Warnings: light violence and swearing 

1728

  My heart was beating fast, trying to lean more into the tree. He couldn’t find me, at least not yet. Then the game would be over and I was having too much fun. I heard leaves crunching from behind the tree, and after waiting in silence I turned around carefully to check if there was anyone. When I saw there obviously wasn’t anyone, I sighed in relief and smiled to myself. He didn’t find me, I should search for a new hiding place. When I turned around a loud shriek left my mouth.

“Dae oppa, you found me.” I said with a pout. A cheshire cat like smile was stretched on his beautiful lips, his eyes sparkling like usually when he was happy.

“I told you I would find you. I will always find you no matter where you are.” Jongdae said, his eyebrows slightly furrowing.

“So, I could leave you and you would still find me?” I asked with a small smile.

“Yes, I would always find you. But you aren’t going anywhere.” Jongdae pulled me in a hug, pulling my head in his chest.

“Okay, I promise. I will never leave you and you won’t have to search for me, okay? Do you like that oppa?” I glanced up at him, only to find him already looking down at me.

“Yes, I like that very much, Irina.” Jongdae kissed the top of my head, before he started tickling me. I started laughing loudly, trying to push him away and stop him from attacking me but I only ended up pressed against the tree with Jongdae laughing loudly, his fingers finally stopping the torture.

“You are going to marry me, you know that.” His face was serious, all trace of amusement gone.

“Am I?” I with a grin “You never asked me if I want to.”

“Because you’re still too young for marriage, but when you’ll grow into a woman, you’ll be my wife.” He caressed my cheek, his face coming closer.

“Oppa” I whined “Why are you talking like that about me? I’m not a small girl, I’m eighteen years old, I’m already a woman.”

“Not yet, you’re still my little baby.” He whispered, a small smile on his lips.

“But—If I’m your little baby, you can’t kiss me, I’m too little for that.” I said, my eyebrows furrowing, trying to suppress a grin. Jongdae’s eyes widened, before he let go of me.

“Fine, than I won’t kiss you anymore.” He said.

“Oppa!” I took his arms and pulled him back “I want you to kiss me.”

“Now?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Whenever you want, but now too.” I smiled sheepishly at him.

“You act like a little girl, it’s cute—”

“And it drives you crazy?”

“How did you know?” I grinned at Jongdae, who’s eyes were slightly darker.

“You say that a lot, and I have a good memory.”

“You know oppa well.” I chuckled at him and pulled him close, placing a kiss on his soft lips. When I pulled away Jongdae whined and pulled me back, catching my lips between his teeth. I smiled and circled my arms around his neck, him bringing me closer to him by my waist. I tugged on his lower lip, opening his mouth and slipping my tongue into his mouth. Jongdae whined in response and on my tongue, making me lose my focus for a moment.

I pulled away breathless, “Let’s get going, eomma and appa are waiting for us.”

“Let’s go then.” He placed another kiss on my lips, with our fingers intertwined we headed to my house.

    2017

 My heart was beating fast as I looked around in the dark room. Why do I keep having these nightmares? It has started a while ago, and it was always the same. A woman screaming, the color red than a man screaming a name I can’t understand, and whispering ‘You promised never to leave me.’ At first I thought my mind was too packed and exhausted for having dreams like this, but when it kept repeating and repeating I realized something was wrong. I went to a psychologist, and she said that maybe my mind was trying to tell me something, to show me something.

I rose from the bed to go and get a glass of water. My bare feet skipped along the floor boards, creating a light tapping sound. Once in the kitchen, I opened the fridge and poured some cold water in a glass and took small sips, the only light in the room created by the opened fridge door. I closed my eyes and sighed, when a light breeze passed by. My eyebrows furrowed, did Irene leave the window opened?

“Irina” I jumped at the soft whisper, accidently knocking closed the fridge door.

“Y/N, what are you doing up so early?” Irene came in view, rubbing her eyes.

“Irene—” I huffed, my heart beating fast “I was thirsty.”

“Another nightmare?” She asked, extending her hand and taking my glass.

“Uh, yeah.” I shivered at the cold air in kitchen “Did you leave the window open?”

“No, why?” Irene looked back, at the closed window.

“I’m really cold.” I said shrugging.

“Do you have a fever? Are you seriously okay Y/N?” Irene stepped closer, her eyes narrowed.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll go back to sleep, you should do the same. We have a long day ahead of us.” I mumbled, heading back to my room.

    I smiled at the client as I handed him his drink. At day I was a college student and at night I was a bartender in one of the most famous clubs. Since it was Friday night, the club was getting busier and fuller hour by hour. I turned around and started whipping the counter clean, when the guy I just served his drink flashed me a charming smile.

“So, um—you’ve been working here for quite a while, right?” He brushed off his awkward start of conversation.

