8 7. Double date… and an unwanted encounter?

Nerves.

That is what coursing through the brown-haired artist's body at breakneck speed. It wasn't because Akane and Curt had met the demon she had summoned - by pure chance - and believed him to be her cousin, nor was it because they could discover the truth, and with an audience, as they found themselves in one of the busiest coffee shops in New York.

No, with the demon's performance it was very unlikely. That was not what was causing the Italian girl's systems to collapse with every passing second and her legs to vibrate with a certain nervousness. No, the truth of the moment was quite different.

Since the real reason why she felt so extremely agitated could be none other than the fact that a certain jet-haired boy was 'accidentally' touching some parts of her body -especially her thighs-, and that, moreover, when he did it shamelessly, he managed to conceal his 'fault' with an impeccable performance, worthy of an Oscar. Making the poor girl feel ashamed of his actions. The worst thing was that she asked him to keep quiet, so that the couple sitting in front of them wouldn't discover anything. But it was clear that something was going on and those two in front of the demon and the artist were truly curious.

Every time they asked, the brunette girl simply shook her head or made up some crazy excuse that popped into her head at the time.

And of course, the demon couldn't have been happier. For now, he could bother the brunette as much as he wanted, after all... He didn't know when the girl wouldn't have as many barriers around her as she did at that moment. Because when she was alone with him, that woman seemed to put gigantic walls between the two of them to keep him from getting any closer to her, and although that shouldn't bother him at all, he ended up feeling the rage make his blood boil. Not for nothing, but if their relationship did not improve, the payoff would not be as satisfying and delicious. And the man knew what he was talking about after so many pacts made throughout his long life.

Though that couldn't matter less to the demon for now, after all, he had an eternity to live compared to her, and it was fun to tease the woman and embarrass her into pulling those weird faces that made him laugh. So, for the moment it was all right to wait... though sometimes he despaired at the woman's behaviour. Why should she care if he touched and kissed her if it felt good for both of them!?

He knew from many voices that he was a good lover. She had nothing to complain about!

But well, it would all come in time, he knew. It always did... and then he would simply take it all from her and disappear as he had done so many times before. Nothing would be any different with that woman.

At that moment, still with the idea fixed in his mind, he watched the nervous, still smiling in her friend’s direction. She seemed to have a light of her own, pleasant and appealing to his person. And when she explained herself, he could notice how her dimples became more accentuated by the emotion of her anecdote, making the boy laugh at those adorable gestures.

And at that moment the words of the god of destruction came into his head and his gaze hardened for a few moments and he denied over and over again. «That will not happen, I will not allow it...» The boy mentally growled and clenched his fist under the table with some force.

“...m”, the sound around him started to turn into a buzz, he didn't hear anything or anyone, he was just silent, with a really serious look on his face as his eyes dulled and his claws started to protrude without him noticing. “...om”. A still voice, he could hear it in the distance, but he kept focused on his anger and rage, until a recognizable voice, along with a small hand on his hand, woke him up from his reverie, making him blink in surprise. “Tom!”

The green-eyed man was surprised to hear his name so loudly. And he looked at the brunette’s profile, making her tense up and startle for a few moments when she saw the elliptical pupil and a cold look from the demon towards her person, although seconds later he returned to his usual brightness, making her blink in surprise at what she had seen. She fell silent and felt the demon's hand squeeze hers tightly, there she felt his claws gently caress her skin, and she shivered softly. But... to both of their surprise, neither of them moved their hands, they simply held them intertwined, feeling reassured by the touch.

She knew something had happened; she just didn't want to ask. It was none of her business, he was just someone who wanted to take advantage of her. But if so, why did his touch feel so good and why did it soothe her so much?

“What's wrong, Caeli?” Asked the jet-haired boy with a charming smile that made several girls in the coffe shop blush noticeably and sigh as they looked at him.

There, the girl reacted and smiled. “You gawked and didn't say any of your stupid things, that worried me,” she said with a slight frown, and then opened her eyes slightly surprised by what she had said. «Shit...» She thought when she saw the boy watching her somewhat perplexed for a few seconds, until an almost imperceptible smirk had formed on his lips making her snort in exasperation and settle back in her chair. «He definitely will not let me forget what I said».

