"Stay at the palace?" I asked. I didn't know if I was up for sneaking around with his parents about.

"Yeah. My mom apparently left last night. She told Yoon-A she wouldn't be back for a few days. And my dad went out this morning. He said he wasn't coming back for a week. So, we have the palace to ourselves." He said with that daring smirk still plastered across his face. 

I nodded. Ofcourse I wanted to go! We had the whole day to ourselves in a freaking palace! This was going to be a day to remember indeed. I grabbed my coat from the rack and quickly slipped it on, closing the front door behind me. He took my hand in his as we rushed down the coridoor, giggling in glee along the way. 

We sprinted down the stairs, trying not to trip. Once we finally reached the ground floor and got out of the lobby we carried on running through the streets all the way to the palace.

~~~

We had sneaked around to the back of the palace. We didn't want to be fussed with the guards again. We climbed through the window again, Baekhyun having to help once more. We were in the palace all by ourselves. This was going to be damn fun.

"Let me show you around the whole place. C'mon." I never had a second to spare before he took my hand once again and started weaving me in and out of the coridoors. We came down one long coridoor which was filled with door ways.

"These are the maids rooms. Let me introduce you to some of them. You've only met a few." He smiled. There were a few of the maids hanging outside the doors. I noticed that some of them had black eyes like me instead of red eyes. They obviously took out their lenses when the Royals weren't looking.

We walked over to the first door and looked inside. The room looked like a hotel room. There was simply a double bed, a dressing table, a chest of drawers, a door which looked like it led to an on suite bathroom and a wardrobe. Inside, there were 2 young girls. One was a little shorter than the other and had a tint of red in her long, straight hair. The other was only a bit shorter than Baekhyun and was wearing a black headscarf. They were both really pretty girls, but they, once again, were Dhamphirs like me. The Royals were really stupid. I wouldn't be suprised if there wasn't one Strigoi maid in this place.

"Baekhyun! We finally get to meet your boyfriend!" The shorter girl beamed. She automatically came running up towards us. The other followed behind her. She had a sense of sauveness about her while the shorter girl had an aura of cuteness.

"Wow Baek, he's hot. I wouldn't mind taking him off your hands if you'd like." The girl in the scarf laughed. 

"Anjum please, You dare lay a finger on him and you're dead." Baekhyun warned with a hint of humour. The girls name was Anjum. It suited her mysterious personality well.

"Aish... He's so tall! Why couldn't you have found a shorter guy Baekhyun? You're making me feel like a little kid or something." The other girl sighed crossing her arms.

"Don't worry Nina, You'll grow." He laughed patting her head. Nina, so that was her name.

"Don't do that! You know I don't like that." She poked her tongue out. 

"Hey Baek, you brought your boyfriend here while your parents are out? You're such a typical teen." A girl behind us piped up. I turned around and noticed 3 girls standing behind us. I only recognised one, YiFei. She was the one who had spoken.

"Hush YiFei. Chan, this is Nisha." He said pointing to one girl. She was also wearing a scarf just like Anjum was. She had fair skin and large, dark eyes. She had a very timid smile and didn't seem like a loud kind of girl. Then Baekhyun pointed to the next girl who was a little shorter.

"And this is Aklima." She wore a scarf too. She was wearing glasses with a very slim, black frame. She too had glowing skin and dark eyes. Except this girl striked me as the kind of girl who, once you got to know her, was very open and loud. I could tell by her bright smile and cheerful eyes. 

"It's nice to meet you." I uttered awkwardly. 

"It's good to meet you too." Aklima answered with a slight smile. 

A small silent fell between us until I thought of a question that I had decided to ask everyone I now met, just so I could know a little more about them

"What are all your powers?" I asked.

"Chronoprohiberis. Or basically the power to stop time." Aklima smiled. 

"Teleportation." Anjum said. She sounded very smooth with every word she said. 

"Mind Control." Nisha almost mumbled. She really was shy.

"Spirit!" Nina beamed.

"Spirit? What's that?" I asked.

"I have the power to use and control all four elements! Earth, Air, Fire and Water!" She smiled.

They all had really cool powers. I enjoyed this new discovery, maybe I would've left the house more often if I knew about it.

"So, Chanyeol. What's your power?" Anjum asked.

Everything went silent again. I was still yet to discover my power. Everything went a little bit awkward.

"Oh will you look at the time! Sorry ladies, but we have a tour to be getting on with." He cleared his throat and took my hand again.

"We'll see you again Chanyeol! Have a good day!" I heard Nina shout behind us as we ran down the coridoor. These maids were so nice, but it was no doubt that they were probably treated like by the Royals.

We ran through the coridoors, weaving in and out of random doors. Until we got to Baekhyun's bedroom. 

"Hey... Out of all the millions of rooms in this place. Why did you choose is one?" I asked. It wasn't the biggest for sure and it was placed away from all the other bedrooms in here.

"... Here... I'll show you." He muttered.

We walked over to where his window seat was. He sat down on the floor infront of the wall next to it. I didn't understand why, but I sat down next to him anyway.

He took the edge of the wallpaper which was tucked under the dado rail. He slowly pulled it down, revealing the previous wallpaper. The wallpaper had obviously been peeled off before since it came down so easily. He pulled it all the way down until I could see the full wall behind it.

The colour of paint underneath had faded, yet there was still two faint lines which were familiar to me. One line was green and the other was the blue, the blue line being higher than the green.

Thats when I remembered. The first time me and Baekhyun met, when we were kids. My eyes widened in disbelief.

"Seriously? This is the room?" I asked with a grin across my face. He nodded, mimicking my smile.

"Yep. I remember when you left I cried so much that I made myself sick. I wouldn't shut up until my mum let my have this place become my room." He chuckled. 

"That's so sweet. I can't believe this whole time, this was the place we first met. And this..." I said standing up and resting a hand on the window seat.

"This was were I first spoke to you. When you asked me about the stars." I smiled sitting down.

"Yep. When I was a child I was fascinated by the sky. The moon, the stars... Unfortunately I could never see the sun. I remember when I was even younger I tried to stay up to watch the sun rise. Luckily someone walked in and noticed I was awake." He  laughed sitting down next to me and staring out of the window.

"Do you still wanna see the sun?" I asked cautiously. I was hinting at the attempted suicide, but I wanted a straight forward answer.

"... No... It was a mistake." He said still staring into the distance. 

"Good..." Was all I could utter.

He turned his head from the window to my eyes.

"Your eyes sparkle when you look at me, I don't need to see the sun when I have the stars im your eyes." He smiled. His hand found it's way to the bottom of my jaw and lifted my lips to his. 

Sometimes he could be such a cute little . 

But I knew that deep down inside, despite my new optimistic outlook, he would soon have to find a female suitor.

Whether we liked it or not.

