was trying to get a hold of him. I figured, surely, he was. You two both saw it too the days before. How the honmoon lit up each time I thought about him? And said his name?” Rumi had tears in her eyes but still was angry all over. “This dumbass gave me his soul and that helped to create the new barrier between our worlds. He had to have known I was thinking about him if the honmoon, which his soul now was in, reacted the way it had.”
Zoey shook her head, confused. “I still don’t understand Rumi. Are you saying Jinu knew you were trying to talk to him all that time?”
Rumi pushed a strand of hair falling in her face. She stared down at Jinu. “Exactly that.”
Jinu gulped and focused on calming himself down. He still had his hand up. “If you’d let me explain,” he tried.
“What’s to explain Jinu? How on earth would you have known I had said those exact words to you outside a doorway? You knew I had dreamt that Jinu,” Rumi’s voice wavered, her grip loosening even more on his shirt. “You knew that I was trying to talk to you. I had so many dreams where I would hear your voice or your face flashed briefly. But you were never physically there.” She sniffed and wiped her nose as a tear fell from her eye. “I remember dreaming that I was walking in a field of some kind. It was mystical and ominous. I felt your presence immediately. It was leading me down a path. There was a sort of crack in the sky, and I could feel you on the other side of it. I tried to reach you, but I couldn’t bring you to me. So I told you that you had to come back to this side. It was where you belonged.”
Jinu was careful in not making a move the entire time Rumi spoke. Zoey and Mira both looked confused how to handle this too. Rumi finally released Jinu’s shirt. He slowly stood up to his full height again, every move calculated to not have Rumi grab him again. He sighed dramatically.
“Okay. So I recall hearing your voice in a dream you had. But I stand by that I had no memory of”- Jinu stated however Rumi gave him a shove.
“You lied to me and told me you didn’t hear me! That since you had no physical body you never heard me or knew anything about me trying to reach you! How could you lie like that to me Jinu?” Rumi demanded.
“Hey! I’m trying to explain myself but you aren’t letting me!” Jinu snapped back.
Zoey and Mira stepped forward now, both looking at him angrily. Mira cracked her knuckles.
“Well Jinu? Explain to us.”
Jinu’s eye twitched as he stared at Mira’s hand. He looked over at Rumi who was still fuming as she stared at him. He brushed the front of his shirt calmly. “I’ll explain but you three need to promise to let me keep my face. Break my arms and legs if you must, just not the face,” he brushed a hand down the side of his thin and handsome face.
“What Jinu?” Rumi took a step forward.
Jinu pushed the hair falling into his eye. “When you first told me days ago that the honmoon reacted to you as you thought of me, I promise you, I had no memory of trying to reach out to you at that time.” He stared at Rumi, a smirk playing on his lips. “Since then, I’ve given it much thought. And tiny pops of moments have seeped back into my mind. I was trying to tell you that I heard you calling for me Rumi. My soul, however it has existed this past month, heard you. And wanted to give you a sense of comfort. I never left Rumi.”
“Awww!” Zoey cooed, poised behind Mira.
Rumi felt her heart thump madly behind her ribs. She was still breathing hard, her hands in fists. “So you do admit you heard me? All this time? And you just had me- what? Think I was going crazy? Why didn’t you tell me?!”
Jinu’s lips still pulled upward in a sinister smirk. He fiddled with his new watch for the hundredth time. “I believe that’s what you call in the modern world as ‘trolling.’”
Demon eyes flashed behind Rumi’s eyes again. She screamed and hit Jinu on the arm and began chasing him around the kitchen and living room, him screaming as he tried to dodge her arms. Mira groaned as she watched the two.
“And you’re both getting shoeprints all over the floor. Damnit!” She had a hand on her hips as her phone flashed. It was Bobby, asking them where they were. She gritted her teeth as Rumi and Jinu continued to chase each other. “Okay, enough you two! Just kiss and get it over with so we can go!” she snapped.
Rumi and Jinu stopped in their tracks, both out of breath with sweat dripping down from their forehead. Rumi once again had a hold of Jinu’s shirt and he once again had an arm up to protect his face.
“What?!” Rumi spat, disgusted.
“Huh?” Jinu spluttered, just as confused.
Mira stepped forward, her own heels clicking on the floor. “I said- kiss so we can get out of here. We all know you want to and have wanted to since this idiot landed on the balcony two weeks ago. This back-and-forth is wasting all our time. Do it so we can finally get this night going.”
Rumi let go of Jinu’s shirt and turned her nose up at him as if she had never seen anything more repulsive. “Kiss him? Eww! Look at him! He’s awful! He’s smug and annoying and immature and clearly has no regard for other people’s feelings!”
Jinu snarled as he stared down at Rumi. “You aren’t so hot yourself.” He looked at Zoey and Mira, his nose wrinkled. “Why would I ever want to kiss her? She’s bossy, controlling, has no sense of humor, and currently trying to chop my arm off. She is the last person I want to kiss!”
Rumi and Jinu stared at once another, both with labored breathing. Both looked just as angry and upset with the other as if they wanted to push the other off a cliff. Jinu’s hand twitched and before he knew it, he pulled Rumi in for a kiss, his lips pressed firmly onto hers. He had a hand on the small of her back, lifting her up from her feet. Rumi’s eyes widened for a moment before closing, wrapping her hands behind Jinu’s neck and returning the kiss. The kiss itself could have lasted for several warm sunny days, both completely lost in the moment.
Rumi’s heels gently landed back down on the floor as she broke free from Jinu’s lips, so soft and as full as she knew they would be. She had her hands on his arms as the feeling slowly began to return to her shaking body. Jinu gently brushed back a strand of her hair behind her ear as he gazed down at her. Rumi slowly turned her head to see Zoey standing to the side, tears in her eyes and her arms up by her head. Mira’s arms were crossed over her chest, a smirk high up on her face. Right next to her Derpy stood with possibly the largest smile ever over his dopey face. Sussie’s eyes were round and he flapped his wings and squawked. Rumi chuckled nervously as she looked back up at Jinu. She squeezed his arms once more and he let her go.
“Umm, we should get going. Bobby’s kiss- I mean- birthday! His birthday,” Rumi’s face was slowly turning pink and she took a step back from Jinu. “His birthday. He’s probably wondering where we are.”
“We can always tell him why we’ll be late!” Zoey squealed, eyes still sparkling with happy tears.
“No,” Rumi said firmly, regaining composer. “We should head out now. We don’t want to be late to the reservation at karaoke.”
Zoey was beaming and held her hand up to Mira as they made their way to the elevator.
“Later, all right?” Mira snapped, slinging her purse over her shoulder.
“You’re going to pay up before the night is through. I will make sure of it,” Zoey said with confidence.
Rumi slowly bent down to grab her fallen purse sitting by the barstool, only for Jinu to get to it first and hand it to her. She smiled but averted his eyes.
“Thanks,” she muttered.
“My pleasure. Shall we then?” Jinu stated, holding his arm at the right angle for her to loop her hand around.
Rumi’s mouth fell open, suddenly not knowing what to think. “Jinu?”
Jinu pushed his hair out of his eyes, letting his fingers linger over his neck briefly before letting it fall to his side. “It’s time for me to show you a gentleman as promised.”
“Jinu!” Rumi gasped, cheeks full on red now with embarrassment and intrigue. She giggled but set her fingers into the crook of his elbow. Jinu’s lips pulled slowly into a satisfied smile and he led her towards the elevator to the impatiently waiting Zoey and Mira, on the way to meet up with Bobby.