As soon as Hoseok wakes up, sharp, stinging sensations simultaneously attack his body. He groans in pain. His wounds feel like they’re gnawing his skin. It must have been because of his sleeping position. Ironically, being uncomfortably tied up while sleeping would have been better for him. Aside from this his lips are chapped and his throat is dry. He isn’t able to sleep very well so the events last night are still clear to him. He’s certain that they happened.

He tries to gather his thoughts one by one. He fell from a cliff. He thought he was dead. He woke up in a strange room. This vampire named Yuna ,who first thought of his blood, made a deal with him—that she’d let him escape when his friends find him and he must keep quiet in return. And for some reason he agreed.

The door opens out of nowhere. Yuna who is already dressed up in casual clothes comes in with bandages and medicines.

“Oh, you’re awake.” she comments. She had planned to treat his wounds while he’s asleep. Nevertheless, she walks closer and sits on the bed beside him.

Hoseok rubs his heavy eyes and sees the things on her hands. “What’s with the bandages?” he absentmindedly asks.

After putting down the first aid, “Let me see your wounds.” she orders.

Hoseok looks at her, full of confusion in his face. “What?” he says in a hoarse voice and points at her.

“What what?” Yuna frowns.

Hoseok shrugs. “Nothing.” he says and removes his shirt.

Yuna gently applies the ointment in a small wound in his arm and wraps it with bandage afterwards. As Hoseok watches in awe, he asks. “How did you know how to do this?”

“It’s an inborn skill. At least that’s what my father said.” she answers, still immersed in what she’s doing.

Hoseok purses his lips. He finds it ironic that this woman in front of him is treating his wound when she just attempted to kill him last night. Not to mention that she’s a vampire who is originally the one who causes wounds. But then again the things that have been happening to him are already absurd so he must learn how to be used to them.

Yuna proceeds to the wounds in his upper body. There are three of them in total, all of which cover a large area and are a bit deep. Fortunately, there are no splinters that would have caused infection. She applies the ointment onto each wound starting with the one on his left waist.

Hoseok suddenly yelps at the contact of the substance in his skin. “Ow!” he yelps. It stings and hurts a lot.  

Yuna flinches. She tries to apply another layer, ignoring his earlier response and receives the same reaction. She frowns yet again. She won’t be able to finish if he keeps reacting like that.

“Your hand. Too much pressure.” he says.

“Oh.” She hadn’t done this in a while. She must have forgotten that she needs to be gentle especially with open wounds. She lessens the pressure in applying the ointment and he doesn’t respond anymore. After repeating the same process to the rest of the wounds, she wraps his abdomen with the bandage.

She pats his shoulder “There.”

“Thanks.” he says and puts his shirt back on.

“Don’t thank me. I did not do it for you.” she says and stands up, carrying the first aid in her hands.

“When I say thanks, you say ‘you’re welcome’.” he blatantly says but she ignores him.

As she approaches the door she turns back and says “Your lips are disgusting. Go get some water at the kitchen.”

Hoseok scoffs. If she’s going to be kind, why add unnecessary insults?

Fortunately the kitchen is easy to be found. There are normal furniture and appliances and the place is clean, obviously because no one in this household needs to use it. He opens the fridge and drinks from a bottle until no drop is left. He then scans the foods in the fridge. Eggs, fruits, milk—there are normal foods in it, just expired though. Full of curiosity, he pulls the opening of the freezer below and a frozen arm shows up.

He falls on his back and screams. Not wanting to see it anymore, he immediately closes the freezer. He almost forgot where he really is in a split second.

Some of the vampires heard him and they rush towards the kitchen. Soni who was nearby also comes. All of  them sees him sitting in front of the fridge with a frightened and pale face.

“You shouldn’t meddle around here.” Soni tells him in a hostile manner and leaves after seeing that nothing big has happened. With just one look, she could tell that he saw something that he must not see. Not her concern, though.

Hoseok stands up after recovering from the slight shock. He had seen worse in tv but never in real life, until now.

Suddenly, one of the vampires approaches him with delight. She scans his face with wide eyes and big grin.  “Did you just see the color returned to his face?” she exclaims. “It’s so wonderful!”

Before he could react the others whom he thought had already left go near him as well. “Ah! I wish I had that color in my skin too!” one comments. “I’m too pale!”

“I like it when humans slowly lose their color when I their blood.”

“I wonder how he tastes.”

“He’s thin. I don’t think he tastes good.”

“He’s pretty.”

They flock around him and half praise, half insult him like some painting in a street. But he can’t speak up because they’re too noisy and too fed up in his physique and color. And taste. He wants to get out and return to his room.

As Yuna is leisurely heading towards the kitchen, she already hears the noises from afar. She goes closer and sees her servants fuss around Hoseok.  

“What are you doing?” she interrupts them. Upon hearing her voice,  they immediately draw back from him. She gestures them to leave.

Hoseok sighs in relief.  

Yuna turns her gaze at him and says, “Why the hell are you still in pajamas?”, as she shoots him with a disgusted look.

Hoseok is taken aback. “Why can’t I?” he retorts. What is her problem now?

