Soyoung hopped off the bus, her roommate Nan Hee trailing not too far behind. She half-listened as her friend negotiated with the owner of a local flower shop.

           “Sir, I'm only a college student. Don't you think you can lower the price a litttlllee bit more?” Soyoung chuckled, hearing the forced aegyo in Nan Hee's voice. She had to give it to Nan Hee. The girl knew how to get what she wanted.

           “Yah, Im Soyoung! Slow down!”

           Nan Hee sped up and bumped shoulders with Soyoung playfully. “I got it,” She giggled.

           “I don't think there was any doubt you would, Nan Hee,” Soyoung assured her.

           Nan Hee sighed, “You'll realize how difficult it is to plan a wedding soon,” she teased, “ and you'll be glad to have me for a friend, Soyoungie.”

           “Yes, I'll be extremely glad to have your wheeling and dealing skills on my side,” Soyoung retorted as the two friends laughed while entering their apartment complex.

           “Oh,” Nan Hee remembered, “Have you started looking for a new apartment yet?”

           Soyoung groaned, “Not really. It's the middle of semester, which means assignments non-stop.”

           “I'm sorry,” Nan Hee bit her lip, “I wish I could stay and help you with rent but-”

           “No no, don't be,” Soyoung refrained her friend, “I mean, I'd do the same thing if I was in your position. Getting married is expensive, for sure.”

           Nan Hee pulled out the keys as they reached their shared apartment. She fiddled with the lock and started talking over her shoulder to Soyoung, “If only Yura and Soon Mi didn't live in the dorms. I'm sure they'd be glad to take you in.”

           “We do have many classes together, so the extra homework help would have been great.” Soyoung shrugged, “I'll figure something out.”

           The two kicked off their shoes and went to their respective rooms. Soyoung flopped onto her bed and sighed in relief. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, wanting to call Lay to find out how he was doing. Usually it was hard for them to get together on weekdays with him working at night and her at school during the day. She entered his speed dial number and waited for him to pick up. Finally he did, on the third ring.

           “Hello?” he answered, sounding preoccupied.

           Soyoung stretched as she spoke, “Hey, oppa. Are you busy?”

           “Um, not really. I'm just replacing the front door knob,” Lay replied casually. Indeed he was squatted at the entrance of his apartment, door slightly ajar.

           “Why?” Soyoung questioned, furrowing her brows.

           “Oh, they were getting rusty. I kind of wanted to get it done before Luhan and Jongin get back”.

           It wasn't a total lie. The doorknob was indeed on the aged side and he had planned on getting around to it eventually. The fact that he had dented it the other day was just more motivation.

           “Ah, speaking of, when are they coming back?”

           “Hmm, I'm not really sure. They didn't give me any specific dates, really.” Lay replied, silently hoping that it would be after the whole vampire deal was sorted out.

           A comfortable silence followed when Lay suddenly remembered.

           “Oh, Kris told me that you came by the day before yesterday with food for me?” A smile played across his lips. Soyoung could hear it through the phone. She laughed.

           “Oh yeah, but you weren't there-”

           “So you gave it to him instead?”

           “Well yeah, It wasn't like I was going to let good food go to waste,” Soyoung reasoned.

           Lay faked a serious tone. “I don't know if I like that.”

           Soyoung chuckled, “Yah! Zhang Yixing, are you jealous?”

           “Of my boss?”, Lay scoffed, “Not in a million years.”

           “I wouldn't be either. He has to deal with dweebs like you on a daily basis,” Soyoung teased.

           Lay laughed out loud, “Dweebs? Really, babe? Who says that anymore?”

           He waited till her laughter died down before continuing, “How was your day?”

           The two resumed their playful banter when suddenly Lay felt a shadow overhead. He looked up from his squatting position to see who else but Tao standing there, a sly smile on his face.

           “Um, babe, I'm gonna have to go now.”

           Soyoung glanced at the clock, “Yeah, it's almost time for you to go to work, right?”

“Yeah,” Something like that, “I'll talk to you later.”

           Lay rose, brushing his hands on the front of his pants. He wasn't really surprised that the older was there and figured it was pointless to question Tao as to how he found his apartment.

           “So, are you gonna let me in, or?”Tao smirked. Without waiting for Lay to consent, he walked in and handed a plastic bag to him.

           Lay held the bag up, eyeing it suspiciously. “What's this?”

           Tao looked around the apartment while replying, “Some donations I got this morning. It's quite fresh so I would drink it soon if I were you.”

           “You mean..”

           Tao turned his full attention to Lay. “Yes, blood. It's blood, Yixing. You can't go on eating raw meat forever.”

           “I know,” Lay muttered, walking to the fridge to store the liquid. It's smell invaded his nostrils. It smelled sickeningly sweet and syrupy. Soyoung's hadn't smelled that way. Hers was the perfect combination of spice and honey and it drove him near mad. He shook his head, driving the thoughts away and turned from the fridge to see Tao leaning with his elbows rested on the counter in front of him.

           “So...”, Lay drew out his words, not really knowing where he was going with his words, “Is there something you wanted to say to me, or?”

           Tao sharply exhaled, pushing himself off the counter. “I think it would be good for you to come to the council meeting today.”

           “What? Meeting? Why? I thought we had everything figured out and-”

           Tao raised his hand for Lay to stop. The younger sighed, allowing the older to continue.

           “Calm down, Yixing. This is regular procedure. Just so you know what you're getting into, per se.” Tao side-stepped the counter, moving closer to Lay. “Plus, it will be good for you to talk to someone higher-up, since you've decided on doing things..diffferently.”

           Lay remained silent.

           “Listen, Lay. I know things got a bit heated between us yesterday, and I apologize for that. However, you can't ignore my help. Even though you're a vampire now, you're still vulnerable. Even more so since you're young and refusing to feed. There are those out there who are not as kind as me who'd hop at the chance to take advantage of you while you're weak.”

           Tao waited for Lay to respond.

           “I have to work, Tao.” Lay bit his lip and said hesitantly, “Will we make it back in time?”

           Tao grinned. “Guaranteed.”

           In the split second after the word had come out of Tao's mouth, Lay felt the floor drop out from under him and the room go dark. He called out for Tao and felt the elder's hand on his shoulder. Even though he couldn't see anything, Lay knew that the two were traveling at an immeasurable speed through various dimensions and vortexes undocumented by time.