𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕖𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥

-나는 그들의 것, 그들은 내 꺼야-

"i'm sorry you had to find out like this" he whispered in my ear

but... what did i even find out...

🌷

"m-mingyu, please let me go" i muttered out, my hands trembling. he pulled away and looked down at my trembling figure

"are you okay?" he asked me in a soft voice, "please, don't be afraid of us and just let us explain" he said. i looked up at his tear-stained eyes, "what is he?" i said under my breath

"he should be the one to explain that to you" he said. he brought his hand up to caress my cheek, but i flinched, and he backed away, hurt evident in his eyes

"why don't you come downstairs and eat, you said it yourself, you're hungry" he held one of my hands in his. i looked at the hand he held me with as if it would hurt me

"b-but... i'm afraid" i muttered as tears formed in my eyes, "they won't hurt you, i promise" he reassured me. "can you just tell me what he is. last night y-you said, 'let us explain' meaning it isn't j-just him. so please just tell me" i asked again, my voice stuttering and a tear leaving my eyes

he stayed silent as i looked at his hands, he let out a small sigh

i just want answers...

"we're um... we're" he couldn't even seem to say the words, he chuckled bitterly as he rubbed his eyes for a moment

"this is the first time i can't say the damn words. i've been this monster for centuries and this is the first time i'm ashamed to say what i am" he chuckled, but there was no amusement in his words

i looked up at him with rounded eyes, centuries?!

"m-monster?" i muttered out in shock

"i've been alive for almost seven hundred years areum. we're immortal beings" he said in a calm voice

"w-what" i backed away from him trembling in fear

"we're vampires... all thirteen of us" he said with a serious expression on his face

"that's why the girl was bleeding on the floor and why jeonghan had blood on his lips" he explained, "i-is the woman okay?" i muttered, horrified at what i had just discovered

"yeah, we healed her, and she won't remember what happened" he said

"how do you know she won't remember w-what happened to her?" i held my hands near my chest, feeling a strange pain over my heart

it wasn't a physical pain, but i felt like my heart was being ripped to pieces. my whole life has been a lie. they're bloodsucking monsters, they've killed thousands of people probably. but... are they still the same people i know?

i've been with them my entire life and never have they done anything to harm me. they've treated me with kindness, and they care for me deeply

"we compelled her to forget that anything happened. we made her believe that she drank until she blacked out" he said, stepping closer to me

"c-compelled her? h-have you ever done that to me?" i mumbled at his words and i looked up at him with horrified eyes

"no, we haven't. after a while of having you here at the house, we vowed that we would never compel you and we never have" he reached out to hold my hands again and he placed my hands over his heart

i could feel his heart beating in his chest

"areum, we're still the same people you know. even though we have killed people we have never enjoyed it" he said as genuinely as he could, "we were forced to become these monsters, it wasn't our will. we never wanted this. and we're too scared to kill ourselves so we continued existing and living in this horrible world, being forced to kill to survive and because our bloodlust sometimes controls us, and we can't do much about it" he explained. i could see a few tears in his eyes as he recalls the past

"please don't be afraid of us and please don't hate us" he pleaded again

i suppose it is true what he's saying. my whole life mingyu has been a soft person to me, he's always taken care of me. he must hate himself for what he is... but he is still my mingyu. the man that would make me breakfast every morning and the one that would tease me with nicknames... he is still my mingyu

and i have to believe that the others are still the same people...

