When A Ghoul Falls In Love

"You are odd," He utters, "and a mess. Don't think that I can't see it, Woman!"

He is mad at her and she doesn't know how she had offended him. Nell pushes the strands of hair behind her ear. It's late. Maybe she should go back and sleep. Maybe she will wake up in her world again. Mirage or not, people have emotions here. But how is she supposed to go back to Baek Joon Woo and share the same bedroom? She would rather sleep here. Should she tell Baek Joon Woo that she needs time? An excuse? Maybe she can sleep with Nabi. However, that's also odd. How can she sleep with her unborn child? 

She doesn't have any motherly feelings toward her. 

Is she heartless? The child might not be real. But shouldn't she feel something for her? 

When she doesn't respond to him, Eli snaps at her, "You also have darkness inside you. What happened to you? What did that Aeden do?"

"Why are you bothered about it?" Nell's voice turns cold. "Must I tell you what happened to me? I also have problems here, okay? If you don't like the idea of making me your reality, then so be it. Just be quiet. I am already in a dilemma."

Damn her! He frowns hard. He is bothered, even if he doesn't want to be bothered. Somehow, she is kind of his responsibility. Being betrothed to his other self… "Why are you married to that human in this mirage world?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You said that his first love was someone else." He squints his eyes on her. "But he was your first love. So, you would have married him if you hadn't met me."

"..." 

"I don't like it," Eli grumbles. "I feel like you are wronging my other self. Did you do it with him here? You better not! Whatever he may think, you are --"

Nell grabs the muffler and shoves it inside Eli's mouth. "Shut up, you ghoul! All you know is how to piss me off. I hate you so much." 

***

"I hate you so much!"

Nell's voice rings in his head. Eli squeezes his eyes shut, unable to move. He grimaces in pain. 

"Nell?" Where is she? Who is she talking to? He can almost see her in front of him. Why does she look sad? And he can't speak? "Nell!" 

"Eli, are you okay?" 

She disappears from his eyes. Eli peers at the person in front of him. Ark is reaching for him hesitantly. 

Eli drops on his knees, holding his head. If Nell is in the mirror, why can he hear her? 

***

He removes the muffler and tosses it on the ground. Then, he looks at the woman whom he abhors. "Tell me why are you not wearing the coat like a normal human being when you are shivering in cold."

'You have too many questions." Nell stands up. "I am done talking with you. Let's see each other tomorrow to discuss how to leave this world. I will go back to sleep now."

"No." He grasps her wrist. "You can't go to him."

She makes a face at him. "I am not going to Baek Joon Woo. I am going to a hotel. I will just tell him that I want to take some time off from our marriage."

"You aren't married to him." Eli tightens his grip. "You don't even have to call him. I can get rid of him now. And as for your daughter, I can also remove her. There's no need to feel any guilt."

Nell turns toward him and scrutinises his face. Eli loosens his fingers when he notices the chill in her eyes. He leans back and looks away, knowing that he had said something wrong. 

"You didn't have to kill your family even if they were mere mirages." She says, "You don't have to kill my family because you don't want me to feel any guilt. Baek Joon Woo is still precious to me. And Nabi is also the same, even if I can't love her as a mother. Let the father and daughter be. They have already lost me."

Why is she treating him like that? Eli crosses his arms sullenly. Then, the corners of his lips tilt up. "Since you are betrothed to me, isn't it okay if you spend the night with me?"

***

Seeing that Eli isn't moving, Ark takes Eli straight to Amachi. 

Amachi is Eli's close friend and he is also a healer. It's logical that only Amachi can help Eli.

"Now what?" Amachi glances at his unconscious friend lying on his bed in his 'bedroom' at his 'house'. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know." Ark side-steps toward the door. "Help him. He probably has a headache."

"What?" Before Amachi can ask further, Ark escapes. Amachi doesn't know about Eli, but he does have a headache. The whole Sanguine family is a headache for him. Amachi turns toward Eli. "Now, what happened to you?"

Eli doesn't respond. Amachi wonders if his friend is too shocked after seeing Rhean and Nereza. Well, it's confirmed that Rhean is Eli's son and Nereza is going to marry Eli. Amachi sighs as he leans closer to Eli. He grabs his wrist and studies his pulse. ��Hmm."

Deep lines appear on his forehead. "Rejection? What?"

How is this possible? Amachi presses his three fingers on Eli's heart. Overflow of dark energy? His core is overwhelmed and deteriorating.

"This is strange." Amachi reaches for Eli's eyes, but his hand is slapped away. He straightens his back, moving away from his friend who is regaining consciousness. "You are awake."

"Head hurts." Eli blinks his eyes, scowling darkly. "I feel like someone punched me in the head."

"Darkness imbalance." Amachi huffs at him, "You haven't been taking care of yourself."

"No, I…" Eli sits up. "I heard Nell's voice. She said that she hates me."

"You are overthinking." Amachi replies in a beat, "You are stressed too. Don't worry too much, okay? We can bring her out of the mirror."

"Do you know how to break that damn mirror?" Eli gives him a look. "Without harming her?"

Amachi shakes his head. "I only know about healing and all. Don't ask me how to break a mirror. That's out of my area of practice."

"Then, I need to worry." Eli climbs down the bed. "She and I are connected in some way. If I can reach her through that connection, I am sure that I can find a way to get her out of that place. But I don't understand the connection. Even my shadow can't reach her, but her voice rings in my head. Who does she hate? Is it me or someone else? Nell seemed tensed."

Amachi rolls his eyes. This ghoul is always talking about that human. "It's a mirror. She won't die there. How long can that mirror hold her? Let's just try talking to the being inside the mirror and ask what it wants. If we give what it wants, it might return the human."

Eli puts his hands on his waist and says solemnly, "You aren't half wrong." 

"Let's try civil ways first, okay?" Amachi pushes him out of his bedroom. "And ask your brother to drop you in any room other than my bedroom next time."

How stingy of him! Eli heads toward the room where the mirror of acrimony is. Se Ye might know about the connection.

***

"Nope." Nell picks up the muffler from the ground, and then the coat and her bag from the bench. "I am leaving now."

Eli grimaces at her. "Why? You said I am real."

"It's cheating," She mutters. "Besides, I don't want to sleep with someone who has blood on his hands and clothes."

"So, you will sleep with me if I clean up," He smirks at her. "Since I am also Eli Sanguine, it's not cheating."

Why are they so different and yet, they test her patience so much? Nell massages her forehead. "Eli Sanguine."

"Yes." He raises his brows. "Nell Solomon."

"You aren't wearing it," She points at his wrist. "The bangle. You aren't my betrothed. You aren't in love with me either. It is demeaning how you ask me to sleep with you after calling me a middle-aged woman."

"You didn't stop flirting with me when I called you that." He glowers at her. "Now, you are acting like a chaste woman."

Chaste woman? Nell decides to ignore him. She has bigger worries: how to figure out what is happening here and get out of this world?