He released her wrists.
For a fraction of a second, relief flickered across her face.
He lowered his head toward hers.
Cassie closed her eyes again, heart pounding wildly against her ribs. Her lips parted just slightly, breath shallow and trembling.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Nothing.
Her brows knit together. Slowly, uncertainly, she opened her eyes.
Her breath caught in her throat.
The warmth was gone.
The smile that had always felt like sunlight had vanished without a trace. His eyes were no longer gentle. They were cold, hollow, starving. A heavy, pitch black presence clung to him like smoke, coiling around his shoulders, seeping into the air between them. Even the curve of his lips had changed, stretched into something that did not belong to a human face.
Her skin prickled. Every instinct screamed at her to run.
"Do you still think the same?" he asked again.
His voice was deeper now, stripped of warmth, stripped of softness, like something dragged up from a place where light never reached.
Cassie could not move. Her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth. Even blinking felt impossible.
Ajin let out a soft laugh.
It was not amused. It was cruel.
"You said you'd love me until death," he continued lightly. "You can't even look at what I really am, and you want to stay with me for life?"
He stepped back.
She remained where she was, pinned in place by nothing but fear.
"I don't understand love," he said flatly. "And I'm already married to someone. The only one who can stand beside me."
Her mind scrambled. Married?
Her lips trembled as she silently asked the question her voice refused to form.
Ajin turned and opened the door.
"Her name is Siri."
He walked out and closed the door behind him.
The click echoed far louder than it should have.
Cassie's legs gave out.
She collapsed to her knees, lungs burning as if she had been holding her breath for hours.
"D-devil," she whispered.
The word barely left her mouth before the door opened again.
Her heart stopped.
Ajin stepped back inside.
This time, he was himself.
The familiar warm smile rested on his lips. His eyes were soft, gentle enough to calm a raging storm. The darkness was gone, erased so completely she almost questioned whether it had ever existed.
"I forgot to mention something," he said calmly, voice even, almost kind. "Don't tell the truth to anyone. Even if you did, no one would believe you. But if I find out you leaked it…"
He tilted his head slightly, smile unwavering.
"I'll become the 'devil' you just mentioned."
Her lips parted, trembling, but no sound escaped. Words had abandoned her. The only thing she could still control was blinking, slow and uneven.
Ajin noticed.
His expression softened further, warmth blooming across his features as if the threat had never been spoken.
"Good girl."
He placed a water bottle on the floor and nudged it toward her with his foot. It rolled across the cold surface, spinning lazily before stopping just within her reach.
Without another glance, he turned and walked away.
The door closed behind him with a soft, final click.
Silence stretched across the hall.
His fading footsteps became the second loudest sound.
The first was her heartbeat.
It pounded wildly, violently, as if trying to break free from her chest.
She stared at the bottle as if it were unreal.
Only then did she realize she had forgotten to breathe.
Air rushed into her lungs in a harsh gasp that turned into choking coughs. Her body trembled as oxygen flooded back in. She lunged for the bottle, fingers shaking so badly she nearly knocked it over.
Her heart hammered. Her lungs burned.
It took all her strength just to twist the cap.
It slipped once.
Twice.
On the third attempt, it finally loosened.
She lifted the bottle with both hands and drank desperately, water spilling down her chin as she swallowed nearly two thirds in frantic gulps.
Slowly, painfully, her heartbeat began to settle.
Her breathing steadied, each inhale less jagged than the last.
With trembling hands, she poured the remaining water over her face.
Mascara streaked downward in black rivers. Foundation dissolved and washed away. The cold splash dragged her back into her body, back into the present moment.
It stripped away her makeup.
And with it, the last fragments of her courage.
Ajin returned to the classroom and slipped quietly into his seat.
All four of his friends stared at him without blinking, as if watching a bomb whose timer had already started.
Irritated, Ajin leaned slightly forward and whispered, "After the class."
Only then did they look away.
When the bell rang, chairs scraped against the floor as students began packing up. Before anyone else could move, Ajin's four friends rushed straight to him.
But before they could speak, Cassie entered the room in a hurry.
She avoided Ajin's direction entirely. She grabbed her bag, nearly fumbled it, then rushed out so quickly she almost stumbled over the doorway.
The boys froze.
Sameer broke the silence first. "Is it just me, or did she totally avoid Ajin just now? And what happened to her face? And why was she running like that?"
Issei grabbed Ajin's shoulders. "What the hell happened in there, Ajin!?"
Every eye turned toward him.
To stop their staring, Ajin answered plainly, his tone steady.
"She proposed to me and I rejected her. I think she wasn't expecting it. She looked very shocked. She even froze, like she died for a second. I didn't know what to do, so I left. But I heard her crying and it felt wrong to just walk away, so I went back. She stared at me like she wanted me gone, so I returned to class."
He shrugged lightly.
The group stared at him, stunned by the casual summary of what felt like a psychological earthquake.
Issei's voice sounded hollow. "She really did propose… like I said. But why do I suddenly feel like I did something wrong?"
Sameer blinked repeatedly. "Ajin… pinch me. I think I'm dreaming. Please tell me it's true that the top beauty proposed to you, you rejected her, she fell to her knees and cried until her makeup washed off."
Ajin tilted his head slightly. "Somewhat like that."
The boys stared at him as if he had just confessed to winning a war.
Then Rick checked his watch.
His eyes widened.
"We're late!"
"Late!?"
All of them checked their watches at the same time.
Panic.
They threw their bags over their shoulders and bolted out of the classroom.
Seth, walking behind Ajin, asked, "Why were you late?"
"I was with my classmates. By the time we checked the time, it was already late."
Ajin scanned the room and spotted empty seats at the back.
"I'll sit there," he said.
He dropped his bag and rested his head on it, closing his eyes.
Sleep would not come.
After a moment, he sat up abruptly.
He opened his bag and pulled out the novel again, placing it on his lap.
He began reading.
"A father in his mid thirties, dressed in a clean black suit, walked hand in hand with his little daughter down a quiet evening road. The girl, wearing a beautiful white frock that fluttered lightly with each step, bounced with excitement beside him. They stopped in front of a tall entrance gate crowned with a glowing—"
He stopped.
The words blurred.
He closed the book.
Let's read this tomorrow.
He slid it back into his bag and took out another one.
His eyes settled on the first line.
I am Ajin.
The words felt heavier than they should have.
Slowly, his gaze lifted to the word written neatly at the top of the page.
Diary.
He stared at it, unblinking, until the outside noise faded into distant static.
Then he closed his eyes.
A low, beautiful voice echoed in his mind, soft and familiar.
"Ajin, why not write a diary?"
He smiled faintly.
"Me? Why do I need to write a diary?"
"Yes, you. I want to see how you look at the world through your eyes."
Without hesitation, he answered, "Okay. I'll do that."
A soft laugh echoed in his thoughts.
"Yup. That's my Ajin. Agreeing to my every word."
"I'll start today then," he murmured inwardly. "Any instructions on what you want to read?"
A thoughtful pause.
"Hmm. First, we start from the beginning. Don't just write about today. Write everything you remember so far. All your memories. How you lived until now. I want to know everything about you from your own words."
Ajin opened his eyes.
He lifted his head and glanced around. Everyone was immersed in their own worlds, phones glowing, conversations flowing, notebooks open.
No one was watching him.
Quietly, he shifted toward the corner of his seat, angling his body away from view.
He opened the diary and began reading in secret, hiding the pages from anyone's sight, as if the words inside were not meant for the world.
Only for her.