Third Vampire Shadows (An Urban Paranormal Romance Novel) (11 page)

“I thought I made it clear that I would never see your ugly face here again… ever,” Mun Oh said, taking a threatening step towards him.

“Who said I came here to see you? I was merely sent to give you an ORDER,”
Han
Kyung
retorted, obviously fighting the urge to attack the arrogant boy before him.

Mun Oh snorted. “An order?”

“Your father said your presence is needed this weekend.
On your birthday
.
”

“And why would I follow this order?” Mun Oh asked.

Han
Kyung
gazed at him, with the smug expression still on his face. “Because they already know about the
girl…
the human girl
.”

Mun Oh remained silent for what seemed like forever. He didn’t even realize he was alone in the park now, for
Han
Kyung
had already muttered a sarcastic “Good luck” and then fled.

•••

Shin Erin and Hyeon Jin were on their way to the almost-deserted school cafeteria to grab a quick snack before heading home.

“So, how did it go for you?” Shin
Erin
asked, placing an apple on her tray.

A skinny guy with bad acne stood next to them in line. He was very calm, even while the three guys next to him were deliberately taking everything on his tray. He simply refilled his tray with everything they took, again and again.
Hyeon
Jin
eyed him with disgust as she took a sandwich and placed it on her tray.

“Hey, I asked how your exam was,” Shin Erin repeated, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She didn’t like being ignored and having to repeat herself.

Hyeon
Jin
shrugged, still watching the loser beside her as he refilled his tray tirelessly. With an annoyed sigh, she snatched away the guy’s tray. The three guys who were relentlessly taking the food away turned silent as they all shifted their attention to a vexed
Hyeon
Jin
.

“You know why you’re so skinny and pimply?” she hissed at the loser, who shook his head. “Because you let these jerks take away your food until you run out of time to eat and you end up not eating at all, so you lose weight. Then you go home and stress over not being able to eat at school because of these three dumbasses, and we all know that stress causes pimples. So there—you become a skinny loser with acne.”

The three guys looked seriously affronted, while the skinny guy stared at her. Before anyone could react, however, a booming voice suddenly filled the air.

“LANGUAGE!”

Everybody except for
Hyeon
Jin turned to look at the cafeteria’s entrance. It was
Mr.
Muscle
, the other history teacher. Nobody noticed his arrival, but he probably thought it was another one of
Hyeon
Jin
’s “bullying” moments.

“
Hyeon
Jin
,” he said in a tone of near-exhilaration.

She rolled her eyes and shoved the tray in the loser’s chest as she turned to face the bald history teacher. He was not even
her
teacher, but he knew her well nonetheless.

He eyed her with that
“you’re-wreaking-havoc-again”
look before speaking.

“Detention. Two hours.”

“Wha—?”
Hyeon
Jin
gasped. She was surprised, even though she usually spent two days a week in detention.

“What did she do?” Shin
Erin
asked irritably.
Hyeon
Jin
felt pleased to have her as her best friend.

“You want to join her?”
Mr.
Muscle
asked.

“Of course not! I was just asking… you know,” Shin Erin said right away with a slight chuckle.

Hyeon
Jin
made a face at her. Okay, maybe sometimes Shin Erin could be a mean best friend. But you couldn’t blame her. She kept her record clean, despite her occasional bullying and mean girl acts here and there.

The bald teacher glanced at the three guys. “Anyone want to join her in detention?”

The three guys shook their heads in unison. The skinny guy with acne still looked shocked, as though being in the center of it all was the most memorable thing that had ever happened to him.

“I’ll let you finish your food,
Hyeon
Jin
. I want you in detention in…” he glanced at his wristwatch, “...five minutes.”

“Wait!”

Everyone turned to look at Shin Erin, whose eyes widened. She immediately shook her head.

“It wasn’t me,” she said defensively.

“That was me,” the skinny guy with acne said, raising a shaky hand. His voice was so squeaky and soft that it could’ve been a girl’s voice. He slightly bowed his head upon realizing that all eyes were on him. “I… I just… It wasn’t her… Umm… Well, I wanted to explain…”

“I don’t have time to listen to your stuttering all day, Mr. what’s-your-name. But it seems to me like you want to join
Hyeon
Jin
in detention,”
Mr.
Muscle
said. “Fine. I’ll see you both in detention.” He turned and marched out of the cafeteria.

“Look who’s in trouble…” the three guys said in a singsong voice.
Hyeon
Jin
threw them a dirty look and they scampered away, chuckling in unison. Maybe they were triplets or something, she thought.

“Hey, let’s eat,” Shin Erin said casually, as though nothing happened.

Hyeon
Jin
hissed at her. “I’m not hungry anymore. I’ll just get this detention over with.”

“You’re coming early to detention? Are you sick or something?” Shin
E
rin
asked, genuinely surprised.

“Shut up. Go straight home, okay? I didn’t see your boyfriend today; no one will probably take you home.”

“Which boyfriend? The cute guy from the other section… or his buff cousin?”

“The buff cousin,”
Hyeon
Jin
said, rolling her eyes. “And they have names, you know: Ki Bum and
Jae
Bum
.”

