The first time it happened was during one of her nights off.

Every now and then, the Blue Cosmos would spend an evening doing inventory, or get booked by a private company with their own entertainment group in tow. During those evenings, Hyejin got the night off, and while everyone else in Room 1031 was asleep, she usually had the entire downstairs to herself. On the whole, she didn’t really mind. By now, she’s lived in Seoul long enough to have gotten used to  quiet nights by herself.

Still, there were nights when she feels lonely and homesick. Nights like tonight.

It’s a little past 2am when Hyejin plopped down on the sofa and contemplated starting the new season of a Western show she’d been following. Her hand hovered over the remote but she didn't move to pick it up. There’s the familiar hollow feeling in her chest, the one that made Hyejin feel both restless and helpless at the same time. Like a mechanical toy wound up too tight but then left to run on it’s own. 

At times like this, Hyejin found herself missing her past human life. With all her years as a vampire behind her, she can barely recall her human memories now. Grains of sand slipping away from her with each passing year. Sometimes, on lonely nights like this, she tried to remember the years before she was turned. The flashes of memories she can recall are hazy, like reflections on a river. Her as a child, running up a hill. A grandmother running a calming hand up and down her back to help her sleep. How her father carried her on his back after she grazed her knee.

The thought that one day, even these fragments would be forgotten too always made her sad. Before she could help it, a familiar lump lodged itself between the blurry echoes of her past and the bittersweet ache in her heart, closing up and bringing tears to her eyes.

It was at this point that the door to Byul and Yong’s room opened and the angel ambled slowly down the stairs, wings rumpled but still ethereal in the darkness of the apartment.

“What are you doing up?” Hyejin asked, wincing at how thick and watery her own voice sounded. She grabbed one of the throw pillows on the sofa and buried her face into it, letting the rough fabric soak up her tears. Yongsun didn’t make a sound.

Finally, Hyejin felt the sofa give way beside her, and the familiar brush of feathers against her arm was both cool and soothing. Again, she waited for Yong to say something, instead they just sat in companionable silence. Eventually she felt some of her own embarrassment fade just enough for her to lower the pillow. Beside her, Yongsun gave her a small smile before reaching out a hand and placing it on Hyejin’s shoulder.

“How about we go on a drive?”

She stared after the angel in shock, her brain trying to process the words. Finally--

“We have a car?”

It turns out they did have a car, or rather, Byul and Yong shared one, and it was parked in the building’s basement.

“If we have this, why does Byulie-unnie always commute to work?” Hyejin wondered aloud. To which, Yongsun just laughed. 

“If she commutes to jobs, she can hike up her rate by adding a transportation fee, and the magazine editors always feel bad seeing her lug around her cameras so they don’t question it.” Yong said with a laugh. Before they left the apartment, Yong had grabbed one of the jackets hanging at the hyeon gwan and thrown it on over her matching floral pajama set, looking for all the world like she really had just rolled out of bed.

The angel fished out a set of keys from her pocket and tossed them to Hyejin. She caught them out of reflex but stared at them in surprise.

“Oh,” Yong said, looking sheepish. “Do you not know how to drive?”

Hyejin contemplated the keys in her hand. “One of my past coven members taught me once, but I’ve been out of practice.”

“Well,” Yong said, opening the passenger side door and gracefully folding herself and her wings inside the car, “No time like the present right?”

“I don’t have an active license though,” Hyejin said, after she had clambered in herself. It wasn’t lost on her that she was also, essentially in nothing but sleepwear.

Yongsun shrugged, her grin turning mischievous, “I’m sure Byul will bail us out of prison if it comes to that.”

“Unnie!”

The angel’s laugh was infectious, high pitched and squealing, but endearing all the same. “Just kidding. Just try a few laps around the parking lot, and if you’re comfortable, we’ll do once around the apartment building.”

“But--”

“Don’t worry, it’s practically three in the morning! As long you take it nice and slow, we should be able to fly under the radar.”

