*Youngjae's POV*

The next morning the two of us got up, changed, and ate some of the food we packed for breakfast and then we went off into the streets. I stayed close to Daehyun as we wandered around. The streets were much more crowded than last night.

There was a whole bunch of stuff to do! It was overwhelming! “Remember, you don’t have to do everything today. We have a whole week.” Daehyun reminded me, seeing as I was indecisive in what we should do first. His advice/reminder actually helped, I was less flustered and took my time…and I ended up enjoying myself a lot, especially with Daehyun by my side.

“Oooh! Look! There’s face painting!” I said, dragging Daehyun along not waiting for a response from the vampire. “Hello~…” the colorful lady greeted us with a warm smile as we sat down on the stools across from her.

“What would you two like your faces to be painted?” She asked. I thought for a bit, not really knowing what I wanted. “Mm, what do you want?” I decided to ask Daehyun, who only shrugged.

“Uh, surprise us!” I finally said. The lady smiled and nodded. “My name is Lola by the way.” She said holding out her hand for a handshake. “I’m Youngjae. Nice to meet you.” I said shaking her slender hand. She chuckled a little. Daehyun looked at me with stern eyes.

“You must not get out much.” She said. “Huh?” I said confused by her statement. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get my twin sister Chiku, to work on your friend’s face.” And with that Lola left us.

“What did she mean by that? And how come you looked at me like that?” I quizzed Daehyun once the lady was gone. Daehyun just sighed. “I guess it’s my fault for not telling you beforehand. It slipped my mind.” “What?” I said still lost.

“You’re not supposed to give out your name to just anyone, especially in a place like this.” Daehyun explained. “But, she gave me hers.” I said. “Business owners usually give out names for customers to call them by, but it’s never their real name.” He answered. “Why is it bad to give out our names?” I asked curiously. He shrugged, “Because, the world isn’t safe anymore…it’s a dangerous place.”

I looked down at the ground, his words were all too familiar. “My father always says that. I never truly believed him though. I wanted to see for myself.” I sighed. Daehyun nodded. “Sometimes seeing things for yourself isn’t good. You just have to trust those who care for and love you. But…he is right. It looks fun and happy now, but things aren’t always what they seem. Trust me. I’ve traveled a lot.” He said. I smiled slightly, nodding a little. “But that doesn’t mean you should lock yourself up or anyone else.” He smiled back at me.

Seconds later Lola and her twin sister came back out and did our faces. It took them a solid 15 minutes to finish our faces. I looked over at Daehyun and busted out laughing when I saw his face. “What?” he asked pouting slightly, making him look even funnier. “Your face is painted like a bunny rabbit.” I couldn’t stop laughing. “What?” Chiku handed him a mirror for him to see for himself.

He stared at himself, carefully touching his face. “I look like Poppy!” He announced, making me laugh even harder. “What are you laughing at? You’re the one that looks like a Chipmunk.” He said. “Nuh uh.” I said. He was right. I just sat there, but then the two of us bursted into laughter. “I think you look adorable.” Chiku complimented. We stopped laughing, seeing that we were holding up their business. There was a line of people waiting to get their face painted as well. “We’re sorry.” I immediately apologized.

The two women just chuckled. “Don’t be. It’s completely fine. It’s nice to see people appreciate our work, and we are happy because of it.” Lola assured us. “Oh! Here you go.” Daehyun said handing Lola 5 silver coins. I was about to protest but he beat me to speaking first. “Eh. Before you say anything, I saved this up just for this trip. So don’t even try to argue.” He said. All I could do was sigh and frown. “Haha, you really do look like a chipmunk when your cheeks droop like that.” He chuckled. “You two are really cute, are you brothers?” Chiku asked.

The two of us quickly shook our heads. “We’re just two…really, really, really close people.” Daehyun winked. A huge smile came across Lola’s face, understanding what he was saying. I blushed in embarrassment.

“Wait! I don’t understand.” Chiku said to her sister, who sighed. “I’ll explain to you later. You two have a nice day.” Lola waved as we walked away. “You too. And thank you!” Daehyun waved back, and we returned to our wandering.

“You should puff up your cheeks.” I told him. “Why?” He asked. “Please~, you know why.” I pleaded. “Aish~…Youngjae.” He cracked a smile, then he puffed his cheeks. I couldn’t help but laugh. He did look almost like a bunny. “If I can somehow get a long-lasting picture of this.” I said calming my laughter. “Your wish is my command.” He said suddenly pulling me into a secluded corner.

“Daehyun wha-,” “Hold on stay here.” He said and popped a mint in his mouth. A light blue cloud covered him completely, and he was gone by the time the smoke fated. I stood there for a few minutes, waiting for him. Where did he go?

The longer I waited, the antsier I became. Daehyun’s and my father’s words replayed in my mind. ‘The world is a dangerous place’. Not even a few seconds after that, Daehyun appeared making me jump.

“What’s that?’ I asked, seeing a rectangular silver thing in his hand. “A camera.” He answered. “A camera? That’s too small to be a camera.” I said, looking at him as if he were crazy.

“It’s a future camera.” He clarified. I made an ‘O’ shape with my mouth in understanding. But it’s still so small! “I didn’t get a fancy one. I just got the cheap disposable one.” He shrugged. “Come one let’s take some selfies!” He sang.

