“Do you want to know the secret now?”

“What secret? The one about me?”

Taemin suddenly grabs her hand as they walk. The couple watched a few more dances at the cabaret, danced a few after getting pulled up on stage, skipped to a cafe to grab something to eat and now walk through the dimly lit streets of Barcelona, their hearts without worries.

“What?” Vera asks, caught off guard his forwardness. She giggles nervously.

“This has always been a dream of mine, strolling at night and holding hands.”

The girl laughs at this, finding it funny. “Your hands are warm,” she remarks.

The vampire smiles, nodding in agreement. “So I guess you liked this?” he swings their hands back and forth.

She nods. “I appreciate your efforts. Thanks, oppa.”

His face warms at the last bit as a smile spreads across his cheeks. It had been such a long time since he last heard her call him “oppa”, and that was when it rang with the sterile politeness of the beginning of their friendship. He had been waiting so long to hear it, but hoped it would come out some way or another. Now it came out, matching the perfect mood of this perfect night.

Vera laughs, nervously, having an idea of what was going through his mind. “That doesn’t sound weird, right? Me calling you ‘oppa’?”

Snapping out of his giggly state, the male quickly shakes his head, that joker grin still on his face. “No. It sounds great, don’t ever stop.”

Not allowing herself to get sappy, she switches directions. “But what if it gets cheesy? Oppa, You don’t want to hear it every five seconds, right, oppa? Oppa?”

He laughs, stopping her. “I like it, but don’t do that.”

“Arasso,” she nods, laughing at her joke.

“Close your eyes,” he says, suddenly, covering them with his own hand.

“Why?” she giggles, moving his hand away, but complying.

“I have to show you something,” he responds, running.

“So I have to close my eyes?” she jokes, following after him. “Does that even make any sense?”

Not responding, he just laughs at her sarcastic remarks as he leads her. “It will make a lot of sense when we’re there.”

“And where is there?”

“Open your eyes.”

“Are you sure it’s ok?” Chaerin asks, watching Angel walk ahead of her. Knowing she would still be awkward around Jonghyun, she and Minho set it up so they’d walk in the middle of the two, almost like a boundary between the couple.

Minho shrugs, shifting the weight on his shoulders as he does so. “I think it’d be better if we just left him alone for awhile,” he refers to Onew.

“But he’s already alone,” she replies, recalling his behavior.

“I know, but-”

“It’s because he likes someone,” Key murmurs in his sleep, as he rests on Minho’s back. Chaerin thought he would fall if he walked by himself, so he had offered to carry him.

“Really? Who, that girl?” she asks rapidfire. She was so excited at the news, that she didn’t even doubt his credibility; it was another relationship that she could nurture and care for.

The blond snuggles against the taller male’s back before falling back to sleep. But for good reason-now wasn’t the time to reveal his own powers to her.

Minho chuckles when he realizes she’s been ignored, but uses this situation to his own advantage. “So Chaerin...” he tucks his thumbs into his front pockets.

“Yeah?” she turns to him after petting Key’s hair, as if he was a cat.

“Have you made your decision yet?” he asks, with a hopeful smile. Minho was competitive enough to believe she would pick him over Key, even though she was in a relationship of sorts with the latter.

“Well...you see...”

Arriving back at the hotel, Jonghyun marches past the barricaders and grabs Angel’s wrist, shocking them all. “I need to talk to you,” he growls. Chaerin gasps and Minho steps up, ready to stop him. “Hyung-” Or at least that’s how it sounded to those two. In actuality, he gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes he could-with his dark red eyes anyway. It sounded like a low, monstrous growl, because, ever since he unleashed his true form-which was hours ago-he has been holding back from biting her. The last thing he wanted was to kill her out of his undying thirst.

Angel looks between his solemn red eyes and the scared eyes of her friends, trying to decide what to do. She could give in and risk her life by associating with or play it safe and hate herself for ignoring him. Sighing, she meets his eyes, albeit hesitantly.

The vampire smiles at this, revealing his pointed fangs. “Thank you,” he says with that husky voice, hugging her.

She stiffly accepts his hug, finally acknowledging the cold that surrounded him. Internally, she wasn’t still sure how she felt about him and his “form”-her quivering pulse could prove it-but she was willing to hear him out at least.

