Chapter I

 

“You can’t even keep a woman around this time? Oh wow, you Son Seungwan.”

 

Seulgi cackled with laughter, oblivious to the leers coming from the other patrons in the café who was very much enjoying the tranquil atmosphere until the girl decided to open her big mouth. Wendy could only offer her apologetic smile in place for her friend before kicking the girl in the shin, finally getting Seulgi to shut up about it.

 

“Ouch!”

 

“Shut it.”

 

“Just because you’ve got a black belt in Taekwondo doesn’t mean that you can abuse it,” Seulgi sulked, sipping her tea in silence. “That aside, maybe you should consider searching for your love elsewhere.”

 

“What do you mean by elsewhere?”

 

“Outer space I mean,” Seulgi once again chortle to her heart’s content, only to be stopped by the owner of the café itself this time, which took the liberty of going towards their table on her own instead of asking her employee to do it, a frown plastered on her face.

 

“Of all the thousands of cafés in Seoul, you people decided to come here and ruin my family business. Can’t you two please act like your age?”

 

“We’re just here to say hi dear Sooyoungie,” Seulgi stirred from her seat the moment the said girl came to her vision, arms wide open for a hug but the owner was still too displeased to even receive a hug from one of her dear friends and folded her arms instead.

 

“Bull. You must be here because Wendy-unnie broke up again. Am I correct?”

 

“Oh wow, even Sooyoung knows that you’ve broken up yet, again,” Seulgi spared a glance at Wendy, accompanied by a wide, devilish grin.

 

“,” Wendy murmured, averting her eyes away from the two. She would rather watch the barista getting to work with the orders in line than dealing with Seulgi. It had always been like this, ever since high school. Whenever her relationship went down the drain, Seulgi will always be there for her, laughing her off at Wendy but then again, maybe that’s the reason why Wendy managed to withstand Seulgi all those years. Because the latter was always there for her, no matter what the occasion is.

 

But putting all s aside, Seulgi can be a good friend when time calls for it. Like the time where Wendy broke her leg from falling off the stairs and Seulgi was the one who attended to her all the while she was hospitalized, though she did end up going home with a leg cast filled with Seulgi’s doodles, consisted of mostly her lewd drawings.

 

“Doesn’t take a genius to figure it out,” she shrugged. “And please stop calling me Sooyoung. The name’s Joy now.”

 

“What’s wrong with the name Sooyoung? It’s a pretty name I’d say.”

 

This would be one of the rare occasions where Seulgi would actually smile genuinely towards someone but the younger girl mistook it as a mocking sign, further annoying the heck out of her. Oh, if only Joy knew.

 

“People pester me all the time with the, ‘You must be a good swimmer, since your name is Sooyoung,’ and laugh after that, when I can’t swim for god’s sake!”

 

“I offered on teaching you swimming before but you flat-out rejected me.”

 

“Knowing you, I’m pretty sure you have something up your sleeves so no thank you,” Joy scoffed, turning her attention back to the girl who had been keeping quiet all the time. “That aside, you probably should stop going after love and focus on something else instead. Love isn’t everything, you know.”

 

“Coming from the one who secretly crushes on that tall boy who drops by here everyday,” Wendy snorted and smirked at the same time, catching both Seulgi and Joy off-guard. Seulgi only kept silence however as Joy tried to defend herself.

 

“Who on earth told you that?” Joy hissed under her breath, her cheeks reddening.

 

“I manage to catch up with Shosho-unnie earlier while waiting for our Seulgi here. She told me e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g,” Wendy said in a sing-sung tone, sticking out her tongue like a little child. “Everyone in the café knows she said. So that’s why they made sure to treat your future boyfriend’s order with extreme care. You know, to keep you happy. But seriously, are you really thinking of dating a minor?”

 

“I’m not some old hag, mind you. I’m only twenty four.”

 

“That is still not an excuse to like a minor.”

 

“I heard you calling Seulgi-unnie an earlier,” Joy paused, pulling off an irked smile. “But who’s the now?”

