Vera sits there, dumbstruck. “What?”

“You’re from a family of-” he starts again, before she cuts him off again.

“Don’t say it again.” She tries to sound strong, but really all the weight she had taken off moments ago came rushing back onto her, pummeling her into the dirt. “What else?” she asks, her voice cracking slightly. It took all of her to suppress the sudden urge to cry, but she fights it off as well as she can.

The vampire hesitates for a second, before continuing. “It’s also about you.”

“What, I’m some princess now?” she jokes, bitterly. Now wonder her parents hated him so much. How was she so...slow not to notice?

He smiles to himself, but shakes his head, as if hiding something else. “No, Vera. You’re not a princess. But you are one of a kind.”

Snapping out of her anger at her slowness, the girl turns to give him a look. “That’s so-”

This time he cuts her off. “You’re one of a kind, meaning that there are few people like you in the world.”

“As in...what?” the girl asks, curiously. There were no jokes she could make; Vera had literally no idea what he could be referring to.

“As in, you have mixed blood.”

“Which means...?” Like a child waiting for their bedtime story, she turns to face him, making sure he would explain. She notices him swallowing and grabs his hands. “Sorry if you feel uncomfortable. About the blood and all. Can you explain, please?”

Appreciating her brief show of care, he nods, but looks straight ahead with a blank look in his eyes and takes in a breath of air before he starts. “Pretty much, most humans only have 1 blood type, right? A, B, AB, and O are the standard ones, though there are some special types.”

Vera nods, agreeing with what he said, but poses a question. “Do vampires have blood?”

He nods. “We do. It’s really strange and hard to explain, but it doesn’t act like human blood does. There’s too much venom in it.” Vera nods again, silently taking in this new knowledge, but waiting for him to continue. “That’s not the entire truth. That’s just the truth humans like to teach their offspring, so they don’t have to think of all those who died without a chance.”

She sits, idly, still not getting where he’s going with that. Was he going to go off on a tangent about the bad things of humans? Or was this “mixed blood” thing real?

“A small percentage of humans are born with not just one blood type, but all of them. It can range from having a little bit of each to having enough blood for 5 people. “Most of those born with mixed blood don’t live that long, few make it past their first week. The few that miraculously get to grow up and experience life are killed by vampires.”

The human grimaces, finally understanding past occurrences, like when that vampire tried to attack that night Taemin introduced her to his hyungs. “No wonder my parents hate you,” she whispers, shaking her head at the memories.

Happy to be off the topic of blood, Taemin settles down a bit and smiles at her. “They were just trying to protect you.”

“They were just trying to kill you,” she corrects, making the mood grim once again. “Is that what happened to you those times?” she asks, remembering the days he would miss school for long periods of time.

Though hesitantly, the male accepts her claims. “Yeah,” he nods, stiffly, before changing topics. “It feels nice to know you care about me, maybe I should’ve told you earlier,” he giggles.  

Vera turns to glare at him for a second, but faces forward again. “Of course I care about you, how else do you think I’d put up with you everyday?”

“But that’s care for a friend. How do I know you really love me?” he asks, being greedy. If secrets were going to be out and open, he wanted to hear to what extent she actually liked him.

“I love you, ok? Let’s leave it at that,” she huffs, plopping her head on his shoulder again, trying to get comfortable. Having been friends with him for so long, she knew what he was trying to get at and wouldn’t indulge him with her feelings. She might be wearing a skirt, but that doesn’t mean she’s lost herself quite yet.

“Arasso,” he giggles, triumphant at at least getting that response from her, but decides not to push it. Mischievously, he knew he’d find a way to weasel it out of her one way or another on a different day.

Chaerin looks as if she would hit Angel if she could, but she holds her anger in for a reason-she wants to see how Jonghyun would react before she delivers any blows.

“I’m sorry,” Angel says, quietly, as she stares at the ground, her hands balled into fists to hide their trembling. She hadn’t expected the others to hear, but she obviously can’t take her words back now.

