Serpent [9:52 PM]: @ rabbit. i know u see these messages Serpent [9:54 PM]: oh c’mon Serpent [9:55 PM]: stop ignoring me

Rabbit [9:55 PM]: @ serpent what

Serpent [9:55 PM]: where are u

Rabbit [9:57 PM]: where do u think i am

Serpent [9:57 PM]: where ur supposed to be

Rabbit [9:59 PM]: and where’s that?

Serpent [9:59 PM]: the 80th level of hell Serpent [10:00 PM]: burning within the blazing pits of fiery coal, seared with hot metal until ur skin sizzles and ur organs bubble into a flood of goo

Rabbit [10:04 PM]: i hate u

“I’m leaving,” I say. Grabbing my weekender bag, which is stuffed with the costume I’ve yet to change into, I stand and ignore how my roommate’s patience is wearing thin. 

“You’re definitely staying.” She places a firm grasp on my forearm and seats me back down next to her. Considering she used to be a fighter back in her younger years, I’m clearly at a disadvantage when it comes to strength and strategy. “It’s the first time Dowoon is hosting this damn Halloween party and you and Sehun will play nice or I swear I’ll shove you in a room with him and throw away the key. Seriously—I wish you two would just fuck each other’s brains out already and get it out of your system so the both of you can finally get along.”

I nearly choke on my saliva, watching as she swallows down her favorite drink in a single gulp without one ounce of regret from speaking such heinous and appalling words. “What the actual fuck—”

“You know it’s true. I’ve seen the way he looks at you and the way you look back at him.”

“You mean how I look like I want to murder him?”

“You mean how you want to murder his pants. Don’t lie. I know what you think about at night. Screaming out his name—”

I gasp in a sharp wheeze and it feels like my brain is about to explode from the blistering horror. “I scream his damn name because he sends me these kinds of messages at hours no human being should even be awake,” I exasperate and suddenly feel the need to go rinse my ears with holy water to cleanse what I just heard unwillingly. She knows I lose sleep over this vile man and how he is the sole reason why I have these lingering dark circles under my eyes and have no life to my soul.

But with all my arguments, she doesn’t believe me and gives me a sideways glance. It makes me think perhaps I should find a new roommate for the upcoming year because she’s definitely not making the cut. 

“You know, Dowoon and I started out the same exact way.”

“Please, Yumi. Your worst dilemma was seeing his bare arms and him seeing you walk around the apartment in only a long tee and no pants. You don’t get messages saying you belong in the 80th level of Hell.”

“It could be worse.”

“I can’t even begin to fathom what could be worse than this.”

She snorts and crosses one leg over the other while sitting in her seat. “He could send messages of wanting you naked in his bed.”

I let out a silent scream as the veins in my neck protrude from underneath my skin. She’s relentless with her attacks tonight and I attribute it to the alcohol flowing through her veins. “Why in the world would he ever want me naked next to him?”

“Is that an invitation?”

Serpent.

I wince. My eyes shut tight as I inwardly cringe from hearing his slithering voice slide and slime over my flesh and bones. Yumi leaves me without any protection or aid and makes her way back to Dowoon as if she’s done fulfilling some sort of evil purpose. I draw in a breath before turning around and facing the man seeming to make my life the very Hell of which he speaks. 

My face contorts into a forced smile because of Yumi and Dowoon’s warning. Play nice. Be nice. Pretend nice if it comes down to it. “Sehun.” I look up at him and hate how he’s so goddamn tall and broad and fuck—I need to stop staring at his shoulders.

“Using my name and not Serpent today?”

“I was ordered to be nice to you tonight so maybe you should try it too.”

“Oh, that might be a bit hard for me but I’ll try if you want me to, baby.” He smirks and I know he’s up to no good. He wasn’t given the nickname Serpent for shits and giggles. It’s because he’s sly. He’s too good at maneuvering through menacing tricks and pranks. He’s a demon in human form and has some weird fascination with making my life difficult for his amusement. “Love the costume. You really nailed the half-dead zombie look,” and draws his thumb over the purple-ish circles plaguing around my eyes from the lack of sleep he bequeaths upon me.

