She Belongs To The Devil

Ariel saw the ash-grey aura entering her room.

She closed the door and instantly put on the spell to make the room soundproof.

"Hey, you didn't get bored, did you?" Ariel asked Damien once he came into view.

Damien shook his head. "No. I got to secretly listen to most of the conversations. How can that be boring?"

Ariel chuckled and passed the blanket to Damien. She pointed her brows at the armchair and said, "I would have shared the bed with you if we were still young. But we aren't so…"

Damien turned to look at the chair. He walked and lightly touched the armrest and said, "I am lucky to even get a chair in your room." He looked back at her and said, "But I could just lie down in the living room or any other empty room."

"People might stumble upon you just like how I did. So, feel free to sleep here." Ariel then went and sat down on her bed.

She couldn't help but notice that Damien looked a bit worn-off. "Damien, are you okay? You don't look so good."

Damien sat on the armchair and leaned back. He closed his eyes and replied, "I used a little too much energy by using those spells for the whole day. I will be fine after I get a good night's sleep."

Ariel immediately offered, "Let me give you some of my energy then."

"What? No!" Damien looked at Ariel and said in a serious voice, "I don't want to steal your energy from you."

Ariel jumped down from the bed and stood next to Damien. She held his hand and said, "It's not stealing if I willingly give it to you. And it's not like I am giving away my life force to you. I am just going to transfer some energy, which I have a lot by the way."

Ariel kept on holding his hand and giving him a determined look.

In the end, Damien couldn't say no to her. So he nodded. "But stop when I ask you to. Don't pour all your energy into me."

"Sure thing." Ariel closed her eyes and focused on the energy that was pulsating throughout her body. And she began transferring the energy to Damien's body.

The process was similar to how she healed others. The only difference was that Damien wasn't wounded. He was simply fatigued.

When Damien felt that he wouldn't pass out in his sleep, he asked Ariel to stop.

And she did, just like she had promised.

"Are you feeling a little better?" Ariel asked Damien after she opened her eyes and left the hold on his hand.

Damien gave a soft smile and nodded. "I feel great. Thanks!"

"Umm… alright then," Ariel stiffly turned around and went to her bed. Stay connected via empire

Damien felt that she was uncomfortable, so he asked again, "You know, it's not too late to kick me out of your room. I could sleep anywhere."

However, Ariel simply chose to ignore him. She unfolded the blanket and tucked herself in. And with a wave of her hand, the lanterns in the room dimmed.

"Goodnight, Damien," she said in a low voice and closed her eyes.

Damien understood that she didn't want him wandering outside. So he also covered himself with the blanket and got comfortable on the chair.

"Goodnight, Ariel." He also closed his eyes.

However, several things that he heard during the day were haunting him. Especially the things that he heard about Kenneth.

"It was easier to hate him when I knew less about him," Damien thought to himself. "And Ariel's grandmother also didn't show any hostility towards him. If he really had bad intentions deep down in his heart then she would have definitely called him out or warned Ariel about him. But she didn't do anything as such."

Damien heaved a deep sigh and thought, "But I don't want to give Ariel up without a fight. I can't simply leave her to him just because he is an adopted hybrid who behaves nicely with everyone, respects Ariel, and wants to help her overcome her trauma…"

He clenched his jaw and screamed in his mind, "Ugh! Dammit! Why does he have to be so good at everything? Why is he so… so nice?"

And he couldn't help but ask Ariel, "What do you think about Kenneth?"

Ariel hadn't fallen asleep yet. So she asked in a low voice, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, him… do you… like him?" Damien gazed at Ariel's sleeping face and asked.

Ariel also opened her eyes to look at Damien and answered, "I do."

Those two words were enough to send tremors inside Damien's heart.

Ariel's irises diluted when she further said, "At first, I found him to be utterly annoying because no matter how many times I rejected him, he would always find ways to come back in my life. But slowly, he grew on me."

She smiled while recalling the times when she beat him up. "And I had once jokingly said that I would give him a chance to be my suitor if he would win against me. But no matter how many times I beat him to a pulp, he would always challenge me to a fight hoping to get that chance. And he never complained or ran."

Damien subtly punched his chest because the more she praised him, the more his heart felt like it was being cut in half.

And he mumbled, "He is very persistent, I see."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Ariel giggled and replied, "Very persistent. He–"

"I have something I wanted to say to you for years." Damien abruptly interrupted her because he couldn't bear to hear more praises about Kenneth.

Ariel gazed at his face and asked, "What is it? If you are going to apologize again then please, save your breath. You've apologized enough."

"No. It's something else." Damien took a deep breath in and then slowly breathed out. He was feeling very nervous and he felt as though his voice would disappear if he didn't speak sooner. He could tell that Ariel would be far from his reach if he didn't speak now.

So, without caring about anything else, Damien blurted out, "I loved you, Ariel. And I never stopped loving you."

"I also loved you," Ariel replied casually. She gave him a sad look and said, "We were best friends. In fact, you were the only friend to whom I wasn't related by blood."

Damien pushed the blanket down and then sat at the edge of his chair. He had a look of desperation on his face when he looked at her.

And he whispered in a rather somber voice, "No, Ariel. I didn't mean to say that I loved you just as a friend. It was more than that. It was always more. You were more than just a friend to me."

Ariel felt a sharp sting in her heart. She knitted her brows in tune and sat up on her bed. And though she wasn't that dumb not to understand what Damien had just said to her, she asked anyway, "What do you mean I was more than just a friend?"

Damien pressed his lips together. He tilted his head a little and kept on gazing at her for a while. He was trying to read her expression. And all he saw was confusion and denial.

He gave a sad smile and poured out everything that he had kept in his heart for years, "Before everything went down in Mihir, I always dreamt about spending my eternity with you by my side. I wanted you to be a part of my family. I wanted you to be my significant other."

And he further said confidently, "And I still want that, even now."