Kyuhyun drove his old Kia car slowly down Sapphire Street, trying to look for the turn into Sapphire Lane, where Sungmin’s house is. Sungmin sat beside him, as still as a statue, staring into space. Kyuhyun was irritated that Sungmin didn’t point out the road to him, but he couldn’t complain since he was the one who insisted to drive here in his own car. Sungmin had to leave his pink Benz in a nearby public parking lot.

Sungmin finally showed some sense of life when Kyuhyun pulled up in the Ohana Residence’s garage. Not knowing whether Sungmin was angry with him, Kyuhyun quickly unbuckled his belt, hoping to get into the house with the others before facing Sungmin. The bad news; speed was always on Sungmin’s side and he was already waiting outside when Kyuhyun wanted to push open the door.

The good news – Sungmin was smiling and offering a hand to him.

“Aren’t you angry with me?” Kyuhyun asked cautiously as he shut the car door with his free hand.

“What for?” Sungmin intertwined his fingers with Kyuhyun’s and led him towards the door.

“For insisting to use my own car?”

Sungmin opened the door and waited for Kyuhyun to get in first. “It’s a bit too slow for my liking, but I’m not that petty to get angry over that, silly.”

Kyuhyun wanted to retaliate at Sungmin for calling him silly yet again, but he decided to let it pass because of Sungmin’s gentle smile.

As they made their way to the front of the house, Kyuhyun realized that it was totally empty.

“Where are the rest?” Kyuhyun asked as Sungmin led him up the staircase.

“They decided to wait at the court instead since we were taking too long.” Sungmin turned the knob of the door to the last room on the left, pushing it open. It was a room Kyuhyun had yet to seen. To be exact, he had only been in Sungmin’s room other than the common areas on the first floors.

“Shouldn’t we be heading to the court then?” Kyuhyun followed Sungmin obediently into the room. It was a study room, with a large worktable and chair in the middle. There were three large bookshelves on the right of the room and a comfortable couch laid right beside the door. What caught Kyuhyun’s eyes were the French windows that ran from floor to ceiling. It wasn’t just on one side of the room, but spanned half of the rectangular room, with the other half being concrete walls that the bookshelves and couch were pushed up against. The glass panels - it didn’t look as much as windows or the supposed walls to Kyuhyun – reminded him of the ones in the living room when he first came to Sungmin’s house.

“We are heading there now.” Sungmin led Kyuhyun by his shoulders to the corner between the glass panels.

He watched as Sungmin unlocked a latch and slid the glass panel to the side. The open air blew in.

“It’s a sliding door?!” Kyuhyun couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice. Looking out, there was a tree trunk that was latched on the ledge outside the open glass panel.

Sungmin stepped out onto the tree trunk and held out his hand to Kyuhyun.

“Come on. It will be fine.” Sungmin encouraged when Kyuhyun eyed him with hesistation.

“Isn’t there another way?” Kyuhyun looked down at the wide forest under them.

“I would have gone by the living room way, but it’s practically a cliff for you. We have to go through the forest to get to the court.”

“What is a basketball court doing behind a forest?!”

“Technically, it’s in the forest.”

Kyuhyun stared wide-eyed at Sungmin. A basketball court in a forest?!
He took a deep breath to calm himself down. Okay, they are vampires. Abnormal. I should stop getting surprised.  

“Trust me, I won’t let you fall.” Sungmin smiled.

Putting out his hand hesistantly, he gasped a little when Sungmin grabbed his hand and pulled him, causing him to fall right into Sungmin’s embrace. Kyuhyun looked down. He never really had a problem with heights, but the thick mass of green below made it seem like it would be an infinite fall if he lost balance.

“It’s just a short distance to the forest ground.” Sungmin said as he swiftly swapped positions with Kyuhyun, standing behind him. Kyuhyun was about to panic when Sungmin placed his hands on Kyuhyun’s waist. Kyuhyun grabbed his hands immediately.

“It’s fine, Kyu. I will be right behind you. Just take small steps and follow the trunk.”