~~~

We had spent maybe 4 hours running about the palace, eating everything and just having fun in general. This was a rare opportunity and we wanted to make the most of it. 

We were both laying on the large sofa's in the main living room, asking each other questions and sometimes just contemplating life.

"So, what do you think happens when we die?" Baekhyun asked after he blew a piece of his hair out of his eye.

"I don't know, I mean it calms me to think that we go to a better place. But I'm not too sure if that will be the reality. What do you think?" 

"I don't know. When I was a kid I used to believe in that silly 'collectors of love' story my Mom used to tell me." He said with a shrug.

"'Collectors of love'?"

"Yeah. Haven't you ever heard that?" I shook my head. "Well, I guess it's similar to how those human children believe in Santa. My Mom used to tell me that if you die the 'traditional' Strigoi way, then a Collector of Love will find your heart and take it to the heavens where you will be reborn and live again with lost loved ones." He explained.

"And what is the 'traditional' way for a Strigoi to die?" I asked.

"Don't you remember? I told you before that the way to kill a Strigoi is a dagger to the heart. Jheeze don't you ever listen to me?" He scoffed.

"Yeah, I remember. But how do the collectors get your heart if theres a dagger in it?" I asked.

"Well, it doesn't specifically have to be a dagger. A simple removement of the heart kills you and stops you from becoming a Jiang Shi. You're obvioulsy not gonna talk to little kids about putting a knife into someones heart." He laughed.

The thought was a bit grim. I still think it's a bit depressing to tell kids that there are people who take your heart when you die. What the heck is that all about?

"Didn't you ever get told that story as a kid?"

"Nope. My parent's were always very optimistic. We rarely ever spoke about death. And when I moved into Aunt's house we barely even had deep conversations. She was a caring woman, but she was as emotionally disconnected as a rock."

"'Was'?"

"She died about 4 years ago. I didn't hear anything from her. We kind of drifted apart once I left home..." I sighed.

"Oh..." He said awkwardly. "What were your first impressions of me? Like once we were older?" He asked changing the subject.

"I thought you was a nasty prick." I snickered.

"Language." He mocked. I darted my eyes at him. Since I'd been with him I'd really let my curse words unleash.

"You were. The first night we spoke you spilled wine all over me, treated me like a peasant and acted like you didn't even remember me. When ironically, you were sleeping in the room we first met!" I laughed.

"That was just a phase. You know I'm not actually like that. That was when I was under the influence of those boys. I'm a changed man. And deep down in my heart I knew that you had grown into the most beautiful young man I had ever seen. You looked y as that night." He smirked.

"Well, you could've shown a little bit of love if you thought I was that hot." I laughed. "What was your first impression of me?" I added.

"Well, during my little phase I convinced myself that you were this pointless nobody. But I knew subconciously that you were gonna be on my mind for months. Ever since we met when we were kids I had always thought about you. Wondering where you were, what you was doing in life, if you was well. And guess what..." 

