Jiyong crouched on the small, shaby couch and flinched every time that guy walked around.

A door shut and the shower started running. That sound finally let Jiyong relax a bit but in the next moment he started crying heavily.

How could this happen?

The last month was the best of his young life but suddenly everything was over.

Pictures of Seunghyun's bleeding body flashed through his head and he started once again rocking bach and forth.

And he prayed.

Since years he hadn't done that anymore, but now it felt appropriate.

His tears stopped but the deep sadness stayed, and Jiyong realized that it would stay for long.

"Food's ready! Ji, get out of there before you're all wrinkly and disgusting!"

Seunghyun grinned as he watched the younger crawl out of the onsen with a pout on his lips.

"Get dressed, we'll go out afterwards."

A short kiss was exchanged before Jiyong headed for the bedroom and joined Seunghyun for dinner a bit later.

He smiled fondly as he took in the olders appearance.
His skin was sun-kissed now, hair black again and he had regained the weight he had lost before due to stress, though he insisted that it were muscles and no 'actual weight'.

They have been travelling the past three weeks in a zigzag manner through whole Japan and Jiyong was glad that they finally stayed at one place for longer than two nights.

"Where are we going tonight?" Jiyong asked as he slipped on a light jacket.

"There's a night market down the street, the owner told me that it's beautiful." He answered as he followed Jiyong's example.

"What about Kyoto is not beautiful?" Jiyong kissed Seunghyun and pulled him out the door, leaving their small, rented house behind.

Seunghyun followed Jiyong as the younger walked through the stunning night scenery stopping here and there to admire bracelets or whatsoever.

He raised his head as soon as he felt eyes drilling into his back.

Panic washed over him when he realized that Jiyong was right in front of him, desperately trying to communicate with an elder woman.

He tugged at his sleeve, quickly sayed goodbye to the lady and dragged Jiyong away from the crowds and the busy streets.

They hurried to a nearby park but Seunghyun had to stop when Jiyong freed himself from the harsh grip on his wrist.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Seunghyun's eyes scanned the surroundings before he answered, "I just thought that there was somebody after us."

"And, is there anybody?" Jiyong asked in a sarcastic tone.

Just as the vampire was about to deny his ears caught the faint noise of leaves rustling.

Seunghyun threw Jiyong over his shoulder and took off but he wasn't fast enough.

Something shot out from the thicket, wrapping itself around his legs, sending both of them onto the ground.

In order to protect him Seunghyun covered Jiyong's body with his but that still didn't stop the two approaching men.

Jiyong peeked past Seunghyun's shoulder and almost started crying when he saw what they had brought with them.

Crowbars and guns.

Seunghyun's mind was racing.
'Should I fight or protect him?'

When he caught the sight of an agitated, trembling Jiyong he chose the second option and bent his face down so that their lips would brush.

The younger averted his eyes from the scene going on above and focused on Seunghyun.

"I love you."

"I love you too", Jiyong whispered back as the first strike hit his protector.

With every passing hit Seunghyun lost a little bit of his strength until he was almost lying on top of him.

"Listen...", he mumbled into Jiyong's ear between pained breaths, "I'll distract them and you'll run, got it? You don't need to go far, he'll find you."

Before Jiyong could protest Seunghyun was already on his feet, fighting back with the little power he still had, giving the younger enough time to scramble to his feet and run.

As promised it didn't take long until another guy turned up and stopped Jiyong, urging to follow him.

His voice sounded awfully familiar but it was too dark to see anything.

A shot echoed through the night.

Jiyong swirled around and saw Seunghyun sinking to his knees while blood started soaking his shirt.

A scream formed inside of his throat but before it could escape the unknown guy had already covered his mouth and pulled him away.

And that's how he ended up on this couch, in a house somewhere hidden.

The guy came back, sat in front of Jiyong who had once again calmed down.

"Do you want answers?"

Careful, Jiyong studied the others features. He wore a gentle smile and gave off a harmless vibe.

Still, why had he never realized that his damn best friend is a vampire?

After a nod he started explaining, "I've been following you since you arrived in Japan. Seunghyun called me to take care of you in case...you know. However, until he returns you're stuck here with me, so let's make the best of the situation, yeah?"

He smiled again but Jiyong didn't react to his question.

Three words had already settled inside of his head.

'Until he returns.'

"When will he return? Where is he?"

Youngbae sighed and began, "I knew that you'd ask... He is, how shall I say, in the headquarter of the vampires. They're investigating against him but as soon as they're finished he'll come back."

"Is it safe to say that he'll return?"

"As long as he doesn't disobey, yes."

Both of them sighed simultaneously.

Jiyong's mood improved a bit because he knew, that Youngbae was thinking the same, 'He's screwed.'

"By the way", his best friend continued as he got up, "I don't think he'll disobey. After all he's going through all of this because of you."

Jiyong seriously prayed that Seunghyun for once could oppress his rebellious character.

