just like she promised, hyejin is there when wheein opens her eyes against the strong sunlight filtering through her windows. she smiles slightly at the younger, wondering what she did in her past life to deserve a friend like hyejin. 

“hyejin, wake up. we have class in an hour,” wheein gently shakes her awake before heading into the kitchen to make two cups of coffee. her sleepy best friend walks in too and helps herself to a bowl of cereal. 

—————

soon, they’re walking to class together. wheein is nervous, even though she knows miss solar didn’t see her last night. the two of them are the earliest students today, thanks to hyejin. she was the one who had dragged an unwilling wheein out of the house 20 minutes earlier than the usual time wheein left her house. 

miss solar is at her desk, pen in hand, dressed in a white shirt and black skirt, one side of her black leather jacket falling down below her shoulder. wheein gulps silently, the sight of miss solar sending an unfamiliar feeling to her stomach. 

“it’s good to see you so early today, miss jung,” miss solar looks up and smirks slightly. “miss ahn,” she acknowledges hyejin, nodding her head in greeting with a simple smile. 

“good morning, miss solar,” wheein replies with a tight smile, ignoring the smirk from miss solar. she puts in her earpiece and decides to finish her assignments for other classes since she has time. even through the music, wheein can feel miss solar’s eyes on her. without lifting her head, a quick glance at her side tells wheein that hyejin has her eyes closed and is resting peacefully in her seat. she pretends not to notice miss solar’s piercing eyes that are trained on her and continues writing. with her head still down and her short blonde locks covering her face, wheein spares a glance upwards at miss solar. those hazel brown eyes meet hers for a brief moment, and wheein feels herself falling deeper and deeper into them. 

then students start to file in one by one, and the moment is lost. wheein spends half the lesson staring at miss solar, hearing the words coming out of but not registering them in her mind. and then she spends the other half of the lesson thinking about those eyes that pierced right through her, all within a few seconds. 

——————

wheein walks briskly through the cold night, once again dressed in her black suit. only this time, she’s prepared. she turns a corner that leads her right into a dark alleyway, which also leads her to her target. the blonde-haired woman walks in front of her, unsuspecting of her presence. swiftly, wheein puts a hand over her professor’s mouth and traps her between the wall. 

“so,” she starts, slowly taking her hand off miss solar’s mouth. “you’re a vampire,” 

miss solar’s eyes betrayed her, but she wasn’t going to back down this easily. 

“and you’re a vampire hunter,” 

“who knew i would be hunting down my professor,” wheein leans closer to her, her voice dropping one octave lower. “it looks like the tables have been turned, don’t you think so,” wheein her head, smirking. “miss solar?” she can hear miss solar’s breathing quicken, and steps back, miss solar still trapped between her and the wall. “so, would you mind telling me who you really are?” 

“you know who i am,” miss solar looks at her with wary eyes. 

“yes, i do. but i want to know, yongsun, what should i do with you now?” wheein is surprised at her newfound confidence. this was her professor she was talking to, and yet this woman standing in front of her, looked so different from the one who had smirked at her this morning. and even though this is her job, wheein can’t bring herself to turn yongsun in to byulyi. she can’t imagine what would happen to yongsun if she did. she can’t imagine how she could continue living knowing that the reason she never saw yongsun again was her. 

“i’ll be back for you, miss solar,” wheein whispers into yongsun’s ear and stalks off. 

——————

three days later

nothing much has happened since the day she cornered miss solar in the alleyway. miss solar is still her professor, even though she never looks wheein in the eye anymore. actually, she doesn’t even look at wheein. not even a glance. it’s like she’s set on ignoring wheein, and wheein is getting frustrated. she knows it’s her own fault, for scaring miss solar like that, but now she would want nothing more than for miss solar to look at her. she misses those hazel brown eyes that captured hers so very deeply, the ones that made her breathless when she stared into them. the ones filled with mystery and temptation, like they were just waiting for wheein to fall even deeper so she would never be able to crawl back up. 

——————

that night, wheein finds miss solar in the same alleyway. it seems this was the path she took to get home. this time, yongsun turns around before wheein can pin her against the wall again. 

“what do you want?” yongsun’s eyes flare with caution, her voice firm and unwavering. 

“i told you i would be back for you,” wheein says calmly. “so here i am,” 

yongsun’s eyes narrow at wheein’s words. “why? why do you keep following me? why don’t you just kill me, if you hate me this much?” 

“i don’t hate you, yongsun. this is my job. my job doesn’t involve killing,” wheein looks at yongsun who seems genuinely upset now. “look, how about we strike a deal?” she suggests. 

“what deal?” yongsun crosses her arms. 

“i don’t turn you in to my boss, who can and will probably kill you, and you accompany me for one night a week, how does that sound?” 

yongsun can’t believe she’s actually thinking about this. keeping her life in exchange for a night a week with her student? she had to admit, it was a pretty good deal. but what would wheein do with her a night a week? before she had time to think about the consequences, yongsun sighs and agrees. 

“fine. every thursday good with you?” wheein nods her head, maybe a little too enthusiastically. she would take any amount of time she got to spend with yongsun. 

that thursday

yongsun looks at the place she has alighted at, a fair looking apartment. so this is where wheein lives. she rings the doorbell, her fingers shaking from nervousness. i can do this. she’s just a student. she can’t do anything to me. even though she has her vampire powers, she’s vowed never to use them again since that day. 

while she’s in the middle of her thoughts, the door opens and she is greeted by the short-haired girl. dressed in a simple white shirt and ripped jeans, wheein smiles upon yongsun’s arrival, her dimple showing. she gestures for yongsun to enter. 

