“C’mon Taemin. Kaja,” Vera says, pulling the still weak vampire.

“Where are we going?” he asks, giving up. After trying to ask why she was taking him out for 4 blocks, the vampire gave up.

“Somewhere. Don’t worry, I invited the others, too,” she says, smiling.

“Omo, where are we going?” he asks, now excited, walking alongside her.

“Somewhere,” she says, happily slipping her hand into his. After week without him and his awkwardness, Vera couldn’t lie and hide how much she missed him. Taemin notices this and smiles, stifling the inner guilt he harbored temporarily.

But as soon as they enter the cafe, the guilt bubbles up inside him again. “Vera?”

“Ne,” she responds somewhat absentmindedly as she tries to find her friends.

“You’re not mad at me?”

She whips her head over to look at him. “No, why would I be?”

“I left you for a week without notice,” he says, still sounding guilty.

“No, it’s fine. I just figured it was a vampire thing, so it’s not your fault,” she offered him a reassuring smile which warmed his heart.

“Oh, ok,” he stuttered, a slight warm feeling he wasn’t used to passing his body, as a smiled.

Unaware of what just happened, Vera finally finds her friends and turns to face him. “I found them. They saved us seats,” she says, before turning towards them and dragging him along with her again.

Sitting at the table, now that Taemin and Vera have arrived, are Jonghyun and Angel, Chaerin, and Minho. Upon seeing the two, the group smiles up at them and Chaerin starts to offer them seats when a familiar blonde walks, or rather storms, in.

“Excuse me,” Key says, taking the seat and crossing both his legs and arms.

“Key, we didn’t know you’d be here,” Minho starts, surprised. He straightens up and stops stealing glances at Chaerin, who he -surprise surprise- was garnering a small crush on.

“You thought you could have fun without me knowing,” Key says, eyeing Vera disapprovingly, obviously peeved that she passed his final test.

“We would’ve invited you, but...” Minho starts, but trails off, watching Vera’s reaction, and surprised she’s rather calm about the entire situation. We had to protect Vera.

Key, having heard Minho’s thought, scowls at Vera and turns to face the stage.

Vera looks around the table awkwardly as she notices that Key took the last chair. She starts to go for a nearby chair to add to the table when Key stops her.

“Uh-uh. Either sit on the floor or stand,” he says, not even turning to face her.

Vera forces a small smile on and lets out a little sigh as she blinks back tears. She starts to settle onto the floor when a hand reaches out and pulls her. Landing on something cold, she turns and sees she’s met with Taemin’s smiling face. “What are you doing?” she whispers, surprised, as she tries to ignore Chaerin’s bright smile towards them.

“You didn’t have anywhere to sit,” he says, wrapping an arm around her to steady her.

“So you offered your lap?”

Having realized what he did, the vampire blushes lightly and nods stiffly.

“Gomawo,” she replies, softly. Man, I hope I’m not too heavy... Self consciously, Vera tries to evenly distribute her weight.

Key, hearing her thoughts, snorts and redirects his attention to the stage. About time, Taemin-ah...

After ordering drinks and watching several performers, an MC stands up on the stage and announces the next one. “Thank you for bearing with us. Now I present our darling, Lee Hi, to perform for us. Keep your ears peeled for an impromptu song for a lucky person in the audience!” he flashes a wide smile and skips off stage.

Vera turns to her friends, confused. “An impromptu song? She can freestyle?” she asks, in English.

“She’s a vampire with the power of precognition. Sometimes she sings songs that predict the future for a certain person,” Chaerin says, knowledgeably. “Or so I heard,” she says, laughing.

What once was a surprised and highly curious face is replaced with a stern glare. “Well thank you so much, Chaerin,” the girl says, dryly, before settling back into her vampire ‘chair’.

“Really, Lee Hi? Wow. I didn’t know she performed here,” Minho says, excited, obviously knowing of her prowess.

“Jinjja? I knew she was coming. That’s why I told everyone,” Jonghyun says, cosy with Angel, but not before getting a glare from Key. He was obviously not part of this “everyone”. The Dino silenced himself for fear of his dongsaeng’s later wrath and focused on the stage as the petite singer walked onto the stage with a smile on her young face.

“Tonight, I’ll be singing 2 songs and possibly a 3rd,” she says, in English and then Korean.

“Wow, she knows English,” Vera says softly and Taemin nods, also impressed.

Taking the mic tightly in her hand, the girl sings 1. 2. 3. 4 and It's Over. While the audience applauds heavily, the songstress scans the crowd, waiting for the familiar feeling to wash over her and the music to flow from her. Stopping on a brunette perched on what seemed as her boyfriend, a fellow vampire,’s lap, she sensed her eyes change color and motioned for music to start. “Now, I will be singing a new song. Rose,” she says, giving the girl a crooked grin before she starts to sing.

Vera feels a shiver go down her spine at the sight of the performer’s grin towards her, but shakes it off, reasoning it was from sitting on Taemin’s lap.

Taemin notices her uneasiness and holds onto her a bit tighter, paying close attention to the lyrics of the song, knowing that what Chaerin said before was right. What rose is she talking about? What does it have to do with Vera?

Offering no help to the worried vampire, Lee Hi finishes the song and smiles at the awestruck, and jealous, crowd. “Every rose has its thorn,” she says, again, smiles at Vera, and walks offstage.

Key stretches and stands up. “Well what a delightful performance. Now that that’s done, I’ll be going. Oh and Taemin, I need to talk to you. Now.”

Vera slides off of Taemin’s legs and discreetly wipes off the back of her jeans as he does the same to his thighs. Giving him a hug, she only gets to mouth a short “Annyeong~” before Chaerin and Minho drag her over to a corner.

“What was that about?” Chaerin asks, whispering.

“Do you know her?” Minho asks, at the same time.

Shaking her head, Vera turns to address Chaerin. “I have no idea. Does she usually give such weird performances?”

Chaerin slits her almond eyes in anger. “What if she’s one of those girls?”

“What girls?” Minho asks, curious.

“The girls in Taemin’s fanclub that threatened Vera earlier this year. Aish, we need to get rid of them quickly,” the older girl says, tightly forming fists.

“You didn’t tell me there were girls that threatened you. What did they say?” Minho says, swallowing his anger.

“We weren’t friends by then. And anyway, Taemin already knows,” she shrugs off her friends worries. “Either way, I don’t think she’s one of them.”

“Of course she is! What kind of rose could she be talking about?!” Chaerin whisper-yells, throwing up her arms.

“Taemin, are you going to do anything?” Key asks, hands in his pockets.

“Anything about what?” Taemin asks, rather happy-go-lucky.

“What she said? You didn’t realize anything?”

Taemin shakes his head. “Was I supposed to?”

Key facepalms. “Sometimes I wonder how you managed to find yourself a girlfriend,” the blonde shakes his head at the maknae, who now smiles. “What are you smiling at me like that for?”

“You called Vera my girlfriend,” his face wears a rather bright smile.

Key glares. “You need to protect her, Taemin.”

The younger vampire’s smile fades when he notices his hyung’s serious tone. “Wae?”

“Maybe it’s just because of our similar powers, but I know Lee Hi’s not kidding. Vera really needs to watch out because someone’s coming for her.”

“Who?”

“Do any roses sound familiar?”

HELLO THERE READERS! I ADDED A NEW CHARACTER! HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN TO VERA? DO YOU THINK TAEMIN WILL BE ABLE TO PROTECT HER?

VOICE YOUR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS DOWN BELOW!

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