Jaebum woke up to Mark's bedroom, a familiar surrounding, yet so foreign because he was never there at six in the morning. He sat on the bed, still feeling a bit sleepy but was trying hard to recall what happened last night. It was a blur to him. The boys went out to hunt at around nine o'clock, after agreeing that it would be so much more interesting to track down Bloodsuckers under the pressure of getting caught. Sometimes, Jaebum himself couldn't understand why their stupid teen hormones would always take control over their rational minds when making life decisions. They were scared but the Principal's warning was not enough to stop them, especially not after Jackson managed to shoot a Bloodsucker two nights ago.

After splitting up to search the forest, Jaebum walked alone for quite a long time before he heard a howl. He couldn't find his friends so he quickly followed the direction of where the noise came from on his own. Ten minutes later, the sound of animals struggling and growling got clearer, which confirmed that he was on the right track. As he got closer to the source of the racket, he realised that it was two wolves fighting and he was standing at a dangerous distance from them. He was stunned there and then to see the fight happening. It was bloody and violent. In the midst of spectating that chaos, Jaebum saw one of the wolves was sent flying towards him. Before he could even think of running, someone pushed him out of the way and saved him from getting crushed by the wolf. The person who helped him was Byul. 

Byul!

He did saw her, right? It's crazy to believe but the girl did admit that she's Byul. Jaebum's head started to spin, unable to fathom the previous night's event, especially not when the image of Byul's face covered in blood burst into his mind. Her eyes were wild, similar to a fierce tiger, and when she looked at him, he felt as if Byul was looking straight into his soul with the ability to crack him open from the inside. He also remembered how sharp her fangs appeared to be when she spoke and her long claws were coated by blood, some were dripping off them too. They talked. She wanted to explain but he was too confused. He almost shot her. Oh God! That was so uncool.

Jaebum groaned out of frustration and doubt. The last bit of the fuzzy memory that he could recollect was someone yelling "sleep!" in his ear and hitting his head. That could not be it, right? And did the person really make him fall asleep? Were the two of them Bloodsuckers? No---

"Oh, you're awake." Mark suddenly appeared at the door, disturbing Jaebum's train of thought.

"Hey, good morning." He said in return. "What happened last night?" Jaebum asked right away, trying to get at least an answer to one of the questiosn crammed up in his head. He couldn't even remember how did he get back to Mark's place instead of his.

Mark entered the room and sat on a chair near Jaebum. "I was about to ask the same question. Yugyeom and BamBam found you passed out--," sleeping, Jaebum thought, "in the forest. You're lucky they found you first before the special unit. You would've been in a lot of trouble."

"Okay... and how did I get here?"

"We carried you here because you wouldn't wake up! Jackson thought you're dead. And we couldn't send you back home in that state, what if your parents asked what happened to you?"

"Did Yugyeom and BamBam saw anyone else before they got to me?" 

Mark studied Jaebum for a while after he asked that question. Jaebum raised an eyebrow at him, feeling uncomfortable being observed like that. "What?"

"They did, actually," said Mark. "They saw you talking to a girl, with your gun pointed at her, and then someone jumped down from the tree. The guy hit you and you straight away fell to the ground. You didn't wake up till this morning."

Jaebum frowned. That did happen. "Then? They just left?"

"Yeah. It was super weird. We thought they killed you." Mark didn't show it but he's really suspicious of what happened. 

"Why did you think that way?"

Mark stared into Jaebum's eyes, trying to pinpoint what's going on in his head. He felt like Jaebum saw something that Yugyeom and BamBam missed. "Because... after you passed out, they escaped through the trees. You were left unscratched."

"Okay. That's good, right? They left me unharmed." Jaebum said, wondering why was Mark being patronising.

"You don't get it. They left through the trees. They climbed up those trees. They were Bloodsuckers! So it's a miracle that you're here right now, still alive!" Mark sounded frustrated and angry.

Jaebum understood. Mark's trying to figure out why and how the hell did he survive after the encounter with the Bloodsuckers. His sister did too but she died. Jaebum couldn't articulate his thoughts. Somehow, he felt like Mark's mad at him because he lived. Because somehow, the Bloodsuckers let him go alive, but not his sister.

