“Wow,” Chanyeol’s father said, taking a seat across the table from us, “It’s great that the two of you know each other already.”

            Chanyeol’s mother also took a seat.  “It’s so nice to meet you, Eunbyul-ah.  We can’t wait for you to become a part of our family!”

            Chanyeol stood frozen in what I hoped was fear.  “You.”  His mother forced him into a seat, and I tried not to laugh.

            “We thought that the arranged marriage was a little old-fashioned but a great way to symbolize the partnership of our two companies,” Mr. Park said.

            “I can’t marry her, Mom!  Dad!  Please!” Chanyeol said, sending a wary glance in my direction.

            Chanyeol’s father laughed nervously and turned to me.  “Please excuse our son, Eunbyul-ah.  We only broke the news to him recently.  It’s still sinking in.”

            “It’s fine.  I understand.” I smiled in return.

            “See?” Chanyeol’s mother said, whacking his arm.  “Why can’t you be more polite like Eunbyul?”

            “Please, Mom,” Chanyeol replied.  “Anyone but her!”

            “Eunbyul is everything we are looking for in a daughter-in-law, Chanyeol-ah, so unless you have a good reason—”

            “SHE’S A VAMPIRE!”

            “Yah!” Chanyeol’s mother whacked his arm again.  “You idiot.  You know that vampires don’t exist.  Stop being rude.”

            I burst out laughing.  “It’s fine.  My teeth are pointy and my skin is pale, so I can see why he’d make that mistake.”

            “Chanyeol-ah, you’re lucky,” his mom said.  “She’s nice, polite, and understanding.  She’s way too good for you.”

            “Mom, support me here!” he grumbled.

            “Anyway, why don’t we let these two get to know each other better?” My father suggested.

            “Excellent idea, dear,” my mother added.  “We should let them talk in private.”

            As the adults shuffled out, I could hear Joonmyun introducing himself to the Park family.  I knew that they would immediately like him, and I was glad that our families were getting along well.

            “When I texted my friends, they didn’t believe me.” Chanyeol placed his head in his hands, and I refocused my attention on him.  “I insisted that I was marrying a vampire—”

            “You idiot,” I replied.  “I’m not a vampire, okay?  I was just screwing around with you earlier.”

            “That’s what a vampire would say,” he grumbled.  “You may have my parents fooled, but not me.”

            “Are you always this dense?”

            At that point, the waiter came in with plates of food.  Both Chanyeol and I thanked the waiter before continuing the conversation.

            He glared.  “For your information, I’m ranked first in our grade.  What are you ranked?”

            “…Grades don’t matter to me.”

            “Ah, you must not be good at academics, then.”

            I smirked.  So this is how you’re going to play.

            “Anyway, Miss Vampire, you should be honored to be marrying me.  I’ll let you know that I am very popular with the girls at our school.”

            “I am aware of that.”

            “You might meet a lot of jealous girls.”

            “What do they see in you?” I sighed.  “What a waste of a handsome face.”

            “So you think I’m handsome?”

            I chuckled, taking a bite of food.  The room became silent, and I wondered how my parents and older brother were doing outside.  “Perhaps.”

            “Hey…” His tone shifted.  “Are you serious about this?”

            “About what?” I asked.

            “The whole arranged marriage thing.  You’re really okay?”

            “I don’t mind it much.”

            He pouted, which kind of amused me.  “You’re weird, Miss Vampire.”

            “Then what about you?” I asked.  “Are you okay with this?”

            “It could’ve been worse.”

            I scoffed.

            “I could’ve been forced to marry a werewolf.  Awoo.”

            “JUST DROP THE VAMPIRE THING ALREADY.”

<:>

            Lunch the next day was pretty normal.  The girls talked about Chanyeol and his friends, I pretended to care, and we were all happy.  But when the girls became oddly silent, I knew something was wrong.

            “Miss Vampire.”

            I tilted my head back, surprised to see Park Chanyeol towering over me.  “Yes, Park Chanyeol?”

            “Follow me.  My friends would like to meet you.”

            I paused, staring back at the girls.  They all seemed to have hearts in their eyes, and when sensing my hesitation, waved at me to follow him.  I turned back to Chanyeol, who had somehow drawn the attention of half the cafeteria, unsure if I really wanted to meet his friends.

            “Hurry up, Miss Vampire,” he grumbled, grabbing onto my hand and pulling me along.  I could faintly hear the squeals of the girls on the table, and I knew I would get a whole bunch of crap for it later.

            We made our way through the cafeteria, and I could already feel a few jealous glares directed toward me as we did.  I didn’t really mind the glares at all, since they had no idea what Chanyeol was really like.

            I had already heard of most of the guys at Chanyeol’s table thanks to the girls, and I was suddenly grateful, because there were a hell of a lot of them.

            “Yah, Chanyeol hyung, she doesn’t seem like a vampire to me.” One shook his head before turning to me.  “Hey, I’m Kim Jongin.  Nice to meet you.”

            “My name is Kim Eunbyul.” I bowed.

            “Are you really getting married to hyung?” Another one asked.  “I’m Oh Sehun, by the way.”

            “Ah…yes.”

            “I feel so sorry for you.” Sehun sighed.

            “Is no one on my side?” Chanyeol grumbled.

            “Hyung, we’re always on your side,” another said.  “But she’s just so…nice and polite compared to you.”

            “Yah, are you kidding me?” Chanyeol complained, pointing a finger at me.  “She’s the rudest, evilest vampire--”

            “Hyung, that’s not very nice.” Sehun rolled his eyes.

            “Miss Vampire, you’ve even fooled my friends.” Chanyeol glared at me.

            “I thought we cleared this up yesterday.  Park Chanyeol, I am not—”

            “Yah, Chanyeol, who’s this?” A voice called out.

            I turned around.  The boy in front of me had dark hair with long sideswept bangs.  He was shorter than Chanyeol but way taller than me.  Have I mentioned that Chanyeol seems to be almost a good 30cm taller than me?  Anyway, the boy removed his headphones, placed them around his neck, and leaned down to examine my face.  I looked away, awkward.

            “Oh.  So this is the vampire girl you’re going to marry?”

            “See guys?” Chanyeol turned around, big grin on his face.  “At least Baekhyun is on my side.”

            “Hello, Miss Vampire.  My name is Byun Baekhyun.” He extended his hand.  “It’s really nice to meet you.”

            I accepted his handshake.

            “Wow, your hands really are cold.  I thought that Chanyeol was just screwing with me.” Baekhyun chuckled, taking a seat.  “You guys should sit down too.”

            “This guy,” Chanyeol said, gesturing toward Baekhyun, “has been my best friend since basically birth.  We’ve always been there for each other.”

            I nodded.

            “Basically, if this idiot is ever being an , I’ll share some of his secrets with you.” Baekhyun winked, and I laughed.

            “Traitor.” Chanyeol pouted, taking a seat.  “Miss Vampire, you should sit too.”

            “Ah…well, now would be the perfect time to go—”

            An entire chorus of “No, you should stay” put me in a really awkward spot.  With no better excuse, I hesitantly sat down at the table.