Ahyoung listened attentively to Sanghyuk’s story, she was focusing on every detail and expression the boy made. Along the whole story, she was able to feel the pain the boy was bearing, there wasn’t anything else contained in those words than pain and guilt. She now understood why the relationship between Ren and Sanghyuk seemed so odd to her, with Sanghyuk feeling all that guilt towards his best friend, it for sure wasn’t easy to maintain that friendship and there was also no way they could return to be what they used to.

Sanghyuk finished his story and remained silent, looking down, almost as if he was ashamed to look at her. Ahyoung was saddened by that fact.

After some seconds of silence, Sanghyuk chuckled sadly.

“You also think I’m a monster, right?” He asked still not looking at her.

Ahyoung frowned and turned to look at him.

“Of course not. There’s no way I’d ever think that.” She firmly answered.

Sanghyuk didn’t answer, Ahyoung knew he didn’t believe a thing she said, so she kept talking.

“Listen, by telling me your story you only made me admire you more.” Sanghyuk finally looked at her with disbelief, as if she had lost her mind. “Why would I even consider you a monster? You didn’t choose to have that side of you, but you indeed managed to control it, all by your own.”

Sanghyuk chuckled and looked away.

“Don’t try to make me feel better, it’s not helping.”

“I’m serious here.”

Ahyoung frowned and kept her gaze on him, Sanghyuk finally looked back at her, he was clearly confused.

“Why?” He asked frowning. “You have that blind trust in me but I’m not someone who can be trusted, you didn’t even know my past until some seconds ago, you didn’t know the real me.”

“Can you please stop saying I don’t know you?” Ahyoung said in annoyance. “I accept I didn’t know your past, but I know you way more than most of people. I’ve been by your side for weeks and I’ve seen how you behave and who you are. What happened in the past doesn’t concern me, I trust in the person you are right now and I trust what I’ve seen. You talk about your real self but I think you don’t even know him. You aren’t a monster Sanghyuk.” The girl finished showing him a little warm smile.

The boy was left speechless, he was so used to people fearing and despising him that hearing those words was hard for him, and accepting them was even harder. He was no longer afraid of the sadistic side inside him but he constantly hated himself for it, though with just those simple words from her, his contained rage managed to calm down for a moment.

“I’m not a monster.” Sanghyuk repeated in a low voice, looking down again.

Ahyoung sighed and looked to the front, the sunrays that passed through the leaves gave the forest a mesmerizing sight.

“Let’s discover together what that side of you is.” She calmly said and Sanghyuk looked at her again. “It must have an explanation why it happens to you.”

“Well, actually I never tried to understand it and since the trainers didn’t seem concerned or particularly interested in it, I thought it was something normal or maybe something that happened to others.”

“What I don’t understand is why nobody did anything, why did my parents let you go through all of this? It doesn’t have sense.” Ahyoung answered in a thoughtful way.

“Are you planning to ask them?” Sanghyuk asked her with a frown.

Ahyoung denied with her head and sighed.

“They keep too many things from me. Since they didn’t tell you anything about your own condition, I’m sure they also won’t say a thing to me. So I guess we can only look into it by ourselves.”

“But we don’t even know where to start.” Sanghyuk pointed out, also looking to the front.

“We may have something.” She answered and tilted her head. “I experienced the same thing as you before, about feeling dizzy and blurry sight tainted in red. By what my uncle told me, that’s because I’m affected by the energy of the demons and vampires.”

“But I’ve trained all my life, their energy doesn’t affect me anymore, besides, that doesn’t explain why I lost control fighting with Ren when he’s an assassin.” Sanghyuk answered in a thoughtful way.

“You’re right, but at least we can start with that, maybe it does have something to do with the energy. And about what happened during your match with Ren, he indeed is an assassin but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t demons or vampires there.”

Sanghyuk denied with his head before answering in a serious way, looking at Ahyoung.

“That can’t be, demons and vampires are only allowed during meditation trainings or when the leaders reunite, if they’re around at some other time it would be a violation of the agreements and rules.”

“I know that, but things aren’t as peaceful anymore and I know you are also aware of that.” Sanghyuk remained silent and the girl kept talking. “When Sojin and Taekwoon went to my house, they told my father there was a suspicion of a rebellion in the vampires’ realm, they’ve also attacked our people. What if they or even the demons have been plotting something for years?”

