"What are you doing?" Hyewon asks Eunbi as she stirred from her sleep. She turns around to face the vampire who is grinning at her. 

 

"I'm hugging you." She grins, then tightens the hug, "Don't you like it?" 

 

Okay. Hyewon isn’t exactly sure what to say. She doesn't entirely hate it. In fact, she might just like it.

 

The human says nothing and Eunbi takes this as a sign to wrap her arms around Hyewon’s waist tighter.

 

"Are you usually like this?" Hyewon murmurs against Eunbi’s neck. Her heart was indeed beating fast due to the extreme closeness the two shared. “Hugging a stranger whom you’ve only met for a few days?”

 

"I only do this to one person." Eunbi answers. 

 

"So then why are you hugging me?" Hyewon asks. She then looks up at Eunbi and glares at her. 

 

"Good question." Eunbi smiles as she looks up, “That person is the only ever person I loved.” She adds.

 

Hyewon knits her eyebrows closer and moves away from the vampire to sit down and look seriously at her, “You have a girlfriend and you’re out here cuddling with me?” 

 

Eunbi was taken aback for a moment, Hyewon seriously looked scary right now. 

 

“I-I don’t have a girlfriend.” Eunbi managed to cough out while looking away from the intense glare  of the younger girl. 

 

"But you love her?" Hyewon asks hesitantly. Eunbi could have sworn there was a tint of sadness masked under the question.

 

“I do. Forever and ever, with all my life;” Eunbi then looks straight into Hyewon’s eyes, getting lost into that familiar black orbs, “I love her.”

 

Hyewon doesn't answer. She stands up from the bed and nods before leaving the room.

 

---

 

“You’re dumb.” Yujin says as she munches on her banana.

 

Any other time Eunbi would have punched the girl for calling her dumb but Yujin was pretty much right and she can’t do anything about it. 

 

If the fact that Hyewon has been avoiding her for days now was a thing she was annoyed about, Yujin being right and scolding her about it is almost just as annoying.

 

“Why didn’t you just tell her you love her you coward?” Sakura asked. 

 

“As if it didn’t take you years to confess to Chaeyeon.” Yena rolled her eyes, “You were chickening out everytime that we had to prank the both of you just so you could talk your feelings out. I swear if you kept pining over each other for longer than that we would have taken initiative and just filed your marriage papers ourselves.”

 

“Easy for you to say, your soulmate confessed to you first. I still remember how nervous Yuri was during that time. She was adorably blushing and shaking while you were completely oblivious about it.” Sakura laughs at her, “And after she confessed you ing collapsed! Like straight up just fainted! Pfft that was embarrassing.”

 

Yena grunts and blushes, “That wasn’t one of my best moments.”

 

While Yena and Sakura were arguing about how they met their soulmates, Hyewon entered the kitchen with a coffee in her hand. 

 

“Morning!” She looked incredibly happy and joyful and Eunbi would do everything in her power to see her like that everyday. 

 

“I still can’t believe you’re a morning person.” Nako grunts while sipping her own dark coffee. 

 

“I can’t believe you guys are not!” Hyewon looks at them as if they were crazy.

 

“We’re vampires remember. The sun used to kill us. If it weren’t for our ancestors who got used to living under the sun, we would die.” Chaewon says.

 

“That’s great. I really wouldn’t appreciate it if you just suddenly turned to evaporated infront of me.” Hyewon jokes. 

 

“We actually burn first and then evaporate but you do you I guess.” Chaewon nonchalantly says. 

 

It had been a week since Hyewon moved into the vampires' house. It was hard adjusting at first, especially with other species that are different from her. But she soon discovers that the vampires aren't all bad. They don't usually go around and kill humans for blood. Whenever they drink blood from humans, they only drink a few portion and erases the human's memory, then makes it seem like nothing happens. 

 

She couldn’t blame them. They need blood to live. This is exactly what humans do to animals as well. They hunt them to eat, which gors the same with vampires. The misconception regarding vampires being evil creatures sure is a load of bull.

 

As the other girls were arguing, Hyewon sees Eunbi sitting across from her and looking at her. Eunbi, upon realizing that the younger had caught her staring, looked away immediately with flush cheeks. 

 

Hyewon, seemingly realizing that her reason for ignoring the girl the past few days was very petty, stood up from her chair to sit next to Eunbi.

