by Zhu Hsia
“Yes, you were.” He took another sip of the strawberry milk.
“No, I was not,” Hyeon Jin said adamantly. She started to turn away from him, not wanting to admit that it was true. Her dream had been so vivid that she felt like she must have been acting it out while sleeping.
“So you still like him, huh? Even after he dumped you?” he said. “He still likes you, too,” he added with a hint of mockery.
She quickly turned to face him, forgetting that she wasn’t supposed to be excited about it.
“He does…?” she asked, her voice full of hope.
Mun Oh stared at her and then laughed out loud. “I was kidding! Who in his right mind would dump you and then take you back? That’s stupid. He’s so over you.”
Hyeon Jin’s reaction was far from what Mun Oh had expected. In fact, it was so random and unusual that he took a step back in complete astonishment. She slumped to the floor and started crying like a five-year-old. Although it was a silent cry, her face buried in her hands as her shoulders trembled; Mun Oh was at a loss as to what he should do. He approached her and then crouched next to her.
“Hey… ummm… I was kidding,” he started to say in a surprisingly soft voice, but then decided it wasn’t like him. He changed his tone. “I mean, what the heck are you crying for? It’s stupid! Get up, come on.”
Hyeon Jin didn’t budge. She continued to cry into her hands.
“Tch. Girls… I swear these mood swings shouldn’t have been invented at all. It’s stupid. Come on, get up.” This time, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up. Her hands fell limply to her side, but she kept her head down as she continued to cry.
“Bite me…” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“Bite me. Just bite me so I can forget everything. I… I just want to forget everything—everything about him… everything,” she said, her words engulfed by endless sobs.
“You’re nuts. I’m going to sleep.” He started to turn away, but Hyeon Jin grabbed his hand.
“Please… just bite me. Bite me, bite me, BITE ME, BITE ME, BITE ME… bite me…” she repeated, her sobs getting louder, but her head was still down.
Afraid it might wake Ji Sun and Kim Junjin, he shushed her and tried to calm her down as he sat her down on the couch. He had to admit, what was unraveling right before him was something foreign and bizarre that he was having a hard time dealing with. First of all, he was so used to the arrogant ‘big feet’ snapping at him and making his life miserable that he found it strange to see her like this. Secondly, he may be the most prominent bloodsucker, but no one had really taught him how to make a girl stop crying or at least make her feel better. Whenever his sister would cry when they were young he would simply leave her alone since there was no other way for him to cope with it.
“Okay, look…” he began, taking his seat next to her. “I told you before I don’t just bite random people. I have my taste, and unfortunately for you, you’re no way near MY taste. So the best way for you to forget whatever you want to forget is...” he paused, trying to think of something. “Drink your strawberry milk and sleep,” he finished quite awkwardly.
Hyeon Jin continued to sob, every sob threatening to get louder. Mun Oh was trying to scan his memory for anything that would help him in this situation. As much as he hated this girl, he still didn’t like the idea of leaving her here as she bawled her eyes out. Taking a deep breath, he began to suggest random ideas, not really thinking about what was coming out of his mouth.
“Look, let’s play a game… The ‘Of Course’ game—I know you’re the queen of that game, right?” He waited for a response. Nothing. He tried again. “How about I cook something for you—anything with garlic? Or let’s watch all those vampire movies, and then read those vampire books! I’d love to do that!” he lied, quite convincingly. But still, no response. “Fine. I’ll sleep here on the couch, not in your room. I’ll go shopping with you tomorrow and I’ll even let you buy my clothes and dress me up—for heaven’s sake just STOP CRYING!” he snapped, reaching his limit.
He had no idea what just happened or what had just come out of his mouth. But somehow, the sobbing sound that was starting to irritate him slowly ceased. He looked over at Hyeon Jin, who was now wiping her tears as she blinked at him with an inexplicable expression on her face.
There was something in the way she looked at him that made him uneasy.
“Don’t look at me like that. I have no idea what I just said,” Mun Oh confessed.
Although her eyes were still brimming with tears, she smiled. “But I do. I remember every word.”