“Yes, cousin, I'm fine, you don't have to worry so much about me,” he said with a sweet tone denoting some of the words in that sentence, which made the girl roll her eyes and the demon dying inside wanting to laugh out loud.

After a look of hatred from the brunette and the jet-haired boy put a hand over his mouth to stop a laugh from escaping from his mouth, the redhead girl, after she and her boyfriend looked at each other for a few moments, both looked at the green-eyed young man and the gesture that was happening between the hands of the two in front of them, making the artist tense up as she saw how the couple had gotten. She didn't like that look in the slightest!

“So, tell us Tom, where are you from? What do you do?” The red-haired woman began the interrogation as she was hugged around the waist by her writer, who was looking curiously at the mysterious black-haired man.

“After all, we've talked a lot about each other and our tastes, but we haven't talked about you. You're like a big mystery to us, my friend,” said the blond writer with a quiet laugh as the journalist rested her head on the older one's shoulder.

The youngest of them all was speechless at that moment, but her head couldn't help but turn a little sharply in the direction of the demon, who was still wearing a charming magazine smile.

Something that couldn't make the blue-eyed university student more annoyed -apart from her disbelief- because she didn't understand how that demon could be so calm, if he had no idea what to say about that question!

Instead, surprising the girl even more, the man began to speak. “Well, I come from Italy, more specifically Milan. And I, like my father, am a photographer. Although I don't really do big projects, so it's understandable that you don't know some of my work,” he said with a quiet laugh.

There, the artist couldn't have been more confused, and of course her friends couldn't have been more interested in the life of that attractive and mysterious young man who had appeared overnight.

“Wow man, amazing, but… When did you get here? I mean, yesterday Eli and I went out and when we got back to her house I didn't see you anywhere,” said the journalist, puzzled as things didn't add up for her.

“My flight was delayed, I arrived at three in the morning. It was chaos getting here,” said the jet-haired man as if it were nothing, “I came to see her mother, and of course Caeli. After all, my father has no other than them and well...” He said, scratching the back of his neck a little embarrassed by the subject and the couple tensed to look at the brunette.

Caeli at that moment carefully let go of the older man's hand and averted her gaze as she began to play with the bulging part of her jumper, the demon tensed up at that moment as he remembered the taboo subject he had just touched on and soon everyone tensed up at the atmosphere that had been created in a matter of seconds.

The atmosphere changed in a matter of seconds, from a cheerful and fun interrogation - for the demon and the couple - to a tense and melancholic one. Luckily, though, that only lasted for a few moments, as the black-haired man soon changed the subject and began to tell some anecdotes from his life as a photographer, causing the aura surrounding the four young people to change in an instant.

The blue-eyed woman brought her gaze towards the boy, who looked at her from the side and she averted her gaze and whispered a quiet ‘thank you’ that only the demon could hear through his developed ear, causing a feeling of calm to settle inside both of them for a few seconds, as it soon vanished and he reacted when he realised that the young couple was talking to him.

A few minutes later, the woman calmed down after all the thoughts that came into her head, and soon added to the conversation the three young people were having.

Many of the customers, or rather, many of the women who came into the coffe shop were enraptured by the young, handsome black-haired man. Something the brunette girl couldn't care less about, as it was undeniable that anyone who didn't know him would stare at him and drool over him. Although there was something that did exasperate her, and she wasn't the only one, as the couple was also certainly annoyed at not being able to talk calmly. Since every now and then they were interrupting the conversation, many strangers were coming up to flirt with the boy - something she didn't mind in the slightest-.

«You could lower your sex-appeal rank or your demonic magic so they leave us alone, don't you think?» The artist asked the demon and he could only sigh with a smile.

«Are you jealous angioletto?» he asked teasingly and she only grunted to give him the middle finger sign under the table making the older man laugh. Who simply ignored the women and continued talking to the artist's friends.