“Why are you asking?” I raised an eyebrow at him. I was clearly not interested, I was here to work…even though he looked hella good.

“I’ve been coming to this club for quite a while and saw you around.” He chuckled.

“Well, then you clearly know I’ve been working here for quite a while.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

“Exactly, and you just happened to catch my attention.” He winked at me.

“Ah, okay. I feel really flattered.” I murmured, obviously sarcastic.

“My name is Yixing.” He smiled widely, his dimples showing. Okay, that may have hit a string in my heart…I cleared my throat.

“Well, nice to meet you, Yixing. But you ain’t getting laid tonight, at least not with me.” I winked at him and turned to the client that just sat down. Yixing didn’t say anything, he just stared and started laughing. I prepared the girl a drink and handed it to her, she nodded at me. As Yixing opened his mouth to speak I felt arms sneaking around my waist. I turned around and smiled at my co-worker and also long term friend, Sehun.

“Hey, love. Everything good?” He asked with a smile.

“Sure, everything fine with you?” I slowly glanced at Yixing, than back at Sehun. Knowing me too well, he caught on immediately.

“Is he bothering you?” He asked in a low voice.

“Nothing major, just wanted you to know.” I shrugged, pulling out of his embrace.

“Okay, love. Be careful, yeah? I’ll stop by soon again.” He glanced at Yixing and then he looked at me with a wide smile, and quickly kissed me, our lips barely touching. We would usually do this, when someone tried to hit on me, he would pretend he’s my boyfriend and hopefully the other gets the message. Sehun walked away, after eyeing Yixing carefully.

“I’m taken, sorry.” I blinked at Yixing, he chuckled and stood up.

“You should have started like that, I don’t hit on taken girls.” He winked at me.

“Glad to hear man like you exist nowadays.” I smiled at him, he took a sip of his drink than showed me his dimples.

“Why thank you, nice knowing you.” He walked away and I sighed, staring into space.

“He really bought that” Someone chuckled “What a stupid man.”

“Excuse me?” I looked towards the speaking person. He was looking down at his phone, clicking on it way too quickly. How could he do that?

“It’s clear, that guy isn’t—” When he looked up, his eyes widened and it seemed like all air was cut from his lungs. His hair was black, the total opposite of Yixing’s hair, and it was nicely stilled up, his forehead visible. His eyes were dark and sharp, his gaze quite frightening. Why does it feel like I know him? I’ve never seen him before.

“Irina” He muttered, his gaze making me freeze.

“That’s—not my name.” I said awkwardly “My name is Y/N.”

“Y/N?” He asked, still in a trace like.

“Uh, yeah.” I muttered unsure of what was happening. His eyes changed for a second and I can swear they turned red, I took a step back unsure of what I just saw.

“Get me a Martini” He said, his voice low, looking like he turned back to his usual self…not that I would know what his usual self is like. I turned around and prepared his drink quickly, trying to ignore his piercing gaze.

Once done, I placed his glass down a little bit more aggressively than I intended to. Before I could take my hand away from his glass, he placed his on top of mine, keeping my hand there. His hand was very cold, but how? It was so hot inside here. His hand slowly travelled up to my elbow and he pulled on it harshly, making me gasp. Our faces were inches apart.

“You are dead.” He put emphasis on each word, I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

“What? I’m not, I’m standing in front of you, aren’t I?”

“And you changed, you never spoke back like that.” His gaze travelled on my face, stopping at my parted lips before he looked me in the eyes once again.

“What are you saying? You don’t even know me, I don’t know who you are.” I scoffed at him, pulling on my elbow only for his grip to tighten.

“I saw you with my own eyes, what did you do Irina? Perhaps faked it to get rid of me?” He raised his eyebrows.

“You are mental, we clearly don’t know each other. I’ve never seen you before, you are confusing me with someone else.” I rolled my eyes, abruptly pulling on my arm, freeing it from his grip.

“Sure, you might be right. You look exactly like someone I used to know.” He leaned back in his seat, his hands gripping tightly his glass.

“Exactly? Isn’t that a little too much?” I asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Trust me, I’m not joking one bit.” He snickered and took a big gulp from his drink.

“Well, if you say so.” I hummed.

“I’m Jongdae, nice to meet you.” I searched his face for any reaction, only to be rewarded with none.

“Jongdae.” I nodded at him, his eyes changing colors again. I gasped but quickly covered it with a cough, and walked to the girl that just came to the bar.

