A/N: Hello all. Before you proceed, this is going to be a bit more serious than the rest of the stories in this collection. It's just something that has been stuck in my mind for months. I finally found the time to sit down and turn that mess into this... whatever this is. I have so much back story that I decided doesn't really need to be fully fleshed out here to get the plot running. So, if you have any questions feel free to ask down at the comments or message me. That said, I hope you enjoy this piece.

Lastly, be smart, keep safe everyone.

 

 

-o-o-

 

After all the years, all the life that sprung and withered as the earth continued to revolve around its axis, you’d think the different reactions of people would lose its novelty- was what Yongsun thought as she mirrored the curious look on the younger girl’s face.

 

She had heard the other nurses chattering about this peculiar girl. She overhears the whispers when they think she wasn’t listening. She was. She pretends not to take notice, but she files it all away in her mind, in case she might find something of use later. She had learned from years of experience that even rumours hold a sort of truth to them. It took time looking through the fallacies with a fine comb to get to the root of the matter, but it always served her well to know.

 

So this was odd, she thought, taking a quick survey of the four corners of the dimly lit room, to receive this kind of reaction. Her eyes briefly flickered to the window reflecting back a mirrored image of the room before her gaze quickly diverted back to the sole occupant, who stood awkwardly at the end of the bed, watching her carefully, like how one would regard a stray dog they wanted to give pats to. It was possible that the shards of broken glass scattered beside her were the only thing that served as a deterrent for either party to act on their impulse.

 

Yongsun’s upper lip twitched. She held her breath and pursed her lips, battling the tingling in her gums and the wild craving clawing at her back. In hindsight, it was a bad idea to give way to curiosity. It’s what got those people killed in horror movies. After all the people Yongsun had witnessed being rolled onto the emergency department for answering to the call of curiosity you’d think she would have known better than to follow that tingle in the back of her mind.

 

“Your eyes are red.” It was an observation. The girl continued to stare, the lack of any other reaction possibly due to her coming out of the general anesthesia she was given for her biopsy. Or the fact that the open cut in her freely bleeding hand had shocked her systems enough to kill whatever prey instincts she had to kick in properly.

 

Yongsun could feel the saliva building up in . The smell was too much. She had inhaled too much. It was making her head pound and her stomach flip. Swallowing tightly, she squeezed her eyes shut, reversing back to the door, hand held out backward to grab the door handle. She would need a minute to gather herself, pull back her control, and then clear the shards from the room and tend to the patient.

 

“I didn’t.. mean to.. it was an accident.”

 

Yongsun almost lets out a dry chuckle as she held up a hand. She chose to keep to her silence, turning back and exiting without another backward glance. It’s only when she closes the door that she looks, past the small window and onto the nameplate.

 

Moon Byulyi

 

 

 

 

 

Wheein paced around the room, her newly short blond hair bouncing with her every movement. There was an annoying glitter in her eyes as she checked every décor like it was the most fascinating piece carved from the finest wood as opposed to the cheap deal Yongsun had managed to nab online. Yongsun rolled her eyes as she sat herself down on the la-z-boy, flipping idly over yesterday’s newspaper she snatched from the staff room.

 

“Is this real wood?” Wheein’s random inquiry gets a quirk of the brow. She was scrutinizing the high, rectangular table that Yongsun thought best suited at the entrance to her house. It was too wide, hence the relocation to the study.

 

“Is that actually a question?”

 

Wheein looks over her shoulder, scrunching her nose, “You know what I mean. Is it, like, the cabinets like in the old house, the ones with proper wood and not those compressed chips.”

 

Yongsun sighs, opting not to answer and instead deliver a query of her own. “As much as I love to see you well, what are you doing here Wheein?”

 

“Judging your taste for the finer things in life. I'd have to say you’ve lost a bit of you old touch Yongsun. I mean, this is pretty okay, but you used to have like large Grandfather clocks made of..  what did you have? Beech? Oak?”

 

“Honduras Mahogany. Yes, that was one of the better works I've had. The one you destroyed because the ticking bothered you.”

 

“I did no such thing!”

 

“You threw the whole clock out of the second-story window and then lied to me as if I would buy that the servant boy did it. He was a skinny boy and couldn’t even lift a sack of potatoes over his head, much less a grandfather clock.”

 

A look of appal took over Wheein’s child-like features, flapping like a fish out of water. A stern look was all it took to kill the dramatics and the blond gave a sheepish grin. “.. to be fair, it was annoying.”

 

“It was.” Yongsun agreed, nodding her head. “It was also my late friend’s work.” Yongsun swats a dismissive hand at the reproachful look the younger immortal wore. She had never really cared much for the antique but she did thought it was such a waste to have it destroyed.

