Giant, scary clouds swarm overhead. Everything is shrouded in darkness and shadows. Lightning illuminates the landscape every few seconds. BOOM. Oh my God! What—utter cold and maddening dread consumes me from the outside in.Get away from me! Pink engulfs my vision, strangling my mind, freezing my nerves into numbness yet a mind-splitting bolt of pain sears through the back of my neck and I’m falling…

“Wake up.”

“AH!” I jolt into a sitting position. Where is that thing! Where is it. Where—”

“Taeyeon. What are you doing?”

“Oh my God! Save me!” I scream when I register Ms Pink’s face. “Save me!”

“Get your clammy hands off.” Ms Pink peels my arms from her shoulders and holds me at arm’s length. “What’s going on, Taeyeon.”

“T-There’s something. S-Scary. I-It—It bit me.”

Ms Pink frowns and pulls me closer to her. “Where?” she asks as her eyes search my face and neck.

“My neck. It bit me on the back of my neck. T-The pain…”

“It bit you? Did you get to see its face?”

“N-No, but…”

“But what.”

“There was lots of pink. In my eyes. In my head. It was all pink.”

“There’s nothing in here. You’re safe. It was a nightmare.”

I sink into the mattress. Grab my head. “It felt so real. The scary sky. The lightning. Like something sinister turned the sky into chaos.” I shake my head. “I swear it’s not just a nightmare.”

Ms Pink studies me for a moment. Then she calls for Executive Secretary Seo who appears beside her in a heartbeat. “Check the perimeter for abnormalities. We’re going into the office for the morning.”

Executive Secretary Seo nods and leaves as quickly as she came and I’m staring at her empty space when I suddenly miss Sunny. “May I go home now?”

“No. We’re going to my office. I have work to do.”

“But I have classes.”

“It’s Wednesday, you don’t.”

“Oh.” Oh great. She not only stalks me by phone, she’s got my class schedule too.

“Get changed. Stupid human or not, I’m not going to be late for work.”

What about breakfast? I turn around to ask but Ms Pink is gone like magic once again…

X

The fact that the clothes fit me like a glove doesn’t really surprise me. Not when I’m up against a vampire who stalks with the latest technology. The dress is all pink with floral prints though and I’m not such a fan of it. Maybe I should speak up for myself.

“Ms Pink, do you have something else I can wear?”

Said vampire doesn’t take her eyes off the road as she replies, “Don’t like the dress I picked out for you?”

Uh oh. This is a bad idea if Ms Pink is the sensitive type. “Floral isn’t really my thing.”

“You look nice in floral print. Feminine. It suits your soft side.”

Her reply reminds me that I am talking to a top designer whose fashion line has just about taken over the world. Funnily enough, that gives me strength. After all, the power always lies in the consumer. “Given a choice, I wouldn’t buy this dress for myself.”

“You don’t have to pay for the dress. I tore yours so this is a replacement.”

“Shouldn’t I have a say in what I get as a replacement?” Where my guts are coming from, I really don’t know.

“If it’s bothering you this much, I’ll have Seo bring a selection of dresses to my office and you may choose the one you want.”

To say that I am surprised would be an understatement. More like shell-shocked in a really good way. Is Ms Pink actually giving in to me? “That would be great. Thank you.”

Ms Pink merely nods as we pull into the parking lot—which looks more like a garage with a pink sliding metal shutter. We are a distance from the place I entered PINK the last time so this must be her private entrance. And it turns out to be the tower that leads straight to the top of the stiletto heel. Right. Of course. A direct route to her office that bypasses everybody else.

The shutter lowers and darkness falls. I tense for a second but then pink lights in two straight lines illuminate the space around us and the car moves up like a helicopter, rising vertically into the sky. Okay. This isn’t magic. This is a car lift and it’ll probably bring us straight to her office.

The car comes to a stop and a second later, rotates a quarter turn to the right. The shutter slides open and I am proven right. It is her office. I don’t want to look like a country bumpkin who has never seen technology before but the car lift looks like something out of a sci-fi movie and the sleek metallic walls of pink that slide shut behind us look like something straight out of an Ironman or Batman movie. Everything is way too cool! If only it doesn’t involve endangering my life…

“Sit.”

I sit on the couch just as someone knocks on the door. It’s Executive Secretary Seo and she’s carrying a bag and something else. That looks awfully familiar…

“Hey, that’s my bag!”

Ms Pink frowns. “I told her to get your belongings.”

“I asked your friend to give me what you need for the day. She seemed all too happy to help me once I told her you’ll be spending time with Ms Pink here.”

The human ability to groan was designed for moments like this one. Sunny…I am going to strangle you when I get back. If I ever get back.

Meanwhile, I should be polite. She did go to the trouble of helping me after all. “Thank you,” I say as I take my bag and sketchbook from Executive Secretary Seo. At least I can try to finish up my logo design for class so my time here isn’t a complete waste.

“Seo, bring Ta