Chapter 48: A Familiar Kind of Pain

"You gonna tell me... why you were pissing Mom off even more?"

​Sitting cross-legged on the bed, the Demon crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Himanshu.

​After eating and talking to his mom about everything that happened at the cafe, Himanshu had opened the bedroom door with a relaxed, peaceful smile. But the second he heard the Demon’s question, that weird dryness and pain instantly shot right back into his throat.

​It was the exact same pain he felt when he was screaming at her the whole walk home, ’What do you mean by I have you?’ and she had completely ignored him.

​Himanshu didn’t let a single expression show on his face. He didn’t even look her way. Tightening the cap on the cold water bottle in his hand, he walked forward. After a couple of steps, he raised both arms for a big, lazy stretch, and without giving her an answer, walked straight over to his study table.

​The Demon just glared at him, breathing heavily, until Himanshu pulled out his chair and comfortably settled into his seat.

​A second later, Himanshu reached for the table drawer. It took him a few moments just to find the handle, and pulling it open took even longer.

He could literally feel the Demon’s burning stare on his back. It felt like someone was peeling the skin off his back just by looking at him.

Still, without turning around, he figured it was best to just pull his novel draft out of the drawer.

​Right then, her heavy, sharp voice came from behind again.

"I’m asking you a question. Are you deaf?"

​Sitting in his chair, Himanshu flinched for a split second. His heart slowly started beating faster against his chest. But he just tightened his grip on his novel papers and kept his eyes down, staring at the blank pages.

​Maybe he had made up his mind this time. He was going to make her feel exactly how he had felt the entire walk home.

​This was the first time in his life Himanshu actually had the chance to ignore someone on purpose. Usually... way before he even got the chance, the other person would just forget about him or pretend they didn’t know him.

​Right now, a weird restlessness and two terrifying fears were clashing in his head. On one hand, the fear of the Demon’s brutal anger that could explode at any second. And on the other... the fear that she might just go permanently quiet on him, just like everybody else.

​Idiot! Just answer her... answer her! his mind screamed at him. Why do you keep reminding her she’s a demon? If she actually snaps...

No! Himanshu gritted his teeth. She needs to know what it feels like to be ignored.

​Suddenly, the loud creak of the bed came from behind. Creaaak...

Like someone had just jerked up from the mattress.

​Himanshu’s hands froze mid-page. His fingers went completely numb.

He swallowed a heavy lump of fear.

He tensed up every single muscle in his body, bracing himself for the brutal attack on his back or neck that was coming in the next second.

​Slowly... one second, two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds went by.

Dead silence from behind.

​His heartbeat slowly started to settle, but his eyes darted from the paper to the wall in front of him in a weird panic.

His body was safe from a physical attack now, but somewhere deep inside, a weird, intense pain started rising in his chest. A pain that had nothing to do with getting hit. It felt like someone had just forgotten he existed all over again.

​The fingers on his hands and feet started twitching and shaking weirdly. Without even looking at the papers, he started folding the edges, crumpling them up.

With every passing second, that weird chest pain got deeper and harder to breathe through.

For some reason, his heavy breaths were slowly turning into an overwhelming urge to cry.

​A weird moisture started blurring his eyes.

Those horrible memories of being completely ignored as a kid... sitting alone in school, people turning their faces away the second they saw him. The memories he had slowly buried by just cutting himself off from people, today he had scratched that wound wide open himself. And he did it by playing games with the one person he felt the most connected to.

​Suddenly, the heavy sound of the bedroom door slamming shut hit his ears. BAM!

​Himanshu froze in his chair. It was like his body just shut down for a second.

Her leaving the room without saying a single word... somehow hurt him way more than any physical attack or beating ever could.

For a few moments, he just sat there completely numb, staring blankly at the wall.

​Then his hand knocked into the cold water bottle, sending it crashing down. Cold water splashed over his hand.

That freezing water snapped him back to reality. Wiping his hand on his pants, he dragged himself out of that weird chest pain and trauma.

​"So... guess I should start writing Chapter 48," he muttered to himself.

​He tried looking over the last Chapter to plan out the next draft.

But again and again... the Demon’s yelling from the street kept playing in his head.

Without thinking, he grabbed the water bottle. His hands were shaking. He started chugging the water, almost like he was trying to wash down that choked-up feeling in his throat and the tears stinging his eyes.

​Water dripped down his chin, completely soaking his shirt.

Setting the heavy bottle down, he looked back at the empty room. For some reason, it felt familiar again today. That same old, creepy, lonely room. The one that had been feeling pretty different and alive these past few days just because she was in it.

