Eva POV
Barely a few hours of him in the apartment, he was already growing on me. But the thought of him still staying here temporarily was making me run to any hills.
The apartment seemed way too small for this conversation. Candlelight still flickered around the living room while three cult people stared at me like I’d accidentally triggered supernatural relationship paperwork.
I hated every second of this.
Nina finally broke the silence first by standing up from the couch and pointing toward the apartment door dramatically. “Okay. New rule. No more demons in this apartment.”
The younger cult member raised his hand slightly. “Fair.”
The bandaged guy nodded seriously. “We were getting more invested.”
“I was getting mentally damaged,” Nina shot back.
The old shop owner hesitated before glancing at the demon deeply. “We should leave before this becomes legally significant.”
I pointed at him. “I still blame you for all of this.”
The old man frowned. “I suggested ambiance. I did not expect demonic courtship.”
“You handed me twelve candles and a cursed gold chalk as a gift!”
“It was complimentary.”
“That is not helping your case.”
The younger cult member muttered quietly, “In fairness, none of us thought he’d actually come .”
The demon pinched the bridge of his nose. "That is insulting."
“You usually never come!” the younger guy defended himself. He glanced at the demon one last time before sighing dramatically. “I still cannot believe you accepted the hoodie.”
The demon glanced down at the unfit black hoodie calmly. “It was offered sincerely.”
“I THREW IT AT YOU.”
“That only made it sound more believable.”
I almost walked directly into the table.
Nina shoved the cult members toward the door before the conversation could become worse. “Okay, that’s enough. Somebody remove Eva from this situation before she develops feelings for the demon.”
The bandaged cult member paused halfway through the door. “Actually the bond.....”
“OUT.”
The door slammed shut hard enough to rattle the walls. After that, the apartment finally fell silent again. Well mostly. Because the demon was still standing in my kitchen drinking a second coffee from my favorite mug like he belonged there.
Nina gaze shifted between the two of us as she tried to decide which part of this situation concerned her more.
“…So what exactly is the plan here?”
“I don’t HAVE a plan,” I said aggressively.
The demon stared at me judging my reaction. “That feels obvious.”
“Why are you insulting me in my own apartment?”
“I am observing.”
Nina suddenly pointed at him. “Actually wait. Shouldn’t you leave too?”
The demon blinked twice, his brow furrowing.
“You want me to leave?”
“Yes,” both of us answered fast.
He gaze dropped to the coffee mug in his hands for a second before answering carefully, “But you allowed me to make coffee here.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “That is basic human decency.”
“ It is dangerously seductive behavior.”
“Oh MY GOD.”
Nina fell face-first into the couch laughing again while I dragged both hands down my face hard enough to reset my skeleton.
“This cannot be my life now,” I muttered.
The demon quietly took another sip . “I understand human bonding with demons is overwhelming.”
“STOP CALLING IT BONDING.”
The demon studied his coffee for a second as though he were genuinely trying to understand why humans kept yelling at him for being correct. The sight of a dangerously hot demon wearing such an innocent expression made me stop talking and simply stare at him.
Nina was still wheezing into the couch cushions behind us while I walked into the kitchen to escape this conversation before my brain completely shut down. The apartment still smelled aggressively like vanilla and bad decisions.
“I need rules,” I muttered mostly to myself while opening the fridge. “There need to be rules now.”
The demon followed behind me into the kitchen, and I stopped him with one hand still resting on the fridge door.
Then turned around to face him. “Why are you following me?”
“You walked away.”
“Yes. Intentionally.”
“That felt quite significant.”
“I was physically exhausted.”
The demon tilted his head slightly like he was still trying to decode human behavior. Which was rich considering I was currently trying to decode demon behavior and losing horribly.
I grabbed the water bottle from the fridge while avoiding eye contact. Then the demon went still beside me in a way that put me on edge. I turned slightly toward him and caught the sharp focus in his expression before my suspicion kicked in too.
“…What now.”
His eyes stayed fixed somewhere inside the fridge. “You have strawberries.”
I blinked once. “Yeah?”
The tension after that was painful enough that I finally shut the fridge door and faced him properly.
“No.”
The demon frowned slightly. “I have not explained yet.”
“I don’t NEED the explanation anymore.”
Nina lifted her head from the couch like somebody recovering from surgery. “No no, let him explain. I need to suffer too.”