“You want to go to the supermarket looking like that? Fine.” she grabs his hand and drags him outside the kitchen. Not her problem if the people stare at him.

Hoseok tries to free himself from her grasp but he can’t. What is she blabbering right now? “What do you mean market? If you’re going to look for your food don’t drag me with you.” He doesn’t want to see more bits and pieces of human flesh. Why does he have to come with her?

She lets go of him and crosses her arms. “I’m going to buy you food, idiot. You can’t starve here.” she says. “But if you don’t want to, much better. There are still leftovers in the ref-- ”

Hoseok is the one who is dragging her out this time. “I’m just joking! I’m actually so excited!” he says as he fakes a laugh. He has even forgotten that he’s just wearing pajamas.

As they reach the door, Hoseok halts after remembering something and looks at her. “Wait. Aren’t you gonna burn to death outside?” he asks. As far as he knows about her kind, don’t they turn to ashes if they’re exposed too much light?

Yuna confusedly stares at him. Is he making fun of her or something? “What?”

“Sunlight? Aren’t you sensitive to it?” he emphasizes.

Yuna purses her lips. She wonders how he knew about her sensitivity to UV rays. “I’ve applied sunblock so it’s fine.” she says.

“Really? Just that?” Hoseok exclaims.

Yuna’s face contorts even more. Then she realizes why he’s fussed up. He must be thinking that she’s going to die by going outside. “We don’t burn to death with just little sunlight, okay?” she says, a bit irritated. “It’s a stupid exaggeration made up by humans.”

“Oh.” he nods and both of them heads toward the car.

Yuna starts the engine. As soon as Hoseok puts on his seatbelt, he asks another question. “How about garlic then?” He became intrigued about their nature all of a sudden because of the sunlight topic.

“Most of us are allergic to it, but not me.” Yuna answers, still looking forward at the road.

“It doesn’t kill you either?” he glances at her. Seeing her act so normally driving the car, makes her look like a human instead of a vampire. She never looked like one, actually. Her paleness is different to that of her servants. It’s as if she still has color left in her skin, only lesser compared to him. 

“Unfortunately for you, no.” Yuna answers, full of sarcasm. She’s certain that he isn’t asking these questions in order to find out her weakness and kill her. And even if he does, he wouldn’t be able to succeed. She’s not stupid.

“Ahh. What a pity.” he jokes.

Minutes passed and they’re not even halfway to their destination. The mansion is quite far away from commercial buildings which is not a surprise because it’s located at the mountainside. Even so, Hoseok still hasn’t stopped interrogating Yuna about the vampires and even other creatures. It’s been so long that he even started asking stupid questions, in Yuna’s perspective, that is.

“Do you know Count Vladmir? He’s a pretty popular vampire.”

Yuna sighs in the dullness of the conversation. “I don’t know him personally. And I don’t think he really exists.”

Hoseok nods. He finds it exciting for him to be able to know this much from a very reliable source.

In contrary, Yuna who is dying because of boredom, wants to liven things up. “I’ve been telling you things about me and my kind. I think it’s time for me ask you now.” she says.

Hoseok purses his lips. He wants to ask more questions but then she must have something she’s curious about so he says, “Okay.”

“Have we met before?” she seriously asks. She may not seem like it, but she’s been bugged by the fact that hearing his name rings her a bell. He could be or could not be that person. But she’s certain that she has met someone with the same name who she had been close with. She just can’t remember when or where or how long.

Hoseok blinks a few times and then laughs afterwards. “Of course not. It’s my first time in this place, and you’re the first vampire I’ve ever met. It’s impossible.” He can’t tell if she’s joking or not with her question, but he thinks it’s too lame for a joke so he decides to answer it half-seriously.

“You’re right.” she says. Either she’s remembering the wrong name, or she really hadn’t been close to anyone. Come to think of it, how can that even happen when all she’s been close to a guy is her dad? She must be just out of her mind. “I was just joking.”

Hoseok almost pukes out the water he drank earlier with what she just said.

“You weren’t lying when you said you had a girlfriend?” she asks next, but not really interested about it. She really just wanted to confirm if they had met each other before. “How long has it been?”

Hoseok frowns. “Why the hell will I lie about that? I really have a girlfriend. We just started 6 months ago.”

“Ohh…” she exclaims, pretending to sound interested. The car was silent for a minute since then.

“Are we almost there?” Hoseok asks. He noticed that they have been driving for half an hour, but all he can see are trees everywhere.

“Just half an hour.” she responds. “How old are you?”

Hoseok is taken aback with the sudden random question but he answers anyway, “22. You?”

“Same.” she casually replies.

“Really?!” Hoseok exclaims. “I thought you’d be about 200.”

Yuna scoffs. “I don’t look that old.”

“Well, vampires in the movies I see have that age even though they look like my age.” he defends.

“Again, that’s a stupid exaggeration. We do last for hundreds of years but by then they’d look like they’re in their 60’s in your point of view.” she says.

“Ohhh.” he exclaims in wonder.

“Humans are so stupid.” Yuna comments after a heavy sigh.