"So? Who were them? You must've seen their faces." Mark asked in a somber tone.

Jaebum watched Mark closely for a moment, noticing he's straining himself from screaming at him. "I don't know." 

"What?"

"I said, I don't know!" 

"Bull!" Mark yelled furiously. "You were talking to them, Jaebum! No way you didn't see their faces!"

"I didn't! I'm sorry but I didn't get to see who they were, Mark! It was dark and I was just trying to protect myself!" Jaebum was feeling so nervous that he stood up. He wasn't planning to lie and he also wasn't planning to tell the truth but since the former came out first, he just went with it. 

Mark also got up from his chair and faced Jaebum. "Don't you dare lie to me."

"Why would I do that! Look, Mark, I know you're really frustrated. I was so close to them but still haven't found the person who killed your sister yet." Jaebum paused for a second when he noticed that he referred to a Bloodsucker as a 'person'. Usually, he just addressed them like animals. "This thing takes time, okay? We don't see Bloodsuckers everyday so it could be months, or even years before we find her murderer!" Jaebum almost choked on his words. We don't see Bloodsuckers everyday? Right. One sits right next to you in class.

Mark opened his mouth to argue further but he couldn't say anything to Jaebum. He became aware of how emotional he was and began to feel bad for lashing out at his friend. Mark let out a heavy sigh before sitting down again. "I'm sorry. You're right. That was uncalled for. I'm glad you're safe, man."

"Thanks." Jaebum said, his voice was barely audible. He felt guilty for not telling Mark what really happened last night but if his friends knew about Byul... her life would be at risk.

***

At school, for the first in a very long time, Jaebum was looking forward to History class for his first period and it wasn't because he was interested in the subject. He couldn't find Byul anywhere when he arrived at school this morning so he'd been waiting for class to start to meet her. In his head, he had played thousands of scenarios of him confronting her about her real identity. However, he was not able to settle on any to actually be acted out. He didn't even know if he could address it face to face with her. The longer he put his thoughts on it, the lesser he could pay attention to his surrounding, especially when his friends were busy interrogating him about last night. Jaebum was aware that his absent-mindedness could make Mark suspect him again so he just fed his friends with whatever story he could think of that was closest to the truth without revealing the little that he knew about Byul. 

"How did you find them?" Youngjae inquired Jaebum, looking somehow excited that his friend got to talk to some Bloodsuckers.

"Like we always do... followed any unusual noise... I heard some animals fighting so I went to check and one of the BS was there too." Jaebum answered carefully and told them the gist of his meeting with the 'unknown' Bloodsucker.

"What did the BS say to you?" Jinyoung then asked, interested to know the details of Jaebum's encounter with the Bloodsuckers.

"I... don't really remember actually. I know I pointed the gun at her-- I mean, at the BS because I thought I was gonna be their food or something. It was kinda a blur. I got beaten in the head anyway before they left." Jaebum shrugged effortlessly.

"How do they look like up close?" Mark interjected while giving Jaebum a sharp look.

Jaebum stared back at him, knew he was just testing him. "Like I said this morning. It was dark. I couldn't really see them."

"Fine." Mark said. The other five boys noticed the tense in the air between him and Jaebum.

"So, how does it feel like to be the first member to meet a Bloodsucker up front?" Jackson quickly added, wanting to loosen the atmosphere.

"It was sort of scary. I wasn't ready to die."

Everyone fell silent at Jaebum's comment. They exchanged looks with each other, unsure of how to react. Jackson's effort to lighten the situation up failed.

"Please leave for the daily assembly in five minutes!" 

A school patron's voice from the classroom door broke their silence. Using that as an excuse to get away from the awkward situation, all seven of them went out of the class together without making any noise to get to the assembly. No one brought the topic up again for the the rest of the day. For the first time, the perspective of dying at the age of 18 was as clear as crystal to them and it wasn't a nice feeling.

