‘We will go to Joam-ri,’ Hye Jin said for Hana’s benefit.

Hana nodded but he didn’t bother to give permission because he knew that Hye Jin wasn’t asking for it; she was stating it.

It was laughable, vampires had to rely on a train to travel.

But unfortunately, the sight of them flying above the South Korean countryside in broad daylight probably would have shocked a lot more people than they wanted to. So instead they were taking the KTX to Joam-ri (or rather, to the nearest station, at which point they would take a bus or taxi to the actual village).

After everything they’d been through this seemed so tedious.

Sehun had fallen asleep, an amazing feat considering there were school kids on a school trip making a lot of noise further down the compartment.

He was scrunched up against the window, as if he just didn’t want the risk of leaning on her when he was asleep.

Hye Jin was slowly beginning to accept that maybe there was just no way to return to their friendship, let alone their relationship. Feeling the pent up emotions of the past twelve hours hit her, she closed her eyes and she could feel the hot tears slipping down her cheeks.

She tried not to sob, but it resulted in an uncontrollable shaking of her body.

Damn it, I'm not made out of stone. Let me cry for once, she told herself.

And so she did. She cried for the office lady and the other humans, she cried for Boss, she cried for Sehun… and while she was at it, she decided she might as well cry for her parents too. She didn’t know when she fell asleep.

+++

Sehun woke up to find a heavy weight against his shoulder.

He turned cautiously to see Hye Jin resting against him and noticed the tear streaks on her cheeks. He felt that pang in his chest again. He will that feeling to go away. Why was it that despite everything that was happening to him, despite knowing that it was all her fault, he just couldn’t leave her alone?

But this wasn’t a new feeling. Isn’t that why he found himself almost obsessively fixated on her even when he was bullying her?

He tried to get rid of the pins-and-needles sensation in his shoulder without waking her but just the slightest movement cause her to spring back, eyes flying open.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep like that,’ she said quickly, moving as far from him as possible while remaining in her seat.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ he replied.

She wanted to say something, he knew it – but instead she closed her eyes, shutting him out. He waited for a message to come into his mind – but she didn’t do that either.

There was something almost defeatist in her stance as she turned away from him, and he felt a sense of panic that she was just giving up on him. Another conflicting emotion to add to his collection.

Hye Jin…

He felt her stiffen beside him, but her eyes stayed closed. He didn’t think she was going to reply when she said, Yes?

What exactly did he want to say to her? Something about the issues that had come between them these past few weeks? Did he want to reminisce about the few good weeks where they were acting like a stupid couple? Despite initiating this, he didn’t know what the right thing to say was.

I’m hungry.

Hye Jin laughed out loud while her eyes were shut, drawing some “Crazy woman!” stares from other passengers. Sehun looked at them apologetically while he waited for Hye Jin to open her eyes. There was humour in them when she finally met his gaze.

‘Even being a vampire doesn’t affect your appetite, huh?’ she whispered.

Vampires didn’t eat much compared to humans. Their metabolism was at a sustained slow rate because they didn’t need much energy to do everything that they could do. Sehun didn’t actually think that Hye Jin believed he was hungry, but she got up anyway and stretched.

As her sweatshirt rode up, he caught a glimpse of the purple t-shirt underneath. It triggered a memory of the first time he’d arrived at her apartment to “protect” her. He wondered how much of everything that had happened between them was a set up.

With that single thought, his mood darkened.

 ‘Okay, I’ll buy something from the next cart over,’ she announced quickly, as if sensing this change, ‘what do you want?’

‘I don’t care.’ Although he didn’t want to, he felt himself closing off from her again.

+++

They arrived in Joam-ri just before sunset. Having travelled most of the day, had they been humans (not that Hye Jin could remember much about that) they would’ve been dead tired. Instead though, they were both just itching to go.

‘Where are we going first?’ Sehun asked.

Hye Jin looked at him in surprise that he thought there was any other option, ‘We’ll go to your family first, of course.’

Sehun nodded gratefully at her answer. She could sense the relief in him but also the desperation to see for himself that his family was okay. When they arrived at his house, which was the most unassuming country home one could find, Hye Jin was glad that the lights were on inside and there didn’t look to be anything out of place.

