SWEET: Tale as Old as Time

It has been a week since the trio decided to stay with you.

The number of your customers has tripled since then.

Every one of those gorgeous hunks was doing their best to help you with your clinic.

Rin was even able to help you perform surgery on a dying pup and resurrected that just fine. Talk about the perks of having the best assassin at your service.

Daisuke, on the other hand, has been nothing but an angel and took care of most of the house chores, especially the cooking. He is a very husbandly material if you may say so yourself.

And Paris, he attracts patrons to your clinic. He is the most popular of the three. He even has fans swooning over him when he accompanies you to the market. They always say something about his sexy walk.

"Gentlemen, thank you so much for all your help," you bowed your head and put a smile on your face.

"Don't worry about it, flower," Paris winked as he put on the signage on the front door 'Clinic is closed'. His hair was worn down just the way you liked it.

"But I really feel indebted to you. Please think of some way for me to repay the three of you," you insisted.

"How about you date each of us individually for three days," Daisuke interposed. He came from the kitchen, which you can tell as he was still wearing his apron and the aroma from the kitchen is heavenly.

"Hmmm... Three of us. That's not fair, Rin is not even courting her," Paris made a childish protest as he pouted his lips and puffed his cheeks.

"Who told you so? I am courting her," Rin joined in, letting go of the puppy he was then holding. His beautiful jet-black hair was tied, and he was wearing a black tight-fitting long sleeves shirt and pants.

"You are?" You were joined by your two other housemates as you nearly coughed up your lungs in surprise.

"What do you think about my suggestion, Rin?" Daisuke asked, being the first one to recover from the shock.

"It is for the best, I think," Rin replied, his face hardly readable.

"Then it is settled. I should go first," Paris asserted.

"That will be unfair. I met her first," Rin challenged.

You can see that these two best friends are starting to give off bloodlust, so you chimed in.

"Let's just draw lots," you clapped your hands to get their attention and prevent the brewing conflict between them.

The three all agreed, they wrote their names on a piece of paper and allowed you to draw lots. There was such mighty concentration written on their faces that you just almost burst out laughing.

'Why the hell are they taking this so seriously,' you wondered and sighed.

"Well, the sequence is... Rin, Daisuke, and Paris," you announced nervously, forcing a smile on your face, not knowing if the guys will honor the agreement in the end, or will the announced sequence start a brawl.

"Well, well, well, as they always say, save the best for last," Paris chuckled, sensing your nervousness and attempting to put your mind at ease.

Daisuke just laughed, thinking to himself that he was the most mature of them all, and you ought to have seen that after the scene the two caused earlier.

Rin's face did not show any emotions, but his bloodlust subsided instantly upon hearing that his date will go first.

••••••••••••••••

It was a sunny afternoon when a grand limousine stopped in front of your porch. You saw a familiar face get out of the vehicle.

She waved at you with a bright smile on her face. It was Aki's butler holding several shopping bags in her hands.

You went out of the house and helped the butler with the bags and asked her to go inside.

"Wow, you shopped so much," you sighed. Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and other brands you don't recognize, you mused.

"Oh, Miss, these are all for you, gifts from the Madame," the butler smiled.

"How can I possibly accept? These are too much," you tried to refuse.

"Please accept, Miss. Otherwise, our lady will be sad," fear of disappointing her kind employer registered in her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I will accept then. But what are these gifts for?" you accepted the gifts, hesitantly. Only to appease the butler who brought them to you, and also to avoid displeasing the little miss you learned to care for as a sibling.

"For your date with Master Rin, Miss. Our lady is very fond of you and wishes you to look your best on your date. She said it's time a girl finally catches Master Rin's eyes. She said she can finally have a family once again," the butler said as a matter of fact while a pink tinge colored your cheeks.

The butler helped you get ready for your date. She even fixed your hair and make-up. You ended up wearing a black luxurious gown, a black pair of heels, a set of diamond jewelry, and a black lambskin bag that reminds you of the color of the night sky.

You stepped out of the stairs looking so beautiful and pristine that Paris and Daisuke's eyes registered awe and surprise.