And the biggest problem came later, at a certain point, when already, at the fifteenth time a girl came up to interrupt the conversation to talk to the demon the artist intervened rather annoyingly.

“I don't know if you don't noticed, but we're having a conversation right now, so you and your little friends could stop trying to flirt with him. It's tedious to watch you being dismissed,” she rolled her eyes tired of it, as they couldn't even have a quiet chat because of the same individual girl coming back again and again. Yes, the last three times it had been the same one, and no, she didn't seem to want to give up.

The ochre-haired girl stopped talking abruptly, her gaze shifted from a sweet and innocent one to a contemptuous and murderous one that was directed at the brunette female, who arched one of her eyebrows looking boredly at the woman standing in front of her.

“What are you, his girlfriend?” Said the woman, looking her up and down with contempt. “Some people are satisfied with so little these days,” said the taller one with a sharp grin.

“No, I...”

“And stuttering on top of that, really darling, let the grown-ups talk, after all he's way out of your league,” she said calmly as she smiled and moved a little closer to the black-haired man who didn't react to her gesture. “Can't you see I'm having a conversation with this handsome man?”

“No, I just see a crazy woman with an excessively high-pitched voice, harassing a boy who doesn't have the slightest interest in you and only smiles at you out of politeness. That, my dear, is what I'm really seeing right now.”

The woman said shamelessly and almost instantly widened her eyes in surprise. She... she had said that to that girl? The entire coffee shop had stared at her, and her friends were surprised.

Since Caeli wasn't the type to blurt out the first thing on the spur of the moment, she was a kind and polite girl, she'd put up with worse jerks in the shop. No matter how unbearable that person was, she was always sweet and charming - though not to the demon, of course-. Instead, after what she had said, the newcomer clearly felt offended and angry, it seemed that at any moment she would start foaming at the mouth and go for the Italian's throat. Then, when she felt a touch on her leg, she brought her gaze to a certain jet-haired man who remained with a faint mocking smile on his lips and then she realised... The bastard had made her say those things!

«How dare you, you idiot! Do you have anything but dust in that head of yours? » She shouted at him in anger, causing him to sigh and massage his temples with a sudden headache.

«That's what you've been thinking all along, I just nudged your lips to tell the truth. Come on my angioletto, it's not that bad~. You just have to look at her, it's very funny». He said with mockery in each of his words and just when the brunette girl was about to get up to give him a good blow in the head for being an idiot, the unbearable voice of the annoying woman that had been harassing the demon during that morning resounded in her eardrums making her grunt because of the pain in them.

“Sorry dear, I didn't know it bothered you that he didn't notice you one bit,” she said, folding her arms and smiling wickedly. “No wonder, with those childish looks you wear, that tasteless make-up that looks like it was done by a two year old kid and makes you look like a circus clown,” she said, and when the younger girl touched her face quizzically, the female, along with her entourage, laughed mockingly. There the couple grunted in the woman's direction.

“You should just leave, you're not the best person to say anything to her,” said the redhead girl calmly.

“Oh, on top of that, you also have a fan club, you should be happy,” said the ochre-haired girl laughing and when Curt was about to say something, that woman turned herself to Tom, still looking at the brunette artist, who was biting her inner cheek to not say anything. “And on top of your lousy personality that you have for sure, neither he nor any other guy would be interested in you. It's normal, you only create pity,” the ochre-haired girl smiled triumphantly, looking with superiority and contempt at Caeli who was speechless before that, and Akane was about to say something again, she was even ready to kill that girl who had appeared out of nowhere.

But Curt stopped her at that moment, they couldn't create a bigger spectacle in the coffee shop. Although he also wanted to tell her a thing or two.

The blue-eyed woman lowered her gaze in shame and helplessness, for she felt that everything that woman had said was real, otherwise... why else would Orfeo have left her? Exactly... it had been because of all those characteristics that the rabid girl had said. Or at least, it was most likely.

“Ah... really, why don't you just shut up and do us all a favour?” Said the demon, causing Caeli to be overly surprised to hear him speak. “Maybe my dear little cousin lacks a little humour, but as far as the rest is concerned, you are very wrong my dear, because everything you have said, is what you really lack, it's obvious when you let your mascara run in that way that makes you look like a panda. Oh, and I'll add another thing, do you rub up against people to get them to do you favours? What a receptive person you are, don't you think?”