Damn! What did I say? Was it the garlic? No… the vampire marathon? I should’ve just let her cry until sunrise, Mun Oh thought desperately as Hyeon Jin stood up, rubbing her eyes and heading to her room.
“Wait! I was just…” He stopped as he met her gaze. Her eyes were so full of unspoken pain and sadness that even the great Mun Oh’s cold and apathetic heart ached a bit upon seeing them. He looked away and gave a half shrug before deciding to plop down on the couch and get some sleep.
After a few minutes he tried to sleep, but his mind was preoccupied with the image of those sad eyes. As much as he wanted to brush it off, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He hadn't known that the human girl he despised so much was hurting inside. She wasn't such a cold and heartless person after all.
•••
“Still no word from him?” the woman asked.
“No.”
“I wonder what’s keeping him,” the woman said again. She turned to the man opposite her. “Do you think I should—”
“NO,” the man replied even before she could finish, flipping a page of the book in his hand.
“But I think he’s getting—”
“Let him be, Min Ah.”
The woman named Min Ah crossed her arms and sighed heavily.
“He’s running out of time. You know he needs to be here for the ceremony of the Rule of Thirds. That’s in three weeks—on his birthday,” she argued.
“I’m sure he knows what he’s doing, so stop worrying,” the man replied nonchalantly, too engrossed in the book he was reading.
“JI HYUN! How can you be so apathetic about our only son?” Min Ah said, causing him to take his eyes away from the book finally.
Ji Hyun stood up and yawned. He was a lanky man with a handsome face and long, wavy brown hair, strands of hair gracefully falling on his dark eyes. Min Ah was a stunning lady with snow-white skin and a mane of dark hair that reached her waist. Although her eyes were as dark as Mun Oh and Ji Hyun’s, it was undeniable that she was Ji Sun’s mother. They were like two peas in a pod—same face, same features; even their body size seemed to be exactly the same.
“Because HE IS our only son. We both know him better than anyone,” Ji Hyun replied. He strode toward the door. “He might be a troublemaker, but he knows how to clean up his own mess.” He took one last look at his wife. “I’m confident that our Mun Oh can handle everything.”
•••
“I am NOT wearing that,” Mun Oh said adamantly. They were inside one of the clothing stores along the crowded shopping district in the city.
Hyeon Jin held up a flowery shirt against a fuming Mun Oh. “Why not? It’s cute. It’ll make you look cute.”
A couple of high school girls stared at Mun Oh as they passed by, and they started giggling upon seeing the flowery shirt. Mun Oh rolled his eyes and pushed the shirt away. He was being stared at enough already without the ridiculous shirt, mainly because he was slightly overdressed, wearing his tux on a hot, sunny day.
“Don’t you like to wear normal clothes every once in a while? I mean, do you even wear normal clothes at all?” Hyeon Jin asked, grabbing an orange-and-pink checkered polo shirt and holding it up against him.
Mun Oh pushed it away before anyone saw him again. “These are not normal clothes. They’re hideous human clothes. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that,” he said with a shiver.
>
“Uh, hello? There’s such a thing as ‘fashion.’ Besides, it’s better than those ridiculous tuxes you always wear.”
She was about to grab another flowery shirt when Mun Oh seized her by the hand, and before she could even blink, they were already out of the store.
“You have got to stop doing that, you pest!” Hyeon Jin yelled, clutching her chest and breathing heavily.
Mun Oh looked like he was about to explode, too. “That is the twentieth store we have set foot in and all you ever did was pick out the most hideous and uproarious pieces of clothing and force them on me. I’m going home.”
“No, you’re not!”
“Yes, I am!”
Seeing that another argument would be a total waste of time, Hyeon Jin decided to yield. “Okay, fine! Let’s get serious. I mean, I’ll be serious now.”
Mun Oh looked over at her incredulously.
Hyeon Jin exhaled to remain calm and composed. “I really wanna help you change your image.”
“I don’t need to change my image and I definitely don’t need your help, human.”