Sungmin’s soothing voice did have a calming effect on his nerves. Slowly, Kyuhyun made his way down the slightly angled trunk, with Sungmin behind him. It didn’t take long before he saw the forest ground and he jumped off the trunk eagerly, sliding off from Sungmin’s hands.

“Do you do this everyday? Honestly, it was quite fun.” Kyuhyun grinned as Sungmin stepped off the trunk.

“Nope, we hardly use the trunk. And the real fun part is coming up.” Sungmin grinned back and Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow at him.

“Climb on to my back, Kyuhyun. I will carry you to the court.” Sungmin pointed his thumb towards the back.

“W-What? I can walk myself!” Kyuhyun answered flusteredly. He wouldn’t mind being close to Sungmin, but he didn’t want to be carried like a girl.

“It will take an entire afternoon to hike there, Kyuhyun. And we are already running late after taking your grandfather car.” Sungmin crossed his arms.

“Grandfather car?! At least I’m not speeding crazily down the roads like you and endangering everyone’s lives!” Kyuhyun retorted. He hardly drove his car and it was passed down from his father when he got his driving license, but that doesn’t mean Sungmin can just insult it.

Sungmin stared at Kyuhyun in amusement. “Two choices, Kyuhyun. Either I piggyback you or I’m going to carry you bridal style there.”

“B-but!”

“I’m going to choose for you if you don’t decide!” The next moment, Sungmin’s arm was wrapped around Kyuhyun’s waist, his other arm ready to lift Kyuhyun’s legs off the ground.

“N-no! Piggyback!” Kyuhyun wiggled out of Sungmin’s arm and moved behind him. It would be more embarrassing to be carried bridal style.

Thinking of getting a little revenge, Kyuhyun jumped hard at Sungmin’s back, but all he could feel was pain on his legs from hitting against Sungmin’s body.

“Easy, Kyuhyun. You are going to get bruises from that.” Sungmin said worriedly as he pulled Kyuhyun’s arms around his neck, clasping them together. He placed his hands lightly on Kyuhyun’s thighs.

“Why can’t you be softer?” Kyuhyun whined.

Sungmin chuckled. “I can’t help it. I’m going to start running. You might want to close your eyes.”

“Why do I need to—”

Kyuhyun’s words instantly died down when Sungmin raced through the forest, professionally avoiding the trees and obstacles in their past. He thought Zhoumi was already running fast when the tall guy carried him at the hospital, but now, they were practically whizzing past the greenery. So this is how it feels like to go full speed as a vampire. Is it even full speed?

The wind brushing past their bodies were cooling, but Kyuhyun felt like his heart was going to jump out any moment when they came too close to a tree. After a minute or so, he felt Sungmin slowing down and they emerged into a clearing, revealing the large court.

“The sweet couple is here~” Kyuhyun heard someone say.

As Sungmin placed him down on the ground, Kyuhyun’s legs gave way as the dizziness overtook him momentarily. He dropped to the ground like jelly.

“Kyuhyun, are you okay?” Zhoumi was supporting him at the side in an instant.

Kyuhyun found himself catching for his breath. He had forgotten to breathe.

Sungmin’s laughter pulled him back into reality. “I thought I told you to close your eyes, silly!”

“Yah!” Kyuhyun jumped up from the ground, ignoring the lingering dizziness in his head. “Why didn’t you catch me! And it wasn’t because I forgot to close my eyes! I don’t get motion sick!”

“I know you don’t, Kyuhyun. But you always forget to breathe when you’re surprised or excited.” Sungmin broke into another series of laughter when Kyuhyun’s expression told him he was right.

Zhoumi watched the couple in amusement.

“Minnie, spare Kyuhyun, won’t you?” Leeteuk appeared beside them. “It’s nice to meet you again, Kyuhyun.”

Kyuhyun blushed in embarrassment, realizing that everyone would have heard their quarrel, although they weren’t that loud. “Me too… Leeteuk hyung.”

“Kyuhyunnie!” Kyuhyun turned to the high-pitched voice to see Ryeowook skipping their way. That was when he finally observed the size