𝕘𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕟-𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕟 | ᴇɴ-

𝟏𝟓

Sunghoon

We've gathered in Sunoo's new room, away from everyone. It's been a while since we've been together like this. Most of the time we're forced to stay apart and drowning under the maid's stares. But today we've come together again to forget about the other orphan's coldness and the new treatment we receive.

"No way, I'm taller than you!" Jungwon is saying.

"Not yet, Won-ie," Heeseung-hyung mocks.

We're scattered around the room, some of us sprawled on the floor, chatting and catching up since we haven't seen each other in a couple of days. Sunoo sits across from me. I hadn't seen him since the day they took him away, but he looks fine. Niki told me they spoke one night and that he said the maids hadn't hurt him. That calms me. He does look alright despite having it worse than the rest of us. I know the Mistress visits him with the head nurse constantly. During my duties I've glimpsed at a medical sheet about him too, but the head nurse doesn't let me look at it. I hope he knows we're looking out for him.

"I'm pretty sure I'm your height now, hyung," Jungwon continues.

"Keep dreaming."

"I'll measure you," Jake offers and moves over to compare them.

The two stand back to back as the rest of us watch. Jay-hyung sits beside me and studies me with his gaze. I pretend I don't notice. They all look at me that way. Like I'm a ticking time bomb. Even Niki does it sometimes, who sits behind me now.

"Our hyung is still taller," Jake declares after examination.

"Ha!" Heeseung-hyung celebrates.

Jungwon sulks. "At least I'm still taller than Niki."

"For now!" our maknae says.

Sunoo laughs along with them. I smile, but I feel Jay-hyung's gaze on me all the same.

"How have you been feeling?" he finally asks me.

"I'm fine," I tell him, but he's staring down at our wrists side by side. Mine looks significantly thinner. I pull it away.

"You're still...," he searches for the right words, "you still can't stomach much?"

I throw up everything that falls on my mouth, to the point where I've given up on even trying. All I consume now is water. I'm starving every day and yet feel nauseous at the sight of the food we're given. My visits to the bathroom to empty my stomach haven't stopped, though it isn't food I'm throwing up anymore.

"No," I answer quietly.

He regards me for another moment before speaking again. "I think I may know why."

I look at him. Did he put the pieces together? Does he know what's wrong with me? With us?

"I have a theory," he announces, loud enough for the others to hear.

"A theory?" Heeseung-hyung asks.

They all turn to him, curious.

"About what's happening with us," he says. "I think I may have known all along, I just wasn't ready to accept it. But I can't pretend it isn't true."

"What is it?" Sunoo asks.

"I've been thinking about that day at the courtyard when that kid was bleeding. It wasn't just Sunoo who wanted to get to him. We all did. He just got to him first, but it could've been any of us. I know you will all deny it, but we're craving blood. I know it isn't just me."

The others shift in their places uncomfortably. Our hyung looks away.

"Remember the night we ran away?" Jay-hyung asks us.

"How could I forget?" Jake says. Heeseung gives him a strange look.

"I told you about something I read, some monsters. They're called vampires. They're creatures of legend and myth that feed on blood. Human blood."

"Why are you telling us this? Are you saying we...?" Niki drifts off. He can't speak the words we're all thinking.

"I don't like it either, trust me, but it would explain some things. Like how we all got sick and couldn't seem to get better. The only one of us who did was Heeseung-hyung."

We turned to him then and he flustered under our gazes.

"I didn't— I haven't— I... I don't know what you mean," he stammers.

"You were the only healthy one, hyung," Jungwon tells him. "When the rest of us got the fever, you got better."

"But only towards the end because he did something different from the rest of us," Jay-hyung completes. "He drank blood. That night at the swimming pool there was blood on your shirt, hyung. You drank it, didn't you?"

"I... I..." Heeseung-hyung looks nervously at us.

"But Sunoo drank some too that night," Jake says.

"And he probably felt better afterwards," Jay rebuts. "And the rest of us that haven't drank it yet are getting sick all over again. Because we... we need it."

He whispers the last part, unable to accept the truth. Because if it's true, that would make us monsters.

"Why do vampires drink blood?" I ask.

"Because they don't have any themselves. They're bloodless."

Maybe that's why I've been throwing up blood. When I empty my stomach on the bathroom now it's only blood. But I don't say it aloud. The only one that knows is Niki and I asked him to keep quiet about it. I have to figure out a way to tell the others.

"So you're saying that's why we're sick?" Sunoo asks. "Because we're turning into... vampires and losing our blood?"

"I think so," Jay-hyung answers. "And the only way to get better is to drink."

Jake curses and Jungwon looks away, thoughtful.

"There's another problem," Jay-hyung adds.

"What could be worse than this?" Jake asks him.

"The Mistress knows."

We all stop breathing.

"What do you mean?" My voice shakes a little when I speak.

"I mean, they suspect of it. I actually got my theory in part from her. She knows what we are."

"What does that mean?" Niki questions.

"I don't know," Jay-hyung says. "I'm still trying to figure that out."

His words are anything but calming. We all rely on him for answers, and if he doesn't have any we can only expect the worst and hope that we're prepared for it.