Vera’s alarm buzzes and she stretches, ready to get up and get ready for the itinerary for the day when she notices a short haired girl in the bed next to hers. Taking out her folder, she scans the sheet for her room assignment. On the paper, it says “Vera Hale and Lee Min Young”. Turning back to the girl, Vera figures that she must be her roommate. Giving her more time to sleep, the American goes and starts to get ready for the day. As she starts to go pick out her outfit for the day, the other girl starts to wake up. “Oh! Annyeong haseyo Vera-imnida,” she says, bowing, in the process of zipping her jeans.

“I know who you are. Now excuse me,” the girl walks past her and goes to brush her teeth.

“...I guess,” she says, awkwardly shuffling out of the room in some jeans and leather boots. Walking out, she bumps into her new friends. “Oh, hey Suzy. I didn’t see you there,” Vera says, closing the door behind her.

“Vera! You made it! I didn’t see you yesterday,” she says, concerned.

“Yeah...Taemin and I kind of got our luggage too late and then it took awhile to get to the hotel.

“Omo, jinjja? I didn’t know you and Taemin were dating.”

“....we’ve been dating since last year...” Vera shifts around awkwardly, not sure whether to be flattered or insulted by her lack of knowledge. I thought everyone made a big deal about it...

Suzy laughs. “I know, I just don’t pay attention to that kind of things.”

“Oh my gosh, thank you for your life,” Vera says, starting to hug her, but then backs up, remembering she’s not that close to her yet. “Sorry.”

Suzy laughs. “No it’s fine.”

The door in front of Vera’s room opens to reveal Jia and Fei who walk to see Vera awkwardly rub the back of her neck. “Umm..should we be worried?”

Suzy shakes her head. “Nope,” she says, with a bright smile.

“Shouldn’t we get going now?” Vera asks, switching between feet.

“No, we have to wait for Min,” Jia points at the door Vera came out from.

“Wait, that was Min?” she asks, backing away from the door.

“You didn’t know?” Jia asks, confused.

“No, but I do now...” Vera says, still edging away when Min steps out of the room.

“Hey guys,” Min says, walking towards her friends as she backs Vera.

“I’ll be going then. Bye,” Vera says, speedwalking away before they stop her. In her escape, she bumps into someone. “Oops-”

“Vera!” Chaerin goes to hug her friend as Taemin smiles down at her.

The American merely bypasses her to go hug Taemin, surprising the two. “Taemin~” she says, smiling as he finally hugs her back.

“Did I miss something?” Chaerin asks, watching the two interact with a close eye.

“Nope,” Vera says, nonchalantly wiggling out of the hug before slipping her hand into his.

“Are you sure?” she asks, changing to focus on Taemin.

“Mmhmm,” Taemin says, nodding innocently, even though a bit of deceit shined in his brown eyes.

“Kaja,” she says, reluctantly, walking ahead of the couple.

First stop of the day is Bern, capital of Switzerland. While the teacher specifically instructs the students not to stray, when Baek sunsaengnim turns away to talk with the tour guide, Taemin whisks Vera away. “Where are we going?” she asks, walking quickly against the brisk Swiss air.

“There’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go,” he says, a bright smile on his face, despite the cold.

“Where?” she asks, but quickly adds “And please don’t say it’s a surprise,” when she notices the grin forming on his face.

“It’s a secret,” he says, the grin etching itself in his skin.

Vera sighs, but finds herself smiling as Taemin starts running, pulling her with him. “Wae?” she asks, as he stops them in a corner.

“Baek sunsaengnim was looking over here,” he says, smiling at her shock.

“Ah,” Vera nods and walks with Taemin for awhile, looking as much in awe as him as they pass the buildings.

“Vera?” Taemin asks, still leading her.

“Hmm?” she turns her head to face him, almost bumping into a passerby.

“You know how Switzerland is known for watches? I don’t know why people would own watches if they live here. I would just look up at the clock tower,” he says, pointing up at the large tower that was several hundred feet away from them.

“Woah! Are we going there?”

He shakes his head, his mouth curling into a grin as he sees disappointment appear on her face. “I’m taking you somewhere better.”

“Are we close?” she asks, with newfound curiosity.

“If I haven’t gotten us lost, then yes,” he blushes as Vera gives him a look.