 

Though she never said it out loud, nor would she ever admit to it, Yongsun held a soft spot for the curious woman and had forgiven her slight decades ago, regardless if she even felt sorry for doing what she did.

 

“I know you Wheein. So I know you didn’t come here for pleasantries. Either you've purposely tracked me down to continue being a thorn in my side, or something caught your attention while you went on that world tour. Question is, which is it?”

 

Yongsun turns her eyes at her beloved junior, scrutinizing every single detail from the tautness of the way she held herself to the minuscule twitch on her brows. Wheein wisely kept shut and turned her attention to the small library Yongsun was beginning to populate, feigning interest.

 

Whatever. Yongsun will hear of what Wheein had in that head of hers. The woman could only keep a secret for so long, and they both had eternity to burn.

 

 

 

 

“Is that a good read?” Yongsun looks up from her book, catching the curling of her lip at recognizing the willowy, orange-head leaning over the nurse station, broadly grinning at her.

 

“You should be in bed.” The orange-head, Moon Byulyi, shrugs, languidly walking along the length of the table, hand on the plastic surface trailing after her. She doesn’t seem to mind the sanitary stench that wafted from the back of the station where all the sterile items and equipment were stored. Unmindful of Yongsun’s stern gaze following her movements, or the way Yongsun’s eyes flicked quickly to the bandage around one of her hands.

 

A light flickered in the hallway, the continuous buzz of the florescent lights overhead the only thing that was louder than the soft, even breathing of this girl in her hospital gown and grey sweats. Yongsun matched her breathing, keeping her finger in between the pages as she scrutinizes her patient. Once she arrives at the end of the division she stands her ground, not stepping over the imaginary boundary as she clasps her hands behind her like a good 5 year old.

 

“I'm Byulyi,” she introduces, bowing with an added flourish of her hand. When she straightens back up there sits a wide grin splitting her face.

 

Yongsun raises a brow at her, her bottom was far too comfortable in the swivel chair to bother chasing the bored patient back to her room. She took a quick glance at the clock that was situated at the pillar behind her. 0128, far too late for her to care for annoying patients.

 

“Can you please go back to your room?”

 

“My room’s boring. I'm bored.”

 

“It’s one in the morning, what did you expect? Regular people are already in bed.”

 

“What about you?”

 

“I'm working.”

 

“Not that.” Yongsun a brow at her, biting an irritated growl back. Moon Byulyi was smiling way too brightly for Yongsun’s liking. “I meant you’re not like regular people, are you?”

 

“No, I work shifts, unlike regular people.” Yongsun mindlessly responds, eyes back to the page she left off. The doors of the wards are locked with strict access only to those with the right fob card. The other nurse she was partnered with had lied on the bed in the stock room and wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. Whatever this energetic girl had in mind it would not bother anyone else and therefore Yongsun didn’t care what she did so long as she didn’t steal anything from the station. She flips on to the next page.

 

“You’re not people. Or at least, not anymore,” Yongsun exhales loudly through her nose, slipping a makeshift book card into the page and putting away her book.

 

“Okay, let’s go to your room, shall we?” Yongsun says with a smile, her nurse persona coming to the surface as she rose from the chair to offer her hand to the patient.

 

Byulyi crosses her arm over her chest, giving Yongsun one of those are-you-serious looks. “I've been stuck in that room for days. Days. Do you know what that’s like? It’s like a prison, except like, it probably smells better. Also, I'm bored.”

 

At that Yongsun sighs, palming her face instead. She grumbles under her breath about insufferable patients, walking around Byulyi to try if leading the way would get the younger woman to follow her.

 

“So,” the chipper voice is grating in Yongsun’s ears. She looks over her shoulder groaning at the sight of the woman taking her vacated seat and thumbing through her book. All she wanted was peace when she worked, now this patient was quickly rising in her annoying people list. “are you like a werewolf or something?”

 

“That’s a silly question, isn’t it?” Yongsun shoots back, beating down her hot-headedness. It was one thing not to care, it was another to murder her patients. Though, at this particular ward, maybe they don’t really care much for that thought.

 

“So, how long have you been here?”

 

“I don’t see why it’s any of your business, Miss Moon.”

 

“Just Byulyi, Miss Moon is so…” She waves a hand in the air, her face puckering up, “reminds me of school.”

 

“Well, you remind me of an unruly student. So, Miss Moon, please go back to your room.” Yongsun says tersely, putting a hand on her hip.

 

Byulyi cocked a brow at Yongsun’s stance, one side of her lips pulling into a smirk that just rubbed Yongsun the wrong way.

 

“You know, you actually remind me a little of my teacher.”

 

Yongsun scoffs, “Because I’m strict.”

 

“Because you’re as pretty as her, even when angry.” That took Yongsun by surprise. Did the brat just flirt with her?

