Sangrè de Luna | EN-

Chapter XIV

"Yuna!" someone called for me as soon as I walked out onto the backyard with Jangmi.

The voice came from our right, somewhere towards the direction of the river. We both turned our heads to see Sunghoon jogging towards us with an umbrella, giving him shade. Following close behind him was Sunoo.

"Hey boys!" I greeted them as they reached us.

Sunghoon and I high-fived while Sunoo straight up hugged me tight. After our little exchange of skinships, The boys turned their attention to Jangmi.

Sunoo was the first one to greet her. "Oh, hello! I've seen you around but I never asked for your name."

Jangmi, like the soft spoken and polite girl that she is, bowed to both of them at a 90° angle. "Hello. I'm Kim Jangmi. Nice to officially meet you both."

Sunoo returned the gesture, accompanied by his signature sunshine smile. Jangmi couldn't help but smile along since Sunoo's smile was very contagious. I also cracked a grin, not to tag along, but because it was nice seeing the reserved and quiet Jangmi meet and talk to other people in the orphanage.

Sunghoon, on the other hand, seemed to be frozen in place. His wide eyes gazed at Jangmi. His mouth was slightly ajar. He wasn't even blinking. He just stood there with his umbrella and stared at Jangmi for a little while.

"Yah hyung!" Sunoo nudged the unmoving vampire, causing Sunghoon to snap out of his trance. "Stop staring. You're scaring the girl."

Sunghoon seemed to notice Jangmi lowering her head. She was twiddling her thumbs as a sign of bashfulness or nervousness. Either way, Sunghoon seemed worried.

"H-hey," Sunghoon began to speak but stuttered instead. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Umm, hello. I guess you already know me, either just right now or the fire incident a while back."

Honestly, he barely made any sense of what he's saying.

Jangmi, though still refusing to meet his gaze, nodded as a response. Sunghoon, Sunoo, and I were able to hear her mutter something but she spoke a little too softly for us to catch on.

This made Sunghoon sigh quietly. He then turned to me. "The rest of us are at a lake nearby. Wanna join us?"

I nodded. "Perfect timing! I've been thinking of what to do during shift's end," that's when I linked my arm with Jangmi. "Can she come along too?"

Jangmi looked at me and shook her head. Her eyes begged me not to drag her into this. She both eyed the boys cautiously, only to immediately look away once her eyes landed upon Sunghoon.

I nudged her a little. "C'mon! You're going to be fine there."

"Yeah! More the merrier!" Sunoo chimed.

She cracked up a little smile from Sunoo's sunny persona. Although, it seemed it wasn't enough to get her to go. That was until Sunghoon spoke up again.

"I won't hurt you."

As soon as he said that, Jangmi looked at him as if she had found the courage to do so. When Sunghoon finally caught her attention, he cleared his throat to speak again.

"I know I might've scared you during that outburst before. I know I'm this Red no one dares to talk to. Your fear of me is understandable. But, I mean it when I say I won't hurt you."

All three of us stared at Sunghoon.

Sunghoon is many things: a powerful vampire, a loud introvert, a caring hyung, and most noticably a prideful man. He takes pride of being the only true Red in the entire orphanage, even if he keeps it under wraps. He shows off cool fire tricks to the boys. He boasts about being so handsome. The man is pure pride.