They walked together in an awkward silence, although Lay’s arms still felt the need to wrap around Soyoung protectively.

Once they were at her apartment he kissed her forehead and bid her goodbye, “I’ll see you tomorrow okay?  Kris gave me the day off.”

                She nodded in response, and sensing that she was still a bit shocked Lay turned to leave. “Goodnight.”

                He felt her hand reach out for his and Lay turned around surprised. Soyoung met his eyes for a moment before looking down out of embarrassment. “Yixing-oppa…I love you. Always. Even if…” She closed her eyes and sighed hoping to clear her head, “I’m just trying to take it all in right now, okay?” She stretched up and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. “I don’t hate you now or anything like that, okay? I just need some time to adjust to this.”

                Lay felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders and he smiled, flashing her his signature dimple. “I know.” He bent down and kissed her forehead again, “I love you too. Now go inside, it’s late.”

                “Text me when you get home.”

                “I will.”

                Soyoung shut the door and leaned on it, sinking to the ground. She took a deep breath and forced herself to work through everything.

               First of all, it wasn’t like Lay had chosen this, he hadn’t asked to be a vampire. He needed her help and she loved him. In fact, she loved him more than she ever thought she could, but she didn’t necessarily want a target on her back, especially from other vampires.

                She began to weigh the pros and cons of helping Lay before she stopped herself. Why was she was even debating this, she knew her answer was yes. Was there ever a doubt that it would be?

                 Of course she would help him, because it was Lay, and she loved him, because he had no other options, and because if she didn’t people could die. Furthermore she knew that Lay wouldn’t be able to take that kind of guilt. It would eat him up inside and she didn’t want him to hurt like that.

                 The more she thought about it the more she felt for him. He must have been so scared.

                 Her mind resolute, Soyoung grabbed her phone from her bag and called Lay. Nervously, she drummed her fingers waiting for him to pick up.

                 “Hello?”

                 “Hey, are you home yet?”

                 “Almost, but not quite. Is something wrong? Are you alright?”

                 Soyoung smiled at Lay, he had always been so concerned for her, “I’m fine. I just wanted to tell you that…I’ll do it.”

                 “What?”

                 She pursed her lips, for some reason finding herself blushing, “The pledge thing. It’s okay. I’m okay with it.”

                 There was silence on the other line before Lay answered, “Babe are you sure?”

                 “Yes, I’m sure.”

                 “Soyoung…thank you.”

                 “Of course. I love you.”

                 “I love you too.”

                 “Hurry home alright? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

                 Lay awoke to a loud banging on the door. “ZHANG YIXING I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE.” A voice Lay recognized as Tao shouted from the hallway. Groggily, Lay glanced at the clock

                 6:55. Wonderful.

                 Telling himself it was all a dream, Lay turned over and pulled his covers closer hoping to ignore Tao’s ‘knocking’.

                 “YIXING OPEN THE DOOR!”

                 Obediently, Lay got out of bed and opened the door, glaring at the man in front of him. Tao grinned, “Well it’s nice to see you up so early.”

                 He received a grunt in response. Tao laughed and placed a paper shopping bag on the counter as he walked in, “I talked to my doctor friend. This should hold you over for maybe another day, maybe half.”

                 Lay nodded walking into the kitchen, and reached for a metal water bottle he had filled with the blood Tao had brought yesterday. Despite the fact that he knew it was sustaining him, Lay didn’t really like seeing the blood he was drinking. “Thanks Tao.”

“No problem.” He replied taking a seat at Lay’s. “So, she said yes, huh?”

                 Lay nodded taking another sip of the blood. It was strange to him how its taste had changed. He distinctly remembered what blood had tasted like before he was turned, metallic and a bit salty. Now it was different, sweet in a way, or at least Soyoung's had been. What he had from the hospital tasted much like a sweet cereal that had been left in a cardboard box: sickeningly sweet and unappetizing.

                 Tao reached for the bottle and took a sip of it himself. “Well first order of business, she’s probably going to have to move in with you.”

                 Lay almost choked, “What?”

                 “The pledge is going to create a bond between the two of you. I talked to a vampire I found who was pledged to this one girl, he said that he got anxious if she wasn’t close to him, especially for like the first couple months.” He took another swig of the blood, “He could stand being away from her, but not for more than a day really.”

                 Lay swallowed, “I don’t think…we’re not married, Tao, and I don’t feel really comfortable doing that.”

                 He shrugged, “Well, I mean, it might be different for you, but she’s going to have to be close to you.  Especially at night. He said it was worse at night. I suppose it makes sense though, if you’re only going to be able to drink from her…you’d want to protect her, right?”

                 “And everyone hunts at night.” Lay finished sighing

                 “And, she’s going to have a very big target on the back of her head.”

                 Lay grimaced at the thought ,“Don’t remind me.”

                 “I mean…you could marry her?” Tao suggested giving eyebrows to Lay, “I’ve been in your head long enough to know it’s a possibility.”

                 “Possibi                lity. Probability…”

                 “Inevitability…” Tao finished.

                  Lay smiled thinking of his future with Soyoung, “I don’t want to rush things, Tao. We’re both still really young, we have time. I think someone’s moving out down the hall anyways, and that should be close enough for now shouldn’t it?”

                 They sat in silence as the both watched the sunrise from Lay’s window. “Is she going to be okay with all of this?” Tao asked.

                 “I hope so. She’s been looking for a new apartment anyways, and the lady who’s moving likes me. Perhaps she’ll give Soyoung a discount.”

                 “Perhaps.”

                 Lay absentmindedly swirled the remaining blood around in the bottle, “How would I go about actually pledging to her, Tao? The council member we talked to didn’t have any specifics for us.”

                 “First I think you drink your own blood, and then you drink hers.” Tao responded.

                 “So that’s it. Just drink me, drink her and we’re done?”

                 “Well, no. There’s a difference between biting someone to drink and to change. You’d have to bite her as if you were going to change her.”

                 Lay looked at Tao surprised, “It won’t change her right?”

                 Tao shook his head, “No, but it’ll help her body know you’re pledged, so that she produces more blood and doesn’t die and all that jazz.”

                 “What’s the difference between the two kinds of bites?”

                 “Venom.”

                 “And I’ll  be able to control that?”

                 “You should be able to, yes.”

                 Lay sighed, “So this is happening.”