"What's this?"

Tzuyu poked her head out from the huge pile of chocolate bars to look at what Mina was holding. "Oh, that's ketchup!" Pushing the cart, Tzuyu stopped near the vampire who kept looking at the ketchup bottle in her hand in pure concentration.

"Yes well, I can read," Mina said, not lifting her gaze from the bottle, wondering what it would taste like since it looked really red and... blood-y.

Giving the vampire an annoyed look, Tzuyu grabbed the ketchup bottle from her hand and put it in the cart before walking away, mumbling. "You were the one who asked, geez."

Mina followed her with a small smile, happy that the red bottle was now in their cart.

In the end, they left the grocery store with two bags of snacks. Tzuyu was glad to be out of there, Mina asked way too many questions about literally everything that it became tiring. But sure, the childish glint in the vampire's eyes when she saw the vegetables section and ran towards it in awe was without a doubt the cutest thing Tzuyu had seen her entire life. Mina had later cleared and mumbled some excuse about the vegetables being bigger and brighter than back from her time. Tzuyu had a big teasing grin on her face and was going to comment on how excited Mina was until she saw little sparks in the vampire's hand ready to fry her. She pushed her cart faster than lightning to another section after that. Mina clearly didn't like being teased or so it seemed.

"I read somewhere that everything but blood tastes bad for vampires."

Mina scoffed. "The things you mortals come up with, seriously. I can taste just fine."

Tzuyu stuffed her hands in her pockets to warm them, glancing at the vampire who was holding the bags as they walked back home under the orange sky. "But..."

The white breath that escaped from Tzuyu's lips was enough to convince Mina that the weather was very cold by human standarts. She didn't feel the cold– her body was always cold. One of the perks of being dead. "I guess you could say blood is like my water. I die without it, but I need normal food too, just way less than you do." Throwing a side-glance at Tzuyu again, she saw her trembling, cheeks red and lips dry. Her coat didn't seem warm enough and Mina had the sudden urge to drape her cloak over the tall girl's shoulders.... then she remembered she had abandoned her cloak for hoodies.

It's not like she's going to die, it's not that cold.

"O-Oh. Th-That's goo–od. F-for a second th-there I thought I wa-was forcing you to eat with me all th-this time." Tzuyu could only curse herself for not wearing anything warm underneath her coat. Sure, it was winter but the weather wasn't so bad when they went out. And now, a cold breeze was hitting Tzuyu in the face and making her teeth clatter as if it was making fun of her. Did Tzuyu mention she was sensitive to cold temperatures?

Mina swallowed thickly, trying to focus ahead rather than the freezing mortal. Just then, her eyes caught two humans across the street, far away from them. She watched them, curious to see how they were dealing with the weather. The shorter girl grabbed the tall man's hand and put their joined hands in his pocket. The man smiled down at the girl as they walked closer together. They look warm.

But Mina couldn't do that. Because Mina didn't have any warmth to share with Tzuyu. Tzuyu wouldn't feel warm if Mina grabbed her hand. Tzuyu wouldn't feel warm if Mina hugged her. She couldn't, because Mina wasn't warm. Mina was always cold.

Always.

***

The door bell didn't make the vampire flinch like it used to.

"She's here!" Mina winced when Tzuyu almost tripped on her way to the door. Grabbing some of the bear-shaped jelly and throwing them into , Mina listened as Tzuyu greeted her friend. Focusing on the sounds of their footsteps, the vampire knew they were now coming to where she was, the living room.

The smile Mina prepared for Tzuyu's friend uncomfortably stayed on the vampire's face as she waited for them to enter.

"I know Jeongyeon unnie's just kidding but it's really not cool that she teases me cuz of my height every single time she sees me, y'know? I mean I don't grow anymore- so what? " Turning her head away, Chaeyoung's surprised eyes met Mina's. "Uh..hi?"

"Hello," Mina kept her smile.