“I don’t know, it’s hard to think that they’ve done something like that.” Sanghyuk frowned and sighed. “It has never happened something like that before.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen now.” Sanghyuk didn’t answer and remained silent in a thoughtful way, in the end Ahyoung sighed heavily. “Though we’re only speculating now, we have a lot of research to do.”

Sanghyuk nodded and also sighed. They remained for some more minutes there until Ahyoung decided they should go back home, Sanghyuk agreed and they went back to the car, continuing their way.

They quickly reached Ahyoung’s house and Sanghyuk parked the car, the girl grabbed her belongings and before going out of it, she turned around to face Sanghyuk again.

“Let’s look for Sojin tomorrow, maybe she can tell us more about the rebellion in the vampire realm and see if it has something to do with what happened to you back then.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sanghyuk answered with a nod.

Ahyoung smiled to him before speaking again.

“And stop keeping things from me, you create a lot of misunderstandings by doing that. Trust in me the way I trust you. You don’t have to hide or pretend with me.”

Sanghyuk chuckled and looked away. He really felt lighter, as if a huge burden was lifted from his shoulders and just like Ahyoung said, he felt he was free to be himself with her.

“Go inside now or your parents will kill me for bringing you late from school.” He said still not looking at her.

“That’s the Sanghyuk I know.” She said with a smile and went out of the car. “See you tomorrow.” Ahyoung bid farewell to him and entered her home.

Sanghyuk sighed in relief and leaned on the seat for some moments. Everything ended well and he didn’t have to go anywhere, Ahyoung didn’t threw him away, he didn’t have to go back to that darkness, he hoped he didn’t have to ever again.

His loyalty towards Ahyoung just grew stronger, if that was even possible.

I’ll follow you, no matter what way you choose to go. He thought with determination.

After Ahyoung greeted her parents and talked to them during the meal, she went to her room and closed the door behind her. She left her backpack near the desk to do her homework later, then went to the window and looked to the outside, the sun was starting to set, giving off a warm feeling.

She looked down to her left wrist and touched it with her fingers, remembering Jonghyun’s touch.

He held my hand so gently, it didn’t feel wrong at all. It was really warm.

Her heart skipped a bit and she shook her head, trying to get rid of the weird thoughts her head was coming up with. She put her hands down and looked to the outside again.

Stop it Ahyoung, you’re crazy. There’s no way Jonghyun would think of you in another way, neither you towards him.

She put her right hand over her chest and couldn’t help but to lift again her left wrist and look at it.

There’s no way… She thought confused.

In the end she decided to close the curtains, assuming the sunset was the reason of her weird thoughts, and went to do her homework.

The next morning, Sanghyuk picked her up from her home and they went to school together like always. The mood between them was lighter and calmer. Sanghyuk even moved his head along the music they were listening to. Ahyoung was relieved to see Sanghyuk so relaxed again. The girl smiled and sighed before leaning again on her seat and relaxing as well.

They arrived early to school and decided to look for Sojin and Taekwoon.

“You think they’re already here?” Ahyoung asked the boy while walking beside him.

“I think so, I saw Sojin’s car in the parking lot.” Sanghyuk answered in a thoughtful way. “Let’s first go to their classroom, maybe they’re there.”

Ahyoung stopped walking and got nervous.

“Their classroom?” She asked almost stuttering.

Sanghyuk also stopped and looked back at her with a confused expression.

“Yeah, why?” He frowned a bit upon seeing her expression.

“No, nothing.” Ahyoung answered regaining her composure and walking again.

Sanghyuk found her behavior strange but didn’t ask anything and just let her be. Ahyoung was trying so hard to remain calm, she hated to feel like that but she couldn’t help it. Thinking that she may face Jonghyun again managed to make her nervous.

She didn’t want to think about that, didn’t want to know what all those new thoughts and feelings were.

She was in the middle of all that thinking when a voice made her snap out of her thoughts.

“You can’t do anything against me Sojin.”

Ahyoung stopped on her tracks and frowned, turning to her left side from where she listened those words.

