on the edge of paradise ;;

Food was a temptation and paying attention wasn’t made for her. All it took was for them to get to the front of the line for her to stop listening to whatever he was saying. Her hazel eyes were focused on the popcorns, watching them popping in the machine with her lips slightly parted in awe. This was something she couldn’t do. Nana had tried to make homemade popcorns once and it had been a disaster. Himchan’s voice brought her back to the reality as she puffed up her cheeks cutely at him when he poked one of her cheeks. ❝ But I love popcorns. ❞ Nana knew he was joking, but she also felt the need to say something he probably already knew.

The nephilim took the popcorns’ bag from him when he gave it to her, picking up one of the popcorns from the top before she ate it lively. They were exactly like she loved them, sweet and crispy. At Himchan’s question, she looked at him. There was amusement on her expression for a moment before she felt the strong need of laughing at him. Not wanting to choke on the popcorn she had just eaten, the chef covered her mouth with the back of her hand. The confidence and the playful smugness didn’t come out as a surprise to her. It was exactly what she would have expected from him. However, she still thought this was extremely funny. ❝ Why are you acting like an oppa? ❞ Jinah teased him, this time actually laughing at him.

❝ I-I’m sorry. ❞ She tried to quickly apologize, even if her laughter hadn’t died. No matter how much she wanted to stop, she really couldn’t do it. ❝ I’m sorry! ❞ The nephilim continued to laugh, holding the popcorns’ bag tightly in her hand, since she didn’t want to drop it. That would be such of a waste. Even when she stopped laughing, she wasn’t able to stop herself from teasing him even more. Humming quietly under her breath as she took a quickly look at the menu, Jinah looked up at the worker with a bright smile. ❝ Since oppa is paying, I want a bit of everything. ❞

The worker took her serious for only a second before he frowned his brows, looking at her in confusion. The nephilim bit down on her bottom lip to not laugh at him, actually believing he was going to complain about her. However, to her surprise, the worker only shook his head with a hidden smile. ❝ Only candy floss? Multicolored? ❞ She ordered with an interrogative tone, since her eyes were on Himchan, waiting for him to agree with this. After all, it was the male who was going to pay and she didn’t want to order without him agreeing with this.

❝ Men and women are not very different. ❞ She told him as the corners of her lips tugged into a bright smile. ❝ I know you were put on this earth to make my life difficult, with all your sweet talks and eyesmiles. ❞ She ended up revealing she loved his smile without even realizing. ❝ But like I said, it’s not going to work. ❞ Hiding a smile from him this time, she pretended to be as much serious as she could, raising an eyebrow at him almost like she was daring him to say she was wrong. This act didn’t last for long. Only a mere second after, the smile was back on her lips before she let out a soft laugh. It was only a joke and Nana didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. She strangely felt comfortable with him, even if she had met him less than an hour ago.

The nephilim didn’t hesitate in following him to the food cart he had chosen for them. It was their first stop of the night. She didn’t doubt him when he mentioned that the food samples here were delicious. If it was someone else, the woman would have been suspicious, but he was also a chief. Nichkhun probably knew food as much as she did, so she trusted his judgment. If he said the food was good, it was because they were. But it didn’t take long for her to realize that he was also boasting and because of that, she actually wondered if this was part of the plan to get those free samples as fast as possible. It didn’t take them long to get what they wants and all thanks to Nichkhun.

A carnival. This had been a pleasant surprise. Jinah knew her Himchan and she had hoped that he knew her enough to guess she didn’t enjoy going to nightclubs. They simply weren’t her style. Spending time with friends was something she enjoyed, even if she didn’t have much time to do it because of her job. She always tried her best to give them some attention, because friends were very rare. Some people didn’t deserve to be called ‘friends’. Most of them don’t have a notion of what a friend should be or do for the ones they are supposed to love. Luckily, she never had that problem, even if most of her friends don’t really understand what she wants and needs.

But that was never Himchan’s case. The male had never been under that category and to her, was very uncommon. She smiled at the sight of the carnival and her thoughts went to Minhyuk for a moment. It was funny, because she wouldn’t have mind to have her brother here with them. This seemed like an afternoon she would have with her family, if her parents were still with them. Her younger brother probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it. Minhyuk had more love for his games than actually spend time with his sister. Going to the cinema or walking randomly around Seoul for a few hours were two examples of ‘hobbies’ that he didn’t like to do. That was one of the reasons why the nephilim didn’t go out a lot. Staying at home and cooking random recipes were the only two things she could still do with her brother, even if the teenager only answered her sometimes. It was better than nothing.

{ ✿ }

❝ I’m genuinely trying to think of a name for you. ❞ The nephilim defended herself at his words, even if she laughed in amusement while repeating the word lose’ in her mind over and over again. At least, it sounded better than Him or Chan. Those names were simply terrible for him. Between all of them, Jinah was probably going to keep Channing for now. She really wished she had a pen with her, so she could draw a C on the back of her hand to not forget about this later. The woman hadn’t brought her phone with her and changing his name on her contacts list was a need now.