​Not wanting to look at the empty room any longer, he forced his eyes back to the previous Chapter of his draft. To make himself focus, he started reading it out loud.

And to hide how panicked he was, he started spinning a pen between his fingers.

​But his hands were shaking so bad that the pen slipped and hit the ground. Clack!

For a few seconds, he just tilted his head, staring at the pen on the floor.

​Suddenly, the door flew open with a terrifying force, like a storm had just blasted into the room. The door handles screamed as they slammed into the wall.

Without giving a single reaction, he just kept staring at the dropped pen.

Maybe Himanshu’s weird restlessness was finally fading. Guess the Demon just joined the list of strangers who couldn’t care less if I exist or not.

​But then... CRASH!!!

​A massive impact hit him out of nowhere.

The very next second, the skin of Himanshu’s face smashed into the freezing floor. A sharp pain shot through his gums, like someone had just taken a hammer to his jaw.

A moment later, a horrific pain started spreading slowly through his elbows, knees, chest... every single spot where his body had scraped against the hard floor.

A painful groan escaped him. "Aghh!"

​He slowly opened his trembling eyes, only to see the Demon standing there, holding his heavy chair up in the air with just one hand.

Her red eyes were wide and bloodshot, and her heavy, rage-fueled breathing sounded like a revving car engine.

​Before Himanshu could even process what was happening, the Demon hurled the heavy chair straight into the opposite wall with one hand. CRASH!

The very next second, she planted her heavy foot right on Himanshu’s chest and pinned him to the ground. The pressure was so intense that his ribs literally creaked. His vision started going dark, and only a helpless, choked cough managed to escape his lips.

​"I’ve had enough! You little..." she growled in a beastly voice.

​She started crushing his chest even harder with her foot. The air was being squeezed right out of his lungs.

Thrashing around, Himanshu grabbed her leg with both hands. Coughing hard, he tried to choke out a ’S-sorry’.

​But her anger was only spiking. Her foot felt even heavier.

Right then, with his last remaining breath, Himanshu choked out the word they had a deal on. "Job... job... control..."

​The second she heard that, her killer eyes softened just a bit. The pressure on his chest loosened, finally giving him a split second to breathe.

Coughing violently, he cleared his line.

"Anger... control... control it... or we’ll get fired."

​For a few moments, the Demon just stared down at him suffering on the floor with those same wide eyes.

Then, thinking something over, she pulled her foot off his chest.

Without a word, she turned around and sat on the edge of the bed, letting her legs hang off. Crossing her arms over her chest in her usual style, she just locked her eyes on the table in front of her.

​Taking a deep breath, Himanshu tried to push himself up onto his shaking hands and knees.

Groaning in pain, he touched his chest to check on it.

​But for some reason... this time, her brutal beating wasn’t hurting him that much. Actually, deep down, he felt a weird, incredibly deep sense of comfort.

Wait... so my words actually get to her. She didn’t ignore me. She’s actually mad at me!

​Just then, he coughed so hard that saliva dripped from his mouth onto the floor. Because his hand was shaking, his elbow slipped and hit the ground.

"Good... that’s really good..." Himanshu panted, coughing. "You... you actually controlled yourself."

​Saying that, he used the floor for support and tried to stand up again.

Hearing this, the Demon’s eyes slowly shifted toward him.

​Holding his chest, Himanshu somehow managed to stand up through the pain.

He was just about to let some words out when her voice came from the bed.

​"No. I didn’t control anything."

​There was a weird truth and defeat in her voice.

"I thought if I went out to the hall for a second, I’d calm down..." She blinked slowly. "But it didn’t work. I just kept getting angrier."

​Saying that, she turned her face to the side.

​Guess my luck really saved my ass this time... Himanshu thought to himself. I’m never gonna think about ignoring her again. Damn, she would’ve actually killed me today!

​Thinking that, Himanshu tried to give some confidence to her first attempt.

"At least you tried," he said, forcing a smile through the pain. "For a first try, you held it together pretty well."

​Hearing this, the frustration on her face lessened a bit.

​Himanshu tried to take his first step toward the bed.

But right then, a sharp, electric pain shot through his knees. His leg gave out, and he was ready to crash face-first straight into the floor.

His eyes went wide as he watched the hard ground zooming closer. There goes my jaw!

​But then... exactly one second before he hit the ground, he felt two incredibly warm hands under his face and chest.

The very next second, his lips brushed against incredibly warm, soft skin and a solid shoulder blade.

And that familiar, mind-numbing... yet intoxicating fragrance from that night flooded his nose.