Track 169 | FINALLY // BEAUTIFUL STRANGER by Halsey

“Hey Ma, who are we gonna see again?”

“An old friend of mine.” Rara looked at Rin and flashed him a reassuring smile. “His name is Haoran. I think he might have held you and Bomi once, when you were only a year old.”

After departing from her apartment and moving her stuff back at the Park household, the Byuns flew to Italy over the weekend to settle things with the vampire council.

“How do you know Haoran hyung, Mum?”

“Well, I once lived under his roof.” She said. At the mention of that statement, it seemed like it was a distant memory. Like it was another life. Then she thought about the present—how was Haoran doing? Was he well? How was his relationship with Mei? Questions piled up inside her head one after another. She and Haoran definitely need to catch up.

Rara walked alongside Rin; the magnificent walls of the Aima Lamia were still timelessly beautiful. She may have had bad memories here, and every visit might have turned disastrous, but maybe this time, she’d leave those medieval double doors that lead to Cruor hall with a triumphant smile. She glanced over at Baekhyun, who was carrying Bomi, because she didn’t like how long the hallways were and found it annoying to have to walk a long way. Baekhyun had no problem carrying their six-year-old, though.

Since Haoran was the newly appointed head of the council, they were going to appeal to him about the deal that was made with Haejung, the former head of Aima Lamia, whose whereabouts were not known by Rara or Baekhyun. The best they could hope for is that she isn’t one of the advisors of the council, or their visit would have been useless from the beginning. They had brought the twins, just to show them they were harmless and not a threat to their kinds.

As soon as the familiar walls of Cruor appeared before Rara’s eyes, she was hit by mixed emotions. Victorious, she remembered surrendering Mei to the council, whom she thought was the suspect but was just as victimized as Rara was. Boggled out of her wits, she was once made to believe that Haoran was her partner but it was just all in her head. Equipped with grit and might, she recalled her determination not to give up on Baekhyun. Not now, not ever. And heartbroken, ironically, the memory of Hyorin putting her whole life as a vampire to sleep was clear as day. And now, she felt mighty and braver.

“Oh wow, she’s a spitting image of you, Park-kun.”

Rara turned around, finding a tall and handsome Haoran in a crisp suit. parted with surprise; he was dark and brooding six years ago, very intimidating. And now he looked so much like a responsible man that it was quite unbelievable that this was the same guy who was nicknamed Lin-kun, because he was cunning and clever like a raccoon, and used his ability in bad ways during his younger years.

Rin looked up to Haoran curiously, and the beast tamer looked down and chuckled at him. “A kid Baekhyun, huh? Adorable.” He said, as he looked at Baekhyun. “I take it you guys came here to talk about your twins?”

“Yeah.” Baekhyun said with a smile. Bomi turned to look at Haoran, with the same inquisitive look as Rin’s.

“Can I have a word with Rara, first?” Haoran asked.

“Sure.” Baekhyun nodded. He urged Rin to come with him to give his mom and Haoran the privacy to talk. He knew Rara had a unique connection with Haoran, and that she valued him as a friend. He wouldn’t take away that bond from her.

“Welcome back, Park-kun.” Rara chuckled at the mention of his personal nickname for her. “How have you been, Rara?” Haoran asked.

“Okay, I guess?” Rara was looking at the twins running around the hall, while Baekhyun sat on the stairs that led to the stage, where six empty thrones sat. “There’s one hell of a whirlwind inside my head, but that’s just about it.”

“It must have been quite a revelation, huh?” Haoran remarked. “One moment, you’re this normal human being, and then you’re not.”

“It’s exactly as you say.” Rara laughed. “I was not exactly having the time of my life, especially these last few months.” Suddenly, the thought of Mei sparked a light inside her head. “How’s Mei? You guys doing good?”

“Yeah. Never been better.” His smile was so content, that it overflowed with contagious comfort. They had been through the same rocky patch as her and Baekhyun. To see him happy and at peace made Rara feel the same. “We’re trying to keep it lowkey. You know me.” He added. “It’s nice to see you reunited with Baekhyun, too. Did, he, like, bump into you by accident and help you pick up all your books?” Haoran snickered as he cited an overrated cliché of a first meeting. Rara rolled her eyes at him and laughed. “Believe me; it’s much more...eventful than that.” Having recalled how it all started with a harmless dare until something happened between them, which escalated to theories beyond science, Rara exhaled deeply. “Though I wish it was as simple as bumping into him then kick-starting our friendship right after.”

“Sounds like it was you had quite a ride upon meeting him again.”

“I did.” Rara laughed. “I didn’t plan to get to know him better, but some things weren’t what they seemed and I needed to get my answers.”

“Well, having retrieved your memory now, I bet you got all the answers you needed.” Haoran said. “I just bet that the second Baekhyun met you again, he probably had put up a guard so strong that barricaded him from his desire to touch you. But he can put all that behind now; there won’t be any full moons spent alone this time around, now that you’re here.” He said with an amused grin.

“What guard?” Rara scoffed. “We accidentally hooked up at some point. I was so mad at him, because I was under the impression that he was married. I didn’t know the person he was tied to was me.”

Haoran burst out laughing. “I was trying to get that out of you.” He laughed some more, making Rara shake her head with a grin. “There’s no way in hell he’d have restrained himself, not when you’re literally on his radar. Must have been really frustrating for you to think you were a side chick, though.”

“I know right?” Haoran chuckled at Rara’s indifference towards the situation. “Me? A mistress? Seriously?” She huffed.