Hyejin stared at her roommate, unused to this more carefree side of her. Now that she really thought about it, it was rare that she got to spend one on one time with Yongsun. Whenever she had free time that coincided with her roommates, it was usually with Byul or Wheein. If Yongsun was in the picture, it was because all four of them were having breakfast together in their shared dining room, or Byul had dragged the angel out to support Hyejin at the Blue Cosmos. 

“Are you sure you’re an angel?” Hyejin asked, teasingly, reaching over to poke at Yong’s halo. The angel laughed, swatting away at her fingers good naturedly.

“Being an angel isn’t synonymous with being a prude, despite popular belief.” Yongsun replied, easily, “And I have my license with me, so like I said, just take it slow and let’s practice around the parking lot for a few minutes.”

They spent the rest of the evening laughing, with Hyejin carefully driving circles around their building’s mostly empty parking basement. After about forty-five minutes of that, Yong carefully instructed her how to exit the parking basement and drive out into the quiet streets of Seoul. Blessedly enough there really weren’t any cars around save for the odd taxi every now and then. Hyejin managed to drive once around the block before she drove back into the basement, carefully maneuvering into the parking space from earlier.

Beside her, Yong was clapping and cheering. “You did it! You’ll be driving circles around the general public in no time.”

Hyejin laughed, drumming her fingers along the steering wheel as she savored the adrenaline simmering just under her skin. She turned the smile to Yongsun and gave the angel a pat on the shoulder. “Thank you, Unnie.”

Yong’s smile turned understanding now, she leaned back into the car seat, eyes closed. “I know we’re not as close as you and the other two are. I sort of hoped this would make it a bit easier in the future.”

“The future?”

Yong nodded, “The future. If you ever want to talk, you can come to me, okay Hyejin-ah?”

Hyejin ducked her head, a smile turning up her cheeks. “Okay.”

--

The next time around, she wasn’t even all that sad. It was a few months later, and Hyejin was halfway through watching a new tearjerker drama when she heard Yong and Byul’s door open again. 

Yong caught her eye and smiled before retreating back into her room for a few seconds to grab the car keys. 

This time around, Hyejin felt a little more confident to take the streets after only three laps around the basement.

“You’ve improved!” Yong said, the picture of ease and trust in the passenger’s seat, “have you been practicing since last time.”

Hyejin chuckled as she slowly made a right turn into the adjacent block from theirs, “Like riding a bike, right?”

It was still slow movings, and she still tensed behind the wheel anytime another car so much as shared a lane with her, but the excitement of driving wasn’t lost on Hyejin. The feeling of freedom that came with it and the fact that she could let go of her thoughts and just focus on the drive was relaxing in its own way. 

After they had been driving around for a while, Yong carefully instructed her to turn into a different road that lead away from their apartment. 

“Unnie are you sure?”

“It’s just a few minutes away, and we wont pass any busy intersections.” The angel replied, every bit as confident as Hyejin didn’t feel. Their destination, when they reached it, turned out to be an all-night diner, tucked in an alley between a closed laundromat and a dental office. 

“What is this place?” Hyejin asked, craning her neck to see past Yongsun’s wings. The diner was open, with a few patrongs chatting amicably amongst themselves. 

“Byul and I have been eating their food for decades, back when this street used to have a string of diners just like this one. Now this family is the only one left.” Yong said, waving to an old couple behind the counter when they caught sight of them, “The owner now, we used to know him when he was nothing more than a toddler, Now he’s teaching his oldest daughter to take on the business. She handles the kitchen at night when she comes home from University.”

“Come on,” Yong said, her smile kind, “I’ll introduce you.”

As much as the diner looked homey and inviting from the outside, it smelled even better inside.  Like warm jjigae, fried potato cakes, and garlic beef. 

“Yongsun-ssi!” A matronly woman behind the counter greeted, waving happily. “It’s been too long!”

“You didn’t bring your shadow with you,” An older gentleman teased as he set out a bowl of ramyun in front of a tired looking business woman who was also nursing a bottle of soju.