“Did you hear that?” Sanghyuk asked, positioning himself beside Ahyoung.

The girl turned to see Sanghyuk, who had changed his expression to a serious and wary one.

I’ve heard that voice before. Ahyoung thought trying to remember who that voice belonged to.

“Let’s go Sanghyuk.”

Ahyoung started to walk towards that direction and Sanghyuk walked by her side. Just when they were about to turn by the wall that divided them from the people talking, Sojin’s voice could be heard.

“You won’t succeed.” She said in a dark tone.

“How can you be so sure?” The male voice said in a provoking manner. “As I said, you can’t do anything against me, actually, I could destroy you right here and now, since Taekwoon isn’t here to protect you.”

“I don’t need Taekwoon to protect me. Don’t say his name with your filthy mouth.”

“That hurt sweetie.”

Ahyoung found disgusting the voice tone of that man, the false sweet way he said things made her sick.

“You know you’ll be mine Sojin, you’ll be left with no other choice but to subdue to me.”

Ahyoung couldn’t listen to that anymore and directed to that place, she stopped and widened her eyes in surprise when she saw the scene in front of her. Wonshik had Sojin against the wall, he was holding a strand of her hair and their faces were just centimeters apart, Wonshik was smirking while Sojin was looking at him with despise.

“Let her go.” Ahyoung demanded in a serious tone.

The vampires turned their heads to see her, Sojin frowned and Wonshik kept his smirk, though it widened a bit.

“Who do we have here? The heiress of assassins.” Wonshik said in a melodic voice.

The vampire let go of Sojin, who remained standing where she was, looking attentively at him trying to read his intentions.

“This doesn’t have to do with you, so you shouldn’t meddle in others’ affairs.” Wonshik finished saying, starting to walk towards Ahyoung.

Sanghyuk immediately stood in front of Ahyoung, blocking Wonshik’s way to her. The vampire laughed.

“Easy there dog, I’m not going to do anything to your owner.” He mocked him.

“You!” Ahyoung said with fury, taking a step to the front.

“Stop.” Sanghyuk said to her and Ahyoung stopped, she looked at him with a frown and Sanghyuk looked at her for a moment. “Don’t let him provoke you.”

Ahyoung sighed, she wanted to go to Wonshik and beat him for what he said to Sanghyuk, but she understood she couldn’t do it so she remained still. Wonshik then fixed his red eyes on her, Ahyoung kept her gaze on his’.

“Interesting, you really are one of a kind as the rumors say.” Wonshik said, clearly interested in her.

Sojin didn’t like the way things were evolving so she spoke again.

“I’ll count to three and you better have gone by then or else-”

“There’s no need for that dear, I’m leaving.” Wonshik said turning to see her with a smile, he then returned his gaze to Ahyoung. “We’ll see each other again, little heiress.”

Ahyoung kept her frown, she was able to see how Wonshik’s eyes shone with amusement. She was aware that wasn’t a good sign at all.

After that, the vampire went away. Ahyoung sighed in relief and Sanghyuk relaxed, letting her go to Sojin who looked at her with disapproval.

“That was imprudent.” Sojin said to her in a serious way.

“I heard him from afar, you couldn’t expect me to remain still after what he was doing and telling you.”

“Well thank you, but don’t do that again, Wonshik isn’t someone who’s easy to deal with.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Ahyoung answered. “By the way, where’s Taekwoon?”

“He didn’t come, he had to attend some matters back at home.” The vampire explained fixing her hair.

“I see…” Ahyoung answered thoughtful.

Sojin looked at her and sighed when she realized something.

“You want to ask something, right?” Ahyoung looked at her surprised. “Go ahead, I’ll answer your questions.”

“Actually, we did have some questions we wanted to ask you and Taekwoon, but right now there’s something else I’d like to know.” Sojin nodded and Ahyoung continued with her question. “Is Wonshik part of the High Status family suspected to be organizing a rebellion?”

“Yes, Wonshik’s parents are the main suspects.” Sojin answered her, rubbing her forehead.

“Sojin, what’s going on?” Ahyoung asked her in a serious way.

Sojin sighed heavily and looked at Sanghyuk and then at Ahyoung again.

“Do you mind skipping the first class?” She asked with a chuckle.