"o-okay" i muttered as i took my heart away from his chest

"thank you for telling me" i placed my hands near my chest again. "will you have breakfast with us, please" he asked again, a little more hopeful than before

"yes"

they're vampires... i repeated to myself

it explains so much...

it explains why they're so tense when i'm on my period, even when i haven't told them... it explains why sometimes their eyes turn red when they're angry... it explains why jungkook took me out of that club when my hand was bleeding...

what, does that mean that the other three guys that were there were also vampires?

eunwoo... was a vampire and-and so was jaehyun and jaybeom...

kook too...?

that was what i was thinking on my way downstairs to meet the others

when i came across the living room where all of them were

"areum" vernon stood up from his seat

i told mingyu i wouldn't be afraid of them but it's going to be a while before i can speak to them like i used to

i just found out that they are supernatural beings. i need some time... i'm still afraid

"can i just go eat?" i muttered to mingyu as he held my hand

"let's go" he walked in front of me and guided me to the kitchen. from the corner of my eye, i could see him shake his head 'no' to the others

i felt the other follow us as mingyu led me to the kitchen

even thought there was light pouring through the large windows, it felt gloomy and cold

somi was there in the kitchen as well, preparing the table for us to eat. she looked at me with a concerned face when she saw the expression on my face, "areum, are you okay?" she saw that i had been crying because of my teary eyes. i softly nodded at her question, giving her a small smile

"somi, can you please give us the room" seungcheol said behind me, startling me a little

vernon took my free hand into his cold ones and brought me to one of the chairs, helping me to sit down comfortably

somi bowed and left the room

the rest of them sat down as well, jun across from me, and joshua and soonyoung by my sides

they all looked like they didn't sleep last night. they looked exhausted and had red, tired eyes

"can we please explain?" jihoon asked me, he was sitting beside jun. he looked devastated as if he watched his lover die in his arms

"mingyu already explained a few things" i muttered as i looked at the empty plate in front of me

i chuckled bitterly thinking about the situation that's unfolding before me, "i still almost don't believe that you're vampires" i chuckled with no amusement

seungcheol stood up from his seat at the front of the table, he walked to the kitchen and grabbed a knife

he stabbed the knife in his hands without hesitating or flinching. the others didn't even blink at his actions

i screamed, "seungcheol!" i shouted as i ran to his side, grabbing his hand and watched the wound disappear, his hand healed before my eyes

"w-what" i said underneath my breath, my eyes going wide, "do you need more evidence, or was that enough?" his face was blank as i looked up at him

"n-no" i stuttered out and looked at the others, "y-you're really... you're really vampires" i mutter underneath my breath, swallowing harshly

"can you please tell me why you kept it from me?" i said as a tear slipped down my cheek, but i quickly wiped it away

-joshua's pov-

"we- we were afraid of how you would react" seokmin said after taking a sip of some water

"that you would be afraid of us like you are now" i continued, "i-i'm not a-afraid-"

"yes, you are areum. your heart is beating like crazy, and you have shaky breaths" i said to her

she gulped at my words, "i-i'm sorry. it's going to take some time f-for me to get used to this" she looked down at her hands, fidgeting with them like she always did when she was nervous or didn't know what to say

"it's alright, we understand" myungho said from beside me. i turned to look at him

he looked disappointed in himself and i could tell he hated himself in that moment from his expression

"do you have any questions?" seungkwan asked her as he approached her figure, she shook her head and backed away from everyone

"i-i" she started, "i just want to be alone for now" she ran off to her room

i watched her figure run up the stairs until she was out of sight

"she didn't even eat" i muttered as i looked at all the empty plates in front of me

myungho broke down beside me, tears streaming down from his face. the others looked too numb to cry, especially soonyoung and jeonghan

this was our worst fear, her knowing what we were and her not accepting us. she hasn't rejected us yet, but there's still a chance that might happen. i saw the girl grow up into a woman, i was beside her in her darkest moments. i need her in my life, i can't imagine it without her in it with me... with all of us. the worst is yet to come, she still doesn't know that we were hitmen in the mafia and what atrocities we have committed

i hope she doesn't reject us for what we were forced to become...

i left the kitchen without speaking a word and walked into the living room

i could hear her crying from there. it was heartbreaking

somi walked in with a worried expression, "sir, is miss areum alright? why is she crying?" she asked, "don't worry miss somi, we're just having an emotional day" i reassured her with a small smile

areum was just starting to go back to the happy girl she used to be, she always had that beautiful smile, and she was laughing again. a pure genuine laugh that doesn't have sadness behind it. she was happy, and now she's crying again

