Hana felt bad for not telling Miyoung about her encounters with the beautiful male whose name she didn’t know and the water ghost incident. She knew Miyoung would think she was crazy for believing in ghosts and vampires. If only Miyoung knew how much Hana had gone through…

Miyoung had called Hana to invite her to a party. She booked a suite room in a famous hotel and a lot of friends were going to be there. Hana had promised her best friend she would come, and she immediately went there from the swimming practice. She didn’t even need to think twice when she decided.

“Thank God you come!” Miyoung pulled Hana’s hand inside the room. The music was quite loud. The room was spacious. Around four persons showed up. “I thought you wouldn’t come. Let me introduce you to my friends.”

“This is Sooyeon,” Sooyeon was a petite girl with a doubtful face. She seemed to be in her own world and didn’t notice much when Miyoung introduced her to Hana. “This is Eunjung,” Miyoung said, pointing to the person sitting next to Sooyeon. She seemed nice. Eunjung waved at Hana as a greeting. Hana waved back.

“You know Hyunseung-oppa,” Miyoung dropped the formalities and casually threw a wink to their swimming coach. Apparently, Miyoung’s confession went well. Hyunseung nodded at Hana, and in return, she bowed down a bit. The last person was a guy as well.

“And this is my distant cousin, Kai.”

Kai smirked. He was a devilishly handsome young man. Hana used the word ‘devilish’ because this guy in front of her was devastatingly good looking. His skin was fairly tan, and even though Koreans didn’t really like that, it didn’t lessen the charms. This guy was really good looking.

“And who is this?” His voice was rather low. It was soothing and hypnotizing. Miyoung chuckled when she saw Hana’s lost expression and nudged her ribs. “This is my best friend, Jung Hana.”

Kai extended his hand and reached for Hana’s before she could register what was happening. The male smoothly placed a kiss on her hand. “A kiss for a charming lady,” was what he said, before Hana became incredibly flustered and pulled back her hand.

“What the hell is wrong with your cousin?!” Hana whispered to Miyoung in a low growl. She found him weird. Who would kiss a girl’s hand in the twenty first century? Almost no one! This guy acted as if he was in some kind of historical drama. The more she thought about it, the redder she became.

“Sorry, Kai’s raised in Europe, he’s used to that,” Miyoung whispered back, her eyes never leaving Kai. Kai didn’t look the slightest bit guilty. He titled his head to the side, wondering what the two girls were talking about. “Kai, don’t flirt with my friend. She doesn’t like that.”

Hana whispered back, “I don’t think anyone in Europe still practice the art of hand-kissing.” Miyoung smiled at her, “He comes from a noble family and is raised like one. Please just let it go.” Hana wanted to talk back to her, thinking that the explanation didn’t make sense at all, but Kai’s soft voice interrupted her,

“I apologize, Hana-ssi. I don’t mean any harm.”

“See?” Miyoung whispered to Hana. She felt a little bad seeing his expression. “It’s okay… Kai-ssi.” Kai smiled again. There was only a little difference between his smirk and his smile. His smile was rather playful, but also reserved and mysterious.

“Sorry, my phone’s ringing,” Miyoung held up a hand and picked up the call. “Sungyeol-ah! Where are you right now?” She rolled her eyes instantly. “You’re in basement? Okay, wait there, I’ll pick you up.” And then she hung up. Her eyes darted to both Hana and Kai, “You two can try to get along well. I’ll go and pick up another friend.”

Hana watched as her best friend walked out of the door casually. Awkward silence soon followed. She had nothing to talk about with Kai. Hana wasn’t a very sociable person. She was very awkward and quiet with someone she just met. Kai, on the other hand, looked quite calm.

“Don’t look so scared. I won’t bite you,” He said jokingly, but somehow, there was a serious tone to it. And when Hana looked at him, she truly felt like he would bite her. She quickly shook the thought away. “If you don’t feel comfortable with me, you can go and talk to the females.”

Hana opened and closed . She didn’t want to hurt his feeling. “It’s okay. It’s my first time meeting them as well.” Another long pause. “You want to sit down on the couch? My legs are tired.” She led him to the nearest couch and the two of them sat together.

