Taeyeon swallowed hard as she stared, unblinking, at the neck of Tiffany’s. She could almost see her pulse that was thumping like how her heart was. She could see the bulging vein and could already imagine the blood that was rushing through her body.

Tiffany had already given her the permission to feed on her, but Taeyeon was undecided.

was going dry as her instinct—her animalistic instinct—told her to just go for it.

How easy Tiffany had let her, how she had volunteered herself—sacrificed herself—it caused a lot of thoughts to appear in Taeyeon’s mind. But somehow, she couldn’t control her own body. She found herself moving forward.

She heard how Tiffany’s breath hitched but she still didn’t stop. She kept inching closer till her nose touched the girl’s skin. Breathing in the intoxicating smell, it sent her mind running crazy at the thought of the human’s blood rushing down and quenching her bloodthirst.

“Do it,” Tiffany breathed out when Taeyeon didn’t move for a few seconds.

Tiffany kept on urging her that Taeyeon was nearly on the edge of going crazy. She bared her fangs, her breath hitting the girl’s skin.

Tiffany clenched her eyes shut tight. Her heart was racing like crazy and at that moment, she was really scared.

The blonde’s fangs grazed against Tiffany’s neck. And as if she could read what was on Tiffany’s mind, her eyes opened and she hastily pushed Tiffany away, causing the brunette to fall off the bed.  

“Wha—”

“G—get away from me.” Taeyeon nearly growled out, her red eyes glowing even more.

Tiffany shuddered at the sight. This wasn’t Taeyeon. It didn’t look like Taeyeon at all. The blonde in front of her looked like an animal that was ready to tear her apart. But none of that mattered to her. She was afraid, yes, but she wasn’t going to let anything drastic happen to Taeyeon. “You’d die!” She cried out, getting back on her feet.

“No, I won’t. I just—I need—” She placed her feet on the ground before standing up, staggering a little when a sharp pain rush through her body because of the pressure exerted on her abdomen wound. Her hand went to the wall to hold herself up limply and when she heard Tiffany getting closer to her, her head turned. “Don’t. Don’t come near me.”

“I want to help you, please.”

Tiffany was almost begging her and Taeyeon didn’t want to see her act like that towards her. She stared at the closed door, nearly glaring through it as she said, “Then don’t come any closer. Because I don’t think I can control myself when you’re near me.”

She took a step forward with clenched teeth, holding in the pain as she went closer to the door. When her weak legs caused her to fall to the ground after only taking a few steps, she cursed out at her incompetency. Taking a deep breath in, she held the wall as she stood up again, quickly going towards the door before she opened it and rushed out.

When Tiffany went outside, she was already gone.

***

It had been three days before Tiffany saw Taeyeon again.

The three days felt like a week and Tiffany was growing impatient with waiting for Taeyeon to appear.

She had gone around, asking her friends if they’ve seen Taeyeon but none of them had the answer that she desired. Even her sister also did not know where Taeyeon was.

And right now, she left Sooyoung still talking to her, not knowing that Tiffany’s attention wasn’t on her anymore. Her eyes stayed on Taeyeon who was walking towards her leisurely as if nothing had happened. Tiffany felt her insides boil with anger. She was furious. Who did Taeyeon think she was for disappearing like that? For making her so worried that she actually had nightmares of her dying every night?

“Oh, you’re here.” Said Sooyoung when Taeyeon took a seat opposite of them on the dining table. “Where’ve you been?”

Tiffany was nearly startled when Taeyeon stared right into her eyes. She didn’t want to back down, so she looked back with a defiant and challenging stare.

Taeyeon seemed so… Taeyeon, Tiffany thought to herself. There was nothing on her that explicitly said something had happened to her three days before—her wounds were all healed and her porcelain skin was glowing.

“I’ve been busy.”

Tiffany nearly scowled at Taeyeon’s reply. She shifted her gaze elsewhere and went back to playing around with her food that was already probably cold because she had no appetite. When she could still feel Taeyeon’s eyes on her, she shifted around in her seat uncomfortably before observing Taeyeon turning her attention to Sooyoung.

“With?” Sooyoung asked curiously. She had seen the intense eye contact that her two friends had exchanged with one another once Taeyeon stepped in, but chose not to say anything about it. It didn’t feel like the right time after witnessing Tiffany’s immediate sombre mood.

“Father had something that he—”

“I’m done,” Tiffany cut in, capturing the two’s attention with Sooyoung’s aghast look because of how rude she was being for interrupting Taeyeon halfway through. She took her plate and deposited it into the sink before she turned to the taller woman with a small smile, “Thanks for the meal, Sooyoung.”

“Don’t mention it,” Sooyoung replied, still with the flabbergasted look as Tiffany strutted out the room.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Sooyoung asked with narrowed eyes.

Taeyeon raised her eyebrow before shrugging, “Nothing.”

***

The first place that came to Tiffany’s mind was the greenhouse. She entered after making sure that there wasn’t anyone else there and went on to look at the flowers around while trying to calm herself down.

