Minji remembers the first day she stepped foot in this hotel. Her hair was black then and she wore heavy make up, a phase that she swears she would never go back to. It must have been about ten years ago now, when she got a message from Siyeon asking her to come to this place. 

She has seen this hotel transform over the years, owners changing, employees coming and going, the decor upgrading with every new trend, but none of it she ever cared for. Until one dark and stormy night over a year ago. 

Minji snuck in through the back entrance fully ready to give Bora an earful when she heard the girl’s voice just around the corner at the front desk. 

“I can’t believe you took the offer, Yoohyeon. You have no idea how boring it gets here!” 

Her eyebrows creased in curiosity, peeking over to see who her friend was talking to. A girl who towered over Bora, but Minji couldn’t see her face since she was turned away. 

All thoughts of raging out on Bora went out the window, now replaced by the overwhelming urge to see who the new employee is. She quickly sent a message to Bora’s phone, hoping the other girl would check it immediately. And she did. 

Minji’s small friend suddenly appeared in front of her a minute later. “I’m not letting you meet her on her first day!” 

She pouted. “Why not?”

Bora completely ignored her question. “How did you manage to get home last night?”

“I didn’t, no thanks to you!” Her anger from before came barreling back. “It was so awkward waking up in some stranger’s room. But that wasn’t even the worst part. She lived with her parents!” 

“Bora? Where did you go?” 

Everything happened so fast. Yoohyeon rounding the corner and bumping into them, Bora freezing, Minji speechless. 

Minji looks Yoohyeon up and down very discreetly and swiftly. “Wow.” She mutters quietly, hoping no one had heard her, but the squint Bora gives her tells otherwise. She doesn’t think anyone has ever left her breathless like this. 

“Oh my god, you’re—“

“Yes, that is Kim Minji.” Bora answered in a rush, shoving Yoohyeon back towards the front desk. “I told you the number one rule was to never leave the front desk alone!” 

“But—“

She successfully managed to shoo Yoohyeon away, returning to Minji as if to shoo her away next. “Bora, who was that?” An odd feeling was coursing through Minji’s veins, and it wasn’t like anything she’s ever felt in all her time here on earth. 

“Thanks a lot, Minji. Now I have to compel away her memory of this.”

“What’s the point? We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other now apparently.”

Bora had a pensive look on her face that Minji never quite understood, but she brushed it off like she does everything else. “Think of it as a do over.” 

Thinking about it in hindsight, things were starting to click. There was a reason to all of this, the hotel, her friends Bora and Siyeon, and even Yoohyeon. Minji has kept herself at arm’s length this entire time, but the longer she stuck around, it was proving hard to keep up. There was no doubt in her mind how she felt about Yoohyeon. It didn’t talk her long to come to this conclusion after meeting the other girl. 

So she drowned herself in something easy, something to take her mind off the thoughts and butterflies she felt in her cold, dark soul. A distraction. But after Siyeon’s last warning, she was at a loss of what to do now. It was no surprise that Minji found herself gravitating towards Yoohyeon, like she was supposed to be in the other girl’s orbit from the very start. 

But it could never work. 

She was a vampire. 

~

“Jesus, I thought she’d never leave.”

“What, you don’t like your cousin?” Yoohyeon gulped down the rest of her iced americano. “She seemed cool! A bit weird, but cool.” 

Yubin deadpanned. “Let’s just say I hope she doesn’t come around again.” Yoohyeon shrugged, throwing back the plastic cup to get the last few dribbles of the coffee into . 

They were making their way down the very street with the billboard of Minji when a memory popped into her mind. Usually she would go to Bora about these things, but it was like she fell off the face of the earth ever since she quit. She briefly wonders what the other girl has been up to. 

“Something really weird happened the other night, but I feel like you would think I’m crazy if I elaborated.” 

Yubin stared at her. “I already think you’re crazy.” Yoohyeon smacked her arm. “Ouch! When did you get so strong? Anyway, just tell me. It can’t be that weird.”

“Some freaky girl with red eyes tried to get on my car the other night.”

Yoohyeon watched in mild amusement as Yubin’s coffee spewed out of like a water fountain. “I’m sorry, is this some sort of innuendo?” She smacked her arm a second time. “Ouch! Okay, okay. Seriously when did you get so strong?” 

“But I’m pretty sure I was hallucinating.” 

She missed the way Yubin huffed out a sigh of relief.