He couldn't quite believe where he was. Not once in his immortal life has Dongwook ever imagined he will find her in a common store that smelled like soju and ramyeon.
"So that's why you smell so bitter." He started, getting a feeling of accomplishment when he saw her speechless.
"I-um-why did you come here?" Yerin could barely find her voice to talk.
Dongwook looked at what was closer to him and found a pack of toilet paper. He grabbed one before he walked to the counter and placed the pack on it.
"Needs are needs no matter what we are." He replied as if she should have known that.
Yerin was so pissed off that he couldn't help but crack a smile. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, overwhelmed by his presence. The brunette was ready to put them on again but he stopped her by touching her hand lightly.
"You look better without them." He said nonchalantly. He could see her tense before she hid behind the counter.
"It's 3000 ₩. Anything else?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the product.
Dongwook looked around and noticed two packs of water bottles in the corner. He also saw sweets which he truly disliked but that didn't matter now.
"I am in a hurry right now but I'd like a delivery tomorrow afternoon."
"We don't do delivery." She mumbled, frustrated that he could come up with such an idea.
"But I live really close. I can pay you for the disturbance. You can choose the price." He pestered but it only seemed to piss her off even more.
Luckily, she looked up at him ignoring her beating heart. He was either stupid or he was taunting her and she was sure it was the latter.
"Only I work here and I don't need your money."
Dongwook smiled cutely, which completely surprised the woman. Her heartbeats quickened again and she had to turn her back and massage her chest slowly in order to slow it down.
"That settles it then." He said before he grabbed his pack of toilet paper. Then he realized he forgot about something so he looked around the counter for her phone. It was there, left aside and he snatched it before she turned around.
Yerin glanced over her shoulder and her eyes widened when she saw him add his own number in her phone.
"Let's keep in touch." Dongwook said with a content look on his face before he gave her the phone and left.
Yerin blinked in a dazed state until he left the store. She could hear his steps moving towards his apartment and looked down at her phone. His number was there under the name Dugeun Dugeun. She chuckled, finding it funny how he still remembered.
Yerin sighed heavily at the documents she was supposed to sign. They were all about wars and tactical plans, it was tiring.
"Miss! Miss, the man you brought in disappeared!"
The voice came before the door slammed open and her maid rushed inside. She looked disheveled but somehow still elegant, maybe because of the dress she wore.
Yerin didn't seem as panicked as the rest. All the maids in charge of her guest were running around, searching for him. They were all vampires but they weren't listening at all.
Yerin blocked their voices out and concentrated on one faint smell of blood. She knew it well since she spent quite a few minutes next to him, waiting for the right moment to interfere.
The smell was coming from outside the house, down the street towards a local park. She let him lead her through the crowd until she saw him sit on a bench, doing nothing dangerous.
Silently, she went and sat next to him, not interrupting the silence around him. It was nice, even for her. The sun was setting and the color of the sky was a vibrant purple.
"It's beautiful." He started as if he was in a trance, "This is probably my last time seeing the sun."
Yerin snorted, drawing his attention.
"That's not true. It's only one of the dozens of sunsets you'll get to see." She told him, still feeling very amused by how melancholic he was.
"But vampires burn in the sunlight."
"I am here, though. I am definitely not burning."
Dongwook frowned, realizing that she was right. Maybe he was a newbie but she has been alive for a while now.
"Normally, vampires do not like the sun. It doesn't burn them but they become weak under it; human if you want. The longer they are under the sunlight, the bigger the damage."
"What about blood? I'm not ready to become a murderer. I'd rather prefer to die." He asked, fidgeting nervously on his lap.
Yerin bit her lip, thinking of one way to show him that not all vampires kill.
Dongwook was surprised when she grabbed his left hand and intertwined their fingers. Afterwards, she pulled his fist over her heart and smiled.
"My heart still beats so that blood can fill my body. It's not to live but to feel warm. I am dead yet I'm not. I feel pain just as strongly as a human but I love differently. We may be immortals but we are not beasts."
"But you kill humans. Even in the east, your battle troops are quite famous and feared." He explained, making her think her plan again.
"Do you hear my heart beating? Dugeun, dugeun, dugeun. As long as this heart beats, you don't have to be afraid of becoming a murderer. You won't have to be afraid of anything."
It wasn't the words that convinced him in that moment but her eyes. Those brown eyes were shining in the light left from the twilight with nothing but sincerity.
"Is she mentally ill?" Seojoon asked next morning when he came in to work.
