No Fate | Y.Jw

† 4 †

Jiyeon P.O.V

Jungwon stared at me for a good second before he reached down and intertwined his fingers with mine, a small smile resting on his face before he softly tugged on my arm.

I let out a small sigh before just following after him. Upon hearing my sigh he immediately looked down at me and gave my hand a small squeeze.

"It'll be fine... don't worry," Jungwon assured, making me just nod as I looked around the hallway.

Throughout the hallway portraits and wall candle holders hung between each other. Between two portraits of pale and strict faces a candle holder would hang. Some of the candle holders had a candle in it, some didn't, some had completely melted candles where the wax hung down a long way from the candle holder, meanwhile others actually had lit candles in them.

"Jungwon?" I spoke up, making him hum in return as we entered a part where a long stretch of lit candles appeared, "why are all these candles suddenly turned on?" I questioned and he immediately stopped walking and widened his eyes in realization. The same thing I had realized.

If the candles were turned on, someone would light them tonight. Even when you looked at the candles it was clear they had almost been lit seconds before we had entered the hallway, barely any wax had melted off the candles.

"Someone's near," Jungwon realized and I hummed in agreement.

Jungwon eagerly began looking around before realizing that there was no nearby hallway we could go down, except for the one we had come from.

"Wonie," I whispered and tugged on his arm before pointing to the door on my left.

"I'll check first," Jungwon hummed and picked up the nearest candle, as if it wasn't burning hot.

He hesitantly let go of my hand as I looked back and forth down the hallways, my heart thumping in my chest. I suddenly felt really scared here. Before I hadn't felt one bit scared, maybe because it hadn't dawned on me then, that I actually could die in this castle.

"It's safe," Jungwon whispered before reaching out and pulling me into the room as he closed the door and quietly locked it.

It wasn't exactly a big room, actually it seemed more like a broom closet we had gotten into. The room was completely empty beside a few spiders crawling around on the floor and a few boxes here and there.

"Doesn't it burn?" I questioned as Jungwon stood with the candle in one hand and rumaged through a box with the other.

"I can't feel it," he simply shook his head before pulling up a candle holder.

It was an antique candle holder in a dirty gold color. Jungwon smiled in victory and placed the candle in the holder before lighting a bit more around the room. Only showing a few more boxes and an empty shelf unit. Overall it was quite underwhelming compared to what else I had seen.

"I think we ca-" Jungwon turned back to me before I immediately hushed him and clasped my hand over his mouth.

He immediately frowned down at me before widening his eyes in realization and quickly pushed me away from the door as I removed my hand from his mouth and we both quietly listened to the flapping of batwings on the other side of the door before I saw a small shadow get cast in through under the door. Someone was standing on the other side of the door for a good time.

I felt my heart immediately beat harder in my chest once again as I stared hard at the small shadow on the other side of the door as it kept standing there and a small knock echoed on the door.

I felt my breath immediately hitch in my throat and Jungwon quickly covered my mouth and looked down at me with wide eyes.

'Wait,' he quietly mouthed to me, making me just nod at him as he removed his hand once more and looked back towards the door, waiting for the shadow to remove itself.

I immediately felt relief as I watched the shadow disappear from the door and listened as the flapping of batwings slowly disappeared once again. It seemed that Jungwon also was relieved by the person disappearing once again, by the deep breath he let out.

"Let's stay here for a bit and rest," Jungwon offered as he looked down at me, "you look tired."

"I am," I nodded at him.

"Here... sit down," he offered as he placed the candle holder on the ground and slowly crouched down himself as I hesitantly followed and leaned up against the wall behind me.

"I'll keep the spiders away, don't worry," I assured him with a small smile.

"Yah... you know I'm not that big of a wuss," he complained with a small laugh as I just nodded and leaned my head back against the wall as well as I pulled my knees up to my chest, "try and sleep... you must be overwhelmed and tired."

"I think I'll have to get answers to some questions first, "I shook my head, making him hum at me.

"I can't promise I know the answer to every question," he stated making me just nod at him, "but I'll try and answer it for you... I guess you having an idea of what actually is happening would make you feel more safe in all this."

"Not that I will feel safe with the thought of getting killed every time we turn a corner," I reminded him, making him let out a small snort.

"I know... I'm sorry," he excused, "I didn't know who else to choose."

"I guess it's fine," I assured and patted his shoulder, "you know... I guess it was just meant to be that I would end up going on a date with some semi-vampire boy at some point."

"Your questions Ji... ask me your questions," he reminded with a small laugh making me nod at him.

"Right... the whole thing with silver?" I questioned him as he just nodded.

"You can touch it until 7 months after you've gotten bitten, then you can just be around it, but once you reach past 15 months you can't even be in the same room as it," he stated.

"So... actually it would be ideal for us to find something silver for me to carry around," I stated and he nodded before slowly widening his eyes in realization.

"You're a genius," he said and I simply hummed.

"I know... but just a quick question," I stated and he just nodded, "where the hell in a vampire castle are we supposed to find silver?"

"Oh yeah..." he slowly realized as a frown grew on his face.

"Second question... garlic?" I let out a small laugh earning a snort from him as well.

"Mainly a myth," he shook his head at me.

"Aw man," I complained as he just continued to laugh.

"It's only dangerous for you if nine months haven't passed since you got bitten," he stated, making me hesitantly nod as I just looked at him, "what?"

"I was just... thinking," I excused as a frown slowly grew on my face as I just continued to stare at him.

"Penny for your thought?" he questioned holding up an old coin we once found when walking home from school. I had given it to him as a joke, I hadn't actually expected him to keep it.

"You kept it," I smiled softly at it as he just nodded at it.

"Of course, it's my lucky coin," he proudly stated, "I found it with the prettiest girl I had ever met... Now tell me, what's on your mind?"

"I just... wondered," I shrugged and looked away from him, "when did you get bit? How did you get bit? Did it hurt? Did you ever plan on telling me? Are you just using me to get back to human form? I'm just wondering, you know?"

I turned my head to look at him once more, now it was him that stared down at me.