Chapter 6 #13
My mother stared at her. Then at the father. Then at both demon princes. Then finally at me.
“…Eva, why are there five goth supermodels in your apartment building?”
The younger brother beamed. “I like her enormously.”
“You stop talking,” Nina ordered.
Meanwhile my father finally recovered enough to speak carefully.
“You disappeared for weeks.”
The guilt hit instantly after that. Real guilt. Because beneath all the chaos and romance and Hell politics, our families had been terrified.
I stepped forward. “Dad…”
“No,” my mother interrupted while crossing her arms tightly. “Absolutely not. You vanish for WEEKS, your phone goes dead, and now you’re standing here with…” She gestured wildly toward my demon. “…whatever terrifying expensive man this is.”
My demon was strangely focused afterward. Then carefully, almost cautiously, he stepped slightly forward.
“I understand your anger.”
My mother pointed at him. “You are not allowed to sound reasonable while looking like that.”
The younger brother was visibly trying not to laugh himself unconscious. Meanwhile Nina’s phone rang loudly beside us. She looked down.
Then groaned dramatically. “…My aunt.”
“Answer it,” Anderson muttered from the back.
“I hate all dimensions.”
She answered anyway.
Instantly: “WHERE ARE YOU.”
The younger brother leaned away from the phone. “That woman sounds powerful.”
“She once threw a sandal at a moving car.”
“I respect her.”
Meanwhile, my father had started watching my demon much more carefully, and my demon kept doing small things that only made the situation worse on a supernatural level.
He stood a little closer to me without seeming to notice it himself, checked my expression before saying anything, and kept watching my reactions first like they mattered more than the conversation around us. Tiny things. Protective things.
My father noticed every single one of those details. Then my mother narrowed her eyes at my demon like she had just realized something important.
“…Wait.”
“You’re the coffee guy.”
I froze.
Because weeks ago before everything exploded, my mother visited the apartment once while my demon was secretly staying there pretending to be vaguely human. And apparently, she remembered him. My demon blinked once. Then very calmly answered
“Yes.”
My mother stared directly at me in betrayal. “YOU brought home the weirdly attractive coffee man BEFORE disappearing into supernatural nonsense?”
“I can explain.”
“You absolutely cannot.”
Nina collapsed against the hallway wall laughing while a delighted grin spread across the younger brother's face.
“This keeps improving.”
Meanwhile my father rubbed one hand across his face before asking the single most terrifyingly normal question possible:
“…Do all of you want dinner or something?”
Five minutes later, the apartment had become complete chaos. My mother paced the living room aggressively while trying to process: missing daughters, portals, Hell, and two demon princes sitting on our couch looking illegally attractive.
“This is insane,” she announced.
“That is the truth ,” my demon answered calmly.
“That response was TOO calm.”
Meanwhile Nina’s aunt had arrived three minutes earlier, taken one look at the younger brother, and pointed at him suspiciously.
“You flirt professionally.”
The younger brother’s face lit up instantly. “Thank you.”
“That was not a compliment.”
Nina collapsed laughing onto the couch beside him while his mother wandered around my apartment examining framed photos like a curious queen.
“Oh this is adorable.”
“That picture is from middle school,” I warned.
Too late. His mother had already picked up the photo of me and Nina looking aggressively awkward at sixteen. Then she smiled at the picture.
“You were troublemakers.”
“We were survivors,” Nina corrected dramatically.
“That explains everything.”
Meanwhile my father was still watching my demon carefully across the room. Then:
“What are your intentions with my daughter?”
I covered my face. “Dad.”
“No,” Nina whispered excitedly. “Let him cook.”
Meanwhile my demon answered without hesitation.
“To stay beside her for the rest of my life.”
The apartment went completely quiet after that. The jokes disappeared, the chaos faded, and sincerity settled over the room heavily enough to steal the air from it.
My father stared at him for one long second before asking carefully:
“You really love her.”
“Yes.”
No hesitation again. Then unexpectedly, my father leaned back slightly and muttered:
“…Well that’s significantly more serious than I expected.”
My mother looked deeply betrayed. “THAT’S your reaction?”
“He sounds honest.”
“He sounds supernatural.”
“Both can happen.”
Meanwhile Nina’s aunt pointed at the younger brother. “And YOU.”
He blinked once. “Yes.”
“Are you serious about her too or are you just naturally this charming.”
The younger brother turned to Nina beside him.
And for the first time all evening, he lost the teasing expression completely.
“I’m serious about her enough to cross dimensions for her repeatedly.”
And both human families realized: this wasn’t temporary chaos anymore.
This was real.