𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗖𝗞↷엔하이픈 (en-)

𝘅𝗶𝘅 : 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲

'Heeseung hyung, did you meet Ni-ki today ?' Sunoo questioned during the lunch break 1 day later, bringing his lunch to sit with the vampires and the humans joined as well.

'No Sunoo, I didn't talk to him, I saw him a few times.'

'Hey, are y'all talking about Ni-ki ? Some said they saw him crying, such a cry baby, but then I saw him with a few vampires a few minutes ago.' Eric, a vampire friend of Heeseung, said and left.

'I'm worried about him.' Heeseung sighed.

'I haven't seen him today' Jungwon said.

'I had a keychain he gifted me the first time we met. I remembered I had it in my pocket when we went but....' Heeseung paused, sucked in his breath and continued, 'I think I lost it in that house. I don't know, I just don't get a good feeling...'

'should we not check him ?' Jake worriedly questioned. 'after we escaped, we met up but he didn't come.'

'I'm confused, if he's a hybrid, and he's the reason for it all, shouldn't it be safe to stay away from him ?'

'but what if that hybrid is not him'

'how Heeseung hyung ? The paper doesn't give any specification.'

'that's what it is ! Then we have no right to judge Ni-ki.'

'yea-' Jay was about to say something but then a sudden sound of notification in Sunoo's phone caught their attention.

Ni-ki.

'you talk to him?'

'he just needed some notes'

*

Ni-ki huffed a sigh and looked at the frontier part of the forest. He had run away during school time because he knew his parents wouldn't allow him to go out after school after he had disappeared for a whole week.

But he needed to go back to that house. He had overheard his Heeseung hyung had lost the keychain and he knew it would be in that house.

Yes, one may call him immature, I mean, who would even rush to a dangerous house just in search of a minor object he had gifted to someone else ? But it mattered a lot to him. Heeseung had considered him as his own brother and he really wanted to show his gratitude.

Ni-ki was a hybrid. Hybrids weren't much happily accepted by the other students. That's what happens when you stand out from the others. A new form of creature among the others. A new breed he was, having both vampire and human features. And it was true, he didn't know what all it was about.

The second reason was, he wanted to solve the writing on the paper, something related to the door, something related to hybrids, something related to the past was there and he had this strange ambition to find it all out.

He quietly clicked the door of the house and entered. The axes they had left near the doorway was no more there. The broken statue head was perfectly replaced. It was as if this was the first time he had entered the house. His trembled footsteps followed the gush of wind that blew past. He walked up to the bedroom and searched the ground and after around an hour of searching, he found the keychain under the bed. Oh the smile he had at the discovery !

He walked out of the room, proceeding on his way out but then he heard that voice in his head again, asking him to stop, to rethink his decisions. He stopped and walked up the stairs again, into the library.

Sudden clicks and turns were heard inside the library and then the clicking of the phone was heard, indicating he was typing a message. All this while he had thought that he was alone. But he wasn't.

He was about to send a message and then felt a presence behind him but when he turned round, everything blacked out.

*

'okay, but now I'm getting worried about him.' Sunghoon hesitantly spoke up. The boys were collected in the music room of the school after school hours.

'hey, did anyone see Ni-ki after lunch break ?' a boy, probably from the same major of Ni-ki, entered the room, collecting some papers kept on desks.

'no.' one of the boys replied.

'oh, didn't see him after lunch break in school probably boy skipped.' the boy chuckled and collected his papers and left after two minutes.

A sudden silence came over the room. The 6 boys looked at each other in the tensed atmosphere.

'did he just say....'

'that Ni-ki skipped school ?'

'so, did he go....'

'back to the house ?'

'should we go look for him ?'

'let's wait till tomorrow and see if he comes to school.' Jay suggested and the others agreed.

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