***

Once their daily assembly had ended and they've all returned to their respective classes, Jaebum was so jittery waiting for Byul to enter the classroom. But when she finally appeared at the door, Mr. Lee arrived right behind her and there was no way he could talk to her while the class was going on. So he just sat in his place anxiously while glancing at Byul every five minutes, trying to make eye contact with her but to no avail. He couldn't tell whether she was ignoring him on purpose or was just paying full attention to Mr. Lee's boring lesson. Byul, on the other hand, was actually feeling  as nervous as Jaebum was and couldn't even look at him. Ever since she departed from her house this morning, Byul had been praying Jaebum hadn't told his friends that she's a Bloodsucker. What bothered her the most was the thought that he might think of her as a monster and would no longer be friends with her.

Time seemed to be moving much more slower that day and one hour twenty minutes of History was hell to them. After the class ended, Byul gathered her stuff and hastily left the class to get to the art studio for their next class, not giving a chance at all to Jaebum to say anything to her. He then tried chasing her to walk together but when he got out into the hallway, Byul had already disappered. Throughout the day, it was a tiring chase and run session for them both seeing that Byul managed to get lost out of Jaebum's sight every time he ran after her and he could never catch up. She was good at outrunning Jaebum but he's persistent. It was not until school had finshed and Jaebum found himself getting on the same train as Byul that he realised he was actually stalking her until they had arrived at her home. 

Jaebum was dazed at the sight of The Hanok. It was majestic and huge. Growing up, he heard a lot of stories about the place although he had never been there himself. He wondered if Byul lived there but what would she be doing here then if not? Being his usual curious self, Jaebum went past the gate, walked through the green lawn and entered the house through the opened front door to search for Byul. He was greeted by the receptionist from the counter with a big smile and he bowed politely in return. As soon as he stood straight again, Jaebum finally made eye contact with Byul who was there too, talking to Momo at the counter prior his appearance. He could see how shocked she came to be because she didn't say anything and just stared at him with blank eyes and a slightly ajar mouth. For a few seconds, the two of them just gawked at each other before Momo cleared , breaking them out of their thoughts.

"Are you here to sign up for the upcoming camp?" Momo asked to Jaebum. 

He stuttered in return, not knowing what camp was she talking about. "I... no, I'm not... wait, what camp again?"

"Our school holiday camp? Isn't that why you're here?"

Jaebum started to sweat. He glanced over at Byul who was still watching him in disbelief. "Yeah, right. That's why I'm here!" He said in hurry.

"Are you signing up for yourself alone?" 

"Yes, I am signing up for myself only." Jaebum said in confidence.

"What! No, he's not signing up for himself! He can't do that!" Byul suddenly exclaimed, her face full with horrid. 

"Huh...?" Momo turned to Byul with a questioning look. "But why...?"

"Because... because..." Byul became speecchless. She couldn't tell Momo about Jaebum  in front of him but she also didn't have a legit reason to stop him from joining the camp. 

"Byul, are you okay?" Momo asked, her voice full of concern. 

"Yes, I am!"

"So why can't he sign up for the camp?"

Byul's eyes wandered from Momo to Jaebum and back to Momo, who was waiting for her answer along with Jaebum. "Because he's signing up with me!" She answered while laughing awkwardly.

Momo gave her a weird look. "What are you talking about... You're gonna be in charge of it this year. You can't be a participant."

"I... oh, God, yes. Totally forgot about that." Byul sighed in defeat. She saw Jaebum raising an eyebrow at her as if saying, 'come on, be a sport!'

 "Okay then, just let him sign up..."

Jaebum then filled up a form handed by Momo with Byul watching him like a hawk by his side, still attempting to prevent him from enrolling his name.

"You can't sign up if you have allergies." Byul notified Jaebum.

"I am not allergic to anything. Thank you." 

"You also can't sign up if you still wet your bed."

"I stopped wetting my bed at the age of seven."

"That's quite late. You can't sign up if you're a slow learner."

Jaebum stopped writing and turned to look at Byul. "Too late, I've signed the form," said him as he passed the form back. Byul bit her lip in worry eyeing the piece of paper that was already in Momo's hand. The thought of Jaebum spending a week at The Hanok was nervewracking for her, especially when she's not sure yet what Jaebum would do with the information he knew about her.

