It was difficult, the hardest decision Minseok could ever make. It’s either now or never. He was perched on the edge of the balcony of their four-storey house in the middle of the night. So at this time, if his voice had been raised any higher than a whisper, this whole operation would never have worked.

“Hurry up hyung,” Jongdae urged in a whisper. The wind toyed with his perfect, red, fiery hair that framed his beautiful face, jawline shimmering in the moonlight. “Alright. Don’t rush me,” Minseok whispered, his teeth chattering. To Jongdae, it probably didn’t matter as he was wearing jeans with a dark leathered jacket. He might not have felt cold but MInseok realized that vampires never feel cold or hear or pain to things that hurt humans – vampire skin is too hard for anything to pass through, it would take a miracle to kill them. But Jongdae had to understand that Minseok was only a half-vampire and he was in his sweats and holey T-shirt, freezing his way till death.

“Jeez, it’s so cold! Can I get a jacket or something?” Minseok whispered through his chattering teeth. “You have to ‘suicide’ for them to believe you’re dead,” Jongdae replied. “Fine, as long as I reached the ground, you take off. I don’t want them to see you.” Then, Jongdae laughed his silvery laugh. “Don’t worry hyung, they won’t see me.” He whispered back, grinning. Minseok took a deep breathe breaths, ready to jump but Jongdae held his ankles to stop him.

“Wait. I almost forgot. The serum,” He held his hand out holding a tiny bottle in his palm containing some dark blue liquid. “What’s that?” Minseok asked. “It’s called Tranquil. It will stop your heart for about two days. That will be long enough to last for your funeral,” he replied. Minseok just shrugged and drank it all at once. This operation was basically to determine that he was dead before he joined the undead. In other words, Jongdae accidentally changed him into a vampire when he was walking home from college three days ago.

Minseok remembered the sun setting and it had just rained so the ground was slippery. He remembered slipping and falling and a single drop of blood gushing out from his wrist. He remembered Jongdae’s hungry eyes and him sinking his teeth into Minseok’s arm. He remembered the venom burning through his veins and him passing out. Minseok even remembered waking up in Jongdae’s room and him explaining to him what he had become and apologizing over and over again. It was a bitter memory. A memory that led him to this. Minseok being a half-vampire, as surely as he did Jongdae didn’t change him properly. He had to leave because he knew if he continued to stay with his family, he would surely kill them simply by accident.

The serum began spreading through Minseok’s body, making him stiffen and his heart gradually slowing down. He could feel his pulse but it was very slow. Too slow for a human to hear. Minseok spent his last weekend saying silent goodbyes, he visited every one of his favorite places: library, football stadium, the cinema. He went to some of these places with his mum or dad or Luhan. He treated every moment like it was special. He even paid close attention to their faces and voices. Minseok knew he would never see these faces again and that tore him apart inside, but it’s not like he had a choice. He didn’t want to be the kiss of death to his parents or anyone he knew, not even Luhan who was his best friend for 17 years knew about this.

That weekend, nothing went wrong. His mum’s kisses didn’t embarrass him. His dad’s orders didn’t bother him. In fact, Minseok did them wholeheartedly, not even Luhan’s lame jokes irritated him. He didn’t pretend to laugh like he always did, he did actually laughed. Sometimes, Minseok felt like crying. He’d look at his parents and Luhan and realized that he had always loved them, how empty his life would be without them. He had to turn aside and cry at moments like this and take in long, deep breaths. A couple of times didn’t work and he had to rush away and cry in private. Minseok would cry now but he was paralyzed, his limbs wouldn’t work. All his senses were dead except his hearing. He could tell because he heard everything that happened.

”I’m gonna snap your neck now,” Jongdae whispered Minseok’s ear, then he heard a sharp snapping sound. “There… that should do it. Hyung, if you don’t mind I have to toss you out the window pretty hard, just to make it look like a genuine suicide. You might break a couple of bones but vampirism usually helps you cure faster.” At that moment, he hurled Minseok out the window and Minseok could hear his mum coming. “I’ve to go hyung, see you in a couple of days,” Jongdae whispered. Minseok heard a soft whisper of wind and he was gone. A few seconds later his mum was there, he could hear them.

“MINSEOK!!!!!” His mum screamed. Minseok thought that she was holding him to her because her voice is so close. “Let go Mi Young,” his dad was there too. “He’s not moving yeobo, HE’S NOT MOVING!!!” His mum screamed over and over again until his dad cut her short. “Take him inside and call the ambulance,” his dad said to someone. He might have called one of the neighbors – he heard someone hurrying across the street. His hearing sense became a thousand times more powerful than ever. His mum’s sobs were so clear and loud to him. He wished it would stop. He wanted to scream but he couldn’t find his lips nor his voice to do so, so he just laid there listening to the sounds of the night instead of all the chaos.

“Is he… dead?” One of his neighbor asked. “No,” his dad answered, soundly ridiculously unsure. “I’m pretty sure he’s  just paralyzed and I think he fell out of the window,” he said. “I’ll call the hospital,” the neighbor said and mum’s sobs slowly died out. Then, he heard the most awkward thing that happened in his life.

He heard his dad cried.