“It’s like six in the morning, nothing is open.”

                Tao laughed, “Oh Yixing. There are some very diligent people in this world, who rise even before the sun.” He shrugged, “Look this has to do with your….abstract lifestyle okay? I found someone that you need to talk to, so go shower, and dress nicely.”

                Lay narrowed his eyebrows, “I always dress nicely.”

                The elder vampire shrugged, “I’m just making sure you don’t walk out in pajamas or something, Yixing. Dress to impress.”

                “So who are we going to meet anyways, Tao?” Lay asked looking around the busy street they were walking down. It was full of students going to class, all clearly used to being up at this hour.

                “I told you, someone who’s been pledged before.” Tao answered nonchalantly yawning himself, “Argh, I should’ve packed myself something to eat.”

                “I thought we couldn’t eat human food?”

                “You can’t, because you haven’t been feeding yourself properly. In terms of a human diet, you’ve been living off of vitamins and water.” Tao answered, “But once your diet is settled, you’ll be able to keep eating. For appearances and such, also human food does taste good sometimes.”

                Lay shrugged, unwilling to press the issue further. He continued following Tao’s lead, and zoned out a bit not noticing where they were going until he looked up to find themselves right in front of a high school. He looked at Tao and raised an eyebrow, “What are we doing here?”

                “She works here. C’mon.”

                Tao had said the words so casually that Lay didn’t even have the chance to argue. Instead, he had to ignore the glances of curious students as the two males walked into the building with the rest of the students. It was weird for Lay. Even if he hadn’t gone to high school in Korea, the experience of walking back into a school was odd to him. It had felt like an eternity since he had been to a school, and the nostalgia made him hyper-aware of just how much he didn’t belong here.

                On the other hand, Tao was either extremely confident that no one would stop them, or completely oblivious to the fact that they were trespassing. He simply sauntered around without a care, even daring to smile at some of the third years, in sharp contrast to Lay, who kept his eyes faced forward and refused to meet anyone in  the eye. He didn’t avoid the students glances, but he didn’t try to meet them either. Unlike Tao, Lay just wanted to disappear in this crowd.

                Before Lay knew it, he found himself on the fourth floor of the building, right in front of the music room. He gave Tao a curious look and the older smiled at him and nudged his head to the door, “Listen.”

                Obediently, Lay turned his ears towards the room and emanating from it was a soft piano melody. It was a bit melancholy and slow, but beautiful at the same time. “They’re really good.”

                “Yes, she is.” As he spoke a soft smile graced Tao’s lips, and Lay was somewhat taken aback. Usually, Tao’s smiles were always smirks, pulled to one side, and mysterious as if he was hiding something, but this smile was gentler, and purer. Different. Tao motioned for the both of them to come inside as he pulled the door open.

                Lay wasn’t really surprised to see a young woman playing the piano, but his senses immediately told him that she was like him: Her skin was a slight shade too pale, her hair too straight, and her movements a bit too fast. She turned to look at them and smiled, “Zitao! I’ve missed you.”

                The other vampire smiled widely, “Sorry Seohyun-Noona. I’ve been busy with council duties.” He went up to her and the two hugged tightly. “I brought someone though.”

                The girl looked at Lay curiously, and he immediately felt his posture straighten. If there were any way to describe her, it would be as a proper lady, Lay thought. She was very beautiful, but Lay noticed the way she carried herself more. He could tell she was a very gentle woman, but someone who could take charge if she needed to. Feeling her gaze linger Lay smiled politely and bowed low, “I’m Zhang Yixing, but you can just call me Lay.”

                “I’m Seohyun, nice to meet you Lay.” She turned to Tao, “One of the…”

                A look passed between them that Lay didn’t quite understand, but he got the sense that the two of them were close. “Yeah. I’m taking care of him. Actually, he needed to see you about something”

                Seohyun’s eyebrow’s lifted in question, “Oh? Is something wrong, Lay?”

                Lay gave Tao a surprised look before turning back to Seohyun, “No ma’am, I just followed Tao. I’m not quite sure why we’re here actually.”

                “Yixing here…is going to pledge.”

                The woman’s face lit up excitedly, “Yixing, you mean you were able to save them? Your first taste!?” Lay nodded shyly, and Seohyun came up to him and hugged him, “Oh that’s wonderful! I’m very proud of you, not many can do that.” She pulled back a bit and patted his head affectionately, “She must be very special.”

                Lay looked down and smiled to himself. Before he could answer, Tao spoke. “You know you’ve yet to introduce me to her, Yixing.” The boy laughed a bit, “Rude.”

                Involuntarily Lay’s eye’s rolled,  “To be fair, I haven’t seen her in awhile either.” He  told Tao before turning to Seohyun, “You….you’re pledged?” He asked curiously.

                Seohyun’s smiled softly, “Yes to Yonghwa, my husband.” She looked out the window smiling happily, “He’s my best friend...but never mind that, I’m sure you’re here because you have questions, yes?”

                “Yes, but Tao…never mentioned you before.”

                The said male shrugged, “I didn’t want to introduce you to Seohyun if it wasn’t necessary.”

                “Tao, you do know that I have classes to teach, correct?”

                “Of course. I just wanted to make sure you freed yourself up for this afternoon.” He replied. “And I’m not really sure where Yongwha is so…”

                “Huang Zitao! I’ve given you his phone number like twelve times, don’t tell me you’ve lost it again.” Seohyun scolded. Lay laughed at their exchange.

                “Well, I mean- I didn’t lose it, but if you’d like to refresh my memory per se…”

                Seohyun rolled her eyes and hastily wrote a number on a piece of paper.

“He has the day off today, so spend the day with him or something—“ The school bell interrupted her sentence and Seohyun began shooing the boys out of the room, “I’ll see you later okay Zitao? And Yixing, it was very nice meeting you!”

                With that the two male vampires were forcefully pushed out of the room and were kept from re-entry by the sudden influx of students into the music room. Once again, Tao nudged Lay and the latter followed obediently. Once they were back on the street, it was Lay’s turn to nudge Tao. “So, who was that?”

                “She told you her name. It’s Seohyun-noona.”  Tao stated simply, pulling out his phone and dialing the number on the post-it.

                “No,” Lay pushed, “I mean how do you two know each other?”

                “Oh.” Tao answered, finishing a text message. “I was...accidentally turned.” Lay could see the vampires eyes furrow as he tried to remember the details. “Seohyun found me in the alleyway the first night. I was crying because I had just killed someone and I didn’t know why…” Tao’s expression saddened, “That girl…I went to the service her family had for her. But anyways, she found me and took me under her wing I suppose. I lived with her and her husband for a bit, but after a while I thought the council could use my help, so I’m living on my own now.” He kicked a stray pebble in the street, “They’ve never forgotten me though, even after seven years...”

                “She seems very kind.” Lay commented, not really knowing what else to say.

                “She is, but also very diligent. You should see how she cleans.” Tao let out a frustrated sigh, “She’d yell at me or Yonghwa sooooo much whenever we’d joke around with each other instead of cleaning.”

                “Really?”

                “Yeah, her nostrils flare whenever she’s really angry. We used to make fun of her when she wasn’t home.”

                “Yonghwa sounds like a jokester.”

                Tao smiled, “He is, but I think that’s why they get along so well. She helps him focus, and he helps her let loose y’know? He’s pretty cool.” His eyes turned to a café in front of him, “You’ll see when you meet him.”

                “Meet him…?”

                “Yeah, we’re having breakfast with Yongwha.”