"What?"

"It wasn't the government telling you that you had to go to the ball." He smirked.

I was bewildered. Ofcourse it was. Who else would care about me going? I looked at him in confusion. 

"Then who sent me that letter?" I asked.

"Someone who wanted to know where you were? What you was doing in life? If you was well?" 

It clicked in my mind that it was him. That little sent me that letter. He was the one who got me to go.

"You... You..." I sat up in suprise.

"I'm what?" He carried on with that frustrating smirk of his.

"You are such a little liar! Trying to act like you didn't know who I was when it was you who freaking invited me!" I yelled. I wanted to kill him and kiss him at the same time. It was so frustrating that he lied to me on that night, but so sweet that he wanted to see me again so bad.

"I just wanted to know how you grew up. I wanted to see what you was like. And it was unplanned, but I ended up falling in love with you..."

I couldn't help but grab his face and kiss him as hard as I could. He was so sweet and he looked so cute and loving within that moment. Despite how much of an he was when we first met he had actually loved me this whole time. 

I kissed him for maybe a good five minutes. My hand was locked into his hair and his arms were wrapped tightly around my body. 

"Get up!" YiFei came running through the door of the living room.

"Why what's wrong?" Baekhyun said sitting up.

"Your parent's are home. They must have met up and decided to return. You need to hide!" She started hurrying us out of the door. We sprinted up and opened the doors.

As soon as we walked out we could see his Mom and Dad standing at the door debating with two maids.

"Madam please, you both deserve sometime out alone." One of them said.

"What are you trying to hide from us?!" His mother yelled.

"Quick. You need to hide." Anjum and Nina, the maids, came out of nowhere and took my hand. 

We all scurried down the coridoor before I was shoved into a coat closet. It was pitch black and all I could hear was the sound of the maids heels clicking around outside. I could hear Baekhyuns Dad shouting outside and out of simple curiousity I slyly opened the door a little. I had a perfect view of where they was all standing. 

I could see Baekhyun, YiFei, Nina and Anjum standing in front of them trying to buy themselves some time. 

"We have decided to return home and here you all are trying to dictate us!" His Mother shouted.

"Mom! Please! Just calm-"

"Don't go on the same side as these peasants! Baekhyun you are my child, have some respect for-" She paused as she looked in my direction. Every sound seemed to stop and it was like everyone was frozen. I let out a shaky breath in fear. 

Had she seen me?

His Father came storming towards me. My heart started pounding and I quickly shut the door. I tucked my legs under my arms and scrunched my eyes tight. Until I heard a piercing scream come from outside the door.

They wasn't looking at me... Were they?

I slowly opened the door and peeked out again. My view was covered by his Fathers back and fortunately he couldn't see me.

"If there is ever another Dhamphir brought into my territory..." His voice pounded the walls with every word he shouted. 

"They will be killed." He added, his voice still booming.

I made the connection that obviously one of the maids had forgotten to wear their contacts. I wonder what had happened. Unfortunately, I knew. As soon as he walked off I was revealed to the horrible sight infront of me.

It was Yoon-A.

Her chest was ripped open and her body was facing me. Her lifeless eyes staring into mine. I had to place my hand over my mouth to stop the sobbing. Her hair was messed up and her skin was pale. There was a gaping hole where her heart should have been placed. It was almost as horrid as when my parents had died.  

He had killed Yoon-A. 

If this was the consequence of a maid being a Dhamphir, how would they react to their son dating a Dhamphir?

I lean't my head against the wall and let the tears run down my cheeks. The door was opened slowly and there he was, Baekhyun. He looked as upset as me, but he wasn't crying.

"C'mere." He sighed opening his arms. I stood up weakly and fell into him letting him hold me up straight.

"It's okay baby. It's okay he's gone. My dad's not gonna hurt you. She's in a better place now, don't look at her." He whispered holding me tight and patting my back.

No matter how much he told me to forget it I knew that I wouldn't be able to get the image of her bloody chest out of my mind.

She was one of the only people I trusted nowadays. Her and Baekhyun were two of the people I knew I could talk to. And now she's gone.

"C'mon, we're leaving." Baekhyun sighed as we ran out of the door and past the guards not looking back for anything.

----

Hey guys! 
I decided to update a little earlier since I had some free time and decided to write the next chapter. Yoona is gone! Nooo~ ;-; 
....
Okay you guys probably don't care, but what do you guys think of her death? What do you guys suspect will happen next? What do you think will become of their fate?

Ahem, anywho I know this is a lengthy chapter but I haven't updated since forever. 
I finished one of my exams this morning and I think I did well! Thanks to you lovely readers who wished me good luck!~ I have one more exam on Friday and hopefully I can update again the day after~

Anyways have a good day and Byeee!❤️