Third Vampire Shadows (An Urban Paranormal Romance Novel) (24 page)

"We don't have much time," the other man whispered. "Believe me, you're just gonna make it harder for her if you let her see you in this state," he said to Mun Oh.

That shut him up. Although he couldn't bear not to see her before he submitted to the deep slumber that could change his life forever, he realized that it must be much more agonizing for her to see him like that. It could ruin her life as well and possibly traumatize her forever. He didn't want that to happen. He could not just lie there and sleep peacefully while she cried herself to sleep every night with nothing but thoughts of him.

With one last glance up and down the street, he thought bitterly of their last time together inside the movie theater. They had been, as usual, fighting.
How ironic
, he thought with a bittersweet smile.
The first time we were together we fought and argued, and now... the last time we were together, we still fought and argued.

The bespectacled man tugged at his arm and jerked his head forward as he and the other man stared at him. He looked up at the skies; the clouds were formed into thin strips as the setting sun glowed orange.

This is it... my last sunset,
he thought, still scanning the surroundings for
Hyeon
Jin
.

"She's not coming. Let's go," The mustached man whispered for the last time. He tightened his grip on Mun Oh and in the blink of an eye, they were gone.

Limping and groaning in pain with every step,
Hyeon
Jin
slowly made her way back to the movie theater. She was silently cursing
Han
Kyung
for possibly breaking a bone in her left arm and definitely spraining her ankle. She clutched her left arm, gently massaging it. The lobby was almost empty and there was a quelled feeling to it, as though some invisible force had just passed by. She quickly scanned the place in case Mun Oh was already outside, before continuing to the dark theater.

As she stepped inside and made her way over to where Mun Oh was supposed to be seated, a sinking feeling overwhelmed her. The seat was empty. The whole row was empty. She looked around the cinema. No more than ten people were in there—most of them were couples, and none of them was
Lee
Mun
Oh
. The sinking feeling was somewhat connected to the dry lump in her throat, making her unable to utter a word. But she had to. Taking her place in the middle aisle, she yelled as loud as she could.

"
YAH!
LEE
MUN
OH! Where are you?
"

Almost everyone turned to glare at her, some of them shushing her and one middle-aged man even cursed at her. But she didn't care; she needed to find him before...
before it happened
. Taking a deep breath, she tried again.

"Mun Oh, you pest! If you don't come out right now, I swear I'm gonna tell all these people your bloody secret!"

Someone threw a popcorn box at her. It missed her injured arm by inches. Tears were now welling up inside her eyes. The physical and emotional pain as well as the humiliation and fear were all ganging up on her. It was near sunset now and she needed to be with him when it happened. Plucking up enough courage, she screamed at the dark movie theater again.

"MUN OH! This is NOT funny anymore! Show yourself!" The tears streamed endlessly down her face like a waterfall. "Come out, you stupid pest! I'll kick your butt back to
Ouagadougou
if I find out you’re pulling a prank on me!" She wiped away her tears and stomped out, ignoring the loud and angry curses aimed at her.

Maybe he's looking for me outside!
She thought desperately, sprinting outside and blocking out the pain that shot from her ankle. She searched every shop, stall, kiosk and building up and down the streets, her feet ready to give up any minute now.
Why would he leave me here? I thought he wanted to be with me during his last minutes.
She slumped down the sidewalk in front of the theater, burying her face in her hands.
I swear... when he wakes up, I am gonna make sure that the next time he sleeps, he'll never wake up again!
She thought.

Her eyes stung with hot tears again, but she held them back, thinking someone who left her without even a goodbye was not worth crying her eyes out over. She grabbed the paper bag containing the hideous shirt and stared at it for a second. Just when she was about to dump it in a nearby trash can, a strong hand pulled it away.

Holding back a shriek of surprise, she hastily covered her mouth, realizing too late that she had used her injured left arm. She yelped in pain and a few people turned to look. Flashing them an
awkward
smile, she stared at the guy before her holding out the paper bag that she was about to dispose seconds ago.

"Giving up already?
Tsk, tsk
. And I actually thought you were different from
your kind
."

"You... You! What're you— I thought you already left!" she stuttered, massaging her left arm.

"Come with me."
Han
Kyung
said, his tone grave.

"No! You broke my arm and probably my back and you sprained my ankle and— I don't wanna come with you!" she screamed in his face.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you wanna see him or not?"

She froze in mid-scream.

"
It
will happen a little after sunset," he said.

"What? It's... it's not midnight?" she asked.

"No. Now, do you wanna come or not?" He held out the paper bag for her again, quite impatiently.

She peered into the dark and unsmiling face of the bloodsucker before her. Although he seemed to be quite serious about it, experience told her that she should not trust this guy again. She had already gotten into too much trouble by trusting him. But logic also told her that his sudden help offer might be genuine, at least for now, given the circumstances.

"How old are you?"
Hyeon
Jin
asked out of the blue.

The bloodsucker was taken aback. "What?"

"Just answer it," she insisted.

"I'm 18. Turning 19… next month," he replied awkwardly.

She grabbed the paper bag and flashed him a smile. "You should act your age, you know. That way I wouldn't think you're just a grumpy young man whose life is so boring that you take pride in messing with other people's lives." She frowned at him. "Why are you helping me anyways?" she added in an undertone.

The sun was now setting, sinking lower into the horizon, signaling the end of another long day and the start of a fateful night. Street lamps and signs from the shops and nearby buildings illuminated them.
Han
Kyung
turned on his heel and shrugged.