Shin
Erin
shrugged nonchalantly. “How come you know their names and I don’t?” she mumbled to herself.

Hyeon
Jin
shook her head slowly. “You’re hopeless.” She was just about to turn away when she noticed that the skinny guy with acne still hadn’t moved from his spot.

He was twiddling his thumbs and biting his lips.
Hyeon
Jin
poked him in the forehead, making him jump back in surprise.

“What are you still doing here?” she asked him.

“I… umm… You… I was…” he stuttered.

“What an eyesore…” She breathed out heavily and left for detention with the loser guy in tow.

Outside the school, in the middle of the park across the street, a guy wearing a checkered green-and-white jacket over a white shirt, jeans and sneakers was patiently waiting for someone. He looked lost and devastated, and he had the appearance of someone who needed to be someplace else. Yet he still waited.

Park Juno entered the detention room with a bunch of books balanced in his right hand and a bottle of water in his left hand. Out of boredom, he volunteered to be a student assistant, a.k.a. teacher’s assistant. This week, he was assigned to the detention room, so he ran errands for whoever was in charge. As he placed the books on the table, he saw that it was the young and vibrant math teacher. She smiled at him as he handed her the bottled water.

He was just about to exit the room when he caught a glimpse of a familiar face sitting at the back. She was leaning her chair back on its two back legs as she stared up at the ceiling, humming what sounded like a nursery rhyme.

Park Juno excused himself from the teacher and silently approached the girl. She didn’t look at him immediately, and she seemed to be immersed in her humming.

“
Hyeon
Jin
…” Park Juno said.

No response. She was completely absorbed in her own little world.

“
Hyeon
Jin
!” Park Juno said, quite loudly. That’s when she snapped out of it and blinked at him. It took quite a while before his face registered. She let her chair fall back on its four legs with a loud thud.

“What do you want?” she asked irritably, carefully avoiding his eyes.

“Why are you in detention?”

“None of your damn business.”

“Because of me…” a squeaky, almost-girly voice butted in.

Both
Hyeon
Jin
and Park Juno turned to look at him. The latter appeared to be confused.

“Shut up, loser,”
Hyeon
Jin
snapped at him. “And you, dork, get lost,” she said to Park Juno.

Park Juno sighed.
She still hasn’t changed one bit
, he thought. He studied her for a while and let out another heavy sigh.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he said.

Hyeon
Jin
looked up with interest in her eyes. “Really?” she blurted out, quite excitedly. “I mean… why? I don’t wanna talk to you,” she added in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone.

Park Juno smiled—
that sweet, innocent smile
. She had to look away or else she’d end up smiling back.

“I’ll wait for you at the gates.” He rushed out of the room, leaving a half-annoyed, half-excited
Hyeon
Jin
behind.

“Ummm…” the skinny guy with acne gave a slight cough to get
Hyeon
Jin
’s attention.

“What?”

“I just wanted to say thanks for helping me back there. And sorry for getting you in detention.”

It was her turn to stare at him. He spoke with confidence and in a very casual tone, though his voice still sounded squeaky and girly, and she wondered if he was still the same stuttering loser he was minutes ago.

The guy seemed to get a hint as to why she looked stunned. “I stutter when I’m nervous,” he explained. “I’m
Bae
Ji
Hoon
, by the way. You’re
Hyeon
Jin
, right?” He offered his hand but she simply looked at it.

“Whatever…” she muttered under her breath. “I didn’t get myself in detention for you, loser. And I sure as hell did not help you back there. I was bullying you, stupid.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What did you say?”
Hyeon
Jin
glared at him.

“You’ve bullied me before. Middle school, I think. You might not remember it since you’ve bullied a lot of nameless losers. But you didn’t just bully me like any other mean and heartless bully. You did something to me. I was a stuttering loser back then; I stuttered even when I wasn't nervous.” He paused to smile at her. “You told me that I would never get over my stuttering if I didn’t put an end to it myself. You said it’s simply… mind over matter. I contemplated your words back then, and before I knew it, I didn’t stutter that much anymore.”

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever.
Hyeon
Jin
was simply speechless, while
Ji
Hoon
seemed to be extremely happy. After a while, she cleared her throat and turned away.
Ji
Hoon
swore he saw a flicker of joy in her eyes milliseconds before she looked away.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,
Bae
Ji
Hoon
,” she said indifferently.

“I don’t think you’re a bad person. But you can help people like me change in a different way, not like this.”

Hyeon
Jin
abruptly stood up and looked down at him with anger in her eyes. “I don’t need advice from people like you, okay? And don’t talk to me like you know me. You don’t know me.”

She grabbed her things and headed for the door. She didn’t care if walking out of detention again would mean suspension. That
Bae
Ji
Hoon
guy had clearly struck a nerve.

•••

“Shit, it’s raining. Where the heck is Big Feet?” Mun Oh muttered. He took shelter under a big tree with wide branches.

A minute passed. The raindrops were getting bigger now and the skies were turning into an ugly, murky color. Just when he was about to curse under his breath again, a solitary figure came stomping out of the school gates. She didn’t seem to mind the rain that was beginning to soak her hair and her uniform.