Sojin then told them the story between her, Taekwoon and Wonshik.

-10 years ago-

Sojin and Taekwoon’s parents were friends even before the kids were born. Taekwoon was the first one to born and one year later Sojin arrived; since their parents were friends, they agreed to marry their kids when they grew up.

The kids first met when Sojin entered school. She was a really outgoing girl so she easily made some friends.

She met Taekwoon during an activity where she and her classmates were paired up with kids from a grade above them. Sojin was paired up with a girl and they were doing the activity when she saw him from afar, he was sitting alone since his partner apparently left him. She looked around until she found a girl from her classroom who was throwing a tantrum since she didn’t want to be paired up with him. Sojin felt bad for the boy, so she also stood from her seat and went to the teacher, telling her she could exchange places with her classmate. In the end the teacher agreed and she went to sit with that boy.

He only lifted his gaze to look at her face and then looked down to his notebook again, Sojin smiled and sat in front of him.

“Hello, my name is Sojin.” She introduced herself.

The boy didn’t answer, but she didn’t mind it, she thought he maybe was just timid or way too quiet, so she also focused on her notebook. After some seconds of silence, the boy spoke.

“My name is Taekwoon.”

Sojin looked up from her notebook, Taekwoon wasn’t looking at her but she still smiled at him.

“Nice to meet you Taekwoon.” She happily said.

Taekwoon lifted his gaze from the notebook and was faced with the smiling face of the girl and also smiled a bit. He didn’t answer but that little smile was enough for Sojin.

They turned out to be the bests of the activity ad were rewarded for it, they didn’t exchange more words and just parted ways. With the passing weeks, Sojin got to know that Taekwoon actually didn’t have friends, aside from the boy named Baekho; since everyone labeled him as scary because of his aloof and quiet personality. Sojin understood why the kids wouldn’t want to be friends with him but she didn’t share that idea.

So she decided to try being friends with him.

At first it wasn’t easy, since Taekwoon was a year older than her and they actually didn’t quite encountered each other much. But things got easier when she told her parents about him.

“You met Taekwoon?” Yuri, her mother, asked her with a smile.

“You know him?” The girl asked confused.

“Of course, he’s the boy you’ll marry when you grow up.” Eunhyuk, her father, answered with a chuckle.

“What?!” Sojin almost screamed.

“Eunhyuk!” Yuri angrily said.

“What? That’s what Yoona and you decided, right?” Eunhyuk answered as if he didn’t say anything wrong.

Actually what Eunhyuk expected was for Sojin to not want to know anything about Taekwoon and be opposed to the idea of marrying him, since he couldn’t stand the idea of Sojin marrying; even when that would take place several years later; though it had the contrary effect, the girl grew even more curious about the boy.

What nobody expected was that the next day Sojin would tell Taekwoon they’d get married when they were older. That obviously scared the boy and he told his parents about it. In the end, both parents agreed to meet and let the kids know each other better.

During weekend, Taekwoon and his parents went to Sojin’s house. At first the boy was a bit scared of Sojin, so she kept her distance with him.

They all went to the living room and once there, the parents explained to the kids the whole thing about statuses and the thing of the arranged marriage between them, at least what kids their age could understand about it. After the explanation, Yoona and Yuri kneeled in front of the kids and spoke in a more serious way.

“But what you have to remember is that you have the last word in this matter, you’ll decide about this when you’re older, don’t be burdened by this right now.” Yoona said in a warm way.

“That’s right, you still have a lot of time until you have to think about this, so just use this time to get to know each other better.” Yuri finished saying.

Sojin and Taekwoon looked at each other, the girl smiled at him and Taekwoon just kept looking at her as if looking for something.

With the passing years, Taekwoon and Sojin started to grow close to each other. Despite their different personalities, they got along pretty well.

Everything seemed to be going well, until they turned 13 and 14 years old. That year they met Wonshik, the 15 year old son of the third family.

Sojin didn’t like him since the start, since he constantly stared at her with disdain and looked for a fight with her. When Taekwoon noticed that, he started to be by her side everytime he could, and he would defend her from Wonshik.

