We arrived at the headquarters, all glass and symbol of technology. My eyes were burning in too much light as we travelled the white corridors and go to one of the conference room. The only female, I assumed their leader, was the only one left for me. We sat across each other and started her pages and pages of questions that I needed to answer. Although I was mad with Kris, I did not turn him to this people. I stated I was an exchange student that basically passing by at that place for some school research. The innocent face Mr. Kim described as me was convenient since they easily believe my testimony. I did not know how long I spent there to complete this task.

After the interrogation, she introduced themselves as the World’s Bureau of Supernatural Abilities, main sector of vampire hunters. She told me their monitoring the Notorious Wu Yi Fan, the sole pure blood immortal remaining for the Li Clan. He changed his name from Li Jiaheng, Kevin Li, Ken Li, Wu Fan, Wu Yi Fan, and so and so forth. They were not updated that my master’s current name was Kris Wu.

“The Li Clan almost extinct status is all thanks to the late agents named Park Sun Chul and Kim Jong Woon.” The female leader said, passing a tablet with the profile of those people. They were my parents. “Both coming from a long generation of Vampire Hunting Clan, they were the best duo. So sync that they settled down into a family together.”

I read their biography thoroughly, an opportunity to meet them for the first time. I resembled my mom too much, our auburn hairs, our eyes, noses, lips, our faces and skins. I could not see anything I resembled with my dad but he was good looking.

“Come to think of it, you looked like Sun Chul.” I tensed at her comment, yet I pretended to don’t know and just ran my curiosity.

“H-how did they die?” She gulped but still stern as she looked at me.

She changed the window of the tablet into a video that looked so old with its quality. Our home was installed with CCTV‘s in each corner of it. On the date of the murder, a tall lanky man in a hooded black jacket entered that house like a wind in its speed. He knew where to locate my parents and in fast hand, my folks lost breath. Even you replayed that capture several times; it was difficult how he took their lives away.

He greedily smacked both of my dead parent’s wrists till they withered, who left with skin and bones. My heart constricted at the view. He did not end there, going to the next room where one soul was left.

I could never imagine I had a wealthy lifestyle in my infancy, sleeping soundly in my yellow all in ones. Unlike how he attacked my parents, he was careful with his steps coming to my crib. He lifted me into his arms as if he was inspecting every inch of my face. I opened my round eyes and he was intently looking at me. I did not cry when I woke up and saw him; instead, I babbled as if I was glad to see him there. In the excitement of that baby, he pulled the hood of the man off from him, revealing that familiar form. Instead scowling of being exposed, he beamed at the baby. He kissed him lovingly on the forehead.

I was stunned, and did not even notice the tear that rolled from my eye.

“The CCTV stopped from that moment and the male infant was not found when the team investigated the house. Eventually, the kid was considered dead.” She explained, facing me. She pointed the tears in my eyes.

“It’s such a shame that they lived minimal in this world.” I chuckled in my snivels while wiping the residue of my tears with the heel of my palm.

She nodded steadily. “It’s such a shame too that we thought we found their son but you mentioned before that you just recently orphaned.”

“Yes, my father died in an accident.” I said quietly.

“We’re sorry for the lost but you don’t mind if we get a DNA sample from you, correct?” I nodded although I was unconfident.

Little to their knowledge, I cried silently underneath the blanket, later that night.

I was uncomfortable to sleep at night due to the nocturnal practice I had been doing for months now. My pillow soaked in wet and I did not care anymore of what they would think of me. My parents were probably thwarted because I disclaimed them as my real one.

I was happy to see them but it was excruciating to see their defenceless death. I should be in rage against Kris with that pain he caused. And then, the picture of me with him when I was a baby was beautiful and endearing. He must not know but he loved me from there. I must not know but I love him from there.

He kept a lot of secret, though little by little, I could solve the puzzle of my past. I could vision him observing me as I grew up years and years past. He was always living next door to mine. He was always standing at the pavement at dawn.  He was always discreet and unnoticed but he was forced to genuinely enter my life due to some sudden changes. Wiping the boredom out of his thousand years, he found it within me. Why I just saw it now?

The problem was progressing, because the family I loved, and the person I loved, despised one another. My head, my heart, my whole body was aching.

I dreamed that night about my adoptive mother meeting my real parents in a picnic. The sky is bright and blue and the temperature was just right for the flower field. There were big smiles on their lips and they quickly connected a common topic — me. My Adoptive Mom told how she raced me to my parents, me sitting in the middle of them, listening to their conversation and titters. It was peaceful; I wanted to take a nap, my head on the table.

“Chanyeol.” My eyes automatically opened to reality, facing Kris above me.

It was bewildering of how he got in. I hurriedly sat up, he signalled me to be quite so I nodded. He held my hand as we proceeded to the exit. I glanced up on him and he sensed; I dodged the contact. It felt like a long time had passed since I got there, even though only a day was done. I was not used to getting intimate with him to any further extent.

“Did they do something to you like get your specimens?” I shook my head — those guys are planning to do it tomorrow though. “Did they ask you?” I nodded. “What did they ask you?”

