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Rara had been observing the wall clock at the art studio, waiting for it to strike at 7:30 pm—the time dinner was usually done. As soon as 7:29 pm passed, she rushed outside the studio and went searching for Baekhyun, who was climbing up the stairs. She raced to the stairs and once she started climbing the steps, it was almost as if her clothes were drenched in water; every step was heavier.

She caught Baekhyun’s arm and said, “Hey, do you have time to talk?”

He looked at her with surprise. “Right now?”

“Yeah, or—or do you have something else—um, important to do? We can talk later, I mean, it can wait.” She asked, stumbling over her words. Dammit, Rara. Calm down.

“Right now is fine.” He replied. “Let’s talk about it in the office.”

When they entered Baekhyun’s office, she declined his offer to sit. Right now, she couldn’t sit still. To even out with Rara, Baekhyun stood before his oak desk. It was as if they were going to pick another prompt.

“Well? What is it that you wanted to talk about?” Baekhyun asked, breaking the silence.

Rara was freaking out inside. How was she going to open it up? This was her biggest problem. It was going to be easy once she opened up the topic because she can talk about it through and through, but how was she going to start?

Maybe she should start with the Polaroid photos.

Too soon.

Maybe she should start asking his age.

“How...How old are you Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow skeptically. “25.”

Chuckling anxiously, Rara said, “No, you look 25 but you’re not 25.” She took out the Polaroid photos from her pocket and placed them on the table. “I was looking for basics about classical art. These fell off from one of the books.” Baekhyun stared at them and even when it wasn’t too obvious on his face, the way his chest moved indicated that he was surprised to see the photos before him.

Staring at the photos, on the table, Rara said, “You either went under the knife executed by a very good cosmetic surgeon, followed an extremely painstaking skincare routine or,” Her eyes shifted to Baekhyun. “or you’re not human. Which is it?”

Baekhyun stared at her, searching her eyes. She was serious; this was serious. “Do you really want to have this conversation?”

“I lied—I said earlier this could wait, but it couldn’t.” Rara said, straight-faced.

Baekhyun muttered ‘hm’ under his breath that seemed like an amused laugh toned down to the lowest volume. “Out of all the things you said, which one do you think it is?”

Taking a deep breath, she said, “The last one.”

“And if that were the right answer, what am I supposed to be if I wasn’t human?”

“Vampire.”

Flashing a half-grin, he replied, “Please, if you may elaborate.”

Rara looked at him straight in the eye. “You don’t age. Your eyes change color.” She cleared . “I don’t know how you did it, but the first time I saw you with silver eyes I thought it was a dream, but apparently, it wasn’t. I don’t know how you removed the bite mark on my thumb but,” She gripped the edge of her shirt. “but I knew it was real because it drew blood; you failed to erase the blood I wiped on my shirt at that time.”

The morning after seeing Baekhyun’s silver eyes for the first time, she almost dismissed it as a dream—just another creation of her wild imagination. But when she took a bath that day, she noticed that there was one brief swipe of blood on the shirt she wore the night before; terrified that what she thought was a dream was actually real, she decided to just keep shut.

She paused for a moment before continuing. “You eat an amount of meat that’s good for your blood. I assume