‘It’s big, huh?’

Sehun nodded, ‘It’s our family home, passed down through the generations. My mother was a Seoul woman who came here for vacation work – she fell in love with my father who was just a simple farmer’s son.’

Hye Jin smiled, ‘that’s a great story.’

They walked up the steps and Sehun just pushed the door open, ‘We don’t usually lock the doors in the country-side because all the neighbours know each other,’ he explained.

They could hear laughter in the other room and Sehun lead them through, ‘Mum, dad, Sera-yah!’ he called out, ‘I’m home!!’

Hye Jin heard the pure happiness in his voice and was a little jealous and a little sad at the same time. Jealous because she could still remember when she used to make the same call when she got home to her parents – days that were long gone – but sad that Sehun was not the same son that had left.

‘Oppa!!! We're in here – Kai-oppa is here too!’ a young girl’s voice called out.

Sehun and Hye Jin looked at each other in surprise but sure enough, when they finally got into the kitchen, they saw Kai sitting at the breakfast table with a man she assumed to be Sehun’s dad and a gorgeous little girl, while a woman she assumed to be Sehun’s mum was behind the kitchen bench, preparing dinner.

‘Mum,’ Sehun ran across to his mum and swept her up into a big hug. The other woman laughed as she embraced her son, ‘Who is this handsome young man? You hardly have time to come down these days I don't even remember what you look like,’ she scolded him.

The little girl ran towards him too, pulling on his shirt, ‘Oppa!!!’ she complained cutely, ‘me too, I want a hug too!!’

Sehun grabbed her next and swung her around in the air, causing her to break out into uncontrollable giggles. When he put her down, he shook his father’s hand – despite being much more restrained, still obviously filled with affection. And then he turned to Kai and grabbed him into a hug.

‘Kai, I haven’t seen you in so long.’

Hye Jin watched this all unfold a little awkwardly, just standing there while his mother – who was first to be freed from the excitement -- was eyeing her with a mischievous smile on her face.

‘Omo, what’s this! Did you bring a girlfriend?’ she teased Sehun.

Hye Jin wished she’d brushed her hair or something (a rare girly moment), but she quickly shook her head, ‘I’m Han Hye Jin. I’m just a friend,’ my God, even that was a lie, ‘of Kai’s.’ She added.

She shook both parents’ hands and even little Sera’s, who was still looking at her suspiciously, ‘Are you sure you’re not Sehun-oppa’s girlfriend? He does send me Line messages you know – and you look like his girlfriend.’

Before Sera could pull out her phone as proof, Sehun stopped her, ‘Okay, that’s enough – don’t you have homework to do?’

Sera scoffed, ‘As if!’

Hye Jin turned her attention to Kai and gestured for the hallway so that they could talk. She wanted to know the progress report of Boss and the other Hunters after they’d left. But for some reason he was ignoring her subtle hints and continued to sit at the table.

‘Kai, how did you beat us here – you should’ve at least been on the same train as us,’ Hye Jin finally asked.

‘I arrived early this morning,’ he said.

‘Oh? But – we were on the first train this morning.’

‘No, I left around 2-3am.’

Hye Jin still couldn’t do the computations, ‘But –‘

‘Han Hye Jin, I didn’t think I’d have to spell it out for you – you didn’t seem this stupid before,’ he laughed, and Hye Jin froze. Kai’s tone of voice was perfectly pleasant and even melodious. But he’d just called her stupid right? What the heck was going on??

‘Maybe you should spell it out,’ Sehun said quietly, and when Hye Jin looked to him he’d already gathered his mother and little sister to stand behind him in the kitchen.

‘Maybe,’ Kai mimicked, ‘I should just introduce my girlfriend.’

Hye Jin’s eyes widened in alarm, surely he wasn’t going to say that she was his girlfriend.

‘—Ri-ah.’

And sure enough, Ri-ah came around the corner.

What?

Hold on, what?

A/N: Excitement!! Please comment or someting to indicate that you're reading up to this point? Lol. Pretty please? We're nearly at the end, our time together is drawing to a close. Let me meet you hehe. xkei