Eʏᴇ ᴏғ Asᴍᴏᴅᴇᴜs

8. What is Asmodeus?

Jungkook woke up and for the first time, he felt Jimin's form there, hugging him close. His eyes were closed, but the boy could bet his life that Jimin wasn't sleeping either. He was himself, capable of thinking, not under Jimin's magic or whatever it was that made him act like a horny mess. 

Whenever Jimin flipped that switch inside him somewhere,  he didn't complain, getting addicted to the pleasure, but when he was himself like right now, he sure feared the aspect of being under the control of someone to the extent that he would do just anything if Jimin asked him to. But he trusted Jimin to not want him to kill himself. 

He almost forgot about the pain he was supposed to feel when the first wave of uneasiness hit and gave way to a distressing moan. Jimin opened his eyes in an instant. "Shh, sweetheart. I've got you," he pulled Jungkook into his chest.

The boy's eyes started tearing up. He bunched up Jimin's naked skin into his fingers as the latter began the same routine of wiping his body with something cold and wet.

Every lap relieved his pain. Not before long, he was breathing through his mouth and lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling, relaxed. 

"You are fine, darling." Jimin's affirmation was as soothing as whatever remedied Jungkook's pain.

"Why do you control me?" Jungkook asked, surprising both of them. 

When Jimin sat up in response and rolled his hair back with his fingers, it caused Jungkook to sit up as well. He watched as the man jumped down the bed, schooling the delightful expression on his face as though he adored controlling Jungkook, and found his question quite cute. "Is that what you think I am doing?" Pushing his leg through the pants' seams one by one before jumping up and down, Jimin asked with an unapologetic smile on his face.

Jungkook's brows pinched and he followed Jimin when the latter started to scurry towards the door. "Can you please stay?" He grabbed onto the lavender fabric of Jimin's shirt. " I want to talk to you. I want to... Cuddle."

Jimin turned and pecked Jungkook's forehead. "I'll be back, sweetheart. You need to rest." He opened the door and trodded away like he was a regular visitor, leaving Jungkook to flail in complex emotions all by himself. 

Jungkook edged back to bed and the exhaustion he was undermining started working its sorcery when he fell asleep while hugging a pillow.

He woke up to the sound of utensils and heard his father's faint noise coming from the dining room. He had two options. The first one was to wallow alone and the next one was to join his father for lunch. He wasn't up to it, but deciding to ease some of his father's worry related to his health, he decided on the latter.

Taking a shower and hiding all the bruises on his body with long sleeves and turtlenecks, he joined the two men at the dining table, eating with his head hung low as his father and Jin talked sitting opposite him. His cheeks were gaining color as he contemplated what he had been doing under his father's roof. He could faintly hear his name, but the thoughts of last night were roaring inside his head. "Jungkook?" The older male tapped his knuckles at the table. "You okay there?"

"Yea-yeah," the 18-year-old exhaled in urgency, touching his ear and feeling hot. "Appa..." His brows dipped suddenly. "What is Asmodeus?"

Color struck off Mr. Jeon's face. "Where did you learn that word from?"

"A friend of mine was talking about it. Why? What is it?" Jungkook took in his father's apprehension on the subject written all over his face.

Jin was silent, too, which unnerved Jungkook further. Jin was never the one to stay quiet and the teenager found it fearful. It was one of the reasons he was not fond of Jin that he only talked and talked and most of the time, it was nonsense.

A chill crept down his spine feeling a presence behind him. The phenomenon was magnetic every time Jimin was around him. His breath hitched as he snapped his neck around, but to his agitation found no one.

Jungkook's father keenly watched him acting outlandish. "What is it, Jungkook?" He stood up, his phalanges tightly shut as he rushed over to the boy's side.

"Nothing," Jungkook lied through his teeth. "Thought I heard a house fly."

"Seok-Jin," Mr. Jeon turned to Jin with panic. "Can you drive us, son?" 

"Sure," Jin stood up, wiping his hand on the napkin without another word.

"What are you doing?" Jungkook frowned, looking between the two older males. Mr. Jeon held his hand. "Come stay in the temple tonight. You wanted to be there. Didn't you?"

Jungkook knew something was definitely up. Without protesting, he followed his father to his bedroom as the man reached to pack his bag with minimal clothes and a few essential items. 

They were en route to the temple in the next few minutes. The atmosphere was tense inside the vehicle as Jungkook's father wiped his mouth while striking up random conversations.

The realization dawned all at once on Jungkook, recollecting that Jimin apprised him the first time they ever met to not tell anyone about him. The teen didn't know if he had broken the rules by asking a question about something he thought wasn't really relevant, but he started freaking out, knowing that he was in the biggest trouble of his life.

Was Jimin really who he said he was?

How could one word make his father... Terrified?

The formality of getting inside the temple was rushed. His father requested to bypass the rule by taking the cellphone devices with them inside, in case they needed to communicate for exigencies. Instead of the sanctuary room, Jungkook found himself following his father to a big prayer room which had a grandiose altar at the front.

Numerous candles were lit on the ground, sparking the big space as the reflection of the flames glowed upon the high-ceiling chandeliers. Jungkook's palms turned clammy. He looked around, wanting to see Jimin somewhere but to no avail.

On the other hand, his father was thankful that he wasn't asking anything because the man didn't know how to answer anyway.

A monk with a bald head and kind eyes was sitting on the floor, an orange drape covering his body. "Minister," Mr. Jeon dropped to his knees and sat in front of him, urging Jungkook to do the same. "My son here needs your blessings."

The monk looked over at Jungkook, his eyes concentrating as if he could see what had been going on. Jungkook felt sleep paralysis before, but he didn't think it was possible to experience it while awake. He couldn't blink, his eyes opened, and his body froze in fear.

"Put your hand out, son," Jungkook's trance hardly broke as he held out his palm absently. The monk placed a bead on it and closed Jungkook's fist. "Keep it on you. Wear it on your bracelet or your necklace. Don't take it off."

Jungkook's father took the bead from the boy's hand and immediately put it through the chain he was wearing on his neck. Once he clasped the chain around Jungkook after putting in the bead, he heaved a sigh of relief, but Jungkook was far from normal. His eyelids began to flutter and his gaze dropped down to the bead dangling by his chest. 

The monk smiled. "He needs to rest," he said. "Take him to his chamber."

Jungkook kept his weight leaning on his father as the man led him back toward the sanctuary. It was clear that fear had nothing to do with his short-lived paralysis. He somehow knew if he could take the bead away from his body, he would succeed in keeping himself upright and be in the position to talk, but he couldn't do that.

Irritation gnawed at him. First Jimin, and now the monk. Being a mindless puppet made Jungkook consider that he has had enough.

He wanted to divulge and tell his father everything about Jimin. When he tried, his tongue swelled.

He could only stare with spine-chilling horror as his father brought him to the bed. His head hit the pillow and his lids kissed each other immediately as though they never wanted to separate. 

Silence and darkness filled his senses.

He tried to mumble in sleep, but he couldn't do that either. 

When he opened his eyes, a dark pair of eyes were staring down at him.