A lot of thoughts appeared in her mind as she strolled aimlessly before making herself comfortable on the nearby bench.

The bench and place triggered some memories for her that happened not that long ago. It happened to be the place that Taeyeon and she had actually talked to one another without being hostile or awkward. It was also the place that Viktor and she were actually alone for the first time and she remembered how afraid she was of what he could do.

Because of her anger, it made her irrational as she thought of how silly she had been for worrying about Taeyeon. The blonde looked fine to her. She could’ve taken care of herself just fine. So why? Why exactly did she look for Tiffany that night?

Taeyeon was still pretty much a mystery to her.

Just when Tiffany was about to get up and head back to the house, she heard the sound of the old door squeaking open. She immediately froze, already on her feet, as her nervous eyes went towards where the door was.

When she saw a head of blonde locks, she heaved out a sigh of relief, not knowing how nervous she had been until then.

However, as if remembering that she was supposed to be upset, her arms instantaneously crossed, face turning serious. “What are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you. You shouldn’t be alone. Not when—”

Tiffany ignored Taeyeon’s call for her as she marched towards the door. She didn’t want Taeyeon to look for her just to lecture her. She wanted explanations. But unfortunately, the blonde wasn’t doing anything that was satisfying her wish, so she chose to walk away.

A hand caught her arm and spun her around. She glared at Taeyeon, “Let go.” The grip on her seemed to be tightening, but Tiffany thought that she might have imagined it as Taeyeon listened to her and quickly loosened her hold.

“You need to be—”

“Careful?” Tiffany scoffed, watching Taeyeon furrow her eyebrows. She knew very well that she was being rude to Taeyeon, but at that time she thought that Taeyeon deserved it after disappearing without any traces for three days—not telling her if she was even alive or already dead. “You should be telling that to yourself.”

During those three days, there were times that Tiffany would bump into Viktor. All those times she was with at least one of her friends and so she thought that maybe that was why he didn’t dare to approach her. But every single time that they made eye contact, it always seemed like he was trying to tell her that he knew something she didn’t know. And that scared her – a lot.

“Why are you acting this way?” Taeyeon asked with a composed look although she was starting to grow annoyed at Tiffany’s attitude.

“Are you seriously asking me that?”

The blonde stayed quiet for a few seconds, observing Tiffany’s face that had turned red, her tensed jaw, clenched fists and those eyes that were throwing daggers at her. “You’re angry,” She concluded, although not knowing the reason for Tiffany’s anger towards her. She had thought that when she walked into the kitchen earlier on, Tiffany would be elated to see her, but her actual reaction was the exact opposite of what Taeyeon had imagined and it threw her off balance.

“Of course I am! Do you even have to ask?”

“Why?”

Tiffany let out a humourless laughter. “Wow, Taeyeon.” She shook her head. “I don’t know if you’re really naïve or you’re just pretending to be dumb right now.”

A frown appeared on Taeyeon’s face as she felt offended by Tiffany’s words.

“Where have you been these three days? Where did you disappear to? Do you know how worried I’ve been? I thought that you were dead!”

“I…” The expression on the blonde’s face softened. She averted her eyes to avoid the piercing glare that Tiffany had on her. “I was resting… and looking over some important matter.”

Tiffany sneered, “What is so important that you could’ve gone missing for three days? Three days, Taeyeon.”

“You’ll know when you see it.”

***

“We’re here.”

Tiffany’s ears perked up when she heard what Taeyeon said. Those words couldn’t have sounded better to her after being kept in the dark of where they were going for a dreadful while.

When they left the house, the first thing Taeyeon showed her was a black cloth. At first, she had been confused on what was the purpose of it until the blonde told her that she had to blindfold her.

She complained, of course, and even made quite a fuss about it. But when Taeyeon told her that it was much needed, especially if her father ever hears about Taeyeon letting her out of the house, she very much complied with the blonde’s wishes and put the blindfold on. Because no matter how upset she still was, she didn’t want Taeyeon to get into any trouble because of her.

From then on, everything was pretty much of a puzzle to Tiffany. She couldn’t see a thing, but she could hear the sound of waves crashing against the shore and could feel herself boarding a boat. She had no idea how long she was on the boat and the next thing she knew, she was already guided into a car with Taeyeon driving beside her.

The drive took quite a while as Tiffany nearly fell asleep during the journey.

Lifting her head away from the window, her hands went up to the black cloth before she paused and asked, “Can I take this off?” The ride had calmed her down and she was no longer thinking of being hostile to Taeyeon.

“Yes.”

Carefully, Tiffany pulled the cloth down until it fell down to her collarbone. Her eyes narrowed at the bright sun that was glaring down at her.

It took her a while before she regained her eyesight and finally took notice of her surroundings. A gasp was released from when she recognised the familiar neighbourhood, the familiar street that she used to take every single day to school, and most importantly, the white coloured two-storey house that she had spent almost her whole life in.

