Even after a week of the incident, Mom’s canceled engagement wiggled persistently in my head, even when I took my shift on Dave's, the residential, famous ice cream parlor, where you could get any kind of ice cream you wanted. It wasn’t easy to be Dave's part-timer, as the owner of Dave’s, a foreigner with excellent eloquence in Korea language, was fairly intimidating in towering six-foot-eleven with bulky hands and flat expression. Every part-timer was shunned off immediately, and that was what rendered the lovely sweet-making parlor shop in dire need of more part-timers. First time I was interviewed by him, I almost resigned that second, but then my mother’s saying flew right on my head ‘do not dilute your judge over petty prejudice’.

So I did just that. Which turned out really great—Dave, my Boss, wasn’t only a kind at heart, but he also gave me weekly gelato for my extra shift, and he paid me handsomely.

And boy, did he make stellar gelatos.

I sighed as I saw a bunch of girls coming inside the store. They were cheerfully talking about something I couldn’t catch. One of them came to me and order three Curious Salmon in Boots (rose-flavored and white-oreo cream dual ice creams in a chocolate cone), two Shrekkatoa (avocado-flavored ice cream with melon drips and green fruits as toppings),  and one Blood Lust (this one didn’t have any blood in them… just in case you’re wondering. It’s only watermelon-flavored ice cream with strawberry and apple.) They paid and went to their table to gossip for some more. After formulating the ordered ice cream I went to their table.

“Here is your Curious Salmon in Boots, Shrekkatoa, and Blood Lust. Enjoy!” I smiled, not before glancing at one of them who seemed to be secluded from the group—she looked pale and sick, and very weak too. I sniffed surreptitiously and realization dawned within me. Silently I came back to the counter, grabbed some candies and my stock of blood candies. “Here, it’s in the house. Thank you for coming to Dave’s!”  I gave each one of them candies, and gave blood candies to the sickly-looking girl. They thanked me gleefully and started to eat the ice cream, disregarding the candies, but the quiet girl immediately gobbled the blood candies I gave her. She looked up at me and shot me a grateful smile. I only nodded back and collapsed to the chair behind me.

See? Even I have to be covert if I wanted to save my own kin from collapsing and exposing her true nature to her colleagues. I couldn’t just give her a candy that looked like blood coagulated—her colleagues would be suspicious of it. I couldn’t be too discreet too, or everyone would suspect something. Life as a vampire was really hard. How much SPFs in the sun-block this girl has to wear, so she could just stroll around below the sun without protection? This girl was a full vampire, and she had the gall to parade around posing as a human. Three measly blood candies wouldn’t satiate her hunger for blood.

She was basically only torturing herself.

“One Wooden yogurt, please. Medium cup.”

“Coming right away,” I said automatically as I hoped off the chair, “Would you like to eat it here or take it? Any toppings?” cheerful. Refreshing. That was what the persona I had to uphold here as the part-timer, and dark thought wasn’t an excuse to be unprofessional. Expertly, I dug some of chocolate-colored yogurt and deposited it into a medium-sized container, “Well? Any toppings, sir?”

I looked up to see a handsome face staring back at me—his eyes were intense and light brown-colored hair falling perfectly on his eyes. He was only centimeters taller than me, and I found myself narrowing my eyes, trying to locate where did I seen him before… only to be devastated that I actually met with the handsome boy a week ago, on that blasted Italian restaurant.

“No toppings.” He said.

“N-no toppings. Okay. Here you go.” I nudged the container to him with napkin, and smiled brilliantly, covering the sudden urge to curse myself. Of course. The wet dog smell. How could I not notice? They were the only werewolves I have ever encountered in my entire life, and the only people who smelt like wet dogs in gloomy day. Not likeable, but tolerable. The boy didn’t go away just yet—he lingered on the counter before asking softly, “Did you not remember me?”

I didn’t know what to say so I just went, “I did.”

