Chapter 18: The Convenience Store (2)

"Welcome, miss.", The young boy greeted her.

"...", Xin Suan doesn't reply a word or even a smile.

'She is so cocky...', The young girl silently judges her.

"Why are you buying this much, miss?", The young boy keeps talking to her as he scans those items.

"None of your business."

'Wow, so cold!!! She is really my type!!!', The young boy seems to have a feeling towards Xin Suan.

"Are you single, miss?", He dared himself to ask. What he meant was whether she has a boyfriend or not, but Xin Suan didn't get it.

"Yeah.", She thought single means going all alone by herself.

"What? A woman as pretty as you is actually single!?", He saw a light of chance.

"Uh... Yeah?", Xin Suan is confused.

'Your Majesty... Single means you have a partner or not. You know, a lover.'

'Oh, so that's what he meant. Then, I must have wrong answered him.'

"Then, why don't you just go out with me? Can I get your phone number, miss?"

'Ai, what is that?'

'Ah, that boy must be interested with you... Repeat after me, Your Majesty....'

Xin Suan repeated what Ai Lie said as the boy type it down on his phone.

"How could I know whether this number is fake or not?"

'Oh no, my phone is at my home! What should we do?'

'This brat is fucking annoying!!', Xin Suan can't take it anymore.

"Do I look like a liar to you?", Xin Suan replies him seriously.

"Ahahaha... Of course not, Jie Jie!", the boy answers her awkwardly, "What's your name, Jie?"

"It's Xin Suan."

"Wow! Even your name is poetic and melancholic! Who made you sad, Jie Jie?", Xin Suan means heartbroken, or feeling sad.

"Huh? What do you mean?", But she forget her own name's meaning.

"Cut it off, Brandon, stop flirting!", the girl worker bumps her shoulder to her friend.

"Here, miss, the total will be this much.", She had done packing those items in a plastic bag.

Xin Suan summoning the money she had on her hand without their knowing. She hands over the money without counting it.

"This.. This is way too much miss.", The girl awkwardly hands over the rest of the money, 'Huh, she must be flexing that she is rich!!', She is silently judges Xin Suan.

"This is your change, thank you! Do come back again!", The girl worker hands over the 'groceries'.

Xin Suan took it without reply a word or even a smile. The girl worker seems to be upset with her attitude.

'Are we done?'

'Yeah! Thank you, Your Majesty!', Ai Lie happily replied him.

"Ah, welcome to the Meow Meow Store!", The girl suddenly greeted someone. Xin Suan turned her head to see who it was.

It was a mature man, not young but not old, about 30's. His skin is dark, he is a short and chubby. His clothes is shabby, he seems to be a jobless. He takes some cans of beer from the fridge.

'Ge Ge...', Ai Lie saw him too from Xin Suan's sight.

'Ge Ge? Your brother?'

'Yeah, hahaha...'

'Hmm... He is ugly, so different from you. Are you sure you have blood relations with him?'

'Don't... Please don't insult him like that... It's a fact that I can't hide.'

Xin Suan's smiling unconsciously, 'Hahaha what is that? You are admitting that he is ugly??'

The boy saw her smile. He thought she is smiling at him, he doesn't know that she is silently communicating with another person in her mind.

'Well, you see, I don't even have to explain anything... hahaha', Ai Lie chuckles awkwardly.

'I wonder how my mom and dad are doing.', Ai Lie talks to herself.

'...You want me to check on them?'

'Oh, there's no need, Your Majesty! Hehehe, you've already done so much for me!'

'Well then, as you wish.'

Xin Suan heading out from the store, but when Xin Suan reach the automatic door, the boy stops her from going away.

"Wait, Jie Jie!"

"What now?", She turns her head.

"Jie Jie, I have never met a girl as perfect as you. Beautiful, elegant, rich, tall, and slim... You are the girl I always dreamed of! Will you be my girlfriend!?", He kneels to her while holding one of her cold hand.

'Oh my! This boy is so childish! He just met you in a day and already ask you to be his girlfriend?'

'What is a girlfriend?'

'You know... His beloved one.'

'WHAT THE HELL!?'

'Sorry, Your Majesty... I didn't know you will meet somekind of problem like this... I have never been in this situation before.', Ai Lie wasn't a popular girl in her world. She is not pretty and short, her body is not fat but not in a perfect shape too.

"No, I have to refuse!", Xin Suan slaps his hand.

"Why?? I thought you said you are single?", The boy stubbornly insisting her.

"Isn't that obvious!? I'm not interested in man!!", Xin Suan said it bluntly.

'Wait, what? What did you say?', Ai Lie can't believe what Xin Suan just said.