“Now’s not the time to be sorry,” the older of the 2 girls snaps, her voice sharp. “If you were sorry, you wouldn’t have done what you did. If you were sorry, you would’ve been mature and told him from the very beginning instead of woosing out and avoiding him this entire week like you were the victim. If you were so f-cking sorry-” Her voice gets louder and more intense as she goes on, it was only Minho who stopped her before Angel fully broke down.

“Chaerin, calm down. I am as upset as you are, but you have to leave them to their own relationship. This is not your business,” he whispers, voice low, as he pulls her away with arms wrapped around her from behind. It was the most skinship he has ever had with her, but now wasn’t the time for him to savor the moment.

“I’ll leave if Jonghyun wants me to leave. Otherwise, I have some choice words for her and they’re not pretty,” she glares the younger girl-who was silently crying-down.

Though Jonghyun was with her on the glaring, he shakes his head. “I’ll do the talking, so I don’t need your help. Thanks for the support though.”

The girl nods and allows herself to be dragged out by Minho, not even noticing her friend’s red eyes in her anger. Something soon would happen that would make those eyes hard to unsee.

When the door closes behind him, the vampire turns to Angel, barely trying to hide the anger in his eyes with patience. “Who? When? Why?”

“Is that it?” Vera asks, curious in a standoffish way.

Subtlely he diverts her attention to the dark midnight sky that was lit up with shining stars. “Look!” he points at the sky with a shocked face.

“What?” she slowly turns and sees nothing. Turning back, she is greeted by Taemin’s face, aided by the fact she was in his arms, he was close enough to smell his musky cologne that wafted from his long neck and the cool peppermint on his breath. In other words, close enough to kiss.And that’s just what he had on mind.

“Can I kiss you?” he asks, with bright eyes.

Realizing what was happening, she just shakes her head at him and laughs to herself. “If you’re going to try to do that, you’re going to have to sneak it on me.”

The male nods, as if sincerely taking this advice. “Is that how it’s done in America?” he asks, curiously.

Covering , she laughs. “That’s the first step to what they do,” she mutters before she continues laughing, hoping he wouldn’t get the reference.

He does, but pretends as if he doesn’t, and just listens to her laughter, smiling to himself. A thought suddenly comes to mind. “Vera?”

“Yeah?” she responds, no longer laughing.

“Do you still have that necklace I gave you?” he asks, grabbing her hands in his own.

“Yeah, why? Are you giving me something?” she asks, pulling the ruby necklace from underneath her shirt’s collar.

“No...” his smile falls at her quick realization.

Finding his disappointment amusing, the girl giggles and pokes him square in the cheek. “If you want to give me something, just give me it.”

Taemin grabs her finger and smiles, now excited to give her his present. “Close your eyes.”

“Again with this ‘close your eyes’ business!” she laughs, but does as he asks.

Slipping a hand into his blazer’s pocket, he pulls out a red box the size of his palm and opens it single-handedly to reveal two rings. They were of similar design, a thick black band outlined in a thinner silver, but one was skinnier and more rounded than the other. It was a simple ring choice, but he felt it fit them perfectly. He places the box on his lap and picks up the slimmer ring, slipping it over her pinky finger. “Ok, you can look now,” he smiles so wide, she could tell without even having to look.

Vera opens her eyes and at first, she sees nothing different. But then she looks down at her hands and her smile drops, she tries to mask this, though. “How’d you know my ring size? I don’t even know my ring size.”

Taking her question as her way of trying to hide her excitement, he happily puts on his matching ring, this time on his middle finger. “Just a guess...”

Honestly, she wished she could be happier about the ring, but it reminded her of the one she didn’t want: marriage. After seeing her parents fight many times in her childhood, she had wondered why the union seemed appealing to anyone, when all you get is stress and rowdy kids. But for his sake, she pretends to like the gift, knowing that it must’ve taken him a long time to get them-that and she couldn’t be to ruin his high spirits. “Thanks, oppa,” she chimes, her voice sounding saccharine and fake, as she casually twists the ring between her right thumb and index finger.

He beams at her and pats her shoulder lovingly as he stares at the shining moon. They stay there like that for awhile, just silently enjoying everything around them - the cathedral, the stars and moon, each other - before Vera breaks the silence.

