• 第七章 •
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To say that Hoseok was bewildered at how similar the past Hana he knew and the 21st century Hana next to her were like would be an understatement. At this point, he had came to the conclusion in which the current Hana, was an actual reincarnation of the past Hana.
After waiting for decades upon decades, he was still unable to believe that she was finally back, and she was doing a pretty damn good job at waltzing into his life once again. He wondered on the reason why the long-forgotten familiar warm and jittery feeling he kept getting when the girl next to him talked was back; was it because she reminded him of the past Hana he loved dearly or was it it was just because it's her?
Hoseok pursed his lips. He was utterly confused with his dead heart and mind now.
"Can you leave me alone now?" Hana deadpanned, repeating the same question for the past five minutes of walking.
"No." Hoseok replied the same answer as well, his sharp gaze constantly scanning for any suspicious threats around the corner. "Stop asking me that. I mean what I said when I said that I'm taking you home."
"You're so stubborn!" Hana sighed.
"So are you." Hoseok fought the smile urging to form on his face.
"Whatever. We are reaching soon anyways." Hana grumbled sullenly.
Upon reaching the little stairs below her apartment building, Hana finally broke into a smile and directed it at Hoseok. She clapped her hands dramatically, earning an eye roll from the guy.
"I'm finally freeeeee!" Hana lifted her arms high up in the air, and let out a squeak when she felt a hand placed on her head.
With her face burning up at the contact, Hana glanced at Hoseok who was already gazing at her fondly, his hand moving slightly to ruffle her bangs gently. Feeling shy, Hana darted her eyes away, and quickly took a step back away from her good-looking professor.
"I'll leave once you reach your unit." Hoseok gestured at her to walk, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants.
"How are you even gonna know whether I've entered my unit?" Hana quirked her eyebrows.
"Easy. Just switch on the lights when you're inside the house and give me a wave at the window."
"Oh, okay then." Hana nodded, and bowed respectfully. "Thank you and sorry for this. I'll see you tomorrow, Prof Jung."
"Call me Hoseok please." The vampire pleaded.
"R-right. Goodnight then, Hoseok-ssi." Hana waved her hand, and immediately ran into the building, her ears red from how flustered she was with just the mere presence of him.
Just who was he?
Why did he always make her feel nervous?
Still standing outside the building, Hoseok was feeling just the same as her. He took out the handkerchief from his pocket which still looked brand new despite surviving over so many years, his heart yearning for his love painfully inside his mind underneath the same moonlight he had grown so accustomed to.
Flickering his eyes towards the only dark window which was located on the second floor, panic began to arise within him when he noticed that five minutes had already passed and Hana was still not back home yet. He tried to convince and comfort himself with logic - maybe Hana had opted to use the stairs and had bad stamina?
However, when another five minutes passed, Hoseok knew that something was wrong.
With eyes flashing a murderous bright silver, using his vampire speed, he ran upstairs and froze when he saw her sneakers left messily outside her door which was locked. The apartment doors were designed to be soundproof, so, if it weren't for his heightened senses as a supernatural being, he wouldn't be able to detect the soft whimpers from the inside.
"P-please don't touch me!" Hana's soft mutter could be heard through the door, and that was all it took to trigger Hoseok's normally well-controlled anger.
Kicking the door open, Hoseok stormed inside and his eyes widened at the sight of another male hovering dangerously close over an obviously frightened and helpless Hana who was lying on the floor. Upon getting interrupted, the man snapped his head angrily with eyes a bright red at Hoseok, and the latter's own fangs grew with his eyes turning a shade even brighter when he saw that the man had his own pair of fangs as well.
"Help me!" Hana begged, her tears slipping out of her eyes.
Through her blurry and teary vision, she could make out Hoseok lifting the man away from her with only an arm before throwing him across the room, causing a loud crash to occur when the man smashed onto a photo frame hung on the wall. As another tear fell out, a gasp escaped her when she saw Hoseok's silver eyes shining even in the dark as he charged towards the man, throwing him bone-cracking punches with a burning fury evident behind his strength.
"You disgusting piece of low-life!" Hoseok growled, sending another punch onto the man's face, but the man simply chortled as if he had lost his mind, his malicious cackles echoing inside the house.
"And you aren't one?" He scoffed, only to let out a choked curse when Hoseok grabbed his neck with great strength, cutting off his windpipe.
