“So what’s your story?”

Ryeowook scanned the boy’s face, perplexed. He’s never met someone quite like him. But then again, who was Ryeowook to judge. Growing up, he never made friends in school. People disliked him and Ryeowook found that oddly enough, it didn’t bother him as much as he thought it should. He was accustomed to being alone, no one wanted to talk to him so why should he bother?

But now, someone was actually trying to talk with him, trying to make friends with him. It bugged Ryeowook. Why? Why would Henry want to be friends with him? Why didn’t the boy just leave him alone? Furthermore, he was a vampire! Vampires were not supposed to be friendly towards elves thus it puzzled him even more.

“What do you mean?” Ryeowook asked.

“Everyone has a story. Tell me more about yourself. Where you come from, what you like, how many family members do you have…” Henry waved his hands around Ryeowook. “How you ended up like this.”

“What do you mean?” Ryeowook repeated, still unsure of what this vampire was trying to say.

Henry chuckled. “I just want to know more about you.”

“Oh. Well… I’m an Elf.”

“I know that already, silly.”

“Um… Well… I don’t have a family. I come from an orphanage.” Ryeowook lied, remembering that he had rehearsed this line with Kyuhyun’s parents in case anyone ever asked him about his background.

“Really?” Henry’s eyes widen, “Is that the reason why you’re like this?”

Ryeowook scrunched his forehead, “Why do you keep saying that? What do you mean?”

“Well.. It’s just… You don’t make friends.” Henry smiled sheepishly. “I don’t mean to offend you. I mean… It’s just so weird. Everyone has friends. Aren’t you lonely?”

Ryeowook shook his head and Henry continued, “But don’t you want friends?”

Again, Ryeowook shook his head and Henry tilted his head, studying Ryeowook intently. Thankfully, at that moment, class was dismissed. Ryeowook packed his books into his bag, heading straight out without bidding goodbye to Henry. It was usually like this, anyway. He wasn’t friends with the boy but neither did he dislike the boy. Henry stopped talking to him in the cafeteria but they were in the same Music Theory class. The boy took the opportunity to sit with Ryeowook during class and chat up with him freely since Kyuhyun wasn’t around.

For the most part, Henry usually ended up doing the talking more. Ryeowook knew almost everything about Henry now and every time the boy started a conversation with him, Ryeowook wondered how the boy was able to be so… bright, so cheerful, despite his dark past. Henry had come from Canada, having lived with his abusive parents. One night, his father came home drunk and he ended up being beaten up badly just because of his existence. Henry ran away from home but he couldn’t run far. He was dying. Until a woman came to his rescue, turning him into a vampire. He had been living with her since then in Korea.

Because of Henry too, Ryeowook unintentionally learnt more about vampires. Ryeowook learnt that there was a major difference between a half-vampire and normal vampires. Normal or better known as natural vampires were vampires that were created and given birth by natural vampires themselves. According to Henry, only natural vampires were able to go through child-bearing and it was extremely psychically and mentally agonizing. Half of the vampire that gave birth ended up mentally disabled. Also, Ryeowook found that half-vampires stopped aging once they were bitten – Henry was bitten when he was at the young age of sixteen, thus why he looked so young and child-like even though he was already twenty now. Natural vampires however was a difference case. Unless a natural vampire turn a human into a vampire, they do not stop aging until the age of late twenties or early thirties. Each natural vampire stopped aging differently according to their own body and the kind of blood they drank. The rarer the blood of the animals or even creatures were, the faster the natural vampires stopped aging.

“The school gives only deer blood.” Henry told Ryeowook one day while Henry was talking about what he had for lunch. “It’s boring! You can find deer everywhere! But I guess they have to. Most vampires nowadays don’t wish to stop aging so fast. I’m thankful I got bitten at such a young age!”

Ryeowook had no clue what was it about Henry but he was kind of thankful for the boy. Without meaning it, Henry had educated him more about vampires than Kyuhyun ever had or ever would. Did Ryeowook consider him a friend? That, he had no clue about. He never had a friend anyway.

“So…. What about Kyuhyun?”

Ryeowook stopped in his tracks. What about Kyuhyun? Before he could think of something, his attention was distracted by a couple on the staircase. They were kissing, the familiar boy’s arms pressing against the walls while his body pressed into his lover who was leaning against the wall. When his roommate deepened the kiss between them, his lover’s hand started moving down his jeans. Ryeowook didn’t mean to but the book he was holding onto slipped from his hands and onto Sungmin’s legs. Sungmin yelped, breaking the kiss with Kyuhyun.

“Look where you’re going!” Kyuhyun snarled, turning around. Ryeowook watched as Kyuhyun’s flaming eyes softened just a little at the sight of Ryeowook.

“Yah, are you blind or something?” Sungmin asked and then the look of recognition filled his orbs. “Hold on, you’re Kyuhyun’s roommate.”

“That’s right, baby. The one I’ve been telling you about.” Kyuhyun then added, “The stupid elf.”

Sungmin’s judgemental eyes trailed Ryeowook’s face. “Stupid and ugly. You’re so unlucky, honey.”

Kyuhyun scoffed. “I know.”

Sungmin shook his head, feeling apologetic for his boyfriend. Ryeowook muttered a shy sorry before bending down to pick up his book. He stiffened when his book was stepped on. Ryeowook looked up, eyes wide and Sungmin smirked. He tipped Ryeowook’s face with his middle finger with dark eyes. Ryeowook’s voice caught in his throat. Those eyes, those eyes…. They were so frightening, so cold.

“Excuse me,” Sungmin said in a dangerously low voice. “You think you can get away with just a sorry after hurting me?”

Sungmin’s laid his fingers one by one onto Ryeowook’s neck. Ryeowook gasped out loud when he felt strong hands suddenly pressing down onto his neck, his air supply being cut off from his throat. Ryeowook struggled, face turning purple while feeling himself being lifted off from the ground.

“Hey Min, come on, I’m hungry. Let’s go grab some food.” Ryeowook heard Kyuhyun saying.

Ryeowook felt his eyes rolling back into his head for a few seconds before he found himself roughly landing onto the ground. Ryeowook took a deep breath, coughing as he touched his bruised neck. He looked up realizing that Sungmin had fallen backwards and that Henry was standing in the middle of them both.

“What the hell are you doing?” Henry yelled at Sungmin, walking towards Ryeowook. “You could have killed him!”

Kyuhyun was in the midst of helping Sungmin getting up but when he saw Henry holding out his hands for Ryeowook, his saw red. He released a low growl and pushed Sungmin away, stomping towards Henry. He pushed the kid hard against the wall, pointing a finger at him.

“Touch him and you’ll die.” Kyuhyun growled.

Henry narrowed his eyes. “Control your boyfriend first before you go around telling others what to do.”

Henry sneered before pushing Kyuhyun off him. He wanted to help Ryeowook only to find out that Ryeowook had already gotten up and disappeared into the sea of students that had gathered to find out what the commotion was about. Kyuhyun frowned.

“What are you waiting for?” Kyuhyun demanded sounding pissed, looking around. “Get lost!”

The students around scoffed, splitting up into their own groups of friends and walking away. Kyuhyun’s ears buzzed with so many different conv