⊱C'est le paradis mais tu n'es pas ici⊰

It's heaven but you're not here

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"I'm fine, thank you," I squeaked out, pushing at his arms that were holding me tightly, and straightened out my black blouse to take a breather. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to, you know... drop myself- I mean- Drop the books and trip over myself."

Jimin laughed again and brushed his soft hair back, effortlessly looking hot doing so. Combined with the dark eyeshadow over his hooded eyes, it would have swooned any lady as it had when he was a celebrity.

"It's okay, I'm good." His tone was light and friendly, no ill will towards me to which I was thankful. "But are you always this clumsy?"

"Only around you," I mumbled, mad at how I was acting.

It stopped him from chuckling and his smile faltered. His eyes were wide as they stared at me and I only realized how that sounded after understanding his surprised expression.

I opened my mouth to correct myself but closed it after remembering why I was there in the first place. To flirt!

"Um, I was wondering... if you would like to, maybe grab a drink with me?" My cheeks were burning and I didn't know why. Well, I did but I didn't at the same time. I never knew trying to flirt was this hard. I was so bad at it, it literally pained me. "Or we could do anything you like..."

My nerves were on fire. I wanted to tap out.

"Are you... asking me out?" Jimin searched my eyes, trying to grasp the situation. "But aren't you a Virtue? I'm a Sin, you know?"

His eyes narrowed dangerously before I could give a proper answer. "What are you trying to achieve here?"

"I'm a kind of a rebel, you see?" I gestured down my black ensemble, acting nonchalant as if I wasn't panicking, a drop of sweat trickling down my neck. "I shouldn't judge you just because you're a Sin. I want to get to know you more and yes, I am asking you out... even if I'm bad at it."

Jimin cocked an eyebrow, slightly easing his hard expression. "Sorry. You're cute and you seem like a nice girl and all, but rules are rules." He flipped a strand of my hair over my shoulder and flashed a humorless smile. "You and I, we can only be enemies, Charity."

"Damn. A girl like you as my obstacle is just cheating," he whispered a moment after we stood there, staring at each other, so quietly that I wouldn't have caught it if the hotel lobby wasn't dead silent right then. Leaving me blushing, he disappeared into thin air right after.

Well, that went well...

Sighing deeply, I sat down on the floor, starting to stack the dropped books in my arms.

Jimin seemed... nice. At least better than I expected. He wasn't so antagonistic towards me, rather, he saved me from being hurt and was even laughing and smiling. That left me to wonder... What actually happened to him?

Now that he openly rejected my advances, how could I possibly go on with my objective?

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"Heard you got rejected," Kindness winced as she took a seat beside me on the balcony ledge. "Whoever it was, must've been stupid."

Pouting, I stared at the lake below us, serene and glistening under the warm sunset. "Can we somehow teleport to hell out of our own free will? At least once?"

She hummed, swinging her legs. "I don't think so. You know it's forbidden unless we're given special privileges when something happens. Do you have a reason to?"

I quickly shook my head. "Not really... I just..." Heaving a sigh, I gave in. "My dad's there and I'm so scared for him. It hurts me so much when I think about what's happening to him while I'm here in heaven."

Silence blanketed us after my confession. Without looking at her, I knew Kindness must be trying to comfort me but didn't know how, formulating and correcting her words and sentences in her head.

"Maybe I'm the stupid one. I blew it. But more importantly... I actually tried to ask my 'enemy' out."

The orange haired girl whipped her head towards me in the corner of my eyes and her mouth hung open. "Greed?"

I simply nodded.

"Wow," she let out under her breath. "But why?"

A short chuckle left me, hoping to dissolve the awkwardness I felt when I tried to verbalize my thoughts. "Is it foolish of me to think that if I managed to successfully seduce him, he might act nicer to my father?"

No words were exchanged as she gawked at me while I cringed under her stare. Voicing out my intention made it sound hundred times worse when it was actually fine before.

"Okay, okay, it's very stupid, I get it." Sighing in defeat, I covered my face with my hands. "What should I do? My dad... My poor dad is suffering there and I can't even do anything to help him... Whatever he did must not be so bad to make him end up there! He's not a bad person! I... I know it."

A long exhale left Kindness. "Saejin... I'm sorry. I don't think you can do anything since you were related to him especially."

"But being related to someone doesn't mean that one can't judge him or her correctly," I groaned with a whimper. "My dad is a very good person. He- I just can't accept this. I have to get him out of there... doing whatever I can."

When I turned to her, she offered me a sad smile, her dark eyes soft with a glint of hurt in them. "I understand what you mean... Wanting to save someone from misery. It's nearly impossible but you can't help but want to try."

Wincing, I twisted my expression in guilt. I wasn't the only one who wanted to save someone close to myself. "I'm sorry, I-"

"No worries. Your pain is just as real as mine, if not more. I can't imagine how hurt you feel right now... It's your dad..."

Smiling sadly, I breathed out a sigh and whimpered, "Is it hopeless?"

"I can't say anything," Seoyun whispered in defeat. "I'm sorry."

"Slacking off again?" A voice in my head tutted, making me jolt and startle Kindness.

"N-No," I quickly answered Diligence and propped myself up to stand. "I'm going, I'm going, alright?"

"Yeah, you better. Our duties won't carry out themselves, you know?"

"What's wrong?" Kindness followed me, standing up to her feet and staring at me in confusion.

I smiled sheepishly at her. "I've been slacking off too much and Jaesung just scolded me through telepathy. I guess I better go before he goes on ranting for hours about working."

She beamed at me, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, her touch as gentle as her smile. "Okay. Work well."

Nodding, I teleported to earth in the blink of an eye and dozens of humans surrounded me.

And there he was...

Practicing his powers on one of them.

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Hey, lovelies, I'm alive 🤠 I'm just really busy lately, I'm sorryyy

Thank you for reading this chapter and please don't forget to vote if you liked it 🌸