Hidden Horns

I hope I see her too

Yohan looked over her shoulder, as if she heard someone just called her name. But there's no one on the path where she was walking. Only her and her shadow. Then there's a wind hitting her skin, followed by another blow of strong wind and this time, she knew that it was not an ordinary wind.

She turned her heels and walked back to the path where she came from. Then there is it, a figure of a human, standing at the end of the concrete pathway.

"Who are you?" Yohan asked, she squinted her eyes trying her best to recognise who it was but she still couldn't see its face, but according to the build of its body, Yohan was sure that it was a woman.

"What's stopping you?" The woman asked. When Yohan heard her voice, her eyes and her mouth slowly opened wide.

It's been too long since she last heard her voice. The voice that can only soothe the big part of Yohan's heart.

"N-Nicole." Yohan stuttered.

"I don't know why you have to prevent yourself from being happy."

Yohan didn't respond, but she walked forward to approach the woman, but even if she kept walking towards Nicole, she couldn't reach her.

"Nicole!"

"I sacrificed myself so you could be happy."

"Nicole, please!"

"But seeing you like this makes me sad." Nicole said with a certain sadness and disappointment in her voice while looking at Yohan with downcast eyes. "Yohan, have you already forgotten what you told me before?"

Yohan stopped walking when she noticed that any step she took towards Nicole seemed like nothing was happening and she was just moving further away from her.

"No, I haven't." Yohan shook her head.

"Then why? And what's stopping you?"

"I'm a Devil, my happiness was supposed to collect souls, eat them or make them suffer, listen to their scream, all of it could make me happy."

"You're not as bad as you think. And you have to accept it." Nicole said and this time, she took steps forward. "You're just having a hard time because you believe that you are a bad person."

"Because I really am."

"No, Yohan. You're not. I know you better than yourself." Nicole said with certainty in her voice, as if she really knows Yohan better than anyone else, better than Jess or Agma and better than Satan. Which is true.

She has been living inside Yohan's body for too long and she already knows everything about Yohan that no one could ever know.

Or if there's one person who really knows her, it was Satan. But there's no way in hell he would say anything to his daughter or he might lose her forever because of that.

"No one else would know myself better than me." Yohan said with a bitter chuckle. "I have been doing evil things since the day I was born—."

"No." Nicole cut her off and she finally stopped two feet away from Yohan. Her hand lifted up to stroke Yohan's face gently while scanning her face. She sure missed Yohan's beautiful face, tracing every part of her face and admiring them. She missed Yohan as whole, the way she would care for her, the way she would get worried about her, the way Yohan would stare at her face with a smile on her lips. Everything about Yohan. But sadly, she could only do see Yohan in her dream.

It was rare for a Devil to have a dream, too rare that she will only have it once in too many years. So Nicole was taking her chance to meet her girlfriend even just for a moment. She has a lot of things to say but she's rather spent her remaining time in Yohan's dream by staring at her. Because she knows that she was no longer the woman who's in Yohan's heart.

"You still haven't changed." Nicole smiled.

"You too." Yohan said, her lips slowly curving upwards but her tears started to stream down on her face. She bit her lower lip to stop them from quivering, but she failed miserably as her body started to shake violently and she broke down. "I'm so-sorry." Yohan said between her tears and she looked down to avoid Nicole's gentle gaze. "I'm really s-sorry." She stuttered.

"Please no." Nicole said softly while wiping Yohan's tears. She tried to look tough but her own tears betrayed her as they escaped from her eyes and rolled down on her face.

"I'm s-sorry Nicole. You weren't supposed to die. It's my fault, I'm sorry—."

"Please stop." Nicole begged. She couldn't stop herself from crying and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop her sobs from coming out.

"B-babe." Yohan called, and she finally brought her head up to meet Nicole's eyes. The sorrow, the longings and the pain are all in both of their eyes. "I don't deserve to be happy."

Nicole shook her head vigorously while trying to stop herself from crying. She wiped her tears and smiled at Yohan with her quivering lips.

"Yes you did. You might not be aware of it, but I saw everything. The way you will stare at her, the way you cared for her so much, the way you get mad every time there's other people trying to get close with her. The way you love her." The last five words are like knives stabbing Nicole's heart, she knows that Yohan loves Chloe. The place she was staying in Yohan's heart before was now occupied by Chloe and she accepted it.

Though there is some point that she could still feel the pain of getting replaced, but she can't do anything about it but to endure the pain and just watch how happy Yohan is with Chloe. After all, she wasn't alone anymore, she's with Nathalie now and they were happy being together.

Yohan stared at Nicole, she couldn't talk, but there's a part of her that wanted to say sorry, but she couldn't will her lips to move. Just stayed staring at Nicole and her eyes spoke for her. Nicole understood it and she nodded her head slowly.

"I understand and I'm happy for you." Nicole said with a genuine smile. "Don't deprive yourself from being happy, Yohan."

"I c-can't."