“Selfie?” I repeated not understanding the strange word that came from his mouth. He ignored me and pulled me closer to him and took pictures of the two of us. Then he took one of me. I took one of him as well, but with much struggle…it’s more complicated than it looks.

“Okay! I’ll be right back.” He said slipping another mint in his mouth and vanished for a second time. I sighed and waited for him. I waited a little longer this time, but thankfully it wasn’t too long.

“Tada~!” Daehyun sang when he came back and revealed a small rectangular notebook thing, but when he flipped through it our pictures were in there. “Wow! That’s so cool!” I said, the pictures were so clear and looked real! “Haha, yeah. There are 8 pictures in it. It’s a mini photo album. I got two, one for me and one for you.” He said handing me the tiny album. “Wow Thank you!” I said truly grateful.

“No need to thank me. Like I said, your wish is my command. Now to continue our trek of fun. Come on my little chipmunk.” Daehyun held out his arm. I shook my head pushing his arm away and ran into the streets. “Yah! What are you doing?!” He called chasing after me.

Even though I was having tons of fun, as the day progressed I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. I began to notice a few people look at me and just stare until I was out of sight. Some stared at Daehyun with jealous eyes or just nodded at him. Daehyun’s expression had become serious as well.

Even as we were playing games he seemed out of it and kept looking around. He even washed the paint off his face and made me wash mine off as well. The sudden change of behavior made me feel more nervous.

“Are you hungry?” he asked me after he heard my stomach growl. “Um…yeah, just a bit.” I said. “Okay, let’s eat then.” He said. Without waiting for my response he pulled my wrist and dragged me into a nearby small ramen shop.

“What’s going on?” I finally asked him once we received our food. “You’re starting to act strange now.” I told him. Daehyun looked around and spoke in a quiet tone. “There are a lot of vampires out. Most of them are hungry and the others are on the verge of becoming ferals. Good thing there aren’t any ferals out now. They usually come out at night.” He explained. “Ooh~, so that’s why they were looking at me.” I thought out loud, more to myself. Daehyun nodded. “Wait. So why were they staring at you?” I questioned.

“Some were jealous because they thought I had tricked you into hanging out with me to feed on you later.” Daehyun shrugged. Nonchalantly. “Oh…” was all I could say. That didn’t really make me feel any more comfortable, it sounded more weird.

“We’ll probably have to go back to the motel after this. The sun is beginning to set anyway.” He said. I nodded, my mouth stuffed with noodles, they were delicious! I couldn’t stop eating them. Daehyun noticed this and chuckled. “Youngjae, you’re too cute.” He said. I blushed at the compliment and looked down at my now empty bowl. “Wow you sure ate that fast.” Someone commented.

I looked up to see one of the waiters standing by our table. He was a tall slender young man. He looked about in his early 20s and had neatly cut red hair and blazing green eyes that could put you in a Trans if you stared long enough in them. “Uh…um yeah. They were amazing! The best noodles I’ve ever had.” I complimented.

The guy smiled happily. “I’m glad to hear that. My grandmother made them. She’s about 87 now.” He said. The guy seemed really friendly. However I could tell that Daehyun didn’t seem to think so as he narrowed his eyes at him. “Wow~, 87 and she works here?” I said surprised. The waiter nodded. “Yeah, she owns the place. She loves cooking food to make people happy.” He said, though he looked sad.

“But she hasn’t been shown much gratitude by her customers. So she doesn’t get too see how happy they really are about her food. She’s thinking about just giving up. It hurts her.” He spoke sadly. I couldn’t help but feel bad. “I can thank her. She needs to know how good her noodles are…at least.” I offered.

The guy’s face brightened cheerfully. “Really?” He asked. I nodded, “Of course.” “Awesome! But you’ll have to come back into the kitchen, she can’t come out. Her walking isn’t well. I’ll take you there.” He said.

I sat there hesitantly and looked at Daehyun then back at the stranger. “Um, I don’t think I can do that.” I said. “Awe~ Come on! You just said that you’d thank her.” He pouted. “I know. You can tell her for me.” I suggested. “She’ll just think I’m making it up.” He pouted even more. “I’ll write her a letter then! Um Dae do you have any paper?” I asked. Just then the grabbed my wrist.

I looked at him with surprise. His grip was tight. “It’ll be better if you say it in person. Come on, it won’t be long. Imagine the smile on her face.” He no longer looked as friendly as he had before. His eyes were hungry and I could see the tips of his fangs. “I’ll pass…please let-let go.” I said trying to pull away but his grip was too strong. “Come on~ He said yanking me out of my seat. At that moment Daehyun jumped up.

He stood up to his feet just as fast as I was yanked to mine, and grabbed the guy’s wrist that belonged to the hand that was squeezing mine. “He said, he’d pass.” Daehyun growled, his irises now red. The guy narrowed his eyes at him and growled back. “Let go of him…now.” Daehyun’s voice was deep and it kind of scared me…I’ve never seen him like this.

The guy didn’t listen and my wrist was beginning to hurt. “You wouldn’t want to start anything in broad daylight now, would you?” Daehyun’s voice was even deeper. The guy growled a last time and reluctantly let go of my wrist shoving me into Daehyun and walked awa