She Belongs To The Devil

3Ariel kept on lying down on the sofa after her father went out of the room. When he had said that he wouldn't take long, she had imagined that he would step out for some seconds and would come right back.     2

However, her father didn't come back after what felt like an hour to her. In reality, it had barely been a minute.     

She folded her arms and tried to stay still. She didn't want to make a sound and attract the demons to the room that she was in. She had seen her father putting a spell on the door but she didn't think that her father's magic was stronger than the demons who were lurking outside.     

In her perspective, her father was just a human who could do a few magic tricks.     

After waiting for some more, Ariel started to get restless. She slowly sat up on the sofa, and then slowly opened her bag.     

She took out a toy bunny from her bag and smiled. She suddenly forgot about the demons and her father. And she started playing with that doll.     

She lifted that bunny and made him 'see' around. And she whispered in its long ear, "Mr. Mouse, you see this room? This is mine now. It's so red, right? I like red."     

Ariel kept on talking with her bunny-mouse for a while.     

However, she was soon bored of that as well. She looked towards the door. There was still no trace of her father.     

She even wondered if her father was gobbled up by some demon.     

She tightly clutched her toy and whispered, "Dada, where are you?"     

Suddenly, she heard some footsteps coming from outside the door. She couldn't quite tell if it was her father or if it was some demon.     

No matter who it was, Ariel tight shut her lips and hugged her toy.     

Her heart began to race when the door handle moved slightly. And when the door slowly creaked open, Ariel held her breath and looked with her eager amber eyes.     

The Princess let out a sigh of relief once she saw who was at the door. She threw the bunny-mouse and jumped down the sofa.     

And she ran towards the door while shouting and holding out her arms, "Dada! Why are you so late? I was so scared."     

But instead of picking Ariel up, he knelt down and stared at Ariel with teary eyes. He had this extremely happy look on his face when he asked, "Ariel? Is this really you?"     

Ariel felt a sting in her heart when he asked that. Her lips downturned and she asked in a sad voice, "Dada… did the demons do something bad to you?" She glanced at his hair and asked while whispering, "Did you grow old and forget me? Why is your hair white?"     

"Oh, my dear Ariel," he hugged that tiny angel and introduced himself, "I am your uncle, Lucifer."     

Ariel pushed him away and thought that her father was joking with her. She grabbed Lucifer's hair and pulled it to see if it would come out.     

"Ouch…" Lucifer held Ariel's hand and asked, "You don't like me?"     

But Ariel pinched Lucifer's cheek and said as some drops of tears rolled down her eyes, "I like you. You are my dada. You are not uncle. What did you do to your hair?"     

Ariel's attention was soon caught by a familiar chuckle from behind them. She moved to the side to take a peek.     

And to her utter disbelief, she saw someone who looked exactly like her father.     

"Ariel, did I make you wait too long?" Theodore walked closer towards his brother and his daughter.     

Ariel kept on staring at Theodore. He looked like he was her father. He also sounded like her father.     

She then looked at Lucifer. He also looked like her father, except for his hair.     

Lucifer smiled at his niece and wiped her tears.     

Ariel felt that same loving hand of her father when Lucifer wiped her tears. And she wondered if Lucifer was her real father and was just trying to fool her by changing his hair color.     

Theodore came and crouched down beside Lucifer.     

Both Theodore and Lucifer gave a loving smile to awe-struck Ariel.     

And Ariel kept on looking left and right and compared their looks. She was trying to figure out who was her real father.     

Both the brothers couldn't help but burst into laughter after seeing that confused expression on Ariel.     

When they laughed, Ariel pouted and ran towards the sofa to grab her bag.     

Theodore and Lucifer keenly watched to see what Ariel would do.     

And Ariel stuffed her bunny-mouse inside her bag, carried it, and stomped towards the door.     

Theodore laughed at that reaction from his daughter. He could tell that she felt humiliated when the two of them laughed at her.     

"Ariel, where are you going? Don't you want to talk with your uncle? Come here." Theodore held out his hand for his daughter.     

Ariel turned around to see the one with the black hair holding his hand out for her. She was now sure that he was her dada and not the one with white hair. She then asked in a pampered voice, "Promise you will not laugh then."     

"I promise," Theodore said in a soothing voice.     

Ariel shifted her glance at Lucifer.     

And Lucifer immediately cleared his throat and apologized to that bossy niece, "Ariel, I won't laugh at you, promise. And I'm sorry if I said or did anything wrong. Would you like to talk with me?"     

Ariel nodded her head and finally walked towards her father and uncle. She went to her father's arms but looked at Lucifer and asked, "Why do you look like my dada?"     

Lucifer tried not to chuckle at that direct yet innocent question from Ariel. And he replied, "Because your dada is my younger brother."     

Ariel thought for a while and said, "Azizi don't look like dada."     

"Azizi?" Lucifer wrinkled his brows wondering what she was talking about. But he recalled Theodore mentioning that it was Azriel's nickname. "Oh, yes. He looks different because your granny and grandpa didn't make him look like us."     

Ariel looked visibly confused when she asked, "What's grandpa?"