 

She eyes the young woman like she just grew another head, or maybe it was because she was getting distracted by the way her nose scrunched as she giggled or the way the mischief lit her eyes up like glinting stars.

 

“Lighten up, miss nurse, I’m just playing.”

 

Yongsun snaps out of her stunned silence, drawing her eyes away from the woman because, no, she was not getting flustered. She puts a hand over her forehead wondering if this was her comeuppance for those years of her gluttonous, blood seeking rampage.

 

“Miss Moon, please stop with the jokes and go back to your room.”

 

“I haven’t seen you here before, you know, that day.” Byulyi continues, ignoring the glower directed at her as she busies herself flipping through the book Yongsun had been reading. “I think I’ve been here long enough to know all the people working in this ward. You, I haven’t seen before. So I’m sure during the last month I was admitted you weren’t here. I see you almost every night since that day so either you’ve just gotten back from a vacation, or you’ve just been transferred from another ward.. or hospital. Can they do that though? Transfer from another hospital? They transfer patients from other hospitals, so it’s not that too far off. But then again, I don’t work in the medical field so really, what do I know?”

 

“You know you’re rambling.”

 

“Ah, yeah. I do that when I’m excited. Or nervous.”

 

“You don’t look nervous for someone who just asked if I was a werewolf.”

 

“I guess I’m a bit of both. I’m excited to finally get to talk to you, and I’m nervous because you’re way prettier up close. I get nervous around pretty people.” Yongsun scoffs at the pretty people part. There was nothing pretty about her if she knew how much blood stained her skin. There was nothing pretty about a cursed demon roaming the lands for all eternity.

 

“Not because you think I’m a werewolf?”

 

“Ah! But you’re not a werewolf, are you?”

 

A ring on the intercom catches both women’s attention. A glance at the computer screen has Yongsun groaning. It was the old man in room 23. An old war veteran who constantly complained of the type of service and told war stories and what it was like back in the old days, as if Yongsun hadn’t lived through more than his flimsy mortal life could ever encompass.

 

Flipping the alarm off Yongsun glowered at the grinning patient, lifting a finger at her warningly. “Either you go back to your room or stay here, be quiet, and keep your hands away from everything. Now I have to tend to Mr Ho and when I get back and see anything amiss I know who to throw out the window.”

 

The young patient gasped sarcastically. “Oh my, isn’t that nurse brutality?”

 

“It’s not if you’re not alive to report it.” Yongsun hisses which gets the young patient to crack up laughing. The seriousness in Yongsun’s face gives way to a mix of confusion and mild amusement. She could only remember one who had ever laughed off her warnings of a promise of death. She’d swore to herself not to let her feelings decide her actions ever again. Turning her nose to the air, Yongsun left the patient to her own devices. She would deal with her later if she was still there when she got back.

 

Yongsun eventually returns, but not after a little trouble with Mr Ho. The girl was gone, with just a paper rose on her book as a little reminder of her.

 

 

 

 

“I really don’t see the allure of hunting.” Wheein speaks up after minutes of scrutinising the newly mounted deer head over the abandoned fireplace. Yongsun spares her a glance over her newspaper, scrutinizing Wheein’s side profile and the magnificent deer with its large hooves proudly decorating her wall.

 

Yongsun couldn’t quite recall when she had the deer sent to the taxidermist to be stuffed. It could have been between 5 years to half a century. Living a long life the days tended to blur together and numbers became something inconsequential enough not to bother remembering. The large antlers were majestic though and the deer perfectly preserved that had it not been mounted over her fireplace Yongsun would have thought it alive. It was quite the masterpiece and Yongsun was glad she had it made.

 

“Says the hunter,” Yongsun wryly remarks, returning to her reading.

 

Wheein shakes her head, turning away from the stuffed carcass and went straight for the cabinet that housed bottles upon bottles of vintage whiskey. She pays the collection no mind, aside from a quick cursory glance at the new addition, her eyes set on the ruby decanter carefully laid in a stainless steel ice bucket. “I did it for the necessity of sustenance.”

 

“And, what did you think I was doing?”

 

“You know what I mean,” Wheein dismissed flippantly, popping the crystal cap and carefully tipping the content of the decanter into the two wine glasses on the tray beside it. “You said you didn’t care.”

 

Yongsun hums, folding the newspaper in half as she looked over her spectacles to Wheein’s back. She wonders when the younger woman’s back looked so strong, a far cry of the tiny innocence she had once watched skittle between alleyways with mischief glinting in her brown eyes.

 

“About everyone else,” Wheein clarifies, not turning her head, concentrating on her pour. “I remember what you said… well, kind of. About how you thought life was so fragile and that, in the grand scheme of the universe, we were just insignificant specks. In that sense, you said you didn’t care about what people said, or did, or didn’t do.”