Noticing her growing tense, and not wanting to go overboard and lose his control of his thirst by mistake, he breaks the hug and walks her to his room, giving Minho a pleading look on his way inside.

There stood before her was one of the most beautiful buildings she had ever seen: the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia. For one, the Gothic inspired cathedral was one of the tallest buildings she had ever seen; it stood at a dwarfing 93m and had many tall towers surrounding it. The  Something about the architecture reminded her of a castle and it brought a look of awe to her face.

“Woah,” Vera gasps, for what could’ve been the hundredth time that night. “It’s so beautiful.”

A thought crept into Taemin’s mind and he just laughs behind his hand.

“What?” she asks, too busy staring at the cathedral to look at his face.

“Not as beautiful as you,” he muttered, through giggles. Honestly, he meant it-which surprised him, for one-but it sounded so weird and cheesy coming from him.

Though flattered, she grimaces at the compliment and turns back to the building. “Can we go inside?”

“Umm...I don’t think so,” he says, slowly, trying to evade the frown forming on her face.

“Not even for a second. We could literally pop in and leave seconds later,” the girl reasons, not wanting to have to resort to aegyo. It was bad enough for her to wear a skirt...

Everything was falling into place perfectly as he had planned, but in order for it to all work, he had to lay low. “Fine. If you insist,” he says, gripping her hand tighter and smirking behind her back as they disappear.

Once inside, the couple silences themselves and just bask in the peaceful ambiance. The high sloping ceiling housed multitudes of black chandeliers which supplied the room with candlelight. Moonlight streamed through the large stained glass windows that adorned the walls, filling the room with vivid colors. The room was endless in size and in beauty. Vera kept turning around and around trying to take in every detail, while Taemin went off for a moment to do something.

Once she notices Taemin wandering back, she reclaims his hand and smiles in anticipation. “Where to next?”

Feeling her warmth, the vampire opens his eyes-he had been strolling around the church, eyes closed, just enjoying the spiritual atmosphere-remembering what was next on his list. “Let’s go up.”

“Up?” She uses this opportunity to stare at the high ceiling above them like a child. “To where?”

“You’ll see,” he says, covering her eyes again with his hands. In the blink of an eye, the couple is transported to the top of one of the bell towers, whose bell rings as the warm breeze blows around them.

“Can I look now?” Vera asks, holding onto the hands that shielded her eyes. Not waiting for an answer, she pulls them down and beholds the city that was lit up against the dark night sky. She opens to gasp, but Taemin stops her.

“Now before you say wow again,” he smirks “do you like it?” he asks, resting his chin on her shoulder as his arms wrap her in a back hug.

The girl nods, turning to smile at him briefly before looking at the skyline. Barcelona looks so enchanting at night...

“You’re a vampire?” Angel asks, staring at him with wide eyes. She wasn’t sure whether to make a comment about Twilight or to run for cover. There her boyfriend stood with glowing red eyes and prominent fangs that showed when he smiled.

Jonghyun nods, slowly, giving her time to take it in. Though part of him wanted to smile and proudly yell it to the heavens, he knew it would be better to wait for her to come to terms with his true form.

“Which means you...drink...blood...”

He nods again, now struggling to look at her eyes with blood now on his mind. That burning sensation in his throat intensifies and he swallows.

Trying to keep calm, she crosses her arms. “I don’t believe you,” she says, trying to stay calm. Vampires aren’t real. He’s just...lying. “Prove it.”

The vampire fumbles for what to answer, before something comes to mind. “I’ll prove it when you tell me what happened.”

“What happened?”

“Why you were avoiding me.”

Ironically, Angel looks more scared now that he’s said the thing she wished he hadn’t. She would’ve rather talked more about him being a vampire than her own secret. The question was: how would he react to it?

“So...are you going to say anything?” he asks, watching her stand there. After finally exposing himself, Jonghyun felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest.

The girl shuffles back a few steps. “You have to promise you won’t get mad at me...”

“What is it?” he asks, now wary to hear the answer.

“When you left after graduating, we didn’t see each other that much...”

“Uh huh...”

“So...”

“So...”

“I...”