One day, when Taekwoon wasn’t around, Wonshik provoked Sojin until the point she fought him. Even when she obviously won, she got into trouble since Wonshik claimed she used her status and power in order to beat him when he did nothing. Despite Sojin trying to defend, since there weren’t any witnesses, what Wonshik said was established as the truth and she and her parents received a warning to never make use of their position to intimidate others.

Taekwoon was furious about that matter and even when all he wanted to do was to fight Wonshik, he refrained from doing it since Sojin asked him not to. So the boy opted for being always by Sojin’s side, just being apart during classes. Rumors started to spread about them being in a relationship. At first they denied them and just stated they were good friends, but almost no one believed them, Wonshik being one of the skeptical ones.

The end of the scholar year was nearing and Taekwoon, tired of the constant attacks from Wonshik and all the gossiping, came up with an idea.

“You want me to do what?” Sojin asked in disbelief.

Taekwoon and his parents went to Sojin’s house for a visit during weekend and the two were talking in the garden.

“There shouldn’t be a problem with it, you always tell me you already know all that’s been taught in your grade, so taking an exam to skip one year shouldn’t be hard for you.” Taekwoon calmly explained leaning on the grass and looking at the clouds.

“Why do you want me to do that?” Sojin asked confused, also leaning down beside him but looking at boy.

Taekwoon looked at her with a serious and determined expression.

“I want to be by your side.” He firmly answered and Sojin’s heart skipped a beat, she kept silent. “That way I can protect you better.”

Sojin looked away, she scolded herself for expecting something else from him. She actually never said it aloud but she started to have feelings for him. She realized it when she was always expecting to see him, just being by his side made her feel at ease and calm, hearing his voice put a smile on her face and his sole presence made her happy.

Sojin sighed, she could do that, even if Taekwoon wasn’t thinking the same about her, she’d be able to be by his side for longer.

“Alright, let’s tell our parents about this then.” Sojin said with a little smile.

Their parents agreed to the idea. So before the end of the year, Sojin took the exam and easily passed it. Somehow everyone at school got to know it, so the rumors about Taekwoon and her being in a relationship fired up again.

Sojin constantly tried to convince everyone that wasn’t the case but no one believed her. That until one day, tired of all the gossiping, Taekwoon stood in front of everyone and said something that left Sojin speechless.

“Sojin and I aren’t only together, we are betrothed, so I would appreciate for all these rumors to come to an end.”

Sojin looked at him with disbelief and even when a lot of people around her were asking questions, she wasn’t able to say a thing, she had her gaze fixed on Taekwoon. The boy then walked to her, took her by the wrist and took her away from there. He guided her to an isolate place and Sojin finally freed herself from his grip. Taekwoon looked back at her with confusion and changed his expression to a concerned one when he saw the girl’s teary eyes.

“What was that?” She asked him.

“I just said the truth, I thought you were also tired of all that unnecessary attention and I came up to the conclusion that telling them that was the best solution.” Taekwoon calmly explained, though deep down inside he was panicking about Sojin being about to cry.

“Well the betrothal thing is indeed true but that was an agreement between our parents, they said we have the last word in it so it isn’t anything official.” Sojin explained looking down, she was trying so hard to contain the tears in her eyes, she didn’t want to cry in front of him.

Taekwoon softened his gaze and walked to her, Sojin took a step behind when she noticed him approaching and the boy stopped, acknowledging she didn’t want him near her.

“You don’t want it?” Taekwoon asked.

Sojin could notice a glimpse of pain in Taekwoon’s voice, so she lifted her gaze and frowned when she saw the hurt expression of the boy, she couldn’t answer that question.

“You don’t want to marry me?” Taekwoon asked her, looking straight at her eyes.

“You want to?” She asked back with confusion.

“Yes.” Taekwoon firmly answered.

She wasn’t expecting that answer and her eyes widened in surprise, making her tears fall. Taekwoon remained in his place, even when all he wanted to do was going to Sojin, embrace her and dry her tears. Sojin sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, she then opened them again and looked down.

“We’re still too young to decide something like that, I don’t want you to think about this lightly, do you even understand what you just said mean? We’re talking about spending our entire life together.” Sojin tried to reason with him, she was sure he wasn’t actually aware of the weight those words he said had.