 

“Your point?”

 

“Why’d you not teach me how to hunt them then?” She finally asks, briefly halting her pour to send a meaningful look over her shoulders at her sire. She turns to gaze at the deer head, feeling a faint thrum of adrenaline that fueled her as she hunted once upon a time. “Why deer instead? Why didn’t you let me go crazy the day of my turning?”
 

There it was; the question that had long been coming.

 

Yongsun remembers the day vividly. It was hard, even for her, to keep watch over the newly turned woman screaming in agony, writhing on the forest ground as she clawed at her neck, gasping for air she would no longer really need. She begged, oh how she begged for everything to stop, for the burning in to go away. Yongsun stood guard, keeping the young immortal away from the town that she once called home, away from the misguided mad crowd demanding to burn the witch.

 

She didn’t care then, to randomly pick out from the crowd and feast. Back then she wasn’t the type to care if a town was wiped out, either by disease or hunted by the less controlled of her kind. The town Wheein came from did not deserve the mercy, not after they had the girl dragged through one end to the other, hand bound by a rope to a horse as it galloped wildly. The poor wretch was half dead by the time Yongsun located where her battered body had been taken, hidden from the madness. She had wanted to slaughter the town for their misdeeds, wanted to watch the whole town burn, but for her newfound fledgling, she was willing to change her mindset.

 

Wheein hands one of the wine glasses over to Yongsun, the elder receiving the cup gracefully. She doesn’t answer Wheein’s questions right away, opting to slosh the thick liquid around its containment, quietly observing the swirling under the yellowish glow of the light above them.

 

She holds her silence long enough for Wheein to find a comfortable spot on the opposite couch, drinking away at her glass as she patiently waits for a reply.

 

“I was moved,” she finally responds, tilting the glass to her lips to take a long, slow sip.

 

Wheein leans on her knees, curiosity painting her face as she eagerly awaits Yongsun to continue her explanation, knowing fully well to keep shut if she expects to have her questions answered.

 

“I heard a young girl’s dying wish.” Yongsun continues after a moment’s thought, eyes flickering towards Wheein’s, her entire demeanour softening as the gazed into the same brown eyes that used to sparkle with admiration as she ran to her with a jovial greeting, without the fear she was so accustomed to seeing. She looks away, schooling her expression back to disinterest, tilting the glass to consume the rest of her drink.

 

Wheein knows more than to prod, settling with a despondent frown as she nursed the rest of her drink. “Okay, be vague about it. Fine. But can you answer me this: All those years you never turned anyone, what made you decide on me?”

 

Yongsun lowered her glass, letting the remainder of her drink pool at the centre of the glass. She recalls the equally skinny girl clutching onto her dying friend, a trembling, bloody hand out, clutching a dagger she clearly didn’t even know how to use. The usual terrified look in her eyes, for the first and last time, turning hopeful as they realise who it was that had found them.

 

Save her.

 

“It was a young girl’s dying wish.”

 

 

 

The girl, Byulyi, was a lot more persistent than Yongsun thought a sick little girl could be. Every night, without fail, she would turn up to bug Yongsun with random tidbits she learned over the internet or questions she doesn’t really need answers to. Her visits were so frequent that Yongsun had eventually offered the circular, rolling, backless chair, dubbed as the fool’s throne. Something Byulyi had happily accepted without a huff.

 

It was only a few days later that Yongsun found that it was a terrible case of misguided kindness and she had threatened to sequester the chair after Byulyi had clung to her arm, rolling along behind her as she did her rounds. It had been harmless fun for her until the roller jammed on something and nearly pitched her forward. She was saved from crashing her face onto the floor by Yongsun reflexively pulling her arm up. Byulyi had thought it was hilarious and fun, Yongsun thought it a closes save from her filing an incident report.

 

“Relax grumpy, nothing happened.”

 

“No thanks to you.” Yongsun grumbles, rolling the chair back to the station with Byulyi at her heels. She shrugs nonchalantly, peeking into the glass at every door they encounter on the way. “Stop mucking around and keep up.”

 

“Mucking?” Byulyi perks up at the word and is quick to rush around Yong, effectively blocking her path. Yongsun glowers but Byulyi merely her head to the side curiously. “What does that mean?”

 

Yongsun rolls her eyes, giving Byulyi a light shove to the side to get past.

 

“No, seriously, what does that mean?”

 

“What do you mean, what does that mean? It’s clearly English.”

 

“I haven’t lived that long to just know what it means.”

 

“It’s an everyday term, what are you talking about?”

 

“Well, it’s not American English.”

 

“Well then that just means you better brush up on your English.”

 

“Hard to brush up on something when you’re stuck in the hospital all day.”