When the two finally reach the Zytglogge, Taemin explains the history of the 800 year old clock tower to her, Vera up all the information she could. It surprised her not only that Taemin had done some studying, but that such an impressive looking clock could be 800 years old. After coercing him to get some pictures of them next to the tower, Vera convinces him to let them join the group again, so they don’t look as if they wandered off. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t sneak her off later on in the day. ;)

“Vera~. Vera~,” Taemin quickly raps on the door, twisting the handle as he does so. “Open up~.”

Mid-sentence, she opens the door and pokes her head out. “Yes?” she asks, putting a smile on her face, despite her urgency.

“Hey there,” he says, with a smile as smooth as butter. “I wanted to go out with you tonight.”

“Where to?” her tone uplifts as she grows curious.

“Skydiving,” that smile from before appears.

Play

“Give me a few minutes, I’ll be out,” she says, smiling as wide. She closes the door and heads back inside when he nods. Pushing her center parted hair behind her ears, Vera walks out in an oversized sweater with fitted sleeves, skinny jeans, and converse. “Ready,” she announces, shoving her arms into her coat. “Kaja,” she says, putting her phone into a pocket, just as Taemin steals a hand from her, surprising her for a second.

“Are you excited?” he asks, as he pulls her into an elevator.

She nods. “Just a bit. The second I went to go change, I could feel butterflies in my stomach, as if I was about to go perform.”

Taemin laughs, the sound warming her. “Aww, Vera has stage fright~.”

She nudges him. “Yah! You probably had it, too! When did you start performing with SHINee, anyways?”

In thought, Taemin reaches up to ruffle his hair, and Vera watches this with the hint of a smile. “It’s been such a long time that I forget...”

“How old are you, by the way? In vampire years. I’ve never asked you, right?”

“I’m 294 years old. I’m not that old, though! I promise!” he says, expecting her to freak out.

She merely nods, taking it all in. “And yet you’re still as clueless as ever. Maybe you’re still a little kid as a vampire.”

“Uh-uh. I’m a man,” he says, with a pout.

“You’re as much of a man as I am Korean,” she mumbles to herself as Taemin listens in. Only when she realizes he heard what she said, does she flash him a smile.

“Just for that, I’m not taking you with me,” he says, with a mischevious smile, as he walks her back to the elevator.

“I’m sorry! You’re manly!” she says, grabbing his arm.

“Oh really? Tell me how manly I am,” he says, trying to sound serious, though there was the subtlest hint of an interested smirk on his face.

“You’re so manly...if you’re so manly, you’ll buy me dinner!” Vera yells, getting his face to prove her point.

His smirk turns into a full-on smile as he nods and starts walking with her again. “I’m so manly, aren’t I? I’m a real man.”

Vera stifles her laughter with a simple nod. “Yes, Taemin. You’re oh-so manly.”

After a 30 minute ride on the trains, which they had by no mastered after their encounters, they finally end up at the place to do the skydiving. When they enter the small building, which was only a few miles away from the Alps, the guy in charge immediately hands them waivers. Vera starts to scan it, while Taemin fearlessly asks for a pen to sign with.

“Are you ready to sign away your life?” the guy asks, in awkward English.

“Yes, my life,” Taemin repeats, in Engrish.

“...Don’t you want me to translate?” she asks, watching him in awe.

“If I don’t know what I’m signing, then it will look more impressive when I do it,” he says, secretively, before flashing a winning smile at the guy.

Vera laughs behind her hand and gingerly takes the pen from him to sign her hand. “As if you’d die, vampire boy,” before sticking her tongue out at him.

Once they hand in the waivers, the guy hands them their suits and helps them to put them on. While Vera watches him help Taemin, the guy compliments the vampire. “y,” and he gives him a thumbs up.

With a bright smile, Taemin agrees with him. “Yeah, y.”

Putting her face in her hand, Vera shakes her head and just laughs at him. “I guess, Taemin. I guess.”

With a wink, the boy keeps going, while the man chuckles at the two.

“And jump!”

Before Vera could blink, the two were hurtling out of the helicopter, several hundreds of feet above the ground, the ground waiting to swallow them into the lush piles of snow. She wanted to drop down silently, just a wide smile plastered on her face as she got used to and enjoyed the feeling, but with one look to her left, she could see and hear Taemin screaming at the top of his lungs. Not out of fear, but of finally being able to let go of everything and being able to feel weightless. So she decides to join him and, together, they scream at the top of their lungs like banshees. Vera starts laughing at the idea of someone seeing them. “TAEMIN!” she yells over the wind, whipping across their faces.