He found her already there, which never happened before. She was dressed in normal clothes and her hair was pulled in a loose bun.
"Is this your first time seeing her?" Liu Wei asked, coming out from the storage room. "By the way, we may need new provisions soon."
Seojoon knew what that meant.
"I'm not going again. It's Minwoo's turn."
Liu Wei chuckled, "You tell that to him and see how he reacts."
Seojoon froze but still, he wasn't going to go back on his word. He already went too many times and people could get suspicious.
"Oh and Snow White here, ignore her. She'll get back to normal soon enough." Liu Wei added right before Jiwon entered the bar with Minwoo.
Seojoon swallowed when the older vampire walked past him but didn't say anything. Liu Wei chuckled when he saw Seojoon follow Minwoo in the storage room.
"So she finally spoke to him?" Jiwon asked, sitting on Yerin's right side. Liu Wei nodded and took Yerin's left side, trapping her in between.
"Well? What happened?" He asked curiously.
No one expected what came. Yerin started to smile and giggle like a school girl. Jiwon leaned back when she saw her friend act so girlishly.
"Is this your first time in love or what?" She asked seeing how Yerin could hardly control her excitement.
"Is it?" Liu Wei asked Jiwon but she shrugged.
"I met her a few years after she ran. I know about their deep bond but I never imagined it was that kind of bond." Jiwon explained, the reaction from the culprit being a fit of giggled muffled by her hands.
"So that's what you were hiding from? The lover you left 1000 years ago?"
Yerin shook her head and showed them something on her phone. Liu Wei was confused as Jiwon read the name out loud.
"Dugeun Dugeun."
"What does that mean?" Liu Wei asked even more confused than before.
Yerin's face was so bright that it was literally hard to stand next to her. It was way too much happiness surrounding her.
"It means they were in that kind of relationship. When will you see each other again?" Jiwon asked.
"Today. He wants me to deliver something to him."
"What?" The two friends asked curiously.
Yerin frowned, finally calming down from her frenzy. He gave her his number but didn't tell her what to deliver.
"I have no idea. I can only guess he'll message me later."
"You look way too happy for the safety of vampires." Liu Wei mumbled, feeling like puking rainbows over her.
Jiwon sighed and leaned her head on her hand.
"Love is a nice feeling. It makes you a different person. I heard it can literally change a vampire's perception to 90 degrees."
Liu Wei was ready to complain when they heard crashing sounds from the storage room.
"At least someone is being punished for something." The Chinese man grumbled.
It might have been the light or the corner that he was in while inspecting the stomach of a corpse but no matter from where Ji Soo was looking Dongwook had a grin on his face. He tried several times to stop but it was always growing back, wider than before.
Ji Soo was dying of curiosity to know if the woman he mentioned before was the cause or if he was aiming too high with that hypothesis.
In the end, Ji Soo couldn't focus on anything but his workmate which automatically affected his work.
"Are you feeling well, hyung?"
Dongwook chuckled bemusedly. Ji Soo put his utensils away and stared at him with wide eyes.
"Is this the end of the world? Should I prepare myself spiritually for the blast?"
"You're being childish." Dongwook commented throwing a quick glance at him.
"Me? I am being the weird one? You better look into a mirror! You have a stupid grin, had it all day!"
"Are you complaining then?"
"No! God, no. I'm really happy since you close an eye and let me work at my own pace. You also keep your opinions to yourself and don't take over letting me only watch you work. Believe me I am glad you are in such a good mood."
"Then?"
"Is that woman, isn't it? She's the reason. I told you she has you wrapped around her finger." Ji Soo scolded the older man, shaking his head in disappointment, "Really hyung, don't fall so easily. Women can be dangerous."
Dongwook raised an eyebrow bemusedly, his whole demeanor changing so quickly that it blinded Ji Soo.
"I'm sure she is. That's why I like her."
Ji Soo's eyes widened as his hands fell alongside his legs.
"Wow. I am speechless." He mumbled, still registering the words that left Dongwook's mouth.
Like. He liked her. Lee Dongwook liked a woman enough to get into a good mood after talking to her.
"I really need to meet this woman. It seems she does miracles for the lonely at heart." Ji Soo mumbled under his breath as he went back to work on the stomach.
But Dongwook heard him as if he was right next to him. He smiled, his eyes shining as he remembered the name he placed his number under.
Ji Soo's head snapped to his hyung, afraid and intrigued at the same time. He swore he just heard Dongwook giggle and it was very, very strange.