"Yes you can, and you will have your happiness if you just follow your heart." Nicole said and she stepped back. She took Yohan's hand and she intertwined it with hers. Her smile slowly faded when she knew that it was time for her to leave. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Wait, you're leaving me again?" Yohan asked.

"I have to." Nicole looked up to her and smiled again, but her tears started streaming again. "Be happy Yohan, please."

"Nicole, it's time." Nathalie said behind her. Nicole looked over her shoulder and nodded her head.

"Nath.."

"It's been a year." Nathalie said and waved her hand to Yohan.

"Yeah, how are you?" Yohan asked.

"Great, thanks to you." Nathalie replied. "I'm sorry, as much as I love to catch up, but it's time for us to go. You're gonna wake up soon."

"Wake up? Why? Am I dreami—."

"Yes, and it's time for you to go back and get her." Nicole said to interrupt Yohan. "Be happy, Yohan." She said before she slowly let go Yohan's hand and she walked towards Nathalie. The two women smiled at her before they slowly fade out into the mist.

"Wait! Nicole—!"

Yohan abruptly sat up, then she looked around. She woke up in Jess's room. The bedroom was just tidy enough to show that she cared about the space and just messy enough to show that she was able to let her creativity roam free. It was her goldilocks zone, perfect for how she was.

She lazily dragged her feet out of the bed and just sat at the edge, her hands pressed on her both sides. She was dreaming earlier but it feels real. She could still feel Nicole's touch on her face and the warmth on her hand.

She stared at her hand where Nicole touched her, then a drop of water fell on it. She's crying and she couldn't care less even if someone might see her. No one could understand the pain she's going through. All these years, she had been carrying it alone.

And now that she finally says sorry to Nicole, it somehow helps to lift up the heavy feelings inside her but there's still some left. But at least she got the closure she needed, and there's only one person she needed to see so she could go back the way she used to be.

Yohan might be the toughest person they know, but she's actually not. She was just trying her best not to show how fragile she was and how devastated she was. No one knows and she doesn't have plans sharing the guilt, pain and sorrow she's going through.

Because she believed that she deserves all of it. She deserves to suffer alone.

Yohan heaved a deep breath and exhaled before she stood up. She was planning to leave but noticed a note sticking on the bedside table.

"Meet me at our old house." Yohan read it out loud. She furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head. "Which house?" She asked herself and trying to think which house Jess was referring to.

They've been living in different countries for the past years. That's why she's confused about which house she would go to. And why would she go? She should be back in hell by now. But there's a part of her telling her to go. And without thinking of which house she would go, she just snapped her fingers and then she appeared in a place where she could see her two best friends and a woman lying on the floor. Her gaze shifted to a woman standing next to Jess and her heart thudded painfully.

"Because that's the only way to bring her out of her throne." Agma said and she suddenly attacked Jess and Chloe.

Jess moved fast to block Agma's attacked. She used her hand to slapped Agma's fist and do a counterattack. She threw a fist but Agma blocked it with her bare hands and she leaped back. Jess was the one who made an attack and she charged forward to Agma, but just before she could hit her friend, they both suddenly disappeared and both surprised when their backs hit a wall.

"Fuck." Jess grunted as she pushed herself up and prepared herself because she's thinking that Agma might attack her again, but when she looked up, she saw Yohan's mad face in the middle.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" She yelled raggedly.

"Yohan." Agma and Jess said in unison.

"I'm going to kill you both!" Yohan growled at them.

Meanwhile Chloe, when she snapped out of shock when the two suddenly disappeared, she ran to Ivy and helped her. "Can you stand up?" She asked, panicking, afraid that the two might come back.

"She's h-here." Ivy said while pushing herself up. "I saw her."

"Who?" Chloe asked.

"Yohan." Ivy said and she's pointing at the spot where she saw Yohan standing while looking at Agma and Jess fighting each other. "She was there."

"You're just hallucinating from the impact. I didn't see anyone here aside from us." Chloe said, convincing herself.

"No, I really saw her—."

"Let's just leave this place. Please!" Chloe said and she wrapped her arm around Ivy's waist and helped her friend to walk and they exited the house. She put Ivy at the backseat of the car and drove away from that place at speed.

When she made sure that they were far enough, she slowed down a bit and gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned pale.

"Chloe."

"No, I don't wanna hear it, Ivy. Just don't say anything." Chloe said to stop Ivy. She's not going to let her friend say anything about seeing Yohan especially when they were with Molly. But to be honest, she knows that Ivy was telling the truth, though she didn't see Yohan, but she believed that she was there because her necklace suddenly heated on her neck, which means there's a strong bad creature around her.

At first, she didn't know the meaning of why her necklace suddenly heated up. Until she realized that it was because of Yohan, whenever the Devil would be gone and came back from a place she didn't know, her necklace started heating up. After two or three days, the heat will be gone until Yohan leaves again and once she comes back, her necklace will heat up again and she will know that Yohan has already arrived.

"Fine, but I know who I saw and she was there." Ivy said dismissively and she lay down.

"I know." Chloe mumbled under her breath. "I hope I see her too." She added.

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