"Do not compare me with you, you scumbag. I can snap your neck off with just another bit of strength added." Hoseok warned, his eyes too focused on the vampire before him to notice him grabbing a piece of broken shard of glass.
Hana saw though.
"Hoseok! Be careful!" She screamed out, but it was already too late when the man swung the piece of glass towards his neck, slashing a deep gash on his pale neck.
Within seconds, blood oozed out of the wound, scaring Hana so much at the amount of blood escaping from her professor. But, instead of backing away, Hoseok once again surprised her by grinning for the briefest moment before twisting his face into a disgusted scowl.
"Die. You piece of shit." Hoseok broke his neck as soon as he finished his sentence.
Hana's eyes continued to stare at Hoseok who had his eyes softening when his gaze landed back on her terrified form, his hand pressing onto his wound to apply some pressure. She was too flabbergasted at the entire situation.
When Hoseok tried to take a step towards her, he stopped when she flinched and looked away quickly. His heart broke at how petrified she was, since it was obvious that... she was afraid of him as well.
"Hana..." He called out softly, brows furrowing as he crouched down to reach her eye level, but made sure to keep a distance between them. "I won't hurt you. I promise."
Blinking away another flood of tears threatening to fall, Hana dared herself to glance back at the man - no, vampire - who had just saved her from another vampire. His eyes were still glowing a beautiful yet intimidating hue of glimmering silver, but behind those pair of eyes, she could somehow feel the sorrow in them.
"Y-you promise?" Hana stuttered, lifting her pinky finger weakly.
Hoseok's eyes fell onto her outstretched finger, and breaking into a small smile, he nodded and attached his finger as well, hooking them together. He helped her up from the ground then without using his blood-stained hand, and gently guided her towards the sofa so that she could sit down.
"The door..." Hana dragged out her words as her eyes landed on the damaged door.
"Sorry. I was in a state of panic." Hoseok replied sheepishly.
"Thank you for saving me." Hana mumbled after a moment of silence, diverting her eyes towards Hoseok who was still holding onto his wound. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. The wound will heal soon." Hoseok gave her an assuring smile. "What about you? Are you okay?"
Hana shot him an unreadable look.
"Physically, yes, but mentally, I'm not." Hana frowned slightly. "I have questions. Lots of them."
Sighing, Hoseok made himself comfortable by sitting on the floor. He didn't want to cause discomfort by being close to her since she was still doubtful and scared of him.
"Shoot." He spoke while removing his hand from the gash on his neck.
"You're a vampire. Am I right?" Hana pursed her lips when Hoseok nodded. "And the dude over there, is one too?"
"Yes. But I'm different from him." Hoseok watched her reactions closely. "I'm one of the first few to be turned since a long time ago, but that low-life over there, was probably turned messily with lots of dirty vampire blood mixed inside him."
A grimace formed on her face. "Okay... and what makes you different from him?"
"I have self-control, as you can see. But them, the lower tier vampires, they have zero self-control and would go into a rampage by killing lots just to drink human blood. My kind has silver eyes, and we were taught with proper guidance, but theirs, none." Hoseok explained.
"Your kind? There's more of you?" Hana asked.
He nodded again. "Yes. They're what I proudly call as my brothers, although we are not related by blood. Our duty is to mainly keep peace by watching out for the humans from the lower tier vampires."
"Why would you guys watch out for us? Don't you need to drink too?"
"We do. But we drink from blood bags." Hoseok gulped dryly as he realized how thirsty he actually was from the blood loss.
The hunger was the reason why his silver eyes and fangs were still on display. They would only return back to normal after getting fed.
Glancing at how fidgety Hoseok was getting, Hana opened her mouth, wanting to say something but closed her mouth back. She cleared her throat, instead.
"Are you hungry?" Hana's heart skipped a beat when Hoseok nodded without hesitation.
"I have to leave before I lose control." Hoseok drawled out while taking out his phone to make a call, his feet already heading towards the entrance. "I'll call my friend over for assistance, I hope you don't mind."
Hana shook her head silently, eyes watching Hoseok speak to whoever was on the other line.
At that moment, she could only think about her weird dreams, her webtoon, and how did Jung Hoseok play a part in all this.
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my mum's reaction when she first watched bts mvs : "why do kpop mvs always involve violence n vandalism?"
me : 👀💧