4. Purple

‘Twice?’ Hye Jin whispered.

‘Yeah… I was saved before they could give me the third bite.’

This changed things. This changed everything.

+++

Still frozen, Hye Jin did the mental calculation. It wasn’t adding up and she didn’t want to foolishly believe that he could have been that lucky. 

But when she stopped and thought about it…Kai would have had a way harder time trying to get a new vampire to acclimatise enough to be allowed in public than the two weeks that passed… 

AND Sehun was acting incredibly normal (less the bullying) even though admittedly there was still 10 days until the next full moon where blood lust hit new vampires harder than their more experienced counterparts…

He stood there, still with his shirt up, and Hye Jin found herself trying not to be distracted by his well-formed abs.

‘Hye Jin?’ he asked, prompting her back to present and unfortunately fixing his shirt back into place.

Without any warning, her knees buckled and she slumped gracefully onto the ground.

‘Hye Jin!’ Sehun rushed towards her and grabbed her by the arms and shook her lightly, ‘are you okay? What’s wrong?’

She looked up at him, with her best attempt at cuteness and furrowed her eyebrows, ‘Vampires… you’re joking, right? Don’t scare me like that!’

Hye Jin nearly gagged at the fluff that was coming out of , but Sehun seemed to think it was a natural reaction and he pulled her close, until her cheek was pressed against his chest where she—for the first time—got confirmation of his quickly beating heart.

He was alive.

And it strengthened her resolve; she was going to make sure to keep it that way.

‘I’m sorry to scare you, but I won’t let anything happen to you – you just have to stick with me,’ he muttered, gripping her tightly.

Ah crap, Hye Jin swore, what does a damsel in distress say at a time like this? She tried to think back to her Korean dramas but that didn’t help her. She only ever watched the ones with strong female lead characters.

Come on Hye Jin… Pretend to be a fan girl… Anything…

‘Please don’t leave me,’ she whispered. Yuck. 

‘I won’t!’ he promised, ‘ until we can get to the bottom of this I won’t leave you.’

He held for a little longer, and she was once again being distracted by his warm male body -- what sorcery was this?!? ‘You’re cold! Come on, sitting on the floor won’t do any good. Let’s go to your place and grab some of your things,’ he said, helping her up to her feet.

‘Okay,’ she said weakly, allowing  him to take her by the hand and pull her along. 

When the doors opened and the obviously curious students turn to stare at them, instinct caused Hye Jin to pull her hand away from his. Sehun looked like he was going to let it go, but at the last moment reached out for her hand again, pulling her forward to squeals and excited whispers from the students.

‘Hey, let go!’ she tried to shake him off.

‘No! Just get used to it,’ he looked her up and down, ‘you’re with me now and I’m going to take care of you. And the sooner the message gets to those who are trying to harm you, the better.’

Wow. He was cool.

Hye Jin conceded that this was probably why he had fans. He knew how to act the hero.  Hopefully it would make it easier for her to play the heroine.

+++

Sehun didn’t know what he expected from Hye Jin’s apartment but it looked so… normal. Too normal for the anti-social, acerbic-tongued, emotionless girl that he knew. 

He expected all blacks and whites, maybe reds or greys… but not purples. And there was a LOT of purple.

‘So you’re a girl too,’ he commented.

She glared at him and for the first time he noticed the jumper she was wearing – purple—and he found himself trying to supress a smile, ‘you picking a fight again?’ 

He laughed, and was glad she seemed to regain a bit of the bite (no pun intended) that she usually had when speaking to him. He was worried when she suddenly lost colour and strength earlier.

‘No I’m not,’ he walked around her tiny one bedroom, living room, bathroom apartment and noticed a complete lack of knick-knacks and photos that he knew to be common to girls’ rooms… because he wasn’t going to lie—he’d been in a few of them…

Then he saw the bookshelf dedicated solely to martial arts, with her kendo gear neatly on one side and a katana – presumably for iaido – resting on a display stand.

Come to think of it, this apartment was exactly suited to her.

‘Do you have a lot that you want to take with you?’ he asked, plopping down onto her bed without asking. He reasoned that  it was the only thing he could sit on besides the floor and that was too cold for him.

‘There’s a problem with that,’ she replied and he noticed she was trying to resist telling him off for being rude and lying on her bed, ‘I don’t think I can sleep in a bed that’s not my own.’

Sehun looked at her in disbelief. Vampires were after her and she wanted to stay in danger for a bed? He looked around him to try and figure out what was so special about it, ‘Is it your bed sheets? Because we can take your purple sheets, you know.’

Hye Jin shook her head, ‘no, you couldn’t possibly understand a girl’s comfort…’

Sehun flung himself backwards on the bed and snuggled into it, grabbing the furry purple body pillow next to him and closing his eyes.

+++

Hye Jin stared in disbelief at the surreal image  of having her mortal enemy lying in her bed, hugging the pillow she hugged every night. And yet he look so ‘at home’ and… jumpable. That probably wasn’t a word, but she would use it anyway.

Get a grip please, she berated herself. Of course the reason for staying was not the bed itself but what was under it. It would be difficult to bring her weapons, including a silver bullet gun and her silver katana, that were currently stored under her bed.

They would have to stay here.

In her space. In her sanctuary.

She must be crazy.

‘You’re right!!!’ he suddenly spoke, scaring the crap out of her with the idea that he’d read her mind, ‘This IS nice!! Let’s stay here then!’

Great. 

A/N: Thanks once more for your awesome support everyone! I loved your comments and they spur me on! Let’s head to the end of December together! Because if I don’t finish by the 31st of Dec then this story will need to change to be about 20 chapters long and I’m not sure I have enough plot to get there! But if you have thoughts about it, please share them :)