 

“That’s-” Yongsun hesitated. Pursing her lips she glanced over her shoulder to Byulyi. The red-head doesn’t look any way bothered, it was more a delivery of facts and held not even a single ounce of emotion. Yongsun blinked, wondering what Wheein would do if she was in her shoes.

 

She shook the thought away. Why was she to care what Wheein would do? The orange-haired mortal obviously did not care for any pity. And Yongsun would be stupid to show such sympathy to someone who does not seek for it.

 

“Too bad.” She settled, pushing past the mortal to push the chair back to the safety behind the nurse station.”

 

“You know. I used to have dark hair like you. I’ve always liked long, dark hair.” Byulyi started up conversationally, once again chasing away the silence of the night. She picked at her shoulder length orangeish hair, holding it as far as she could to inspect the tips. “Before the chemo and when I lost it all. I’m grateful my hair grew back and all, but it came back white. Could you believe it? It was like an auto bleaching.”

 

Her face scrunched in distaste. “I didn’t like it. Made me feel old. So I decided to take the chance and dyed it red. It was darker red when I just had it dyed, now I’m starting to look more and more like a carrot head.”

 

Moon Byulyi doesn’t say anything else, standing at the other end of the station with a pensive look on her face. Not even as Yongsun bustled about behind the table to go through her check list come morning did Byulyi utter a word. It was only the sound of receding footsteps that clued Yongsun to Byulyi’s departure. She doesn’t spare the younger girl a glance, much too busy to stop her train of thought on work. She was at work; she wasn’t there to make friends.

 

 

 

Yongsun wasn’t sure if the absent look on Wheein’s face or her unusual silence was grounds for concern or relief. The woman hadn’t said a word to her after her short, distracted greeting upon her entry. She had silently trailed after Yongsun, taken the cup into her hand and sat at the couch with that far-off gaze.

 

Yongsun stared after her, wondering what she should do.

 

Usually, Wheein had the answers to everything. Being nosy, constantly poking her nose in other people’s business, she picked up efficient ways to troubleshoot. Yongsun was not as interested in the lives of the people around her, bar one.. or was it now two?

 

Sighing, Yongsun gently tilted Wheein’s chin up, waiting for her eyes to refocus on her.

 

“Wheein, you know you can tell me what’s bothering you, right?”

 

“It’s nothing.” Wheein jerks her head off Yongsun’s gentle hold, self-consciously playing with the glass cup. “I just thought I saw someone from my past.”

 

“Someone from your past?” Yongsun raised a brow, silently asking Wheein to elaborate.

 

“Well… yeah.”

 

“You know people don’t actually reincarnate the same, right? And if they are, they won’t remember anything from their past. The world doesn’t work that way, no matter how much we want it to.”

 

“I know, I just..” Wheein’s bottom lip wobbled as she in a deep breath. Whoever wrote about vampires being heartless had never met someone like Wheein. The woman has always been true to her heart, even though it stopped beating centuries ago. She was never one to choose even the lesser evil and would find an option that could save everyone else, even if it meant sacrificing herself. She was an optimist, she’d always say. Yongsun thinks it was her greatest strength and her biggest weakness.

 

Brushing the tears from the corners of her eyes, Wheein continued. “I never got to say a proper goodbye. I never had the chance to go back and.. make sure she was okay. I don’t even know if she survived that day… It feels like the guilt from my past is catching up to me.”

 

“She looks so much like her. Acts like her too, maybe even gutsier than she was.”

 

“Wheein..”

 

“I’m not going to do anything stupid, Yongsun. I know she’s dead and a look alike isn’t a replacement.”

 

“Are you meeting with her anyway?” Yongsun asks, hand shooting out to grip Wheein’s wrist to make sure she doesn’t escape. She had a feeling, and they never steered her wrong before.

 

The sheepish grin making home on Wheein’s face is answer enough. Yongsun sighs, but she lets Wheein go. “I hope you know what you’re doing Wheein.”

 

“Honestly, I don’t think I do.”

 

Yongsun purses her lips in worry, eyeing her junior. “Wheein..”

 

“I’ll try not to mention anything about this, us. But sometimes I just feel so comfortable around her and I really feel like I can trust her. Yongsun, if you could see her.. my Maria.” The wistful look on Wheein’s face is a huge red flag. If Yongsun still had a working heart she was sure it would drop to her gut. She sighed, taking a moment to straighten out her thoughts.

 

“Maria’s long gone.”

 

“I know.”

 

“It would be wise, Wheein,” Yongsun rests her hand on her shoulder, waiting for the younger to meet her eyes “that you stop this before you slip.”

 

“It would.” Wheein agrees, her voice flat, eyes losing their focus as she stared at the painting of her old town Yongsun kept as a keepsake.

