Cured

Ch. 20

I smiled half-heartedly at Mee-Yon and Yoona when the black mist dissipated from around Natasha, Brynn, and I. "You two ready for some dress shopping?" Brynn asked the two, excited, unlike Natasha, who was watching me cautiously, in case I looked like I was about to pass out our something.

Mee-Yon grinned, equally as excited. "Yeah." She replied, then noticed how Natasha and I were less enthusiastic about it. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Khristi screamed out of nowhere while she was sleeping, and she looked so freaked out when she woke up. She scared the hell out of us, and she was really pale earlier, but she swears everything is okay. I'm keeping an eye on her to make sure nothing happens." Natasha explained.

"I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me, okay?" I told her, but Mee-Yon grew even more worried.

"Why did you scream? Did you have a nightmare or something?" She asked.

I glanced away at the mention of nightmares. "I was just really tired." I replied, and she gave me a concerned look, not believing me.

"Okay, fine. I had a weird dream. In it, I saw Tao digging through the closet, and I got up to see what was going on when he looked at me...I don't know..." I explained with a sigh. "I remembered a dream I had when I first moved in, Tao and Suho talking about a cure and then this figure came out of nowhere..." I trailed off. After a few seconds I spoke again. "Then I woke up and Tao was there along with Natasha, Brynn, Suho, and Luhan. They were so worried, they had Lay take a look at me, just to make sure I was okay. He said I'm fine, so there's nothing to worry about, okay?" I explained, getting a little too defensive.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "Sorry." I said softly, not quite sure why I had went off at them like that. "I think I am just a little stressed out." I admitted. There was the wedding, worrying about if and when Daehyun would show up, the shadow I kept thinking I had seen, and the talk about a cure in the nightmare I had. I was just too worked up.

"Here, why don't we get something to drink before we go look at dresses?" Yoona asked, and slowly began to lead us down the street, towards what looked like a cafe. "I come here a lot, especially after a long day." She said as we entered the small shop. Inside, it seemed really cozy, the sunrise shining in through the windows, tinting everything a warm gold. The air smelled like coffee and chocolate, and for some reason, was calming.

Yoona made her way to the counter, smiling at the girl at the register, who looked over at us with her big brown eyes, studying us one at a time, then turned back to Yoona. After a few seconds of quiet whispers, the girl nodded, and quickly went off to make whatever Yoona had ordered. While Yoona was ordering, Mee-Yon had led us to a table in the corner of the cafe, right by a window looking out at the street.

"I know it's not the usual time of year to drink hot chocolate, but I thought everyone could use something hot and sweet." Yoona smiled as she made her way over to join us at the table. "I hope that's okay."

We all nodded, and I couldn't help but state at Yoona. Even though I had seen her a million times before, something seemed different today. Maybe it was the golden glow of the rising sin shining in on her, or the fact that she was finally getting the hang of her new lifestyle, but she was beautiful. Her golden hair shimmering in the sunlight, her usually pale skin filled with color, making her look alive again. For some reason, my mind began to wander to Tao. He's a vampire, he's going to live forever, but me on the other hand...I won't.

Something in me knew this, but it was only coming to mind now. Probably because of the dream with the dark figure in the hallway. Tao was frozen, unable to do anything as the shadow grew closer, and I couldn't stop it. What if that really did happen? What if Tao was only able to stand by, frozen in time, as I aged, time slowly catching up and strangling me. I looked back up at Yoona, thinking about how her and Namjoon really did have forever to spend with one another.