Once again, her lack of sleep these past couple of days catch up to her and Vera barely stifles a yawn.

Taemin laughs at her, finding it cute. “Are you tired?” he asks, teasingly. “You can sleep if you want to.”

She didn’t want to fall asleep on their “date” of sorts, but sleeping just felt so comforting now, not to mention the fact her boyfriend was finally not below freezing. “Fine. But you better stay warm!”

The vampire laughs at her request, but agrees. “I’ll try,” he says, warming up a bit more.

“Good,” she mumbles, resting her head on his shoulder as she tries to get into a comfortable sleeping position. Before she can process what’s happening, the sleepy girl feels herself lifted off the cold steps and onto a something hard but warm. Arms fully encircle her waist now and she feels hot breath on her neck.

“Good night,” Taemin whispers, plopping his chin on her shoulder. Lazily nodding to his words, Vera quickly falls into a light sleep, unsuspecting of the night. “Vera?” he whispers, after a few minutes, before realizing she’s fallen asleep. A smile appears on his face and he does a little dance-happy that the night went exactly as he planned-but stops as she stirs in her sleep. Ooh...can’t wake her up... Not having anything to do, he looks around for a bit, at everything really. The sky, the road in front of them, the cathedral, the ground, the rings. Nothing keeps his attention for as long as watching Vera’s face as she slept. It sounds weird, but it made her look beautiful to him, like she was a porcelain doll. Her long brown hair, milky white skin, and model proportions made the resemblance understandable. Sitting there on those steps, holding her in his arms, as he sat under the clear night sky made him realize how great it felt to be in love. To love someone and for them to reciprocate that love, before he knew it, his lips were mere seconds away from hers.

And then the phone rang, awakening his sleeping beauty. “Hello?” she answers it on the 2nd ring, a bit disoriented and hurrying to go back to sleep.

“Vera, you two have to come back now,” Key’s voice rang loud and clear over the phone, despite the slight slur of his words at the end.

“Why?” she asks, it sounds a bit like whining.

“Onew bit someone.”

+++

Angel’s tongue fumbles around in , finding it hard to answer his questions. She was still crying, but not as hard as before. “...”

“Who? When?” Jonghyun starts again, his anger simmering like water in a pot. It would only take so long before he boiled over.

“He’s a 2nd-year, you wouldn’t know him. It was from a couple...” the girl looks up for a second to look at his face, but darts her eyes back down to the ground when she sees his glare. “Months ago...”

“Why?”

Before she can answer, she hears footsteps approaching the door and following them, feet scuttering. “Hyung!” Minho and Key clamor at the same time.

Jonghyun huffs, still curious as to who this guy was, but goes to the door to see what all the fuss is about. Opening the door, what he sees makes him gasp.

“What?” A sniffly Angel makes her way over to him, trying to look over her shoulder, but he shields her from the sight.

Having overheard the conversation, Taemin transports them back to the hotel before Vera can even ask. “Are you sure hyung bit someone?” he asks, holding her hand tightly as they race up the stairs. Yes, he was a bit upset his kiss with her got interrupted, but now wasn’t the time.

“Well looks like we’ll have to see.” The two finally reach their floor, Vera a bit out of breath, and see the scene in the hallway. It was a bit chaotic, but what could you expect. Standing in front of their friends-who were backing them-was Onew. The front of his shirt and mouth were covered in blood.

Though they are equally apprehensive about approaching him, they walk closer to see their friends’ reactions. This would be the first time Angel and Chaerin find out that SHINee were vampires and this surely wasn’t the graceful reveal they had planned.

“You’re really a vampire,” Angel breathes, staring at Onew’s red eyes.

Silently, Onew scans the group for Vera and smiles sadly to himself, before biting his lip. Not paying attention to her boyfriend or their worried (or in Chaerin and Angel’s case: terrified) friends, he reaches out to grab her wrist and pulls her towards his room before anyone can comment. The door clicks behind them and immediately he hugs her.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, quickly wrapping her in a hug, despite the blood on his shirt. Back again was that innocent Jinki who wanted nothing more but companionship. He contrasted with the vampire with the red eyes and the blood smeared all over his face.

