Danah and Jungwon were basically spending the night together outside. After explaining to her what happened before, they simply started laughing about it (not about the stray Vampire attack, of course).
"So you're how old?" she giggles out after his last joke. He was funny without meaning to which made him charming.
"Older than your mom," he blankly says in attempt to be funny. He wasn't a natural at it, but he tried is best. Danah scoffs in disbelief, realizing how awful his humour is. I wonder where he learnt 'your mom' jokes from.
They had been walking around the park, getting to know each other more. One from afar would even mistake it as a new couple's second date.
"I didn't know you had your own superpower," Danah was intrigued, not fully believing him at first. "Show me some tricks?"
"Gladly," He wanted to show off. They halt their walk. He scans her then takes her name-tag from her school uniform, throwing it across the street.
Danah raises an eyebrow, expectantly. "What was that for?" Usually, that kind of act would annoy her because her brother would do these to tease her but she wanted to see what his intention was.
"Don't blink," he simply says. With that, she makes sure to keep her eyes wide open. A second later, her name-tag was already back in his palms. She gasps, "Woah!"
She didn't blink, so she was able to see him swiftly grab the name-tag like he was the Flash. If she did, it totally would've looked like he teleported. "Believe me now?"
"Who said I didn't?" she crosses her arms, still amazed by what she just saw. Vampires are cool, she thought. At first, she was scared of them, but she realized that they were just like Humans with a few advancements. It's unfortunate that they're in hiding.
It is when they both spot one of the reasons Vampires were in hiding. Two Vampire hunters across the street were leaning against their commercial van, talking amongst themselves.
Becoming aware of their presence, Jungwon's eye twitches and he grimaces. He was scared. They scared him more than anyone else because Vampire hunters evolved just to destroy someone like him.
What if they realize that Im here? His mind started wandering. He looked Human enough at the moment, but he couldn't be fully safe.
Danah notices him stiffening up and grabs his hand. At an instant, his guard drops and he looks at her with wondering eyes.
"They won't hurt you," she softly states. "I'll make sure of it." She begins dragging him far away from the hunters, and as she does so, he stares at her intensely.
No one has ever offered him their protection. The world slows as Jungwon began to admire the girl who did not know the extent of her claim to "protect" him. She could risk her life doing so, and he couldn't imagine her ever getting hurt because of him.
Danah then feels soft fur caressing her legs. Taken aback, she looks down to see it was the black cat from a couple days ago. "It's you!" her voice automatically softens. She bends down and pets her, "Hi~"
The cat purrs, seemingly sharing the same happiness Danah had in seeing her. Jungwon licks his lips, unconsciously taking a few steps back to create distance between them.
He was now in fear of something else, but Danah preferred that than the one previously - the hunter.
Danah notices, looking up in amusement. "What? Scared of cats?" she chuckles. "Let me guess, vampires think of cats as some sort of deity?"
The cat looks at him, sending him a feline version of a pout. "No, love cats. However, am allergic." he confesses his weakness to her.
Danah widens her eyes, internally cursing herself. The cat seemed to somehow understand what Jungwon said, taking some offence to it and storming off.
"I didn't know, sorry." She gets up and dusts herself off. "I guess I can't touch you anymore," she laughs.
"Well, I'm not that allergic, I suppose." Jungwon smirks and Danah's heart skips a beat. He was more flirty than she expected.
"You're not funny," she playfully shoves him away from her.
Jungwon grins then looks up at the sky as if something had just caught his attention, admiring the pitch black colour and the stars. "The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" he suddenly brings up.
Danah looks up to eye the moon. "I guess," she shrugs. Before she met "Sheep," she never really liked the night because, to her, it meant loneliness and studying.
Whenever the sun set, Danah felt like she was brought back to real life: being alone at home with no one to talk to and it was the time she had to focus on chores. Furthermore, the night was awfully silent.
Jungwon eyes her with hints of disappointment in her answer... like he was expecting more. She didn't know why she gave him that look, so she decided to ignore it.
It was silent for a bit. Jungwon continued to stare at the sky. Now, they weren't laughing anymore but sinking in to the eerie mess of the night.
"You know, I still can't believe that you're Sheep." she admits, changing the topic and staring into his brown eyes. Now, he was silent. "You guys have two different personalities."
Finally, he looks at her. "Which one do you prefer then?"
This catches Dana off guard. "What do you mean?" she nervously asks.
"If you had to choose, would it be Sheep or Yang Jungwon?" She wasn't sure what he wanted her to tell him. His face was free of expression.
But they're one and the same, she thought. It was perfect, too. Sheep was her crush outside of school while Jungwon was her crush inside school. "I like you both equally," she answers honestly.
Jungwon nods, a bit more satisfied than earlier. All of a sudden, movement was heard behind from behind him, and his nose twitches.
His breath shook as he was familiarizing with the scent. He looks at Danah and whispers, "A Stray."
Danah's heart sinks down into her stomach, recalling the same fear she felt on her encounter with Jett. Jungwon notices this and soothes her by putting a hand on her shoulder before turning around slowly.
"Show yourself," Jungwon commands. A few seconds later, a woman emerges from the shadows, mascara and eyeliner running down her face from tears that she she had been shedding. She looked like she had been crying for days.
Somehow, she was 10x scarier than Jett to Danah. She wore a similar robe to Jett but had a different motive from him: she didn't come to feast but to kill. From the looks of it, she was engulfed in pure hatred and rage, eyes piercing needles into Jungwon's skin.
As if automated, Jungwon goes into defensive mode, arm stretching out in front of Danah to keep her guarded. Danah hated how weak she was and how Jungwon had to always protect her.
"You killed my husband, the father of my children," the woman's voice voice quivered ever so softly. Obviously, she was talking about Jett. "But do not worry, Prince of the Royal Family. I'll soon return the favour."
Does she have an army or something? Danah asks herself. It wasn't the time to ask Jungwon any questions. There was a fire in his eyes that Danah had never seen before until tonight.
Jungwon wasn't scared. Why would he? He had dealt with strays on multiple occasions, like it was his job. He knew that the people he loved would be fine, too. But now, there was something else he had to worry about... and she was right behind him at this very moment.
The woman smiles, pointing at Danah. "I'll kill everyone you love... including her... like you did to my man."
At this, Jungwon hisses at her. "Stay away from my woman." It wasn't the right time, but Danah's face transformed into a tomato witnessing this.
She grins in amusement. "The Royals will regret ever messing with the Strays. I'll be seeing you around, Prince." After her exposition, she turns into a bat and departs, leaving the two processing what just happened.
This basically confirmed to Danah that she would never be safe again nor live the life she used to that was free of Vampires. She was happy she got closer to Jungwon but at what cost?
While Danah was in thought, Jungwon's breathing suddenly stifles. The cat, he cursed.
"She is waging war," Jungwon lowly informs Danah but sounded more like he was informing himself. He lowers his arm and his guard down.
"I'm sorry," she mutters out. "I got you into this; It's my fault. This is all happening because you saved me that one night. You shouldn't have intervened and let me—"
"You're rambling," he cuts her off with a soft smile. "Don't be sorry, you didn't get me into anything. Saving you was my choice."
Danah wasn't at peace with this, she truly felt bad, and Jungwon could tell.
To give her a more assuring statement, he bends to meet eye level with her. "I promise you this, Choi Danah. No one will ever touch you again, and I gladly say this."