 

 

 

When Yongsun arrives for work, Byulyi was already sitting on the nurse’s chair, talking animatedly with the nurse Yongsun was supposed to relieve. The laugh coming from the duo lifts the dreary mood of the ward and for a split second, Yongsun feels as if she’s back working at the general ward.

 

“Nurse Kim!” Byulyi greets enthusiastically, eagerly waving her hand, as if she was greeting a long lost friend.

 

Yongsun nods her head in greeting, the perfect smile on her face as she waves a hand at the senior nurse.

 

“Byulyi, looks like your favourite nurse is here to relieve me. And you look like you’re happy to show me out.”

 

“No offence. But nurse Solar and I have a connection we just can’t ignore. It’s not you.” Yongsun rolls her eyes at the overly dramatic delivery and the equally dramatic response her senior nurse shoots back, complete with an accusatory glare delivered Yongsun’s way.

 

“Okay. Miss Solar, you win this round. But I’ll be back for you my dear.” He laughs, fondly ruffling Byulyi’s mess of orange hair. “Solar, glad to see you arrived safely.”

 

“Good evening to you too, Tom.” Yongsun nods, dropping her gym bag onto the table. She squints her eyes warningly at Byulyi when she sees the younger woman eyeing her bag. She pushes it further under the table, away from prying eyes, before giving her attention to the handover from Tom.

 

It takes a while discussing the new rules that were implemented in the morning and the changes in the patients' conditions. It takes a little longer for Tom to finally clear up his things and leave with a pat on the back and a last teasing shot about her so-called admirer.

 

Byulyi sits patiently all the while, her gaze shifting from Yongsun to the bag she had hidden under the table. It’s only when Yongsun returns from her round of checking that the patients are in their room that Byulyi voices out the question she’s been holding back.

 

“What’s in the bag, Nurse Kim?”

 

Yongsun gives Byulyi a blank stare, giving her future actions another thought. Toeing the sling of her bag she pulls it back out and onto the table. Byulyi greedily eyes the bag, nearly bouncing in her throne just to get a peek at what could possibly in Yongsun’s bag.

 

With a shake of her head, Yongsun pulls out a delicately wrapped item and hands it over to a giddy Byulyi. With her eyes sparkling in awe as she looks over the brown paper wrapping Byulyi asks softly “For me?”

 

“Why else would I give it to you, dummy?” Yongsun snorts as she drops the now empty bag to the floor and kicks it back under. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

“You didn’t have to give me anything.”

 

“Okay. I’ll take it back.”

 

Byulyi bounces off her chair, hugging the wrapped present to her chest as she swats away Yongsun’s extended hand, much to elder’s amusement. “No! No take-backs. That’s rude Nurse Kim.”

 

“I suppose it is, miss Moon.”

 

“Byulyi.” Byulyi wriggles a finger at her. “Not miss Moon. Stop calling me miss Moon. Byul-Yi.”

 

Yongsun merely shakes her head at her as she takes a seat. It doesn’t take long at all for Yongsun to hear the crinkling paper as Byulyi ripped into the wrapping. A short length of silence before a confused “huh” sounds from the now less excited patient.

 

“I got something for you to brush up your English on. Nothing says educational as much as books.”

 

“About.. supernatural beings around the world?” Byulyi asks, holding up the book with an amused snort.

 

“You seem keen on tacking me as a supernatural creature. Have at it, miss Moon. Maybe you might find your answer there? Or maybe not.”

 

There’s a creak of the chair’s mechanism before the sound of rolling reaches Yongsun’s ears, a little grating but nothing Yongsun can’t handle.

 

“So, are you saying you’re one of these creatures?!”

 

Yongsun stops fiddling with her reports. Stiffly, she looks over her shoulder to Byulyi eagerly flipping through the pages. Not exactly what she had thought was going to be her reaction. “I didn’t say that.”

 

“Yes, you did! You said I could find my answer here! I heard you.”

 

“You miss interpreted what I said.”

 

“Are you this?” She holds up a page, pointing at a drawing of some sort of sketch of an aqueous being. “You can totally be this, right?”

 

“On what grounds?”

 

“That you’re as pretty as the drawing.” Yongsun should have known that was going to be Byulyi’s answer. The brat was a big flirt and she hasn’t even tried to hide it. How such a fragile being hold so much energy within her, Yongsun probably will never understand.

 

“Well, now that you have something to take up your time. If you could please go back to your room Byulyi, and I’ll get you something to drink.”

 

“What did you call me?”

 

Yongsun blinked, tilting her head to the side. Byulyi had a huge smile on her face, bigger than any smile she had seen on the younger woman. “What?”

 

“You called me Byulyi.”

 

“Did I? I don’t recall miss Moon.”