“Well, at least now you know you’re not.” Haoran shrugged. “I wouldn’t blame the guy; I waited 6 years like he did.” Haoran started walking towards Baekhyun, who was keeping an eye on the twins, playing tag. Rara began to follow him, walking by his side. “Had to play the good, obedient boy just so I appear qualified and deserving to the advisors. The advisors are actually neutral; they probably had their eyes on me for a long time since I’m the oldest among the Iuevenis and is most likely to take Haejung’s place, but it’s more appealing for the advisors if I follow through with what Haejung wants since she was the current head. Pretty painful for me, like I’ve been robbed of my pride. But Mei had gone through greater lengths for me, so I went through it without thinking twice.” Haoran stood by Baekhyun’s side, but the light bearer didn’t take his eyes off his children. Rara watched as Bomi was so close to tagging Rin but he dodged just in time for her hand to land on his shoulder.

“So where’s Haejung? And Bora?”

“Haejung’s in exile.” Haoran said casually. “The advisors, like I said, have judgment that’s immensely clear. But even they were victimized by Haejung’s wordplay. They hadn’t known your whole story. They approved of the council’s decision that you had to pass on Jaehyun ahjussi’s flames, but not the way Haejung had done it. Her sins go way back to Chanyeol’s mom. That’s a disgrace and a shame to our pact with Baekhyun’s kind. So the advisors decided to let her go into exile. Bora, however, didn’t go into exile. Byul took her in, as she was her older sister.”

Upon hearing Haoran’s words, Baekhyun shot up from his sitting position. “They what?! But she’s way too dangerous to be roaming around freely! And can Byul handle her older sister alone?!”

Haoran flashed him a half-smile. “I agree, they’re both dangerous, only if they remembered who they were.” He said. “The advisors thought it was too easy to let them die, so they decided to rob them of their abilities and memories; it would do justice to what they did to Park-kun right here.”

Haoran smiled at Rara, knowing it must have been tough to go through that temporary amnesia. If her relationship with Baekhyun happened before Haoran was meant to be the next leader of the vampire community, or before he was even in the council, she was at risk of not recuperating her real identity for a long time. “They have no way of retrieving them, because they don’t have partners. Unless Hyorin gives it back, they’re both as good as clean slates.”

“I—”

“Hey, easy there, buddy, no fireballs allowed in the Cruor hall!” A familiar voice said.

When Rara looked at the person who cut off what she was about to say to Haoran, she was met by Luhan, whose hand is up in the air, facing a fireball; he was stopping a blue fireball mid-air, that was probably directed at Bomi; who was being shielded by the youngest among the current Aima Lamia—Tao.

“Don’t worry, mister, I can dissolve that!” Bomi said, attempting to assure Tao. The martial arts master smiled at her. “Regardless, that’s pretty dangerous, little girl. I’ve seen your mom use the same fire. Best not to get hit by that or let it land on the floor.”

Baekhyun told Luhan to release the fireball so he can make it disappear, and when the fireball was no longer constrained with force, it fell, and immediately, Baekhyun swiped a hand on the blue fireball, dissolving it. He turned to look at Rin, crossing his arms with an angry expression. “What did I say about fireballs, Rin? Don’t direct them at your sister.”

“I was just going to use it to tag her—”

“And I would have handled it!” Bomi said in the background, backing up her twin brother.

Rara rushed to Bomi’s side and said, “Don’t encourage Rin to throw fireballs at you, Bomi. You guys don’t know what you’re capable of.” She said as nice as possible.

“I’m sorry Dad. It won’t happen again.”

“You promise?” Baekhyun asked, meticulously raising an eyebrow at his son.

Rin held out a pinky to his dad and said, “I promise.” Baekhyun grinned and intertwined pinkies with Rin and said, “Play nice and fair, kid.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Luhan chuckled warmly at the sight of the father and son interaction, as he walked towards Haoran. “Dude, we just left for half an hour and you converted the Cruor hall into a kindergarten playground?”

Tao trailed behind Luhan and said, “Maybe you and Mei should have your own, Haoran ge.” He snickered.

“Shut up, both of you.” Haoran said, rolling his eyes. “Where’s—”

“My, what wonderful children.” A female voice said.

Luhan looked at Haoran and said, “There she is.”

Hyorin was standing in front of the double doors with a small grin on her face. She looked at Bomi and Rin first then at their parents, very bewildered by the resemblance. Genetics had done a good job of distributing their heritage and traits. “Nice meeting you again, Rara, after four months.”

“Four months?” She looked at Hyorin with puzzlement. She slowly rose from Bomi’s level to stand up. “But I....”

Four months ago? Where was I... Suddenly, her memory zoomed back to the day she applied for the painter job at the mansion. One person struck up a conversation with her, the fox-faced lady.

“My, don’t you look young.”

“I am young.”

“I guarantee that senescence is but trying to learn a stranger’s name.”

I guarantee that senescence is but trying to learn a stranger’s name—Hyorin was trying to tell her she would never know what it’s like growing old because she knew Rara was a vampire. Hyorin did tell her that if Baekhyun were to meet Rara again, she’d be there to see it. And she was, there, at the mansion.

“Oh my god, I—” Rara then turned to Baekhyun. “So you knew?”

“Knew what?” Baekhyun asked with confusion.

“That Hyorin was there when you rounded up people to apply for the job—”

“No, he didn’t. Because I didn’t pass any of the required documents. I had learned of your reconnection with your partner from your brother Chanyeol, so I dropped by without letting Baekhyun know. Mi