I woke up three days later, having zero idea of where I was. After making a few slight noises from whatever I could grab in my zombified state, Myungsoo appeared at the doorway.

“You’re awake,” He breathed a sigh of relief and dabbed my forehead with a piece of wet cloth.

“Where am I?” I looked around the room, my mouth feeling a little numb.

“My house,” he shrugged and replied. “Then you should take me home now, I’m fine already,” I thought of appa and umma.

“Don’t worry. Your parents are here,” he looked a little zoned out, as if he hadn’t slept for days.

Things didn’t go the way as I expected.

First, the lashing I got from my parents.

“HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU GET INTO A FIGHT IN SCHOOL AND GET HALF A METRE LONG BASEBALL BAT IN YOUR HEAD?!” It was the first thing that came from umma when she entered the room.

Okay, this was seriously not what I expected.

“Um,” I rubbed my temples. I could feel a major headache brewing.

“Ahjumma, I thought I explained everything to you,” Myungsoo looked sheepishly at my umma.

“I WANT AN EXPLANATION FROM MY OWN DAUGHTER!” She shut him up immediately with that booming voice of hers.

Uh-oh, this wasn’t good.

“Umma, I’m sorry, okay?” I didn’t quite understand the situation that was going on here. I didn’t know what Myungsoo told my mum, so I can’t possibly make up a random story to cover everything.

“Yeobo, Myungsoo explained everything to us, calm down a little,” appa put a hand on umma’s shoulder but she shrugged it off.

“Do you know how much trouble you’ve gotten into? The bunch of you that was involved in the fight was charged by the school authority for destroying school property and inflicting violence on one another!” She screamed like a mad woman. “Your friend is still nowhere to be found! How am I supposed to explain this to her parents?!”

Could this day get any worse?

I turned to Myungsoo, mouthing: Where is my friend?

Molla, he mouthed back.

 “I’m going to find her, okay? Then you can have a wonderful explanation for her parents!” I rolled my eyes and tried getting out of the bed, only to find myself landing with my on the floor. I heard Myungsoo letting out a snicker under his breath. I glared at him and he stopped immediately. My head still hurt. I bit my lips and stood up. “I’m going to find her,” I looked into umma’s eyes. Myungsoo trailed behind me. “By myself,” I added, hoping that he would back off or something.

“You’ll probably just die on your way, considering you’re a walking hazard yourself,” he gave me one of his famous smirks.

Turns out, yes. This day can get so much more ed up.

“Where do you think you’re going, you brat! You are going to get yourself killed in this state!” Umma’s voice echoed across the room, but I ignored her. She must be really mad to the extent that she would call me a brat.

“Ahjumma, I’ll make sure she’s safe, don’t worry,” Myungsoo turned back and reassured her.

Honestly, I didn’t know where I could even start searching for Ginny. I was totally clueless. I walked around aimlessly in the snow with Myungsoo following me like a ghost. I just needed to get out.

“So, what did you tell my mum?” I kicked at the thick snow beneath my feet.

“You know, the usual. I told her we were having detention because we were late for school, and then some students came in and created trouble for us. And you fell against a cupboard, the force prompted a baseball bat, split into half to pierce your, uh, skull.” He scratched his head guiltily after explaining. “I had to lie. I couldn’t possibly tell her stuff that she wouldn’t even believe- what? You were thrown across the room? She’ll beat me up into a pulp first before checking if I was sane,” he laughed, and I laughed too.

“Good one. So we’re all charged for destroying to detention hall? Do we go to court?” I asked him.

“It’ll just be a false trial. The school has to make it seem as normal as possible. These are the basic procedures and principles that the school practices to make all of us look inconspicuous, like we’re any other normal human being. Remember, there are students in school that do not know that our kinds actually exist.” He smiled at me. His smile lights up everything around him.

“So… We’ll all be okay?” I was still worried.

“We’ll get punished according to school rules, maybe some community service or just more detention. With supervision by the head of discipline himself.” Myungsoo shrugged as if it was no big deal.

“Trust me, I’ve gotten into more trouble in my whole life than any of you and your friends’ summed up.” He patted my head.

“Okay. So now we look for my friend,” I suggested.

“We don’t have to. I know where she is.” He put his hands into his coat pockets.

“Bwoh? So you knew where she was all along? Why did you deny it just now?! I was walking around like an idiot!” I screamed at him. That moment, I really felt like hitting him.