Tzuyu's palms started to sweat. "Ah, Chaeyoungie. This is–"

"Myoui Mina. It's nice to meet you, Chaeyoung." Mina extended her hand for a handshake to greet Tzuyu's friend– she'd seen so many people doing the same thing on TV that it felt right to do it.

Tzuyu suddenly wanted to bury herself under her stuffed toys when Chaeyoung threw her a glare. She watched as her best friend shook Mina's hand with a slight frown. "It's...nice to meet you too. I didn't know Tzuyu had other friends over,"

In Tzuyu's mind, Chaeyoung's words were translated into something much more terrifying.

Mina tilted her head slightly to the side, happily letting the smile on her face fall.  "Oh, I live here."

Tzuyu's eyes widened when Mina dropped the bomb so casually.

"Oh, you do?" Chaeyoung smiled, her dimples had never looked this sinister, "Cool. Cool. Will you please excuse us for a second?" She said, grabbing onto her tall best friend's arm and dragging her away to the kitchen.

As she was being dragged, Tzuyu looked back just in time to see Mina sigh and run her hand through her hair. Their eyes met and Tzuyu made a crying face. The vampire didn't react and just plopped down on the couch, no longer looking at her.

"What the hell, Tzuyu?! How long has she been here?"

"...a-about a week?"

"Tzuyu-" she sighed, "You can't trust someone just because they go to a dog café. Just how many more girls do I have to kick out of your apartment for you to understand that?"

The taller of the two felt humiliated by her friend's words. It was just one time! One! And to be fair, the girl was very cute with her little puppy. And when Tzuyu learned they had been staying at the café for a few days, she didn't think twice about inviting the girl over. It ended with Chaeyoung busting the girl's while she was 'borrowing' from Tzuyu's wallet.

She crossed her arms. "Are you ever going to let that go? She said she needed it, Chaeng."

Chaeyoung nodded her head with a sarcastic chuckle. "Yeah and you just believed her and gave all your money."

Now, Tzuyu was getting annoyed. "Why are you being such a jerk today?"

Chaeyoung's features softened. "Because I care about you, Tzuyu-ah. I don't want anything bad to happen."

All the negative feelings just flew out the window when Chaeyoung looked up at her with such worry in her eyes. Tzuyu wanted to hug her and tell her everything right then and there. But she couldn't do that, so she decided to at least reassure her friend that all was well. "She's a friend from Taiwan."

Chaeyoung sighed, lifting an eyebrow. "Promise?"

"Promise. Now let's go, I have all Resident Evil movies in order waiting for us." Tugging on the shorter girl's arm with a smile that showed off her one dimple, Tzuyu felt lucky to have a friend that cared for her as much as Chaeyoung.

***

"God, Alice is so hot." Chaeyoung commented suddenly, throwing a handful of popcorn in .

Tzuyu shyly nodded in agreement while hugging a pillow to her chest, watching the screen in awe as the main protagonist Alice killed some zombies with badass fighting moves.

Mina wasn't that impressed, quietly watching. She couldn't see what the big deal was. She could kill those 'zombies' way faster. Just throwing a fireball would burn them all in seconds. There was no need for jumping around, trying to look cool. Alice was such a show-off.

At the very last scene of the series, Tzuyu's eyes got teary regardless of how many times she watched it when she saw the strong protagonist crying. Just then, the doorbell rang with perfect timing, opening an escape route from Chaeyoung's teasing.

"I'll get the door!" She ran out of the room, wiping the few tears that escaped from her eyes. She heard Chaeyoung chuckle behind her, but didn't think much on it, wondering who it could be at this hour.

She met with a pair of sparkly eyes when she opened the door.

"Sana unnie? What are you doing here?"

"Awww, I missed you too, Tzuyu!" Not really expecting a hug, Tzuyu stumbled backwards when Sana threw herself at her. Hesitantly she brought her hands up to hug back, whining against Sana's black leather jacket, "Unnieee...you're so cold..." She tried pushing the older girl away but Sana held onto her even tighter and giggled, "Still a tsundere, I see."