“For what?” Vera asks, still a bit awestruck, but wanting to hear his plight. There must’ve been a reason why he drank someone’s blood; he’s usually not that impulsive.

“Everything,” he says, sighing as he breaks the hug.

The human looks at him, confused at his melodramatic sentence. 4 words later and she would understand why he seemed so emotional.

“Vera, I like you,” he admits, dropping a metaphorical bomb on her.

+++

“Vera, I like you.”

Vera stiffens, as she imagines the others with their ears pressed towards the door, whispering to each other in hushed tones. The ring on her finger starts to burn, or maybe she was just imagining that too. She tries to think of a way to answer him, but is left speechless.

“I’m sorry,” he says, as if his feelings were something to apologize for.

“Don’t be,” she finally gets out, shaking her head. “Is that why you...” she eyes the blood on him before meeting his eyes again. Out of the 5 of them, she would’ve never thought Onew would be the one to attack someone. He just seemed to have so much control.

He nods, wiping his mouth clean. “I met someone and then I just lost control.” Sighing, he adds “I feel so dirty.”

“Don’t say that, you were bound to seek out blood. I’m just glad it wasn’t mine,” Vera awkwardly jokes.

The vampire smiles, but looks to her, his eyes red again. “Aren’t you scared of me like this?” There she was, the forbidden fruit; he could take a bite and ruin her innocence or resist the urge and forever be curious.

Not expecting his sudden question, she thinks for awhile. Finally, she shakes her head, surprising herself. “For some reason, I’m not. I don’t know why, but I can’t see you attacking me.”

His smile spreads across his face, feeling accepted. “Thank you,” he says, sounding sincere.

Vera nods and squeezes his hand before walking towards the door, butterflies in her stomach at what could be behind it. “Well, I should go now. Let everyone know you didn’t attack me,” she smirks. “See you...tomorrow?”

Onew nods and wiggles his fingers at her before she leaves.

The door clicks behind her and her smiles dissipates as she scans the hall, and spots Taemin. Her heart sinks when she notices him leaning on the wall, eyes closed with a pained expression. He must’ve heard everything. Taking a breath, she walks over to him, keeping her face normal and void of any one emotion. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Minho hyung sent Angel and Chaerin to their room and the rest of the hyungs are in my room,” he answers, his voice stiff and his eyes still closed. He definitely heard everything.

“Ah,” Vera lets her voice trails, as her eyes dart around to check for any stragglers. She knew there was only one thing that would cheer him up and she had to do it quick. Huffing, she moves in closer to him and wraps her arms around him. There was nothing he loved more than skinship.

His eyes open at her touch and he looks down, as if needing proof that this was really happening. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to shake off his anger. And she knew it, too.

She had just hoped hugging would’ve been enough. The girl huffs again and rips herself away from him. “Fine. What about this?” she mutters. As she lets go of him, Taemin shuts his eyes again.  Brushing back a stray hair, Vera leans in again and presses her lips against his for a second. His lips tasted bittersweet: she could taste the cinnamon sugar from the churros they ate earlier and a trace of his coffee. I wonder what Onew tastes like. Blood? As quick as she came, she pulls away from him again and runs for her room.

Still giggly from Vera kissing him, Taemin swirls around the hall until he ends up at Vera’s door. Drunkenly, he knocks on it until she opens the door for him. Taking his chance, he starts to lean in for another when he smells blood on her. It had a pungent, dead smell, that messed with her clean, natural scent. Gone were the hazy eyes when he saw the blood stained shirt that laid on her bed. He remembers the same blood loomed over his oldest hyung and his red eyes flash with jealousy and suspicion.

“Do you like Onew hyung?”

“I wonder if they’ll explain what happened,” Angel ponders, sitting on her bed.

“Don’t think I’m not mad at you. Why did you do that to him?” Chaerin was still a bit shaken up from seeing Onew in his vampire form, but she couldn’t shake the outrage she felt from learning of Angel’s secret.

Scared, she hushes and turns away from the older girl.

