[CONTENTID1]Choice: Wait inside by the door.[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Not wanting to go back to the cold outside, Haera decided to take her chances and wait inside by the door. Perhaps if she waited long enough, someone who lived there would take notice of her and hopefully be able to help her. 

“Hello?” she heard her voice echo after she closed the door behind her. Her body started to warm up after it got enveloped by the heat emitting around the house. “Anybody home?”

Haera took a few careful steps inside, scanning the marvelous interior decoration. The enormous ceiling had multiple little chandelier lights just like the walls that led to the hallways. The wall behind the stairwell boasted seven prominent large portraits of different men. 

“They all look so young,” Haera scanned each one of the portraits. One particular man’s image jumped to her attention, painting a light blush on her cheeks. “Not to mention handsome, too.”

She noticed a lone small velvet-covered chair that was propped near the door. Desperate in giving her injured ankle a break, she decided to sit down for a while. As she hopped and plopped down on it, she closed her eyes and sighed for the nth time that night.

“My goodness,” she breathed out, “this has been one heck of a night.”

The sound of clopping footsteps against the glossy diamond-patterned granite floor from the left side of the castle made Haera wince. She opened her eyes and a man stepped out from the shadows, walking calmly with evenly paced footsteps. He stopped after taking a few more steps and as if he knew where Haera sat, looked at her direction. His gray colored eyes seemed distant as his face remained unreadable. He just stood there, head tilted slightly in question, as the woman gulped in her seat.

“H-Hello,” she slowly stood up to greet the man. She noticed that he looked exactly like one of the men she saw in the portraits earlier. Due to her nervous state, she accidentally used a bit more force than intended on her left leg, making her grit her teeth. “I didn’t mean to intrude, but I was hoping that you could let me stay here for a bit. I came from the forest but it was pouring too hard so I took cover here.”

The man gave her a nod and continued to eye her as if he hasn’t seen a person in decades.

“L-Lovely home, by the way,” she tried to create small talk. Haera was feeling uncomfortable by the minute as he continued to stand a few feet from her with an expressionless face. As she awkwardly gave a laugh, her head hung low, she heard his footsteps getting nearer.

“Apologies,” the man said in a deep tone. “We rarely get human visitors come directly inside alone so I almost forgot how to react.”

“H-Human visitors?” Her head shot up. She almost fumbled backwards when she noticed how close he was now to her. “What does that mean?”

“My name is Shownu,” he gracefully bowed and introduced. Then he calmly added, “A vampire.”

It was now Haera’s turn to look at him with confusion evident on her face. She scanned the man all the way from the top of his head down to the bottom of his shoes. This man named Shownu had black, ruffled hair as if he just woke up from a nap. There was also a prominent scar on the bridge of his nose. He wore a one-buttoned black suit with a white dress shirt that was loosely tucked under black slacks coupled with matching shiny dress shoes. A black cape, which was red on the inside, was tied into a neat bow around his neck and was carefully placed under the collar of his shirt.

Haera thought for a moment then connected the two pieces together. “Oh,” she smiled up at him. “You’re into your role as a vampire. I see.”

Shownu raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to respond. 

“I’m Park Haera,” she extended a hand in front of him, “but you can just call me Haera.”

Shownu slowly brought his hand up to lock with hers, giving it a gentle but firm squeeze. “A pleasure, Haera.” Once they let go of their hands, he thought for a fair good minute then added, “Please, sit back down. I’ll be back.”

Haera did as told and gave a sigh of relief. She then focused on the back of Shownu getting farther away from her with his cape silently following him. He walked into the very first room on the right, possibly a drawing room for guests, and disappeared as he stepped into the door.

‘At least he seems friendly and is nice enough to make me wait here while the rain dies down,’ she thought just as she heard the faint sounds of cackling thund