"One last question", Jiyong followed Youngbae into the kitchen while speaking, "Why the hell did you never tell me that you're one of them?"

"It made things easier", was all he got in response before Youngbae started ordering him around.

Spending time with his best friend again was soothing Jiyong's pain a lot but whenever he found a quiet minute his thoughts wandered off to Seunghyun.

'I love you.'

A bucket of ice cold water was poured over him, ripping him out of his comatose state.

He opened his mouth, a string of profanities already lingering at the tip of his tongue but he remembered where he was and swallowed them again.

"Get up, he wants to see you."

The man's booming voice echoed through the almost empty stone cell.

Seunghyun pulled himself onto his feet, got handcuffed and dragged after the man.

As they walked past the other prisoners he realized, that not only men and women were there but also children.
Three of them in each cell.
They cowered in the rearmost corner, eyes wide open with a frightened look on their small faces.

"Don't bother about them", the man leading him said as he caught Seunghyun staring, "Their parents are already freed from their sins."
A low, guttural laugh broke out from him as they continued their walk.

They went upstairs to the first floor and Seunghyun spotted the sunlight through the huge windows.

'Must be around two in the afternoon', he thought. Since they locked him in the cellar weeks ago he had lost every sense of time and he noticed how much he had missed the natural light.

Unintentionally his mind wandered off to Jiyong. Lately he urged himself not to think about him because he wasn't sure who could read his mind in this hell house. And it could get him into real trouble.

Finally they stopped in front of a dark brown, ancient looking door.

Quickly he was uncuffed and pushed inside. Before the door shut again he heard a faint, "Good luck."
Maybe that guy wasn't that bad afterall.

Seunghyun massaged his irritated wrists while taking a look around.

He stood in the middle of an enormous library, filled with probably a million of books.

At the end of the room, a couple of meters ahead, there stood a massive desk with a person sitting in front of it.

Seunghyun bowed deeply, even though the person didn't even look at him, and got closer when he got the command to do it.

"Sit down."

He did as he was told and waited patiently until the guy finished his work and raised his head to lock their eyes.

Seunghyun's first intention was to run away because he realized who he was sitting across from.

Eric Mun.

The head of all vampires worldwide.
The 'king' as some refer to him.

Seunghyun swallowed the knot which had formed in his throat and spoke up, "You asked for me?"

Eric chuckled and leaned back, "Yes, that's true. I wanted to talk about him."
He opened a folder and took out a picture of Jiyong.

"I'll introduce you to the way I work. First the questions which you answer, then I'll give you some time to explain yourself, alright?"

Seunghyun nodded shortly and Eric smiled satisfied.

"Perfect. Is it true that you're dating Kwon Jiyong?"

"Yes."

"Since..?"

"Almost five months."

"And he's living with you, right?"

"Yes."

"Good, good. Seunghyun, I've read your mind and it seems you were confused at the beginning of your little relationship. Why's that?"

"Because I can read his mind."

"And? That's nothing special. He's your soulmate, and as you kno-..."

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but I've already lost my soulmate centuries ago."

Eric dropped his pen and frowned.

"Huh, this is interesting..." He said as if he thought aloud.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes." Seunghyun answered with a firm voice. "She captured my heart and let me in her mind. She was ill, that was the reason why I turned her, but she died because of the other villagers who caught her shortly after the transformation."

The king fell silent and organized his thoughts.

He sighed and ultimately dropped his tough, serious act.

"What are you going to do?"

When he only got a shrug in return he kept going, "Truth be told, before I heard your story I wanted to kill you. But now...I'm not completely heartless either and I know how much you love him. But, I also know how important it is for vampires to turn the significant other. It's not that exciting when somebody else does it. So what..."

"I really have no idea, sir. As much as I treasure him I also want to be with him. Forever, and not only for the next 50 maybe 60 years and while I stay the same and he dies slowly. That would kill me more than letting him go right now..."

"You know that you can die from a broken heart?"

"What?" Seunghyun glanced up with disbelieve only to find Eric grinning.

"That's why I think that that woman years ago wasn't your soulmate. If you would have really loved her, you would have died with her."

"Listen", Eric continued, "You've been here since three weeks and you look like, sorry for the harsh term, . God, we even had to pull you back to life more than once or twice. Just being away from that little guy, although you know that he's save, is killing you.

And now get out of here before I change my mind, you little punk."

Seunghyun bowed repeatedly and rushed to get out, afraid that he'd really keep and kill him, "Thank you so much. I owe you, really!"

"Just invite me to your wedding!" Eric yelled after him but he was already out the door.

"Kids these days...", he mumbled to himself.

"I hope you still know that we were exactly the same." Hyesung's voice reached out to him as he entered.

"Just how could I forget the stupid little teenager that I had to chase through half of the kingdom?"

He walked towards his husband and hugged his slim waist.

"And damn, that chasing was so worth it", Eric added before kissing Hyesung gently.