“Angel, I can still see you,” she glares.

The girl sighs, but finally speaks. “Minho-oppa said not to ask about it,” she says, more to herself.

“And Jonghyun didn’t think you’d cheat on him, so looks like we don’t get what we want.”

Angel looks down, feeling defeated. “If it makes anything better, I broke it off awhile ago.”

“Good,” Chaerin huffs, still glaring at her.

“Not as much as you think I do,” Vera finally answers, watching him curiously to see where he was taking this.

“You do!” he declares, picking up the shirt and shaking it furiously. “You said you loved me. Was that a lie?”

Watching him have a tantrum, she tries to stay calm, but his final words are like a slap to the face. “Do you know how hard it was for me? To even say the words out loud! I wouldn’t even admit it to myself until tonight. And now you think I don’t love you?”

Taemin crosses his arms, and looks at her stone-faced. “But you still like hyung.”

“I do, but I picked you! Why can’t you realize that? I love Lee Taemin. I said it!”

He frowns to himself, realizing his mistake. It was obvious that kiss took a lot of effort on her part. Not wanting to admit it, he’s silent for awhile before he finally responds. “It’s because you’re pretty, ok?”

“What?” That was the most absurd thing for him to blurt out right now.

“Scratch that-you’re beautiful. You’re like a doll.”

“...What?” Still angry, she looks at him confused. Was this some kind of vampire slang for something?

“How can I not be scared someone’s going to take you away from me?”

“Is that why you like me, then? Because of my face? Or is it because of my blood?” Vera asks, accusatory. She couldn’t understand why he was so upset over this, why it mattered that she liked her other best friend when she had picked Taemin. “Did you fall in love with me3 years ago out of bloodlust? So that you wouldn’t have to fight off  the other leeches to get a taste of the cocktail that apparently runs through my veins? Maybe I made the wrong choice in picking you, because if that’s what your love is, I don’t want it,” her fingers quickly find the ring and yank it off, throwing it at him forcefully. “Happy anniversary, oppa,” she says, snidely, walking for the door.

“Vera...” he says, weakly, holding the ring in his hand. The male grabs her arm, trying to stop her from walking past him.

Ignoring him, she rips her arm from his clutches and walks out, headed towards her haven. Not bothering to knock out of her frustration, she twists the knob, hoping someone would open it for her. Finally, someone did, but not who she thought.

“Chaerin, I’ll talk to you later-Vera?” Jonghyun looks at her, confused as to why she was at his door.

Not missing a beat, she looks at him blankly. “Go sleep in my room. The door’s unlocked.”

“What?” It was great that she wasn’t scared to be around him, unlike the other 2, since she already knew about his secret, but it was weird seeing her acting so brash.

Before she can respond -and glare- at him, a voice from inside answers first. “Just go. I’ll see what’s wrong,” the voice says, not wanting to ruffle any feathers this late at night.

The blonde shrugs, but allows her to get in before going over to her room.

When the door clicks behind her, Vera realizes how dark it was. In her room, she had 2 of the hotel’s lamps on, but here, only the moonlight illuminated the room. It was nice in a way, it kinda matched her mood. Looking around for a bit, it takes her awhile before she spots Onew. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and was towel drying his hair. When their eyes meet, the male freezes.

“Vera.” He thought he could’ve hidden in the darkness, but obviously she could see right through him.

“You can change. I won’t look,” she turns around, knowing how he felt about his body.

Appreciative of this, he breathes a little, but continues slowly. “Thanks.” He leaves to change and comes back shortly. “Why are you here?” he asks, sitting beside her on his bed.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she lies, putting her head on his shoulder.

He tenses at the contact, but tries not to make a big deal of it. Something about the way she said it told him she was lying. “Vera...” It hurt him to say this, but still he should ask. “Why don’t you go to Taemin or something?”

She stiffens at his question and tries to change the subject. “Is it ok if I sleep in here for tonight?”

“With the vampire who ate someone? Are you sure you’ll feel safe?” he asks, darkly.

Not finding his joke funny, she lightly punches his arm. “Of course I’ll feel safe sleeping in your room. Why wouldn’t I?”

