a/n: aekyung is that girl who's part of Ahra's clique and who overheard Jaemin and Sihoo talking about his vampire secret :) first part is in her pov, sorry if it's confusing.

Aekyung isn’t the type to watch things go down from the sidelines, not really.

Ever since she had overheard Jaemin confronting Han Sihoo about him being a vampire in their band, she’d kept the secret, and it had pushed her over the edge like a parasite eating into her heart. It tempted her really, what if the whole school knew? What if I told them?

Other than him being too close with that annoying, revolting vampire girl Mari, Aekyung would have never guessed that he was one of those bloodsuckers. It did shock, and horrify her; after all, he was a vampire, and to think I liked him? along with like, half of the school’s female population?

But more pressing than these emotions, and more mind-boggling than Han Sihoo’s deep dark secret, was Ahra’s reaction to all of this.

Aekyung had been Ahra’s friend since middle school, and they would tell each other everything. Be it about gossip, eye-candy, second-hand ing, or horribly embarrassing secrets, Aekyung had always thought she’d known it all. Ahra wasn’t a very secretive person; she was blunt and sassy, and openly determined.  And sometimes, the way Ahra got her way with things had annoyed the out of Aekyung.

Yes, she was jealous. She wanted it too. You could call her a bad friend, but whatever.

However, if there was one thing keeping their friendship together, it was trust. And now, Aekyung finds herself doubting if Ahra ever trusted her at all. Because all band members did know about Sihoo being a vampire, but why didn’t Ahra say anything? It had been almost two weeks since Aekyung came to know about it, but Ahra had been a closed book about it all.

“Han Sihoo, I’m not even going to mention your marks, but you failed,” the chemistry teacher calls with a resigned frown on his face. They’re getting back their chemistry midterm papers, and it looks like Sihoo had failed badly once again. He hardly looks apologetic when he takes the paper, turns it face down and puts his head on the table.

Some girls uselessly try to comfort him with words like “oppa, gwenchana,” and ugh, if only they knew the monster beneath his hot rebel exterior.

He turns his head to the left to ignore their small talk, and Aekyung realises he’s looking in her direction. She’s alarmed for a while, until she sees that it’s not her that he’s looking at; it’s Ahra that sits next to her.

“How much did you get?” Ahra not-so-secretly whispers across the classroom, and Han Sihoo scowls. Aekyung sees this all, of course.

Ahra mouths “tell me!” and he flips over his paper, showcasing the condemning “18/100” in blood red block letters.

It really marvels her how comfortable Ahra’s been acting towards Sihoo, even after she had known about his vampire status. And she’s not even scared? But she hasn’t told me anything?

Ahra shoots him a look and mouths something like “i-told-you-that-you-needed-help!”, and he rolls his eyes and shushes her dismissively, burying his head on the table.

There’s something strange going on between the untouchable Han Sihoo and her best friend from middle school, and Aekyung notices it, most definitely.

Aekyung isn’t the type to watch things go down from the sidelines ; she’s just waiting for the right time.

To strike.

Last Saturday, Ahra, after a lot of piano-playing, false bravado and beating around the bush, had finally gotten Sihoo to re-perform the song she had wanted to hear since that day on the street during the blood donation school drive. She’s quite proud of her efforts, and she wonders if she should do a youtube cover of the song as she enters the female toilet with her uh, squad.

“Hey, don’t you think Ahra’s been a little weird lately?” Aekyung suddenly asks Minsun as she fixes her hair in the mirror.

“Weird? Me?” Ahra repeats, tastes the word on her tongue. What’s weird is that suspicious glint in Aekyung’s eyes.

 “Yeah you. I do think so, Aekyung,” Minsun says and turns to her with narrowed eyes. “What’s up with you and Han Sihoo?”

“W-W-What?”

Aekyung puts her hands on her hips and walks towards her. “You heard me.”

Ahra backs up into the corner of the wall.

“Han Sihoo has a condition, and you know it.”

“Ahra, Aekyung’s right, isn’t she.”

There’s a mix of anger and something unidentifiable on Aekyung’s face as she speaks. “I really thought it over these past few days… and I thought you would tell us. I heard everyone who did band knew.”

Ahra shifts uncomfortably against the wall. “It was a promise; I couldn’t break it.”

Her mind races with anxious thoughts; how did she know? Holy please don’t say it, don’t say it-

“Nonsense. Why is it a secret that Han Sihoo is a vampire?”

In her head, she wishes that no one else is here in the bathroom, wishes for them to not react badly to Sihoo, wishes to escape the interrogation by her own friends.

“If it gets known, the school will become a mess again-”

“Aren’t you even scared? A guy like Han Sihoo is a vampire!” Aekyung bursts out.

The clicking and unclicking of toilet cubicle locks resound in her ears as their classmates emerge from the cubicles. On their faces, there’s written panic and horror.

.

Three girls return to class with shaky legs and tremble as they scream, “Han Sihoo is a vampire!”.

Twenty-two students go ballistic amongst themselves, even in the middle of a Geography class.

Two teachers leave the class to inform the office, in fear.

One person stays in the same position amidst it all, his facial expression stoic  as he watches go down before his eyes. He doesn’t know how they all suddenly know, but looking at Ahra, Aekyung and Minsun’s empty desks, he has a faint idea of how it happened.

Mari looks aghast, looks at him in pity.

Frantic sounds of designer school shoes against polished concrete comes to a stop as Ahra appears at the back door of the classroom, panic-stricken. Her minions, friends, whatever they are, show up not long after. Aekyung looks in contempt as she swirls a hairbrush between her fingers.

“Looks like they found out,” he mutters into the silence that hangs like fish on the brink of rotting.

Ahra’s mouth opens, sort of, like she wants to say something but she can’t find the words.

Even when he gets up to question his deskmate of months if he’s been afraid of him, he replies Sihoo with a shaky “no, not at all,” but he can feel the boy’s shoulders tense uncomfortably.

Even when he walks out of the classroom, he hears them hurriedly move the desks back with exclaims of “, that bastard is so creepy!”

Even when he’s twenty metres away from the classroom, he swears he can sense Ahra’s heartbeat beating wildly in her chest. He knows Mari is worried too.

But well. Sihoo had always known it was going to turn out like this. Good times don’t last forever, and life has always made it a point to remind himself just that, every step of the way.

(Just like how he lost his parents, like how he had to move 11 schools in a span of 8 school years, like how he had thought he’d finally found solace in Mari when Jaemin had to come into the picture, like how any sort of fragile friendship in this school can be broken by mere words.)

sidenote: i'm starting a new Orange Marmalade fic in which the VCS has darker purposes and Sihoo's ressurrection from the almost-dead is part of their latest phase of experiments towards superhuman warfare (utilising his vampire abilities for war). it's sihoo x ahra again HAHA 

check it out! http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1000542