Chapter Seven: Strike Two

"Sun Young-ssi!"

Sun Young was practicing her archery ( Chanyeol insisted ). She released an arrow and turned around. She saw Suho, Jonghyun, Lay and D.O. running towards her.

"Yes, Suho?," Sun Young slung tossed the bow and arrow at Chanyeol, who caught it with ease.

"The boys and I were wondering if you wanted to ask some questions... you know... about...," Suho rubbed his nape awkwardly.

"Ah!," Sun Young snapped her fingers. "Yes, I have... some."

"Ask away," Jonghyun put his hands behind his head.

"Er... how do I say this?," Sun Young puffed her cheeks and furrowed her eyebrows together. "Does the sunlight hurt your skin?"

Lay shook his head. "Not at all, thanks to these special rings."

"Special rings?," Chanyeol raised an eyebrow.

Suho nodded. "These rings were given to us by a friend of mine decades ago. As long as we have this on, we can freely walk under the sun."

Sun Young noticed the markings on each person's ring. Suho's ring had a symbol that looked like a water drop. Lay's ring had a unicorn's head as a symbol while D.O.'s had a marking of a beast. She couldn't understand Jonghyun's symbol. For her, it just looked like a bunch of swirls.

Before Sun Young could ask another question, Taemin suddenly ran into the scene literally and he was holding a stack of books in his hands. His shoes were smoking underneath like he ran for miles. She saw his ring and noticed the symbol that somehow looked like a thunderbolt and a shoe.

"You guys know that cave Kai-hyung hangs out in, right?," Taemin said excitedly. The vampires nodded. "Look what I found inside it!"

Taemin dropped the pile of books in his hands. Sun Young was able to read the title of the first book and her eyes widened.

"Sun Young, is that...?," Chanyeol's eyes were wide as well.

"My Twilight set?!," Sun Young screamed as she grabbed the pile and counted the books. "Why are there only three of them?!"

D.O. smirked. "I saw Kai-hyung walking around with a book in his hand."

"Are you saying that Kai reads this stuff?," Jonghyun stared at the book before reading the summary at the back. "Hey! This is about us!"

"Really?," Lay's eyes widened. He took a book as well. "Hey, you're right!"

"What the-- we don't shine under sunlight!," Taemin was reading the first book, Twilight. He was using his power of super speed to read. In a blink of an eye, he had already finished reading it. "Wait, I need the second book! Aish, hyung has New Moon!"

Taemin sped off in search of Kai. Sun Young blinked. Chanyeol was trying to hold in his laughter, something Sun Young hasn't seen in a while. Suho was facepalming at the side.

"Aigoo, they really are a bunch of idiots," Chanyeol was still laughing. He didn't think he'd be able to see a bunch vampires reading books about them.

Suho chuckled. "Well, they're my idiots."

Jonghyun was reading Twilight. Taemin had dropped it when he left to look for Kai. "This Edward Cullen dude is like a mix of Taemin and D.O.! He has super speed and super strength!"

"Yah, they all have super speed and super strength!," Lay protested. The book Eclipse was in his hands.

Jonghyun attempted to snatch the book from Lay. "Hyung, you can't read the third book without reading the first and second one! Also, he's the fastest and strongest among all of them!"

"You guys read too slowly!," Lay protested again. "What if he is? At least we have different powers! We are unique!"

"They have different powers too! Like Alice, she has the power to... wait a sec," Jonghyun quickly glanced at the page. "The power to see the future!"

"Well, none of them has the power to heal," Lay smirked.

"I... you're right," Jonghyun slumped back in his seat and continued reading silently.

"Okay... that was the most pointless argument that I have ever encountered," Suho said with a chuckle while shaking his head.

Taemin suddenly ran into the scene again but this time, someone was with him. Kai was in his grasp and New Moon was in his hands.

"Yah! Taemin! What the heck?! Didn't you see that I was busy--"

"Reading New Moon?," Jonghyun said with a smirk.

Kai growled at him then he noticed the books in the boys' hands. "Yah! What are you doing with my books?!"