Tzuyu didn't know what that meant but when Sana drew her head back and looked up at her, grinning, she averted her gaze immediately, not used to having people this close to her face.

Laughing fondly at Tzuyu's reaction and flushed cheeks, Sana let go of her and took a step back, suddenly uneasy. "So...uh- Is Chaeyoung here by any chance? We were supposed to meet up today but she didn't show up. She's not answering her phone either." She put her cold hands in her pocket, her pinkish lips letting out a huff of white breath before forming a small smile that barely hid the worry in her eyes. "Your phone was off too, so I decided to drop by and see if everything was okay."

Tzuyu was quick to reply, not wanting her unnie to worry further, "Oh! She's inside, unnie! We just had a movie marathon."

Sana let go of the breath she was holding and her stiff shoulders relaxed. Now she looked annoyed. "Can I come in, Tzu?"

"S-Sure. Is everything–"

Sana brushed past her, stomping her way towards the living room, poor Tzuyu could barely keep up.

"Yah! Son Chaeyoung!"

"Sana? What are you–"

Mina's eyes widened when the girl 'Sana' came out of nowhere and tackled Chaeyoung on the floor, spilling all the popcorn. Chaeyoung struggled to break free of the girl's hold, red slightly coloring her cheeks as Sana's face was inches away from hers, looking absolutely pissed off. "Do you have any idea how long I looked for you!?"

Mina could only make one thing out of that sentence.

This girl was an assassin sent to kill Chaeyoung.

Mina didn't know assassins were still popular even in this era!

Oh but this amateur assassin -who was not even aware of her presence- picked the wrong target. Mina had to admit that even if she didn't like Chaeyoung much, Tzuyu obviously cared a lot about her and that was enough for the girl to be one of the names under Mina's protection list.

So, she took a few determined steps closer to the duo on the floor, a frown appearing on her face as she thought of a spell that would not destroy the whole building.

Suddenly, Tzuyu appeared right in front of her, blocking her way with a worried look and mouthing the words, "She's a friend,"

Mina visibly relaxed. Lately, trusting Tzuyu was something she did without batting an eyelid and it sort of scared her.

 They both turned their attention to the other girls when Chaeyoung  spoke. "I'm really, so sorry! It completely slipped my mind –"

"I was so worried, Chaeyoung! Your roommate said she didn't see you at all today and I even asked that creepy dorm keeper–"

 "You... went to my dorm? But it's really far from here." Chaeyoung sounded like she was touched. 

It was Sana's turn to blush, "It's late! Anything could have happened to you..." She said, looking away with a frown.

A kiss on the cheek immediately lit up Sana's face, but she tried to keep her happiness under wraps– she wasn't supposed to forgive Chaeyoung this quickly.

"Sana, I know you're pissed but you know what?"

Sana turned her head, facing Chaeyoung once again with an annoyed look. "What?"

"I love you," Chaeyoung smiled cutely, showing off her dimples and finger hearts, melting all the girls in the room's heart except for Mina who was terrified of what she was currently witnessing.

Sana's blush reddened even more and she pecked Chaeyoung's lips, "You're lucky you're so cute."

"Well, I definitely am lucky because I have a caring, beautiful girlfriend like you,"

Tzuyu crossed her arms, fake gagging because of Chaeyoung's flirting attempts. "Can you guys go and be mushy somewhere else?"

Mina nodded in support, very serious.

And that was when Mina was finally noticed by Sana. "Oh I'm sorry, I kind of barged in here so I didn't see you." She smiled, "I'm Minatozaki Sana, this idiot's girlfriend,"

"I'm not an idiot."

"Shut it. I'm still angry at you."

Mina decided to play safe and repeated the girl's words. "Myoui Mina, this idiot's childhood friend."

Sana laughed at Tzuyu's dejected face.