Tasia immediately pushed Hadyan's body firmly, even before he could let go of his hand.
"You?! What are you doing here?! H-how did you get in?!" In a slight whisper, she asked the angry question as she shifted backwards, even though she couldn't anymore because her back was already met the wall.
Hadyan took a deep breath before getting up from the side of the bed and walking towards the window, "I can't do it anymore. I can't keep lying, waiting for you to like me from your heart."
"What? You're crazy! How did you get in? A-and why are your eyeballs yellow like that? Are you having jaundice?"
"Because I'm not a human, but a snake demon. That's why I can enter your room easily. And I don't know what jaundice is."
Tasia frowned, she believed Hadyan's words, "You even turned on the light without touching the switch. This is impossible! Why are you doing this? Are you an ordinary human who has become a snake demon?"
Hadyan laughed, "If I was a human, why would I do that? It will be useless. There isn't a single ascetic who learned black magic could match the power of a demon prince. The truth is, I'm a demon who disguising as a human."
Silently, Tasia pinched her thigh. She groaned in pain as she felt her own stinging pinch. She isn't dreaming. This is all real.
"Then, why are you after me? What did I do wrong to you? I don't even remember ever meeting you before. In fact, I always maintain my attitude whenever I'm travelling to spooky places. I am always polite and respectful of my surroundings." She said while remembering that maybe there was something she had forgotten.
"You haven't done anything wrong. There's no need to try so hard to remember because I've already erased your memory of the first time we met." Said Hadyan.
"Wh.. what? Why.." Tasia stuttered.
"When you drowned and lost in the ocean on your vacation to Scale beach, isn't it strange, that you could still return to the beach safely without any significant injury? It was because I kidnapped you. I fell in love with you and took you to my palace to make you my empress." He smiled sadly and lowered his head slightly, recalling the events of that moment.
"But, when you woke up, you cried hysterically and rejected me. You were even scared to death just by seeing the royal servants and calling them ghosts. You asked me to go home. And I know that I couldn't possibly marry someone by force. Locking you up in the palace, letting you hate me forever. That's why I let you go." He continued.
Tasia stared at Hadyan blankly. Trying to digest the very impossible thing, but for some reason, she really believed. Everything that Hadyan said actually makes a lot of sense when it comes to the events that have happened to her since that holiday. And for some reason, since hearing Hadyan's explanation, her fear of the guy suddenly disappeared.
"Then, why did you erase my memory? Makes me confused all this time. What are your plans for me?"
"I did it so I could follow you home. I planned to make you fall in love with me as a human, so then you want to come with me to the palace. But it's not as easy as I thought. The human world is too complicated. I thought it would be better if I'm being honest with you like now. Making you understand and make you less scared or suspicious of me anymore." He explained sadly, making Tasia's forehead frown even more.
"I'm not going with you to that demon palace, Hadyan. Then what are you going to do after this? I don't even have any feelings for you." Said Tasia.
"See that bruise of yours?" He pointed at Tasia's waist.
"That bruise is covering your memory. The more it faded, the clearly you'll remember the memories I've erased. The promise that I made before becoming a human was when the bruise disappeared, I would return to where I came from with or without you." He explained.
Tasia felt her waist right where the bruise was made, "Even so, I still can't come with you. Your plan will only be in vain. So.. I'm sorry that you should just give up from now on and go back to your palace. Don't waste your time on someone like me. I don't want you to regret it later." She said slowly.
Hadyan smiled gently, "You can say that. But an agreement is an agreement. I will leave at the appointed time. Won't you give me a chance?"
Tasia shook her head slowly, "I can't possibly love demons, Hadyan. Our worlds are already different. I'm sorry. But if you really have to wait until this bruise disappeared, we can be friends until then. How about that?" she smiled.
The pain squeezed Hadyan's heart again, but he still smiled because, of course, he will not give up. He also didn't want to look weak in front of Tasia even though it felt like his heart was being torn apart inside. "Right, being friends is a good start. At least, you're not afraid of me anymore."
Tasia laughed amused, "Don't make fun of me because I'm a coward! Come to think of it, it's really funny since normally I'm afraid of ghosts, but now I'm friends with one of them. Isn't that weird?!" She continued laughing.
"Ouch!!" She shrieked suddenly.
"Your cheek?" Hadyan asked worriedly, aware that the side of Tasia's cheek was slightly bruised and turned reddish.
"Ah.. yeah. You know what happened, right? But it's okay." She immediately took a small mirror with a frog head frame from the side table to see the condition of her cheek.
Hadyan stepped closer and sat back down on the side of the bed, "The bruise is turning dark. You have to treat it." He scrutinized it, causing Tasia to shift back her seat again. Hadyan came to his senses and immediately shifted back to respect Tasia.
"Oh! Don't you have mystical powers? Can you heal this?" Tasia asked enthusiastically while pointing at her slightly swollen cheek.
Hadyan laughed, "Of course I can't do that. Heal? Only The Almighty God can do it. For this kind of thing, I can only fix what I've done and save drowning people."
Tasia pouted by hearing that, "Well.. I thought you were as powerful as you said earlier."
BLAM! There was a sound of the door from outside the room.
"Huh?! Looks like my grandma is awake! Hurry up! She's coming in here! Hurry up!" Tasia whispered in panicked, immediately took a sleeping position and pulled up the blanket.
"I'm going. Watch out of her." Hadyan said, before disappearing when turning off the light of the room at the same time. Again, without having to touch the switch button.
For a moment, Tasia's room became silent as usual. She blinked several times, staring at every corner of her room with her naked eyes.
Hadyan had completely disappeared, like a ghost. No. He really is a ghost.
It turned out that Tasia's grandmother only went to the toilet. She didn't stop by her granddaughter's room because it was already 2 in the morning.
Hadyan looked at Tasia's window from outside the fence. He stood in the shadow of the wall of Tasia's neighbour house that was not exposed to the light of the lamp or the moon. He clutched his chest as Tasia's words of refusal echoed in his ears.
'I won't give up, Anastasia. Even if you reject me a thousand times, I will use a million ways to get you. Because I'm not going home without you.'