"Because I'm a grumpy young man who’s got nothing better to do but mess up other people's lives..." he said loudly, "... and sometimes, when I’m in a good mood, help them fix it up."

In spite of everything she had experienced within the last hour, she gave a hearty laugh, her expressive and smoky eyes lighting up for a second. No words were exchanged between them after that.
Hyeon
Jin
climbed onto his back with a little difficulty, thanks to her broken arm, and then they were off to wherever the
Lee
manor was located.

As expected from a bloodsucker's amazingly eccentric way of traveling, they were already at their destination by the time the darkness filled the surroundings. The full moon was rising, surrounded by a million stars sparkling in the vast sky. It was quite a magnificent view and she felt sad that Mun Oh wouldn't get to see things like this for a very long while.

"We're here. He should be in his room—second floor, third door on the right,"
Han
Kyung
said, walking her to the door. "Don't tell him I brought you here. I'll bite your head off," he threatened before walking away. "And don't bother thanking me..." he interrupted, as though reading her mind.” I did not do this for you... or for him."

Grinning to herself, she rushed to him and gave him a quick one-arm hug from the back. "Thanks anyway…" she mumbled before running into the house and up the majestic marble staircase. Following
Han
Kyung
's instructions, she turned right at the second floor landing and stopped in front of the third door.

Holding her breath, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

There he was, lying on his bed as though it was his deathbed. He was wearing the most casual human clothes instead of his usual black tux.
Dark colored jeans and a simple white shirt, but he looked more stunning than ever.
She could tell there was an argument about the clothes he'd wear, for she immediately saw the tux and black pants lying on a heap in the floor beside the bed.
Ji
Hyun
, Min Ah, Ji Sun and the five elders were huddled around the foot of the bed, blocking Mun Oh's view of
Hyeon
Jin
, who was still at the door. Not wasting any more time, she limped toward the bed, ready to shove anyone who would get in her way.

"
Hyeon
Jin
! What're you doing here?" Ji Sun exclaimed. The others were quite surprised by her appearance as well.

In one quick move, she slapped Mun Oh right across the face, his head bouncing off the pillow soundlessly. His reaction was unfathomable but one could tell that he was just as surprised as everyone else.

"If you leave me like that again, I swear I'm gonna knock your stupid pest face off your head!" she threatened. He propped himself up on his elbows and gave her a wry smile.

"You are not supposed to be here, human—" one of the elders said.

"Shut the hell up! Would you give us a minute?!" she interrupted, glaring at everyone in the room.

Everyone in the room stared at her in astonishment, except for Mun Oh, who suddenly snickered hoarsely.

"Come on, we don't have all day; get moving!" she yelled yet again. The elders didn't go out quietly, and they whispered angrily among themselves.
Hyeon
Jin
caught the words 'disrespectful human' and 'arrogant girl' quite a few times, but she chose to ignore it. Min Ah and
Ji
Hyun
shook their heads and took one final solemn look at their son before leaving the room. Ji Sun went over to kiss Mun Oh on the cheek and then squeezed her stepdaughter on the left arm in a sympathizing manner. Unfortunately, that was her injured arm. She winced in pain but offered a forced smile nevertheless.

Being the sharp-eyed bloodsucker that he was, Mun Oh didn't miss that. He frowned at her, examining her closely.

"What's wrong?" he asked in the same hoarse voice. "And why are you here? Who brought you here?"

"I should be the one asking you the questions! Why did you leave without telling me? Selfish pest!" she said, pointing a finger at his face. That's when she noticed how pale his face was. Not that it wasn't always pale. But at that very moment, it was pale beyond comparison, as if he had some rare blood disease or had seen a ghost. His beautiful features looked dull up close; his dark and mysterious eyes were lifeless.

"I can't explain everything right now. I just didn't want you to see me like this," he said in a sad tone. It was not like him to speak to her in a mild manner, especially after she had just slapped him in front of his whole clan.

She bit her lip and sunk down on the chair at his bedside. "Is it...?" She twiddled with her fingers. "It already happened...?"

He coughed and she could practically hear the agony with every sound coming out of his mouth. She closed her eyes, unable to look at him. He was right; she could not bear to see him this vulnerable, defenseless and almost lifeless. Maybe she really shouldn't have been here. Now she had to blame
Han
Kyu
ng
for bringing her here again.

"
Hyeon
Jin
," Mun Oh called out, his voice still hoarse. "I... I'm glad that you're here."

She looked up, confused.

"I thought I could do this without you… that it was better that way. But I guess I couldn't do it after all," he said.

"What's happening to you? I thought you were just gonna sleep..." Her voice trailed off as she looked away again. "Why are you so pale and why do you look like you're... so sick...?" She couldn't hide the fear and grief in her voice.

He looked away from her as well, staring at the moon outside through the wide-open windows. A cool breeze entered the room and he coughed some more. His eyes started to droop.

"I don’t know... it's my first time, remember?" he said, and then he yawned. "You know, I... I like the movie I was watching before they took me away." He focused his eyes on her; she was still staring at her fingers. "It was beautiful. A love story between a vampire hunter-turned-werewolf and a human. It was..." he thought for a while, then slowly shook his head. "I can relate to it. You should watch it sometime— it's called '
Van Helsing
,'" he said, and paused to smirk before saying, "You want me to spell it out for you?"