Hours passed and Jongdae was still here, his piercing gaze following every step of mine. I didn’t miss the way his knuckles turned white when Sehun hugged and joked with me. This guy was very weird, what did he want? Somewhere along the night a chick came that apparently caught Jongdae’s attention and what turned out as a simple conversation turned into a heated make out. I eyed Jongdae and the chick, and scoffed when I saw her skirt higher than it was when she arrived. I slammed my fist down in front of them, catching Jongdae’s attention. He was still making out with the chick, but he was looking at me and that only made me angrier. Where did this anger come from and why was I bothered so much by his actions? I don’t even know him, he is very attractive but that’s it. He finally pulled away and raised his eyebrow at me. I glanced at his swollen lips, before finding his gaze again.

“You can always continue what you were doing on the dance floor. You are bothering the other clients at the bar.” I said with a stern tone, trying to mask my anger.

“Ah, so it’s not allowed to make out here?” Jongdae smirked.

“Yeah, exactly.” I nodded, my eyebrows raised.

“My bad, we’ll take this somewhere else.” He pulled the chick roughly after him, heading towards the bathroom. I scoffed and texted Sehun to come and keep me company.

    1730

 The moment Jongdae stepped inside the house, something felt wrong. The house felt cold and there was no Irina who would run up to him, hug him and smile at him sweetly. His eyebrows furrowed as he called her lover’s name. But there was no answer, she never answered. Quite worried, Jongdae started searching the house but found it empty. His stomach felt like it was on fire as he saw the slightly opened door to the garden. Thinking his lover would be there, reading a book on the bench, he scoffed at his dark thoughts and eagerly made his way out. Indeed, his lover was outside, the difference was that she was laying on the green grass, in her white dress, blood covering it at her stomach.

“Irina!” Jongdae’s shout was loud as he ran towards her dead love, dropping down to his knees, pulling her head in his lap “Irina! No, Irina. Please, no, what happened? Irina wake up, you are not dead. Who did this? Why! Irina!” But his screams were in vain, she couldn’t hear him anymore. And just like that, Irina, Jongdae’s lover left him without telling him anything.

That night, Jongdae found himself so drunk that he didn’t even know his own name. He was thrown out from the pub, due to his loud screaming, he was disturbing other clients. Wobbling awfully, he was trying to get home, while calling his lover’s name. His legs giving up, he fell down, his head resting against the back of an empty house’s wall.

“Irina” He whispered, as tears rolled down his cheeks “I love you, please come back.” His silent sobbing and whispers were heard, but unfortunately not by Irina. Even tough Jongdae’s vision was awfully blurred he could still make out the female standing in front of him.

“Irina?” He asked, his voice cracking.

“No” The voice answered, slowly and carefully.

“Where’s my Irina?” Jongdae whined, extending his hands and pulling the female into him.

“I don’t know, but I can be your Irina.” The female purred into his ear. Jongdae made a face and pushed her away.

“No! I want my Irina, you are not her!” He whined “Kill me.”

“Kill you?” The female was surprised, her arrogant attitude gone for a moment.

“Yes! I want to be with her, please.” Jongdae pleaded, his eyes half closed.

“You want me to kill you?” The female got closer again, sitting in front of Jongdae. He slowly nodded, and the female smirked.

“I could do that, but you are too handsome to let that go to waste.” She chuckled darkly.

“What are you—” Before Jongdae could finish his sentence, the female charged towards his neck, a loud whine leaving Jongdae’s lips. He didn’t remember much, but the stinging sensation and the burning of his whole body, before his vision went black and he went limp against the female and the cold wall.

He suddenly heard loud voices, making his head hurt. As if he was poked by something he shoot up in a sitting position. The little girl stared at him with wide eyes.

“Eomma, the ajhussi is awake!” The little girl screamed, running out of the room. His surrounding remained unknown to Jongdae, he felt his throat burning and thirsty for something…something he didn’t know what it was yet. A tall and lean woman ran inside the room, her eyes softening when she saw Jongdae’s confused gaze.

“Hello, I’m Seunghee. I found you on the street unconscious and brought you home. You were very cold and your neck looked weird.” Jongdae touched his neck, feeling two little bumps. How did those—that female! She didn’t kill him! She bit him! Jongdae abruptly looked back at Seunghee when he suddenly heard her steady heart beat. What was happening? As he analized her face, and trailed his gaze on her neck…Suddenly, her veins looked so tempting. Before he could think or realize what he was doing, he attacked the woman. His sharp teeth slowly penetrated the woman’s neck, making her scream out in pain and making Jongdae lose himself when he tasted her blood. From that day, Jongdae was never the same. His love and his humanity were gone. Now, he was a cold hearted vampire.

    2017

 I followed the dancing people bored with my eyes, lightly swaying my hips to the beat of the song. I sighed, why was everyone going to Sehun? Because he was handsome? Might be, but still—I was dead bored. When I was about to take my phone out and text Irene, Jongdae appeared. He’s been gone for twenty minutes. He sat back to his previous seat and looked at me. I saw something red on his lips, but he quickly them and his eyes seemed a darker brown than before.