'PRANG!', The sound of the boy's heart breaking to pieces. The light of a chance that was shining bright in his eyes is now fading away. His co-worker laughs in silent after hearing her rejection.

"Ah... I see. I'm sorry, I must have hurting your pride. Let's forget this.", He talks formally as he releases his hands and stands up.

"Ha!", Xin Suan walks away, leaving that boy behind.

'Ahahahahahaha!!!', Ai Lie laughs so hard.

'What are you laughing at!?'

'Hahahaha Your Majesty!! You... Do you forgot that right now you are in a woman form!?'

'Huh!?', She looks down on her own body. She stares at her bosoms.

'Ahahahahaha!!', Ai Lie keeps laughing.

'You... Stay where you are.'

'Swoosh!', Xin Suan teleports back to her realm, to Ai Lie's bedroom. She doesn't care anymore if anyone sees her vanish or not, but fortunately, her surrounding was quiet.

"Hahahaha!!", Ai Lie still laughing without realize that Xin Suan is already in front of her.

"Hey.", She removes the blindfold that covering Ai Lie's eyes.

"Huh!? You already arrived!?", Ai Lie is jolted.

"Here, your things! Make sure you pay them back to me!!", she hands over the plastic bags.

'Whoosh!', Xin Suan removes all of the wearings that belongs to Ai Lie's and put them back to her wardrobe. He changes back into his original male form with his black traditional robe. His liptint is still there, somehow he is looking more like a living creature.

"Hahahaha I will, I will! Please have a sit there, I have to do my things.... And don't peep!", She points her finger at her chair.

After Ai Lie enters to her bathroom, Xin Suan walks to the window. He opens it to get rid of the blood's scent. Actually, Ai Lie has no smell at all, but Xin Suan is a demon who was once loves to drink human's blood, so he is sensitives towards the scent. He knows it really well, even if it's just a small drip. He wants to prevent his bloodlust from being triggered. He stares at the outside of the window, try to inhales the fresh air.

"I'm done!", Ai Lie happily came out from her bathroom, but she's still wraping herself inside Xin Suan's robe to hide her small stain.

She saw Xin Suan that is staring at the blue sky. His handsome face is lit up by the sunshine, and his long unraveled black hair is blown softly by the wind. A beautiful scenery that Ai Lie could never forget.

"Are you done?"

"Hmm!", She's nodding.

"Now it's time for you to pay me.", He waves his hand, calling her to come near him.

"Alrighty, I'm ready! I owe you so much though...", She stands near him.

"What can I do to pay your generosity, Your Majesty?", She smiles widely at him.

"Pay me with a kiss."

"HUH!?", Ai Lie widened her eyes, "A-ARE YOU SERIOUS!?", her smile fading away in a second.

"Yeah.", He smirks evily, "Kiss me here.", He points his right cheek.

'A kiss on his cheek?', Ai Lie seems to be reluctant to do so.

"T-then, close your eyes and lower your head. You are way too tall."

Xin Suan does exactly like what Ai Lie asks him to do. But nothing happened for five minutes. Xin Suan finally surrendered, and he decided to cancel his request.

"Ai, I was just jok-", He starts to open his eyes.

Suddenly, Ai Lie bumped her lips to his hardly. She curled both of her hands on Xin Suan's neck. She shut her eyes tightly, didn't dare to look at Xin Suan's face at all. She kept pressing her lips to his eventhough Xin Suan tried to part his lips away. And when he got the chance, he stopped her.

"You are hurting my lips."

"...", She didn't dare to open her eyes. Her face is boiling red. She is too shy to look at him, because right now she is the one who committed the initiate kiss. She still curling her hands tightly on Xin Suan's neck.

"Hmm how cute.", He teased her, "Open your mouth."

Ai Lie did what Xin Suan said. He took the lead of this another battle of kiss. He started to play with his tongue once again, and Ai Lie fell into his game in an instant. Somehow, a part of her was longing for it. The tension is getting hotter when Ai Lie tried to counter his tongue with hers softly. Xin Suan was surprised at first, but he just let it flow.

This is the first time he experienced an unusual reaction on a part of his body, but he tried to hold himself back. He didn't dare to touch anywhere he is prohibited to, and tried his best to concentrate with this 'brawl'. He embraced her body tighter to his as his kiss went deeper than before. His tongue strokes everywhere he wants, from her tongue to the roof of her mouth.

Ai Lie's head is somewhat hazy, not because Xin Suan drained her negative energy, but because she is falling too deep into this moment. For her, Xin Suan's kiss tastes so sweet, like pancakes with maple syrup. She feels like she is floating up to the sky, she doesn't want it to be ended soon.

After a long moment of hot tension, finally their lips are parting away. Ai Lie feels her lips are numb, but she feels it's worth it. Xin Suan still tightly hugging her small and short body. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was his handsome face in a close up version with his crimson serpent-like shaped eyes glowing like crystals. Ai Lie secretly admiring his soft flawless skin.