🌷

-soonyoung's pov-

night was already over us and areum still hasn't let her room, i could no longer hear her crying. i was a little worried that she had become dehydrated

i wish i could comfort her in some way, but right now that's impossible for me to do...

jeonghan was to blame for this entire situation. he was the one careless enough to get caught feeding

she was going to find out one day, but it shouldn't have been like that. i wanted to be the one to tell her, i was going to sit her down one day in the future and tell her and i would tell her about my feelings

she would be afraid, but i think she would eventually understand and accept it

after she saw jeonghan last night we all knocked on her door trying to get her to open up, but she wouldn't even respond to our pleads. we also had to heal the woman jeonghan almost killed and compel her to forget everything that happened to her. the poor girl had a rough day, so we made our driver take her home personally

"jeonghan..." i said through gritted teeth as i looked at him, glaring daggers into him, he looked at me with teary eyes, pathetic, i thought.  "i'm going to kill you"

my eyes turned blood red in anger and just like my eyes, i only saw red

i grabbed his collar and started punching the shit out of him

but he just took it, not even trying to fight back because he knew he deserved it for what he did

it felt good to punch him. all my anger was being let out

he groaned from the pain, but he didn't try to stop me or even try to punch back

unfortunately, jihoon pulled me off him

i punched jeonghan so hard that my knuckles were bleeding and so was his face, some of his teeth were even missing. too bad we heal quickly

he was too numb to care. we were all frustrated, mad, and worst of all we were heartbroken

"pathetic bastard" i said to him

"i'm going to call chris, tell him what happened" seungcheol walked out the room without another word

i could tell he was also heartbroken. he was good at hiding his emotions, but i've been by his side for seven hundred years, i know what he's feeling. he just doesn't want to show it

he's still acting like the leader of an elite group of hitmen, he isn't acting like the person he really is

seungcheol may not show it but he's actually a very sensitive person, you can't see it because of his cold exterior, but that's the type of person he really is. he had to make a new persona when he started to lead us as hitmen

he had to appear cold and heartless in front of those people and now i think he's making himself believe that that's the type of person he really is. it's become his way of dealing with shit like this

-seungcheol's pov-

i picked up my phone and dialed his phone as i walked to my study

it started ringing and he answered, "hello?" he said from the other side, "she knows what we are" i said emotionless. i didn't even give him a chance to answer as i hung up and closed the doors to my study

up to this point i hadn't shed a tear because of the situation, but i was at my breaking point. i let out a small breath i didn't know i was holding in

i locked the door and walked to my desk, staring at it for a moment

the only thing i could hear was white noise and it felt like it was suffocating me

i broke...

i threw everything off my desk out of anger, all the papers that were on it flying everywhere

i grabbed my chair and threw it to the floor, and it broke in pieces. i flipped my table and screamed, tears fell from my eyes and i broke down on the floor

please don't let this be happening

🌷

-areum's pov-

i woke up to the sound of birds at my window, the day was sunnier than before

i looked at the clock beside my bed, it read 7:56 am. "i'm late for school" i muttered out, not really caring much about it. it's not like someone's going to worry i'm missing; i basically don't know anyone in that school

i sat up from my bed and faced the windows, taking in this one fleeting moment of peace before i have to get up and face them again. face the nightmare that i'm trapped in

but... they're still the people i've been with my entire life. they're the guys that i love... it's not like i could ever leave them

there was a small knock at my door, "w-who is it?" i asked, "it's me jeonghan"

jeonghan...