 

"If you could erase your victim's memory, why didn't you do it to me?" Hyewon asks as she sits down. She sees Eunbi breath an air of relief after being tense when she saw Hyewon moving towards her. 

 

“Really? That’s what you’re gonna say to me after ignoring me for so long?” 

 

“It was just two days!”

 

“It was long!”

 

“How was that long when you’ve lived a thousand of years?”

 

“Every moment without you is long.” Eunbi mutters softly but Hyewon heard her clearly. 

 

Hyewon looks away and clears , “So uhm my question?”

 

“Oh! Yeah well my mind was too preoccupied with lots of things when I saw you that I forgot about erasing your memory." Eunbi answers.

 

"She was too busy crying." Yujin laughs but immediately shuts up when she sees the look the leader gave her.

 

"Why were you crying?" Hyewon turns to look at Eunbi but Eunbi looks away while munching on her cereals. 

 

"Aww. Our leader is shy." Yena teased Eunbi which earned her a glare from the vampire. 

 

"Come to think of it, when you first saw me all you did was cry too. Is something wrong with my face?" The human pouts at Eunbi and she swears that she could kiss the girl any second now. 

 

The lips were too familiar to her and the temptation was easily overwhelming her.

 

"I just missed you so much." Eunbi slips out.

 

"But this is our first time meeting each other." Hyewon looks at her confusedly.

 

Eunbi stays quiet. The rest of the vampires stood quiet too. Everyone was anticipating the leader’s answer. 

 

"This isn't the fir-" Eunbi was about to speak but she cut herself off, "Nothing."

 

Hyewon was about to ask further questions but Nako butted in, “Oh hey Hyewonnie! It’s time for me to monitor your blood. We need to make sure your blood is fully replenished.” 

 

With that Hyewon nods and walks with Nako to the living room.

 

Eunbi was then left in the kitchen with Yena, Yujin, Sakura and Chaewon.

 

"Why didn't you tell her?" Chaewon seriously asks. 

 

Eunbi puts down her spoon and leans back on her chair, rubbing her face in frustration.

 

"I can't tell her about her past life. I want her to fall for me without knowing about our past. I don't want her to love me because she feels that she has to. I want her to love me because she loves me for who I am. Not just because I'm her failed ex lover who couldn’t keep a damn promise."

 

The younger vampires looked at their leader in a mix of amazement and pity. She was willing to wait and restrain herself even if the girl could easily be hers if she just said a few words to remind her of her past life.

 

"You're so inlove with her." Yena whispers in awe. 

 

"That's why I've waited for a hundred years, and I'm willing to wait for a thousand more." Eunbi smiles. 

 

---

 

Due to a sudden and unexpected change of events - Eunbi believes it wasn’t sudden nor unexpected - Hyewon and her were left alone.

 

Hyewon asked the vampires to accompany her to her friend’s house whom she hasn’t seen in such a long time. 

 

Sakura said she had a date with Chaeyeon, same as Yena with Yuri.

 

Chaewon said she has somewhere to go but remained quiet and stingy with the details.

 

Yujin said she had to play some sport called basketball? Eunbi didn’t know what the heck that was but it’s the current rage among the younger generation right now.

 

Nako was just feeling grumpy so she didn’t want to go outside. And nothing can convince Nako when she doesn’t want to do something. 

 

Oh to hell with that, how is it that out of all the days in the week, their schedules matched up to make it look like Eunbi was the only one free. 

 

But no, Eunbi wasn’t complaining. She made a mental note to thank the girls later. For now, she was enjoying her solo time with the love of her life.

 

The two were walking down the park but Eunbi decides that she’s feeling lazy so she sits down a bench, looking at Hyewon who is playfully glaring at her. 

 

“Minjoo’s house is just a few blocks from here! Stand up you lazy bum!” 

 

But Eunbi stubbornly slouches further into the seat, “My feat are tired.” 

 

“How is that even possible? You’re a vampire. Surely you could even run to her house and not even run out of breath..”

 

“I’m tired when I feel like I’m tired.” Eunbi shruggs jokingly.

 

Hyewon rolls her eyes, ready to pull up Eunbi by her arms if the other girl refuses to stand up. Before she could though, she sees an adorable little puppy walking closer to her.

 

Hyewon immediately beams at the sight of the puppy and crouches down to pet him.

 

"Have you eaten? Huh?" Hyewon happily smiled while talking to the cute puppy in her arms.