"Ai... Actually I was just joking. I didn't really ask you to kiss me."

"WHAT!?", Ai Lie pushed his chest away.

"But then you got carried away hahahaha!", Xin Suan laughs so hard, making Ai Lie looks like a fool who fall into his trap.

"YOU BASTARD!!", She punches his chest a few times, "HOW DARE MAKE A FUSS WITH ME!?"

"Ahahaha look at you! Your face is red like a tomato!"

"YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE!!", Her face grows redder than before as she keeps punching his chest.

Of course the strength of her punches feels like nothing but a blowing wind for him. He could easily stop her attack with one movement. He pulls her arms with no power until her head bumps to his lower chest. Xin Suan immediately embracing her once more and strokes her head. Ai Lie feels so embarrased and hides her face away as she curled her hands to his waist.

"I thought you called me pervert, but it turns out you were enjoying it too, weren't you?", He teased her once more.

"Your Majesty... You really are a lady killer. You really know how to make me lose...", she lowers her voice and squeezed his waist harder.

"Hahahaha", He chuckles, "You know, Ai, you can kiss me, hug me, or punch me all the way you want, I don't mind. You may be mad at me if I made a mistake. You can share your thoughts, your feelings, or your stories. If you ever need something, don't be hesitate to tell me, I can give you anything you want. Even more, I can give you all the treasures the three realms have."

"...Why is that?", She raised her head to see his face.

"Because you're mine and mine alone. I won't let you suffering again.", He is smiling widely.

Her face is blushing red. Her heart is pounding so fast, like it almost exploded. Even if those sweet words are just some lies, Ai Lie would still fall for them. No one has ever treated her as kind as the way he did, not even her own family who shares the same blood with her. She feels like she is being loved, pampered, treated like the precious princess by an asura that the legend said is merciless. All three realms made him a villain, but he never hurt her at once. What he shows are just kindness, generosity, and affection towards her.

"Your... Majesty...", She is staring at his face without a blink. She is stunned by his words.

"Why are you staring at me like that?", He pinches her face softly.

"I-"

"There you are, Your Majesty!", Suddenly Yin Ling opens the door.

With his fast movement, Xin Suan moves backward, about 3 steps away from her, as if nothing happened. They both turned their heads to the opened door, and there were Yin Ling and Hei She.

"O-oh!! Hello!!", Ai Lie tried to act natural.

"What's wrong?", Xin Suan's back to his cold expression.

Thanks to Xin Suan's magical power, both of them didn't see that Ai Lie and Xin Suan were embracing each other like a couple of lovers.

"We were looking for you! The three lords have arrived an hour ago! What are you doing in here??"

'Sniff! Sniff!', Yin Ling realised a sparse scent of human's blood.

"What is this? Ai Lie, did you bleed?"

'He can sense that too!?', It's Ai Lie's bad luck to live in the middle of bloodthirsty demons.

Yin Ling stares at her and Xin Suan. He feels so suspicious about them because they were alone in one room for at least 2 hours and when he enters the room it has a scent of blood. Who knows Xin Suan was trying to do something to her.

"Ai Lie!? Did he... Did he!?", Yin Ling remembers what the fire ghost said.

"W-what?", Ai Lie seems a bit confused.

Yin Ling jumps forward between them, and stands in front of Ai Lie, "He didn't try to eat you, right!?", He tried to protect Ai Lie from Xin Suan.

"Hey, are you mad? Why would I do something like that to her?"

"But you are suspicious! There is a thin scent of human's blood here! The only human in this place is just her!"

"No, Ge Ge, I'm perfectly fine!", Ai Lie unconsciously called Yin Ling 'Ge Ge'. She still not used to formalities except to Xin Suan.

"Are you sure? Then what is this scent..."

"Please, don't mind it.", She feels very embarrased, doesn't know what to do. The men here seems like never been closed to women, they don't understand the monthly cycle that women have to face every month.

"Don't tell me... Don't tell me that he really tried to stole your first night!?", He turns his head to the little girl behind him.

'DUAGH!', Xin Suan lands his fistbump behind Yin Ling's head, "Ouch!!"

"Watch your words, you brat! How dare you slander me like that!"

"Y-Your Majesty... You don't have to hit him like that..."

"...", Hei She is speechless as always.

"C'mon, Ai Lie, let's go.", Xin Suan grab her wrist.

"To where?", Ai Lie is confused.

"I dunno... Introduce you to the other asuras maybe?", He keeps dragging her away.

"Hey!! Wait for me!!", Yin Ling following them from behind.

"...", Hei She still processing what was happened.