“Will you just shut up and listen to me?!” Hyeon Jin snapped, unable to stay calm for even a minute in front of Mun Oh. “As much as I hate to admit it, you’re part of my family and it seems like you’re gonna be stuck with us for a while. So there is absolutely NO WAY in hell I’m gonna allow you to look as ridiculous as you are right now… at least, not while you’re with us.”
Mun Oh’s look of incredulity intensified. “And you think I’m just gonna allow a lowly human like you to dress me up like a doll?” was what he wanted to say, but something else came out of his mouth. Something so preposterous that he wondered if he was really the one who had uttered it.
“Fine. Do whatever you want.”
Hyeon Jin thought she must have been simply hearing things, so she said, “I’m telling you, you need to change—” She stopped, looked at him closely and continued tentatively. “—Did you… Did you just say ‘fine, do whatever you want’?”
Mun Oh closed his eyes. Damn! I did say that! What’s happening to me?
“So,” Hyeon Jin exclaimed, a smile slowly forming on her lips. “Shall we continue with our shopping?” Not waiting for a reply, she linked her arms with his and cheerfully made her way down the road, dragging him along.
They spent the next hour going in and out of various clothing stores. This time around though, there wasn’t much bickering as Hyeon Jin picked more decent and casual-looking clothes while Mun Oh reluctantly tried them on for her.
Although the clothes were generally normal-looking compared to those flowery shirts before, Hyeon Jin still couldn’t hold in her laughter every time Mun Oh walked out of the dressing room.
“Okay, if you don’t stop laughing, I swear I’m gonna—”
“What, bite me?” Hyeon Jin interrupted, still chuckling quite loudly.
Mun Oh’s eyes widened. “Shut up, you big-footed girl.”
“Okay, okay. Try this one, then,” she said, still giggling like a hyena. She handed him a pair of jeans and a white shirt.
Snatching it out of her hands, he disappeared back into the dressing room once more. Hyeon Jin busied herself by choosing some more clothes as she waited for him.
After five minutes or so, he stepped out of the dressing room and stood in front of Hyeon Jin, who hardly recognized him. Her jaw dropped, her eyes almost popped out, and she looked at him like she’d never done before.
“What?” Mun Oh asked with a raised eyebrow.
Hyeon Jin shook her head vigorously and closed her mouth. She had no idea why all of a sudden her heart skipped and invisible butterflies started fluttering inside her stomach the moment she saw him. A minute ago, she had just been getting ready to laugh at him.
He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and the white shirt with black print that she had randomly picked up a while ago. It was so ordinary, yet… he looked extraordinary in it.
Maybe I’m just not used to him looking so casual, she convinced herself. But still, she couldn’t help but stare at him, or rather, ogle him as if he was a magnificent piece of art.
“What?!” Mun Oh repeated, irritated.
“Oh! Umm, well…” She stood up, trying to compose herself. “Yeah, whatever. I’m hungry,” she mumbled, hoping that he wouldn’t deduce the reason behind her awkward reaction.
Unfortunately for her, he was quick enough to get the picture.
“Oh. I look good in this, huh?” he said arrogantly, smiling from ear to ear.
Hyeon Jin gave a fake laugh, but her eyes told a different story as she stole a meaningful glance at him.
After paying for the clothes, Hyeon Jin led the way to one of her favorite restaurants downtown. Once again, they spent a good three minutes disputing before going inside the restaurant.
“Modern Toilet? What the hell?” Mun Oh exclaimed, eyeing the restaurant with disgust.
“Come on, I’m hungry.”
“I am not going in there. What are you gonna eat in there, ice cream flavored sh—”
“—Shut up. What are you, from the mountains?” Hyeon Jin snapped at him, rolling her eyes. “This is like one of the most famous restaurants in town, pest. They serve normal food, at least for humans like me.” Her eyes twinkled mischievously. “I dunno if they serve blood, though,” she added, chuckling.
It was Mun Oh’s turn to roll his eyes. “Will you stop with the vampire jokes? What if someone hears you?”
She shrugged and entered the restaurant. Mun Oh grudgingly followed her. As soon as he had taken a good look around, he almost cursed aloud in total disbelief.