He didn’t say anything after he left some changes. He just grabbed his yogurt leaving me by myself, alone. I shook my head loosely, trying to wake up from the stupor the nameless boy had brought. What the hell was that?

“Who was that boy, Hara-ya?”

I turned to see Erina, peering over to the mysterious boy. She was Dave’s close friend, and she liked to come and help with things. Sometimes she would be too demanding and annoying. Right now, she didn’t ask, but demand, as her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Are you banging him or something? The can cut some wood, you know.”

I regarded her in scandalous manner. “Erina-unni. I should have washed your mouth with holy water.” I shook my head, clearly not wanting to answer to that question.

Erina giggled but not buying my act. “Who was it?”

I sighed, thoroughly bemused that Erina had excellent focus and concentration. “Just some guy.” I said to her. To spare me some interrogation. CIA-level interrogation, to be exact.

“Really?” Erina tried to dig up some more, but she gave up the second I started to sweat. “He is cute.”

What in tarnation?  “He’s half your age. Stop saying things that aren’t appropriate for your age, there are kids watching you everywhere!” I know I sounded like a hundred-year-old gramma, don’t point it out now. I just had to say whatever to divert Erina’s dangerous line of thought. I don’t want to talk about that boy anymore.

“Well age is just a number. And did that stop you from saying Kim Samuel ‘cute’? Even though he’s technically a fetus?” Erina asked with fervent disbelief. “No? well, then you can stop being a hypocrite now. He’s still cute to me.”

I rubbed my temple, taming down incoming migraine as I recalled the feature of that boy. I found myself surprisingly mumbling, “Well, he is… okay.”

“A Seo In Guk’s Okay?” Erina was impatient.

“…He’s not Kim Samuel’s Okay, though.” I supplied.

Erina grinned smugly. Understandable, since Erina had never met with all of the mystery boy’s brothers, who were so phenomenally arsenal in look department. In my defense, yes, I goggled over them, but for a very short time. I was a perfectly hormonal teen, how can I let such golden momenta of a herd of rakishly handsome young men in front of me, unguarded and unassuming?

Kill me if I slipped them out of my fingers.

But it didn’t mean I would forgive them. I wasn’t that easy. They could have a Song Joongki’s Okay or Kim Samuel’s Heavenly, but I wouldn’t move on from how they treated me back then at Fortellini’s. And that alone, was a big minus from me.

When I got back to my house, Mom had already inside, cooking a mugwort tofu soup, omelettes, and several dishes had already perched perfectly on top of the table. Heavenly smell of mugwort tofu soup, enhanced tenfold, made my stomach growled as I crept behind her. She had never been in home before 6, so I was surprised she was even home, moreover cooking my favorite dish. I wanted to ask ‘what’s the occasion?’ but obviously, it would be too insensitive of me to ask… mom clearly needed a diversion, and tending to my need was her only healing solution right now.

“You’ve came back? How’s Dave?” she asked in her happy, normal tone when she saw me. I smiled at her, “The same. He’s not there, so Erina-unnie gave me some of the gelatos as always. I’ll freeze it in the refrigerator.”

I contemplated to finally discuss the failed engagement. I couldn’t just let this slide. I wanted to help her, but if she continued being as open as a clam shell, I wouldn’t be able to do that. Will I sound insensitive if I bring this out after dinner? Nah, it was already a week. Mom has no one to talk about this kind of thing in her office. Mom probably had said something to Grandma, but Grandma should’ve come once the whiff of sad news came in contact with her ears. She would fly all the way from Gyeongju to Seoul, and then gave Jungsoo-ssi a good beating. She would yell at him, telling him how stupid, foolish his choice was, to break up with her beautiful, successful daughter. She would do all the things I want to do to him, but too afraid to execute it.

But she didn’t come to Seoul even a week later. That meant Mom hadn’t informed Grandma yet.

Which mean Mom still couldn’t move on from the wound Jungsoo-ssi had created.

The dinner was good—Mom’s cooking got considerably better once Jungsoo-ssi said he liked woman