The corridors were thankfully and strangely empty. We tried not to make sound as we walked up seemingly endless flights of stairs.

"I'm tired...." I sighed. "How many more steps are there?" I tried counting them off to ease the boredom, but I lost interest after the 1267th step.

"Soon." Yosoeb assured me. "If you're tired, I can carry you."

"N-n-no, it's okay...." I stammered, but Yoseob lifted me up bridal-style anyways.

"Don't be such a show off." Junhyung mumbled, so low I could barely hear him. Yoseob said nothing but flashed a quick smirk.

"How are you, oppa?" I asked.

"Perfectly.....fine....." Doojoon's voice came out weakly from above me.

There was silence. Since Yoseob was carrying me, we fell behind from the others, who walked up, sometimes in silence, sometime bickering like they always did.

"Yoseob?" I whispered in the darkness. I couldn't see anything very well, it was all shadows.

"Yes, Jimi?" He whispered back.

"Doojoon oppa told me something a while ago....."

"What was it?"

There was a silence, and I felt my cheeks burning. "He said......he said you loved me."

Yoseob froze for half a millisecond, then slowly started to climb the steps again.

"Is it true, Yoseob?" I asked. I had a strange feeling in my heart, wishing and hoping him to say something. But I wasn't sure whether or not I hoped for him to say yes or no.

"......Yes, it's true." Yoseob said quietly after a while. "I love you, Jimi."

There was a long, deafening silence as I thought about his words.

"Well?" Yoseob asked, sounding irritated. "Aren't you going to say something?"

"Like waht?" I asked, confused.

"Well, shouldn't you say something like 'Oh, Yoseob, I love you too!' or 'I'm sorry, Yoseob, I only think of you as my best friend.' Usually, when people confess to their long-time loves, they get a response back, you see."

I couldn't help but giggle at his disappointed reaction. "I'm sorry, Yoseob. But I don't know what to think yet."

"What do you mean?" Yoseob asked, and I could almost feel him pouting in the darkness.

"I don't know whether I love you or like you at the moment, so I can't answer.....but I just wanted to see if it was true...." I mumbled, blushing.

"It's true." Yoseob said. "The moment I laid eyes on you, I loved you. You were the sweetest, most innocent little thing I've ever seen in all my life, and I will always love and protect you, no matter what."

I turned even darker at this sudden bold statement, and I blushed even more when Yoseob leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the lips. How he managed to even see in the darkness, I don't know.

"I love you, Jimi. And I will wait for the rest of my Dhampir days until you give me the answer I hope for." He whispered.

"Hey, you two!" Junhyung called from far above. "You wanna move a bit faster or we'll lose you!"

"Sorry, I'll speed up!" Yoseob called, rushing up the stairs.

I buried my face in Yoseob's shirt to cover my red face. Even though I knew it was pitch-black in here, I had the strangest feeling that Yoseob could see it.