“You wouldn’t want to get anywhere near her now,” he started biting his lips. I narrowed my eyes.

“Wae?”

“Trust me; you wouldn’t like to know this.” He started fidgeting his feet.

“Wae?!” I stared at him, my face serious.

“Because now she’s a vampire. Like us.”

What. The. Heck?

“Sehun almost ended her that day. He bit her but she didn’t die. Now she’s one of us. Our kind.” He was explaining everything to me in a tone as if I was a five-year-old kid.

I was rooted to the spot, totally mind blown. I stared at him, hoping he could laugh out and tell me that this was just a rotten joke of his. But he didn’t.

“When can I see her?” My voice was barely audible, but I think he had no problem picking it up.

“I don’t know, actually. But she’s safe with Minhyuk, you don’t have to worry. We just need to wait for her to get used to her new life,” Myungsoo his lips and shifted his eyes, looking at everything but me.

“I get it,” I nodded. “I’ll just tell my umma that she’s staying over at a friend’s because we had a quarrel on our way back.”

He nodded and looked at my face cautiously, as if he was afraid that I would burst out in tears in any minute.

We had reached the lake, which had frozen due to the cold. A few people were skating on the thick ice.

“So what do we do now? We’ve only been out for 20 or so minutes,” I sighed and stretched, feeling so much better after breathing some outside air.

“Why don’t I introduce you to my friends?” He smiled at me again, this time showing a pair of dimples on his cheek. God, why does he have to be so good-looking?

“You mean the group of guys you’re always hanging out with?” I cocked my head to one side.

“Yup. I think you might know some of them who go to the same classes as you.”

“Okay. Take me to them, then.” I know I shouldn’t trust people that much now after knowing that this town is probably full of killer maniacs, but he gave me a trustable feeling, like I could always depend on him.

“But first, we have to get dressed up.” He looked at me from head to toe and shook his head disdainfully.

I furrowed my brows. “What for?”

“We’re going to a party,” he gave me a half-smile and walked back towards the trail from where we came from.

I stared at him, dumbfounded. I moved my hand to where the huge bandage was still wrapped around, obviously on my head. “Micheolsuh?! I still have a bandage on my head!”

“I’ll help you get out of it, let’s go.” He walked back and took my hand in his.

Half an hour later, my doorbell rang. My parents were out, so I guessed I was allowed to sneak out now. I put on whatever that deemed appropriate for a party. Truth be told, it was my first time going to such a formal party.

My now smoothed-down hair pretty much covered the gaping wound on my head. I guessed whatever I wore was okay because Myungsoo was staring at me with an apprehensive look on his face.

On the other hand, he managed to look really, really good himself. Standing outside in the snow, he nagged at me for being so late. I knew from his eyes that he didn’t mean it.

“So, off we go,” he took off his leopard-printed jacket and put it over me. “You know, you shouldn’t have worn something so exposing. It’s cold out here.”

I pouted. Since when had he become so naggy?

According to him, we’re going to the Lee family’s biannual party. It was one of the biggest events in this town, a not-to-be-missed opportunity to meet the richest and most powerful people in this area. To put it in another way, he’s taking me to a party organized by a total stranger to me, and basically, that place will be flocking with people like them. The vampires.

“Just stick to me and you’ll be fine. And don’t talk to strangers. There aren’t many humans in there.” He took my hand securely in his before leading me into a huge mansion compound.

I gaped at my surroundings. We were in a garden, even though it was snowing and everything was dead and frozen, it still looked magnificent. We passed by two stone lion statues and I patted one of their heads.

“Don’t touch anything without permission. Sungyeol doesn’t like it.” Myungsoo warned.

“So this is Sungyeol’s house?” Realization hit me.

“And Sungjong’s. They’re brothers.”

I opened my mouth like a dead fish. Of course, why hadn’t I noticed? Lee Sungyeol and Lee Sungjong. How much dumber can I be?

“Hey, you’re here. And you’ve brought a guest.” A cold voice filled the silence. Sungyeol appeared behind a frozen water fountain. I recognized him from my Physics class.

His leather boots crunched against the heavy snow on the ground as he approached us. “Welcome to the Lee mansion,” he guided us to a huge wooden double door and swung it open.

“Enjoy the party.” He said, tilting his head and beckoning us to enter.