The morning sun filtered weakly through your lace curtains and gently pulled you from your dreams. You slowly sat up and reached over to the wooden table at the side of your bed to grab the journal you used to write your dreams in. You stared at the blank page, struggling to remember your dream as the images you had in your head rapidly deteriorated. A sound from the kitchen chased the last fragments away and you muttered as you tossed the unused notebook back down.

Slipping from the bed, you stretched, working the stiffness of sleep from your limbs. You opened your bedroom door to see Yongguk standing in a small shadow in the corner of the room. You stared at him in early-morning confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Why don't you have any curtains?" He asked, squinting at the sunlight streaming into the room.

"I live alone in the middle of the woods. Privacy isn't really an issue out here, and I use it for lighting," you said slowly, not fully processing the meaning of his question. You finally snapped awake, realizing why he was shying away, and hurried over to the couch to grab a blanket. "Yongguk, why didn't you wake me up?"

"You were sleeping!" He protested, watching you cover one window with the blanket.

"So?" You called as you scooted back into your room to grab another blanket. "You could have gotten me to wake up and then I could have gone back to sleep!"

Yongguk made a helpless noise of objection. “I can’t go in your room while you’re asleep! It’s not decent!”

“Decent? Why not? When were you born, the Victorian era?” You paused with the blanket halfway over the window. “Oh… I guess you were, weren’t you?”

Yongguk let out a strained chuckle.

The room fell into sudden darkness as you covered the second window, and you blinked owlishly as your eyes adjusted to the dimmer light. Yongguk relaxed and stepped out of his corner.

"Thank you," he said. You waved him off.

"Can I leave the kitchen window uncovered?" You asked, pointing at the window over the sink. The sun was on the other side of the house and very little light was coming through, just enough to see by. You walked into the kitchen and flipped a light on.

"That one will be fine. Thanks again," Yongguk said as he followed you. He sat down in one of the chairs as you put water on to boil and began to make your breakfast and he watched with interest, his eyes following your every movement. Under his gaze you suddenly became very aware of the ratty t-shirt and shorts you had put on to sleep in, and you went back into your room once again to get dressed. You picked out a pair of black jeans and pulled a soft gray sweater over your head before returning to the kitchen just as the water began to boil.

You sat down with your plate and and a mug of tea. "I'm afraid I don't have much for you to do today," you apologized.

"No, it's fine," Yongguk said quickly. "I don't do a whole lot during the day anyway. You just do what you usually do. I'll stay out of your way."

You shrugged, popping a piece of bread into your mouth. "Suit yourself," you said, smiling.

***

You looked up from your writing to see Yongguk sitting in the same place on the couch he had been when you had glanced at him an hour ago. A small, contented smile pulled at the corners of his mouth as he watched you.

"Am I that interesting while I sit here, unmoving?" You laughed.

Yongguk started. "What? No, I, yes, I... Sorry,"  he said sheepishly. "I haven't gotten to see people just... Being people in a long time."

You put your pencil down and pushed away from the table, walking over to sit down next to him, pulling your knees to your chest and resting your chin on your arms. You leveled a steady gaze at him. "Tell me about you," you asked quietly.

Yongguk blinked. “I… what about me?”

You shrugged. “Whatever you want. What’s important to you? What was your favorite time period to be living through? How did you stay as strong as you have? How long have you known Himchan?"

"I... I..." Yongguk stuttered, clearly unused to being bombarded with curiosity.

"Sorry, was that too many questions?" you laughed. "How about you tell me how you met Himchan?"

Yongguk took a deep breath and sat for a moment, gathering his thoughts and nodding to himself. "Himchan is much older than me. When he found me, a few years after I had been turned, he had already been a vampire for hundreds of years. He actually saved me. Like I told you before, newborns are wild. I was out of control, and I had killed a lot of people. The people of the town I was in were hunting me down. Himchan happened to be passing through, heard what was going on, and figured out that I probably wasn’t just some crazy human like they thought," he said, expression softening as he thought back.

"I still don't know why he decided to help me. Leaving me to die would have been a lot easier. He could have used me as a distraction, fed, and left, but instead, he went out and found me. He took me under his wing and helped me get myself under control. He taught me how to hunt in ways that wouldn’t get me caught--”

“He taught you to hunt?” You asked, sitting up slightly.

