TRACK 148 | I KNOW PLACES by Taylor Swift

30th of April 2011.

“To penetrate the cell membrane, you have to stain the smear using crystal violet.” Rara took a glass slide and gently squeezed the dropper for crystal violet. A small, deep purple drop of liquid fell on top of the thin glass slide. “After that, you—”

“Unnie, someone’s looking for you at the door.” Hyosung informed, smiling, as she carefully placed a microscope on top of the table. “It’s Baekhyun oppa.”

It was a month before her graduation and since there was not much to do except for waiting, their professors had asked the best students for a corresponding subject to assist them. Rara was chosen for Microbiology; the study of microorganisms. It was quite fascinating to be around entities that were not readily visible to the eye. Today, she was at the Microbiology laboratory with her juniors, Hyosung and Jiyeon, who were trying to learn about gram-staining techniques. This was crucial and difficult; it was hard to have the right amount of stain to make the specimen clear when viewed in the microscope. This required lots of practice.

Rara took off her laboratory coat and disposed of her latex gloves; microbiology was pretty particular on the antiseptic techniques. This was a branch of science that made you vulnerable to all types of diseases. And while anything foreign was killed by her vampire cells, she made sure to still follow the rules for the sake of her co-students who did not have the same superhuman defenses as she did. “I’ll be back in a sec, Jiyeon.” Rara told Jiyeon as she put down her own glass slide. “Oh, no, don’t worry about it, Rara unnie. Take your time with Baekhyun oppa.”

Rara chuckled as she folded her lab coat neatly on top of the chair and walked over to the exit door. When Rara took up Zoology and Baekhyun decided on Accountancy, these became the first versions of themselves that experienced studying in the same university, and because of that, Baekhyun didn’t pass up the chance to publicize their relationship; their bond resulted to being under the public’s watchful eyes and judgment. And while they, more or less, got a positive impact mainly because Baekhyun was selfish enough not to be so intimate with her because that was something he wanted to do when it was just the two of them alone, Rara never really got used to how people gushed over them because they were ‘cute’ when in reality, all they did was argue most of the time. Baekhyun always found that endearing and the people around them thought they were adorable. But as long as they were both happy and they didn’t push each other to the point that she’d be throwing fireballs at him or he’d shooting light beams out of the palm of his hands, they were good.

“Not going home soon?” Rara whipped her head to Baekhyun’s direction as she closed the door. “I don’t have classes anymore.” He said, smiling at her.

“You go on ahead.”

“I can wait for you.” He suggested. “I’ll watch you finish whatever experiment you’re doing inside the lab and I promise to behave. It would be like I wasn’t in the room in the first place.”

Rara chuckled at him. She was about to touch him, but then she remembered how unsanitary microbiology was. “No, you’ll find it boring. And you’ll be so lost.” She said. “So much of what I’m doing is foreign to you.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.” Rara crossed her arms with a smile. “I’ll take you up on that offer if you’ve learned the basics of microbiology. Maybe then, I’ll take you under my wing.”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that a challenge?”

“If you’re up for it...”

“Okay, mad scientist, I will study Microbiology for Dummies and try to see, well, not with the eye, your precious bacterias and fungi. All that aside,” He crossed his arms and looked at her knowingly. “sure you won’t miss me on the way home?”

Rara shrugged her shoulders and raised her hands, making it clear that she’s well. “I’m grand, Baekhyun.” She replied with a hint of extravagance in her voice. “You may depart, knowing that I won’t miss you.” She nodded her head slightly, giving him a coy smile as a form of farewell.

Baekhyun chuckled, put an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her swiftly for a kiss on the forehead. “Oh, please.” He said with a gratified voice. “You love me.”

Rara pulled away slightly and looked up at him. “I do.” She said quietly. “So please be safe and make it back to your cabin in one piece, yeah?”

“Always one to worry.” Baekhyun said with a grin. “Okay, microbiologist, I’ll be off. Good luck and you take care too.”

Rara arrived at her parents’ home early in the evening. Upon entering their house, she was relieved to know that Baekhyun had arrived at the pack’s cabin safely—and that he had borrowed a Microbiology book from Suho’s collection. Didn’t know he was serious, Rara thought, as she found it a bit funny that Baekhyun had jumped from math to science just to spend extra time with her; he had all the time in the world to be with her. When she got to her room, she placed her backpack on the chair of her study table and there, she grazed her hand on the part of her study table that is seemingly out of place because it looked like a piece from a table that’s put there just to fill in the space; and that was partly right, this was the very spot that she had damaged, that night she had her awakening, her blood moon. It reminded her of how she ran away from her thirst but just like this casualty on a piece of furniture, her blood moon episode will never go away and will always be embedded in the back of her head.

Because of her careful inspection of such affliction, she failed to notice the vase full of flowers that lay on her desk. It wasn’t one kind of flower; there was a variety in that bouquet. They were carefully arranged, and it was quite bizarre but being a student who dedicated herself to the study of life, of Mother Nature itself, she always found a way to appreciate it.

At first, Rara thought it must have been from Baekhyun. He must have picked these off randomly on the trail. She had taken Botany so many times, making it easy to recognize the flowers, namely aconite, buttercups, butterfly weed, orange lilies, yellow carnations, cyclamen, and petunia. A very random bunch, she thought. Then, she caught sight of an envelope inserted in the middle of the bouquet. It had a familiar feeling, and it occurred to her, it had similar components as the kind of mail Aima Lamia sends. However, the wax stamp wasn’t red, with the usual AL. It was blue, with a triangle in the middle. Rara pulled out her chair and sat. She carefully opened the envelope and took out a piece of paper. It read:

Beholder of fire, you have pulled the strings for a seventh turn but I, the virtuous, has come to return.

Pay a visit on the second Monday of May, with only the beast tamer as your companion.

And should you choose to break these rules, just like these flowers, two people will face oblivion.

—H<