 

“Still Seulgi,” Wendy sniggered.

 

-

 

“But mother.”

 

“Please go somewhere far, far away from this place. I beg you.”

 

“What about you mother?”

 

“I will be fine. Now go, before they get here.”

 

“Will I see you again?”

 

“Perhaps.”

 

-

 

Seulgi slipped her hands into her pockets, feeling somewhat chilly that night. She should’ve brought her coat along but didn’t think that she had to earlier since she only planned on going to a park nearby, not someplace that’s thirty minutes away from her residence. Seulgi didn’t even realize where her feet had taken her to until she saw the bright lights hanging from the trees, surrounding a small ice rink.

 

“,” she exhaled loudly.

 

At least the place was quiet enough for her to release her frustrations on being such an idiot for the past twenty-six years; not knowing how to express her feelings in the way she actually wanted, something she does every now and then whenever something significant happens to her.

 

And this time, that significant thing was her losing Joy to someone else.

 

“ this .”

 

Seulgi swung her foot to hit the can lying lifelessly, blocking her way on the pavement and unknown to her was the fact that someone else was actually standing not far from her.

 

Long story short, the can flew across the air but the stranger was quick enough to catch it in her hand, looking absent-mindedly.

 

“Is this yours?”

 

“. Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine,” the stranger flashed a quick smile. “You’ve been saying the f-word for quite some time now.”

 

“Uhm…you noticed?”

 

“Yes,” the brunette nodded in acknowledgement. “Such words shouldn’t be coming from a beautiful girl. I’m Krystal by the way.”

 

“Is she flirting with me?”

 

“And no, I’m not flirting with you. I was just speaking the truth,” Krystal suddenly blurted out, causing Seulgi to almost drop her jaw and flush her cheeks after hearing the girl reading her thoughts out loud. Is she that obvious?

 

“I… I’m sorry.”

 

“There’s no need to apologize. May I get to know your name?” Krystal asked, not that the question was necessary in the first place.

 

“Seulgi. Kang Seulgi.”

 

“Well then Seulgi. Do you fancy having a chat with me? I know this sounds creepy, coming from the stranger whom you just met but they say that it’s better to let out your problems towards a stranger. What do you say?”

 

“H-How do you know that I have a problem?” Seulgi was slightly taken aback by Krystal’s words, feeling extremely insecure for a second – thinking that the girl could be her stalker (not that it makes sense), until the girl cleared it all up.

 

“Well. Judging from the amount of f-word you’ve been saying earlier, I take it something is bothering you,” Krystal had an eyebrow raised, still holding the can in her hand. “And this poor can almost hit my face.”

 

Seulgi sighed. “You’re right.”

 

-

 

“She’s gone now, so you don’t have to worry about her anymore. Did you take care of the king?”

 

“Yes my lady. The kingdom is in our possession. You are now officially the ruler of Trost.”

 

“Good work.”

 

“What happens… if Princess Irene comes back though?”

 

“Princess Irene is now considered as a traitor, for committing treason against her own kingdom. Kill her at once, if she ever returns.”

 

-

 

Wendy sighed in content at the feeling of coming out fresh from the showers, now fully dressed as she prepared to head for bed. She enjoyed breaking away from her parents, living on her own now that she could afford a place of her own since her job paid her handsomely, enough to lease a two-story house with a small lawn, quite impressive if you consider the current economy.

 

Though said so, the emptiness that she feels whenever she comes home is still there of course. It’s not as if she’s desperate to find a lover, no. It’s nothing like that. She just wanted to have a company, other than her friends. She wanted to be loved, cherished so yes, maybe she is desperate to find a lover.

 

Just as she was about to lie down comfortably on her bed, a loud crash could be heard throughout the house, right in her room to be exact but she supposed such a booming crash could be heard throughout her place, maybe even to her neighbors. That however, wasn’t what surprised her the most. It was the fact that her ceiling crumbled in front of her eyes, and that there appears to be someone falling down with it as well.

 

A bizarre looking pale woman, albeit beautiful.