"can i come in?" he asked in a small voice

i said nothing for a moment, not sure what i was waiting for. maybe some sign to tell me if i should let him in or not

"areum?" he asked again after he didn't hear me respond

"y-yes, come in" i stuttered out, i didn't realize i was spacing out

he walked in with my permission

jeonghan was wearing black sweatpants and a white tank top. he stepped a little closer to me, "hey" he said just above a whisper

he looked like a wreck. his hair was a mess and his eyes looked irritated from all the crying he's been doing

i looked down at his hand and i saw he was holding a glass of water, "what do you want?" i muttered

"i want to explain and also i want to apologize to you" he walked a little closer to me

what does he have to apologize for?

"may i sit next to you?" he said cautiously

i nodded softly

"yesterday you ran off scared, i didn't know if you would let me talk to you" he said as he sat next to my figure

"oh... right" i looked down at my hands and fidgeted with the cuticles on my fingers

"drink some water, you haven't eaten or drank anything since the other night" he offered me the drink he was holding and i took it, only now realizing how dry my throat was

"areum, we were never going to hurt you, we never planned on that. you were a little baby that myungho found at the side of the road that we all fell in love with. we kept you with us because you captivated us from the moment you arrived, we protected you, we cared for your every need because we love you" he explained

"we didn't want to become the monsters we are now. it was forced onto us by another man. we became monsters to survive because we're too afraid to die, too afraid of what comes after and the uncertainty of it" he continued

i chuckled a little remembering mingyu's words to me yesterday, "mingyu oppa said the same thing"

"it's the truth" he responded

"everyone's afraid of death even if they don't want to admit it. some more than others... i am too i guess" i looked up at him, "i understand why you did it i suppose" i gave him a small smile

"please don't be afraid of us. we'll never hurt you" he said, and i nodded softly

i know you would never do that... don't worry

"do you have any other questions?" he placed one of his hands on my shoulder, trying to comfort me

"are... are kook and chris also... vampires?" i mustered up the strength to say the words, somewhat afraid of the answer

"yes, they are" he responded, and i let out a small, disappointed sigh, "we need strong people to protect you. we're dangerous people and there are people that could go after you if they find out you're important to us" he explained

why would people be after you and why would they go after me?

"what about somi?" he chuckled softly, "no, she's a normal human girl"

tears slipped down my eyes as i looked up at him for a moment, "please, don't cry" he said to me as he wiped the tears away

"i wish this wasn't happening" i whispered through my sobs

he pulled me into a hug, my face burying into his chest. "if you want... we could compel you to forget what we are" he suggested

i pulled away and looked at him with a shocked expression

"w-what, no!" my eyes widened in shock

i don't want this to be happening but it's better to know than to stay in the dark forever

"i want to keep my memories" i responded

"if that's what you want" he looked down at his hands for a moment, almost a little disappointed

"you should go downstairs and eat" he stood up and placed a small kiss on my forehead. his actions took me by surprise

"o-okay" i stuttered out

he walked out the room and closed the door behind him

thank you jeonghan... for explaining

i stayed there looking at the window again for a moment. "two days ago, i had a normal life" i muttered

"not really normal, but normal for me" i whispered

i went to the shower and changed into some warm clothes

what she was wearing:

i descended down the stairs and i headed to the kitchen, still not seeing any of them

but when i entered the kitchen jeonghan, mingyu, chan, and seungkwan were the only ones there, they were talking quietly amongst themselves

they stopped speaking once they noticed my presence

"good morning" i mumbled as i walked up to them

"are you alright?" chan asked as he approached me, "i'm better, don't worry. i'm just hungry" i said in a small voice

"i'll serve you breakfast now" mingyu said

he served me breakfast and i sat down on the dinner table to eat it

there was an awkward silence, no one really knew what to say, they were just seemed glad i was downstairs. they must have been worried sick about me

"how about... we all go out to the beach?" mingyu said looking at me

it was rather sudden to suggest such a thing. it was november and he wanted to go to the beach

but at the same time, it's been years since i've been and going to the beach has always been a healing thing for me

i nodded softly at his suggestion

"i'll go tell the others" seungkwan said standing up and walking out, "isn't it too cold? areum might catch a cold" jeonghan argued

