Chapter 73: Your son was playing hero in front of some thugs.

The demon’s last words hung in the cold air of the taxi like a heavy stone.

?Himanshu went completely quiet for a second. He didn’t say a word. Deep down, he knew the girl sitting next to him just saw herself as a comic book character. She genuinely believed her entire existence was nothing more than a drawing on a piece of paper. And maybe... she had a point. I mean, who would ruin their real-life relationships over a ’comic character’?

?But hearing that truth out loud sparked a weird, suffocating restlessness in his chest. His jaw clenched on its own.

?He hated those words. They felt like someone had just poured boiling hot water of truth right over his bare skin. A truth he absolutely didn’t want to hear.

?Thanks to those stinging words, that familiar anxiety and a weird surge of anger started boiling over inside him again. His fingers dug into the leather seat, balling into a tight fist. His breathing grew a little heavy. He turned and opened his mouth to say something, to completely shatter her ridiculous logic...

?Just then, with a slight jerk, the taxi came to a halt.

?Without even looking at him, the demon reached out to open the door. The loud ’click’ of the door handle hit Himanshu’s ears, and all those words piled up in his throat, all that restless energy, just choked and died inside him.

?He could still grab her hand right now, stop her, and say what he needed to say. But he just pressed his lips together. Maybe he didn’t have any words left to fight that bitter truth anymore.

?The sound of the front gate opening broke the dead silence of the night.

?"How... how did you get hurt?"

?The second Himanshu stepped inside the house, his mom’s eyes locked dead onto the bandages wrapped around his hand. Right at the door, she frantically grabbed his injured hand with both of hers. Pure panic and worry were written all over her face.

?"Oh... I just cut myself by mistake while cooking."

?Looking away, Himanshu forced a really awkward smile. He raised his right hand and nervously started running it through the back of his hair. It was an old habit of his; whenever he lied, his hand would automatically go to his hair.

?Mom’s eyes lingered on Himanshu’s face for a second before she slowly shifted her gaze to the demon. A sudden, scary strictness filled her eyes, like she had figured out in a split second that her son was feeding her a total lie.

?The demon looked back at Mom. As always, her face had absolutely zero expression on it—completely deadpan. Ignoring Mom’s deadly glare, she just casually started walking into the house.

?Mom’s eyes were practically drilling holes into the demon’s back.

?And then... leaning against the wall and untying her shoelaces, without even turning around, the demon said super casually:

?"Your son was playing hero in front of some thugs."

?Himanshu’s hand froze right there in his hair. His breath literally hitched in his throat. He couldn’t believe his damn ears. What the hell did this demon just say?!

?Obviously, the whole ’fighting thugs’ thing was the one secret he absolutely had to hide from Mom. Himanshu just stood there blinking rapidly, his brain completely short-circuiting.

?And then... Mom slowly, very slowly, turned her head back toward Himanshu.

?His eyes went wide. His pupils started shaking in pure panic. A freezing shiver shot straight down his spine, and a cold drop of sweat crawled down the back of his neck, slipping right past his collar.

?It had been years since Himanshu had seen his mom look this insanely mad.

?Yeah, it was that exact same face. The one she made back when he was a kid and the neighbors from their building used to show up at their door, dragging their kids with broken teeth and torn clothes, just to complain about him.

?Gritting her teeth so hard they could crack, Mom yelled.

?"Did you start fighting again, Himanshu?!"

?Mom’s hand flew up in the air. Panicking, Himanshu quickly threw both his hands over his face to cover up. He knew perfectly well that a heavy punch could come flying in at any second to break his jaw.

?"Mom... Mom, no, no, nothing like that happened!" Himanshu’s voice was violently shaking. He stumbled backward.

?He quickly reached a hand out toward the demon, trying to call out to her so she could do damage control.

?"Veloria, you... you’re just joking, right? Tell Mom!"

?The demon kicked her shoes to the side.

?"I’m going to take a shower. Call me when dinner’s ready."

?Without turning around, without changing her expression even a bit, she just walked straight toward her room. Like absolutely nothing was happening, like Himanshu’s life wasn’t literally on the line.

?Himanshu’s eyes bulged out of his skull.

?"Veloria, listen to me! You... you can’t just leave me alone like this!"

?Mom slowly rolled up her sleeves. There was actual fire in her eyes.

?"Sorry... I’m sorry..." Himanshu’s back hit the wall.

?Mom’s hand swung through the air.

?"Ouch...!"

?"Ah...!"

?"No...!"

?"No...!"

?A few moments later.

?Himanshu was stumbling badly as he made his way to his room. He was holding his good hand pressed tightly against his lower back in pure agony. Hunched over, dragging his feet, and muttering curses under his breath, he pushed his bedroom door open.

?"Ah, I’m dead... Who beats up their cute, only child like this?"

?He closed the door and groaned, trying to straighten his back.

?"Ouch..."

?He placed a hand on his cheek, which was still burning like hell.

?"She swelled up my entire face."

?His jaw clenched in pure anger.

?"I’m not gonna spare this demon girl."

?Dragging his feet, Himanshu slowly went over and collapsed onto his bed. The second he sat down, his eyes locked dead onto the bathroom door like a target. He just stared at the closed door with sharp, hawk-like eyes.

?The sound of water running came from inside.

?First she used to beat me up herself, Himanshu bit his lip, now she’s getting Mom to do her dirty work.

?For a while, he just kept glaring at the door. He spent a solid half-hour just cursing out the demon in his head.

?Still grumbling, he got up, dug some pain relief ointment out of his study desk, and slowly started rubbing it on his swollen arms and legs. The sharp, minty smell of the ointment filled the room.

?He knew his mom had kept him far away from anything remotely related to ’fights’ since he was a kid.

?But still, back in the day, complaints from the building neighbors were a daily thing. And along with them came Mom’s legendary beatings.

?But as he grew up, once school grades became the only thing that mattered... slowly, his friends, his childhood pranks, and those random fights all faded away naturally. He turned into a quiet kid who just kept to his own corner.

?It had been a really long time since Himanshu had tasted Mom’s punches and kicks. Rubbing the ointment in, through the stinging pain, he slowly started recalling the old days, remembering what a menace he used to be as a kid.

?Himanshu was right in the middle of these thoughts, completely lost in his own head, when suddenly... Click.

?The bathroom door opened.

?His eyes were already glued to the door, but his mind was still wrapped up in his own thoughts.

?And the second Himanshu saw the demon walk out... for just a moment... in a single heartbeat, he forgot all his pain, all his anger, Mom’s brutal beating... everything. His brain just flatlined.

?Faint, warm steam drifted out of the bathroom. The demon’s body was still soaking wet. Her dark, damp hair clung to her face, her slender neck, her back, and her chest. Tiny water droplets slid down the strands, dripping softly onto her collarbone.

?She had just a single white towel wrapped around her body. Fresh out of a hot shower, her pale, flawless skin looked as soft as a delicate flower. The light moisture on her skin was glistening so much that it looked like if you touched her, your hand would just slip right off.

?There was no denying she had always been stunning, insanely beautiful.

?But today... today something was different. Something that was effortlessly pulling him toward her, forcing him to stare. He couldn’t even figure out what it was that made her look so ridiculously attractive right now.

?Completely forgetting his swollen cheek and the pain, holding his breath... he just kept looking at her without blinking even once... just staring.

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