His heart warms at her comment and he smiles sadly, not trying to savor the feeling too much. “Go to sleep then. I’ll stay and watch,” he laughs, realizing how weird that sounds after saying it.

“No, you sleep, too. You’re probably really tired,” she says, turning to look at his face. Behind the smile he typically wore, she could see the tiredness in his eyes. She just wasn’t sure if they were red from lack of sleep or from crying.

Trying to avoid her eyes, he shakes his head. “I can’t sleep,” he says plainly, as if it was a fact.

To a stranger, it would sound as if he didn’t feel like sleeping or even didn’t want to. But he did, his voice revealed the truth his words were trying to hide. It wasn’t that he couldn’t sleep, it was that he couldn’t sleep-if she was in the room. “Why, because the girl of your dreams is in the room?” she jokes, silently hoping it wasn’t the real reason.

It was and he stays silent for a second, embarrassed that she read him so well, but finally he nods. “Yeah,” he answers, his voice breaking.

Realizing it hurt him, she quickly wraps her arms around him, hugging him lightly. “Enough about me, how are you? Tell me all about what happened, even if it gets gory. I can take it.”

Jonghyun pushes Vera’s door open and is surprised when it opens at his touch. So it was unlocked... When he steps inside, Taemin looks up at him, as if anticipating someone, but his eyes darken when he realizes it’s not Vera. “Taemin-goon? Are you ok?”

Unlike what the hyung thought, Taemin wasn’t crying before he came in. But it was obvious to anyone who saw the male that he wasn’t his normal self. His hair was in his face and it looked as if he had been wringing it. A weird aura loomed around him that was starkly different from his naturally happy-go-lucky mood. In his hand, he clutched the ring Vera had thrown at him, the metal still warm.

His silence speaks volumes and Jonghyun sits beside him. “Taemin-”

“Did you see Vera?” he asks, finally.

Confused, the hyung nods. “Did something happen between you guys?”

Lifelessly, Taemin nods. “Onew hyung likes her. And so, I asked her if she liked him...”

“And she does?” he finishes for him.

Again he nods, looking more and more dead as time passes. “She told me tonight that she loved me...”

After what he learnt about Angel’s secret, Jonghyun knew how it felt to be told one thing and shown another. Still, he couldn’t believe that Vera would do that to him, as much as she wouldn’t express her love of Taemin in words, her actions screamed it loud and clear. “It must’ve been some kind of misunderstanding.I’m sure she really does love you. She stuck by you even after you told her that you were a vampire.” I still don’t even know if Angel will accept me.

“The thing is, she told me a long time ago that she was scared of me attacking her. After she came back from visiting her parents in America, she had a dream of me pretty much killing her out of thirst. But tonight, she hugged hyung and told him that she wasn’t afraid he’d hurt her, even when he was in his vampire form.”

He nods, realizing how bad it was. “But you both looked so happy coming back.” Hearing that the ‘perfect’ couple had it’s own troubles worried him about his own relationship. If they had their own bumps, how could he escape his avalanche?

“I won’t go too much into the details,” Onew chuckles, hands on his lap, far away from her.

“I can take it, I swear!” Vera pleads, childishly. She was curious about the whole process and this would be her one chance to finally learn.

Playfully ignoring her request, he allows himself to rest his head on hers. She was so warm, compared to his coldness, and it calmed him somehow. “Her name was Bianca.”

“You knew her?” she asks, adjusting her arms around him.

“I wish I could’ve. We met tonight and played a bit of darts. It was...fun.”

“You liked her?”

He nods. “It was strange that I liked her, usually I don’t fall so quickly.”

She chuckles at the ironic joke, but tries to get serious again. “When did you start liking me, then?-If I can ask...”

“The first time I met you,” he answers honestly, silencing when he realizes it refutes his previous statement.

“Did she remind you of me?”

“In a way, yes. But she’s more outgoing.”

Vera nods, taking in what he was recounting. “So then what happened? Why did you bite her?”

Onew inhales sharply and now, not even her warmth could calm his nerves. “That’s a long story...”