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The memory of her dropping a whole set of teacups a few years ago—because she couldn’t see where she was stepping—flashed in front of Evan’s eyes, and his heart stuttered nervously. She’d luckily not been burned, just startled, but Evan had almost passed out with a stroke.

Ever since she was a kid, Celie had been clumsy—much like Evan himself. It used to be cute then, but now it just gave Evan those few fluttering visions of heaven’s gate. That’s what happened to him whenever she got hurt.

“I’m not a child anymore,” Celie brushed away Evan’s hands from the tray, brows knitted as she picked the tray up herself. “I can do this much.”

Slowly turning around without spilling a drop, she held the tray to a side, watching her steps as she exited the kitchen. A few moments later, laughter and cheers erupted into the living room, with a faintmeowmuffled somewhere in the midst.

Oh, Misty is at it again, charming my guests.

Evan smiled softly as he recalled Celie’s determined face just now. She’d really grown up, carrying her own tray and all. When she was little, she insisted her brother do everything for her and treat her like a princess. And Evan was all but honored to cater to his little princess. Despite the ten-year age gap, they’d been inseparable as siblings. Until one day…

Evan’s smile quickly disappeared from his face, not because of the bitter memory that resurfaced, but because of a presence that crept up behind him. Warmth flushed his skin, the scent of damp earth mixed with that of the forest swirling into his nostrils as he spun around.

A red-clad figure stood leaning against the fridge, his towering stature dwarfing the appliance. Strands of raven hair fell into two dark eyes as Xen stared at Evan with a tilt of his head.

Evan’s first thought was to curse him out. Second was to stare at him a little more, study his profile for, well, future references. But then he realized there were people just a wall away, and his eyes widened.

“What the hell are you doing here?” He hissed under his breath, throwing cautious glances over his shoulder at the direction from where chatters still flowed into the kitchen.

Xen’s dark eyes followed his. “I see you have guests.”

“That’s not what I asked!” Evan’s eyes narrowed before he crossed his arms across his chest. “Oh, wait. Why did you run away earlier?”

Xen’s eyebrows lifted. “Run away?”

For a moment, Evan studied his expression. Though, as usual, it didn’t give much away. After a beat, he concluded with a sympathetic nod, “You werescared of Del, weren’t you?”

A flash of red lit up the dark pools of Xen’s eyes. “I don’trun away,” he said, enunciating each word with a quiet intensity.

Evan scoffed, stepping forward to rub it in. “You know, for a demon, you’re not very convincing.”

“I wasn’t trying to be,” Xen took a step closer himself, looming over Evan like a storm about to break.

Dammit, had he grown taller?

“Good," Evan muttered. "Because it won’t work on me.”

A corner of Xen's mouth lifted, flashing his pearl-white fang that seemed to sharpen right before Evan’s eyes. With something cold in his hand, Xen lifted Evan’s chin and leaned down to breathe the velvety words into his face. “One day I’m going to put this smart mouth to good use.”

…Oh.

For a single damned moment, every thought drained from Evan’s brain as his eyes glazed over. He stared into Xen’s hypnotizing eyes, an image rising involuntarily in his brain ofhim kneeling, his hair tugged back, his mouth being put togood use.

Evan blinked, jerking himself out of his reverie, startled by his own imagination. “You… you…”

Xen grinned as though he’dseenwhat Evan had imagined. Before Evan could smack that smile off his face, footsteps echoed from the living room, heading towards the kitchen.

Evan’s eyes bulged. “Shit.”

With a strength Evan didn’t know he possessed, he shoved Xen to the ground by the shoulders, into the empty storage space under the kitchen counter. Considering the physical dynamics, it was probably Xenallowinghimself to be pushed around, but he was so big, he hardly squeezed his hunched upper half in the storage space. Those long legs of his that went on forever were spread out on either side of Evan’s feet.

Evan kicked his knees in an attempt to stuff him inside, but Xen instead folded his legs, wrapping them around Evan’s ankles and locking him in place.

Just as Celie appeared at the kitchen door, Evan straightened with a cough, sliding his hands into his pants pocket as if he had bent to just pick something up from the ground. With a confused look, Celie approached the opposite side of the counter, staring at all the snacks still laid out before Evan that he was supposed to bring out. “What were you doing?”

“On a call,” Evan lied, wincing inwardly as he did so. No one in this world could make him feel guilty about lying other than his sister.

“Oh, was it Aaron?”