 

Eunbi just looks at her, appreciating her more. She takes in every feature of the girl, and sure enough, nothing has changed from a hundred years ago. It's still the same dark brown hair, those warm eyes, her small hands, cute cheeks, everything is the same. Even her charming personality is the same. 

 

Eunbi bites back her tears. For the past few years, all she did was be miserable. She kept blaming herself for being too late. She had so many regrets. She hates not being able to shield her from the gun shot. She hates how careless and useless she's been. 

 

The vampire has been beating herself up for the past hundred years, and now, the girl is back. As alive as ever. Smiling and being the wonderful girl she is. 

 

Eunbi doesn't know if she should cry out of relief or out of guilt. She still blames herself for Hyewon’s death. And even though Hyewon is back, she still remembers the day where she saw how her warm eyes turn into lifeless ones. How her whole world turned upside down from the death of her love.

 

"I'm not letting you slip away from me again." Eunbi whispers as she stares at Hyewon. 

 

The human then looks at her, "Isn't he really cute? It's a bit sad that he got lost. We need to find his owner!" 

 

Eunbi smiles and stands up to walk closer to the girl. Hyewon smile as she offers the dog to Eunbi but the vampire grunts. 

 

"I'm not really fond of dogs. They remind me of werewolves." 

 

"Werewolves exist?!" 

 

"The same way vampires like us exist." Eunbi shakes her head with a smile. 

 

She takes a look at the dog in Hyewons arms, "He looks like you." 

 

The puppy had deep black eyes and dark brown hair. When he looks up at Eunbi, she almost smiles at how cute he is.

 

The human's eyes widened and laughs, "Are you comparing me to a dog?" 

 

"Hey you should be honored. The dog is really cute." Eunbi smiles. 

 

"I thought you don't like dogs." 

 

"He’s the only exception." 

 

Hyewon rolls her eyes and pets the puppy.

 

So the two went on to look for the owner. But sadly, they weren't able to find anyone. Aside from the two of them, almost no one else was at the park.

 

Hyewon looks like she's nearly crying when Eunbi told her that they should go and visit Minjoo’s house now.

 

"We can't just leave him alone here!" Hyewon pouts and looks at the cute little puppy in her arms. 

 

Eunbi couldn't decide which one was cuter between the two so she just shruggs. 

 

"Yena is allergic to dogs. We can't bring him home."

 

"But where would he stay? What if someone evil took him? What if it starts raining and he gets sick? What if he gets run over by a car?!" Hyewon seriously looks like she could cry anytime soon. 

 

Okay this Hyewon was a bit different from when she first saw her back in 1817. This Hyewon seemed carefree and enthusiastic about things. She was less strict and serious than the other one. I guess this is what happens when you’re born into a moment of war and when you’re born during the peaceful days. 

 

Regardless of the slight difference, Eunbi still loved the girl. May it be the mature Hyewon or the free Hyewon. They were all Hyewon to her, just brought about by different circumstances.

 

The vampire was removed from her thoughts when she sees Hyewon’s eyes turning red.

 

"Okay okay! Don't cry!" The vampire sighs, "We'll take him home. But he stays in our bedroom. Yena will seriously cry when she finds out that I'm keeping one of her mortal enemies." 

 

Hyewon beams and hugs Eunbi tight with the puppy in between.

 

“We should name him!” Hyewon excitedly beams at her.

 

“But he isn’t ours.” 

 

“You said we can keep him. He has no collar tag anyway.” Hyewon pouts. 

 

Can Eunbi resist a pout like that? Of course not. So she sighs and nods, “Okay we can name him.”

 

“You hear that Hyebi? We’re keeping you home.” Hyewon says as she hugs the puppy affectionately. 

 

“Hyebi?” Eunbi confusedly looks at the human

 

“It’s your name and my name together, Hyewon and Eunbi, Hyebi! Because we were the one who found him.” Hyewon smiles at her.

 

Eunbi then nods and looks away with a face so red it was almost like a tomato. How her pale face managed to have color is still a surprise to her. 

 

“Come on!” Hyewon holds her hand with her other arm hugging Hyebi. 

 

Eunbi, smiled and just let her be dragged by this angel infront of her.

 

The two have gotten close after living together for almost a month. Nothing specifically romantic has happened yet, but to Eunbi, every moment with Hyewon is a special one.