My jaw drops to the ground and my irises turn into round orbs because he thinks I’m already dressed up and I can’t believe this is him being nice. I swat away his touch as I immediately snap my lips shut. They pull into a ball to keep myself from saying anything I might regret because I’m more afraid of Dowoon and Yumi’s threat than I am of Sehun.

But I hate how he’s watching my lips move. I hate myself even more on how I’m watching his mouth move, how his thick tongue is peeking out, and how he’s biting down on his plump bottom lip. 

I’m finding it increasingly impossible to follow my roommate’s orders as two words escape without thinking. “Fuck you.”

“Please do.” He sends me a cheeky grin and runs one of his hands through his midnight black hair.

I groan from falling into his honey trap before turning my back on him and grabbing my bag to change in the bathroom. 

Finally by myself, I throw the contents onto an empty shelf. I’m half annoyed and half dreading the night because playing nice with him will truly test the depths of my patience. While I strip off my top layer, I consider just ignoring Sehun for the rest of the evening but like Yumi said, tuning Sehun out only fuels his bad manners and makes him far less tolerable than he already is. 

He likes attention and it’s not like he has to work hard for it. There are tens of hundreds of women waiting for him to just bless them with a glance but for some damn reason—he hates it when I ignore him. He’s irritated when I don’t answer him but when I do, it’s not like he even has anything nice to say. 

Before I can think up of any other solution to get myself out of this unpleasant problem, the bathroom door flies open from someone picking the lock on the other side. Sehun is shoved in and I’m suddenly cramped in the tiny compartment and facing a situation written straight out of a horror novel. As quickly as the door opened, it shuts with a click and with it goes the last bit of my sanity. 

“Figure out how to be nice to each other or you both are not leaving the bathroom.” 

I recognize it as Dowoon’s voice and surmise he’s only an angel to Yumi and not his friends. He doesn’t fit the Puppy nickname at all as I jiggle the door to escape this unholy prison but it doesn’t budge. It doesn’t move no matter which way I turn or twist the knob.

My throaty groans intertwine with the silent air because if Sehun was forced in a few seconds sooner, I would at least be wearing a t-shirt and not only a black bra and jeans. For sure, I will inevitably turn into that bubbling gloop he said I’d be earlier. 

The door becomes my second skin as my forehead connects to the wood and makes small bangs against the surface. I hope if I wish hard enough, I’ll miraculously melt into the door and be free from the monster behind me. But until that happens, Sehun will have to suck it up and just stare at my ass for the time being.

“Are you ever going to turn around?” he asks.

“Are you ever not gunna be a dick towards me?”

I hear him moving about but what I don’t realize is it’s because he’s leaning in towards my ear, whispering ill-fated words which linger on the hairs of my neck. “Then explain what you want me to be and I’ll see if I can oblige.”

I swivel on my heel. Sehun doesn’t move from his spot as he’s perfectly leveled to my height. Our noses are barely touching but he relieves my slight panic by straightening his spine, returning to his grand posture. That damn smirk is smeared across him like ink on paper and if I could, I would bleach it off his face. But the lords have blessed me with no such tool so I’m forced into staring at him. And it’s to the point where I wouldn’t mind calling him Beautiful instead of a Serpent one of these days if wasn’t for him being such an asshole 24/7.

But Sehun does the same. He matches my breaths and mirrors my form, mimicking my habits from how I hold my hands to the manner of which I wet my lips. He’s watching me do this all and it’s odd being under his tight scrutiny. 

I sigh and think the least Dowoon could’ve done before shoveling the giant into the bathroom with me was strip him down to his boxers so the sadistic playing field is somewhat leveled. But alas, that futile desire would make my life a tad too easy. “You can try being nice to me.”

“And what if I don’t want to be nice to you?” Sehun’s toying charms deepens onto his annoyingly attractive face. His focus transcends to the words leaving my lips and thankfully not on my body. It still doesn’t help me in any circumstance as his tall frame blocks my chances in retrieving any clothes.

I fold my arms across my chest but it does very little to cover my skin. “Really? You can’t even manage one night of being friendly with me?”

“Nope. Don’t think I can, baby.”