“A Martini.” I nodded and in a few minutes handed him his drink.

“Where’s the chick? Had a good and ditched her?” I raised my eyebrows at him. Jongdae chuckled as he drowned the drink in one go.

“Exactly, how did you guess?”

“I’ve met boys like you before.” I shrugged.

“Really? Are you sure, because I wouldn’t be so convinced.” He smirked at me.

“Please, what makes you so different?” I scoffed, a teasing smile on my lips.

“That’s a secret I will only tell you…everything makes me different.” He winked, making me laugh loudly.

“Right, you happen to have a good sense of humour Jongdae.”

“But I’m serious, love. I’m not like other boys, I have lot’s of dark secrets.” His voice was low, its eye color flicked between red and brown. Maybe it was the light making it look as if it was changing its color. Or maybe I was seeing things right, but that would be weird, right? Whose eyes change colors? No one’s…

“Well, everyone has secrets” I said with a shrug.

“I’m sure you’ve got some as well.” Jongdae said with a small smile.

“Of course I have, but those aren’t your concern.” I glanced at Sehun who was laughing at a girl, that had a sweet smile on her face.

“Let me guess, you like that guy?” Jongdae raised his eyebrows, his face holding amusement, yet his jaw was set tightly.

“I—can’t say I like him, he’s nice and friendly. Protects me from unwanted attention I get here.” I said with a shrug, checking my phone when I felt it buzzing in my hands.

“Do you get often attention?”

“Many guys come here only to …Sehun knows that too, so it won’t hurt anyone if we pretend we are a couple” I shrugged and picked up my phone.

“Yes?” I asked with a sigh.

“Why aren’t you picking up? I was worried.” Irene sighed into the phone.

“I was talking with someone, don’t worry I’m fine.” I said with a quiet chuckle.

“Is Sehun there?”

“Yes, why?”

“Can I talk to him?”

“Irene, what’s gotten into you?” I furrowed my eyebrows.

“I just—” there was rustling on the other end “I’ve got a bad feeling, like—something is going to happen. Please, can I talk to Sehun?”

“Okay, wait a little bit” I walked over to Sehun, patting his shoulder. He turned around and smile at me “Irene wants to speak to you”

“Irene?” Sehun asked surprised “Okay”

I walked back to my place when Sehun and Irene started speaking, not wanting to eavesdrop. What gas gotten into Irene? I kept my eyes on Sehun, whose eyebrows kept furrowing more and more, his shoulders stiff. He kept nodding, saying something from time to time.

“Was that your friend?” Jongdae’s voice brought me out of my staring.

“Yes” I said with a chuckle “She usually gets worried over me, but she was weird just now”

“I—” probably shouldn’t tell him, he’s a stranger, yet I feel like I’ve met him before “she just got a weird feeling. She usually feels things, you know…like a witch. It’s quite weird but after getting used to it, it’s pretty cool.”

“What was her name?” Jongdae asked, his jaw tightening slightly.

“Irene” I said, my eyebrows furrowed, staring intently at Jongdae. He seemed to be thinking, when a look of recognition was shown on his face. His eyes slowly travelled up, and he locked it with mine.

“How do you know her?” He asked lowly, almost inaudible, yet it was clear in my head. It felt as if my thoughts became dizzy for a second, and I just wanted to spill everything to him…but as water was splashed over my face, I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Why are you asking?”

“What—how did you—”

“Y/N, your phone.” Sehun placed his hand on my back, a worried expression crossing over his handsome features.

“Thanks, is everything okay with Irene?” I asked, taking my phone back.

“Yes.” He pulled my coat off the hanger, turning back towards me “You should go home, now.”

“What? Why?” I asked confused, the coat being showed into my hands “I can’t leave, it’s still early.”

“I’ll cover you, don’t worry. Baekhyun won’t mind.” Sehun reassured me, taking my phone and placing it inside my purse for me.

“Are you sure?” I asked, taking the purse and buttoning up my coat.

“Yes, come on…I’ll take you to the cab.”

“You already called for a cab?”

“Yes” I stopped walking, almost forgetting something. I turned towards Jongdae, who looked pissed. He was glaring hard at Sehun, his eyes flickering for a second. I blinked and cleared my throat.

“Goodbye” I said with a nod.

“Goodbye” His voice was tight and I felt his gaze on me until we left the club.

Before getting inside the cab, I stopped Sehun who was pushing me inside.

“Something happened and you won’t tell me. If I ask Irene she won’t tell me either.” I said with a glare.

“We will, eventually. But first of all Irene needs to make sure she’s right, okay?” Sehun asked with a sigh.

“You promise you will tell me, right?”

“Yes, I’ll see you in the morning. Take care” Sehun kissed my forehead and I sat in the cab, letting it take me home.

    A week passed and Jongdae never