Chapter 4

Key wasn’t able to sleep well the previous night. He sat in the kitchen drinking a hot cup of tea. The door from the other room opened and the boy and vampire made their way into the kitchen, “good morning” Key said greeting them. The two boys bowed, “thank you for your hospitality.” They said in unison. “Of course, would you like some breakfast?” Key asked. The twon nodded a little shyly, Key nodded and got up from the table, “sit down, and make yourself at home.” The boy smiled and said, “thank you, we haven’t been introduced, I’m Taemin and this is my guardian, Minho.” Key looked at the boys and smiled, “I’m Kibum, but you may call me Key, now come and sit.” He ushered the two boys to the table. Key went into the kitchen and started to make breakfast.

Meanwhile, in the dining room, Minho and Taemin were sitting at the table; the smell of eggs was wafting in from the kitchen. “Hyung.” Taemin said breaking the silence. Minho looked at the younger boy, “What is it?” Taemin bit his lower lip nervously and said, “Do you think it would be ok if Key hyung let us stay with him like, live with him?” Minho thought for a moment, he and Taemin are in desperate need of housing. Taemin’s father is very abusive and after he received his guardian, Minho, his father started to wait until night time or when Minho was not around to abuse Taemin. It was Minho’s idea to run away, but they didn’t know what to do after that. They wandered the strrts until they came upon that gang in the alley and that’s how they ran into Key. Minho was skeptical after seeing how Taemin’s father treated him; he wasn’t quick to trust, but Key helped them, treated Taemin’s injury, and gave them a place to stay for the night. “I don’t know Taemin, what about his guardian?” Minho replied. Taemin looked to the kitchen and then said quietly, “call me crazy, but I don’t think he has one.” Minho’s eyes widened, “Eh? That can’t be, every human is supposed to have a guardian and each guardian is supposed to have a protected.” Taemin knew that Minho followed rules to a T so, for him, a human not having a guardian was unheard of.

At this moment, Key came into the dining room, breakfast steaming from their plates, setting them down in front of the two boys, “here, enjoy it.” The two boys were practically drooling over the colorful food. This made Key smile a little, “go ahead dig in.” They immediately began eating, swallowing their food quickly. Their food was quickly disappearing and they were full once they finished. Taemin carefully got out of his chair and too the plate to Key in the kitchen. “Um, Key hyung, I have something I want to ask you.” Taemin began. Key took Minho’s plate from the vampire who went to stand by his protected, “Ok, what is it?” Key wondered. “Do you think you would be able to let us live here with you?” Taemin asked. Key looked at the younger; shocked. “What?” “We owe you so much, but it will be hard for us to repay you, so maybe you will let us stay here and we’ll clean and buy things you need.” Key could not believe his ears; he had always thought he would be alone. Now, all of a sudden, these two strangers want to stay with him, ‘Oh wait, they want to do this so they can repay me.’ He saddened at the thought. “No.” Key said flatly. “Why not?” Taemin wondered. “Because…Just…I can’t have you here.” Key replied back. Taemin was confused, “I don’t understand, does anyone else, besides you, live here?” Key shook his head. “Then why not?” The younger pressed, following the older to the dining room, “Because I’m used to being alone! I’ve always been alone and that’s how I want it to stay!” Key blurted out with a lot of frustration and sadness. Taemin and Minho saddened, “Alone? You mean, you don’t have any friends?” Taemin asked. Key shook his head. “What about your guardian?” Minho wondered. Key repeated the action, “Never had one.” He said. Minho was in disbelief, “that can’t be, it’s a tradition all humans must have a guardian.” Key looked at the vampire with tears in his eyes, “Not all humans…” he muttered. Taemin inched closer, “so you’ve been alone this entire time?” Key nodded a small tear fell down his face and onto his hand. “Well, don’t you think that this a good chance to make friends? Let us stay, Key hyung, please.” Key shook his head, “Even if I do let you stay, you’re only doing this out of pity and to pay off a debt.” Taemin shook his head, “we’re not-“ “Don’t lie to me, what reason would you have to be friends with me?” Key asked, cutting off the younger. Taemin thought before looking to Minho, “Hyung say something.” He pleaded to his guardian. Minho looked at Key and said, “There is one reason, you’re reaching out for help.” Key arched a brow, “What are you talking about?” Minho continued, “think about it, why would you have come to help us if you didn’t care and wanted to be alone, you could’ve left me and Taemin at the mercy of that gang, but you chose to come and help us, isn’t that a sign that you’re reaching out for help?” He explained. Key rolled his eyes, “Please, I only came to help because….because…I…with my bad luck I would’ve ended up in the situation, too.” Taemin then chimed in, “Hyung the fact that you came to help us means a lot, so I think that’s something.” Key turned silent, Taemin continued, “It’s not only that we feel bad for you, or that we owe you, but we want to be your friends, we want to stay here, please hyung give us a chance, we’ll show you how great it can be to have friends.” Key thought for a moment, they wanted to be friends with him; they wanted to stay with him, even though he didn’t have a guardian. “Even though every part of my judgement is against this…” he began, “I will let you stay.” Taemin smiled happily, “So, does this mean, we’re friends?” Taemin asked. Key hesitantly nodded. The younger boy excitedly jumped around before throwing his arms around Key, “Thank you, hyung!” He exclaimed. Key nodded and sighed. He didn’t know how to react to this, Taemin and Minho were his first friends in a long time, he would need to get used to this. “Alright, well then, looks like we need to remodel the room upstairs, since you two will be staying there.” Taemin and Minho nodded happily, “right!” They said in unison. Key felt all warm inside, is this was it felt like to be happy, to have friends?

A/N: Hello everyone! I do apologize for not getting anything up for you yesterday, I felt like I needed a bit of a break, but I was still writing, as you can see. I will update again soon. Thank you again for your support see you in the next update~!