Chapter III "House of Heart Struck"   

   "You pass by and become connected. You enter in and become love." ~ Bantan Boys 'Converse High'   

Jungkook begun to fall forwards, realizing that his efforts to walk away were failing and he will meet the floor. But as he closed his eyes, a pair of arms, real arm, were stretched out to grab him as he as trying to wake up from the weird dream.

He knew the alcohol was working through his blood. But his eyes were getting drowsy. It was a dream, he was about to wake up. His walking felt unreal, his feet were numb and his shirt felt so tight and imaginary. Even the hand that was pressed against his chest felt like was burning and completely fuzzy before he drifted into a blank space where he couldn’t find that nightmare.  

“Dang mortals, can’t even handle their alcohol.” The boy spoke, the dim lights of the alley allowed them to see the mop of dark hair. 

“He’s from the university. I saw him this morning.” The girl spoke as she swiftly brushed away the hairs from his forehead. His soft and silky skin was so cold, yet he was sweating. It was like he was sick or something. 

“Hold him still as I try to find his phone.” All of the weight from the drowsy boy fell upon her. She grunted softly as she tried to keep balance as the lifeless body was leaning against her. 

“Curse you and your good heart June.” She spat as if she would have chosen to leave the boy there. She wasn’t meant to be kind hearted and caring, but being around Junhoe has been changing that. Although she said it, she would not have let the boy there in that condition. 

“Got it, give me his hand, he probably has his finger print programmed in.” Junhoe spoke as his face was shimmering from the bright screen. The girl adjusted her body and placed the drunk boy’s arm around her neck as she tried to prevent him from kissing the ground. 

As Junhoe grabbed the other hand, the boy begun to mumble a few things. One of them being a girl’s name and then he went back to being silent. It was odd, the girl didn’t know if he was having a bad dream or a good dream.

“Oh, I know this guy. He should know what to do.” Junhoe spoke, a bright smile appearing on his face as he showed the girl the name flashing on the screen. Yugyeom, that’s who Junhoe was trying to call now. 

“Hey it’s Junhoe. Yeah, look your friend passed out as I was trying to get home. He’s fine but I want to help him get home, can you give me the address? Yeah, don’t worry I will. Thank you Yugyeom-ah, see you in a bit.” The conversation was quick, Junhoe didn’t like wasting time, especially in situations like this. The girl was satisfied at the quick conversation but knowing Junhoe, she knew it was going to drag on more than she would like.

“Where does he live?” The girl asked as the boy quickly placed the phone away and quickly helped the girl with the weight of the drunken boy. 

“He lives near us, we’ll drop him off, Yugyeom will be there soon to care for him and then we can worry about what the hell Nimbus is doing.” The girl rolled her eyes, even if Junhoe couldn’t see them, he knew her well enough to know she hates babysitting someone like this. “Minyoung-ah, come on, I’ll buy you bubble tea?” His cheesy and desperate offer made her giggle. She had a turn of heart and nodded with excitement, that’s one of the few reasons she loves this world, Bubble tea. 

The two walked in silence. The still air surrounding them was not awkward at all. As they both carried the boy's body, with no problem whatsoever, they gave each other glances and giggled. It was like the two knew what they were thinking. Like when they passed a man with ripped pants on the knees from an obvious accidental fall, they simply burst out in laughter. Neither needed to ask if they saw it, they just knew that's what the source of amusement was.

When the girl with high heels, prancing the streets of Seoul with pride, her hair waving in the cold air, Minyoung rolled her eyes and looked away because she knew he was staring. And when tall guy who accidentally bumped into her, that second when he apologized and she brushed it off as nothing, he wanted to elbow her rib cage in amusement because he knew she found him attractive. This is how it's always been, the only difference is the boy they both held was stuck in between waking up, or sleeping while whispering weird slurs.

"Jungkook-ah! A boy with soft light skin that seemed to give him so much life appeared. His worry tone was obvious and as Minyoung stepped out to see who was running towards them in the hallway, the boy stopped slightly.

"We got him, we'll just carry him in. Which apartment is it?" Junhoe asked, speaking with his kind and eased tone. The boy look hesitant, he didn't want to leave the girl to carry his friend but he had the keys and knew what door to open.

The apartment was just as they left it. The white walls made it looks brighter than the day was, the vibe of the room seemed to be very quiet and cold. It felt like a place where the only warmth came from the stove or a shower.

"Leave him here. You have no idea how thankful I am right now. I shouldn't have left him walk, especially with all the attacks happening around Gangnam, I don’t know what would have happened if you two didn’t find him. " Guilt begun to drown the boy. His plump lips stumbled on his words as his eyes were b with worry. He really cared about Jungkook, which was clear at pure sight.