While on his way back home, he was careful to listen intently for a particular beating heart. He could hear a lot irregular beats but not the one he was interested in. When he got in front of her store, he noticed the door was locked and the light was off. It was closed and it was not even eigh in the afternoon.
"What are you doing in front of my store?"
His eyes widened and he spun around quickly in order to meet the woman he was searching for. She looked good, much better than he remembered or maybe that was because of her peculiar style of clothing she used before.
"I need two packs of water bottles and snacks. I think I'm out of shampoo as well and I'd like to try the new body lotion, the one that smells like flowers not the one that helps exfoliate your skin. I also need something for my clothes. I can't get rid of the smell from work. It's nothing dangerous, only chloroform but it stinks and I get uncomfortable easily and-" He stopped, finally realizing he has been rambling for a while.
"Do you want to pay for them now or when you get them?" She asked, passing him in order to unlock the door.
"I'll pay when you deliver them! At my house! The second one to the right, a street that forks in three. I live on the third floor! Don't be late!" He shouted everything into the store instead of actually entering. He looked around and realized he was being too loud. It was 8pm and almost every store was closing up which meant the ladies were standing outside. He swallowed nervously before he shouted, "I'll go now! Bye!" And he hurried home.
As soon as Dongwook arrived home, he shrugged off his coat and his shoes before he ran inside, almost slipping on the floor.
The house was pretty much empty which only made him look like a hermit. If he remembered well, he heard Liu Wei describe Yerin in the same manner which only made him happier.
Since the only furniture he had was in the kitchen and bathroom, he took the blood provisions inside his fridge and searched for glasses. He frowned when he realized he only had two mugs and both of them were taken from work. He grabbed the two from the cupboard and sighed heavily.
"Best Doctor and Best Face." He mumbled disappointed in his praise. "That will do."
He turned around and realized he didn't have a table. The living room was just an empty room, with not even leftover furniture or boxes in the furthest corner.
The bathroom was probably the one room that had the most furniture because Dongwook was crazy neat and loved body products; maybe because his job was connected to the dead.
The bedroom had a bed and railings with clothes, all of them in dark colors. Dongwook sighed and searched for a shirt that wouldn't look too elegant but not too casual either.
Everyone watched Yerin as she walked towards Dongwook's apartment. She had two bags in one hand while she was carrying two packs of water bottles in the other. Moreover, it looked like the weight was nothing as she moved around without difficulties. When she arrived at his building, an old lady was just walking out her apartment from the first floor.
"Does Lee Dongwook live here?"Yerin asked, widening her eyes slightly.
The woman looked at Yerin from head to toe, careful to notice how she was dressed and how she looked.
"Third floor."
Yerin nodded and bowed in gratitude before she passed the woman and went up the stairs. She could hear him move around but not his heart. Was he even excited that she agreed to deliver everything he asked?
She didn't expect him to look so disheveled. Yerin barely got in front of his door when he slammed it open, grabbing the bags from her but not the bottles. She scoffed and followed him inside, placing them near the door.
"You can come in, if you want to. Further inside, I mean." He rambled when he came back.
The two looked at each other and blinked.
"15000 ₩." She started, confusing him, "The price is 15000 ₩."
"Ah, right." He finally remembered he had to pay her. He went inside his room to search for money, forgetting where he left his wallet.
Yerin raised an eyebrow as she looked around the living room. It felt like a ghost was living there, which was worse than her apartment. She sniffed around and clearly smelled chloroform and blood.
"Here," Dongwook ran to her and gave her the money.
But there was something intriguing about the smell of blood in the apartment.
"It smells sweet." She stated.
Dongwook grinned and pulled her in the kitchen where two mugs were filled with red substance. One smelled like normal blood, with a bit of coke in it but the other one had a different fragrance.
"Best Face."
Dongwook watched her take the mug and smell it, her eyes changing into red for a moment. That was a rare sight.
"It's your blood. Not much but enough." She hissed but didn't touch the mug with her lips. "What are you trying to do?" She asked looking at him warily.
"When did you last feed?" Dongwook asked genuinely worried. "I know you can't drink human blood. I-"
"I'm leaving." She announced coldly before she put the mug down and hurried out.
"Wait! I am right, aren't I? Do your friends even know about it?" Dongwook moved quicker than she expected and pulled her back. "Don't run away from me again."
Yerin tensed.
"I'm only down the street." She mumbled, squirming out of his grasp and walking out.
Dongwook watched her leave with a lot of thoughts swirling in his mind. Was that her way of saying he could drop by anytime he wanted to? It definitely didn't sound like a warning.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