"i'll be fine don't worry about me, plus we won't go in the water anyways" i said just above a whisper, giving him a small smile

"thank you for explaining everything to me" i mumbled looking down at my food continuing to eat without looking up to see his reaction

i'll have to change if i want to go to the beach at this time of the year

what they were wearing:

(a/n i don't think you understand how hard it was to find these pictures)

what she was wearing:

i walked down the stairs again after i changed. i was still in a rather low mood, but i was better than i was a few hours ago

when they saw me approach them, they looked at me like i would break from the smallest thing

i don't blame them, i would be doing the same thing

i'm still a little hesitant to be around them, but i still love them

"is it a vampire thing or do you guys like going all out when you dress yourselves?" i said chuckling, trying to lighten up their mood a bit

"that's just how we dress" jeonghan said laughing a bit

"are we going to go or are we just going to stand here?" wonwoo asked, and they all immediately started walking to the door

we got into two different cars and headed to the beach; the ride was very long since we lived pretty far from the beach

it gave me time to relax and get used to being around them, now knowing what they are and what they've done

when we arrived at the beach the sun was already beginning to set

the beach was beautiful, and even though there was a very cold breeze the sun warmed my face

"hey, we're matching" vernon says walking towards me "yeah i guess so" i said smiling at him "are you really almost 700 years old?" "yeah" he responded "so you've seen a million beaches and countless sunsets" i said looking down a little sad "yeah but this one's the most beautiful one because you're here" i said smiling, making me blush

"i bet you've set that to countless women" i responded with a small smile on my face

"you'd be surprised" he chuckled, " you do know that we're all pretty much loners" he said laughing

"seungkwan, are you guys loners?!?" i shouted in his direction since he was pretty far from us "yeah" he shouted back

i huffed not wanting that to be true, "whatever"

we were all pretty separated from each other, everyone except vernon and me were by the water, talking as we looked at the view in front of us

this is nice...

for a moment there was a calm silence that fell on us. it wasn't awkward it was a comfortable silence, content with each other's presence

"can i tell you something?" he suddenly spoke

"sure, what is it" i muttered as i played with the sand at my feet

"i... i have feelings for someone... but i don't know how to tell her, and she might not even feel the same way as me... she recently found something out i would of rathered her not know" he slowly explained as he looked at me to see my reaction

"oh" i said. i stopped playing with the sand and looked up to him, a little disappointed at his words but i can't seem to figure out why

you have feelings for someone...

"oh um... what she like?" i asked him, "she's beautiful for one, and she's very clumsy even though she used to dance ballet and was very graceful, and she has the most beautiful smile i've ever seen" he said smiling at the thought of this girl

why does my heart hurt?

he must truly love her if he looks like that when he speaks of her

"y-you should just tell her, don't overthink it" i told him as i looked at my hands for a moment

"that's good advice" he said

he lifted my chin and made me look up at him, "the girl is you" he had a small smile on his face

my breath hitched, my ears becoming red from all the blood rushing to my face

"w-what?" i stuttered out, "i love you" he said, "the girl i spoke about it you" he chuckled at my reaction

"i don't know when it happened, but i fell for you and i'm telling you this because i'm not ashamed of my feelings. you don't have to respond right away, but i just want you to know how i feel" he explained as he caressed my cheek with his thumb

"y-yeah" i said not entirely believing what he had just said, "i'm not going to respond right away because i don't really know what it's like to have feelings for someone. the last time i had a crush i was seven" i chuckled remembering the past

"i do want time and thank you. thank you for telling me" i responded with a smile

"i know you might never see me the same way after what you saw jeonghan do but we're still the same people we were before" he kissed my forehead

"yeah, you're right. you're still the same people" i muttered as i pulled him into a hug

from the corner of my eye, i could see seungcheol and wonwoo glaring at us. but i brushed it off

he pulled me closer, and my face reached his neck

you smell like home...

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