"You look exquisite, my dear. Now, how I wish I can keep you for myself," Paris mustered with sheer admiration and envy.

Daisuke stood up from the couch and helped you get down the stairs, "The most beautiful lady I have ever seen. Have a beautiful night, my love."

You got inside the limousine with the butler and you noticed that it was her who will be driving the vehicle.

"Where are we going?"

"To the Alps," the butler said with a smile

"Uhmmm, you mean a mountain with snow? We can reach that using a limousine?"

"We are going to use a helicopter, we will just use this limousine to reach the helipad."

Not wanting to embarrass yourself more, you kept quiet and just let the date unfold as it must.

You've reached the helipad, the helicopter was more the size of an airplane.

At this point, you were not surprised considering how rich the Saitos are.

What surprised you more is that the butler was the pilot. You mused at how highly efficient the butlers in the mansion are. They are indeed very skilled in almost everything. Now, that is a fact that was never revealed in the story you were writing.

You wondered how many more add- ons and edits to the story there is and who is the person or entity making the changes.

It was an hour and a half when you finally landed in the Alps. Thankfully, there was no snow yet.

The Saitos' mansion is extravagant, but more so this vacation house. It was thrice as huge as the mansion with a very grand man-made river that goes for miles.

You were also told by the butler that the entire mountain is again owned by the Saitos. This mountain has never been discovered by others, and aside from the Saitos' family members and their butlers, it was you who was the first outsider to ever set foot inside the grand vacation house, actually more suited to be called a mansion or a palace.

You frowned and wondered how there exists such a place, which was not even part of the world you created. It seems like the world in your story keeps changing indeed, adding characters like the butlers, changing scenes like the massacre of the Saitos' family. And now places like this which you have never even dreamed about.

You were guided through a banquet hall where there awaits a long and winding staircase.

At the bottom of that staircase is a tall and handsome man with dark long hair, wearing a black tuxedo and an unreadable expression on his face. He looks like the dark prince, you mused. Cold, dark, and dangerous.

The prince of hell, Lucifer himself cannot get close to his perfection.

He gave you a single-stemmed red rose when you reached the foot of the stairs, which you accepted.

His soulless eyes bored through yours, taking in the expression on your face, and for a second you were afraid for him to see how much admiration you feel for him at that exact moment and how hard your heart beats in your chest.

His slender fingers tilted up your chin as he looks and examines your face. You held your breath, conscious of how you feel tonight.

Your heart stopped as his eyes were locked with yours.

You feel frustrated that you can't read his thoughts while he appears like he can read you like a book.

"You look wonderful tonight,” he said, and your heart skipped a beat as soft violin played in the background.

The young butler is playing the violin. So much for butlers that can almost do everything, 'these butlers are the real deal', you sighed internally.

A sweet melody flows through the air as you danced with Rin, allowing him to guide you and lead your steps.

Midway through the song, the roof opens to reveal the velvet night sky.

Snowflakes fell slowly from the sky like someone crying happy tears.

He held you closer and whispered, "Pain... anger... hate... and warmth."

"Rin..." You looked up and saw his soulless eyes looking straight at yours.

"Those are the things you make me feel," he said as he slowly caressed your face. Your heart beats so hard you find it hard to breathe.

"I'm scared," he said.

"Why?" you asked. "Why are you scared?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you. Everyone I ever wanted, my whole family, these people had been in so much danger because of me. Because of the kind of person that I am."

"And I like you, no...I want you...so much that it is so difficult to let you go despite everything I just said."

Your heart is going crazy. It was almost like a confession, you silently said to yourself.

"You can't possibly understand how I feel," he continued.

He pressed you closer to himself and whispered, "For I like you a hundred more times than anyone can ever like another."

As you heard the crescendo of the song playing, you had yourself thinking, you wished the night would never end.

Rin was, after all, the dark prince.

An enigma.

A beautiful mystery.

You've dreamt of this moment for so long and yet it amazes you how much more beautiful it feels than in any of those dreams combined.

"Thank you, Rin, for everything," you whispered back as you danced with him under the magnificent sky with snow gently falling from the heavens.