“You...”

Chaerin taps her foot impatiently. “Why can’t I listen to their conversation? They might be saying something really important.” she whines, staring at the closed door.

“That’s exactly why you can’t listen,” Minho says, with crossed arms. He already knew his hyung would explain that he was a vampire and didn’t want Chaerin to hear any of it, just in case she reacted badly to it. So now he stood watch to prevent that from happening.

“But what if Angel tells him the thing! Don’t you want to find out?”

The male hesitates before answering, because she pointed out a good reason. “...If she wants us to know, then she’ll tell us. Otherwise, we should stay out of her business.”

Sitting down on the cold marble steps, Taemin beckons her to sit with him. She obliges and he drapes his blazer over her legs. “Are you cold?” he wraps his arms around her before she can answer.

“I wasn’t, but thanks,” she giggles, flustered by all the attention.

“Lean like this,” Taemin instructs, resting her head on his shoulder. He had let Vera enjoy the view before walking them back to the steps of the cathedral, where they now sat.

Vera laughs again, more flustered. “This is so wrong.”

“What? At a cathedral?” he asks, blissfully oblivious.

“I feel so wrong.”

“But I feel so right,” he counters, smirking. She winces at his cheesiness, but laughs anyways. He laughs with her and a new wave of warmth comes over him.

“I guess you’re right...” Vera lets her voice trail, hinting at something else.

“Of course,” he smiles, confidently, but understands her true intentions. “About?”

“This is very cheesy and all, like something out of a storybook-”

“-like me-” Taemin finishes for her, chuckling softly. She nods.

“-But it does feel right here. With you. Maybe it’s the Spanish air, but I think I might love you.” The wind blows and the girl shivers at finally admitting it to herself out loud. Her feelings were out and open and she couldn’t feel any less exposed.

The vampire smiles to himself before pulling her closer to him. It was nice to finally hear her say it, after so long. “I...I love you too, Vera.”

Blood rushes to her face, staining her cheeks a youthful pink. She felt whole, for once. And then something shakes up her heart.

“But that means I have to tell you.”

“Tell me?”

“The secret.”

“What secret? The one about me?”

“That’s a lie, right? Tell me that’s a lie,” Jonghyun pleads, eyes wide in shock. Angel had just confessed her secret and now he is in denial about the truth.

Scared of how he’ll react, the girl just nods slowly, backing herself into a corner, both literally and figuratively. With the truth out, she didn’t know whether to mentally beg him for forgiveness or chastise her younger self. Too bad she worried about the wrong person hearing the news.

“Just let me hear a bit! I promise I won’t be loud,” Chaerin whispers loudly, pressing her ear against the door.

“That’s not the problem,” Minho says, pulling her back by the arm. “Just give them their privacy.” His words don’t hold the authority he wanted them to, because his curiosity was gnawing away at his conscience. Just what was his friend’s secret?

Key, who the taller male had left curled up in a ball on the floor next to them, suddenly awakens, a mixture of surprise and disgust shows in his almond shaped eyes. “Oh. My. God,” he murmurs, in English.

“What?” Minho asks, startled out of his thoughts by his friend’s spontaneous awakening.

“Angel cheated on Jonghyun.”

Chaerin whips her head at the male and yells. “WHAT?!” Before the other 2 can hold her back, she flings the door open and says what all 3 of them wanted to say but didn’t have the guts. “Angel, how could you?”

“So that’s the North Star, and next to it is-” Taemin tries to distract her by pointing out constellations in the sky.

“Tell me, I can take it,” Vera cuts him off from his impromptu Astronomy lesson, though she loved the stars. Right now there were more pressing topics than what phase the Moon was currently in.

The vampire sighs, holding her tighter by instinct. “Your parents are vampire hunters.”

+++

Onew looks down at her limp body apologetically. No, the male was not one to fool around with any girl he saw or even to kill anyone he saw. He just felt so lonely all of a sudden and she had made herself available. For a moment, it had seemed like his loneliness had disappeared, but then it was overtaken by the lust.

a greasy strand back, he sighs again as he watches her, floating in the icy water as she slept. “I’m sorry,” the vampire whispers, a tear falling. This is the last thing he sees before he disappears.