"So, do you live here?" Jaebum asked Byul, playing it cool, not wanting to show how nervous he was in that moment.

Byul didn't answer but she grabbed Jaebum's hand and dragged him down the hallway instead. Her steps were rapid and stomped in anger, Jaebum began to feel regretful signing the form just now. They arrived at a room and Byul opened the door. She peeked inside to see Namjoon and Jimin screaming at each other while playing video game. They were so into it that they did not notice her at all.  Byul rolled her eyes, slammed the door close and stormed away again with Jaebum behind her. She brought the two of them to the next room and found Jin, who was filming himself.

"Yah! Can you knock first?" Jin scolded.

"How about you use your own room to film, dumb !" Byul replied.

"This room has the best lighting and the deco complements my hadsome features!" Jin argued, which made Byul shut the door with a bang, not in the mood to entertain Jin's narcissistic self. She carried on to check whether the opposite room was vacant but found Yoongi in there, reading a book.

"Hey, Byul." Yoongi greeted when he saw Byul's head peered into the room. He noticed Jaebum who was trying to take a look too from her back. Yoongi frowned, "what the hell is that idiot---"

Byul cut him off by closing the door quickly. She could hear Yoongi yelling at her to come back but ignored it and proceeded to another room. However, the rest of the rooms along the hallway were occupied by guests. In the end, they reached the dining hall and that was the only empty place so she pulled him in and shut the door behind her. 

Jaebum used a few seconds to take in the dining hall. It's definitely not small but it wasn't that big too, just nice enough for a family to sit and have meals together. He was standing near a long, wooden table with cutleries, plates and glasses already arranged neatly on it. There's an archway on the left wall that connected the room to the kitchen. At the end of the hall, a family portrait was hanged on the wall. Jaebum assumed it's the owner of the bed and breakfast's family. There were nine people in it, including an old couple who were sitting down beside each other, two younger looking couples on each side of the first one, and three children. Two of the children were siblings and stood side by side, one a teenage girl and the other a boy around ten years old. Jaebum recognised the third child standing beside one of the younger couples as little Byul, she couldn't be older than seven years old in that portrait. 

"What are you doing here?" Byul asked through gritted teeth, getting Jaebum's attention on her. "And don't say you're here for the camp because you obviously didn't know about it when the receptionist asked!"

Jaebum had never seen someone who looked as furious as Byul appeared to be now and it kind of intimidated him. "I wanted to talk to you..." he replied while looking at everywhere else but her.

"So you followed me home? You're a stalker!" Byul accused. 

"Hey! I'm only here because you avoided me the whole day at school!" Jaebum defended himself.

"I was not avoiding you!" Byul denied, her face turned red in embarrassment. They were quiet for a few seconds.

Jaebum then set his eyes on Byul and she did the same. "I want to apologise for pointing my gun at you last night."

Byul furrowed her eyebrows, confused. "What...?"

"I also wanted to thank you for saving me from getting crushed by the wolf."

Byul tried to process what's happening. Jaebum didn't say anything anymore after that, as if waiting for her to say something in return. "Wait, so you're not scared of me?" She asked.

"As long as your face is like this."

"Wow, you're rude."

"You were scary."

Without warning, a black cat jumped out of nowhere and landed on the table beside Jaebum. "Holy , that's a big cat!" He jerked away a bit in surprise. Byul almost laughed at his reaction but she still kept a straight face. After getting his composure back, Jaebum leaned forward towards the cat to pet it. "This is a very black, beautiful cat! He even has your eyes!" He exclaimed after noticing the cat's blue eyes, with the pupils brown. Byul didn't say anything back to him so he turned to look at her. Her eyes were fixed on him in wonder and she seemed bewildered. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I... it's because you said that....." Byul said, her voice slow and unsure.

"Said what?"

"That... That's exactly what you said when you met Shadow before."