 

“Ouch.”

 

“W-Who the hell are you?” Wendy grabbed whatever was within her reach, to which in this case a table lamp. The intruder was quick to shuffle back on her feet, looking as alarmed as Wendy.

 

“Where am I?”

 

The girl spoke in an alien language, further confusing the hell out of Wendy.

 

“You’re in my freaking house! I-I’m going to call the cops!”

 

She stared long and hard at Wendy, before finally speaking in the same language as Wendy. “Your house? Where is this?”

 

“Who the are you?”

 

“Please answer my question miss. Where am I?”

 

“South Korea! Now who the hell are you? What are you to be crashing down my ceiling like that,” Wendy cowered behind the lamp in her hand, fearful of what might happen to her in that moment. Never once in her life had she encountered something like this, nor would it likely to happen in the future.

 

“I’m… Irene. Second in line to the throne of Trost.”

 

“So you’re some kind of… role player?”

 

“I’m not a rope player,” Irene furrowed her eyebrows. “Whatever player you’re talking about. I’m a vampire.”

 

“Okay, so you’re a nutcase that came to tear my place down. Makes sense.”

 

Ignoring Wendy’s previous words, Irene’s nose twitched at the smell of what could possibly be a human in the room, in which case would be none other than Wendy. “You. You’re human.”

 

“Yes. You’re a vampire and I’m a human,” Wendy rolled her eyes. “I really am going to call the cops, mind you.”

 

“What am I doing in the human world,” Irene stared at her own hands in horror. Her powers aren’t even strong enough to teleport her to the place that she initially wanted to go for. She’s stuck in the world of the mortals, all the while her kingdom is going to be destroyed to pieces by the rebels. Irene wanted to seek help from her friend but something went wrong in the middle of everything.

 

Annoyed with the fact that there’s this nutcase hanging around her place, who seemed to be ignoring her too, Wendy decided to return the favor. Somehow forgetting her phone that was only a few meters away from reach, which would really, allow her to call the cops and arrest the crazy woman.

 

“You really are a vampire? So do you burn when there’s light? Are you afraid of crosses? Garlics?”

 

Irene finally snapped. “Please stop all this nonsense.”

 

“Why do you speak Korean?”

 

“Please. Stop,” Irene hissed through her teeth as she slammed Wendy against the latter’s bed, eliciting a yelp from the poor girl and right then Irene unveiled her oddly refined fangs, which looked real enough to scare the wits out of Wendy.

 

“I-I take it that you’re real,” Wendy gasped at the sight of the other girls’ previously brown eyes transforming into a pair of bloody red rubies. She never believed in the supernatural crap that she saw on tv, moreover a living vampire at this modern age. Even if there really exists vampire amongst humans, shouldn’t they be long gone by now? The real being in front of her however, slightly changed her perception of them. “Please don’t hurt me.”

 

“I won’t. If you keep quiet about this.”

 

“I-I will.”

 

“Good.”

 

Irene then collapsed on top of the other girl, having all of her strength drained away from the events happening that very day. Strangely, the thoughts of calling the cops after receiving an unwanted guest in her home dissipated the moment she watched the non-homo sapiens sleep her night off, looking extremely frail and delicate, contrary to what she was earlier.

 

“What the hell just happened?” Wendy blinked.

 

Wendy quietly slipped away from being crushed under Irene, careful enough not to wake up the latter. She took a glimpse of the hole formed on her ceiling, wondering how on earth is she going to have it fix without receiving much questions from the repairman. Surely she’s not going to tell him that a vampire came crashing down her roof.

 

“I’m having a profoundly ty month.”

 

 

Author’s Note – I’m sure that this chapter makes you all curious, on what truly happens and what role do they play here. I actually enjoyed writing this one so I might probably actually finish writing an on-going for once. Haha. That aside, this is still a rom-com, with a bit of drama? You know, like those Korean dramas that you watch on tv which I couldn’t deny being a fan of some. This is a bit late, but Happy Birthday Wendy!