The door of the elevator opened; surprisingly, a guard was the one inside. Kris advanced in assaulting the latter, killing him by a slashed on his neck with master’s bare hand and making me scream. It was my fault that I woke the whole operation of the hunters — alarm ringing everywhere.

Looking disappointed, he sighed lending his back on me. “Get on.”

This was an emergency and I did not hesitate to be carried by him.

We went out welcomed by the forest. There was a possibility they get to grips with the whole area but I was relying to Kris’ greatness on this situation. He ran further carrying me at his back, when he believed we were very far, stopping at the community farm, he put me down and we walked.

At the time Kris killed the guard, I saw the beast released inside him. It was an easy job to take the soul out of a mortal. But what if, his crime to our family did not happen and I became one these slayers. Would I die in his hands like he commonly and effortlessly did?

Passed the farm, woods was the next route we were going through. I did not memorize that I travelled along the hunters this extreme. The city might be miles away from there. I was losing air and energy, too good for him those things were unnecessary. Because I was about to lose myself, I slipped on the hanging root of those gigantic trees, my ankle broke.

“Let me see.” I sprawled my legs on the soft floor for him to examine.

Taking my shoes off, my ankle rapidly swollen as soon as my feet was exposed. The sight was starting to light, I bent my head up and the sun was almost up. We could not stay here longer.

“Kris—I mean—Master, you better leave me here, and find a shelter before the sunrise catches you.”

“No.” He trashed my suggestion and lifted me, legs and back was lying on his arms.

He rushed running, showing his true strength. His speed was better than any race car. I wrapped my arms all over his neck tightly. We were lucky to find a barn in the middle of that place. Collapsing at the haystack, I gasped for air not because I was tired, but the pressure we were going through.

I peeled my eyes open, to a weight of someone sitting beside me. He did not look fatigued from the fled at all.

“Are you hungry?”

“No.” I answered while my throat was squeezing tight.

“Don’t be stubborn and tell me the truth. You’re hungry, aren’t you?” He asked lowly.

“If we’re talking about the truth, you should have told me my entire past that you and I were involved.” I turned my body and face to opposite direction. I heard his frustrated exhale.

“Are we on that again?”

“Just don’t mind me, master.” I breathily said. “Humans don’t die if they can’t eat for 24 hours. Let’s stay here for the rest of the day.”

We did not open our mouths after then that cause me to fall asleep.

I opened my eyes and found a grocery bag adjacent to my eyes. There were snacks and drinks and my feet were fully bandaged. I scanned the room more and my eyes locked to the man’s silhouette standing beside the exit. The moonlight shone at the side of his face.

“Did you just get out?” He looked to my way and walked forward.

He climbed the hays where I was on top of it, always searching a space to be closer to me.

“You need to eat so we could continue our journey.” He toted the bag on his lap. He opened the yogurt drink for me and so as the sandwich.

“I don’t need a babysitter.” He chuckled at me.

I sulked with the way his treating me, hunger and thirst mixing. Unconsciously, my face became laughable to him.

“You really don’t need a babysitter, huh?” He carefully used his sleeve to wipe the mess off my mouth. In his action, the last scene on the video that I just watched flashed to my memory.

I flinched, rummaged the plastic and found a napkin there. “I could wipe myself.” My voice muffled.

In the silence between us, I reflected to the recent occurrence. We pretended to be as father and son in the human world, master and servant in the actuality of his vampire world, but—the run of events altered heaps of items.

“Chanyeol, we’re not going home to our unit here, or in Seoul. Will that be okay with you?” While I was in the middle of my rumblings, he opened up a new decision out of the blue.

I understood why we were doing these adjustments but… “Where?”

We flied to New York and instead of a vast unit; I was dumbfounded to see a studio flat before me. I was not used to with the so-human ambiance of the place. There were too many colours. I heard the chimed sound of a key being placed on wooden surfaced so I turned around.

“I enrolled you to Brooklyn College and still schedule in the night.” He informed me. “I hired an English Tutor and she will be here dusk before school.”

 “Master.”

“This place was very convenient to your transportation, hospital and establishments to your necessities.” As if he was deaf, not to hear me called him.

So, I tried again. “Master.”

“It was small but you have the view of the whole city.”

“Master!” He paused and I was able to get his attention. “Wh—”

“Please pend your questions later.” He was stricter this time that I did not attempt to stretch my mouth. “Let’s go for a lunch first.”

I ate at a diner along him and the questions inside my mind doubled. Things were getting weirder and weirder. I did not know if Kris lost his wealth or there where something coming up that I needed to expect. But, if it was mandatory that he would leave me for a while, I needed to endure it or whatsoever.

If this will truly be our last time at this moment together, I should asked him to this sundae with me. It must be tasteless for him but I wanted him to know what my favourite food taste like. Thankfully, he softened and opened his mouth for a scoop.

“What do you think?”

“Du schmeckt sehr gut.”

“Please speak something I could understand.” He snorted at my frown. Deep inside, I was happy he could show me his laugh for the last time.

***