The two looked at each other, their slight curiosity for the mentioning of the attacks was making them uneasy.

"It's fine. He seems a bit drunk, Minyoung thinks that caused a bit of temperature which lead him to faint." Junhoe spoke as he was trying to be careful with the lifeless body. His skin was pale as if it was freezing but upon touch, he was warmer than normal. His forehead was collecting sweat and his lips were drained from any natural colors. Yugyeom nodded, and as he fetched a blanket from the balcony bed room, he looked back at the girl. There was something about her that was catching his attention and he didn't know what it was.

"You idiot, at least take this off." Minyoung spoke with amusement in her voice. She grabbed the removable cushion that one would normally rest against. It gave the boy more room to sleep comfortably. Her smile was bright and endearing, her voice was velvet smooth that even Junhoe didn’t mind the slight insult, he was just smiling. Yugyeom was thrown off by their aura, it was so different.

“So, what have you heard of the attacks. It’s odd, we thought the city was safer and we move in, hearing all of this is scary.” Junhoe spoke, his voice drowning in concern and comfort, Yugyeom felt like he could tell him everything he knows with ease.

“Just that five people have been stabbed. The odd thing is that they weren’t robbed, they were drunk and alone but they appeared dead with all their money and keys.” Yugyeom spoke, his face was blank and pale, it was like the thought of Jungkook being one of those victims reached his mind again.

“Have you heard where exactly they happened, mostly so we can take precaution too.” The girl spoke, her voice was as smooth as velvet and it almost took Yugyeom’s worry, cradled it and put it to sleep.

“I believe the first one was in the Irwon Bon neighborhood of Gangnam, then it moved north. Hitting the Gaepo neighborhood, Daechi, Yeoksam and then the latest one was in the Nonhyeon neighborhood. It’s only getting closer.” The fear in Yugyeom’s face was real, the worry in his voice was raw and powerful.

The two knew that seeing the boy like this, seeing his human side drowning in fear was painful. They knew that they needed to get to the attackers and take care of them as fast as possible.

“Thank you, for letting us know. It’s getting late, we should get going then.” Jungkook spoke, snapping out of his trans as he smiled, pretending that the urgency he felt was not there.

"Thank you, for everything. Junhoe, I barely even meet you.” He spoke, his voice a bit shaky but he felt even more nervous when he turned to the girl. “And you, I don't even know your name but you have no idea how in debt we are with you." Yugyeom's gratitude was overwhelming but, the dark thoughts that were crossing his mind were strong enough for a desire to bow to enter him. He felt this surge of relief and safety seeing her rich brown eyes cress at her simple smirk.

"It's no problem really. By the way, Minyoung, this is my classmate Yugyeom. Yugyeom, this is my cousin Minyoung." Junhoe was about to trip on the word cousin. He forgot for a second that's what he and Minyoung were.

"Nice to meet you." Yugyeom finished placing a fluffy white pillow under Jungkook's head, the boy groaned softly before dozing off again. Yugyeom turned to Minyoung, a slick yet charming smile appeared on his face as he reached to offer her a hand shake.

"Pleasure, I guess we'll take our leave. By the way, keep his body covered. He may have temperature but his lower body would be freezing. Place a towel or cloth that was damped with cold water on his forehead and neck, it should bring down his fever. See you around." Minyoung spoke, eyeing the boy mumbling without audible words as she explained the precautions to Yugyeom. The boy didn't know how she knew this or why he was so convinced about her suggestions, he just knew it would work.

Seeing the two leave the apartment suddenly caused the room to turn cold. It was like they brought a sense of warmth and energy that Yugyeom has never seen before. He sat on the small chair next to Jungkook. He saw the boy shiver and he didn't want to leave just like that. So he sat there, zoning out as he stared at his hand. He took note on how warm Minyoung's hand felt and how much her presence had made warmth boil in his belly.

She looked at him with simple eyes but they were eyes that were enriched with color and depth. Her soft smile was sweet and heartwarming. She wasn't anything like Park Sooyoung, she didn't seem to have the same feminine appeal and radiating charisma but she was making him think twice.

"What the...?" Yugyeom whispered as he caught a glance at Jungkook's neck. He saw a small red spot hidden right under his jaw bone. It was hard to see, especially since his head hung without control. Jungkook's breath hitched as he groaned softly when he moved his head and touched that red spot with the towel. It was hurting him.