 

“No, you can’t go back. Keep calling me Byulyi.”

 

Yongsun takes a moment to think it through. There really was no rule for her not to call Byulyi by her first name. It was just her preference for keeping everyone she knew at a safe distance via polite speech. There was no reason for her to gain friends when those around her lead such fragile lives. Whereas they can lead normal lives and die, Yongsun would forever hold the burden of remembering their journeys for them, a burden she does not wish to hold.

 

But she could make an exception.

 

“Fine. But only if you listen to me.” Byulyi was off the chair even before Yongsun could finish her sentence. The huge smile on her face was blinding, and Yongsun almost feels bad for how quickly she complies.

 

However, if it made her job easier “Byulyi, go to your room, please.”

 

“Will you swing by to keep me company later?”

 

“If I finish my work, I’ll think about it.” There was a lot of work to be done and Yongsun doesn’t do well to staying still and postponing to the last second. If she gets some peace and quiet then maybe she can pay little miss Byulyi a visit before she falls asleep. She puts on a smile and waves Byulyi off, watching long enough to see the Byulyi totter back to her room.

 

 

 

Yongsun knew better than to show weakness. But as the saying goes, it’s easier said than done.

 

She should have stopped on that day Byulyi shown interest in her. She should have been firm instead of bending to accommodate her, even though she did so out of irritation. There was a fine line of being professional and letting her personal feelings drive her work.

 

Every day, as she came into work, Byulyi’s voice would be the first thing she’d hear coming through the doors. It was Byulyi’s near-constant prattling and random questionings that took up the majority of Yongsun’s nightly routine until the elder manages to shoo her back to her room for a well-deserved night’s sleep. It was Byulyi’s company that kept what would have been a very tiresome night a little more interesting.

 

Weeks, turning into a month, then two, the duo had turned the night shift into something both looked forward to, simply for the company of each other. Byulyi had dug and taken root in her and Yongsun had not trimmed the bud before it grew and instead let it nurture on its own. Now Yongsun has to bear the fruits as a result.

 

She watched Byulyi’s health take a sudden dip, her scrawny limbs looking more and more like a scarecrow than human. Her eyes had sunken somewhat, pain reflecting in her eyes as she stared out her window as a nasal cannula restricted her to her bed. Pneumonia had taken over her body and in her state, there was only so much they could do for her.

 

Yongsun sat at the only chair in the room, a board in hand as she made up excuses to keep close to her patient. She couldn’t sit still, not when the nurse station felt oddly lonely without the once energetic woman persistently taking away her attention every few minutes.

 

It was only fair, she tries to argue, that Byulyi would receive the same amount of irritation she had been dishing out on her. Except that Yongsun could not dare voice out her reprimand. It didn’t seem like the right time for it when Byulyi was withering away on what might possibly be her death bed.

 

“This is what’s going to kill me, is it?” Byulyi asks, her voice hoarse.

 

The atmosphere between them was sober. Yongsun did not need to answer for Byulyi to know how grave her situation is.

 

“I knew this would be where I would die. I just didn’t think I would die so soon.”

 

“You’re not”

 

“You don’t have to flower it up for me, Miss Solar. Being put in a hospice has pretty much doomed me to an early.. eh, expiry. But, hey, on the bright side, I met you and that made my days here a bit brighter. I just kinda wished that I could have the chance to step out of these doors again. Live like how I would want to if given the chance.”

 

Yongsun broke their gaze, fighting within herself to hold her tongue. Her nails dug into her skin, possibly piercing through her skin. She wouldn’t know, physical pain was something she hasn’t felt since her first death.

 

“I knew you weren’t human.” Byulyi’s hoarse voice catches Yongsun’s attention. Her gaze flicks back to Byulyi, brows furrowing in confusion. “Your eyes, they glow red. Very inhuman like.”

 

Yongsun cusses under her breath, rising from her seat to make a hasty getaway. There was no way to for her to explain this slip up away, but then again, Byulyi was dying. Her secret would die along with the young mortal if she would just let her be. Let this secret between them rest. No one would believe her anyway.

 

Somehow, that thought brought a string of emotions crashing through the barrier she had put up long ago. The barrier between what was left of her humanity. She swallowed, feeling conflicted for the first time in many years as she gazed down at the weak youngling staring back at her with simple curiosity. The dying does not fear death even as it’s staring them down.

 

“You were always sharp, Byulyi. I’ll give you that.”

 

“Are you actually a vampire?” she asks, her hand coming up to the bedside table where Yongsun’s gift lay. “It’s cool if you are. I still like you for who you are, not what you are. Besides, not everyone can say they’re great friends with a vampire.” She gives Yongsun a shaky smile before coughing into her closed mouth.