The demon shifted uncomfortable. “In demonic culture, offering strawberries is considered serious courtship behavior.”
My eyes flicked from him to the container of strawberries in my fridge before returning to him.
“...You cannot be serious, fruit cannot be a romantic offering .”
“That is what you said about candles.”
“That was DIFFERENT.”
“You also said the clothing meant nothing.”
“BECAUSE IT’S A HOODIE.”
The demon's expression suggested he was reconsidering my entire species. “Humans continue sending very mixed signals.”
I grabbed the strawberry container from the fridge and held it up accusingly. “These were on sale three days ago.”
“That level of preparation is concerning.”
Behind us, Nina slipped down from the couch from laughing hard. I was completely drained to still learn more about the demons dating rules.
I'd heard enough.
I grabbed his wrist before he could start explaining the romantic significance of apples, oranges, or whatever fruit Hell had decided to ruin next. His skin was warm beneath my fingers, but I ignored that entirely and dragged him out of the kitchen.
"Enough."
The demon allowed himself to be pulled along without resistance. "I have not finished explaining."
"That's exactly the problem."
Behind us, Nina had completely lost control of herself. "Don't encourage him," I told her.
"I haven't said anything," she managed between laughs.
"You haven't needed to."
I stopped beside the couch and released the demon's wrist before pointing firmly at the cushions.
"You. Sleep there."
His gaze moved from me to the couch and back again. He considered the arrangement with the seriousness of someone reviewing an important contract.
"That seems acceptable."
"Good."
I turned toward Nina next. She was still grinning like this was the best thing she'd ever witnessed.
"You. Your room. Now."
Nina's smile widened. "You know, most people don't assign sleeping arrangements after accidentally entering a supernatural courtship."
"Nina."
"Going."
Still laughing, she slipped off the couch and disappeared down the hallway before I could find something to throw at her.
The apartment finally grew quieter. Not quiet, because the demon was still standing beside my couch, deep in thought, which was never a good sign. Every time the demon started thinking, my evening became significantly worse.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Do not."
His eyebrows lifted slightly. "I did not say anything."
"You were about to."
For a moment he actually considered that.
"...Possibly."
"Goodnight."
Before he could continue, I turned and headed straight for my bedroom. I could feel his gaze on my back the entire way down the hallway, which made me walk faster.
The moment the door closed behind me, I pressed my forehead against the wood and let out a long breath.
Silence.
No cult members.
No discussions about demonic courtship rituals.
No strawberries.
For the first time all night, that felt like a victory.
Chapter 6
Eva POV
By the time I stepped out of the shower the next morning, the apartment had become a supernatural breakdown with mood swings.
Candles still covered half the living room floor. Coffee mugs had multiplied across every available surface, and my comfort blanket was currently wrapped around a demon sitting on my couch reading one of my erotica books like he paid rent here.
The worst part was that it was all starting to feel strangely normal.
“This is temporary,” I informed him while dragging my laundry basket out of my room.
The demon glanced up from the book calmly. “You’ve said that seven times.”
“Because I need you to understand it perfectly.”
“I understand humans repeat things when distressed.”
“That sounded rude.”
“It was educational.”
I dropped the laundry basket beside my bedroom door before stopping abruptly. Then I turned around to face him.
“…Why are my sweaters folded?”
The demon gestured toward the basket. “They were messy.”
I stared at him, then at the perfectly folded clothes sitting on my bed before looking back at him again.
“You touched my sweaters?”
“They were becoming chaotic.”
“That is a crazy sentence from a demon.”
From inside the bathroom, Nina yelled, “I’m sorry but this is the most husband behavior I’ve ever seen.”
“He is NOT my husband,” I snapped at her.
There was the tiniest pause before the demon lifted his head from the book again. His expression stayed completely calm when he answered.
“Not yet.”
I stared at him in complete disbelief while my brain tried very hard to abandon reality altogether.
“What does THAT mean?”
The demon blinked once like he genuinely didn’t understand why I seemed mentally challenged.
From the bathroom, Nina made a choking noise loud enough to hear through the wall. “Oh my God.”
“I need everybody in this apartment to stop reacting like this is cute.”
The demon closed the book carefully before setting it aside. “You summoned me romantically.”
“I summoned you by being stupid.”
“That does not cancel a ritual.”