“i wasn’t sure you would show, to be honest,” wheein says. nonetheless, she can’t be happier that yongsun did indeed show up. 

“i keep my promises, so you better keep yours too, jung wheein,” yongsun follows wheein into the kitchen where she has prepared dinner. 

“oh, i will, yongsun,” wheein’s mouth curves up into a small smile as she and yongsun sit at the table and start to eat. 

“that’s yongsun-unnie to you, miss jung,” yongsun rolls her eyes with her head down. “you’re already getting away with not calling me miss solar, don’t push your luck,” she warns. 

“okay, yongsun-unnie. then how about you stop calling me by my first name and just call me wheein instead?” wheein can’t help but notice how the honorific flows so smoothly off the tip of her tongue. 

“fine, wheein, now may i ask what you were planning to do tonight?” the older pretends to be annoyed, but this isn’t as bad as she had thought it would be. she had expected something...worse. 

“why do you say my name like that?” wheein’s eyes flashing a brief moment of hurt before it disappears as fast as it appeared. she quickly replaces it with a pout, but yongsun saw the change in her eyes. 

“like what?” 

“like you hate it. like you hate me,” 

“i don’t hate you, wheein. just like how you don’t hate me. this...deal or whatever you call it, i was the one who agreed to it. we don’t have to like each other, but we don’t hate each other, okay?” yongsun finds herself doing something she rarely does. she gives in. she was a stubborn person, she knew that. but something about the flash of hurt in wheein’s eyes had made her weak. she felt guilty for being the one who had caused wheein that hurt. 

somewhere along the way, yongsun’s hands somehow found themselves on top of wheein’s small ones. it probably happened when she was explaining that she didn’t hate the younger, she had a habit of feeling the need to comfort someone if they were hurt or in pain. 

with a jolt, yongsun pulls away from wheein. 

and all of this happened in a few seconds. and in those few seconds, wheein found herself repeating yongsun’s words in her mind. 

we don’t have to like each other, but we don’t hate each other, okay? 

if only she knew, that wheein was far beyond liking her. 

and yet, when she pulls her hand away with a jolt, even though wheein feels the warmth leave her hand almost immediately, she says nothing but offers yongsun a small smile and a nod. 

“well, since you asked, i thought we could maybe watch a movie here?” wheein’s confidence is gone, now replaced by her shy nature. yongsun agrees, she can’t really do anything else, anyway. 

she waits for wheein to pick a movie, praying hard that she doesn’t choose a horror movie. thankfully, she doesn’t. 

wheein settles down on the couch next to yongsun, her knees propped up and a cushion between her chest and thighs, staring at the screen intently. yongsun notices that she is quieter than before, now resembling a small puppy. 

the movie finishes and wheein stands up to stretch. 

“it’s late, you should get going,” yongsun is surprised that wheein is the one who tells her to go home. yongsun walks to the door, followed by a yawning wheein. 

“will you be okay going home yourself?” wheein asks. 

“i’m not a child, wheein. i can go home myself, you know,” yongsun chuckles at her concern. she waves goodbye and turns to leave. 

“thank you for tonight, i guess you’re nicer than you let on, yongsun-unnie,” wheein smiles as the older turns back. 

“it was...better than i thought it would be. you’re not as bad as you let on either, wheein,” yongsun has to admit, spending the evening with wheein was a pretty good change to her life. if not for this deal, she would’ve been at home, probably watching the television and accepting the fact that she would forever be alone. with that, she leaves with a genuine smile on her face as wheein watches her leave. 

3 weeks later

it’s been three weeks. yongsun has been spending her past three thursdays with wheein. they’ve been to the movies, they’ve gone out for dinner and they’ve even been to the beach. yongsun wonders if wheein will ever run out of things to do with her. 

she rings the doorbell and is greeted by that familiar smile, the one that shows her adorable dimple everyone falls so hard for. 

wheein drives them to some place away from the bustling of the city. out here, all yongsun sees is an empty road, surrounded by grass and flowers. 

“it’s beautiful,” she breathes. they get out of wheein’s car, yongsun still staring at the scenery like it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. shyly, with a questioning glance at yongsun, as if asking for her permission, wheein takes yongsun’s hand in her own. yongsun doesn’t think she’s ever held a hand that is so soft and gentle. wheein’s small hand fits into hers like two pieces of a puzzle, and yongsun can’t help but notice how right it all feels. she tightens wheein’s grip on her hand and lets wheein lead them to a patch of grass. wheein lays down on the grass, patting the empty space next to her ; a silent invitation for yongsun to lie down as well. 

“it really is beautiful, isn’t it?” wheein says, sighing wistfully at the star-studded night sky. she sees yongsun nod in agreement from the corner of her eye, and turns her head to look at her. for the first time, wheein truly realises how beautiful yongsun really is up close. her features are well-defined, with cheeks that rose up every time she smiled, her long blonde hair spreading out beneath her head, and those eyes, the ones that now glance up at the night sky in wonder and amazement. 

and wheein wishes she could tell her. tell her how she’s so breathtakingly beautiful, tell her how amazing she is, inside and out. and most of all, wheein wishes so much that she could tell her how happy she makes her. how even though all of this is so wrong, it feels so right with her. 

and maybe, just maybe, wheein thinks she loves her.