DEAR VAMPIRE

My broken heart

JAKE

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The lyrics of Hundred Broken Heart played in my mind, echoing my own story as if it had been written for me. The song's melancholic rhythm seemed to mirror every heartbreak, every mistake, and every lonely night I had endured because of him—Minhyun. The toxic grip he had on my life lingered like a poison I couldn’t shake, even though I had finally ended it.

It wasn’t that long ago, really, but each day since felt like a century. Every corner of this town held a memory of us, a reminder of all the good that had been overshadowed by the darkness he brought. For every laugh we shared, there were nights he’d leave me broken, manipulated, with his promises like shattered glass scattered around me. I kept picking up the pieces, hoping to put them together again, thinking I could fix what was clearly beyond repair.

The beginning felt like a dream. Minhyun was charming, magnetic in a way that made it impossible not to be drawn to him. He had this intensity in his gaze that made me feel like I was the only one in the world. But as weeks turned into months, I started to see through the cracks. His sweetness was a mask he wore, one he slipped off whenever things didn’t go his way. He became possessive, controlling, picking fights over little things, always making me feel like I was in the wrong.

It reached a point where my friends noticed. Sunoo and Jungwon pulled me aside countless times, each time with more urgency, asking me if I was okay. “Jake, you don’t look happy,” Sunoo would say, his face etched with worry. And each time, I would brush it off, too afraid to face the truth myself. I kept telling myself that it was just a phase, that every relationship had its ups and downs. But deep down, I knew. I was just too scared to admit it.

Then one night, things came crashing down. We were at a party, one I’d begged him to attend with me. He spent the entire evening ignoring me, lost in his own world, laughing with strangers while I sat alone, clutching my drink, feeling invisible. When I finally worked up the courage to confront him, he turned on me with that familiar look of contempt.

“You’re so clingy, Jake,” he sneered. “Maybe if you had more going on in your life, you wouldn’t be so obsessed with me.”

His words cut deeper than any knife could. I felt my chest tighten, my hands trembling as I fought back tears. For so long, I had let him make me feel small, unworthy. But this time, something in me snapped. Maybe it was the humiliation, maybe it was the exhaustion of fighting for something that was only tearing me apart. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I remember the weight lifting off my shoulders as I walked away, leaving him there with his false charm and hollow words.

The days that followed were a blur of numbness and pain. I kept hearing his words, replaying every moment in my head, wondering if I had done something wrong. I felt as if I was unraveling, a hundred broken hearts stitched into one. Each piece of me he had taken left a hollow space that ached with every heartbeat.

It was one of those nights, after another dreamless sleep, that I found myself wandering through the same streets where I’d once seen that shadowed figure. The memory of the vampire, the glimpse of something beyond the ordinary, haunted me as much as Minhyun’s ghost did. I felt lost, drifting in a sea of broken promises and loneliness, unsure of how to move forward.

And then, like an apparition, he appeared.

Sunghoon. The mysterious figure from that night, standing in the dimly lit street, his presence both familiar and otherworldly. His gaze locked onto mine, intense yet gentle, as if he could see the pain buried deep within me.

“Jake,” he spoke softly, his voice a soothing balm against the open wounds in my heart. “I heard your heart calling… and I felt your pain.”

I didn’t know how he knew or why he seemed to care, but in that moment, I didn’t need answers. I just needed someone to be there, to understand.

He took a step closer, his hand reaching out. “You don’t have to go through this alone. I’ll protect you… with all that I am.”

There was a calm in his words that settled over me, like a blanket shielding me from the bitter chill of the night. For the first time since that terrible night, I felt… safe.

Looking into his dark, unfathomable eyes, I felt something shift within me. It was as if he wasn’t just offering protection; he was offering a promise, one that whispered of something beyond pain, beyond broken hearts.

In that moment, I knew my life was about to change, once again.

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