The ochre-haired girl's eyes widened in surprise at the man's remark, how dare he say that to her!

“No, no, no, no. Don't even bother talking. You'll only make my ears bleed more than necessary,” Tom said and several people in the room began to chuckle under their breath at this, especially the brunette girl's friends. The woman began to babble, unsure of what to say. The only thing she did was to take one of the cups of coffee that was on the table, look angrily at Caeli, because she had started it - or so the lunatic thought, full of rage and jealousy -, and just when she was about to throw it on the poor girl, Tom just took her by the wrist and made her throw it on her as an 'accident', and when she stared at him the girl tensed up her body. “Oh dear, it seems that you have soiled yourself and that your presence is no longer welcome. You'd better go away and leave my cousin alone. I'd hate to have to leave you in a worse place than you are.”

And with that sentence, the aforementioned girl frowned and before she could say anything that could leave her in a worse place, she ran embarrassedly out of the establishment with all eyes on her.

The pair looked at their friend, and the three of them stared at the demon, the foursome looked at each other and soon they all began to laugh uncontrollably, that was fucking good! None of them could stop their laughter, the look on the ochre-haired one's face had been deadly.

“Ah... Seriously, I don't understand why we haven't met before. I like you very much my friend,” said the blond boy mockingly, patting the taller one on the back. And so, the time passed, long hours of small talk and the four of them enjoyed themselves as if there was no end to it.

Everything seemed to be perfect, which surprised the blue-eyed girl, she didn't think the demon could adapt so easily to her friends, as they didn't get friendly with others so quickly. Instead, he did, every time she looked at him he seemed calmer, cheerful, somehow. Though that teasing touch in his eyes never went away, which pleased her, as he seemed to stay true to himself. The only thing that no longer surrounded him was that malevolent aura that was created whenever he remained pensive or locked in his own thoughts. Something that somehow made her feel... sad?

It was then that she opened her eyes in surprise, what the hell was she thinking!

Then, tensing even more she felt the demon's hand caress hers, her gaze went to his and soon, her cheeks gained a reddish hue. His green eyes flashed a lovely toxic green, a sweet smile formed on his lips and she could see how his pupils had dilated slightly at the sight of her. She felt her heart flutter at the image... Had he read her thoughts? An even darker shade of red formed on her cheeks and she averted her gaze in embarrassment, causing him to chuckle at that.

«It doesn't feel so bad when you think of me like that once in a while,» he said in a sweet and teasing tone, which made the artist blush even more, and she felt more and more embarrassed as the seconds went by.

“Hey Caeli... are you okay?” Her friend asked her again with a mischievous smile at the behaviour of both 'cousins' -although it was becoming increasingly clear that they were not cousins at all-, and the brunette woman abruptly freed herself from the demon's hand to start denying with both hands as a sign that she was fine.

Everyone laughed again at the expression that the younger girl had put on, the black-haired boy could not help but smile sweetly at seeing the girl in that way, however, everything changed in a matter of seconds.

“Caeli?” Whispered a manly and serious voice that made the girl stop abruptly, as it was impossible not to recognise that voice wherever she went. The green-eyed man observed the tension in the couple's bodies and also in Caeli's body. And all at the same time, they all turned to see where the voice was coming from.

There, a certain brown-haired boy with grey eyes received different kinds of glances, to which he took no notice. He only had his gaze fixed on the artist, who had been left in shock after the fun moments she had spent with her friends.

There, after all the time that had passed. Standing in the doorway of that coffee shop was the man who had broken her heart, the one with whom she had cried long sleepless nights... and the one who had made a very hard part of her life the most beautiful and joyful part of her short existence. All those thoughts left her completely paralysed, she could only look at those cold, but intense grey eyes that looked at her with sadness.

Why? Why was he looking at her like that?!

“Caeli, do you want us to leave?” Whispered Akane observing the girl’s gaze, who could not decipher that moment what Caeli was thinking and she didn't like it, she didn't want to see the artist relapse again.