“Miyoung never mentioned you before,” Hana remarked. Kai chuckled a bit, “She just know me recently. I was sent away long ago. I don’t think she’d know me.” Hana raised one eyebrow at the way he was talking. It was as if… “You talk like an old man.”

Kai stopped smiling. There was a distant look to his face, as if he suddenly remembered something. It took him quite a while to answer. “I’m not that old… yet. I’m just much older compared to Miyoung.” Miyoung was twenty, two years older than Hana, which left her guessing about his age. He couldn’t be that old. “How old are you? You don’t look older than twenty.”

“I’m much older,” He said with a secretive smile that left her wanting more. “Much, much older.” Hana’s eyebrows furrowed together in concentration. “Twenty-seven?” Kai shook his head. “Then… twenty-nine?” Again, a headshake. “Come on, you can’t be thirty!” Kai suddenly laughed at that.

“You can’t be thirty or older!” Hana gasped. “Impossible!”

The laughter became louder.

“Keep on guessing,” Kai , “Mystery is what attract a girl to a guy.” Hana pursed her lips to a thin line, looking disturbed, “I’m not attracted to you.” Kai shook his head and simply replied, “Maybe not.” But by the way he was talking, she knew he was lying.

Kai was quiet again. Hana never really observed someone’s appearance in details, but she noted how long and fragile his eyelashes were. His eyes looked sad and lonely. His lips were thick, and y. His hair was messy, and that was the way girls liked it-it just made you want to run your hand along the mess.

“You’re staring again,” Kai stated, his smirk widening. He really looked devious, but still charming nonetheless. Hana was sure she could write a four-page essay about this guy’s charms. And strangely, for someone as aloof as Hana, she felt this undeniable pull towards Kai, even though they just met.

“No, I’m not,” Hana denied, looking down and blushing without realizing it herself. At least not again.

“You were staring at me when Miyoung introduced us,” As if Kai was reading her mind, he remarked to her how stupid she must have looked when she stared at him. “Why are you staring at me?”

From his smile, Hana knew Kai was teasing her. He was taunting her, waiting for her to tell him directly everything he wanted to hear. But Hana was stubborn. She wouldn’t give Kai what he wanted. She wanted to back, telling him that she wasn’t a cheap girl he could pick up anywhere.

“I wasn’t staring at you. You must be dreaming I was,” Hana retorted. Kai’s expression didn’t change, but he looked slightly stunned.

At the same time, Miyoung came in with one guy and two girls. The guy, Hana recognized, was Lee Sungyeol, a senior from the same college. Hana had never seen the other two girls before. A minute later, another two girls appeared. So far, Kai, Sungyeol and Hyunseung were the only guys in the room.

“Okay, let’s play a game, everyone!” Miyoung cheered. Sooyeon and Eunjung immediately jumped up from their seat, and even the bored-looking Kai finally showed some interest. Miyoung and Hyunseung both set up the beers and cards on the floor and everyone else sat in a circle.

“What kind of game?”

***

“Are you going to watch over that girl again?”

Sehun rolled his eyes in annoyance as he put on his leather jacket. Luhan had been pestering him lately. Out of the two, Luhan was closer to human, and he acted much more humanly than Sehun. Supposedly, when one became a Fallen creature, they lost most of their emotions and relations to others.

“You should mind your own business, Luhan,” Sehun said coldly, grabbing one dagger and one blade, and hid it inside his clothes. “And stop pestering me, you are annoying.”

“Out of one hundred victims,” Luhan’s words stopped Sehun from turning the doorknob, “Out of all victims, you choose her. Why?” Sehun’s heart stopped for a moment. He understood well what Luhan was worried about. “Why are you asking? Why do you want to know?”

Luhan clenched his jaw tightly. His gentle demeanor contrasted much with the expression he was showing. “Nothing,” he breathed in the air, “You just need to be careful. Your brother is not an easy enemy.”

Sehun in a deep breath and let out a harsh chuckle, “I don’t care, Luhan. You shouldn’t care about me, too. Our friendship is long gone. We are now the Fallen. We don’t care, we don’t sympathize, we kill.”

If there was one emotion Luhan had left, it was his deep caring for Sehun. He couldn’t just throw away their friendship of centuries-not for anything, and certainly,

not for anyone.