"Huh? What do you--"

"For God's sake, Byul! Get Shadow off the table, he's dirty!" Mrs. Min suddenly appeared out of the kitchen through the archway with a plate of rice cakes in her hand. She set the plate down on the table and started nagging at Byul. "If you want Shadow to eat with us, you better give him a bath first! How many times do I need to remind you? He's as dirty as Suki! Oh dear God, help me. Why are the kids in this house so stubborn!" She then stopped after noticing Jaebum's presence in the room and carved a smile at him. Jaebum noticed that she's the same woman that stood beside Byul in the family portrait and he could tell that she's Byul's mother. "Hi, there! Are you Byul's friend from school? What's your name?" Mrs. Min said and Jaebum felt something was off about her tone, as if she was faking it.

"It's alright, Mom, he knows." Byul said before Jaebum could answer.

"What, again? Oh kids, this is definitely fate! The stars really want you to be together. I told you before, Byul!" Mrs. Min seemed so pelased and touched by the news. She patted Jaebum's back with an adoring smile this time. Her reaction was genuine compared to when she was asking for his name. Byul palmed her face, feeling flustered while Jaebum remained silent, not completely sure he understood what they're talking about.

"Mom, stop. Can you not do that?"

"You should join us for tea, Jaebum!" Mrs. Min beamed, disregarding Byul's request.

"Mom!" Byul protested.

"Ah... I... How do you know my name...?" Jaebum asked.

"EH, you haven't told him yet?" Mrs. Min looked at Byul, demanding an answer. Before Byul could explain, the dining hall's door burst open and Yoongi was there. He looked at Byul with fiery eyes as he walked up to her.

"There you are, you ungrateful kid! How dare you not come back when I called! You even brought this boy back home?! Do you want to marry him?! You can't because I won't allow you! You'll die a with me!" Yoongi shook Byul by her shoulders and she struggled to get out of his clutch in stress.

"STOP!" She cried. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Oh Yoongi, you're being ridiculous. You won't die a ! A lot of girls are interested in you." Mrs. Min giggled and pushed Yoongi in a playful manner.

"Still, I can't let this human boy touch my Byul! He couldn't even protect himself last night!" Yoongi pulled Byul into his arms and hugged her tightly. Jaebum had never felt so attacked in his life like he was feeling at that time. Byul didn't try to shake Yoongi off this time. It's a vain cause. She also had come to accept the fact that Yoongi would only listen to her talk about Jaebum as a crush but he still didn't like the idea of them being together. 

"You should tell Jaebum soon, honey." Mrs. Min advised.

"Tell me what, Byul?" Jaebum questioned.

"Shut up, Jaebum. Your broad shoulders are too big for Byul, anyway." Yoongi barked at him.

Byul just shook her head at Jaebum and mouthed the word 'later'. Yoongi was going to roast Jaebum again when they heard loud voices at the door. They all turned to see Namjoon, Jimin and Jin arguing about what they're gonna have for tea. As soon as they saw the rice cakes on the table, Namjoon and Jin high-fived each other and cheered. "That's 20 bucks for us, Jimin! I told you it's gonna be rice cakes today. I saw Hani prepping the ingredients yesterday!" Jin screamed in Jimin's face with excitement. 

"That's not fair! You knew!" Jimin objected in frustration.

"Well, you guessed pie only because you wanted some!" Namjoon replied.

"Oh, dear God." Byul sighed to herself. 

"All right, everyone! Stop screaming!" Mrs. Min calmed them down. "I made rice cakes and pie today. You don't have to fight over it, okay? Can someone go call Momo at the front and tell her we're having tea now? I'll go get everything ready. And Jaebum, please stay?" 

Jaebum hesitated. Not sure whether to decline Mrs. Min's request or bracing himself to face Yoongi while eating. He turned to Byul for help and she just shrugged, not confident that he would have an easy time at her house. Meanwhile, Namjoon, Jimin and Jin were whispering between each other while observing Jaebum. He could hear them mumbling if he's Byul's boyfriend that they had met before.

"Pretty boy is scared I'm gonna kick his in front of Byul!" Yoongi uttered in thrill when Jaebum took his time to agree.

"Okay, that's it." Jaebum scowled at Yoongi. "Yes, I'm staying for tea. Thank you."