“No, wait I wan…” There, Orfeo tried to speak, but the blond writer stepped in front of him, causing the taller man to frown. “You're not the one I want to talk to Walker, back off,” instead, the blond boy ignored his warnings, so the cold eyed man brushed his shoulder as his eyes bore into the writer's, causing him to freeze at the way he had looked at him.

«What kind of look is that?» Curt thought as he felt a shiver run down his spine. And when he saw his partner stop the taller one, he smiled.

“I think you've done enough to have the balls to show yourself in front of her,” Akane said, planting herself in front of the table, preventing him from advancing any further.

There, the man grunted and soon crouched down to the shorter woman's level, and after whispering something in her ear, she froze and almost fell over if her boyfriend hadn't caught her in his arms.

“Akane!” Curt shouted in surprise as he pulled her into his arms and made her sit up so she could catch her breath. The pale-skinned woman looked up at the grey-eyed boy in shock, but just held her partner in her arms without understanding what had happened, and without being able to react.

Soon, the boy stood in front of the artist looking at her with a slight smile and sadness in his cold grey eyes. “Caeli...”

The woman, in her shock, did not respond to the voice of the one she had once loved so much, she knew that if she did, she would fall for him again. She couldn't, she shouldn't, just as she was about to get up and step back to walk away, the man opened his eyes in surprise and gently took her by the hand so she wouldn't leave, and knelt down in front of her with a smile.

“Please don't go, I really want to talk to you... I need someth...” Again, before he could finish his sentence, Orfeo was interrupted by another voice.

The woman didn't know what was happening until she heard a slight growl and when she looked up she couldn't have been more surprised and certainly frightened, for the demon was holding her tightly, pulling her away from the man while... protecting her?

Making her lean her face against his chest so that she wouldn't look at the one who had brought her so much pain, as well as happiness.

“She doesn't want to talk to you. Don't even think about her wanting to see you. Don't talk to her because she's not the least bit interested in talking to an idiot who has only hurt her. And you'd better walk away before someone gets hurt,” Tom said with a serious look, showing only to Orfeo that toxic, sharp-eyed stare and his imposing figure that surprised rather than frightened the other one.

“You are no one to stop me from talking to her!” Orfeo snarled evenly, sharpening his gaze in his direction, causing the tension in the air to rise and the entire coffee shop to fall completely silent at what was happening.

The strange feeling the demon had at that moment was that he felt he knew the man from somewhere. But he could care less when he felt the younger girl tremble and hug his body tightly.

“I'm the one who's going to smash your face if you don't leave her alone,” he said fiercely and the brown man was surprised to clench his jaw tightly. “And if you show up in front of her again just to create more trouble in that empty head of hers, I'm going to come after you, do you understand?” Tom snorted and Caeli frowned at what Tom had said, but before she could say anything to the demon, he grabbed her by the wrist and soon they both ran out of the place, leaving everyone completely surprised.

The couple were surprised at this, and soon, leaving the indicated tip and paying the bill, ran after them in an attempt to catch up.

Leaving the serious looking man alone, who looked in the direction where the 'couple' had gone and clicked his tongue in frustration and feeling the blood rushing with rage and fury in his veins. It wasn't possible that she was with him! That not how it was supposed to be! She shouldn't be with that man! She should be with him!

If he had left her, it was to protect her! Not to put her in danger again!

«No, it's not going to stay like this... » He thought as his cold gaze looked more like a living corpse. And without a word to anyone he simply walked out of the coffee shop, going in another direction, for he would not allow his precious angel to be in the hands of that beast.

On the other hand, the writer and the journalist had run after their friends, but had lost track of them, so Akane had to send a message to her friend, hoping that she was all right, still as shocked as Curt by everything that had happened in a matter of seconds.

Meanwhile, both the demon and the artist were running, holding hands, as people looked at them, but neither stopped, they just kept running, tightening their grip so they wouldn't get separated.

And as they ran anywhere, a thought crossed both of their minds: «Their hand is warm...»