The Demon's Bride

Retroversion

Time passed, the day following day marked the passing of another month and winter had officially arrived. Emma always loved snow, she loved to play with her siblings every day with the ice and seeing the beautiful snowflakes falling from the sky as they danced in their way to reach to the floor.

This year was different, Phil still came from time to time as Norman had agreed with him, and so Emma could also see her mother more times, reassuring her that she was fine and happy with Norman. Even if she didn't have her siblings around her, she still felt happy. Ever since Norman had revealed himself as the demon that he was, she noticed how much open to her he was slowly getting, to the point of even dismissing the cloak and the gloves that hid his sharp claws.

The thought of him being opening so much made her heart flutter, feeling intense happiness on the fact that he trusted in her. And Emma herself treasured the moments that the two seemed to have in their own space.
Despite not having her siblings around, Emma's playful nature still called her out to go and run, play, enjoy herself and so, she happily ran in the snow, covered in a long, warm cloak that Norman had given her.

"Emma, you'll fall..." She heard Norman warning her, causing her to turn to him, kicking some snow as she made her turn. Her arms went behind her back as she looked at him with a playful smile.

"You worry too much Norman, just relax and play with me!"Her emerald eyes teased him along with her smile and Norman tried so hard to stand his ground.

Then, an idea clicked in his mind.

"Alright Emma, you wi-"

"Norman!" She quickly called out, rushing to his side and checked on him for any damages that his sudden fall on the snow could have caused "Are you ok?"

Suddenly, she yelped in surprise as large arms caught her, giving her time to react only when feeling her cloak's back hit the snow, her ginger hair spread along on the white duvet of the floor and her green eyes widened as she saw the man towering her, a playful smile on his lips "Who's worrying too much now?"

"Bu... But you fell and I thought you had hurt your-" Her hands were on his chest, feeling the soft rhythm of the heart that hid inside the body.

"I'm sorry, I lied."

"Heh?! You made me concerned for nothing?" Emma couldn't help but pout, feeling a little betrayed. Her pout disappeared immediately when his hand came to rest on her cheek, his fingers slowly and carefully to not harm her rubbing her skin.

"You were concerned for me?" His eyes softened as he mentally recorded the image of the girl beneath him, with a soft smile and a faint blush on her cheeks - either from the cold or from Norman's actions, he didn't clearly know.

"Of course... I care about you."

"I'm... Happy to know that." Norman smiles and gets up after letting his glance stay locked onto hers to linger a little more, helping Emma out to get up too as he held her hand.

The chirpy sound of the small birds that near them searched desperately in the snow for something to eat caught both's attention, making them look at the petite animals.

"At this rate, they'll die of hunger..." Emma pointed out sadly, receiving a small hum of agreement of the man standing next to her. Until, without a word he left her as she kept watching, only noticing his missing when hearing the door of the house being open "Norman?"

She called out but the man was far too distant to reply to her, nonetheless, he returned after a short while with a small bag on his hand. Emma looked curiously at the demon, who removed one piece of bread from inside the bag and destroyed the food in small crumbs before throwing them to the snow, watching as in no time the birds were near them, searching for all the bread they could find.