 

Eunbi has no idea if Hyewon likes her. And the vampire has no plans of confessing any time sooner. 

 

She wants to take it slow and steady. She doesn't want to make rash decisions again. 

 

They have all the time in the world. 

 

Or so she thought.

 

---

 

A few blocks after, they reached Minjoo’s house. Hyewon pressed on the doorbell but there was no answer.

 

“That’s weird, she mailed me saying that she was going to stay at home the whole week.” Hyewon scratches her head which Eunbi found extremely cute. 

 

Hyewon then turned to Eunbi, “Do you have like special vision or something? Can you see through the walls?” 

 

“You overestimate my powers too much.” Eunbi laughs, “Vampires have no such visions, nor heat vision, nor can we fly or turn invisible.” 

 

“Aww that .” Hyewon teases her.

 

“Well it’s a lot better than being a human.” Eunbi teases back. 

 

Hyewon was about to give another snarky reply but a scream was heard from inside the house. 

 

The human and the vampire looked at each other in alarm. Upon seeing the look of worry and panic in Hyewon’s face, Eunbi resolved herself to take charge of the situation. 

 

She forced open the small gate with ease, then kicked open the door after. She reached for Hyewon and held the girl tight and close to her. Hyewon held on tight to the older girl’s hand as she trailed behind her while holding Hyebi secure in her other arm.

 

“The bedroom.” Eunbi whispers to Hyewon, “I can hear muffled voices. Your friend must be tied up.” 

 

A look of horror flashed through Hyewon’s face so Eunbi held her tighter and kissed her on the forehead to calm her down. 

 

Slowly, they walked upstairs and towards the bedroom. When they reached the front of the door, Eunbi signals Hyewon to hide on the side of the door so the attacker couldn’t see her and only Eunbi. 

 

Hyewon nods as she slowly moves to the side, looking worriedly at Eunbi and Hyebi at the same time. 

 

Eunbi takes in a deep breath then finally kicks open the door. 

 

What she saw inside horrified her. It was an image so terrible that would be engraved in her memory for the next hundreds of years. 

 

Hyewon, upon seeing Eunbi’s stoned face, couldn’t resist her curiosity and worry. So she hastily moved behind Eunbi to see what was inside. 

 

Oh.

 

“ING HELL EUNBI!”

 

Chaewon shouts. 

 

It was Minjoo, on the bed with Chaewon on top of her. 

 

Chaewon hurriedly snatches a blanket to cover their...uhm...bare state. 

 

“Why are you here?! Why did you break the ing door?! Why is there a dog with Hyewon?!” Chaewon shouts as she wraps and arm protectively around Minjoo who was feeling very confused and embarrassed under her. 

 

“Hyewonnie?” Minjoo notices the girl behind Eunbi. 

 

“Minguri...” Hyewon softly says. 

 

“Okay, now this is just awkward.” Eunbi sheepishly says, “Yah! You dumb why didn’t you tell me you were having business with someone?! We’re literally best friends for thousands of years-“ Eunbi hurriedly cuts herself from talking, not sure if Minjoo is aware of the fact that the girl on top of her is a vampire. 

 

“I’m not having business with someone!” Chaewon sighed a deep breath annoyingly, “She’s my mate!” 

 

“And you never told us?!” Eunbi argued more, feeling utterly betrayed. 

 

Before Eunbi could move closer to get a proper talk with Chaewon, Hyewon tugs at her arm.

 

“Maybe we can all talk after they uhm...I don’t know, look decent enough for talking?” Hyewon shyly says as she points to Chaewon and Minjoo still looking very much    on the bed. 

 

Eunbi sighed in exasperation, “Fine! I’ll wait for you downstairs.” She glares at Chaewon and Chaewon glares back.

 

—-

 

“WHY IS THE DOOR ING BROKEN?! AND THE GATE AS WELL! EUNBI YOU PIECE OF !” 

 

Chaewon says when she comes down with Minjoo in tow. Minjoo looks at the broken state of her house horrifyingly and Chaewon looked at Eunbi in disbelief. 

 

“Okay in our defense, we thought your mate was in danger! She was shouting and her voice was muffled. I even heard whimpers, I thought she was in pain!” Eunbi slumped back to the couch. 

 

“And you never stopped to think that maybe she was doing something other than getting killed?!” Chaewon glares.

