"Why do you have the need to seduce me before you say that?" Cain asked, taking off her hands from his collar. He backed away and sat at the corner of his room, away from her.
"Were you seduced?"
"Hardly. You could try harder. I feel no different."
Lorelei rolled her eyes. "My charm doesn't seem to affect you."
"Didn't know you had a charm. In fact," Cain added, "Couldn't feel your charm in the first place."
Lorelei gave him a death glare and he snorted. "So do you want us to make a deal or not?"
"What's the deal about?"
"I'll help you kill yourself and once you finally die, I can get your soul and finally have my promotion."
Cain thought for a moment. He doesn't know a smidge about the girl, and yet for an odd reason, he trusts her. If they would help each other to attain both their goals, that would be great. He would finally have peace and she could finally get her promotion. Their existence relies on each other to get what they want. So, he had no reason to refuse. But...
"I can just kill myself without your help." Cain said, shrugging. "Also, I'm bound to die anyways, so we won't need this deal."
"Like I said, your probability of dying goes up if you're with me."
"But didn't you say my probability of dying is already 100%?"
Lorelei thought for a moment. "Yes, but surprisingly enough, you haven't died for the past times you tried taking your own life. Did you remember what I did a few moments ago? When I threw a pillow and it smashed a glass bottle instead and it almost hit you?"
She was right. If Cain didn't move out of the way, he could've been pierced by the shard of glass. So, he nodded.
Lorelei continued, "I'll help you take your own life. You'll have your, uhm, well-deserved peace and I too will get what I want: a promotion. This way, it'll be easier for me to take your soul than just hide in the shadows, waiting for you to succumb to death. So, do we make a deal?"
"Sure."
Lorelei smiled with her eyes. "Yay!" She exclaimed. "Let's start tomorrow!"
Cain nodded. "I have class. We can do it after."
Both of them stayed silent, looking at each other. No one said a word, yet the atmosphere between them wasn't hostile nor was it uncomfortable. Her icy blue pierced through his of honey, as the two studied the person in front of them. Lorelei, who had been following Cain for a few months already (can't tell him that it has been years), knew a lot about the boy.
He was an orphan and was bullied for it, and was betrayed by the only friend he had.
Looking at his past, it was of no surprise to her that his eyes, despite a beautiful shade of yellow that humans relate to 'happiness', was devoid of any emotion. There wasn't any sparkle or shine in his eyes, and his face, despite smiling or smirking at her, seemed as if it was forced. Cain, as Lorelei knew, was a person who felt nothing of what humans call emotion. Even if he was living right to this very second, he was so much worse than a corpse.
He was alive, but without emotions, he was like the living dead.
Yet how does this guy, the person in front of her, manage to outrun death? No, even more so, how was he able to survive all of his suicide attempts? Even with a hundred percent chance of dying, no, even more, the worst he received was broken bones.
It seems to her that it wasn't Cain who was running away from his fate to die. In fact, Lorelei knew he'd openly welcome it with wide arms, that suicidal maniac.
It was death itself that was running away from him.
With a sigh, Lorelei turned away from his stare and looked out the window, as the sun was descending from the sky, leaving a trace of yellow behind, before it was engulfed in darkness.
The chair moved and Lorelei noticed Cain standing up by the corner of her eyes.
"You should head home now. It's getting late. Do you want me to walk you there? It's dangerous."
Cain turned on the lights and Lorelei squinted from the sudden brightness. Noticing the broken glass bottle, a sudden pang of guilt filled her and with a snap of her fingers, the shards that had scattered across the floor floated in midair and filled each other until it became one piece again. Cain looked at the bottle curiously. Lorelei picked up the pillow she threw and hugged it to her chest.
"Uhm, Cain..." she muttered, turning pink.
Cain hummed, turning his back on her as he opened the fridge and took out a pitcher filled with cold water and put it down the counter. Opening the cabinet, he looked through the food that he had remaining, looking for something.
"Can I stay here?"
Cain stopped rummaging. He looked back at her with furrowed eyebrows. "What?"
"I-I don't have a home..." Lorelei stuttered, turning even more red from embarrassment. Of course, she can just use her power to go to the Underworld and sleep there, however after a few weeks, it had been quite a hassle teleporting everyday and she grew tired of it.
"So where do you live?" Cain stared at her.
"I'm a Grim Reaper, I'm not from here. I live in the Underworld."
"Then that's where your home is. So sleep there."
"Why can't I sleep here?"
"I'll let you sleep here if we divide the rent."
"What an opportunistic person you are."
"You can't blame me. If you're going to use this as your place too, then you have to pay for your share."
"Fine, I'll get a job and shit. Just let me stay here for the meantime. Happy?"
Cain nodded. "You're sleeping on the floor."
This guy...
Lorelei thought he would be a bit soft for her since all the boys used to be like that, but Cain treats her so indifferently. Or maybe it's because she watched too much K-Dramas that she instantly thought he would give in to her heavenly beauty.
"Can I have the blanket? You don't seem to have an extra mattress."
"Get the extra pillow. And change. The bathroom's there." He pointed towards a door by the kitchen.
"Change? Change what?" Lorelei asked, clueless.
Cain looked her up and down. He walked towards his wardrobe, taking out a big hoodie and the smallest shorts he could find and threw it to her.
"Your clothes."
Lorelei's cheeks flushed. "No thank you. I'll just buy new clothes tomorrow." She laughed awkwardly.
"You've been thrashing around my bed when you passed out. If I hadn't covered you with the blanket, your dumbass might've flashed and traumatized me."
Lorelei felt hot. She felt embarrassed by his straightforward answers. Aside from her embarrassment, she wanted to punch the living daylights of this guy. At this moment was the only time she regretted being a Grim Reaper. If only she wasn't a Grim Reaper, she would've already strangled this guy to death.
Ugh, how she wished to hack off his head with one swipe of her scythe.
Now that she thought about it though, he is a walking contradiction. Wanting to die but can't... he is interesting...
Lorelei was silent for a few minutes now. She was too deep in thought that she hadn't noticed Cain's face. His face looked like he was saying 'What the hell is she thinking?' was plastered on it.
Finally, Lorelei snapped out of her thoughts and muttered a thank you, before dashing inside the bathroom in a hurry. Cain waited for the sound of the shower before taking off his clothes, his body filled with scars and bandages all over. Sighing, he stared towards the bathroom door, hoping she wouldn't come out at any moment.
She doesn't have to know.
Her silver hair shined like the moon and her blue eyes glowed like jewels in his mind, and a small smile spread on his lips.
His eyes twinkled. It was the first time in years that his eyes sparkled. And yet the two weren't aware of it happening. Of course, not yet.
What is this dumbass doing to him?