Now he knew why it was called the Modern Toilet. The restaurant was designed like a bathroom—the tables were actually bathroom sinks with sheets of glass on top of them. Instead of normal chairs, there were toilet bowls with their covers down around the tables. The ceilings and floors were tiled like a bathroom and the waiters were wearing bathrobes.
Although it was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen in his entire life, Mun Oh couldn’t help feeling amazed and somewhat impressed at the creativity of the owner. He looked around and observed everything, chuckling to himself whenever he saw something peculiar.
He didn’t realize Hyeon Jin was gazing at him and smiling at his every reaction.
“What? It’s hilarious,” he explained, trying to compose himself.
“Mmhmm…” She nodded, flashing a sarcastic smile at him before ordering.
After a while, their food came, which caused Mun Oh to chuckle some more. The stew she ordered was placed in a small replica of a toilet bowl. The rice was also in a toilet bowl replica, only a bit smaller than that of the stew. And the chocolate ice cream, perfectly shaped like dung, was flawlessly placed on the smallest toilet bowl replicas.
Hyeon Jin was already serving herself some stew, but Mun Oh was still laughing uncontrollably, causing a few of the occupants at nearby tables to turn and look.
“Will you stop laughing? It’s embarrassing. People think I’m with a retard,” she told him, but Mun Oh just couldn’t help it. He had never felt this amused and light-hearted before. And he didn’t really care whether he looked stupid right then. For the first time in his life, all he wanted to do was laugh to his heart’s content and feel good doing so.
After entering a couple of accessories stores, they both felt that the whole day of walking, arguing, shopping, more arguing and more walking had taken its toll. It was past six when they headed back home, Mun Oh reluctantly carrying three shopping bags full of clothes.
Maybe it was the fact that they were both worn out or maybe they had just ran out of things to say, but the trip back home was eerily silent and a bit awkward for some reason. Hyeon Jin was walking ahead of Mun Oh, but she would stop in her tracks every few seconds to check on him, yelling ‘hurry up’ in an annoyed way, although her eyes still had that strange glint in them. Mun Oh, on the other hand, would stare at her back for quite a while and look away ea
ch time she looked back to say ‘hurry up.’ He was trying to smell her, but for some odd reason, he still couldn’t. As a bloodsucker, he could try to read what she was thinking, especially the reason behind that sparkle in her eyes. But he didn’t. Maybe he just didn’t want to know or he didn’t care at all; either way, he tried to control his strong bloodsucker senses.
The moment they set foot inside the house, dinner was already being prepared. Mun Oh hastily dropped the shopping bags on the couch and collapsed right next to them while Hyeon Jin greeted her dad and a stunned Ji Sun.
Ji Sun's hair was in a messy bun, she wore a pink apron, and held a ladle in her hands. She stared at her younger brother with her mouth wide open. It wasn’t really because he was wearing normal human clothes or because he had actually spent a whole day doing something he hated—shopping. It was because he had actually spent the day with Hyeon Jin and came home in one piece, as if it was something he’d do on a daily basis. It was so real, yet unreal.
Chuckling to himself, Kim Junjin walked over to her and gently closed her mouth before dragging her over to the kitchen. He knew more than anyone else that, although Hyeon Jin tended to be a pain in the butt most of the time, she had a way of making people like her, or at least be able to stand her, whether they liked it or not.
« CHAPTER 7 »
Hyeon Jin stared incredulously at the gangly boy scurrying along the locker-lined corridors. His hair was disheveled and his hands shakily clutched his books closer to his chest. He could've been good looking if he only knew how to look in the mirror once or twice.
A stout boy who was too busy devouring a piece of brownie to watch where he was going bumped into the scrawny kid, knocking the books out of his hands. The stout boy merely looked at him as he bent down to retrieve his things.
"Sorry... I'm.... really sorry... Sorry..." he repeated again and again, without looking up.
Hyeon Jin had seen enough. As he passed her by, she purposely closed her locker door so loud that the gangly boy almost jumped out of his shoes.
"YOU!" Hyeon Jin yelled at him. He stopped to look at her, his eyes already brimming with tears.