Before she could even comprehend what was going on, her brows contorted and her eyes were filling with tears.

“Tiffany.”

“Why? Why did you bring me here?” Tiffany was feeling all sorts of emotions inside of her. She didn’t understand what was Taeyeon’s motive of bringing her here – knowing well enough that all of the emotions would hit her at one go.

When a certain man walked out, Tiffany almost cried out as she noticed the greying hair of her father and at how tired and haggard he looked compared to the last time she had seen him. Her hand went to the door handle instinctively.

Knowing what Tiffany was about to do, Taeyeon quickly held her back. She gripped onto Tiffany’s wrist, causing the brunette to turn to her with tears stained cheeks.

Taeyeon felt something churn inside of her. Seeing how devastated Tiffany looked, she almost wanted to just let her go to be with her family again. But she knew she had to be rational – she couldn’t just do as she pleased. “I want to give you the closure that you need.” She squeezed the brunette’s wrist gently, silently offering her comfort.

“But I—” She turned to her father again, watching as he threw the trash into the bin before walking back into the house. His back looked so lonely. He must have felt so isolated without her company and her siblings being back at their own houses only worried Tiffany more. “Do you… know how he’s doing?”

Taeyeon slowly released Tiffany’s wrist, trusting that the girl wouldn’t go off on her own. “I’m sorry. All I know is that he filed a report that you’re missing.”

“He looks so… alone.” Tiffany could still see her father through the house’s window. Her hand went up to the cold surface of the car’s window as she imagined herself feeling the warmth and comfort that her father used to give her. “I don’t think he’s eating well. Look at him. Look at how baggy his clothes are. I miss him…”

I know. Taeyeon gulped when she nearly said it out.

Taeyeon had been hesitant on bringing Tiffany here in the first place. She had already imagined all kinds of scenarios that could happen before this and the one that had the most chance of occurring was Tiffany being mad at her and running out of the car rather than listen to her words and being able to be so calm right now.

All of these didn’t make sense to her although she was still so thankful that Tiffany had listened to her. Was it because of the king? Was Tiffany afraid that the king would do something to her because she had brought her here?

Or was it because… Taeyeon quickly shook the thoughts away. It couldn’t be.

The silence that dragged on between them felt like hours to Taeyeon. There was a sudden nagging feeling within her and just by witnessing how Tiffany was still unable to look away from her father, there was an abrupt urge to let out what she had kept to herself. 

“Tiffany.”

“Yes?” The brunette responded without taking her eyes off from her father who had taken a seat at the old recliner chair that they have had for so many years.

Taeyeon didn’t know why she had called out for Tiffany. But once she did, she felt emotions rushing through her body and the words came out before she could stop herself. “I’m sorry.”

Initially, Tiffany assumed that Taeyeon was apologising for what had happened to her and she was about to remind the blonde that she had already forgiven her. But when she looked back at Taeyeon, the woman had a deep frown on her face, her eyes looked lethargic and her hands that were on her thighs were shaking so intensely that she thought something was wrong with her.

“Taeyeon. What’s wrong? You’re shaking so bad that you’re scaring me.” She placed a hand on top of Taeyeon’s and felt the tremors. It was the first time she was witnessing Taeyeon behave this way and she didn’t know what to do. Was it her injuries? Had they not healed yet? “Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Why?”

Tiffany blinked. “What?”

“Why do you care so much?” Taeyeon turned her head so abruptly that Tiffany was taken aback by the intense gaze from the blonde. “You should be hating me. I did so many things – so many immoral things to you, to others. I had a part to play with dragging you into this nightmare and right now I’m still stopping you from being with your family.”

“You’re not stopping me, Taeyeon.”

“No.” Taeyeon shook her head. “You should be hating me.”

“You’re not making any sense. On what basis should I be hating you?”

“Everything!” It’s now or never, Taeyeon silently told herself.

Tiffany jumped at the sudden exclamation from Taeyeon. Her breath hitched when she saw how Taeyeon’s eyes were starting to well up with tears. “I—I’m not sure—” Her hands instinctively came up, as if she wanted to touch Taeyeon – to comfort her and tell her that she was just right there.

“I… I killed someone.” 

Tiffany could barely hear the whisper that came out from Taeyeon’s lips. At first, she thought that her ears were playing tricks on her. But when she saw the broken look on Taeyeon’s face, she didn’t know what words to say.

The last thing she saw was the shattered look on Taeyeon’s face as she took in how shocked Tiffany had looked before she opened the car door and sped away, leaving Tiffany alone in the car.  

A/N: hi guys :) I know it’s been a long few months since I’ve updated, but here it is now :3 my internship already ended (phew), and I’m back in school now (projects, urgh)

Anyway, this is just an update to tell you guys that I’m still alive and yes, this story is still on-going. Truth be told, idk when will be the next update because life’s been hectic for me recently.

Alright, see you the next time I see you guys then? Cheers and have a nice day/week ahead! Pls comment to make my day :D