"You know, if you smiled more, people wouldn't be so scared of you."

 

Yujin looked up from her notebook, peering through the bangs hanging in front of her eyes. Wonyoung was looking thoughtfully at her, math problems abandoned, as usual.

 

 

"Do your work," Yujin told her.

 

 

But Wonyoung ignored her, as she did whenever she told her to quit slacking. Turning around more fully in her seat to face the latter, she asked, "Do you even know how to smile, Yujin?"

 

 

She bristled. "Yes," she replied testily. "I smile at you, don't I?"

 

 

Immediately she regretted her words, but Wonyoung seemed to not notice. She tapped her nose, thinking back, and then she brightened.

 

 

"You're right! You really should do it more often," she said.

 

 

Then she turned around and pretended to be immersed in algebra, since the teacher had just returned to the classroom.

 

 

Yujin stared at the back of her head. She was tossing it about as she laughed at what her friend Nako was saying to her, and peering down in apparently intense concentration at her math worksheet whenever the teacher glanced up at her.

 

 

Her sheet remained blank until the end of the period. Yujin's was successfully completed, with time to spare. It looked like she would be tutoring tonight.

.

.

.

.

"I bet you'd look good in an apron," Wonyoung said. Yujin glared at her where she was perched on the counter, swinging her legs and leaning back on her palms to stare at the ceiling. She didn't notice. "Yeah, something frilly and pink."

 

 

 

"Wonyoung," she began warningly.

 

 

"You wouldn't be so scary then," she went on. "And then maybe you could wear one of those 'Kiss the Chef' aprons and get a girlfriend”

 

 

Yujin turned back to the sandwiches she was making for them, trying very hard not to think about the girl behind her, who was really the only one she could see as a potential girlfriend. Not that she would ever be one, because she liked the other vampire, Miyawaki Sakura and Yujin couldn't be around her for too long without robbing her of her blood, besides. Human and Vampire can’t be together. I’m stuck with this body of 15 years old for centuries and arguing with a young girl.

 

 

She lifted the plates from the countertop and carried them into the next room. "Get some drinks," she called back to Wonyoung. She did as the vampire said, following her and seating herself at the table, where she picked up one of the sandwiches and dug in.

 

 

"Mmm. This is really good, Yujin," she complimented around a big chunk of bread.

 

 

"Don't eat with your mouth full," she said.

 

 

Wonyoung laughed, and if the sight wasn't so gross, Yujin might have smiled. "Yes, Mom."

 

 

They ate in silence for a moment, Yujin studying Wonyoung out of the corner of her eyes. She was so sweet, so carefree, Yujin sometimes found it hard to believe she had taken all her innocence away so easily. All because she couldn't control herself, because she had opened and sunk her teeth into the creamy skin of her neck…

 

 

It disgusted her. And she was trying to tell Yujin how not to be scary? Impossible. After all, how did one turn back from a monster into a human?

 

 

"Hurry up and eat," she muttered stiffly, letting none of her inner feelings show in her expression or tone. "Then we'll get to your math homework."

 

 

"Ew. Not fun." She pouted.

 

 

.

.

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"Wonyoung," Yujin sighed. "Focus."

 

 

"I'm trying," she said indignantly.

Yujin shook her head, scowled at her, and reached across the table to pluck the pen from her fingers. She had been twirling it for the past five minutes, not listening to a word Yujin said about binomials.

 

 

"Yujin!" she whined. When she just gave her a Look, she huffed, folding her arms across her chest. "It's not my fault math is so boring! What kind of weirdo likes to torment themselves with this stuff?"

 

 

Yujin just looked at her. "Math is my favorite subject," she pointed out quietly.

 

 

Wonyoung opened and closed several times, looking for something to say and looking quite like a fish out of water. Finally she settled with a sheepish smile.

 

 

Yujin ducked her head so she wouldn't see the amused grin tugging at her lips, and continued to guide her through the steps to complete her homework. Of course, in the end, she ended up basically doing her homework for her, as usual, out of sheer frustration.