“I’m not thinking about this lightly.” Taekwoon started to explain, he couldn’t remain still and started to walk to her, since Sojin didn’t move, he continued. “I can’t picture my life without you in it. I know we’re young but that doesn’t mean what we feel isn’t real, or will you tell what you feel for me is just an illusion?”

Sojin lifted her gaze with surprise and was faced with Taekwoon looking straight at her eyes just in front of her. She didn’t know Taekwoon was aware of her feelings. She got lost in those eyes she so dearly loved and chuckled to then look away. Taekwoon took one of her hands and she looked back at him.

“I’m not telling you we’ll get married tomorrow, as our parents said, we still have plenty of time for that, what I want is just be by your side, be together.”

“Is that what you call a confession?” Sojin .

Taekwoon chuckled lightly and looked away nervously, Sojin found that action adorable, she loved when Taekwoon would show her those little smiles, something he would only do with her. The girl then put a hand on his cheek and made him look at her again.

“Because that’s the best confession of the world.” The girl tenderly said.

After that, they embraced each other and their official relationship started.

Even when a lot of people were happy for them, there was a particular one that seemed angered by that.

Wonshik now attacked not only Sojin but also Taekwoon, though that didn’t last long since the end of the year arrived and Wonshik had to go to high school, while Taekwoon and Sojin still had one more year before that.

The year without Wonshik was peaceful and Sojin and Taekwoon actually had the most calm and peaceful school year. Their relationship also grew stronger.

Then the day when they entered high school arrived. They were already expecting Wonshik to attack them and they were right. However, Wonshik was now more reserved in his actions, he wasn’t as rash as before and seemed a bit more Machiavellian, there were moments when even Sojin was a bit scared of him, though she never showed it and always kept firm and decisive when she had to face him.

One day, Wonshik brought some guys with him and they managed to subdue Taekwoon while Wonshik confronted Sojin.

“Poor little princess, she’s unable to do a thing against me and save her lover.” Wonshik mocked her.

The vampire had her against the wall with a hand over her neck while Sojin just looked furiously at him. Taekwoon was trying so hard to get rid of the boys holding him but they were too many and he wasn’t able to.

“What the hell do you want now Wonshik?” She hissed.

“Just the usual, accept me as your fiancé.” Wonshik answered in a melodic voice while caressing her cheek.

Sojin shoved his hand off and looked at him with disgust.

“Over my dead body.”

“Oh no, you aren’t of use for me if you’re dead.” Wonshik said, then looked back at Taekwoon and smirked. “However, I can use his life to make you do what I want.”

One of the guys holding Taekwoon punched him hard enough to split his lip, making blood come out from the injury. Sojin’s blood was boiling, she just wanted to rip Wonshik’s head but she couldn’t do it because of what happened in the past with him. Taekwoon looked at her with a serious expression, giving her the coolness she needed, so she remained calm and then chuckled. Wonshik looked back at her as if she lost her mind, Sojin looked at him with a smirk.

“You know you can’t do that, you can’t kill a High Status and get away with it, you’d be labeled as a traitor and end up beheaded, do you think I’m stupid?”

Wonshik laughed and freed her from his grasp, he then approached her face and took a strand from her hair, he took it to his nose to smell its scent.

“You really have the nerve of a leader, that’s great.” He started to say with malice. “But don’t forget that you’ll be mine one day and then I’ll be the ruler of the vampires.” He finished saying with a smirk.

“Disappear.” Sojin told him with hate.

Wonshik ordered the other vampires to free Taekwoon, then they went away. Sojin rushed to Taekwoon’s side and he assured her it was just a minor injury. They were tired of all that but they needed to put up with Wonshik since they were left with no other option, even their parents couldn’t do anything against that situation.

With time, Sojin started to gain more power as well as Taekwoon, so one year later they were able to overpower Wonshik without the need of fighting. However, one thing was clear, the vampire wouldn’t give up that easily, and with time his schemes would be better and fiercer.

Now they knew what he was after, the leadership of the vampire realm.

A/N: A bit late this week but here it is the new chapter, where we get to know the story between Sojin, Taekwoon and Wonshik ^^

As always, thank you so so much for reading, comments are appreciated ^^ stay safe and have a beautiful day <3