 

“Well I’m sorry I don’t think about the life of the friend of my ma-“ she cuts herself again, “Of my friend.”

 

Eunbi and Chaewon continues shouting but Hyewon and Minjoo couldn’t care less. They hugged each other and Minjoo coos at how cute Hyebi was.

 

“How long has it been? It’s been 10 years since I last saw you.” Hyewon says at her best friend. 

 

Minjoo playfully glares at her, “If you missed me you should have visited the moment you came home! But no, you waited until a week!”

 

“Well I was bit by a vampire and suddenly moved in with them so I had to check if my blood levels are back to normal and to get some rest.” Hyewon shrugs.

 

“And this vampire is the one my vampire is currently punching?” Minjoo cringes as she saw how Chaewon pinned Eunbi to the ground to punch her.

 

“What?” Hyewon snaps her head towards the direction of the other two and sees Eunbi now gaining the upper hand and turning them around. Now she was on top of the girl and could easily land a few punches. 

 

“You thought you could beat me in a fist fight?! Have you forgotten how I joined the military?!” Eunbi laughs and continues to punch Chaewon who was too busy blocking her attacks. 

 

Hyewon, upon hearing Eunbi’s words, was stoned. She didn’t know why, but her head suddenly started hurting, and she slowly let go of Hyebi to grip on her head. Minjoo worriedly asks her if she was okay but it her words were almost unrecognizable as the ringing in her ears was too loud.

 

Eunbi was about to land another punch on Chaewon when Chaewon hastily gripped on her hand and looked at Hyewon then back at Eunbi, “Idiot, your girl!” 

 

At these words, Eunbi hurriedly looked behind her to see Hyewon squirming in pain. She hastily moved to the other girl and wraps her arms around her, “Hey what’s wrong?” 

 

The answer she got was only a mix of whimper and a grunt. 

 

Hyewon looks at Chaewon hurriedly, pleading evident in her eyes. 

 

She doesn’t want to see Hyewon hurting and in pain. It reminded her of the day she first died. The memory of it all was overwhelming her and she instantly panicked. 

 

Chaewon seeing the panic in Eunbi’s eyes, nodded and hurriedly calls the vampires at home. 

 

“Hey Nako? Yeah. Can you check on the book I left on my table the other day. Something about humans in pain.” 

 

“No not menstrual cramps! It’s about reincarnation and the memory being returned?” 

 

After a few seconds, Chaewon puts her phone down and walks closer to the panicking Eunbi. 

 

“It’s okay. Nako says that these types of headache happen when the body is rejecting the new memory. It happens to a few people, where instead of just remembering and feeling deja vu, they have intense banging pain on their heads. It’ll be gone soon.” 

 

“You want me to just let her be like that?” Eunbi looks up and Chaewon almost sees her eyes back to being broken ones. Her breathing was jagged, fast and she was trembling.

 

“We can’t do anything. Come on, let’s get some fresh air.” Chaewon pulls her up but Eunbi refuses to let go of the whimpering Hyewon. 

 

“But-“ 

 

“A moment in here and you’ll lose yourself from panicking.” Chaewon steadily holds Eunbi’s arm. 

 

“Babe, please take care of Hyewon for us.” Chaewon says to Minjoo who urgently nods and takes Hyewon into her arms. 

 

Chaewon had to basically drag Eunbi away from her as they got outside. 

 

“No no, I can’t be here! Hyewon needs me! I promised I’d take care of her! I-I’m gonna fail her again! No Chaewon, let me go!” Eunbi hurriedly says as she tries to walk back into the house. 

 

Chaewon had to pull her back and hug her to keep her from leaving. She grips on the girl strongly as Eunbi crumbled into her arms as she sobs. 

 

“It’s gonna be fine. She’s gonna be fine. Nako says that the headaches will go out soon. Calm down. You won’t be doing any good if you panic.” Chaewon whispers as she rubs circles on Eunbi’s back.

 

Eunbi gradually stopped trembling and turned into a sobbing mess as she grips on Chaewon tightly, “I can’t lose her again.” She whispers. 

 

“You won’t.” 

 

 A few meters from them, a guy turns his lips into a sinister smile. He then turns away and disappears into the darkness before anyone can notice him.

 

—-

 

I love woollimz’s duality. One moment they’re punching each other and the next second they’re hugging.

 

Comments are greatly appreciated!