He momentarily stops yelling to pay attention.

“STOP YELLING!”

“WHY?!”

“WE LOOK DUMB!”

“NO, WE LOOK CRAZY!”

Vera laughs. “YES. WE LOOK CRAZY.”

“IT’S CRAZY!” he yells, in Engrish, causing Vera to laugh harder.

“IT’S CRAZAY!” she mimics him, laughing still, as their parachutes inflate, slowing down their descent.

“OH YEAH!” Taemin yells, clapping his hands together.

“Oh yeah, Taemin. Oh yeah,” Vera says, having the hardest time to not laugh at him. Maybe the altitude made the both of them lose their minds. Who knows?

After they return back to the hotel 2 hours after their skydiving escapade, the two still have those wild smiles they had 2 hours before as Taemin walks Vera back to her room. “That was so fun,” she says, smoothing her hair down. “We should do that again.”

“You should have said that while we were still there!” he says, sending her into more giggles.

“We had to get back on time, Taemin,” she pouts. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

The vampire nods. “We should come back to Switzerland,” he says, swinging her arm as they walk. On our honeymoon...

“I’ll see if it fits in my schedule,” Vera jokes as they stop in front of her room. “Welp, good night, Taemin,” she says, wrapping her arms around him, despite the difficulty, due to his puffy North Face blocking her.

Nodding, he flashes away as Vera opens the door. Quickly she changes into her pajamas, and silently walks over to her bed, not trying to wake up Min and be greeted by her rudeness, when her phone buzzes on her pillow. Sitting down, she answers the phone and is surprised to find out its her parents. “Oh hi Mom,” she says, changing to English.

“Vera! How are you? How’s Chaerin and Angel?”

“I’m good. Chaerin’s good. Angel’s good..”

“So I hear you’re in Switzerland on a class trip. So really far. What have you all done so far?”

Skipped the itinerary with Taemin and go skydiving with Taemin. “We’re learning about Switzerland’s history and I even got to, umm, try out skydiving. Pretty much, it’s all fun,” she says, arranging her sentences in a mom-friendly fashion.

“Skydiving? That sounds dangerous...You shouldn’t do things like that again. Did anyone go with you?”

Taemin.. “Yeah, Chaerin,” she lies.

“...I don’t want you doing anything that could get you hurt, ok? I want you to be able to come back home in one piece.”

“But, Mom-”

“No buts. Sorry, I have to go. It’s pretty late over here and I have work in the morning. Night!” and she hangs up before Vera can reply.

With a sigh, Vera turns off her phone and places it face down on the bedside table. She settles into bed and starts to get comfortable when she bumps into something cold and hard. “Hmm?”

Taemin pops his head out of the covers. “Vera, are you ok?”

“Why are you here?” she asks, more confused than surprised. If she had to count all the times she slept in Taemin’s bed or vice versa, she’d be counting for awhile.

“Because I wanted to sleep next to you. Now, are you ok?”

He must’ve heard the conversation. “Yeah, I’m ok,” she lies, pulling the covers up.

“Vera?” Taemin gives her the look.

Pulling the covers down, she sighs. “I just wish she’d let me have fun sometimes. She and my dad are so overbearing sometimes, you know?” she asks, scooting closer to him for comfort, and not warmth, sake.

“She cares about you and that’s what matters, right?” he asks, as he plays with one of her flyaways.

Vera shrugs and sighs again. “I guess. I don’t know, maybe I ask for too much. Goodnight,” the girl says, backing him again and starts to try to go to sleep. She couldn’t though, because she couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t mind her not mentioning him to her mother.

“Well, you have me and I always let you have fun, right?” he offers, putting an arm around her.

Vera chuckles and nods as she faces him again. “Sometimes you force me to have fun.”

“Because I’m your outlet. If I don’t make you have fun, who will?” he asks, as he finally gets her fully in his arms.

She laughs. “No one,” and exhales as she breathes in his soothing scent. “Goodnight, Taemin.”

“Goodnight, Vera,” he says, closing his eyes.