 

Yongsun tears her gaze away, exiting the room and shutting the door behind her, leaving Byulyi’s query in the air. There was a lot she needed to think about.

 

 

 

“I’m moving.”

 

Yongsun nearly dropped her watering can on her orchid. She whirled around to find Wheein at the doorway of her veranda. There was nothing on her that would indicate that she was in the process of moving, only with the shirt on her back and the boots that she knows she should have taken off at the entrance.

 

“I’m moving.” She repeats, staring at Yongsun with large pleading eyes to understand her actions and not reprimand her for it. “She’s moving to the next town where a job offer is waiting for her. I can’t bear not knowing what’s going to happen to her while I’m all the way here. I want to at least be able to protect her. She deserves to live a good life.”

 

“Then leave her be, Wheein.”

 

“I can’t, Yongsun. I physically can’t. I want her to live a good life, but I just can’t sit still not knowing if she’s okay or if she’s suffering. Not now, not when I’ve come to know her.”

 

Yongsun lets out a long, suffering sigh. She gazes at her junior wearily, filing away her own problems for later to better address this one. “She’s not Maria.”

 

“She isn’t.” Wheein shakes her head, wrapping her arms around her as if she was staving off the cold, or trying to keep herself from breaking apart. “She’s Hyejin. She’s sweet, soft hearted, thoughtful, stubborn as nails, and she’s also very lonely. I can see it in the way she smiles. She misses her home and she doesn’t believe anyone can fill that void for her. But she’s way too proud to admit it out loud. So, I want to at least make sure nothing bad happens to her.”

 

“When she dies- when not if- it’ll only hurt you more.”

 

“I know.” Wheein mutters, her voice sounding defeated. The next second she raises her eyes, her face hard as she takes her stance. “I’m still moving.”

 

Yongsun cares of Wheein, truly, even though she doesn’t really show it well. It’s not even just because she is her sire. Yongsun swore she would do her best to protect Wheein, even if her methods could hurt her.

 

“You’ll forever carry the burden of not only losing someone you care about once, but twice. One that bears a semblance to the person you used to love. She has 50-70 years tops.” She starts off strong, staring Wheein down with as much intimidation she could muster. “You have an eternity to haunt your living days with memories of her. You need to think this through Wheein-”

 

“I have, Yongsun.” Wheein doesn’t let her finish, delivering her own thought across. “And this is my choice.”

 

“You’ll have to watch from the shadows. You know you’ll never age. You can’t explain that away.”

 

“I will not. I’ll be there when she needs me, like a real friend. As for the latter… I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”

 

“Wheein, can’t you see? You’re in love with the ghost of her.”

 

“I’m in love with Hyejin.” There it was, the reason Yongsun had feared. Wheein’s gaze doesn’t waver and her stance proud and unyielding.

 

Yongsun says no more after Wheein’s confession. There was nothing in the world she could say or do to change the young vampire’s mind. Love was such a hard force to trifle with and Yongsun knew first hand exactly how far someone would go to save someone they loved. Even going against the very nature of vampires to hunt and ravage, all for the sake of one girl.

 

She doesn’t hear Wheein leave, but by the time she had sorted out her thoughts and finally put down the watering can she was left on her own with just the moon shining high above the night sky along with the scatterings of the stars.

 

 

 

“If I give you a chance, if it means you will forever be bound to this Earth with restrictions, will you take my offer of setting you free from death?”

 

Yongsun really doesn’t know what she ate to come to that decision. It was unfair asking this question to someone who probably hasn’t even held a proper job. It reminded her much like Wheein, how she had made the decision for her and took away the chance for her to decline. Death would not be collecting a soul, because Yongsun beat them to it by stealing it away, damning them to eternal hell on Earth.

 

As she wiped away the trace of her own blood from Byulyi’s pale lips Yongsun began plotting the rest of Byulyi’s death day. Fortunately, the family had opted for cremation, so that took away the problem of possibly setting lose a wild fledgling to feast on her former family.

 

It was a shame really, she was robing Byulyi off the possibility of dying. It was too late to take it back now that her cursed blood ran in the younger’s veins. She will forever be condemned to living a life in the dark. To the unending thirst that will plague her days.

 

But this was exactly what she had wanted.

 

Yongsun tightened her grip on the spastic body, gently lifting Byulyi’s head to her neck.

 

It was going to be a long, arduous task to keep a fledgling in this age, but after Wheein, Yongsun was sure she was going to be fine.

 

Nails dug onto Yongsun’s shoulder as Byulyi began to come to from the debilitating pain akin to scorching water running under her skin. flew open yet she remained silent, a scream of agony too high to produce any sound.

 

There were only two people in the world Yongsun cared for, and she would do anything to keep them safe. Even if it meant going through hell one more time.