Yugyeom examined it, it was long but thin. It had bits of dry blood tags stained his skin as the wound itself looked like it wasn't open. But as Yugyeom saw, there were two lines next to the wound which made his skin puffy and a bit swollen. The entire thing looked like he got scratched by a dog.

"Yugyeom, I need water." The latter croaks, his cracked lips barely moving and producing audible words. Yugyeom felt his stomach drop as his palms got sweaty. He jumped from his seat and rushed to get a glass. He was happy his friend was fine but he couldn't keep his hand steady.

"You bastard, you scared the crap out of me." Yugyeom tried to sound angry but he couldn't. He didn't know how to be angry he was just glad the idiot was okay.

"Oh you better change your pants then." The dry humor was uplifting. His dry and ruff voice made it sound as if he had years of nonstop smoking. It wasn't pretty but at least hearing him was great to hear.

"Dude, did you get clawed by a dog or a cat? You have a scratch on your jaw." Upon mentioning, there seemed to be a slight burn coming from his jaw. Jungkook wince when his cold finger touched the scratch Yugyeom was talking about.

He didn’t know how it got there, he just remembered hearing a howl, feeling the hot and panting breath of a dog by his ear. He saw a set of turquoise eyes and he thought he was going crazy. He felt himself stumble back as he tried getting up, but he didn’t think much of it. He heard the voices and he knew that he was about to wake up from the drunken dream and so he stared walking towards the voices. But they weren’t voices, they were real people.

“I don’t remember. It must have happened when I fell and someone caught me.” He spoke, his mind aching slightly at the memory. It was like his brain was trying to get him to forget what happened but he wanted to remember it.

“I’ll get some ointment. You could have been attacked, I hope you realized that Jungkook. You’re lucky Junhoe and his cutie of a cousin saved you.” Yugyeom’s stern voice took a turn, his bright smile was so uplifting. Jungkook felt his heart ease as his body was releasing pain and tension. But he knew Yugyeom could never make him feel as safe as Jin did.

“His cousin? Wow, you’re already crushing on someone?” Jungkook’s teasing words played on his dry lips as they were just meet by an amused scoff.

“I don’t know, but she makes me feel comfortable and she has an amazing smile.” Yugyeom spoke, his eyes creasing at his aching smile that was basically slapping Jungkook on the face. The boy shook his head, feeling a surge of happiness from the bottom of his stomach.

“Name. Blood Type. Heritage. Has she ever killed anyone. Is she allowed to leave the country? Of course she’s not because she’s imaginary and goes wherever you go.” Jungkook begun to babble, his joking manner lifting the entire vibe of the room. Yugyeom clenched his jaw, trying to hold back his smile.

“Go to hell.” Yugyeom laughed as he grabbed one of the pillows that was tossed on the ground. Jungkook huffed as air was taken out of his body when the pillow made contact.

“I’m there every time I’m with you cutie.” Jungkook mocked him and a small friendly pillow fight begun. Yugyeom didn’t leave, he stayed with his friend, talking about how he felt when Minyoung grabbed his hand. Jungkook stiffen a bit, taking note that he was talking about the L.A. girl, the new girl that has picked his curiosity and his sanity.

Yugyeom’s words made him realize something, she was just like Jin. Yugyeom spoke of that warmth and safety her presence gave. That her velvet voice and rich eyes made him believe everything she was telling him and question nothing. Which only made him wonder, would he feel like that towards her too?

“By the way, we should invite them to eat. Thank them for what they did for you, deal?” Yugyeom raised his voice, the words traveling from the balcony bed room towards the couch. Jungkook had to raise his friend to see who could get up there first and since he still felt drowsy, he had to settle in sleeping on the couch in his own apartment.

“Saturday, six o’clock. Now go to bed you punk.” Jungkook laughed, feeling his head spin for a few second from the drunken high he had gotten himself into.

He didn’t have the nightmare, and it was normal. He loved the idea that it wasn’t a constant thing, it wasn’t haunting him every night nor making him wake up panting and on the floor. The vividness of the dream always caught him off guard but by this point in the cycle, he was too used to it that he brushed it off. But he didn’t enjoy it, he would do anything to get them to stop. They felt so painful and realistic, it was like he is truly there and in danger, which only raise more questions.

He didn’t see them, the two that basically rescued him last night. It made sense, he didn’t have the same classes everyday nor had classes every day. But even Sooyoung wasn’t enough to keep his head, his thoughts and curiosity from thinking about the two and that mysterious snake he hasn’t seen since yesterday. He didn’t even know if he should think about that weird dream he had that night, the one about the werewolf and vampire children. He didn’t even know what to think anymore.