"Excuse me, but these are my books!," Sun Young shouted. "Why are they even here?!"

"I took them with me when I teleported you guys from the house," Kai said blankly as he tossed New Moon aside which Taemin caught and snatched Eclipse from Lay.

"I'm not really sure if I should thank you or get mad at you," Sun Young whispered as she slumped back in her seat. In that moment, the twins' stomachs growled.

"Looks like someone's hungry," Jonghyun joked.

"This is the perfect opportunity for us to gather some berries!," Taemin cheered before tossing Sun Young over him like a sack. "Let's get going before Kai-hyung murders me!"

Before Chanyeol could protest, Taemin sped off with Sun Young. In those moments, nobody noticed the mysterious figure hiding between the trees.

ㅇㅇㅇ

"Taemin, are you serious about this gathering berries thing?," Sun Young was looking around. She didn't find any berries, only some fruits. "I only see a bunch of apples."

"It was an excuse to get away from Kai-hyung," Taemin shrugged.

Sun Young sighed and mentally facepalmed. "Well, I think we should go back."

Taemin grabbed Sun Young's forearm. "Not yet, Sun Young-ssi! We're already here, so why don't we catch some fish to ease your hunger?"

Sun Young stared at the lake Taemin was pointing at. Ever since the incident with the illusion, she no longer trusted her eyes. "Taemin-ssi, are you sure that it's a real lake?"

"I'm sure," Taemin chuckled. He grabbed a rock and threw it towards the lake. It landed on the water with a plop. "See? Come on, I know you're hungry."

Sun Young gave in to Taemin's suggestion because she could hear her own stomach howling inside her. They sat in front of the lake, took of their shoes and let the water submerge their feet. They used sticks to capture some fishes. Sun Young was catching with ease while Taemin couldn't even catch a single fish.

"Aish, how are you used to doing this?," Taemin sighed. He finally caught one, with the use of his super speed. 

"Chanyeol and I used to fish a lot when we were younger," Sun Young said as she caught her fifth fish. "Well, I think these are enough fishes for me and Chanyeol!"

"Well, we should start a fire to cook them up!," Taemin cheered as he got up and gathered some sticks. He didn't have a flint with him so he tried making a fire by rubbing two sticks together. "Aish, Chanyeol should be here."

"Oh yeah, we should have brought him with us!," Sun Young hovered the skewered fish over the fire after Taemin finally made it.

"Well, I can't carry two of you!," Taemin laughed. Since he obviously doesn't eat fish, he just watched Sun Young eat. "Sun Young-ssi, how long have you and Chanyeol lived in the forest?"

"About ten years," Sun Young said as she devoured her first fish. "We just turned twenty two a few days ago."

"Oh, uh, belated happy birthday to you two," Taemin said awkwardly.

"Thanks," Sun Young smiled. "What about you?"

"What about me?," Taemin tilted his head.

"When is your birthday?," Sun Young was chewing the fish. "And how old are you?"

"Well... I have a human age of forty... but with a body age of a twenty one year old... so you're my noona," Taemin said with a light laugh.

"Yah! Don't call me noona just because you look younger than me!," Sun Young gave Taemin a playful punch.

"Anyways, my birthday...," Taemin trailed. "I don't really remember when my human birthday is.. about my other birthday--"

Sun Young sensed Taemin's discomfort of the topic. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..."

"No, it's fine," Taemin waved it off. "It was about twenty years ago... I was in the car with my fiancee and we just came back from a party. I was pretty drunk at that time, I didn't even know why I was the one driving. We got into a big argument in the car and because of that, we got hit by a truck... a-and..."

"Taemin-ssi..."

"I'm fine," Taemin was able to stop his tears from coming out. "Kai-hyung said that he saw the crash and approached the car. I was barely alive b-but my fiancee died on the spot. She wasn't wearing her seatbelt and s-she crashed through the windshield. Kai turned me to save me. I kinda held a grudge on him for a few years... because I would rather die than be this... monster... and I wanted to be with her. Then I realized... what if this wa