“Asleep I’m afraid,” Yong answered, “but this is my friend Ahn Hyejin! She’s just moved to Seoul this past year. Hyejin, this is Lee Jung-hoon and Lee Hye-mi, and this is the best diner in Seoul.”

“Any friend of our guardian angel’s is welcome here!” Hye-mi said, motioning towards an empty table, “will you be joining us?”

“Not tonight I’m afraid,” Yongsun said, bowing, “But I was hoping we could have some of your delicious tteokbokki to go?”

“Of course!” Hye-mi opened a sliding window behind her and stuck her head in what could only be the kitchen.

“Here, on the house!” Jung-hoon said, offering them a plate of freshly rolled kimbap, “While you wait!”

Yongsun accepted with a bow, and smile brighter than the sun. The angel pushed the plate and a cup of freshly cleaned chopsticks toward Hyejin. 

“It may not taste exactly as how my mother used to make,” Jung-hoon said, setting down a small dish of soy sauce between them, his tone apologetic, “but my daughter is learning.”

“Innovating!” A shrill female voice from the kitchen said. The couple laughed, and Yongsun along with them. Hyejin stayed quiet but she smiled, helping herself to a bite of the kimbap. She felt the familiar ache from before, more acute than she could ever remember. She didn’t trust herself to speak so she chewed in silence, swallowing past the lump in .

“The world changes all the time you know.” Yong said, her expression flashing with something older and wiser than Hyejin could even comprehend. 

“Like this family’s kimbap. Lee Jung-hoon thinks he used to make it just like his mother did, but even his tasted different when he made them in his prime. Now his daughter is making the kimbap her own way, and maybe a decade from now, she wont even remember how her grandma’s kimbap tasted. But the little details aren’t what’s important right? A decade from now, this diner will still be here, and that lasting thing is what matters right?”

When Hyejin looked up at Yongsun, she could feel the sting behind her eyes and the tears forming there. “I just.” She began, her voice already cracking, “I don’t want to forget them.”

Yongsun put an arm around her. Hyejiin took a few shaky breaths to steady herself, furiously wiping away at the tears as discreetly as she could. 

“As long as you’re around, there will always be someone to remember your family. Now that you’re a vampire you’ll be around forever right? So will your family.”

Hyejin gave a watery laugh, blinking away the last of her tears and turning to give Yongsun a tight hug. “Thank you Unnie.”

Yongsun hugged her back, running a hand up and down her spine in the way that she could remember her own grandmother doing years and years ago. “What are angels for, right?”

After they had gotten their tteokbokki, and after Yongsun spent five extra minutes being doted on by Mr. and Mrs. Lee and promising them that she would come back within the week with the rest of her roommates in tow, they were back on the road, with Hyejin behind the wheel and Yongsun reverently inhaling at the plastic bag of tteokbokki.

“You’re really crazy about that stuff, huh?” she asked, turning into the road that would lead to their apartment building. It was still dark out, but she could feel in her bones that dawn wasn’t too far off now. 

“I could eat tteokbokki for a lifetime and still not get tired of it,” Yong replied, all too serious.

When they were finally back at the parking basement, Hyejin leant back and smiled at Yong, suddenly all too grateful to be able to call the angel her friend. 

“So when’s our next driving lesson?” Yong said, her smile teasing but her tone was soft and fond.

“Ah,” Hyejin stretched out her arms once she had climbed out of the car. Her voice echoed in the basement, “I’m not sure if the club is going to be rented out any time soon, but the next inventory date is next month.”

Yongsun nodded, already walking toward the elevator that would lead to their floor, “Great! Maybe next time we practice on an actual highway, yes?”

“On the third lesson?”

“I have every faith in you, Ahn Hyejin.” Yong said, “You’ll get through it.”

Hyejn wasn’t sure if Yong was still talking about driving, or something else entirely. For the moment though, it didn’t matter because Yongsun was right. One day, she would be able to successfully navigate a highway full of cars, and maybe one day her human memories would fade entirely as well. But the feelings she would carry always, and that was what mattered.

She’ll get through it.