Yongguk snorted lightly. “Well, he certainly didn't teach me to do what I do now."

"No, I guess not," you said. You settled again, nodding for him to continue his story.

"Himchan and I hunted as a team until the 40s. By then, I had learned to control myself. I started to wonder about my family, but I was also afraid, because I could feel memories of them starting to slip away. I realized I didn't even know what they thought happened to me. He didn't want to, but after some convincing, Himchan agreed to go back to my old town with me.”

“Why wouldn’t he want to?” you questioned.

A tiny, bitter smile flickered across Yongguk’s face. “Because he knew,” he sighed. “He knew how hard it would be to go and find out that my parents were gone. That my sister had gotten sick and died not long after I disappeared. That my brother had left the town years ago. That my family never knew what happened to me. They only knew that I disappeared one night and never came home.”

You reached out and took his hand. He stared down at your interlocked fingers.

“A lot changes in 20 years,” he said softly. He looked over at the small silver castle that was still on the table by your door and took a deep breath. “That was hers, my sister’s. She was six years older than me. When we were kids, she had a full set of these beautiful silver buildings. They were so detailed, and she liked to draw them. The castle was her favorite. She lost or got rid of most of them as she grew up, but she kept the castle. After she died, my parents left her room as it was, and my brother never sold our family’s house when he left. Himchan and I snuck into the house one night and I found her room. When I saw her castle... Everything came rushing back. Memories of my family, as well as memories of all the people I had killed. I felt human again, and I was horrified. I ran far away. Himchan and I fell out of contact for a few decades. He'd check in on me when he could, but if I knew he was around, I'd run away again. Seeing him reminded me of what I was, which I was always trying to forget. It was in that time that I started figuring out how to feed without killing people. A lot of other vampires I came across thought it was crazy."

"Why?" you asked.

"Blood like the way I usually drink it is like... It's like if you ate food that sustained you, but only just, and it tasted like cardboard."

You pulled a face at the thought that made him chuckle.

"Most vampires don't remember enough of their past to feel a connection to humanity, anyway, or their hunger is stronger than their desire to spare lives. A lot of us see ourselves as the top of the food chain, and that it's the natural order for us to feed off of humans."

You nodded. "You said something like that when you came to me the night before last."

"That's how Himchan feels," Yongguk said quietly. "We argue about it a lot."

"So how'd you get to be friends again?" You asked.

He laughed. "He was persistent, mostly. Like I said, I avoided him for years. He finally caught up with me around the turn of the century and convinced me to talk to him. I still didn’t travel with him, but we stayed in touch after that.”

“What about now? Do you stay together now?” you ventured.

“I don’t know,” Yongguk sighed. "Right now we're together by accident. The morning you found me, he had heard that I died and was coming to confirm whether it was true or not."

You cocked your head. "How'd he hear that?"

"There are other vampires in the area,” he said with a shrug. “A lot of them keep in touch, and one of them must have mentioned the rumor to him. With our species, as few of us as there are, the gossip network moves quickly. It’s kind of like people in a small town knowing everyone else’s business. I’ve been here a while, and he knew that, so he came to check on me.”

You smiled. “You’re lucky to have someone who cares about you.”

Yongguk nodded slowly. “I guess I am.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” you said, suddenly realizing that your fingers were still interlocked. You carefully released him.

“It’s not something I talk to anyone about often. Or at all, really,” he said, looking pensive.

“Well, I appreciate it. You’re a good storyteller. I’d like to hear others sometime.”

He beamed.

***

“You’re going shopping this late?” Yongguk asked incredulously.

You shrugged, slinging your purse onto your shoulder. “Our grocery store is open all night long, and I didn’t get around to it earlier. They’re pretty used to me keeping weird hours. Do you want to come with me?” you asked.

Yongguk sighed, glancing down at his phone. “I should probably go find Himchan. He’s been pestering me all day.”

You laughed. “Alright. Will you come by again sometime?”

“If that’s alright with you, I’d be honored to,” Yongguk said, opening the door for you.

You watched him walk toward the treeline, and just before he entered it, a thought hit you, and you called out to him. “Yongguk!”

He turned back toward you. “If you have trouble finding another contact with the hospital… let me know.”

He nodded, smiling, as he melted into the treeline.