“And why not?”

“Because haven’t you noticed?” Sehun’s fingers reach out and draws back the locks of hair draped over my shoulders. He makes lines and shapes with his index, trailing them across my collar bones and over my naked arms. His eyes charged with umber locks within mine, reading if I’ll deny him like before or accept his touches without refute. “I don’t want to be nice or gentle with you. I like it when you curse at me. I like it when you’re rough. I like it when you look at me with fire seething through your teeth and lips. So no—don’t think I can be nice to you. Not tonight at least.”

I break away from his attention because there’s an inexplicable change between us and it’s throwing me off balance as I can’t think fast enough on how to respond. As I’ve learned before, it’s probably another one of his games because he doesn’t know how to play nice. He knows how how to play with actions and words.

There’s a silence flowing over us and my instinctual reply is, “Fuck y—” but I stop myself from finishing. I refrain from articulating the exact words from before since it means I’ll be lured into his vindictive ploy again. I’ll be stuck in a haze of perhaps actually wanting him and needing him in a way I rarely ever allow myself to think about. “Never mind.”

The right side of Sehun’s mouth rises and it’s that distinctive expression messing with my insides, lighting it to flashes and sparks. “You hesitated,” he says.

“And?”

“Why did you? Are you afraid to admit you actually think about it?”

“Think about what?”

He intrudes into my space, weaving himself in with ease as my back meets the door. But as the minutes and seconds go by, I don’t feel like I’m trapped in this room with him. I don’t feel stuck and a part of me likes that we’re alone and locked in this bathroom together. 

His face slides past mine at the left with our cheeks a touch apart. His warm air leaves a dance along my flesh. His words create flames blazing on my skin and his voice is low as my face naturally angles towards his so I can hear his every whisper. “That you think about me; that you think about fucking me and that you think about it—a lot.”

My fingers move on their own, latching themselves onto the hem of his untucked white dress shirt. I hold onto the fabric to steady my fluctuating mood and unfortunate for him, his shirt is the only thing within the vicinity I can grab onto considering I’m without one on. 

Sehun welcomes the interaction. He looks to my hands gripping onto his shirt and then back up to my face, enjoying our exchange of teasing conversation and revels in how I don’t deny his sentiments. His mouth lightly presses against my ear from tip to lobe, leaving invisible marks all the way into the crook of my neck.

“And what about you?” I ask.

“What about me?”

“Do you think about me,” I pause, stifling a ragged breath stitching itself into my throat. Because I only want this to happen if we both want it—that he wants me like I want him. “Do you think about me in the way I think about you?”

Sehun’s sharp eyes flick towards me as his soft lips attach themselves to the cuff of my shoulders. They kiss and lick the bone before shifting himself lower. He leaves no patch of skin unturned and takes his time enveloping my layers with his scent and taste. From my clavicle to the nave of my breasts, he creates his own form of arousing art over the expanse of my body and it feels good. He feels good. 

My hands weave into his sable hair as his own hands glide down the curves of my waist and onto my hips. He doesn’t answer my question just yet. He touches me with careful intention and his index and thumb dangle onto the top edge of my jeans. He works the button until it unclasps and slides down the zipper click by click. Whereas his fingers are soft and delicate, his words strike a chord with beats of thunder.

He responds to my curiosity in a form of an ask. He’s slowly leading me to the answer I want to hear as I listen to his tone igniting something of wonder. “Do you know who gave you your nickname in the group chat?”

I barely manage a swallow as I watch him continue marking my lower belly with indescribable craves of kisses. “Who?”

“I did—and do you know why I gave you that nickname?”

I shake my head with a quavering breath as his teeth nick at my flesh and then onto the thinly veiled fabric peeking through from under my jeans. 

Sehun’s tongue brushes up against my belly once more, causing a shivering onslaught of goosebumps traveling down my spine. I can hear him smile through every word as he savors every syllable and letter snaking itself through my vein and vessels. “Because what do Serpents eat for pleasure?” He stops for a moment, halting directly in front of my most sensitive area before etching his line of vision into mine. He whispers a simple answer, one describing exactly what he thinks about me when it’s late in the night—