⊱ Réalité et cauchemar ⊰

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I never kept track of time ever since I had arrived to hell. I never kept track of time during my 'life' as a Sin, either. An hour, a day, a month, a few decades could pass and I wouldn't notice at all.

Time would flow just the same with me luring people to commit the forbidden deeds, nothing out of the ordinary. As if I was frozen in time, in my own comfort zone.

But ever since I gambled with Chastity and let myself be assigned to a boy for a task, time started flowing... differently.

As agreed by both sides, I got myself human qualities from Lucy which made me sleep, wake up and experience hunger, things I had forgotten for centuries. A biological clock was ticking inside me and I lived through each day like how I would as a human again.

Just wishful thinking but actual reality.

A few weeks had already passed since the day I first met him. There wasn't a single day I didn't see him. Whether it be in classrooms, in dormitories or out and about, I was always running into him both intentionally and unintentionally.

I got used to university life and an art student's life at that with the help of my very own task, Jungkook.

In the past few weeks, he often taught me the techniques he used, the fundamentals of arts at school, in the dorms, and talked about the beauty of it all with so much passion. Sometimes our conversations would last more than five hours straight and I wouldn't even notice.

He was a good person. It was as plain as day. From the way he talked, the way his doe eyes sparkled, the way he would sometimes bring me some of his extra food, the childlike smile of his, the way he would watch me patiently whenever I painted...

He was a good person.

I went to parties in hopes of running into him and playing drunk scenarios for my goal, but he would never show up. Even though his girlfriend was at literally every party on campus, he wouldn't go to at least one of them no matter how many times I asked him. He would reject me, saying he didn't need to go to useless a gathering where all people did was drink and that he had better things to do.

Can a man really be that abstinent?

Although I unwillingly started enjoying my time with him, I had to stay focused. Every man bore a frothing desire within himself with no exceptions.

How hard could making one man sin be?

I turned my head to see him standing a few feet away from me with arms crossed and brows knotted, silently observing the large painting before him. Compared to the hoodies and sweatpants he used to wear to museums like this, the light blue button up shirt and black slacks that flaunted his body line were an improvement today much to my relief. It used to be embarrassing to walk close to him when he dressed like that.

When I walked up to him, he let out a sigh without taking his eyes off the painting.

"This painting caught your attention, huh?"

"I don't know... It just looks hypnotizing, I guess?" The ebony haired boy breathed out a chuckle. "Romanticism was quite a movement. Each person comes up with their own interpretation of the paintings."

"Isn't that like for every painting?" I snickered, observing the painting as well. "What's your take on this then?"

After a beat of silence, he sighed again. "Well... It really looks like reality and nightmare were merged into this painting. That mythological creature could be incubus, manipulating her and exploiting her subconscious like what such creatures do to people... This painting was ahead of its time. There are so many articles about succubus and incubus on websites nowadays."

My handful of underlings, huh... Though sometimes useless and disobedient, they did their job well and we kept respectable distance between ourselves.

I turned my body his way, eyeing him curiously. "Have you ever met a succubus?"

He shook his head. "Not that I remember of." Turning his head, he held my gaze with the same intensity. "Have you? Incubus?"

A corner of my lips tugged upwards. "I don't know if you could call it an incubus but... there was one, in the form of someone I knew. He was begging me to fuck him."

Jungkook hysterically took glances at the people passing by and closed the distance between us, leaning down to whisper, "Are we talking about wet dreams now? What is this?"

"No...? It was quite scary, I thought I was going to die then." Smirking, I patted his warm cheek as he stared at me incredulously. "Look at you all blushing. Want to talk about wet dreams instead?"

His eyes bulged out. "Sook!"

I grinned widely. "Kook!"

"Every single time," he groaned, pulling back, earning roars of laughter from me, and soon joined me, chortling and pulling me away. "Come on, let's look at the other paintings."

We continued to check out other exhibits there, taking pictures and conversing with each other about the meanings behind them that soon turned into laughters until the last piece.

"Being an artist must be nice," I mused as we walked out of the museum. "You express your feelings, thoughts, the life around you through drawings and paintings... through beauty..."

Jungkook hummed. "Creativity is always bubbling in artists. It's really wonderful."

With clammy hands, I rubbed my arms over my silky dress sleeves, looking up at the sweet amber sky with a faint rosy tinge to it. A bitter taste lingered on my tongue. "But it's too late to become an artist now. Beauty... is something I don't possess now."

Bewilderment crossed his features as he turned to me. "What are you saying? It's not too late, you're still young. You know you can become an artist. And you do possess beauty... Are you fishing for compliments or...?"

I threw a glare at him. "Me? Fishing for compliments? Hey, are you kidding me? And you're only saying I possess beauty because of my face, aren't you?"

His lips curved into a small smile. "Your face? Nope. I was talking about the inner you. The outer you is," he drawled, playfully scrunching his nose. "My eyes sting."

"Hey!"

I ran after him to slap his shoulder when he bolted away as soon as he finished his words, bursting into hearty laughters.

"Come back here, you little shit!"

"Ow, my eyes hurt so bad! Spare me your face, please," he shouted, still guffawing.

"You're so dead, you ass!"

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I wanna go on a vacation but I can't for another few months ㅠㅠ work is stressing me out so bad, I cri

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter 🥰