“What did it take to seal Shin away the first time?” Nara asked Jiwook. Xiumin watched as the older vampire just gave her a look before turning to the front of the class. For a moment, Nara’s smile slipped from her face before it returned just as strong. Few would have noticed any change at all, but Xiumin did.

He’d hung out a lot with Nara – and Jiwook – since they had entered his class and he thought he was pretty good friends with the female. Once their two groups started to become friends, she’d even gone out of her way to explain parts of vampire culture to him. In return, he’d told her lots of things about werewolves. She was a good friend, a loyal friend, and it hurt him to see her so in love with Jiwook when he was so cold and indifferent to her.

No matter what she did, he never treated her any different than anyone else. Well, he acted slightly different around his sisters, but that was kind of a given. Xiumin leaned over slightly, patting Nara on the back. She never let it show, but he knew Jiwook’s cold behaviour hurt her. He idly wondered if Nara would still love Jiwook without their sire bond joining them together. Or would she be completely different? Without her tie to Jiwook, she might not even be part of the vampire family.

All through class, Xiumin pondered how the sire bond to Jiwook made Nara who she was. She’d once admitted that she only smiled as much as she did because she wanted to make Jiwook happy. So without the sire bond, did that mean she would be just as cold as Gayun or Bora? And she was always looking on the bright side because of her wish to make Jiwook happy. Without him, would she be always looking for the bad things in life?

Was it all the work of the sire bond? Was everything about her a result of the invisible tie, or did she have control over it? Xiumin knew she would do whatever Jiwook told her, the sire bond making her follow his every command. But did it affect other things? He let out a low growl. He had no answers, he would never have answers, and all he was doing was creating more questions.

“Jiwook oppa,” Nara smiled, flashing her best aegyo, “Can we go out for ice cream now that school is over?”

“No,” he replied, not even bothering to look at her. Without another word, he left the room and Nara behind. The orange haired girl just stood there, looking at the classroom door with a blank look on her face.

“Why does he always do this?” she finally asked Xiumin, trying to fight back her tears. Xiumin just pulled her into a hug, letting her hide her face in his chest while she finally cried.

“Not the first time she’s done this,” N said, entering the room with Luhan. Xiumin looked up, wondering what the older vampire meant. “Cried over Jiwook,” he clarified. Xiumin nodded, pulling his friend tighter to him. Silently, he cursed Jiwook and the sire bond. Nara was a good person – a good vampire – and she didn’t deserve to be treated the way Jiwook treated her.

“Jiwook does care,” N said, taking Nara from Xiumin so he could take her home, “he’s just not good at showing it. He hasn’t had a reason to show his real feelings for Nara yet.” Xiumin just nodded, not picking up on what N was hinting at.

Once the vampires were gone, however, he realized what N meant. Jiwook needed a reason to show his feeling for Nara – assuming that N was right and he had feelings for the girl. Thus far, Nara had been completely devoted to him, regardless of what he did. If he thought that her love no longer belonged to him alone, maybe he would finally drop the cold act.

All Xiumin needed was to pitch his plan to Nara, have her agree, and find a guy she could pretend to be interested in. If it could mean finally hearing Jiwook tell her his feelings, Nara would very likely agree. The only thing Xiumin figured he would have trouble with was finding a guy. There were lots of guys in school who would like to date Nara. She was cute, fun, and nice. In fact, she probably would get lots of confession if it wasn’t for the fact everyone knew she loved Jiwook. No one – and that meant no one – would ask her out in fear that Jiwook felt the same for her and would killed them in their sleep for asking her out.

Looking at his brothers, Xiumin knew he couldn’t ask them to help him out on this either. Luhan, Tao, and Sehun all had their own troubled love lives to deal with so he didn’t feel right about bring them into this mess. The rest of the werewolves weren’t dealing with love complications, but that only made Xiumin reluctant to drag them into problems that they had nothing to do with. With a sigh, Xiumin realized that he was going to have to get himself a little bit more involved in Nara and Jiwook’s relationship.

But, hey, it was for the best right? Nara and Jiwook were two of his best friends and friends help each other, right? So long as everything worked out, Xiumin figured it would all be worth it. So, when he got home the first thing he did was call Nara and tell her about his plan. At first, she refused. In fact, she yelled at him, telling him that she was done with Jiwook forever.

While Xiumin highly doubted she really was done with the original, if he wanted his plan to work he had to go with it. He had another way to get what he wanted, but it would mean tricking Nara. He felt kind of bad about that, about betraying her trust like that, but it had to be done. If Jiwook loved her, she had a right to know. And if he didn’t, then knowing might make it possible for her to move on with her life.

The next night found Xiumin and Nara wondering a club, looking for a human to feed from. All his brothers were there, learning to feed for the first time. With Shin laying low and Alexandra busy gathering the things she needed to seal him away, they needed something to keep themselves busy. Training the twelve hybrids to control their new instincts seemed like a good thing to do.

Xiumin glanced over his shoulder and shivered slightly. Jiwook had his eyes locked on him, glaring with nothing short of hatred. Glancing down at his hand, fingers tangled with Nara’s fingers, Xiumin knew exactly why. Apparently, N was right. Jiwook did love Nara or at least liked her. Either way, Nara would be overjoyed to find out and Xiumin felt a rush of confidence that his plan would work.

Xiumin watched as Nara lead him to a young girl who had been eyeing them both. Nara had done this hundreds of times, so there was no awkwardness when she approached the girl. Xiumin however was hesitant, unsure of what to do until Nara mouthed that he should follow her lead. Still slightly unsure, he moved behind the human girl and the three started to dance.

After a few minutes, Nara locked eyes with the girl, compelling her to enjoy everything that was done to her, before sinking her fangs into her neck. The human moaned, throwing her head back against Xiumin’s chest and wrapping her arms around Nara’s shoulders. Xiumin just watched, unable to make himself bite the girl until Nara grabbed his head and brought his mouth to the same place she had already bitten.

Blood smeared over Xiumin’s lips and the smell filled his nose. An urge he had never felt took over and Xiumin felt his own fangs descend seconds before he sank them into the girl’s neck, earning a moan of bliss. Blood filled his mouth and Xiumin had trouble supressing his own moan of happiness. Nara smiled slightly before sinking her own fangs into the other side of the human’s neck.

However, someone else frowned at the sight.

Jiwook growled as he watched the sight before him. By no means was he happy to see Nara – his Nara – getting so close to someone else. The only question was what he was going to do to rectify the situation.

A/N: poor Xiumin, Jiwook is none too pleased with him right now. Thanks subscribers!! Please leave a comment if you have time.