❝ The loser and the dork? More like the beauty and the beast. ❞ Nana teased him with a laugh before she scrunched her nose up slightly at him, in an adorable way, clearly implying that she was only joking with him. The chef wasn’t the type of bragging about beauty, especially when Jinah truly believed she was only an average and typical woman – one between so many others in town. However, this wasn’t something she was going to talk about again.

The cheekiness was obvious in his voice and even if there were many things she wanted to say, the nephilim didn’t feel the need to voice them out. Himchan understood her. Whatever she was going to say to him, she could bet that he already knew what she was going to say. That was one of the reasons why she enjoyed spending time with him. Their friendship had a high value to her. It was very rare to find someone like Himchan. He was certainly one in a million and she was very grateful for his presence in her life. ❝ Pft. ❞ In a childish way, Nana stuck her tongue out at him. ❝ Even if I tell Channie to not defend me, Channie would do it anyway. ❞ Because if she was in his place, the nephilim would defend him in a heartbeat.

About Himchan’s next comment, the nephilim didn’t say anything in return. It was better to not answer or she was going to insist talking about this until he admitted that she was right. Jinah could be very stubborn when she wanted and the fact that he was making this a secret was already killing her with curiosity. Talking about this was only going to make her curiosity grow. She was just praying that it wouldn’t take them long to get to their destination. As soon as they arrived there, the smile that crossed her lips was contagious, showing how surprised but delighted she was with the surprise. ❝ It’s a carnival! ❞

{ ✿ }

It had been a day and half. It had been a day since she woke up to this nightmare. Her previous nigh had been longer than usually and surprisingly, it had been a sleep with no bad dreams. This was very rare since her sleeps were normally filled with memories from the past and monsters that had always been living under her bed. They were a constant in her life, trying to take her happy thoughts away from her and stealing the most peaceful moments of her young age. Those monsters had been with her since she was a child, but with her father’s death and her mother’s disappearance, they started to appear more often, feeding themselves from Jinah’s fear and hoping to survive in her subconscious.

However that particular night, they didn’t come for a visit, leaving the nephilim alone for a whole night. It was almost like they were predicting that the worse was coming. With the first rays of sun, the young woman had woken up to silence. That was a very rare in her mornings. Her brother was usually the first waking up in their home. The sound from the loud television could be heard from the floor underneath hers. Nana’s bedroom door was always opening in case Minhyuk needed her. But in that morning, she hadn’t heard anything. It was only silence. The cold and scary kind of silence that always makes you trembling from how unreal it seems and the one that makes you wait for the worse to happen, keeping you on the edge with your heart aching from the fear you are feeling. This had been a real moment and it had happened only a day and half ago.

That had been when she opened her eyes. The monsters from under her bed were better than the monsters Jinah had to face in that day. Waking up to a nightmare seemed impossible, but it was very real now. She had woken up in her building’s garden, but everything was destroyed around her. There had been only dirt under her fingernails and her pajamas had been stained with grass and a bit of building dust. That had been when she realized that her entire building was destroyed. She survived because of a miracle. That could be the only explanation for what happened since she was lying down on a bed of construction blocks. Minhyuk had been her first and major concern. It hadn’t taken her long to find her brother on the other side of the garden with a bleeding wound on his neck. That had been the first time she had to face those monsters.

Were they zombies? No matter what they were, they certainly would be creatures from hell and even worse than demons. They were eating from a corpse at the entrance of the garden. Some of them had approached Minhyuk and the nephilim had still tried to save her brother – her only family now. Someone had pushed her back away from the scene, hurting her arm with a knife while the person had tried to save her life. The wound had opened up and the blood had started to drip from there. At that moment, the pain hadn’t even crossed her mind as she had tried to struggle against the one who was taking her away from her brother. The next thing she could remember was darkness surrounding her.

When the nephilim woke up for the second time, the person wasn’t with her anymore. Nana was completely alone in a destroyed building. The stranger, who saved her life, kept her safe under the staircase. The corners of her eyes were filled with tears when she remembered how she had failed her brother. Quickly wiping them away with the back of her hand, she found a backpack and a knife on the floor. That was the only weapon she could use to kill those monsters. It probably wasn’t fearless to them, but it was better than nothing.

{ ✿ }

The nephilim didn’t miss the way her customer was pouting. Tilting her head slightly to the side, Jinah stared at his face, realizing that he was actually very expressive. Talking about his height was something negative? That was exactly what she was wondering at the moment. Minhyuk had always been the tallest member of her family. Her adopted father was also tall, but her mother was very short. There was a height difference between all of them. Offering the boy a kind smile, the chef tried to be careful with her next words. ❝ Did I hurt your feelings? I apologize. ❞ The woman told him straight away, bowing her head slightly, while biting on her bottom lip. It was a nervous habit, but she didn’t want him to think she was making fun of him. ❝ If it makes you feel better, you are taller than me. ❞ Does this help?